Chapter 63 Rise from the Shadows
Naruto held his breath as he watched the charging ninja force heading straight toward him and his men. The ninjas where screaming as they charged forward, they were not in pain but it was a way to get them pumped up for the attack. While the ninja's voices filled the air it seemed as if to Naruto and the other members of Granite defense force that the only thing that they could hear was the blowing wind.
"Nock arrows!" yelled Naruto as all down the line the men and women on the wall drew an arrow from their quiver. Unlike the movie archers, the archers of the land of Granite had their quivers attached to either their right or left hip depending on their shooting hand. On the other hip was their personal close quarter weapon most of them either had an ax or sword. All of them where dressed in black with Aldhard reinforced body armor. Naruto did not care for the color made them look like the bad guys but since the natural rock face was black it helped them blend in adding an additional level of defense.
"Take aim!" yelled Naruto as he pulled his own sword from his back holster. The White Aldhard blade stood out in against the black stonewalls.
"Fire!" yelled Naruto as the arrows went flying; at once the front line of ninjas fell down with arrows in their bodies. It was rare for ninjas to use arrows and so most ninjas had no experience with arrows and those who did who had no experience with arrow attacks on mass. "Fire at will."
With that, the men and women under his command began firing arrows as fast as possible. The additional height of the wall and the longbow meant that they had longer range then the ninjas. Even so the ninjas quickly countered as they started to use air Justus to defect the arrows in midflight. Others threw kunias which caused the steal tipped arrows to fall out of the sky. Even so, dozens of ninjas fell from the arrows strike. One of those which Naruto saw himself got an arrow straight through the throat, slowly the boy which looked maybe 15 feel to his knees his hands grabbing his bloody throat. Then he fell face first into the dirt.
"What a waste." said Naruto as he looked to the far right flank, there hidden in a small outcrop of rock was a large painted bright white. It was a marker, which could only be seen from the top of the wall.
"Sir is it time?" reported one of the few men who were not shooting arrows down at the ninjas.
"Do it!" ordered Naruto as the man ran off as he looked at the field; the ninjas had reached the range that they could start throwing kunias up at the defenders. Some used Justus to attack the wall but stone does not break easy to the type of Justus they were using. They had gotten close enough for Naruto to see that most of them where from the land of Lightening.
"I am hit!" yelled a voice to his left as Naruto looked to see a young woman with a kunai in the chest fall, behind the protective covers. When she went down a medic ran up and looked at the wound.
"Your fine." said the medic as he pulled the kunai out. Naruto smiled as he saw that the it had not even gone through the Aldhard armor and it had bent the tip of the kunai. "It just scared you."
Down below the arrows where having an effect on the attack force but they soon began to arrive of the wall. Following the standard attack plan for a defense wall the attack force split into two groups, the first group arrived at the base of the wall and attempted to climb the wall with chakra while the second group protected the first with kunias. The kunias did cause a few archers to duck behind cover however Naruto could not help but smile at how his forces where handling themselves under fire.
"Shouldn't be long." reported Naruto to himself as explosions began going off in the area in front of the wall. The timed explosive paper bomb land mines had started going off. Naruto and the others watched as men and women flew up in the air, one of them, which stuck out in his mind, flew up a good twenty feet above the height of the wall. Naruto did not have time to think of the effects a hundred foot head first fall would have on the human body.
"First group Move out!" yelled Naruto almost at once about a half of the soldiers under his command fired their last arrows and ran down the back of the wall toward the first train. It was almost perfect in their execution just as they had trained; once the train was loaded, it began pulling out.
Near the bridge, which linked the land of Granite with the Land of Bronze was the command center for the main body of ninja force. The plan was for the Hokage and the Samurai general to take the main body through the pass in two groups. With Gaara leading the rear forces, Onoki would command a holding force to make sure the bridge was held.
"Paper bomb land mines." reported Shikaku Nara to his Hokage "Judging from how they all went off at once they were on a timer instead of presser detestation."
"Is it an issue?" inquired Hanabi to the elder Nara
"No but I expected something more." admitted Shikaku as he lifted some binoculars to his eyes, just in time to see the lightening ninjas summon ladders from scrolls. Once the ladders where in place teams began moving up them toward the top of the wall to Shikaku amazement the defenders did not draw swords instead they kept firing arrows.
"Move out!" yelled Naruto as they everyone fired their last arrow before turning and running down the backside of the wall. Since the wall was built as a 30-degree angle, it allowed everyone to run down it with ease. Once they reached the ground they bolted the last twenty-five yards to where multiple trains with open flatbed train cars, everyone piled onboard. Naruto was the last one onboard and as he got on the train, the first ninjas came over the wall. Those ninjas where cheering as they saw the trains moving their enemies deeper into the land of Granite.
It took only a few minutes for the Raikage to reach the top of the wall and with a sense of victory in his voice, he ordered the men under his command to press the attack and keep moving forward.
"Is everyone here!" yelled Naruto over the roar of the train and the wind as it headed down the tracks. He had done a head count and everyone seemed here but he had to make sure. The defenders looked around to see if they saw anyone missing.
"Where is Mai?" inquired one of them as Naruto's mind raced.
"I am here," yelled Mai as she raised her hand.
"Good, sir I think everyone is here," reported the same man as the train took a turn as it snaked its way through the pass.
"When we get back you all deserve a good meal and some drinks you did great today." reported Naruto as the soldiers under his command smiled as they made the final turn as the narrow pass opened up into a wide valley. Once there the train picked up speed as the tracks became straight instead of curving however about half way across the valley it began slowing down. It had reached the far end of the valley by the time the chasing vanguard of the ninja division entered the valley the train had come to a stop at the other end.
The train came to a stop in a station, which according to most people in the North did not exist. As Naruto got off the train he could just see the last bit of light as the 500-yard tunnel was sealed off with a three-foot thick Aldhard door every fifty feet. With two, outer doors which where six feet thick. All around the platform where men and women dressed in the same black uniforms that the forces he had command had. The only difference was that some cloths that most ninjas wore, only black that marked them as trained ninjas instead of regular forces. The forces standing guard saluted Naruto as he passed.
"So how did things go out there?" inquired Neji as he waited for Naruto to get off the train.
"Good, right now they are likely believing they have won a great victory." explained Naruto
"Just as we planned." confirmed Shikamaru as he and Temari walked up.
"It will be an ever bigger let down when they see what we waiting for them here." noted Temari with a grin before asking Naruto "How long do you think?"
"I believe I saw Atsui leading them so it will not be long." Reported Naruto as they headed toward an elevator built into the side of a wall.
"Well I guess that is for the best, get it over with sooner rather than later?" Said Sasuke as they got into the elevator which took them up. The doors opened again to show a massive hall with armed guards and a reception desk. They knew where they were going as the passed offices and storage areas for multiple supplies before finally coming to another set of elevators.
"Everyone is in place?" inquired Naruto as the evaluator took them up and up. When it came to a stop they stepped into a huge room with multiple doors on the far wall. All along the wall where multiple weapon types and other supplies, most common was arrows and long bows. There where also dozens of fighters waiting to run fresh arrows to those who ran out so that no one would run out of arrows. Naruto and the others stepped out of the door into the fresh air only to see the rest of the soldiers waiting for the coming fight.
"Here is your answer, dead last," said Sasuke with a smirk as he moved past Naruto and toward the nearest stairs, he had to get into his spot before the battle.
"Neji what do you see?" inquired Naruto as they moved toward the edge.
"They are maybe ten minutes away," reported Neji as Naruto nodded.
"Then we all need to get in our positions." ordered Naruto as he wished he could be anywhere else but here. He had dreamed since he was a kid about leading the Leaf village, in fact aside from having a family that was his greatest dream but now he had kill those he would have gladly led.
While Naruto was watching the Vanguard of the ninja forces move across the valley far below, the current Hokage Hanabi was standing a few miles away looking at the back side of the wall.
"Is something wrong Lady Hokage?" inquired an aid
"Take a look at the wall and tell me what you see." ordered Hanabi to the aid.
The aid blinked as she looked at the wall, only one thing stuck out to her.
"It kind of looks like a ramp." Admitted the aid
"Yes, which tells me that we didn't overwhelm them," explained Hanabi "They planned to run."
"Lady Hokage how goes it," inquired a new voice as Hanabi looked to see the Samurai General Mifune the Sixth walking toward her.
"They planned to run Mifune," reported Hanabi as she glared at Mifune "We need to get to the front and stop this advance before the idiot Raikage does something stupid."
Little did they know that the Raikage was near the middle of the vanguard forces and had no plans to stop his advance. In his point of view the enemy was running and why give them a chance to reform and so all his forces where moving forward as fast as possible. To him this was a good thing but to anyone looking from above they could have seen that his forces where being spread out as those ninjas who could run faster pushed out and away from the main body. This in general weakened his force at the cost of speed.
"Lord Raikage the Hokage is trying to get ahold of us on the radio." reported his personal aid who was carrying a large long-range radio set on his back.
"Alright." said the Raikage as he gurgling came to a stop even as his forces keep advancing. He picked up a radio receiver from the pack.
"Lady Hokage good news we are advancing well beyond our original plans and at this rate we should be through the pass by nightfall." Reported the Raikage
"Have you made contact with the enemy?" inquired Hanabi as she walked with her own aid who was carrying the radio pack on her back.
"Not yet." answered the Raikage with his cockiness come through load as day over the radio. "We have them running with their tails between their legs; this war will be over sooner than even I thought."
"Listen to me, our teams have found no wounded or dead, they cleared out everything and left nothing behind." Reported Hanabi as she rounded the second to last twist in the mountain pass, she had only one more to go until she reached the main valley.
"What does that mean?" inquired the Raikage
"They planned to run, the wall we took isn't their main defense." Stated Hanabi "The walls themselves where built as a ramp so that they could pull back easier. We need to stop the advance and scout ahead."
"You worry too much Lady Hokage, we are dealing with cowards and I will not stop while I have them on the run," said the Raikage "If the Leaf wants to stop then we will win the glory."
With that, the radio went dead and the Raikage moved forward to rejoin the forces under his command.
"Damn fool." said Hanabi as she entered the main valley and stopped instantly in her tracks, it was if a sense of impending doom came across her.
"What is it Lady Hokage?" inquired the aid
"Something isn't right." said Hanabi as she entered the main central valley which marked the center of black snake pass. The pass was maybe two miles wide at the widest before narrowing back at each end to maybe half a mile. The Black mountain here rose straight up and it felt to her as if she was a little child surrounded by these giants each with snowcap tops. "This is too easy, they had four years to prepare and only managed that long?"
She activated her Byakugan and began to scan the area from her location, the natural stone of the mountains blocked her byakugan sight but even so, she should have been able to see the other opening at the far side of the pass. However instead she saw nothing but black stone that is when she saw that the stone was perfectly smooth impossible in nature. She turned her gaze up as her eyes widen that is when she saw the true defense line it was the largest wall she had ever seen.
"My God." exclaimed Hanabi
"What is it?" inquired the Samurai General Mifune
"Look." Ordered Hanabi as she pointed at an almost 45 degree angle. Mifune lifted some binoculars to his eyes and looked to where the Hokage was pointing, his eyes widened as he saw it.
"That…that isn't possible," said Mifune as he looked at the line of archers at least three men deep with others moving behind them waiting to fire on the expecting charging ninjas below. They had to be at least 700 ft. off the ground level of the valley. Every fifteen or so feet there was a giant crossbow manned by three people. Almost all the figures were dressed in black and had either long bows or crossbows in their hands. That is when he saw movement behind and above the first line. "There is a second, about a story higher up same set up full of archers, Damn there is another level with fucking catapults on them."
"And two more after that one with catapults and the last one has trebuchets on it." reported Hanabi the wall had to be at least 800 feet tall. "It's like a stairs with five levels each with enough room for weapons. We need to get them to stop the charge."
"We are too late." Said Mifune
Up on the wall, Naruto stood in the front line of bowmen, slowly he pulled his sword and raised it up so everyone could see it. With the white Aldhard steel, it was easy for the operators of the fifteen trebuchets in the final row to see. With the sword raise everyone one the line placed an Aldhard tipped arrow in their bows. He knew that he was in the center of the largest gathering of archers in the history of the ninja nations. He had five levels of longbow man with him and below him in hidden arrow slots built into the wall where more crossbow man, everyone was waiting for his order to attack.
Below them the charging army of the ninjas had no idea what was about to rain down on them, they should have realized by now that there was no opening for them to go through. Then again it was the Lightening forces leading the way and they had very few experience commanders left after their civil war.
"May God have mercy on them." said Naruto to himself "Because I can't."
With that Naruto pointed his sword down and out, at once the the sound of tumb rang through the air as over a thousand bow man on each level let go at the same time. The first level had most of their arrows aimed straight down while the others behind had theirs pointed up in an arch. The arrows flew first, seconds later the crossbow bolts which where all on the first level with him fired in the wall arrow slits fired. The ballistas and catapults took a few more extra seconds and the trebuchets took even longer for the arm to swing around. For a brief moment all the incoming weapons where in the area at the same time, the combined number caused a giant shadow to cross the ground. It was not enough too totally block the sun, to the people on the ground they must have thought a large cloud was moving overhead. Only when the arrows and crossbow bolts began falling among them with deadly effect did they take notice.
The Aldhard tipped arrows went straight through almost every armor they had and the crossbow bolts with their shorter range but more impact actually speared the people they hit. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw an Lightening Chunin take a crossbow bolt straight in the chest it sent him straight backwards and seamed to stick him to the ground.
Just when the first wave of arrows and cross bows ended, the larger ballistas bolts landed on the ground. For a moment, nothing happened then the paper bomb charges inside the bolt exploded sending people flying. The ninjas had no idea what was happening they looked up about as high as they expected a wall to be and saw nothing. They could not have imagined that they were being shot at by a force sitting on top of a wall seven hundred feet high.
Then the catapult rounds hit these where giant large balls of paper, however upon impact the balls would exploded and send out small hundreds Aldhard ball bearings each. While small, the ball bearings would do great damage on mass by tearing into skin. Whole squads where taken out at once when these weapons hit. They where designed to wound not to kill and they where doing a great job of that.
Finally the worst hit happened, the trebuchets had launched much larger versions of the same weapon the catapults this one designed to kill on mass. To do this they had two additional surprised that there smaller cousins did not. Unlike the catapults, rounds which exploded upon impact these had timers built in and exploded above the heads creating a cone of death below where no one could survive. The second deadly addition to the small Aldhard balls there where large sharpened mini stars which would impede themselves in skin and take off whole limbs if it hit right.
Just when they thought it was all over, the second wave of arrows began falling and all the archers where skilled enough to fire at least 3 arrows every 2 seconds, and since they didn't have to aim they were having a field day firing as fast as they could. Once an archer's belt quiver was empty they would step back letting the next person take over while they got a fresh quiver and took a break.
The larger weapons took longer to load but the teams doing it was so well that Naruto couldn't help but smile. Naruto stopped, as he looked around at the men and women most of whom four years ago where going hungry in a slum city now here they were. Since it was cold so high up each wore the long, black Aldhard lined pants and long sleeve shirt, they had black fur lined cloaks to keep the wind off them, most had a hood. If they choose to they could have a sword or another close weapon on their hip but it was not going to play a part here. All of them had been taught how to use a longbow or a crossbow and now together they were pushing back a division of ninjas with ease.
"These are my soldiers." said Naruto to himself with pride in his voice.
Down below Atsui had no idea what was happening explosions where happening seemly everywhere and weapons which went through armor was falling on mass.
"I want squad 9 through 18 to move to the far side of the valley, hug the mountain side and find out where this fire is coming from!" yelled Atsui to his radio operator, who tried to raise the squads on the radio but got nothing.
"Lord Raikage I can't get ahold of them!" yelled the radio operator into the Raikage's ear second before an crossbow bolt went through his ears, spraying his kages face with warm blood and pieces of brain.
"Shit!" yelled Atsui as he used is hand to remove the blood and brain matter. He looked around the field to see that what was left of his forces where falling back on mass. Most of them had wounds and he saw a few with arrows sticking out of their bodies. Somewhere leaving limbs behinds while others had to be carried by their comrades. It was a slaughter and he had led his forces right into it.
"They are falling back!" yelled a voice as Naruto looked out to the field, the ninjas where in full retreat across the valley, most of those falling back had at least one arrow somewhere in their body. Some even had as many as four arrows and others had left a limb behind.
"Hold fire!" yelled Naruto as he raised his hand back up and the arrows and other weapon fire came to a stop. It was then that the men and women who had been firing their weapons saw the effects of it. The once perfectly green grass in front of the wall was now totally red, their where creators from the blasts, arrows which had missed covered the field and most off all the dead and dying ninjas lied so thick on the ground that it looked possible to walk across the field on their bodies.
A silence fell over the warriors from the land of Granite as they took it all in, over 80% of them had never seen combat before and those who had had seen only one. Most could not believe what they had done and that apart from some sore muscles from using their weapons they had no causalities. Suddenly someone, no one knew who began cheering and within moments a great cheer went up, followed by insults thrown toward the ninjas who were falling back in defeat.
I hoped you liked the opening battle of the war and how the forces of the Land of Granite set up their defenses. Now until next time please keep reading, thanks Wilkins75.