The Ark

by wilkins75

Thousands of years before the rise of the ninja nations the demon races to save themselves sealed themselves away. Now that seal is broken and all the demons have joined with humans from around the world creating thousands of new Jinchuriki. Who are feared and hated by the regular humans from their villages who see Jinchuriki as the source of the last war. Naruto/Sakura/Ino Mature

67. Chapter 66

Important Message Please Read.

First, I hope you will enjoy this chapter, however I have some news that you may be interested in. I am leaving on a vacation so the next chapter may be a slightly longer wait then normal. I hope you understand.

Second, this story will not last forever and I am already in the early planning stages of the next Naruto story. Now I want to get you my readers involved and while I will not run story ideas past you all I would like to have some of your input. Therefore, I want you to send me a review or PM if you have a long list with what couple or couples you would like to see in the next story. When I post the next chapter I will set up a poll with said couples and you the readers can tell me what couples you would like to see, now you may not get those couples it is my story after all. Also Naruto Characters only couples please the story I am thinking about is not set up for a cross over and anyone both alive or dead is free to be put up.

Thanks now enjoy this chapter.

Wilkins75

Chapter 66 Battle in the Bay

The first ray of sunlight was coming through the bedroom window before coming to a rest on the mostly empty bed. The peaceful quiet of the bedroom was suddenly broken by the sound of the phone ring. A hand shot out from under the covers and grabbed the phone from its resting spot on the nightstand.

"Namikaze estate," said the half asleep Ino Yamanaka, she knew she should have said her own last name but now that her mom was finally in the village they could begin planning the wedding that would make her, Sakura and Hinata Namikaze.

"Ino this is Sai, we have contact with 48 large ships from Kirigakure about two hours out from our first defense line." reported Sai as Ino sat up and bed.

"Damn." cursed Ino as her mind started racing "Is everything ready?"

"We are, however the civilian population may feel better if they see their Daimyo among them." Advised Sai

"Alright, I'll be in Nadeji as soon as I can." said Ino as she took a breath "Sai you know the plan but if you have to use them, use them."

"I was already planning too but if I can hold them off without using them I will." confirmed Sai

"I will trust your judgement," reported Ino as she took a breath, her mind racing about everything that had to be done. "I better get things ready here."

The phone went dead and for a moment Ino was not sure what to do then she picked up the phone again and dialed a different number. Across the village, another bedside phone began ringing.

"Hatake." said a female voice on the other end of the line.

"Shizune its Ino, enemy ships spotted in the bay get your husband up and get our close in defense ready." ordered Ino as she heard the other woman hold her breath.

"Alright, I'll get him up and he will get the word out." said Shizune as she looked across their bedroom where Kakashi and Rin where still sound asleep.

Within moments, the word went out to the watch officers in both villages, and once they confirmed their orders they began to carry them out. At once sirens began going off in both villages waking people from their sleep. It was an unwelcomed sound but it was not unexpected. Since they knew that this war was coming years in advance, they had prepared. Men and women who were part of the defense force only had to go as far as their closets to find their Aldhard armor and their standard weapons. Most of people where armed with bows, arrows and a close quarter bladed weapon of their choice normally either an ax or war hammer. There was no panic in the streets only people who knew what they were doing and where to go. Those who were either too young, too old or where taking care of none military matters went either to the bunkers or their station.

Another phone call was taking place, this time it was hundreds of miles away and under a giant wall. Like every room inside the wall there was no windows so the room was pitch black so it took a few moments for the hand to find the phone.

"Hello." said a soft voice that Ino knew all too well.

"Hinata, its Ino."

"Yes, what is going on back home?" inquired Hinata as she tried not to fall asleep with the phone in her hand. Her train had gotten in very late due to flooding on the rail lines, when she arrived she found Naruto and Sakura sitting at the train stop waiting. Both of them looked dead on their feet so they did not have time to do anything more than cuddle in the bed together. Even that did not last long since both Naruto and Sakura fell asleep seconds after getting into bed.

"We have an enemy fleet two hours out from the harbor." reported Ino as Hinata sat up in bed "Sai is calling in the forces but we may need to deploy Tenten's little toys early."

Hinata thought quickly, she knew that the plan was to not use those weapons until both the fleet and the ninjas where in place so that they could stop any warnings. However why the ninjas and now the fleet was in place but the Knights of the Land of Animals where hours away from the wall, and even then they would need rest before the attack.

"Do you need us?" asked Hinata, both of them knew that they would never arrive back home in time for the battle but it had to be asked anyhow.

"Not right now, our defenses are ready," reported Ino "However we may need to use it early."

"Alright, I'll tell Naruto-kun and everyone else here." answered Hinata as she took a breath "Good luck and be safe."

"Thanks." confirmed Ino as both of them ended the call.

Kakashi was not having a good morning; he had rushed out the door on his way to the central command center on the bridge. They had planned for this and everything had a multiple level defense, the gates would be sealed and different strong points would be made ready to stop any attack. The four major defense points which Kakashi had to worry about was the twin strong points which guarded each side of the bridge.

"How long until all the civilians are across the bridge?" inquired Kakashi as he looked out at the crowed bridge. It was full of civilians heading toward the valley on the island; there they would be the safe from any attack.

"Within the hour." reported the aid

"Ok once they are across seal the tunnel and arm the charges." ordered Kakashi as some of the aids blinked. They all knew that when they had built the bridge they had placed special boxes where explosive charges could be placed to bring the bridge down.

"Sir is that really needed?" inquired the aid "They haven't even landed any forces."

Kakashi thought for a moment before agreeing with the aid.

"Alright don't arm the charges but make sure they are ready to go," ordered Kakashi

Back in black snake pass the Kages where having a final meeting before most of the kages headed back to their homelands to form up the other divisions.

"So they have dire wolves in the hills?" inquired Gaara

"So it would seem," confirmed Hanabi "Tsume reports that her son trained at least fifty of them to fight against us."

"So the mountains are impassable," countered Gaara before looking at his fellow Kages. "This adventure is becoming an even bigger waste of time."

"Your feelings on this is well known Lord Kazakage." stated Mifune before looking around the room. "It is time that we headed out, the sooner we are back in our villages the sooner we will be victorious."

"Don't worry I will hold the line while you're gone." confirmed the oldest Kage Onoki he would be assume command of the forces while the younger generation of leaders went home to gather their forces.

Within two hours, the fleet of 48 warships from the Land of Water was at the mouth to the harbor. To reach the harbor and the city of Nadeji they had to pass through a narrow gap between the mainland and the island, the only thing that seemed to be in their way was a narrow strip of land, which shot out into the bay. If this was any normal defense line a fort of some kind would have called that spot home however instead a tall narrow lighthouse and a couple of side buildings was the only thing visible.

The fleet from the land was water was 48 strong with 28 large transport ships full of ninjas ready to storm what they thought to be a defenseless beach. The other twenty warships where smaller attack ships from which teams of sailors operating catapults and other weapons could support the attacking force.

"Sir the way seems clear." reported the second officer of the lead attack ship as it moved toward the opening to the harbor.

"Are they all asleep or something?" inquired the Jonnin Captain as he scanned the area with some binoculars. That is when he saw them, moving along the walls of the city and toward what appeared to be stone towers in the harbor. Teams of people with bows and arrows in their hands, as he watched them move he saw one of them drop a pack of some kind before running back to pick it up.

"They are not ready at all," laughed the Captain as movement to his front caused him to look out into the water. There raising out of the water was not one but three thick chains which crossed the entire gap between the shoreline and island.

"Well it seems that they have at least some defenses." Stated the second officer, both of them knew that they could not head into the harbor until those chains where taken care of. It likely would not take much, just get close and use a simple justu or two to break the chain.

"They don't stand a chance," reported the Captain "Send a message to the Mizukage we are moving in to take care of the enemy and to establish protection for a landing force."

From the high walls of Nadeji, the citizen defenders of the city could look out at the fleet of warships only miles away from their homes and their families. This village was almost entirely human and with most of the ninjas off holding other positions almost none of the people now tasked to defend the city had any combat experience.

"Look at those ships," said a young defender maybe sixteen year old, normally he would be more interested in if his female classmates where free the next weekend. Now he found himself dressed for combat with a mace hanging from his belt and a bow in his hands.

"It's alright to be scared." Said a voice behind the young man as he turned around to see a woman dressed in ninja gear, her long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Lady Daimyo." strutted the man as everyone looked at Ino; they had not expected to see their Daimyo on the wall with them. Most Daimyos would have gotten on the first train out of town or hiding in a bunker. Here Ino was with them on the wall, sharing some of the risk.

"Yes, now as I was saying. It is all right to be afraid everyone is like that the first time they see battle and it never truly goes away," explained Ino "What matters is that you push your fear aside and remember what you're fighting for. We are all fighting because this is our home and we will not allow them to take it away from us."

Maybe it just the sight of their Daimyo standing with them or maybe it was her words but some of the fear left the hearts of the defenders however they all knew that words wouldn't be enough to stop the coming assault.

The first line of defense was at black spear point and there Sai looked out over the water toward the nearest troop ship, it was easy to tell which ones where the troop ships. They were the larger ships and they were behind defense line of smaller attack ships. The attack ships while a threat where nowhere near as dangerous to the village as those troop ships. Luckily, there was little in the way of wave action so he could clearly make out the orange dot floating out in the ocean.

"We have a ship over B-7." reported Sai

"Rodger sir." said the operator who sat behind a switchboard. The board had four columns with ten switches in each column. All of them where labeled A through D and 1 through 10, the operator moved the B-7 switch causing a small light beside it to turn green.

Outside onboard the flagship of the Kirigakure fleet the Mizukage Mei Terumi watched as one of the troop transports moved toward the launching point. Once it was in place smaller boats would be deployed to carry out the landing. Kirigakure was the only ninja nation who trained how to carry out large sea based assaults so Mei Terumi knew that everyone under her command knew what they were doing.

"Still no sign of any defenders?" inquired Mei Terumi to her nearest aid, she had expected whatever passed for a navy down here to come out and challenge them. She saw ships in their harbor but none where attempting to move away from the docks.

"Besides those chains which block our path and the forces on the beach, no." confirmed the aid "They must be planning to fight us on the beach."

"I see, something doesn't feel right," admitted Mei Terumi as she looked at the impressive bridge, which spanned the gap between the mainland and the island. She had no idea why they would build a bridge to a believed cursed island but if they had time to build a bridge like that, they had to have some kind of defense besides a couple of chains."

"They must not have expected an attack from the sea," offered the aid

"They are too smart for that," noted Mei Terumi as suddenly the sound of exposition caused her head to lift up. She looked up just in time to see the troop ship lift out of water; fire erupted from both sides of the ship. The sound of metal was groaning and people screaming filled the air as the transport split in half and began to break apart on the surface.

"What the?" yelled the aid surprised at the sudden sinking of one of their ships.

"How many on that ship!" inquired Mei Terumi as she instantly thought about the people in the water.

"500 ninjas plus crew." said the aid as they looked at the sinking ship; they could see some of the lifeboats being lowered. "How did that happen? An accident maybe?"

"I don't believe in accidents on a battlefield," stated Mei Terumi "Send some of the smaller ships to pull survivors from the water."

In the lookout point there were smiles all around as they watched the transport ship sink below the waves. Sai was not smiling; he knew that there were still 47 enemy ships trying to invade his homeland.

"Sir the attack boats have reached the first chain," stated a woman holding a pair of binoculars.

"Alright time for them to learn we are here," said Sai "Open the doors and tell Kurotsuchi she is up."

Down below them cut into the very black stone which made Black Spear point the granddaughter of the third Tsuchikage stood perfectly still. All around her was the where the man and women she had been training for almost two years on the weapons located before them. While a handful of there where demons, none of them where ninjas all of them where civilians who had never seen combat. They had been called to fight now, to defend their nation, their homes and their families. The entire room was bathed in a red combat light so that while it allowed everyone to see it would not alert the enemy to their location.

Suddenly a small yellow light on the wall turned on, that was the sign that the time had come.

"Open the door!" commanded Kurotsuchi as quickly the wall in front of them began to be lowered down, the wall being lowered allowed natural sunlight to flood the room was the defenders got a clear look at what was before them. They was maybe a dozen feet above the high tide line so they had a straight shot across the gap toward the dominating rock face of the island. Between them and that, rock face was only ocean and small enemy warships. None of the warships had spotted them yet and it looked that they were trying and failing to break the Aldhard chains, which blocked their path into the harbor.

"Team one; take the one nearest to the chain." yelled Kurotsuchi as she went down the line to all seven of her teams, each team adjusted their sites, and they didn't have to worry about range they only had to make sure it was enough to get to the island.

"Ready?" yelled Kurotsuchi as she looked out toward the sea. From her position, she could see the crew of the smaller ships trying to bust the chain. She grinned, that chain was pure Aldhard and it was strong enough to cut diamonds.

"Crossbow one ready!" yelled the first team as one by one all of them confirmed that they were ready.

"Fire!" yelled Kurotsuchi as the massive crossbows each one larger than a cargo container fired. The bolts flew out but they did not fly out on their own behind each of them was a large chain with a weight at the end. Of the first seven bolts, only three hit their ships, the rest flew across the gap and hit the far rock face. Two of the misses had only missed by what looked to be a couple of feet, Kurotsuchi felt like screaming at them, when she remembered how she felt the first time she saw combat. The fear caused people to make mistakes they had been trained not to do. Still the ships that they did hit the effects where clear at once, the massive new addition of weight on one side of the ship caused those ships to tilt over and before their crews had time to do much of anything besides cursing they had capsided.

"Reload!" yelled Kurotsuchi as the civilians turned soldiers went to work.

Up in the command center Sai watched as the smaller ships flipped over and floated dead in the water, they were now useless. The only thing they were good for was blocking the harbor and as a life boat to those men in the water, and that role was not going to last long. The Aldhard weight would pull the ships under, slowly but in time those ships would reach the ocean floor.

"Sir, another troop ship over D-4." reported a spotter

"Then fire." ordered Sai as someone else flipped the switch.

Out in the bay Mei Terumi watched as three of her smaller ships suddenly sank for no reason. The meant that she had four ships down and she had yet to even seen the enemy.

"Where are they?" inquired Mei Terumi as she looked toward one of her other ships, luck was on her side as she saw a pointed cylinder maybe ten feet long shoot out of the water beside the ship. Her eyes widened as she looked at the strange objects, seconds after it broke the surface the cylinder exploded in a giant fireball, which ripped apart the side of the transport.

For a moment her view was blocked by smoke but then she saw the effects of the attack, it had torn apart the side of the ship opening the haul just above the waterline. She could see that the decks where covered with blood and body parts. That ship while still afloat was totally out of action and likely only hours away from going under.

"Get one of our ships over there to unload the survivors!" ordered Mei Terumi

"What happened to it?" inquired the aid as Mei Terumi looked down near the massive hole in the ship only to see an orange marker, not unlike one she would see back in her village harbor or any harbor. However, this one had D-4 written on the side. She quickly looked back to where the first ship had gone down only to see a matching marker with B-7 written on it.

"It's a mine field." stated Mei Terumi as she scanned the waters, there were multiple markers each with a different letter and number on it. "It's a mine field of some kind."

In truth, Mei Terumi was only partly correct, under her ships and resting on the bottom of the ocean where for the lack of a better term giant crossbows each already loaded and pointing up. These one time fire only crossbows where designed to fire on command and shot their bolt straight up and either blow up on contact or moments after it broke the surface. They had been placed down there and marked with floating markers, which told the controllers at black spear point where each one was so that they could be fired at would. The main issue with them was the fact that they could not be reloaded however there was also no way to destroy them being so far down under the water.

"Pull back, everyone pull back!" ordered Mei Terumi as two more of those cylinders shot out of the water, one exploded too far away from the small attack ship to do anything more than scare it's crew. The other must have hit the bow of the ship because one moment it was there and the next moment the entire bow of the ship was gone.

"Looks like they are turning around," reported an aid as Sai watched the scene those ships which had been heading into the attack where now running with their tail between their legs.

"How many more did Kurotsuchi do?" inquired Sai

"They got five more ships," stated the aid "Overall we got four of their transport ships and ten of their smaller attack ships sunk and two others heavily damaged."

"Which still leaves them with 32 ships waiting to attack us." Said Sai as the ships near the back of the fleet began to turn as they got into formation. From this distance he could just see that the ships where dropping anchor lines. "They will reform and rethink their plans."

"Our defenses head better then we can ever hope for, we still have over half of our water bows." reported the aid

"And Mei Terumi is smart enough to go after them to clear the way for her attack." countered Sai "We need to strike first."

"Sir, how could they hit those weapons they are so under the water." Offered the aid

"By destroying the markers." reported Sai as the aid blinked "How can we know which one to fire without them, it would be as good as throwing kunias in the dark."

"Sir, what do you recommend?" inquired the aid

"Arm Tenten's weapon, they are sitting still which makes them great targets." Ordered Sai

"Yes, sir." confirmed the aid

Out at sea Mei Terumi was deep in though as she studied the field before her, all the maps showed that besides the harbor there was nothing but cliffs around the whole nation. Normally cliffs would only be a small issue since ninjas could easily run up them by using chakra to hold onto the rock face, however the black stones which made up the cliffs repulse chakra. Add to that the fact that they were razor sharp and could cut as deep as any knife made it impassable for all but expert climbers.

"We could sail around the island and try to take the harbor from the other side," offered up an aid

"That could take days and we wouldn't know what is waiting for us on that side," stated Mei Terumi

"What about unloading here?" offered the aid

"Too far from the beach, we don't have enough of the landing crafts to put enough forces on the beach to hold it," stated Mei Terumi she knew that while she could order her forces to run across the water using their chakra to hold themselves up. The distance between the ships and the shore meant those who did make it to the shore would not have enough chakra to fight.

"Alright, we will hold here until night fall then once night as fallen we will send ships in to destroy those markers and whatever is causing our ships to sink." Ordered Mei Terumi "At the same time I want to send our elite forces on a recon mission up the coast, have them land and climb the cliffs. We need more information about what is going on."

"Ma'am, we have movement by the lighthouse," reported a younger aid who was looking through a pair of binoculars.

"What kind of movement?" inquired Mei Terumi

"Not sure, I saw something coming out of the ground and then there was smoke," explained the aid "I don't see anything, but there is a lot of white smoke around the lighthouse."

"A summons?" inquired the senior aid

"I don't see anyone and aside from the smoke I see nothing." Reported the younger aid

On shore, Tenten watched from the safety of the city walls. She knew what had just happened and she knew that the Mist ninjas would have no idea what hit them.

"Should be any moment now," reported Tenten to herself as she double-checked her watch before looking back up.

Then it happened, within moments the entire horizon where the enemy ships had been gathered turned a mixture of bright red and orange as hundreds of thousands of small paper bomb size explosions happened within seconds of each other.

Out at sea there had been no warning and like a legendary rogue wave, it was over within seconds. What was left behind once it passed was nothing less than total destruction. While most of the ships where still a lot the entire super structure of the ships where turned into nothing more than twisted metal with a healthy mix of oil and human blood. Lying on her back was the almost unrecognizable body of Mei Terumi, the Mizukage had her entire face blown off, both legs where gone and so was one of her arms. Her body was ripped with metal shards, in fact the only thing that marked her as the Mizukage was a ring she always wore and even that had been heavily damaged.

It took a few moments but within a couple of minutes those who had made it through the attack began to call out either in pain or in an attempt to figure out what had happened. Then the next attack came as thousands of more explosions ripped the ships apart even more, leaving none alive on the top decks. Some of the explosions had happened near the water line and those who had been in the relativity safety of the lower decks now had to deal with water rushing into their ships.

Cheers where heard all around the city of Nadeji as a third wave hit the ships and when the smoke cleared the defenders where greeted by the sight of multiple enemy ships going down. Those who were not going down where nothing more than twisted metal which would soon be at the bottom of the sea. The once mighty fleet that had only hours ago looked ready to take the city was now nothing more than scrap metal. Only three ships of the original 48 only three where sea worthy and those ships quickly began to turn around to head away from the twisted remains of the fleet.

It was just past noon as the first train from the land of animals arrived at the wall. On that train was multiple knights and everything they would need from their armor and weapons to spare horses.

"Lord Onikage," greeted Lord Drake Eastman as he moved to embrace Naruto. "Is it time to kill some invaders?"

"Sadly yes." confirmed Naruto as he took a breath.

"Is something wrong?" inquired the consort to the Queen of the Land of Animals.

"We have to push up our attack, we destroyed an enemy fleet this morning and we don't to lose the element of surprise," explained Naruto as Lord Eastman nodded his head in understanding.

"So when do we attack?" inquired Eastman

"Just after sundown, so just under ten hours." Reported Naruto

"Normally I would say that is impossible but we didn't ride our horses here so they are fresh and ready for combat." stated Eastman as the first warhorse was getting off the train. "It is also because of you and your ninjas that our nation is ours. We will ride to war with you any time and any place."

"Thank you." confirmed Naruto as he took the hand of the Knight.

"Now let's go make sure your nation is forever free."