Welcome back everyone to another chapter of Halo-Naruto! Yep, it's another marathon chapter, even after I promised myself to kinda ease back off of these. Welp, so much for that. Anyway, let's get on with it and I hope you enjoy!


!WARNING!

This story contains content not suited for younger readers, such as Violence, Blood and Gore, Language, and Explicit Sexual Content. This Chapter's Rating will be placed at M-Rated. Future Chapters may, and most likely, will switch back and forth between the T and M ratings.

Regardless, Reader Discretion for this Chapter is advised.


I don't own Halo or Naruto.

Bold-My Own Words

Bold & Italic-Locations, Time & Calendar

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

"Italic"-Foreign Language

'Italic'-Radio Chatter

/Italic\-AI/Computer typing


-It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

Norman Schwarzkopf

-We few, we happy few. We Band of Brothers. For he-today that sheds his blood with me shall be my Brother, be he ne'er so vile.

William Shakespeare

-3,124. That's how many. 3,124 servicemen and women, who lost their lives in an island chain none of us had ever heard of. 2,500 of those alone were killed in a quiet little town called Qushan. Again, a place most of us had never heard of. We had never heard of these places, we were too busy back then trying to get ourselves sorted out and established. Next thing we know, we're learning that over 3,100 of our loved ones were killed, and thousands more wounded, against a group of natives armed with spears, swords, and hunting rifles they never should have had to begin with. Everyone was confused and angry asking one another, 'Why did we ever go there? What the hell were they doing down there to begin with? Was there really a need for us to get involved down there and meddle in the affairs of the natives? How the hell did so many soldiers get killed by a bunch of primitive natives?' I'm sure they have their reasons, or at least think they do, but should we really have colonized this planet, knowing what was down there waiting for us? Sometimes, when I look at the news of what all has happened and what's going on... I-I just can't be sure anymore.

Xavier Holmes, widow whose husband died fighting in Qushan during the Sea Confederacy Campaign, during an interview in 2558 for the 3-part documentary 'First Contact: the Dominion's Colonization of Shensei' on the 15-year anniversary of the Dominion's Colonization of Shensei


Prologue Arc-Episode 11
-The Confederacy Campaign Pt.3-
(Part 11)


1952 PM
October 18, 2543
Qushan
Alpha-3 Castle
Second Level Courtyard Gate leading down to Third Level, Designated 'Gate 2-Bravo'
4th Platoon, Fox Company, 121st Ranger Regiment

Sergeant Damian Cooper

'Fox-Actual, this is 4-Papa. We got eyes on an enemy contingent moving through the lower courtyard, roughly half a platoon in size, about 200 meters from our position. Looks like they're trying to sneak they're way through the garden towards 2-Bravo. How copy, over?' Sergeant Damian Cooper heard his platoon leader, Sergeant First Class Ian Malcolm, called out on comms as he watched through his rifle's scope the pirates in question cautiously made their way through the trees and bushes that decorated the garden, trying to be as stealthy as possible, even though the night and the rain help conceal their movements. Trying to make his profile as small as possible on the wall, thankfully his body armor's color scheme blended in with the wooden palisade lining the top of the wall. Not that it really mattered when it was the dead of night and there was a thunderstorm overhead blocking off any moonlight.

The entire platoon was spread out across a 200-meter section of the wall facing the third level courtyard, bolstered by two squads from the heavy weapon's platoon, Fox-5, whose machine guns and SMAWs were spread out accordingly. They were responsible for watching one of the only 2 gates leading up to the 2nd level, with a platoon apiece watching the gates and nearby walls. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough troops to cover every single approach, so 2nd Platoon was split up into its respective fireteams patrolling the entire 2nd level, making sure no one had snuck up, while 1st Platoon was back up on the third level acting as guards for the company's HQ and an emergency reserve QRF should one be required. So far, the system had worked, as the pirates had attempted to retake the castle six times since the Rangers had secured it some 40 hours prior, but all six were beaten back by ferocious machine gun and mortar fire, with thankfully only 11 dead and as many wounded on the Rangers' end in exchange for hundreds of pirates dead, but leading to the stalemate they were in now. The pirates had complete control of the lowest courtyard with at least 1,400 combatants surrounding them, and the last attack had been almost four hours ago (With no shinobi showing up as of yet, strangely); so as far as Cooper was concerned, they were likely overdue for another attack.

'Fox-Actual copies all, Fox-4. Same SOP as before. If they get within 100 meters of the walls, you are to engage. Until then, hold fire and conserve ammunition. It's probably going to be a while before we get reinforced or resupplied. Fox-Actual, Out.'

"Shit, why the fuck did she have to add that last part? Was no reason to mention that." Cooper cursed under his breath, keeping his sights on the pirates down below. The pirates, despite whatever faults or ignorance on firearm tactics they had, were quick learners. They had quickly learned that charging forward in mass, as one would with swords and spears, was a quick way to get yourself killed when fighting firearms. Now they were moving from cover to cover, using whatever could be used to conceal themselves to try and avoid being spotted and shot.

Thankfully, these fuckers still had a lot to learn about how the UNSC waged war. Something they weren't going to live long enough to find out.

'Sarge, I'm tagging them at 126 meters from my position.' One of his squad marksmen, Specialist Torrens, called out on comms.

"Roger, keep your eyes on 'em, boys and girls. If we get the order, then drop 'em. But only if we get the order." Cooper ordered, not wanting to start a firefight if he can help it. The Shinks have pulled this stunt a few times now, sending a small scout force to try and probe the defenses the Rangers had established. Sometimes, the Rangers would let them sit and observe until they got bored and went back. Other times, when they got too close, the Rangers would eliminate them in one fell swoop so they couldn't call for help.

'You think they'll wise up and back off?' Corporal Miranda Gaines, his squad's second-in-command, asked quietly on comms.

"None of the others did, so probably not, no. They may not even have a choice in the matter." Cooper answered. More than likely, the pirates were given two choices as far as he could tell. Either risk dying by the Rangers' gunfire, or get killed by their own ruthless leaders for refusing to follow orders.

"Fucking figures. They either die by our bullets or die by their own." Private Hector Alvarez, his squad's SAW gunner, joked right next to Cooper as he kept his M379 trained on the pirates.

"Yeah. Something like that, I guess." Cooper agreed.

'Damn and I was just thinking of rubbing one out, too. Talk about bad timing, right Sarge?' Private First Class Bellino's voice chimed in on comms, earning a hushed snicker amongst the soldiers as Cooper shook his head in disgust. He was cold, tired, drenched from laying out in the rain, and now he had to listen to Bellino talking about wanting to beat his meat?! Could he not catch a break from all the FUBAR?

"Shut the fuck up, Bellino. Nasty-ass motherfucker. How the fuck can you even think of jerking off right now?"

'I didn't mean I want to go jack off, goddammit. I meant go piss. I've had to piss for like 10 minutes now.'

"Why didn't you ask to go earlier then when no pirates were creeping around, you stupid puta?" Alvarez asked aloud, but Cooper waved him off before answering, "Then you better fucking hold it until we deal with these assholes. Then take a BB* and you got five minutes to do so. I don't want anyone gone from the line too long until we get rotated out by Fox-Actual. You copy that?"

He heard a groan on the comms before Bellino acknowledged his last and got off comms.

He looked back through the scope of his MA37-SOCOM and watched as the pirate band slowly got closer, stumbling on their companions from previous scouting missions and attacks on the wall. Hundreds of bodies littered the courtyard before them, some gunned down while others had only bits and pieces left to identify after being struck by explosives. And from the look in their eyes, this sight clearly unnerved the pirates scouting ahead.

'Too bad, assholes. You about to join your friends there.' Cooper thought as he lined up a shot on one of the lead pirates, just as SFC Malcolm called out on comms, 'They've broken the 100-meter mark. 4th Platoon, standby to fire on my mark. 5th Platoon elements, hold your fire and conserve ammo for the big guns. We'll handle them.'

All the squad leaders acknowledge this as they had their respective squads line up shots. When everyone's showed green on their status, the order was given, 'Mark.'

Several dozen suppressed shots rang out, and before any of them could even sound an alarm, all the pirates were dropped as several rounds struck each one. Another scouting party eliminated, and the enemy now had about 20 fewer troops to throw at them.

"Jesus. Just a few thousand more times doing that and we'll be outta here." Cooper sarcastically remarked as he set his rifle down to grab a quick bit to eat from his MRE pack.

"Isn't that the fucking truth?" Alvarez replied as he took a swig from his hydration pack, "No way to sugarcoat it. Command fucked up, like usual. And we're the ones stuck paying the reaper."

In the distance, the two could hear artillery and gunfire erupting from the far side of the city. Aircraft swarmed overhead, dropping ordinance on pirate positions and erasing them with huge fireballs of death and destruction. Further up, they could see a couple of Charon-Class Frigates and one of the Gladius-Class Corvettes (They weren't sure what had happened to the other one.) raining down hellfire with their autocannons and a handful of missiles launched. Anywhere the pirates attempted to make a stand or attack was almost immediately decimated with overwhelming firepower. Even the shinobi, for all their own personal firepower and capabilities, couldn't hope to match or resist such a sheer onslaught, forcing them to either retreat or die where they stood.

Cooper hoped the flyboys wiped them all out, but he knew that was wishful thinking at best. And command had been rather hush-hush about what was going on, likely not wanting to tip off the pirates and enemy shinobi if they had managed to find a way to listen in on them. All Cooper did know was that Task Force Conway was back on the offensive and slowly making ground, opting for a slow methodical push along the entire front as opposed to the blitzkrieg-style rush and envelopment they had tried earlier. With any luck, they'd reach the river by sunrise without any complication. Either way, Cooper wished them nothing but the best luck doing so.

Still, he couldn't help but notice a severe lack of dropships recently. Almost like they had all been recal-

'Contact!' That single word over comms immediately had all the troops scrambling back to man the wall and scan for enemies. Cooper quickly stowed his MRE and grabbed his rifle, scanning the courtyard below him as the comms continued, 'Massive congregation of foot mobiles amassing before us at Gate 2-Alpha! Company-sized or more, armed with small arms and melee weapons, distance is currently about 300 meters from our position. Fox-Actual, how copy, over?'

"Fucking hell. Sarge, I'm seeing something similar." SPC Graves warned, scanning the line with her DMR, "About company-sized, maybe 200-300 meters from our position. Closing in slowly. Lots of small arms amongst them."

"Ah, shit. Here we go again." Cooper muttered, scanning the line and, sure enough, he could see a large number of pirates, all of them soaked and muddy, gathering together. No way they weren't prepping for an attack.

'Fox-Actual, this is Fox-4 at Gate 2-Bravo. We've also got large masses of foot mobiles assembling near our position. Estimated to be at least company-sized in numbers. How copy, over?' SFC Malcolm's voice came out over comms as Cooper kept an eye on the mass of pirates gathering below them. There must have been a couple hundred at least, all of them looking as if they were itching for a fight.

'Solid copy on all, Fox-3 and Fox-4. Mortars are on standby for fire missions. We'll see what Air Support we can muster to back us up. All Fox Elements, you are to repel any and all attempts by the enemy to breach the second level. Fox-Actual, out.'

"Alright, you all know the drill. When these assholes come, they gonna move fast and spray lead like crazy. Don't let it freak you out. Most of 'em can't hit anything for shit. Check your targets, take your time with your shots, and wipe these motherfuckers out. Hooah?" Cooper ordered his squad, receiving a chorus of 'Hooahs' in response as the Rangers prepped themselves for another battle.

"Any eyes on enemy shinobi?"

"Nah, nothing yet. Been weird. You'd think they'd of sent some overhear to attack us or something. That'll be their, what? Fourth time they've tried to take this place?" Graves mused as she eyed the growing mass with concern.

"Keeps your eyes open. Ain't no way they aren't gonna throw some ninjas our way with everything going on." Cooper ordered just as a battle cry was heard from the pirates' line. On comms, he could already hear the mortar team prepping to fire on predesignated coordinates. When the pirates attacked, they were going to get a nasty surprise in the form of several 81mm PGMs*.

'Standby. HE going out.' All five mortars roared to life, thunderous booms echoing out into the night, 'Shot, over.'

The moment those mortars fired, Cooper saw hundreds and hundreds of pirates suddenly sprint forward, armed with everything from swords and spears to small arms like smgs and civilian rifles. The survivors from the previous attack had learned very quickly what those booms meant, and didn't want to get caught in the coming hellfire. 'Course, if they were really smart, dumb bastards' just run the fuck away from the castle.' Cooper thought.

'All Fox-4 elements, weapons free! Let him have it!' Came the order from their Platoon Leader.

Almost as one, the entire platoon and supporting elements of Fox-5 opened fire on the horde of combatants charging forward. Suppressed rifles and machine guns cut down scores of pirates as they came screaming forward, who returned fire with their various assortment of smgs and civilian rifles. Cooper could hear scores of bullets smacking into the wall he was using for cover, but they weren't aimed at himself or any of his troops. In the stormy night and thanks partially to flash suppressors on the Ranger's weapons, the pirates only had a rough idea as to where the Rangers were along the wall, meaning they couldn't concentrate their fire and pin them down. So instead, they were firing blindly along the entire wall hoping to hit something.

"Fucking hell, who pissed in their cereal?!" Cooper swore as he cut down a trio of pirates in rapid succession.

"Is it just me, or does it seem like they're throwing a lot more weight into this attack than beforehand?!" Bellino called out, firing his MA37 as he did so.

"No, it definitely ain't just you! Must a few hundred down there at least!"

"Few hundred, my scrawny Italian ass! Must be a fucking battalion's worth down there charging us!"

20 seconds after they were fired, the mortar rounds finally came down. Three rounds detonated among the horde of pirates (The other two likely being used against the pirates attacking Gate 2-Alpha), sending scores of them to oblivion as the HE rounds threw up massive amounts of dirt and gore. The death throes and screams of several pirates could be heard as their lives were snuffed out. Even with all this firepower being leveled against them, the pirates still came surging forward. Some of them seemed to be almost in a daze, others had what could only be described as a feral rage, foaming at the mouth and blindly charging forward without any care for their well-being. Some of them were even taking several hits to down, and from 7.62-caliber weapons no less. (Which wasn't easy to do, considering how big a 7.62x51mm round actually was.)

Red flags immediately started raising up in Cooper's head. Something seemed off. The pirates hadn't acted like this before. In previous attacks, the moment they came under mortar attack, they'd freak out and beeline back towards their own lines to hide anywhere from the explosive rounds that seem to come from nowhere. This time, though, they were charging forward nonstop, with reckless abandon to their own welfare. As Cooper listened more closely, he recognized that their shouts seemed somewhat feral, crazed even.

Had they been drugged up or something? Given a good hit of opium or whatever their drug of choice was around here and sent into the slaughter?

Either way, it was making them burn through ammo like crazy just to kill them. The only thing that was slowing them down was the 81s being dropped on them. But even that firepower wasn't enough to outright stop them. White Phosphorous would help tremendously in a situation like this, but the stormy weather makes it all but useless to them. Whether the Rangers wanted them to or not, the pirates were seemingly hellbent on reaching the second level. And they might just achieve it.

"Son of a bitch! They just keep coming!" Alvarez swore, gunning down another group of pirates before he began to reload.

'Fox-Actual! Fox-3! We are taking heavy fire from enemy forces assaulting our position at Gate 2-Alpha! They're pushing up on the wall and we don't have enough firepower to push them back! Requesting Air Support! How copy, over?'

'Fox-Actual, this is Fox-4! We're in the same boat here! Mortar rounds are not stopping the enemy's attack! We're gonna need Artillery or Air Support, ASAP! Over!'

'Solid copy on all, Fox-3 and Fox-4. Air Support is en route in 20 minutes. Hold position as best you can, we have support inbound. Fox-2, you are to regroup your elements and secure the landing sites on the 2nd level and hold them until instructed further. Over.'

'Ma'am, in 20 minutes, we're gonna be fighting them at the gates of the third level if we don't get some fucking support, now!' Malcolm snapped on comms.

'All air and artillery assets are already indisposed. There's nothing available at the moment. Support's on its way, so make it work, dammit! Fox-Actual, out!'

"God-fucking-dammit! Shouldn't have expected anything more from a former pencil pusher!" Coomer snarled as he watched a group of pirates sprint further left of his team's position, towards where 3rd Squad was holding position at. The squad tried to kill as many of them as they could, but there were simply too many and they were forced to shift fire back on the group charging their own position. This was outright insanity! It's like the fuckers wanted to die or something. He'd seen Covenant less fanatical in their attacks than these bastards.

After several minutes of this endless onslaught, the pirates were finally reaching the base of the wall, some of them almost immediately began trying to climb up. The Rangers would peek over the edge and fire down, trying to keep as many off the wall as possible, even dropping a few grenades to take out scores of them. But there were simply just too many pirates assaulting their positions, and the Rangers didn't have enough manpower or firepower to stop them all.

Enough was enough. Tapping his comms, Cooper called out, "Sergeant Malcolm, we need to pull back now! There're dozens of them climbing my stretch of wall. We're gonna be swamped at this rate if we don't bail."

'Agreed! No way we're holding this wall. Not against this many! All Fox Elements at Gate 2-Bravo, I'm making the call! We are pulling back from the wall. Fallback to secondary defensive position around the landing site and hold position there! I say again, all Fox Elements at Gate 2-Bravo are to fall back! We are Oscar fucking Mike! Out.'

"Everyone! Drop a 'nade down over the side, then haul ass!" Cooper ordered as he pulled out an M9 and tossed the frag over the side. Seconds later, eight consecutive detonations rang out below, along with a chorus of screams As he turned to run, the ground shook fiercely for a moment, followed by an immense roar as something came barreling towards their position. Having no clue what it was but not wanting to stick around to find out, Cooper sprinted away from the wall, followed closely by the rest of his squad as the wall was blasted apart by some unknown collision. He could hear several more eruptions along the wall line. Whatever that had been, it couldn't have been a bomb. There would have been a brief flash if that had been the case.

He didn't like what that was implying. And sure enough, someone called out on comms, 'Oh shit! Enemy shinobi spotted! Squad sized element hanging back in the rear of their lines!'

'Dammit! Someone get a lock on them! Maybe we can take them out with a couple of 81s.' Malcolm responded.

'Fox-4! Return to your positions immediately!' Captain Lubach shrieked over comms, 'You were not given permission to fallback! Return to your post effective immediately! Over.'

'Negative, Fox-Actual! We are being- Get that 247 outta the gate tower, Corporal! Now, goddammit! Move!- Fox-Actual, we are being hit with heavy ordinance by a squad of enemy shinobi from an unknown location. Fox-Actual, our position is untenable! We cannot hold 2-Bravo! I say again, we cannot hold Gate 2-Bravo. We are falling back to the garden surrounding LZ-Bravo and will attempt to hold the enemy there with elements of Fox-2 and Fox-5 as they climb the wall. Out.'

Cooper heard someone behind him, swinging around just in time to seeing a pirate rising up and raising a sword as he charged the Army Ranger. Quickly snapping his rifle up, the sergeant was surprised when it took almost a quarter of his mag to put down his crazed attacker. He'd heard of individuals shrugging off damage like nothing and pushing on, but nothing of this scale. And especially not from 7 rounds of 7.62x51mm NATO. What the hell was up with these guys? They'd never been this tough to take down beforehand.

'Fox-Actual, this is Fox-3! Our positions are untenable! Enemy is climbing the walls all around! Gate 2-Alpha cannot be held! We are pulling back towards LZ-Alpha with elements of Fox-2 and 5 and will attempt to hold the enemy there. Requesting mortar support from any and all batteries to cover our withdrawal! Out!'

'Outlaw, this is Echo-Actual! We are coming under heavy assault from enemy forces, supported by at least two squads of enemy shinobi! We have lost both gates and are conducting tactical withdrawals to the landing zones. Requesting immediate assistance from any and all air or artillery assets, over!'

"Sarge, come on! You're lagging behind!" He heard one of his soldiers, wasn't sure which, call out from behind him as he turned and sprinted to catch up with the other Rangers. Cooper quickly caught up with his soldiers as they fell back through the small enclave of houses and gardens that lined the castle's second level, while occasionally stopping to fire back at any pursuers that had followed them. He could hear one of the 247s opening up as several soldiers started shouting and firing their weapons. The shouts and screams of numerous pirates could be heard as they attacked.

They arrived at a small enclave of three buildings, with a three-story building providing a commanding view of both LZ-Bravo and the surrounding area. Up ahead, they could see a fireteam holding position near the entrance to a small garden that led straight to LZ-Bravo, with one Sergeant Spoler waving them forward. Just as Cooper was about to call out to him, the fireteam and their sergeant disappeared in a blossom of mud and water as the blast threw the squad all about, some into the surrounding mud and shrubbery, others were thrown from view. Cooper slowly rose up to a kneeling position as he tried to regain his bearing, looking up to see Choosak, who was struggling to get up and whimpering while clutching her left leg, Bellino, who seemed dazed and was clutching his head, Holmes, and Graves was still with him. All of them seemed disoriented and dazed from the blast. While he looked for his rifle that he lost his grip on when he suddenly heard Holmes shout, "KATE, watch out!" as a couple of sword-wielding individuals appeared out of nowhere, one standing where Spoler's fireteam had just been, the other right on top of Specialist Graves, who was struggling to get up. Even the low light and through his NVD's display, he could still see the headbands on their heads marking them as shinobi. Holmes had somehow managed to quickly scramble back to his feet, then the towering 6'3" man managed to tackle the shinobi towering over Graves from behind before they could finish her off. His weapon was nowhere in sight, the Ranger instead opted to pummel the man with his fists while making sure the ninja's sword stayed out of his grasp as they struggled. An elbow struck Holmes in the face, and the two were sent roll off to the side. All the while the two swore and snarled at one another as they grappled.

"Get off me, you piece of shit! I'll slaughter your whole family!"

"Come on, motherfucker! That all you got, little Shink bitch?! Eat shit and die, you ninja cuck!" Holmes snarled out as he was headbutted by the downed shinobi, retaliating with a barrage of strong right hooks into the man's jaw and face as he tried to get his combat knife out. The shinobi was putting up a hell of a fight, but Holmes had the better position, weighed a solid 230, and was an exceptional brawler. This was exactly the kinda fighting where he was in his element. As far as the Sergeant was concerned, that scrawny little asshole didn't have a prayer of getting out of that position.

Cooper slowly got up, scrambling to find his own weapon, when something in his gut told him to look up. His eyes widened in horror at what he saw. He made to pull his sidearm out and fire, but the weapon was caught in the holster. All he could do was shout, "HOLMES, BEHIND YOU!"

Too late. Holmes snapped his attention behind him, one reaching for his sidearm as he turned, spinning around just in time to see the other shinobi slicing his head clean off.

Several of the Rangers screamed out in rage, with Graves quickly snapping her sidearm, an M6C/SOCOM, and firing off three shots into Holmes' killer. Though the enemy shinobi was slain, her vengeance was short-lived as the shinobi that had been fighting Holmes quickly recovered and with a furious roar of his own, slashed at her with his sword. The blade seemed to be coated in water that splash across the Ranger's chest armor when the blade made contact. While the blade itself failed to penetrate, the water was revealed to be boiling hot, scalding Graves' chest, neck, and arms as she screamed out in pain. This was quickly followed by a solid kick into the Ranger's side that sent the poor woman flying into a nearby building with a resounding CRACK and a shriek of pain.

"Goddamn Shink bastard!" Cooper thundered out, finally freeing his pistol, as both Bellino and he gunned down the lone shinobi in a hail of bullets, along with the rest of the squad that was now showing up. For good measure, Cooper put a couple more rounds in the corpse to make sure he was dead. "Torrens, Gaines. Go check on Spoler and his guys, see if any of them are still up. If not, police their bodies and grab their dog tags. We'll need the ammo. Bellino, check on Choosak. I'll check on Graves and see if we can move 'em. Alvarez set up somewhere with the SAW to cover us. If it even looks suspicious, you shoot first ask questions later." He ordered before going to tend to Graves. She was in bad shape, that he could tell from the get-go. He was a certified medic like Choosak was, but he knew a broken leg and hip when he saw one. The poor woman was feebly trying to clutch her hip, whimpering softly while trying to stay conscious. Her clothing hid most of it, but he could tell that she had scalding burns all over her chest, arms, and neck. He didn't dare try to remove the clothing, fearing they may strip her skin off if he does.

"We found one alive! PFC Ajax. Pretty banged up, but he swears he's Green-2-Green! Rest are KIA!" He heard Torrens call out.

"Roger 'dat! Police their bodies and bring it in this three-story! Ajax, you with us for now!"

"Hooah, Sergeant!"

Turning back to Graves, he pulled out her medkit and starting pulling out some equipment, while reassuring her, "Hey, hey, hey. It's gonna be okay, Kate. We gonna get you outta here and back to a hospital."

As he gave Graves a dose of Polypseudomorphine, which earned a sigh of exhausted relief from the specialist, his HUD beeped out a warning message before pulling up a message on his squad listing regarding several of his squadmates' BIO-signs. Not that he really needed to see it at this point.
/SPC. Graves, Katelyn L.- DMR; Status: WIA; Condition: Critical; Immediate Medical Assistance required\
/PVT. Choosak, Ritra- MED; Status: WIA; Condition: Moderate; Medical Treatment requested
\
/PVT. Holmes, Joshua A.- RFL; Status: KIA\

As Torrens, Gaines, and Ajax came back with the bodies and weapons of their comrades, Cooper shouted out, "Watch each other's backs! Get the wounded in this here three-story. Alvarez, take your SAW up to the third floor and set up overwatch. Everyone else, set up a perimeter facing towards 2-Bravo's direction. I'll try and see if we can't get some help for the wounded."

"Fox-4, this is Fox 4-1. Come in, over!"

'4-1, Fox-4. Where the hell have you been, over?!'

"Fox-4, we were attempting to regroup with 4-2's lead fireteam when we were ambushed by two shinobi. 4-2's fireteam is down, save for one, and we have three casualties of our own."

'Say again, 4-1. Did you say 4-2 is down?'

"Affirmative, Fox-4. Sergeant Spoler is KIA, along with Kreuger and Malone. Only one still alive is Private First Class Ajax. I also have a KIA, Holmes, and two WIA. Break. We're currently holding position in an enclave of three buildings approximately 1-5-8 meters East-Northeast from LZ-Bravo's perimeter and need assistance in evacuating the wounded. We can't move 'em without some stretchers. How copy, over?"

He thought he heard his SFC curse before returning to comms, '4-1, that's a negative on the assistance. Peng's forces are throwing everything except the kitchen sink at us and I can't spare anyone to conduct a MEDEVAC back up top. Break. They've stopped momentarily, so I'll send what's left of 4-2 to reinforce your position and fold into your squad, but aside from that, I can't spare anything else, Sergeant. Not until reinforcements get here.'

"Reinforcements?"

'I've only just learned about it, 4-1, but apparently this is why Captain Lubach was wanting us to hold position so badly. We have a company of UNSC Marines and armor support being airdropped in to reinforce us, with a couple of flights of Skyhawks and a Vulture escorting them to give us air support. Break. Don't know when they're supposed to get here, but I'm told within the next 15 to 20 mikes. Lubach's sending everything in our reserve to hold these two LZ until they can get here. Therefore, I am ordering you to hold position where you're at. As of right now, you're securing the left-most flank of the LZ. Hold that flank and don't let them get into LZ-Bravo. If we can do that, then we can get some of the wounded and dead evacs outta here. Can you do that, 4-1, over?'

Cooper thought for a moment as he looked at his fellow Rangers. They were all tired, worn, and battered, he could tell. But he also knew that not one of them had an ounce of quit in them. They weren't going to let their brothers and sisters-in-arms down. Not now. Not ever.

"Fox-4, I can't promise we'll hold this flank, but we'll give the bastards hell. Over.'"

'Solid copy, 4-1. 4-2 is en route to your position. ETA, less than 1 mike. Godspeed, Cooper. Fox-4, out.'

"Everyone! Listen up. Help's on the way. We got a company and some armor support being sent to reinforce us. All we gotta do is hold out for 20 more minutes. So dig in and get some defenses up." Cooper immediately barked out, "Torrens, you're with me and Alvarez in the tower. We'll be suppressing and spotting targets for the mortars to hit. Gaines, I'm gonna swap out Bellino for Torrens in my fireteam and put Ajax in your fireteam, too. We're getting the rest of 4-2 to help hold this flank, so I want you to form a perimeter. Use the buildings."

"Sarge, these two buildings are just storage houses, from the looks of it. There ain't no windows to shoot out of and I don't think we got time to make shooting ports." Gaines reported.

"Forget the buildings, then. Form a half-circle perimeter in front of the buildings facing toward 2-Bravo. That's where they'll most likely come from. Set up some fortifications to give us some cover. Use anything and everything. I don't care what you use just do it. We got maybe a couple minutes before those bastards hit us again! Come on! Let's go! Go!" The Rangers scrambled to set everything up. Cooper grabbed went over to the body of 4-2's SAW gunner, PFC Malone, and looted the body of his M739 and whatever supplies the man still had on him to distribute to his troops. He then took a trio of mags for his MA37 and restocked his own ammo a little, bring himself up to six mags left, excluding the half-filled one in his rifle. (Out of an initial 11 mags that serve as the standard loadout for UNSC Army Troopers.*) Christ what he wouldn't give for his company to have its MULEs* back. He wished they didn't have to abandon them on Alluvion.

"Fox 4-1! Fox 4-2! Three friendlies coming in!" Cooper heard someone shout, spinning around to see 3 more Rangers appearing, one of which was carrying a couple of ammo boxes full of MA37 mags. Taking a quick look at his watch, he was surprised to see that it had only been little more than 30 minutes. To Cooper, it felt like two hours had passed by since the attack had started.

The leader of the fireteam came up next to Cooper, with his two soldiers. "Corporal Kofod?"

Corporal Tim Kofod nodded, "Sup, Sergeant Cooper. Christ, I guess now I'm the NCO for 2nd Squad, huh?"

"Not anymore. I'm gonna have you folded into my squad as a separate fireteam. Where's Private Dennis?"

"Dennis is KIA, Sergeant. Took one of those fucking throwing knives, kunai, whatever the fuck they're called straight into his eye. Poor bastard never knew what hit 'im." Another soldier, PVT Fisher, responded as she looked around their perimeter. "Is Sergeant Spoler and his team really KIA?"

"Afraid so. Ajax is still up, but we got ambushed by a couple of shinobi. Spoler and his boys never knew what hit 'em, either. I'm down three guys, including my medic, because of those two assholes." Cooper responded. "Alright, take those ammo boxes and distribute them amongst us. Specialist Sevilla. I want you to swap out your DMR for a 37. I need suppressive fire and magazine capacity more than I do long-range precision, so give me your spare DMR mags to give to Torrens. Tote the line with the rest of my guys. Take up position on the left flank of Gaines' fireteam and dig in with anything you can use. We gotta hold this sector for 15-20 minutes, then we'll get some backup to help us out. Let's go! Go!"

"Hooah!"

In the distance, they could hear the pirates rallying once more, their war cries signaling they were about to attack again. Cooper ran back into the three-story building, moving into the back of the room to check on his wounded. Graves was thankfully unconscious now, while Choosak was trying to position herself to watch the building entrance, painfully trying to position her tourniquet-splinted leg to give her some kinda support. Despite her objections, she'd been given a dose of Polypseudomorphine to ease the pain in her broken leg, and the effects could be seen in her face. "Hey, Ratri. How ya' feeling?"

"It's... I-it's not as bad as it looks, Sarge. I'm g-good. I-I can still f-fight. Lemme go-o back out there-" She started trying to get up, but Cooper caught her before she could try to stand.

"Hey, hey, hey. I know you can. I know you can, that's why you've got both your rifles and Graves'. But I need you to stay here and look after Graves and watch the stairs leading up to Torrens and Alvarez. We don't got enough guys to form a full perimeter, so I'm gonna have to be running back and forth making sure they don't get behind us. I'll come check on you, okay?"

Choosak didn't respond at first, so Cooper spoke up again, "Hey, you still in this fight?"

"... Hooah, Sergeant."

"Damn right. Cause what do Rangers do?"

"Lead the way."

"Hooah, Choosak. Now stay here and watch this door. If it ain't one of us, you shoot first and ask questions later. Roger?"

"R-Roger, Sarge." Came the medic's response, cycling her rifle to make sure it was loaded.

Satisfied with her answer, Cooper took a few mags from Graves' mag pouches, giving himself a couple (Since she wasn't going to need them.), then quickly ran up the stairs to check on his two spotters. "Here," He said as he gave the spare SAW and all the ammo for it to Alvarez, before asking Torrens as he handed him the spare DMR mags, "Anything?"

"I can see them massing now. 272 meters from our position. At least a hundred of the bastards, armed with SMGs, bold action rifles, and melee weapons. I think I even saw some with bows out there."

"Tag the bastards and drop some 81s on 'em. They won't be the only ones sent after us once they realize this flanks' protected." Cooper ordered, "Alvarez, you gonna have to be Johnny on the spot as our MG. They try to flank around us, we're gonna need your SAW to keep 'em pinned. Torrens, if you have to, take the other SAW and help out. Hooah?"

"Hooah." Came the dual response, and with that Cooper went sprinting down the stairs to link up with his defensive line. When he got there, he saw that his six Rangers had spread themselves out along a 20-meter line of 'fortifications.' Said fortifications were made out of a couple fallen trees, rocks, and various items that had been looted from the storage houses, mostly furniture and what must of been several dozen bags of rice, stacked up like they were sandbags. By themselves, they might stop some of the smaller caliber weapons like the SMGs, but there was no way they'd stop a rifle caliber round. But, with something solid behind them, in this case, rocks and the two trees, there might be just enough mass in the way to stop the bullets from over penetrating into the rangers hiding behind them.

"Kofod. Gaines. How are we looking along the line?" He asked as he started tossing the few spare mags he'd managed to snag.

"We've resupplied and we're dug in as well as we're gonna be. We established a line using a couple of fallen trees as our cover. Took all of us to drag the fucking things over, but we've got some cover now at least.' Gaines responded, 'We've taken everything out of the storage buildings that could be used to set up some more cover. Don't know how much good it's gonna do, but something's better than nothing. Do got some good news, though. Kofod, you wanna take over from here?"

"I forgot to mention, but we also have a few AP mines, Antilons, that we brought with us from LZ-Bravo. Courtesy of Sergeant Malcolm."

"Hell, yeah! You got 'em set up?"

"There were only eight mines, so Fisher and Sevilla should be coming back now."

"Great work. When the Shinks come through here, they gonna have one nast-"

'Shinks coming inbound, Sarge! They're moving on our position! Don't know if they're aware of us yet, but at current pace, they'll make contact in two mikes!' Torrens suddenly called out, just as several explosions rang out across the castle, signaling the end of the lull in the battle. The rangers immediately scrambled into fighting positions. Lying prone and trying to hide as best as they can, the rangers brought their weapons up to bear, prepping themselves for the fight ahead.

Cooper, lying prone behind one of the fallen trees, with several bags of rice further masking his position in the moonless, rainy night, scanned the path they had followed to reach this position. At first, he couldn't see anything, but after several tense moments, he saw the pirates coming forward, half-jogging, half-walking towards their position. At first, it was small groups of three or four, spread out across a hundred meters, but these quickly turned into groups of five, six, seven, all the way up to ten as the pirates pushed forward. They were alert and out for blood, that much he could tell just from that crazed look they had on their faces, but as Torrens said, they didn't seem aware that the rangers had occupied the trio of houses ahead of them.

And in about 60 seconds, they'd be right on top of the rangers.

"Are they inside the minefield?" Cooper quietly asked.

'Affirmative. They're pretty much in the kill zone for all eight. Could send them all to hell right now if we wanted. Want me to set 'em all off?' Corporal Kofod asked, ask he tagged the location of the mines for the rest of the squad to see. "No. Send me the command authority to detonate 'em. I'll blow the furthest one or two in the back when there's a bunch on top 'em. Save the rest in case some more show up. Everyone, get ready. When I set them off, wait three seconds, then open fire." Cooper ordered quietly as he looked at his HMD, which quickly displayed the minefield that the rangers had set up. Fisher and Sevilla had set up the mines in a checkerboard-like fashion spacing each of them just 15 meters from one another, with the closest being just over 50 meters away. With a casualty radius of 30 meters, they couldn't afford to have the Antilons any closer to their lines, lest they risk catching themselves in the blast. The pirates came ever so closer to their position, slowly but surely, not entirely sure if they were alone but not wanting to alert any to their presence. They'd probably long figured out that the defenders were few in numbers and couldn't protect every avenue of approach to the castle top. These clowns were probably hoping to sneak past or flank the rangers and catch them off guard. Even if they were trying to be stealthy, it was clear they didn't have much experience doing so, as Cooper could still hear their hushed conversations and ragged breathing. They inched ever so closer to the rangers...

The ground shook fiercely as a trio of explosions rocked the third level in the distance, kicking up geysers of earth and debris. Cooper knew immediately that those were the telltale detonations of 155 rounds fired from a battery of Javelins. Soon after, there was the distinct sound of several 81mm mortars going off all along the line. These sudden detonations, upon realizing it wasn't one of their shinobi that had been responsible for, caused the pirates to suddenly pick up the pace, forgoing stealth altogether.

"Shit, here we go." Cooper muttered, "Rangers. Prepare to engage." Pulling up the interface for the furthest mine on his helmet display, Cooper waited a couple more seconds. Then, with bated breath, he sent the signal to the mine. /Detonate\ A lone explosion rocked the rear of the pirate formation, catching about 20 or so in the explosions. Shouts and screams rang out from the mob, and sure enough, the pirates, who hadn't expected coming under attack from behind, stopped their advance to turn around and face whatever was attacking the rear of their group.

Big mistake.

As three seconds passed, Cooper gave the order, "Light 'em up!" as seven suppressed assault rifles opened fire, taking down scores of the pirates in rapid succession. The pirates' confusion and shock quickly turned to panic and rage as they tried to figure out where the attackers were striking them from. Many of them began firing in every direction, completely disoriented in the moonless night. The Rangers made sure to conserve their ammo by firing single shot only. They had no clue when a resupply would be possible and didn't want to be fighting these assholes in hand-to-hand. Another group of pirates, this one of similar size, came into the fight too. Cooper ended up detonating three more mines thinning their numbers out. As their troops were methodically picked off, the pirates slowly but surely started figuring out where the attack was coming from and started charging towards them, their warcries bellowing out as they charged forward. Bullets were flying everywhere, smacking into everything as the pirates returned fire. Cooper thanked whatever god was watching out that their improvised defenses had been enough to stop most of the bullets flying their way. As he dropped a few more pirates closing in, he quickly called on comms, "Torrens, Alvarez. What do you see?"

'You've dropped maybe two-thirds of the bastards so far, and they still have no clue where the fire's coming from. You've got a couple more groups of Shinks coming in, each considerably smaller. Maybe half as big as the first two groups. I think those 155s might have nabbed a bunch of them coming up here. Alvarez and I will suppress however we can.'

"Nah, don't just yet! We got it for now. Just keep overwatch for now and watch our flanks. We don't need any more surpr-" Cooper started to say, but a sudden boom and shaking of the ground cut him off, followed by frantic reports of enemy shinobi attacking all along the perimeter. He heard several explosions, booms, and fierce winds roar out all throughout the castle's second level. He could hear Captain Lubach and various COs/NCOs trying to coordinate the defense, while simultaneously trying to get some air support in. He saw a flash of movement through his NVDs as he killed a couple more pirates. Barely a moment later, and both of the storage houses behind him were blown apart by some unseen force, causing the Rangers to duck and curl up into balls trying to protect themselves from falling debris. He heard a couple of his guys cry out or grunt loudly as something heavy struck flesh, but couldn't tell who it was.

"What are you idiots getting stalled up for?! There's only seven of them! Attack and slaughter them!" He heard a masculine voice shout angrily, quickly realizing it must have been one of the shinobi. Seven, huh? That means they still aren't aware of Torrens and Alvarez up in the tower. 'Good, let's keep it that way.' He quickly uncurled and brought his rifle back up, scanning for targets and firing when he did. All the while, he continued searching for the shinobi that was in the area. But there were too many bodies on the ground and too many pirates still attacking. Tracer rounds were flying everywhere. No way he was gonna spot anyone in particular in this mess. "Torrens! We got a shinobi in the area! See if you can't spot and drop the asshole, but be ready to pick up the spare SAW if needed! Be careful, they still don't know you're in the tower."

'Roger that! Searching!' At this point, there must have been some two or three hundred pirates attacking their position, with almost half as many dead and sprawled out on the ground. It was a one-sided massacre. But it wasn't going to stay like that for long. Eventually, the rangers out either run out of ammo or get overrun. And as if to add to their woes, comms came to life as Fox-6's SNCO, SFC Pinkowsky, 'All Fox Company Elements, this is Fox-6! Our Mortars are down to about 10 rounds of HE per gun! We will try to maintain fire support as best we can, but we'll be out of rounds within the next 5 minutes at the rate we're expending them. I'm assigning two guns to each LZ and maintaining gun-5 as an emergency reserve to be used as a last resort! If you're gonna call in a fire mission, you better have a damn good target! Fox-6, out!'

"God-fucking-dammit! Just as I was thinking of calling one in, that had to happen!" Cooper swore at no one in particular, as he dropped three more shinks. "Fuck it!" He said as he detonated the last four mines, killing what must have been close to a hundred of the attackers in rapid succession. After they detonated, he gave the call, "Fox-6, this is Fox 4-1! Fire mission, over!"

'4-1, this is Fox 6, Gun-2. Go ahead with mission!'

"Gun-2? That you, Townsend?"

'Affirmative, Cooper! I got eleven rounds and need something to shoot. Hope you've got a juicy target for us, over!' Gun two's NCO, Sergeant Townsend, answered.

"Roger that, Townsend! Mission is as follows! At least Two-Zero-Zero foot mobiles attacking my position! Possibly as many as Tree-Zero-Zero! Break! Requesting two rounds of HE! Airburst! Marking the target now! How copy, over?!"

'Roger on all, 4-1. We've got your target marked. Standby for rounds downrange. Time to target, 19 seconds, over. … … Shot, over.'

"Shot, out!" Cooper answered back, snapping his rifle up to drop a couple more pirates getting too close for comfort. They couldn't keep this up for much longer. He was down to three mags and was certain most of his troopers were in the same boat. Those reinforcements better get here soon, or they're dead.

'Impact in 3, 2, 1. Splash, over.' He heard Gun-2 on comms, just as the first mortar round came down, detonating some 15 meters above the ground. Shrapnel filled the air and tore into the earth, wood, stone, and soft flesh, earning the screams of dozens upon dozens as the round detonated right above the largest concentration of the pirates. Scores of pirates were cut down as the shrapnel tore into their flesh. Seconds later, the second mortar round arrived, detonating and killing scores of pirates in quick succession. The mortars must have killed at least a hundred, likely more, of the pirates and who knows how many wounded. Even with these losses, the pirates continued to come forward, some of the wounded even trying to attack with crazed looks on their faces. But Cooper could tell their attack had lost momentum. Push them a little harder, and their attack would break entirely.

"Splash confirmed! Good hit on target, Gun-2! Enemy has been suppressed, out!" Cooper answered, before calling out to his troops, "Keep hitting 'em! We've almost stopped them! Alvarez, Torrens! start lighting them up with the SAWs!" Alvarez and Torrens, who had both been patiently waiting with their SAWs and dozens of magazines they had lying in wait, finally opened fire on the surviving hordes of pirates, cutting down several with each burst of automatic fire. The pirates caught off guard by these new attackers, paid in blood as a result. Any group of pirates that tried to charge forward was almost immediately set upon by concentrated machine gunfire. Any that got too close was assaulted with a barrage with grenades, either killing them off or forcing them back. Within minutes, the attack had been stalled completely, with hundreds of pirates dead and wounded. Even whatever had the pirates all crazed and pumped up on adrenaline wasn't enough to push them through. There must have been less than a hundred attackers still standing at this point, and all of this had been done by 9 Rangers with limited support.

And clearly, someone wasn't happy about it. Cooper could hear the person from before shouting his head off in fury that his troops were being stopped by such a small force. Seemed like an opportune time to deliver the coup-de-grace.

"Fox-6, Gun-2, this is Fox 4-1. We have stopped the enemy's advance and have them suppressed. Requesting repeat of last fire mission, over!"

'Gun-2 copies all, 4-1. Standby... Coordinates locked in... Shot, over.'

"Shot, out!" Cooper answered as he fired another burst from his rifle, dropping a pirate before changing mags. His mind was solely focused And that's when he heard it. It was faint at first but slowly grew in volume as time passed. Looking up confirmed his suspicions, as he saw hundreds of pelican and albatross dropships overhead, making their way to the large set of hills east of Qushan. There must have been enough birds in the air to ferry an entire infantry division up in the sky, not to mention what must of been a hundred or so Hornets and Skyhawks escorting them. Meanwhile, the frigates overheard were relentless in their support of ground ops, attacking targets of opportunity and raising hell amongst the pirates, no doubt. Unfortunately, all of their attention was focused on assisting TFC, so the Rangers didn't receive any of their heavy support.

Even despite that, he couldn't stop grinning when he heard Outlaw's voice address the rangers over comms, 'Fox-Actual, be advised. You have three AV-19s, callsign 'Cujo-2,' escorting a flight of niner D75 transports bringing reinforcements to your position. ETA is 2 mikes. I say again, ETA is zero-too mikes, but the landing zones must stay secure in order for us to land them. Hang in there, Rangers. Help's on the way. Outlaw, out.'

'Impact in 4, 3, 2, 1... Splash, over!'

'Hot damn, maybe they will survive this after all!' He thought as he watched the mortar rounds coming in, annihilating most of the remaining attackers. Just as he thought that a massive tremor shook the ground, followed by the telltale sound of a massive explosion that sounded damn near like a volcano going off as panicked shouts blared into the comms.

'CONTACT! ENEMY SHINOBI! IT'S VESUVIUS!'


2027 PM
West Qushan
3 miles Northeast of Tojima Castle's (Alpha-1) ruins

'What a fucking mess.' He thought as he launched a water jutsu, Water Fang Bullet, at his opponent, who barely dodged it and launched several kunai in retaliation. He easily dodged them, even caught one by the handle.

Komatsu Subaru wasn't having a good night. Things had been an utter disaster ever since the invaders launched their assault on Qushan. Oh sure, they managed to force them back for a few hours with a well-timed counterattack led by his shinobi contingent, but now the 'UNSC' was retaliating with tenfold the firepower and with shinobi from Moon Country, of all people! There weren't a lot of the bastards, but most of the shinobi the Hidden Moon Village had sent many that were some of its best, many of whom were leagues above the average rogue mercenary (Who were mostly genin and chunin-level at best) that Subaru had under his command. This combined with the influx of reinforcements and firepower at the 'UNSC's' disposal was making all the difference. He's lost at least a third of his ninja since the battle started, and who knew how many warriors Captain Ukita has lost. When he'd last seen him, the Captain seemed lost as to what to do when the invaders renewed their assault. The poor man looked like he was about to break down. They weren't used to coming under such heavy and rapid onslaught of firepower. Hell, some shinobi villages probably couldn't dish out the level of firepower those massive airships were dealing out. (Damn those metal monstrosities to hell! If only he had a way to get up there or some powerful ranged jutsu to destroy them! But they were wise enough not to let their ships get too low to the ground, damn them. Hell, with the firepower they had, they didn't even need to get close to the ground.) Subaru had done all he could to help hold back the onslaught of attackers, taking out a few platoons' worth of UNSC soldiers, a couple of Jounin Moon Shinobi, and even stalling an entire company of UNSC soldiers for a couple of hours, but even he could only do so much. Most of the time, he'd been forced to simply stay low and hidden to avoid getting blown to smithereens by the UNSC's ridiculous firepower. He quickly turned his attention back to the Moon shinobi he had been fighting on this roof for a few minutes. Honestly, Subaru was more worried about some stray bullet hitting him at the moment. The Moon shinobi started casting a jutsu, but the teen underestimated just how quick Subaru was as the rogue ninja managed to close the distance, kicking one leg out from under the boy and simultaneously slamming his kunai right up into the underside of Moon ninja's lower jaw, then grabbing the back of his head. Then, with a swift fluid motion, he snapped the shinobi's neck, killing him instantly as Subaru dropped him, letting the genin's body roll off the roof and onto the road. One less enemy ninja to deal with. That kid had been annoying as shit, with an ego to match. Thankfully, the genin hadn't really been much of a challenge, just persistent and liked to talk shit. Must have thought he was hot stuff, for a genin. (Tends to happen with some that have a little talent, Subaru had noticed over the years.) He hated punks like that, who thought that just because they had a Kekkei Genkai or were slightly better in ninjutsu than their peers that somehow that suddenly made them far better than everyone else. God-tier shinobi destined for greatness.

Welp, all that supposed talent wasn't going to do him much good now, or ever again. All the little shit was destined to be now was food for scavengers. The genin's body had collapsed on to the road at an odd angle, blood pooling around the body ever so slowly.

"Overconfident idiot." He grunted in annoyance. And with that, the dead Moon genin had been completely forgotten as he turned his attention back to the more important battle happening around him.

Not that it mattered at this point. He saw the writing on the wall the moment they scouted out the UNSC forces prior to the battle. Shao Peng is fucked, as is every pirate in this region. The UNSC was going to win this fight in the long run. All it was going to take was time. Shit, maybe he should have snuck out following his little... 'rendezvous.'

Subaru knew that if he stayed in Qushan, or hell even the Confederacy, he was likely a dead man. While the UNSC soldiers did take prisoners, by the hundreds even sometimes, they seemed to hold a particular hatred for shinobi. (Not that he could blame them. Their little counterattack spearheaded by Moroie and Tomosada probably didn't help that, if he was honest.) He had no interest in being taken prisoner, but at the same time, there weren't any boats left to get off the island and he was hundreds of miles from Tea Country, the nearest stretch of Edo's mainland. It would be at least 300 if he somehow managed to make it over to Jiro Island, the closest island to Tea. He honestly wasn't sure if he had the chakra reserves to water walk such a distance. (Nor did he care to find out, only to end up being stranded in the middle of the fucking ocean.) He might have been considered an A-rank, but every shinobi had limitations.

So what did that leave him? Keep running and fighting until he was cornered and taken down? Or surrender, and hope they were in a merciful mood? Kami, this sucks. This was not how his life should have turned out. Sure a shinobi's life was typically a short and unpredictable career, but he prided himself on having a solid head on his shoulders and good common sense. He should have been able to avoid this. Somehow.

"Run! Run awa-AGH!" He heard a pirate cry out nearby, before being cut down but rifle fire. Soon, a few more screams and gunshots followed the first, signaling just how close the UNSC was. He was initially curious about such weapons, odd but interesting in function, but now he had come to hate them with a passion. They gave the everyday commoner too much power, in the right hands. The UNSC had shown firsthand just what kinda damage and destruction such weapons could wreak. The worst part about it? Anyone could use them, and change the course of entire nations. You didn't need to go to some special shinobi school for years to master the basics of it, then spend several more years under a sensei to help perfect your own unique skills. ANYONE could use one of these damn 'firearms' and learn how in a few days or weeks. That kinda power, if used correctly, could even put an end to the Age of Shinobi and see ninjas being replaced as the dominant military power.

How the hell do you compete with that, when all they need to do is get one lucky hi-

Zoom! Smack! Smack! Smack!

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Subaru angrily called out as something smacked into the roof next to him, followed almost immediately by a pair of objects slamming into his thigh, knocking him over. 'I've been shot!' He angrily thought, wanting to strangle whoever had shot him. Then, a half-second later, the pain finally hit him as he screamed out at the agonizing pain now engulfing his right calf. He tried to see if his leg would move, but the sheer pain from the hit made his leg unresponsive. "Son of a bitch!"

"Over there! 1st Squad, on me! We're clearing this building! 2nd Squad! Push up on the left and secure our flank! 3rd, take the right! 4th, watch those damn roofs! LET'S GO!" He heard a UNSC soldier, an officer probably, barking out orders, followed by the odd response of the troops, "Hooah!"

Fucking hell! And of course, here comes the UNSC, no doubt having heard his screaming. "Kami fuck me! With a rusty kunai!" He snarled as he rolled onto his belly and tried to low crawl to a hole in the roof. Hiding might still be possible, but at the moment he was more interested in putting something solid between him and all these kami-damned bullets flying about. As he slides through the hole and into the cellar, he immediately went about working on his leg, seeing what he could do about it. He heard a door being kicked in down below, followed by a few shouts of panic and the UNSC troops ordering them to put their hands up. Maybe it was the family that lived here, or maybe a few pirates decided to try and hide out here. He didn't know, and he honestly couldn't give a fuck. He was more interested in his own survival, at the moment.

Trying to stifle a grunt of pain as he lowered his pants, pulling off his shinobi headband to use as a makeshift tourniquet if necessary. He quickly located where the bullets had struck him on his calf, a couple of small holes maybe the size of a coin each with the skin swollen and red from irritation around it. It surprised him at how little blood there was-

The door on the far side of the room was violently kicked open, followed by four UNSC soldiers storming in. The moment they saw him, all four of their weapons were trained on him as one of them shouted, "Hands up! Now, motherfucker!" Subaru groaned, 'Shit.' For a moment he considered his options. For a moment, he even considered going down fighting. But, he liked living a little too much, especially too much to fight for a lost cause or someone like Shao Peng. Shao wasn't somebody you died fighting for. Fuck him. Knowing full well he was screwed either way, he might as well take his chances with the invaders. Hell, they've shown they're willing to take prisoners, maybe he'll get lucky. They didn't seem to realize he was a shinobi, or if they did they didn't show it.

"Screw it," Raising his hands slowly, dropping the headband and hiding it as best he could, he conceded, "Alright. I surrender. Not like I can fucking run off or fight anyhow with this fucking bullet in my leg."

"Gomez, search 'im. We'll cover."

"Roger, Sarge." One soldier, apparently 'Gomez,' shouldered his firearm on his back and cautiously approached Subaru, who eyed him curiously as the man proceeded to frisk him and pull out anything and everything Subaru had on him, from his blades and kunai to scrolls and even food. He hissed painfully as the man started frisking his legs, smacking his injured thigh a couple of times as the soldier searched. With any luck, they wouldn't notice his old head-

"Hey, I've got one of those ninja headbands next to his leg! Looks like we bagged a ninja."

Shit.

"Well, well, well. Isn't it our lucky day?" The leader of the small UNSC team commented.

Nervously licking his lips, Subaru replied sheepishly, "It's, uh... not mine? I won it in a card game."

"Oh, yeah? Tell me another one, asshole." The team leader snorted, causing Subaru to slump slightly as the soldier placed a hand to his ear as he spoke, "Lieutenant. It's Murphy up on the second floor. We bagged ourselves a ninja POW. Gunshots through the leg, but he looks like he'll pull through. How do you want us to proceed, over?"

There was silence, save for the distant sounds of battle, as 'Murphy' waited for whoever he was talking with to respond. After a few tense moments, Murphy nodded and spoke, "Understood, sir. Bringing him down, now." Putting his attention back to his troops, he barked out, "Alright, guys. I want two guns on him at all times while we move 'im."

Turning his attention to Subaru, Murphy spoke bluntly, "So you're surrendering, huh? Sure you're not planning some sneaky ninja bullshit on us?"

"If I was, do you seriously think I'd just up and tell you cause you asked?!" Subaru retorted, "Besides, I don't really care to die for some asshole like Shao Peng. And I can't exactly run away even if I did somehow manage to kill all of you."

Murphy paused for a moment and scrutinized him, perhaps wondering if Subaru's leg wound was real, before ultimately saying, "Point made. But you even so much as sneeze in a way I find threatening, you're dead. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it! I won't try any sneaky ninja shit! Just... easy with the leg. Please?" Subaru hated pleading, but dammit was his leg killing him. It felt like there were a thousand little knives stabbing his leg muscles simultaneously. How the fuck did these chakra-less assholes think up something so painful?!

While two soldiers manhandled the wounded shinobi downstairs, the other two kept their weapons trained on him as the group made their way back to their brethren outside. Subaru could see a motley crew of pirates, now prisoner, guarded by five UNSC soldiers, while the rest, an entire company of the damn soldiers, had formed a defensive perimeter in the square while squads of eight or twelve cleared out a building. Some had families hiding in them, who were carefully but quickly escorted out and sent towards the safer parts of the city, the ones held by the UNSC no doubt, to be taken away from the fighting. To his left, he could an assortment of firearms, all pirate weapons, stacked in a pile while a couple of soldiers seemed to be taking inventory of what was there.

As he was set down on the ground, a squad of soldiers along with what he guessed was a medic, approached him. One of the soldiers, an older looking man with stern brown eyes and graying hair, walked with an air of authority around him, leading Subaru to conclude that this was likely a commander of sorts.

His suspicions were confirmed moments late, when the soldier named Murphy addressed him, "Captain Shaw. I wasn't aware you were up here, sir. I thought you were back at Battalion HQ."

"As you were, Staff Sergeant. I was in the area when we heard we had bagged ourselves a ninja, so I wanted to see one of these supermen myself in person." Captain Shaw answered, looking over the rogue shinobi with a judging eye, "So you're one of the supposed supermen that's been killing so many of my troops, huh?"

"Disappointed by what you see?" Subaru asked, to which the Captain gave a quick snort as he silently studied him. After a few moments of silence, Shaw finally answered with a smirk, "Not particularly. If anything, it's kind of relieving to see you can bleed and die just like anything and anyone else. I don't want my troops to get superstitious regarding who they fight. There's enough boogeymen and monsters in this goddamn galaxy as it is."

"Might not hurt to let them be a little superstitious. Helps keep them on their toes. You'd be surprised what kind of crazy powerful fuckers roam these lands."

"And you'd be surprised at what kind of horrors lurk out in the galaxy... Well, maybe you're right, but I prefer trusting in what I see with my own two eyes, and expect my soldiers to behave in the same rational manner, regardless of what they come across." Shaw responded, crossing his arms as he let out a soft sigh, "As much as I would like to listen to my gut and have you killed here so you don't cause us any problems further on, I've been overruled by my superiors to do otherwise. As of now, you are hereby a prisoner of war of the United Nations Space Command's Armed Forces. You will be treated and cared for as required by the 2105 Treaty of Johannesburg*. Behave and cooperate, and you'll do just fine. Hell, you may even be allowed to go free at some point, albeit with conditions and depending on your behavior. But attempt any escapes or acts of violence towards our personnel, military or civilian, and it will be met with overwhelming if not lethal force. Do you understand?"

He had no idea what the hell a United Nations Space Command or the Treaty of Johannesburg were, but he knew he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. So, Subaru merely accepted his predicament, hoping that he could merely continue acting like he was nothing but a low-level ninja nobody who was just looking for work under Shao Peng. Hell, maybe this Shaw guy was telling the truth and they really would let him go after some time. Who knew? They seemed to treat prisoners a lot better than he's seen some armies here in the Elemental Nations.

When he nodded in compliance, the Captain seemed somewhat relieved that he wasn't going to have any trouble, before turning to the medic that was working on his leg. "How's his injury looking, Corporal?"

The medic snorted in amusement as she finished wrapping some kind of gauze over the wound, "He'll live. Hell, he'll probably be back on his feet before the month's over. Both were clean hits."

Subaru narrowed his eyes in confusion, "The hell do you mean a clean hit? Sure as hell didn't feel clean. Felt really shitty, as a matter of fact."

Turning her attention to the shinobi, she explained, "It means the bullets over-penetrated. Went straight through your leg, in and out, without hitting anything vital, like bone or arteries, and just kept ongoing. If they had, you'd be doing a lot more screaming and crying. Probably got hit with a couple 9-mil FMJs*, if I had to guess from the size of the entry wound. Had it been one of our rounds, you'd be missing most of that thigh. Your leg muscles will be aching for a couple of weeks, and you'll likely be limping for a month, but you'll make a full recovery."

The term 'Full Metal Jacket' had absolutely no meaning to Subaru, still not knowing much about these new firearms they got, but he did know what '9-mil' was referring to. That's the name of the ammunition used by the majority of the weapons Shao Peng had purchased from that Mr. Jones guy. And he'd seen firsthand the difference in ammunition that his guys and the UNSC were using. The round these UNSC were using was massive in comparison to the 9 millimeter, so if what this chick was saying was true, he hadn't been shot by the UNSC.

With a sudden, enraging realization, Subaru snapped, "Wait a fucking minute! Are you telling me one of my own fucking guys shot me?!"

"Yep." The medic snorted, trying to hide her amusement, "Friendly fire's a bitch, isn't it?"

"FUCKING WORTHLESS, BRAINLESS, SONS OF WHORES! HOW FUCKING STUPID CAN YOU ALL BE?! DO I LOOK LIKE ONE OF THESE FUCKING ASSHATS TO YOU?!" Subaru thundered at the nearby group of pirate prisoners, who all cowered in fear, while several UNSC soldiers were snickering and chuckling at the ranting shinobi, "I SWEAR TO KAMI YOU BASTARDS ARE LUCKY I CAN'T WALK RIGHT NOW! MY FOOT WOULD BE SO FAR UP YOUR COLLECTIVE ASSES, YOU ALL WOULD BE SHITTING SANDALS FOR A MONTH!"

Turning his attention back to the smirking medic, who he really wanted to straggle right now, Subaru merely snarled out, "Just get me the fuck out of here, before I do something stupid."

The Captain, having seen enough, ordered his troops, particularly the same squad that had captured him, to escort Subaru back to the rear where MPs (Whatever that stood for.) were waiting to detain and transport him. After a few words with the Captain, who congratulated the Staff Sergeant and promised he'd be 'receiving recommendations' for his actions, the Staff Sergeant had his men move out with their reluctant prisoner. So far, they acted as if they had just another ninja, which was fine by him. He didn't know how much was on his head, but he knew he had bounties on his head in the Hidden Rain and at least four other shinobi villages. (Shit, was Moon one of them? He couldn't remember.) The last thing he wanted was for these guys to start getting ideas. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as they transported him on a stretcher, the streets too cluttered with debris and rubble for their vehicles to safely traverse.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone sobbing. He turned his head to see a young Moon Kunoichi, a genin, stumbling around the corner with someone in her arms while sobbing as two more Moon shinobi, another genin and a Jounin, both with a grim look on their faces, showed up and a few UNSC soldiers rushed to help them. She was holding another Moon shinobi in her arms, who was limp.

"Hey, Yuno! Come on! Talk to us, sweetie, what happened?" Staff Sergeant Murphy called out, to which he only got sobs from the girl apparently called Yuno. The Shinobi in the young girl's arms, who was being laid down by a UNSC soldier, couldn't have been any older than she was, 13 or so. He was wearing a dark red shirt and beige pants. Blood was leaking out of a gaping hole underneath the boy's chin, his head and dirty brown hair now coated in blood and twisted at an odd angle. He was starting to look oddly familiar-

"Ah, fuck." Subaru muttered, realizing that was the genin he had killed early, right before he'd been shot in the leg. He hissed softly as he realized he said that aloud, and hoped no one heard him. He didn't see a couple of soldiers next to him start eyeing him after he muttered that.

"Oh, shit. Isn't that Shinobu?" Subaru heard one of the soldiers next to him say.
"Yep. That's him. Looks like he picked a fight with the wrong person." Another replied, glancing at Subaru.

"Doctor, is there anything you can-" The Moon Jounin started to say, but the medic was already shaking his head, "Nah. Sorry, Yoshimoto, but he's a goner. Been dead for a good 15-30 minutes if I had to guess, sir. Had I got to him when it happened, maybe I coulda save him- Well, no probably not. Not with a snapped neck. Either way, there's nothing to be done now."

"Aw, hell." One of the UNSC soldiers next to him cursed in a low voice, "He was a little shithead with a massive ego, but I don't think he deserved that."
"Well, shit, what do they expect to happen when they send fucking kids to go fight in a warzone. War ain't no place for a bunch of kids to be." Another replied.
"Still, fucked up man." The first one said.
"Is it shitty of me to say that I really don't give a fuck either way that the little bastard got killed?" Another commented, lighting a cigarette after he caught the attention of the other two.
"The hell is the matter with you?! Yeah, it's fucked up! A child's dead!"
"So what, Fowler? Little asshole thought he was the toughest motherfucker around and got killed by his own cockiness. That's not our fault. Plus, don't act like any of you miss the little bastard. None of us, me in particular, could stand that fucking crotch-fruit spawn. Always walking around, constantly talking down to us, treating us like shit, and acting like he was hot shit cause he's a ninja. Whelp, that big ass ego, and ninja status sure helped 'im out in the end, didn't it?"
"Dude, you ain't right. I mean fuck, yeah Shinobu was a brat who needed a serious ass-kicking, but I don't think he necessarily deserved to die, McGuire."
"Well, nothing to do now," McGuire replied as he puffed out a cloud of smoke. "Kid's dead, and nothing's bringing him back. No point crying over spilled milk."
"If that was one of your kids, McGuire, you wouldn't be saying that." Fowler retorted.
"Joke's on you, asshole. I'm sterile. I don't gotta worry about that shit."

Subaru tried to be as invisible as possible to not draw attention, or suspicion, to himself. If the Moon ninja put two and two together, he'd have no choice but to try and defend himself, and he really didn't want to find out just how willing the UNSC was to keep him alive. Unfortunately, it seemed like at the very least, the Moon Jounin had figured out what happened, as in the corner of his eye Subaru could see the man glaring at him and quietly arguing with Murphy. What they were arguing about is clearly obvious, as now all three of the Moon ninja were glaring pure hate at him. Finally, after a few minutes of soft arguing, the young girl seemed to snap. She pulled out a kunai and charged at Subaru, killer intent burning in her eyes as she bore down on Subaru. Subaru immediately panicked, glancing for something to defend himself with, but at the same time not wanting to do something that might cause the UNSC soldiers to kill him. Panicked shouts ensued as the genin charged towards Subaru, but thankfully she didn't get far, as a couple of the UNSC Soldiers quickly scooped her up in her arms, one of which held a firm hold on the kunai, while an open argument broke out between Murphy and the Jounin now identified as Yoshimoto.

"That bastard needs to answer for what he did! He has to die!"

"And my superiors have said otherwise! If he's who you claim he is, then the intel he'll have is worth its weight in gold. I don't care if he has a 15 Million Ryu bounty on his head! If my superiors said they want him alive, then they get him alive."

Ah, so he did have a bounty in Moon. Also, damn, just 15 million? Sure, he was just a run-of-the-mill A-Rank, and he wasn't Tsuchikage Ōnoki or the Yellow fucking Flash, but surely he was worth a solid 20 million at least, right?

"He's killed my countrymen in the past! He killed my student!"

"And he's killed my troops, too, more than likely! My platoon's lost nine good men and women today, alone! You think I'm happy about that?!" Murphy snapped back, "It sucks. I hate it when I lose men under my command, but it happens! You do the best you can and carry on. I'd love nothing more than to kill every son of a bitch that's killed one of my soldiers, but sometimes we can't get what we want. And I would like to remind you that our government is paying and rewarding your nation far more in both finances and land than whatever this asshole is worth. Is he really worth throwing all that away, Ryosei? Is he?"

Yoshimoto Ryosei glared at him in silence for several moments, with Subaru wondering if the man was actually going to try and kill him. Would the UNSC soldiers even try to protect him? Could he fight off the Moon shinobi? Maybe. But that would leave the dozens of firearms ready to use against him, with a useless leg. He didn't really care to find out.

Thankfully, some deities must have been smiling on him, because the Moon Country Jounin ultimately backed down. The man angrily threw his hands up with a snarl and told Murphy to get him out of his sight. Murphy, not wanting to take any chances, quickly vacated the area and put as much distance between his troops and the Moon Ninja Squad as possible. All the while, the sound of gunfire and explosions raged on in the distance. Subaru saw Murphy speaking into whatever was on his ear again. He could have sworn he heard his own name being said, but Murphy was too far away for him to hear properly.

After several minutes of hushed conversations and careful traversing of the rubble strewed ruins, Staff Sergeant Murphy suddenly appeared next to Subaru on his stretcher, cigarette smoking in his mouth. After a couple of seconds of tense silence, the Staff Sergeant suddenly spoke, "So how'd the kiddie go out?"

Subaru paused, debating whether or not he should feign innocence, but the look in the man's eyes told him that Murphy knew better. With a reluctant sigh, he answered truthfully, "Quickly and... mostly painless. Just like everyone else I've killed these past couple days if it's any consolation."

Someone scornfully remarked, "Bullshit. Shink bastard probably likes to take his time."

"Hey! Fuck you, asshole! Not my fault I just happen to be really good at killing people, but I'm also not one of those sick fucks that goes around enjoying all the killing and torment they inflict on others. I do my job, I get paid, and go home. End of story!" Subaru snapped back angrily. He'd met his fair share of lunatics over the years, particularly amongst the shinobi populace, and he was proud to consider himself not amongst those more... twisted individuals. He tried to be as quick and efficient as possible. For him, prolonging a one-sided fight or dragging out an interrogation was pointless and extremely inefficient, not to mention extremely unprofessional for a shinobi. Shinobi should be professional killers and spies, not thugs. Unfortunately, there were some Shinobi and Kunoichi that enjoyed killing or harming others far too much.

Endou Kiyo was a prime example of that. Kami, he couldn't stand that psychopath. She enjoys what she does way too much. Terumī Moroie could also be considered one, but he tended to be more on the line of just being really good at killing like he was.

"So you say," Murphy responded, "Either way, you're lucky HIGHCOM wants you alive. Had it been up to me, I would have killed you and been done with it."

As much as he wanted to give some sort of retort, Subaru couldn't really fault the guy. He just gave a grunt and waited patiently as he was carried further west through the streets. After what felt like an hour of steady, cautious traversing of destroyed blocks and rubble-strewed streets, they reached a small open garden that was being used as some kind of forward base for the UNSC, built up from the ruins of the old Mibu Monastery. The building had seen far better days, having been the site of a fierce urban battle between the UNSC and Shao Peng's army. Now, it was firmly in UNSC control. There were guards and war machines everywhere, looking for anything or anyone trying to cause trouble, but there were also swarms of civilians being processed through and sent further out of the city on swarms of what Subaru could only figure were some kinds of massive six-wheeled transports with flat tops, each one carrying some two dozen people at a time. In one corner, he could see some kind of triage taking care of scores of wounded. UNSC, Moon Country, and civilians; there must have been hundreds being overseen by more than a hundred doctors.

Off to one side of the base's perimeter, he could see a few rows of corpses lined up next to one another. He noticed something off at first, before realizing that they were all wearing headbands (The ones that still had their heads). They were shinobi; his shinobi. A few UNSC soldiers and other individuals he didn't recognize were going over the bodies, inspecting them, and writing something down on several notepads. There were five rows of bodies, with what must have been at least a dozen in each row. He even recognized a few of them. Fujii Tomosada, his team's Wind Release expert from the Hidden Frost, was almost unrecognizable, his body and face having been devastated by some sort of explosive and a leg missing. There was no sign of his tetsubō. The only way he knew it was Tomosada was because he was wearing his old Frost Village Jounin Jacket. (He never understood why Fujii still did after defecting 8 years ago.) The Tani Brothers, a trio of assassins from the Hidden Cloud, was lain beside one another, each having been riddled with scores of bullets or, in the case of one, was missing his entire lower half. Nakajima Arimitsu, a rogue Sand Shinobi who was a damn good archer, was missing most of his skull, with the only thing identifying him to Subaru was that stupid tattoo of Arimitsu's father's name on his neck.

The story repeated itself, over and over, with each body he observed and/or recognized. He grimaced at realizing that his team's psychotic genjutsu expert, Endou Kiyo, wasn't amongst the dead. If there was one shinobi/kunoichi he wouldn't shed a tear over, it was her. She enjoyed what she did way too damn much, and was too damn good at it to boot. He could only hope that she was dead under some rubble or an explosion had simply left too little of her remains to identify.

One on one, shinobi were superior to the UNSC soldiers, but there were so many UNSC soldiers for every one shinobi, and they were all armed with firearms. Just as it had been with him, all it took was for the UNSC's firearms to hit them once, and the results were either crippling or outright fatal. It wasn't like ninjutsu, where there were margins for error on the caster's part, which improved survivability of the target depending on the technique and the skill of the caster. There might be several different variants of bullets, it really didn't matter as each was almost exactly the same in terms of functionality and lethality against a human target. It might take the shinobi nations years to figure out what jutsu would properly defend against them and what tactics work best against the UNSC soldiers with losing scores of men at a time.

But, at the same time, a bitter thought entered Subaru's mind. The Elemental Nations, despite the powers and capabilities of the shinobi villages, were facing a threat they've never encountered before. They may not have years to adapt to this new threat, especially considering every single shinobi and kunoichi were a years-long investment by a hidden village, on average about six. How long did it take the UNSC to train its soldiers? The everyday pirates that made up Shao's army had managed to figure them out within a few weeks and these UNSC assholes were leagues better in training and discipline than the rowdy gangs of pirates that made up Shao's armies. So... months, maybe? Could the Elemental Nations muster enough shinobi troops and firepower to counter the numerically and technologically superior Star People? Could they beat, or at the very least, hold off the UNSC's seemingly overwhelming military might?

But, then again, the UNSC seemed to struggle badly against shinobi at the same time, too, so perhaps anything was possible.

"Set him down here while we wait for the bird. I want no less than three guns on him at all times. Nobody is allowed near him without my permission." He heard Murphy call out, as the soldiers set him down next to a small shed. Some of the soldiers started opening up packets of food and eating, while others started smoking and conversing with one another. As instructed, three soldiers kept their guns trained on him while they waited. Not sure how long it would be before they sent him off, Subaru asked if he could have something to eat and drink. Murphy seemed to be mentally debating it at first, but relented and pulled out a small brownish green packet with some wording on it that he couldn't read and a water canteen before being handed it.

MEAL
Ready-To-Eat. Individual.
MENU NO. 9
Beef Stew

Property of the United Nations Space Command
Commercial Resale is Unlawful

After being given a quick explanation on how to open, use, and prep the meal for consumption, Subaru took the spoon and took a bite of the steaming beef stew. He blinked a couple of times as the warm broth of pork and vegetables entered his mouth and chewed. He'd heard around him the UNSC soldiers bitching about how lousy the food was, but if he had to be honest, it wasn't that bad. It was far better than some of the shit he's been forced to eat. (Like bugs. Fuck bugs.) And when he thought more about it, he started realizing how ingenious these 'MREs' actually were. A lot of armies won or lost battles or wars due to how well their commanders could keep their armies fed. With a few of these on each soldier, you limited the need for the soldiers to go foraging out in the woods (or stealing food from the local peasants.), if not outright eliminate it.

He pulled out another small packet with some wording on it, wondering what food this was before he heard one of the soldiers angrily shout, "What the fuck? Are you shitting me?! Why does the asshole ninja strike fucking gold and get the honey hazelnut protein bar, while I got stuck with the fucking jalapeno cheese spread?"

"Are you serious, Hammond? You don't like jalapeno spread? That shit's good, dawg."
"I don't like spicy shit in general, Sanchez. Especially one turned into a fucking cheese spread by the big green weenie."|
Subaru blinked at that. 'What the hell is a 'big green wienie,' and what does it have to do with cheese?'
"Hey! Look alive! Falcon inbound!" Subaru heard Murphy call out as the faint sound of one of the UNSC's flying machines could be heard.
"The fuck? They're still willing to bring birds into land after the shitshow from yesterday?"
"Guess they really want this fucker ASAP." Murphy guessed, before turning to Subaru, "Well, I would say it was a pleasure, but... it really wasn't. Same time, though, wasn't too bad, either. Definitely one of the most compliant prisoners I've had. Either way, you're no longer our problem."

One of their flying machines, a 'Falcon' if he had to guess, could be seen approaching at rapid speed, beelining straight for their position while a couple more were circling overhead. The UNSC soldiers began clearing out the small opening they were situated at to give the Falcon room to land. Dust was kicked up everywhere as it lowered down to land, forcing Subaru to cover his eyes as it landed. When he managed to regain vision without getting a shitload of dust in his eyes, he was greeted with the sight of four UNSC soldiers towering over him, each of them seems to be carrying heavier armor than the soldiers he'd been facing. The one standing before him seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face.

"Command Sergeant Major Deacon Williams?" He heard Murphy say in surprise, but 'Williams' didn't waste any time.

"This the bugger everyone won't shut up about?" He asked sharply.

"Yes, Serg-"

"Then let's get this fucker loaded and back to HQ ASAP, Sergeant. General Osada wants him questioned effective immediately, and I won't have her orders delayed by anything. Hop to it." With that Williams had completely dismissed the sergeant from his conscious as he stared down at Subaru, studying him before finally speaking to him. What was said next destroyed any hope of him lying low and incognito.

"Komatsu Subaru. You are under arrest and hereby a prisoner of the UNSC. In other words, your arse belongs to us for the foreseeable future as we see fit. Cooperate with us, and you may live just yet."

'Fuck.' Subaru thought as he was loaded into the aircraft to an uncertain future.


Meanwhile
Tojima Castle (Alpha-1) Ruins; 2nd level
Atop a watchtower along the outer wall

"This is sheer insanity," Jiraiya said as he watched the utter carnage and devastation being wrought on Western Qushan. Explosions, gunfire, and the screams of scores of dead and dying rang out as the battle raged on. Air vessels screamed overhead as they attacked pirate positions. From what he's scouted out, the pirates were inflicting some casualties on the 'UNSC', but sheer firepower and superior coordination seemed to be prevailing in the end as the pirates and their shinobi allies were forced to pull back block by block or be utterly annihilated. The streets were littered with bodies of pirates and their various 'Nobi' slave soldiers, who were forced to attack with usually nothing more than spears, short swords, or the occasional bow. Entire blocks had been flattened or devastated by bombs or the vicious house-to-house fighting.

"It's horrible. All this carnage and death. It's like the First Shinobi War all over again." The small figure perched on his shoulder spoke sadly.

"Or the Third," Jiraiya muttered as he watched a group of fleeing pirates in a city block disappear within an explosion, while several more were holding up in buildings and trying to stop the UNSC's renewed offensive. All the while, he was writing notes down on his small notepad, trying to write down as much information he could muster on these newcomers. The pirates were putting up a fierce fight, but Jiraiya could tell that the UNSC had learned from their previous blunder in the initial assault. Their 'vehicles' were now more sparsely spaced out instead of forming massive columns down a few roads, even if it meant going down roads that didn't quite fit their frames. (Which didn't really matter considering some of the vehicles were large enough to flatten the largely wooden and bamboo houses.) Their soldiers were spread out more to avoid getting wiped out in a single strike by a lucky shinobi, which were becoming increasingly rare sights as the battle continued.

"Now you understand why I summoned you here, Fukasaku-sama."

The elder toad was silent in response as he surveyed the devastation Qushan had suffered. Jiraiya had initially reverse-summoned back to Mount Myōboku a day and a half ago, requesting that he come back to Sea Confederacy with him immediately. Despite not being given an explanation as to why Fukasaku could tell by the look on the Toad Sage's face and his tone that this had been no laughing matter.

In his eight hundred years of existence, he'd never seen anything like this. Massive airships floating the air, dwarfing even the largest of the legendary tailed beasts, and humans fighting with strange machines and weapons. Lumbering war machines that carried men into battle or blasted apart pirate holdouts. Air machines, far more sophisticated than what the Sky Empire had developed, raining death on whoever their unfortunate target was. The weapons these 'Star People' soldiers used behaved eerily similar to a weapon the Romanus Empire in Esura had supposedly developed and begun deploying some 20 years prior. Something they called the Arcabuz.

Whatever they were called, these Star People were clearly no strangers to war, even if their tactics were unorthodox by samurai and even shinobi standards. They moved and coordinated with a level of efficiency some armies could only dream of having.

'But despite all this carnage they're bringing about on this city, they waste both time and resources on escorting civilians out of the city or even tending to them if wounded. Why? Wouldn't it be quicker for them to ignore the civilians and focus all their attention on eliminating Shao Peng's troops?' Fukasaku pondered, as he saw a platoon of 'UNSC' soldiers escorting a small group of maybe fifty or sixty civilians away from a firefight not even 100 meters from them. One of the soldiers was even carrying a small child, rocking and stroking the terrified boy's back to try and calm him down. Behind the two, another soldier was carrying a bloody and limp figure in their arms, no doubt the child's parent.

So in spite of their rather destructive nature and methods, these 'UNSC' seemed to place a rather odd emphasis on tending to civilians or non-combatants. Far more so than any shinobi or samurai force would normally. Such a display seemed to indicate, to him at least, that they either were extremely confident in their abilities to wage war and look after civilians simultaneously or that they were simply convinced or certain they had both the manpower and resources needed to handle both simultaneously. But that still didn't really explain why exactly they prioritized the safety of civilians, even those not of their own nation, so much.

"Perhaps, in spite of their destructive nature and methods, they're far more compassionate than it would seem at first glance." He said softly, turning to the Toad Sage before continuing, "Have any of the individuals you've captured provided any insight on how they operate?"

"Well, just as the rumors have been claiming, they not only can't use chakra, they appear to not have any chakra networks, period." Jiraiya answered, "Even though the Esurans have a limited understanding and connection with chakra isn't as strong as those within the Elemental Nations, they still have chakra networks. I've never heard of a living being simply not having one. But, if they lack the ability to use chakra-"

"Then it would make sense for them to develop advance scientific and technologic marvels to compensate for any shortcomings or obstacles." Fukasaku finished, "In all likelihood, these people have probably never even heard of chakra until arriving here."

"That's what they've claimed. As far as they're concerned, magic or anything claiming to be magic isn't real. Just a way for the ignorant to explain how the universe works around them until their scientific method finds an explanation."

'There's some truth to that, but I don't think it's quite in the way these Star People probably think. There will always be some things simply beyond our comprehension or understanding that not even their precious science will be able to properly explain.' Fukasaku thought, stroking his goatee as the battle raged around them. "How has Hiruzen responded to this threat?"

"I haven't sent anything back to the old man, just yet. I want to try and get as much information on them as I can before I send any prisoners or myself back to Konoha." Jiraiya answered, glancing at something beside him with a small smile, "Still, what I have managed to get out of them has been extremely helpful in building a profile on these newcomers."

Beside him, the prone body of what he had identified as one of the UNSC's officers was lying on their back, whimpering softly with an occasional panicked spasm as '1st Lieutenant Viktor Katona,' as he addressed himself, fought off nonexistent monsters that he called 'Silverhawks' that were harassing him. From the description, they sounded like some kind of man-sized arachnid or insect. (The Toad Sage pondered for a moment if these things were actually real or not. Given they were apparently from another world, who knew what kind of creatures there were in the universe.) Jiraiya couldn't believe how easily they cracked under such a weak genjutsu. At the same time, though, they had no chakra, so it really shouldn't be a surprise. He'd been a treasure trove of information, either way, helping him get a better understanding of how the UNSC operates and works. The more he complied and told Jiraiya what he wanted to know, the weaker the genjutsu would be inflicted on him. Refuse, and vice versa. For the past hour, since he'd captured the man from the depot, he'd gone back and forth with his interrogation with the man to learn everything he could about the UNSC.

"So far, including this one, I've managed to nab about 17 in various conditions. Some are perfectly fine, others are going to need some treatment. Hopefully, Hime can help them out. I've knocked them out and had some of the other toads reverse summon them to Mount Myoboku before having them sent to Konoha."

"Ah, so that's why you had them sent there. Even if they escaped somehow, they'd have nowhere to go, albeit the few days they can stay before being sent back."

"Shouldn't be that long. I think I have more than enough for the Interrogation Division to question. I'll gather a little more intel here, then head back to Konoha with my captives. I'm sure this one over here has still got more than a few tidbits of information for us."

While the two talked, however, they failed to realize that their captive wasn't quite as incapacitated as they believed. As best he could, Viktor Katona, Executive Officer of the 419th Battalion's Alpha Company (When it still existed), tried listening in as best he could, to garner what little information he could about this so-called 'Konoha.' From what he figured, it had to have been a shinobi village or something. But dammit was it hard to concentrate, hard to try and give false intel when possible. (Bastard almost seemed to have a sixth sense about telling when he was lying, but he had managed to get a few lies past him.) His mind was nothing but a blurry haze, with adrenaline and pure phobic terror running through it as he squirmed and fought off what seemed like dozens of Concordian Silverhawks, each one longer than a man was tall. Nasty, flightless pseudo-arthropods from the planet Concord that were known man-eaters and hunted in a manner, not unlike that of parasitic wasps such as the Earth Tarantula Hawk, where they paralyze their victims to either consume or use as living hosts for their offspring. Viktor had had the misfortune of almost being killed and eaten by one as a child, which led to an extreme phobia of pretty much any kind of big insect or spider-like creature. How this guy knew that he wasn't sure. Hell, he probably didn't and it was just some kind of chakra mental attack to make him cooperative. Either way, he was in a real shit show at the moment and couldn't really do much. Thankfully, however, he did have advanced resiliency training in interrogation and torture, though he'd never tell a soul that he did or how he'd acquire it. Like many people out here in the cluster, Katona had his own dirty secret, one that only a handful knew of. And probably why he was still alive.

Contrary to the popular belief that the Higher Ups would have the public believe, not everyone discovered to work for or have worked for the Office of Naval Intelligence was... 'liquidated.'

As much as the senior leadership here hated to admit it, ONI operatives were too good at what they do, and the UNSC was suffering from a severe shortage of good intelligence gatherers out in this new section of space they were in. And contrary to popular belief, not every ONI agent was a cruel, emotionless monster that did whatever they thought was necessary to safeguard humanity. So from time to time, when ONI personnel were discovered or flushed out amongst the refugees, they were put through a rigorous screening process by the UNSC for 'reliability,' IE whether or not they'd have a problem renouncing their former oaths to the Office and work for the defectors in helping rebuild humanity away from the Covenant. For Viktor and his squadmates, the choice had been pretty easy. None of them had been too interested in 'dying for the cause,' so to say. Unfortunately, as a precaution or just outright paranoia, his team of six had been split up across the entire system, something he thought had been a mistake if they wanted the most out of their agents. While he didn't know how many former ONI agents there were, Viktor knew there must have been at least a couple hundred, the grand majority of whom were just former low-level operatives or field agents.

He didn't even know where any of his former colleagues were. All he knew was that Bradford, his former CO, might be stationed somewhere on the Eastern Continent, probably Camp Dumont if he had to guess. (If that was where he actually was.)

'Jiraiya' and whoever he was speaking to, Fuka-something or other (Dammit, it was hard to concentrate.) continued conversing with one another, discussing the UNSC and what 'Konoha' could, would, or should do about them. He hadn't researched all the hidden villages on this oddball planet, but he could tell from the sound of it that Konoha would likely be a significant thorn in their side if not kept in check. Or at the very least, reach some sort of understanding with one another. These kinds of actions would only lead to war, and after the debacle that was happening here from what just a couple hundred shinobi had done, Viktor wasn't sure if they should try taking on an entire army of shinobi numbering in the thousands or even tens of thousands. How many of these bastard ninjas were even running around on this planet? Tens, hundreds of thousands? If he could, he'd shudder at the thought.

Faintly in the distance, he heard what sounded like a massive eruption roaring to life, almost as if a volcano was erupting. Viktor's mind was still a jumbled mess, but he still dreadfully remembered what, or rather who, had caused that.

The other two noticed it, too, as they turned to the direction of the sound. Noting where it was coming from, Jiraiya kneeled down next to the Lieutenant and started asking, "Who's over there as Tosa Castle?"

"W-what? Where?"

"The castle on the other side of the river. Whose over there defending it? Tell me or your little critter friends are going to start getting agitated."

"I don't kno- JESUS! Stop! Stop! Fuck! G-get them off, get them- Rangers! A Company of Rangers from the 121st Ranger Regiment. They were deployed to deny the castle as a base- Fucking Christ! GET IT AWAY! Deny the castle as a fort for the pirates to fall back to and secure some High-Value Targets at the same time! One of the city's big shot families! Didn't reach them in time to stop them from killing themselves! That's it, I swear! Jesus! Call them off, already!"

"How many Rangers are there?"

"256, Per standard UNSC Army Doctrine! PLEASE! GET THIS FUCKING THINGS OFF OF ME!"

Satisfied with the answers, Jiraiya eased off on the intensity of the genjutsu slightly, much to the gratitude of a mentally exhausted Viktor, before saying to Fukasaku, "I think I'll make that castle my last little trip. Looks like they're about to be overrun, anyway. Grab a few more prisoners then head back to Konoha. I've just about gathered all the intel I can without pushing my luck too hard. Last thing we need is for all of this to go to waste."

Going through a few hand signs, he summoned another toad, this one massive with a dark red coloring and wearing a black kimono. "Yes, Jiraiya-san?"

"Gamaken got another one for you. Same as before, take him to Mount Myoboku until I finish here."

"Got it, boss!"

Viktor was stupefied at what he was seeing, a giant talking toad, as the genjutsu wore off or stopped (Or maybe it hadn't and he was still seeing things.). His mind still a haze and his motor skills not wanting to cooperate with his mind, he could only watch in abstract horror as the giant toad, easily as tall and as massive as a Hunter, proceeded to pick him up and start swallowing him whole. What feeble attempts he made to resist and fight off his attacker were futile, so as a last desperate act to at least warn the UNSC of what happened, he tapped into his ONI Neural Implant, overriding the local UNSC Battlenet security protocols to send a message directly to General Osada.

/Priority One Message from Katona, Viktor to 'Iron Maiden': Unknown number of UNSC Personnel Captured by an unknown individual named 'Jiraiya' with supposed allegiance to 'Konoha.' Destination of captured personnel unknown, possible location referred to by hostile as 'Mount Myoboku.' Requesting immediate SAR.\

As his Neural Implant confirmed the message was sent, he felt his consciousness slip as darkness consumed both his mind and his vision.


Same Time
Alpha-3 Castle
Cooper's Squad

"SONOVA-" Cooper cried out as he curled up in his small little defensive 'line,' praying to whatever god was listening that he would get hit by the barrage of hellfire being rained down across the entire castle, with a few of the massive fireballs striking all around their small little defensive enclave. Jesus, it was like being under barrage by Covenant Banshees. Explosions were erupting everywhere across the castle, completely at random it seemed. Sure enough, Vesuvius decided to join the party, and now it was Fox Company's turn to be turned into crispy burnt meat. Judging from the comms, LZ-Alpha and Bravo were both getting hit hard, forcing their reinforcements to abort less they get wiped out too and stay in the air in a holding pattern until... whatever happened next happened. The very top level of the castle was struck by a massive fireball, almost blinding to look at, that seemed to engulf almost half the castle's level. Casualties were heavy, but it seemed like Vesuvius wasn't concerned with friendly fire as he seemed to be killing more of his own troops than he was UNSC. Didn't matter really, though, all he needed to do was keep this up and they'd all be dead.

Except... Something seemed off. It might have been just him, but it almost seemed as if this didn't have quite the same kind of sheer firepower that the attack that destroyed Alpha-1 (And wiped out several companies of troopers.) had. Sure, whole parts of the castle were getting blown to hell, but if this was the same attack that wiped out Delta Company, shouldn't they all be dead by now?

Almost as if someone heard his thoughts, the attack slowly dwindled down, then petered off entirely. Save for the sounds of battle raging across the city in the distance, it was eerily quiet. All across comms, platoons were having their squads sound off, trying to figure out who was still alive and who wasn't.

What the hell was going on? Why the fuck were they still alive?

"Gimme a headcount! Everyone still alive?" Cooper called out on comms, despite seeing on his HDU that his squad mates were all still alive. Better to be absolutely certain than assume something just because some computer told you. Thankfully, everyone sounded off. Shaken up and worse for wear, but alive and unharmed. (From the fireballs at least.)

'Cooper! You still in one piece? Respond, over!' Malcolm's voice, strained and sounding as if it was in pain, called out on comms.

"We still kicking ass, Sergeant. Over."

'Damn good to hear, Sergeant. LZ got hit hard, and I don't even know whose still with us. Nobody can't get Lubach on the horn, but we're hoping that's just technical issues. Over.'

"You alright, over?"

He heard a strained grunt, 'Got thrown by one of those fucking fireballs or whatever the hell they were. Busted my back and my leg pretty good. Aside from being made a brokedick*, I'm green. Over.'

"Solid copy. I'm- SHIT!" Cooper suddenly said, ordering everyone to take cover and stay silent as he saw a figure suddenly land some 100 meters from their position. All around him, the mangled and ruined bodies of hundreds of pirates lay before him, but the individual didn't really seem fazed by any of it. Through his scope, Cooper managed to get a good look at the newcomer.

It was Vesuvius.

In spite of all the destruction he had wrought over the past couple of days, Cooper still couldn't believe that a child had been responsible for all of it. The kid couldn't have been a day over 16, with auburn hair that was matted and filthy from days of nonstop fighting. His clothing looked worse for wear, coated in blood, sweat, and mud. His pale ruby eyes had an almost distant look in them, but that's not what had Cooper's attention. It was his overall stance, the way he was holding his side with an arm as he scanned the skies, his chest sucking in deep breaths of precious air as he doubled over for a moment.

All of it suddenly clicked. It was no wonder they were still alive and why that last attack seemed a little lacking in power. Not only was Vesuvius injured, but he was also exhausted. Two days of near-constant battle, with little time for rest, had drained the shinobi. Information on what all had been happening outside the castle since they secured it had been largely reserved for the company's COs and SNCOs, but tidbits had gotten down to the grunts like him. They knew that Vesuvius had been in the thick of the fighting several times, trying to help push the UNSC back out of Qushan with little success. (If there was one thing the UNSC Army had learned over the years fighting both the Covies and Innies, it was defensive tactics.) The kid was probably running on fumes at this point and that... gunshot wound? Shrapnel? Whatever that injury was, it wasn't helping in the slightest.

'I'll be damned. So their little chakra tanks can run outta steam. Intel boys weren't bullshitting for once.' Cooper thought as he observed what was probably the second most, if not the most, wanted man in all the Sea Confederacy by the UNSC. He faintly acknowledged Sergeant Malcolm's voice on comms trying to raise him.

As MilInt had explained it to them, if shinobi overuse their chakra, they tend to suffer from something called 'Chakra Exhaustion.' Due to how heavily interconnected with their bodies their chakra networks were, overexertion of said chakra network tends to overwhelm the heart, resulting in shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, loss of consciousness, and even cardiac arrest or sudden heart failure.

In other words, overusing their chakra can actually kill a shinobi. And it looked like Lil' ole Vesuvius had just about reached his limit.

"Fuck me-" He started to say, only to have to take cover as explosions erupted all around his troops and he. Shouts of dismay and anger roared out from the Rangers as they all took cover from the new barrage. Debris and corpses were flung into the air as the explosions rang out, showering the troopers in dirt and gore. One explosion struck the tower Torrens and Alvarez were in, but Cooper didn't even have time to call out to them as a chunk of gore, what might have been someone's hips and thighs, crashed down not two feet from him, splattering him in gore much to his disgust.

As quickly as the explosions had started, they ceased. Cooper was the first to recover, looking downrange to see what almost seemed like Vesuvius glaring right at him, kunai in hand with a paper tag on the very end of it. No clue how, but Cooper could only figure that Vesuvius somehow had heard them or just already knew they were there. Narrowing his eyes, he threw the last paper bomb-laden kunai he had. As the bomb detonated and obscured 4-1's sight on the rogue ninja, Cooper saw just for a moment Vesuvius slowly leaping away from the battlefield.

Dammit, he was making his escape! They needed to stop him!

He quickly got a headcount for all his troopers to make sure everyone was still alive. Miraculously, only Torrens had been injured, taking a large chunk of rock straight into his ribs and breaking several. Alvarez was shaken and scratched up, but still in one piece.

As he confirmed everyone was okay, or at least alive, he quickly got on comms and tried to get some air support, only to learn that none was available at the moment. Everything was either being used or RTB* to rearm. And Artillery and Naval Support were out of the question, too; all being too occupied with supporting the Marines or Task Force Conway.

"Fuck!"

"You good, sarge?"

"No, I'm fucking not! That scrawny bastard's getting away, and we got nothing to take him down with!" Cooper cursed, knowing full well that if Vesuvius got away, it would be forever before they could track him down again. But there was nothing that could be sent after him. No way to-

… Well, not quite nothing, as much as he grimaced the thought.

'4-1, respond, goddammit! What's your SitRep*, over?!' He jumped as he heard Malcolm shout into comms, trying to raise him. He quickly fumbled with his comms gear and responded, "4-Actual, this is 4-1. SitRep is as follows! We have eyes on Vesuvius! Hostile engaged and suppressed our position with improvised explosives, and is currently retreating into the city. I have requested air and artillery support, but none is available to take him down. 4-Actual, requesting permission to pursue and destroy HVT. Over."

'That is a firm negative, 4-1. We don't have any assets available to support you. The Marines are only just now landing their reinforcements to us and the LZs are taking heavy fire from what's left of the pirates attacking us. Over.'

"4-Actual, we can't afford to let Vesuvius getaway. There's no one that can be sent after him except for us. I say again, I am requesting permission to pursue and destroy the hostile shinobi. Over!"

He glanced around at his troopers, looking at them to see what their thoughts were. Many of them were survivors of the nightmare that had been the Fall of Alluvion. Though their faces were stern, they all seemed to be in silent agreement with him about the ninja needing to be taken out. Finally, Kofod finally spoke up, "Sarge, we can't let him get away and out of Qushan."

'Dammit, I said no, 4-1! You have an understrength squad that he'll tear to pieces in seconds. I'm not sending my men on a suicide mission!'

"Dammit, if nobody goes after him, it'll be months before we can pin him down again. We have a perfect opportunity right now to take him out before he gets away. If we don't, how many hundreds or thousands more troopers will that fucker kill down the road?!" Cooper paused for a second, trying to find the right words. After a few moments, he continued, "Malcolm. You know damn well we can't let that psychopath escape. Somebody has to try and take him out before he does. And right now, we the only thing available to do so. I don't wanna die any more than the next man, but dammit I don't want hundreds or thousands more Joes and Janes having to die at his hands knowing full well we could have stopped him here. Sergeant, let us go after him and try to take him down... How copy, over?"

There was a pregnant pause on the other end, with Cooper knowing full well that Malcolm was debating the issue in his mind. Though he hadn't been with them for long, most of the troopers had come to respect Malcolm's leadership, as he had shown that not only was he competent, he also cared about the lives of his men. That was a rare quality in a man these days. After several tense moments, he heard a growl on comms before finally, 'God-fucking-dammit! Greenlight, 4-1! You are to pursue and eliminate Vesuvius with extreme prejudice! Do whatever it takes to bring him down, but do not let that bastard leave here with his life. I'll try and get some support sent your way but I can't promise anything at the moment. Understood, over?'

"Solid copy on all, 4-Actual. 4-1 is in pursuit. Out." Cooper finished as he looked over his troopers, glancing back to see Alvarez helping Torrens lean against the door, then jog over to the group. There were several looking to him, wondering what he was about to say next. Cooper held a sinking feeling in his gut, knowing that these next few minutes or hours could be their last. He didn't want to throw their lives away, after everything they survived. Jericho VII, Mamore, Alluvion. They deserved to live more so than most after all the nightmares they endured over the years. But at the same time, the UNSC could not afford Vesuvius getting away.

After a few moments of silence, Cooper finally spoke, "Look... I'm not gonna tell you to come with me on a suicide mission. We've all been through too much and-"

"Oh, knock off the speech, Sarge." Bellino interrupted with a smirk, "You know damn well we're not letting you go alone. Besides, we can't let you get all the glory or medals. 'Damian Cooper the Ninja Slayer?' Christ, we'd never hear the end of it. Might as well make you share some of that glory and medals."

"Get yo dumbass outta here!" This earned several chuckles and laughs from the group as Cooper tried to smack the private, but there wasn't any real effort in his hit. He was smiling, too. Here they were, likely about to die, and yet they were laughing and carrying on like nothing. There had to be something seriously wrong with them. Then again, anybody who joins the Rangers tended to have something fucked up in their head.

"Alright then, Alvarez. Stay with Torrens and the other wounded until backup arrives."

Torrens suddenly waved them off, "Nah, forget that. I can't run for shit but I can still fight. I'll stay with Choosak and Graves. Take Al with you. You're gonna need him more than I will."

"You sure about this, dawg?" Alvarez asked concerned, more for his wounded comrades than himself, "There's still a lotta shinks lurking about."

Raising up his SAW, "Good thing I've got one of these, then, huh?" Torrens remarked with an evil grin, before saying, "Seriously, though, go with them. We'll be fine. Whenever our guys show up, we'll point them your way and try to get you some help."

Alvarez stilled seemed reluctant to just leave the wounded but nodded all the same as he looked to Cooper to see what he'd say. The sergeant ultimately relented, "Alright, then. Fuck it! Be nice to have our SAW Gunner, anyhow. Don't you do anything stupid, Torrens, like die!"

"Shit, shouldn't I be telling you that?!" Torrens retorted with a startled laugh, as the Rangers did a last-minute check and redistributed what little ammo remained amongst them. They tried to evenly distribute it, but there wasn't much left, even with Torrens giving up most of his ammo as well. That attack had really made them burn through ammo. They would just have to make due.

After this was done, Cooper took one last look at his troops, before taking the lead in his 8-man squad. "Alright, Rangers! Lead the way! Let's go bag this fucker!"

"Hooah!"


/1000 Hours; October 21, 2543 (Military Calendar)\
/United Nations Space Command Priority Transmission 60098D-19
/Encryption Code: Red
/Public Key: N/A
/From: Brigadier General Klaudia Osada, Commanding Officer, Expeditionary Brigade Osada/ (UNSC Service Number: 15780-36215-KO)
/To: Lieutenant General Nicolas Toussaint, SN: 18900-07934-NT; Vice Admiral Preston Cole, SN: 03956-26127-PC
/Subject: After Action Reports of Qushan and Asanobe; Status of UNSC/Terran Presence, Current and Future, on Planet Shinsei
/Classification: EYES ONLY (RND Directive)\
/Start File\

It's finally over. The last known major pirate army on Sea Island has been utterly annihilated, and with it, any mundane hope the Pirate Lords had left at stopping us. Qushan has been declared secure as of 1530 Hours local time, October 20th UNSC Calendar, and we have begun besieging Asanobe with an air campaign designed to wipe out any remaining forces under Shao Peng while all 33rd Mechanized elements regroup and advance towards it from the West and South. (And hopefully, bag him at the same time.) Lead elements should reach the city by 1200 hours local time but will be ordered to hold position. Considering how much larger Asanobe is than Qushan and that we still aren't 100% certain how many troops (regular or shinobi) Shao still has left, I won't order an assault until I have every bit of manpower and firepower I can muster ready to deploy. I would like to note, however, that there are already reports of infighting coming in throughout the city within hours of our air campaign starting. Some of our G-2s are starting to think our flyboys might have bagged Shao Peng. Nothing concrete yet, but it looks promising.

Total casualty listings for the Qushan Operation aren't complete yet, and likely won't be for another two weeks as we clear the rubble away, but conservative estimates are putting the numbers as follows:

40,000+ Civilians killed/wounded
90,000+ Civilians displaced
17,000+ Confederacy Soldiers KIA/WIA/POW
7,000+ Confederacy 'Nobi' (Slave soldiers) KIA/WIA/POW
207 Rogue Shinobi KIA/ 11 WIA-POW (The only way we were able to capture any was when they were simply too injured to even stay conscious 90% of the time)
2,500+ UNSC Personnel KIA
1,800+ UNSC Personnel WIA
21 UNSC Personnel MIA (Believed to be POWs; See note)
19 Moon Village Shinobi KIA
12 Moon Village Shinobi WIA

This Op has already become a disaster for us. The public is not going to be happy when they learn about how badly we got mauled in what should have been a quick and decisive Op. Worst part is, I can't say I blame them. Our Intelligence Teams failed us badly and we simply weren't prepared for the kind of warfare the shinobi bring to the table, nor were we aware that the locals had gained access to firearms. All of these factors, while not the sole reasons for failure, have played a major role in the disaster that's occurred here, and now we're left picking up the pieces. All I can hope is that we gain some valuable insight into how to engage shinobi in the future without massive losses.

Note: I've also received an interesting priority one message from a First Lieutenant Viktor Katona, supposedly 419th Alpha Company's Executive Officer, claiming that several UNSC troops have been captured by an individual called 'Jiraya,' with allegiance to what I can only assume is a Hidden Ninja Village called 'Konoha.' According to the message, they're being sent to a location called 'Mount Myoboku.' Where that is, I have no idea. We'll have to try and garner intel from the local populace to see what we can find, but that's not the important part. What's interesting to me is that a seemingly unordinary Army Company XO somehow managed to bypass four levels of UNSC Army encryptions and sent a message directly into my private personal inbox, without tripping any alarms in the process.

So maybe Vice Admiral Cole would be kind enough to explain just how in the fuck this XO managed that, because I have a feeling you know something about this. I also can't help but have this weird hunch that maybe, just maybe, you have a certain group of individuals running around the Star Cluster in secret after we all agreed to keep them out of here.

Don't bullshit me. I better get a straight answer.

Signed,
Klaudia Osada

/End File\


*BB is short for Battlebuddy.

*PGM stands for Precision Guided Mortar. In the 26th century universe of Halo, mortars, while never shown used by humans in-game, would probably still be in use, as they are far more accurate than artillery could ever dream of being, and have all of their ordinances converted into precision-guided munitions. The US Army already has a guided mortar round in service, so it would only make sense that the UNSC has something similar. Look up the XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition.

*In today's western armies, particularly the US Army, the minimum loadout for a soldier is seven 30-round mags of 5.56x45mm NATO for M4/M16s, equaling to 210 rounds. (Though for combat tours or patrols, it's usually 10 or so, equating to at least 300 rounds of ammunition.) Even if the armies of 26th-century humanity had access to things like genetic augmenting to make people healthier and stronger than today's human beings, this magazine loadout would likely not change by much especially considering that the UNSC are using 7.62x51mm NATO as their standard rifle caliber, which is larger and much heavier than a 5.56x45mm NATO. And all that ammunition you're lugging around gets really heavy after a while on patrol or a ruck march. (Ask any veterans who've ever had to carry a M240, an M14, or just a 7.62 caliber combat rifle period. They'll tell you, the ammo alone is heavy as hell. I think I also remember reading somewhere that a 5.56 is like only 29-30% the weight of a 7.62 round. Can't remember where exactly I read that last part, though, so don't quote me on the chance I'm wrong.)

*MULE stands for 'Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment.' It's a six-wheeled unmanned ground vehicle designed by Lockheed primarily for logistics and countermining operations, as well as a Light Assault variant. Development began in 2002, but was ultimately cancelled in 2009. In this AU Halo/Naruto Universe, I envisioned that the UNSC would have something similar in use, an autonomous/remote control drone that could be used as a munitions hauler to quickly resupply troops on the ground, a light combat drone outfitted with a .50 cal machine gun and maybe a rocket/grenade launcher, or even medevac wounded from a combat zone if doing so by air wasn't feasible. I also envision that such a vehicle would largely be used by the UNSC Army, as their role is largely a defensive ground role, and possibly by a small number of UNSC Marine Corps Units, since they have such a close working relationship with the Navy, most of their resupplies would likely be handled by Navy assets (As shown in Halo 2 and Halo 3, in particular).

*FMJ= Full Metal Jacket. While the best possible option overall is to simply not get hit by a bullet period, Full Metal Jacket bullets tend to be less 'lethal' against soft targets, like flesh, than other types of rounds such as Hollow Point, Soft Point, or even Frangible bullets. This is due to their design and purpose, as they're designed to have less capacity for expansion (where the bullet will impact the target, deform, and transfers all its kinetic energy into the target to inflict traumatic damage. Hollow Points are designed to do the exact opposite, expand and deform as much as possible, and maximize the kinetic trauma inflicted onto a human target but as a result tend to have poor armor piercing capabilities as a result.) and allow them better penetrate hardened targets, like body armor or concrete. The downside to this is that the bullet will have a tendency to over-penetrate without doing any major damage, and can cause unintentional collateral damage further downrange. (Within reason, of course. A larger bullet like a 7.62x51 is still gonna do some damage to flesh regardless of if it's a FMJ or Hollow-Point, and if you're aiming for the chest cavity, it's really not gonna matter what kind of bullet you're using as long as it gets past whatever armor they may be using.)

*The Treaty of Johanesburg is sort of a revamped, modernized version of the Geneva Covenentions, signed into action by the United Nations in 2105 due to the division and constant wars happening during this pre-interstellar period of humanity. By 2543, it's largely outdated due to the UEG recognizing itself as the only legitimate government of humanity, there are also no other human civilizations in the Local Cluster, and because the Covenant as a whole do not apply to what are meant to be rules regarding warfare against fellow humans. However, due to the unique situation of Shinsei and the Aquarii Star Cluster, many colonies and governments have agreed to bring back the Treaty of Jonhanesburg as a way to keep disputes 'civil,' per say.

*Brokedick is Military Slang for someone who can't perform regular duties due to injuries, ie useless.

*RTB stands for Return/Returning To Base.

*SitRep stands for Situation Report.

So that's it for this chapter and for the Sea Confederacy campaign. I'm gonna leave the fate of Damian and his squad on a cliffhanger, for now and let y'all wonder what happened. So, the Sea Confederacy Campaign is finished, and now we're going to move into the next major Arc, the 'Visok Arc,' which will bring back an old enemy formally into the story, finally.

Thanks for all the support you've provided with my stories. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you thought in the reviews, constructive criticism is always welcome, and I'll see you next time.

-Azores