Chapter 62 Letters and Outlooks

The fields outside of the coastal resort city of Celin had become a massive tent city as a division size force of ninjas gathered on the Wind countryside of the boarder. They all knew that within a day the trains, which were waiting to bring them south and to war, would be allowed to head that way. In the field where ninjas from every single major power however the nations of Wind and Earth hand the most since their nations where closer to the launching point.

"So we will board the trains and head south, it will take a couple of days to reach the boarder of Bronze and Granite, there we will disembark and head into the land of Granite and to war." stated Shikaku Nara as he presented the basic plan for the unit commanders. "Now we are not totally sure what we will have before us and that is a major issue so we will have to move carefully at first."

"What would you do if you were in your son's place?" inquired Hanabi knowing that like his father Shikamaru Nara was a brilliant tactical planner.

"Black snake pass is a natural blocking point." stated Shikaku as he put his finger on the map. "See how the major river here marks the boarder between Granite and Bronze. Black snake Pass was made by the flow a smaller branch river that came down out of the mountains. It is narrow before widening out into a larger valley before narrowing again. If I was my son I would put two walls here and here."

Shikamaru pointed toward the two narrowest point each near the center of the two narrow passes, which lead, to and from the larger valley.

"I would expect each wall to be between 60 and 70 feet tall with the basic defenses we have in the Leaf." Stated Shikaku "Seals to prevent people from climbing the walls with chakra and charka absorbing seals to help block any attack on the wall."

"So we use standard attacking formation, we have a force of ninjas provide covering fire with kunai, Justus and other weapons to clear the walls while we move up to destroy the walls by canceling the seals before knocking them down." stated Onoki. "With this type of terrain I would believe that they would set up a U shape wall and have defenses cut into the mountain side. With that if we attack any walls we would take fire from both flanks."

"Which is why we use summons to clear the walls if needed." Said the Samurai General Mifune the IV

"With the field so narrow we could only use one or two large summons at a time." Stated Shikaku "And they have the ability to summon demons to counter our summons."

"We have more summons." Noted Mifune

"They have stronger ones." countered Hanabi as an aid walked up to the meeting.

"Lady Hokage." Interrupted the aid as the leadership looked at him "We have gone over the letters that the Demons left for family members."

"Anything of note?" inquired Hanabi

"A lot of photos of babies and new couples but other than that no." reported the aid

"How many babies?" inquired Mifune as the aid blinked at the question not sure why it was important. "We need to know the population of the demons."

"I can't be sure but there is a lot of them, I would have to say almost half had photos of babies." Explained the aid

"No mater, you can start handing them out to the people here and mail the rest out." Order Hanabi as the aid pulled out a small stack of letters and handed the top one to his Hokage.

"A letter from your sister." stated the aid "You're an Aunt."

"I see." stated Hanabi remember that Naruto had said that when he tried to convince them to take peace. "I never inquired who the father is, likely Kiba."

"Not Kiba, Naruto." countered the aid as the Hokage looked at him "You told me to look through their mail."

"Naruto has three wives; I don't know how I feel about that." admitted Gaara, that was the one thing about demons which made him uneasy multiple wives or husbands but the latter according to Temari had not happened yet. He understood that they naturally have more females then males and it is the only way to have kids without a lot of cheating husbands but still it didn't sit totally right with him. "However Sakura, Hinata and Ino if anyone could control Naruto it is those three."

"It is sick that is what I say." snapped Atsui even as a letter from his sister was placed in front of him. He grabbed it and in front of the other Kages and leaders, he ripped the letter in half and tossed it away. "Now can we keep working on ways to crush these so called people?"

While their enemies where going over plans to attack them the train which had taken the leaders of the land of Granite north was crossing over the metal bridge which spanned the river which marked the border between the land of Granite and Bronze. The train was slowing down as it passed through a tunnel which had been carved into the 80 foot tall wall which protected the entrees to Black Snake pass. Once through the tunnel it moved to a sidetrack and came to a stop at the small train station. Naruto, Ino and Temari all got off the train and into the morning sunlight.

"So this is the first line of defense." Stated Ino, they had passed through this area at night so all she saw where a handful of lights. There really was not much to see, a standard size wall that was attached to the mountainside. Only three things really stood out to her, one was the train tunnel that was wide enough for two trains to pass through at the same time. Second was that while only two train tracks kept heading north into the Land of Bronze while there was an additional two heading south into black snake pass. While all that was out of the normal, the major thing that stuck out to her was that instead of a straight drop down from the wall the backside was sloped down like a ramp.

"Welcome back home." stated Sasuke as he appeared out of a small door located inside the ramp. They had built the barracks for the border patrol into the wall itself so that the only items outside were the two trains and their open flat cars pointed south. "So it is war."

"Correct how are things here?" inquired Naruto

"Everything is going as planned we will be ready well before they arrive." stated Sasuke

"Well we still have at least a week," stated Naruto as Sasuke shock his head.

"What?" inquired Ino

"While you all were heading South Shino gathered some information while the Daimyo where talking to you an army was gathering on the Wind side of the boarder." Stated Sasuke "They will likely get onto the trains within a couple of hours and head south. At least a division size force is heading our way."

"So we have five days," stated Temari as they headed up the ramp toward the top of the wall.

"More or less, depends on how fast the trains head south." confirmed Sasuke as they reached the top, from there they could see that the top of the wall had merlons for the archers, which would make up the bulk of their defensives here.

"They will be here fast." confirmed Naruto as they looked out, over the small field, which span the distance between the wall and the riverbank. Down below there where teams of men and women placing paper bomb land mines over the area which any ninja force would have to take. "The land of Savannah and Bronze will make sure they get down here fast, just as we want. Right after the ninjas cross their borders there will a number of issues that will slow down any reinforcements."

"So they did agree to help us." said Sasuke, they all knew that the land of Bronze had never gone to war and the land of Savannah had only been to war two times. They would never fight an open war against the other ninja nations but they would help behind the scene.

"We can't take on the entire world at once," added Temari "It's like eating an elephant, we can only do it one bit at a time."

"Still taking on at least a division at once is one hell of a first bite," confirmed Ino before turning to personal matters "Any word on my mother?"

"She reached the ship that those sea heads from the Land of Meteors sent to pick her up," reported Sasuke "She should be only a couple of days out from home."

"Then at least there is some good news." stated Ino as she looked out over the field where in a couple of days an army, which would partly, made up of her former comrades from the Leaf.

Across the ocean from the pending battlefield, the former Hokage of the Hidden Leaf was in a tight jam. She had found out only days earlier that Kabuto had not been lying to her about where her loves one where. She had tried to get a ticket onto one of the first boats leaving the casino covered island where she had lived since leaving the Leaf however her employer's wife had refused to let her leave until she proved that her son wasn't sick. He wasn't the boy was just for the lack of a better term a weakling who had spent most of his life being pampered by an overprotective mother. Once she had proved to the mother that her son was fine she had tried to get a ship to take her to the land of Granite only to find no more ships were heading there.

Next she tried to find her way to the land of Animals or Meteors since those where allied nations however those too where canceled. She had even resorted to looking to passage to Bronze and Savannah country but those where only cargo ships and would not take passengers. Yes, she could have gotten onboard those ships but remaining hidden on the ship for their journey would have been next to impossible. With the three Leaf jonnin following her which could raise an alarm was too risky, they could keep her locked up for a while for sneaking onboard. If she was arrest, they could ship her back to the Leaf and keep her imprisoned and unable to fight against them in the war. All that limited her options she had to take a normal passenger ship and the first one she could get on was heading back to the land of Fire.

"Well this is fucking horrible," stated Tsunade to herself as she sat on a passenger ship heading toward the land of Fire. It was not her current situation which was being served drinks on a sundeck that was causing her to curse it was that her best path would mean she would have to pass through the Leaf village.

"Can I interest you in another drink?" inquired one of the members of the crew staff.

"Please, and make it the strongest you have." confirmed Tsunade.

Back in the land of Wind a the trains where lined up and waiting for their passengers, forming up in multiple rows and columns waiting to get onboard the train for the five day ride to the land of Granite.

"This shouldn't take long," stated Katsuro Inuzuka as moved toward the train with the rest his clan and their clan ninja dogs.

"Is something wrong Tsume?" inquired Katsuro sister Airi as she looked toward the head of their clan.

"It's just I didn't get a letter from my son like most of the others." explained Tsume

"Why worry about those demons?" snapped Katsuro only to get a death glare from both Tsume and his sister.

"Dear brother like it or not Kiba is her only son and he is our cousin, Tsume is only doing what is natural for any mother to reach out to her children." Rebutted Airi as Tsume spat on the ground as he boarded the train with his massive dog Hibiki.

Thousands of miles to the south there was 18 trains sitting in a large train yard just outside the port of Nadeji. For hours the crews that normally loaded and unloaded ships where busy loading large green containers into the large double door boxcars. Each boxcar would be stuffed floor to ceiling with the crates, each was full of weapons and supplies for the front. Standing by the lead train with a clipboard in his hands was Kizashi Haruno, he and his wife Mebuki where both dual commanders of the supply and linguistic core. In truth that meant Mebuki ran things since he had not won a fight since the day they became husband and wife.

"Sir, this car is full!" came a voice from down the line as Mebuki walked down and double checked everything before sealing the car up. "Good job boys let's take a five minute break before loading up the next one."

The work crew smiled at the idea of an early break so the crew moved off to either a smoke break or getting some water.

"So how are things going here?" inquired a new voice as Kizashi turned to see his wife, her shoulder length blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun like she normally did when she was working.

"We are slightly behind schedule," reported Kizashi as thought about it for a moment or two "Maybe ten minutes or so."

"Ok why are you taking a break?" inquired Mebuki as she turned her silted green eyes on the sitting crew.

"We have ten cars of Tenten's special next," explained Kizashi as Mebuki nodded her head. They both knew that while Tenten's newly designed but yet unused in the field weapon. While they were light to lift, they had to be loaded carefully to avoid any accidents. "We should make the time up when we load the armor, no real risk of breaking them."

Mebuki smiled, both of them knew how to run a supply operation and both had skills, which helped the other out. Mebuki was an expert at paperwork and scheduling things in advance while Kizashi was great at caring out Mebuki's seemly impossible schedule.

"I just hope this whole thing doesn't last too long." admitted Mebuki to her husband as a load whistle filled the air, seconds later the second train which they had loaded up earlier began pulling out.

"It will last as long as it lasts." reported Kizashi "When does our daughter leave for the front?"

"She should have been on the second transport train to the front with the medical core," reported Mebuki "That is why we get to spend the next couple of days taking care of the grandchildren."

"Changing diapers sounds perfect," said Kizashi with a joking smile on his face, both of them knew that taking care of the children was going to be a major issue on the home front.

Miles away Kiba Inuzuka was heading north toward conflict with his own clan, unlike the ninja hounds his former clan in the leaf used he was using wolves and not smaller ninja hounds. What his wolves lacked in chakra ability they more then made in size, physical ability and most of all they knew the land that they would be fighting on. He had been training them in how to deal with the Justus attacks and they seemed to be doing well, but this would be their first real test. The wolves had done great in taking down the samurai forces in the land of Animals but ninjas and samurai where two different animals.

Unlike most of the other forces on the train heading North Kiba didn't have a seat in one of the passenger cars, instead he sat in one of the special animal cars that the nation had built to transport the wolves cross country at speed. Unilaterally Kiba along with the wolves hated riding the train but it would transport them faster than they could run and they would arrive fresh.

A knock at the door caused Kiba to look up as the door opened; standing in the doorway was Sakura with a plate full of food. Behind her he could see where his car contacted to the rest of the train, when she walked in the wolves lifted their heads before lowering them again. They had seen Sakura before and knew she was not a threat so they went back to what they were doing, mostly sleeping.

"Brought you some food," reported Sakura as she handed the plate full of food to Kiba. "The food cart man is too scared of the wolves to come back here."

"I can't blame him for fearing them but unless you piss them off or threaten the pups they will not harm you." explained Kiba as he took a bite of the sandwich. "So how are your kids doing?"

"As good as they can be." Stated Sakura as she tried not to remember how sad she felt when she left the three babies back home. True Hinata was staying there until Ino came home and with the help of her parents and Ino's mother they would take care of the kids while they were at war. "And your girls?"

"They are finally sleeping through the night." reported Kiba as Sakura smiled, having kids sleep through the night was a God send to the new parents and Kiba and Karui had three girls. "I have to thank the wolves for that put a wolf pup in with them and they sleep through the night. So how do you think this will play out?"

Sakura lowered her head a bit, she had hoped that they would not talk about the war but it was something that could not be avoided.

"I can't be sure but I would expect that you will be holding the flanks to make sure scouts from your clan don't find a way through the mountains," reported Sakura "We have a strong outer defense and even stronger ones around the cities but an army could cause a lot of damage in the country side."

"I have spent so much time in those mountains there are maybe a dozen paths through those mountains beside the three major ones and those passes normally mean going above the snow line and they a just large enough for a single person to use." Explained Kiba he knew that while there was a lot of small flat areas on the mountain side where trees and animals gathered, that was where he would do any of his attacks.

"As for myself I will be behind the lines tending the wounded." added Sakura "I just hope it is a short stay in the field."

"I just wish this train ride would be over already." wished Kiba even though he knew when the train stopped he would be in a warzone.

Naruto had spent the last couple of days on the first line of defense that his nation had established at the mouth of the black snake pass. Ino had left on the train heading back home days earlier leaving him alone with the forces under his command. Even Sasuke and Temari had been pulled back behind the lines. So now he found himself walking the top of the wall with the men and women under his direct command standing ready in front of them, less than 600 meters away from them just on their side of the river the forces of the allied shinobi forces where crossing the bridge.

"Sir, take a look at all of them." Said one of his young archers as Naruto passed by, all around him the enter guarding force had been called to battle stations. They numbered only 90 people and all but ten of them where regular humans with no ninja skills. Instead of Kunais in their hands they had bows and hip quilvers full of arrows.

"Ok, listen up!" yelled Naruto as all the way down the line his archers turned and looked at him "I know you are scared and I know that you don't want to be here. You all know the plan and why we need to buy as much time as possible so I will not be going over that again. Just remain calm and remember your training. We will make them pay for coming here."

Across the field from them, all but the Mizukage was looking at the wall, which stood in their way. It was just what they expected to see almost down to the type of bricks, which made out the wall. The only thing out of the ordinary was the defensive covering at the top, which would allow some protection from attack. While the wall was almost totally, what they expected standing on the wall was the only thing they did not expect to see. Normally there would be groups of ninjas forming up into small strike teams with swords and kunais ready. Instead, there was a line of men and women in black uniforms holding bows and arrows.

"So they plan to use archers to defend themselves," laughed Raikage Atsui before turning toward his fellow Kages. "If there are no objections I will take the lead and begin the attack now."

"Go right ahead." confirmed Hanabi as she looked at the wall with her Byakugan she was trying to see anything she did not expect to see but they had placed seals on the walls, which blocked her sight. With that, Atsui moved off toward the force, which had been selected to be the vanguard of the attacking force.

"I don't feel good about this." said Onoki as the elder Tsuchikage looked out at the battlefield "This is just too much like we expected to see."

"I agree, but there is nothing else we can do." added Hanabi "We have to real choices either we attack or we forget the whole thing and head home. The Daimyos will not allow us to do that, so we have to attack and attack we shall do."

The war you have all waited for has finally started; the first battle will take place next chapter. Until then I hope you keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.