Chapter 65 Darkest Night
It had not been a good day for the ninja forces but luckily, it was over, the physical terrain along with the fact that weapons on the wall covered a large part of the central valley meant that the ninja force had to set up duel camps. The first and larger camp was located next to the boarder while the smaller camp was set up inside the main valley itself. Contacting the two camps was a narrow twisting path. Running though it all was a double line of train tracks, already three trains had passed through the camp. Two of the trains had carried land of Bronze workers who lived in the land of Granite; the other train pulled multiple cars full of dead bodies. The site of multiple train car full of their fellow ninjas was hard for them to watch. The mood of the camp reflected this, there was no sing around the campfires or laughter, instead there was a lot of drinking and crying.
"We need a victory to wash away the taste of this defeat," stated Mifune as the samurai general shock his head.
"Well we will not be around to deal with it," counted Hanabi the Kages had decided that the Tsumekage would assume command of this division while the other Kages headed back to their nations to form up the other ninja divisions.
"What about Mizukage and her forces?" inquired Gaara "We should inform her that we have been stopped."
"We haven't been stopped I have ordered teams into the mountains to find a path and I have also ordered people to head toward this wall to scout it out." countered Mifune all the Kages knew that the Mizukage was back in her village preparing to sail down to the land of Granite to launch a sea born invasion. "Besides the Mizukage and her fleet may be key to our victory, we are holding their forces here meaning there will be less forces holding their city. Once the Mizukage takes their cities we can hold them in place while the Mist ninjas move in and attack them from behind."
"I disagree with that wall, it will not require much to hold us here." countered Gaara "Also we have been surprised by this wall, we should expect more surprises from them."
"You just want this to end because your sister is one of them," cursed Atsui
"I will admit that is part of it." admitted Gaara "However that doesn't change the fact that they know more about us then we do about them. It is well known that whichever side wins the information war will likely win the war, they have all the knowledge about us while we have none."
"Gaara you are right about the fact that we don't have the information we need which is why we have sent recon teams out." reported Hanabi "They will give us the information we need."
A few miles away from the command tent a two teams of leaf ninjas moved across the pitch-black valley heading toward the massive wall. The ground was soaked with a mixture of blood and water and the whole valley smelled of death. The four member of each team were taking their time as they crossed the valley, their goal was to reach the dark shape of the wall at the far end of the valley to gather information. They had covered about half the distance between their front lines and the wall, so they were on the far edge of the battlefield. The ground which had been covered with holes from the explosions but they had filled in, making the ground almost totally flat.
"Do you see anything?" inquired the first team leader as they crouched behind a large rock.
"I see some people walking along the top of the wall," reported the young Hyuga member of their team.
"The rest are likely sleeping off the battle," stated another member of the team, before pointing toward another rock a good fifty yards away. "I believe that is our best bet for our next cover."
"Agreed, move out," ordered the team leader as they moved out toward their next cover, knowing that across the valley from them the other recon team was following a matching path. Their mission was to get to the base of the wall and radio back what they found. They were about half way between the two sets of cover when suddenly the entire area was bathed in bright light making the ninja forces stick out.
"Fuck!" cursed the Hyuga member as he looked up toward the light just in time for two arrows to go through his eyes. The others member did not have time to react as more arrows hit them and within seconds the four-man team was totally gone. The other team had a few extra seconds since the archers on the wall aimed at the other team. Those seconds ended up saving three of the four as they bolted and ran from the field leaving five dead bodies behind.
Up on the wall Neji Hyuga stood beside the elite archers, which had taken the shots, which had taken the Leaf ninjas down. He knew that they could have killed more of the recon teams but it was always good to leave some alive so that they could spread the story about the attack. The stories would add more fear to into the heart of the attack force and fear could be the most powerful weapon on a battlefield.
"Turn off the lights." ordered Neji as the powerful search lights which had been built into stations along the side of the valleys at the same height of the wall turned off. Once they were off darkness returned and the valley returned to its natural pitch-black state.
"So they finally sent a recon team?" inquired Sasuke as he walked up to the commander of this defense line.
"Yes." confirmed Neji sadly; thanks to the byakugan he could see the dead body of one of his little cousins in the field before him.
"Let me guess, you're sad about killing a member of your family?" inquired Sasuke
"For once I am actually wish I was you." admitted Neji as Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that statement "You don't have to worry about killing a member of your family in this war."
"One of the benefits of having no family aside from my wives and children." stated Sasuke as he took a breath "Naruto has finally agreed to launch our counter attack."
"When?" inquired Neji
"Two days, the Knights from the Land of Animals arrive tomorrow and Naruto wants to give them some time to rest up," explained Sasuke "So we will need the back trebuchets moved out of the way and your wife's new weapon system ready to go then."
Neji nodded his head; he knew that all the trebuchets and other large weapons where set on rails so that they could be moved around and at each end of the wall were elevators which allowed the weapons to be lowered in for repair. Under their feet where rooms full of different weapons, which could be pulled up if, needed. In the far back stood the weapons, which would likely change the course of this war by killing thousands in a single attack.
"Alright, you know on some levels Tenten wishes she had never came up with the idea for those things in the first place." explained Neji as Sasuke shrugged.
"Well the cat is out of the bag now and she didn't really developed it did she?" inquired Sasuke "From what I read all she did was take something already created for entertainment and weaponized it."
"True, but she still doesn't like it," admitted Neji "And if what Shikamaru told me is correct Lee is down there. I don't want to kill him."
"I wanted to kill him thousands of times but yes, he is your former teammate." admitted Sasuke "The question is would you rather see Lee in a pool of his own blood or watch as some Leaf ninja bashes your son's head against a wall for being a demon?"
Neji simply blinked as he tried not to think about the mental image Sasuke had just put into his head.
"Well let's just hope for your shake that Lee manages to survive the attack when it comes." stated Sasuke both of them knowing that in all the tests most of the test dummies where lucky to be standing at the end.
"Is there a reason you came up here?" inquired Neji
"Yes, we are to turn on the lights." Explained Sasuke "Then you're supposed to get some sleep, I have the watch."
"Lady Hokage," Said a voice as Hanabi turned around to see a tall man dressed in the green jump suit with multiple orange bands around the legs and arms.
"Lee, what are you doing here?" inquired Hanabi as Rock Lee entered the command tent where the Kages had gathered. "How can I help you?"
"Ma'am, when Shikamaru brought us the train cars full of our dead and captured he spent some time talking to me and I felt it was needed to bring it to your attention." reported Lee as all the kages looked at him. Hanabi with a wave of the hand told Lee to keep talking. "He said that we failed to kill a single person on their side."
"A likely story." laughed Mifune "There is no way that is even possible."
"They have something called Aldhard Armor and weapons," reported Lee as the Kages eyes widened
"Aldhard…tell me you know this Shikamaru Nara did this seem like a buff of any kind?" inquired Onoki
"No sir, I don't believe Shikamaru was lying," explained Lee
"No, they can't have Aldhard armor and weapons that would cost a tons of gold to make." counted Mifune as he shook his head.
"Mifune it is time to face the truth, they have Aldhard weapons it is the only thing that makes sense." Countered Hanabi "Nothing besides Aldhard could explain how they are able to punch through all our armor."
"So they have Aldhard weapons, this changes things drastically the question is how drastically does it change things?" inquired Onoki "The issue is that we don't know how much Aldhard they have, since this is likely their main line of defense I would bet most of them are here."
"Shikamaru claimed that the wall itself is made totally of Aldhard too," added Lee as the Kages and Samurai General eyes widened at that.
"That massive wall is made totally of Aldhard?" inquired Mifune as Lee nodded his head. "Now I know it is a bluff, there is no way they could have that much Aldhard, your friend is trying to scare us."
Suddenly the night turned to day as bright light filled the camp, this sudden event caused all the Kages to reach for their weapons however there was no cry of alarm or sound of battle. Quickly they all walked out of the tent to find that their whole camp was now bathed in light from powerful searchlights, which were located high up in the mountains looking down at them.
"What the?" inquired Atsui as he looked at the lights.
"Search lights they must have put them up there." stated Mifune
"Very smart, Shikamaru." stated Hanabi
"Not very, why put lights up there instead of weapons?" countered Atsui with a cocky grin as the Hokage gave him a look that told everyone what she thought about the Raikage intelligence.
"Two reasons, first putting weapons up there means they would have to put people up there to reload them, search lights can be operated remotely. Secondly if they did put weapons up there they would have to cut more of the rock face away which would cause issues." Explained Hanabi
"Why put them up there in the first place then?" inquired Atsui
"Psychological warfare." stated Onoki "It will be hard for our forces to get any sleep with those powerful lights on, it is in human nature to sleep when it gets dark."
"Like I said nice move Shikamaru," repeated Hanabi
"Actually this looks more like Temari's handy work then Shikamaru." countered Gaara as Hanabi rolled her eyes.
The small team of Inuzuka clan members had been trying for hours to find a way through the mountains, however they had found nothing yet. At first, they had found a promising path; it was narrow but passable and seamed to lead around the massive wall. However when they journeyed down the path they found that it lead only down a path which snaked around the far mountains before ending at the impassable rock face only fifty feet above where the path started.
Just after sunset they had found another path and began to follow it, this one was very a steep climb but it seemed to lead up and beyond the defense line. Finally, just before midnight they reached a large plateau covered with pine trees.
"Let's rest here till dawn," ordered Tsume as she and the twenty other Inuzuka clan members and their hounds began to spread out around the thick pine forest.
"Can we light up some stoves?" inquired one of her teammates.
"Go headed we have all this tree cover and we are facing away from the wall." observed Tsume as they took out cooking stoves. After a few moments the glow from the stoves began to cast shadows over the trees, up here winter has not let go of its grip. So there was a good two inches of snow on the ground while spring was in full swing down in the valley.
"Damn it is so cold," cursed Katsuro as he put his hands toward the heater to warm up.
"That is part of the deal little brother." said Airi as she pulled down her black facemask to grab a couple of warmed water from the top of the heater. "We are in the field and that means going places we wouldn't want to go."
"Still it sucks." cursed Katsuro as he petted the largest ninja hound in the history of the Inuzuka clan, Hibiki on his head.
"I am going to take a leak," said one of their cousins as he moved off into the woods.
"I don't need to know that." Said Airi as she rolled her blue eyes at her cousin, just as she finished the forest became deadly quiet. On their way up the mountain they had heard the sound of night birds in the trees and had even seen a couple of deer at a distance. All of the Inuzuka clan members knew that the only time a forest ever got this quiet was when there was an alpha predator nearby.
"What is supposed to be in these woods?" inquired Katsuro
"Dire wolves but they only hunt in groups of five so they will not mess with us." reassured Tsume as she looked around the 19 members of her clan all gathered around the heaters in groups of five. "Where is Haruto?"
"He went to take a leak." reported Katsuro as he took out a flashlight from a belt clip and shinned it in the general direction that Haruto had walked off in. The light shinned on a figure dressed in a standard jonnin uniform plus a thick coat with the Inuzuka clan symbol on its back.
"Get back here you idiot." ordered Katsuro only to have his older cousin Haruto fall to his knees before turning slightly toward them only to finish his fall into the snow. Blood was pouring out of a deep thin cut across front of his face, it looked as if someone had ripped off his face starting at the chin and ending at the top of his head.
"Haruto!" yelled Katsuro as he moved forward only to be stopped by his sister.
"Look you fool." Ordered Airi as she pointed toward the nearby tree, the white snow on its branches where now covered with bright red blood. At once all the ninjas pulled out their weapons, mostly they had kunais however some had short swords and other small weapons. "Look at that clean cut, this isn't the work of wolves, we are not alone."
"Your right cousin." said a voice from the darkness as all the Inuzuka clans spun around to see a shape rising up from the snow, it was dressed mostly in white with fur lining the edges, and the white somehow caused him to blend into the snow. In his left hand was a sliver tomahawk, the edge of which was covered with bright red blood. "Hello mom."
"Kiba?" inquired Tsume
"It's me mom." Said Kiba as he pulled down a facemask to show a face which had hardly aged since he had left the leaf.
"You killed Haruto!" cursed Katsuro to his older cousin.
"He will pay for it, we out number him 19 to one and that isn't even counting our ninja hounds," noted Airi as their ninja dogs moved forward, the massive ninja hound Hibiki was in up front. Hibiki was at waste height and weighed a hundred pounds all of which was pure muscle. Hibiki had his white teeth out and was licking at the lips to attack, aside from a Tomahawk Kiba seamed unarmed making him easy prey for the pack.
"He was somewhere he didn't belong, like you are." said Kiba as if he wasn't concern about the large group of ninja hounds moving toward him. His cockiness soon became clear as a large wolf, nearly up to Kiba's elbow moved out of the darkness. The wolf was bulker then the ninja hounds but it was massive in comparison and its teeth where larger than Hibiki. Its jet-black fur made it almost invisible in the darkness only its eyes and white teeth seamed to glow in the oven light.
"What the?" inquired Tsume as the ninja hounds stopped their advance at the sight of a single wolf "That isn't Akamaru?"
"He is back home protecting my daughters," said Kiba as Tsume blinked, she had just learned she had granddaughters.
"One large dog isn't anything to worry about," stated Katsuro with as much cockiness as his older cousin, Kiba.
"This isn't a dog, it's a dire wolf and you have entered their territory. Our land and we don't like that," said Kiba as the wolf, pulled its head back and howled. As it howled the smaller of the ninja dogs backed away in fear, suddenly countless others coming from all around joined the one howl. The Inuzuka clan members spun around in the darkness, they could see the steam coming from the howling wolf's breaths.
They were surrounded and after they finished their howls the wolves moved in, within moments fifteen dire wolves each larger then Hibiki moved into the light of the stoves. Each one had their teeth bare and where ready to attack the much smaller ninja hounds. To make matters worse judging from the reflections from the stoves coming off the eyes of the wolves there was another line of wolves behind the first ring. The ninja dogs pulled back to their partners cowering in the face of these wolves. Only the largest Hibiki did not fall back instead the ninja hound, which had never backed down from a fight moved to attack the smallest of the wolves. Hibiki did not stand a chance as the dire wolf bite down on Hibiki's neck before tossing the largest ninja hound in the history of the Inuzuka clan against a tree like a rag doll.
"Hibiki!" yelled his partner as slowly the ninja hound stood up, blood covering his neck. He limped back toward the pack injured but alive.
"I have over fifty dire wolves spread out across this location and your only path back to your camp is covered by even more wolves." Reported Kiba "Some of you may escape this but you would never make it back before you are killed."
"What do you want?" inquired Airi, in truth Tsume was head of the team but her aunt was looking at her son nothing else.
"Simple I want you to leave." Stated Kiba "Now I could try to put the patrol bands on your arms but more than likely if I got too close you would try to kill me, so I guess a verbal warning will have to do."
"We will not back down!" yelled Katsuro as Kiba laughed a bit at his younger cousin's boldness.
"Then these wolves will use your bones as chew toys." stated Kiba with a laugh "Now Mom please come here."
"What?" inquired Tsume.
"Don't worry I am not going to kill you." explained Kiba as he pulled a letter from his pack, inside was photos of the girls so that Tsume could see them. "Maybe someday my daughters can meet their grandmother and that is hard if I kill you."
"Kiba please let us help we can free you from the demons." said Tsume as Kiba rolled his eyes.
"There is nothing to free mom," countered Kiba as he handed over the letter "You're attacking your own family out of fear mom. I am afraid too. Because next time I or any of my wolves find you up here, they or I will kill you."
Tsume never got a chance to say anything as Kiba turned his back on her and disappeared into the snow-covered forest, moments after he disappeared the wolves followed suit until nothing remained but the forest.
Hours later the first rays of sunlight was still two hours away as Sai walked up a spiral staircase toward the highest part of his command. While others were given command of protecting the main land routes into the land of Granite he had been assigned command of Black Spear point, which command main, enters to Nadeji harbor, which was the main port in the whole nation. While the wall to the North had risen up seven hundred feet up the protection system around Black Spear point was all underground with the only symbol of life being a lighthouse at the far edge. This lighthouse served two functions, first as a look out for any attacking force from the sea and second was to be an actual lighthouse.
When Sai reached, the lookout point located above the light he was greeted by the sight of at least four dozen large ships all heading straight toward the harbor.
"Sir, judging from their speed and location they should reach here in two hours." reported the lookout who had phoned him only minutes earlier. "I thought the earliest estimates had those arriving three days from now at the earliest."
"Well looks like intelligence got it wrong." stated Sai as he took a breath "Now wake everyone up we have a fight on our hands."
First, to my readers in the United States, Happy Fourth of July, I hope you enjoyed the Ninja hounds vs the Wolves, now the battle of sea is coming. Now I hope you keep reading, thanks Wilkins75.