Hey All.
So last time we left off with certain Witches regretting life and their decisions.
Anyway, writing this I plan this chapter to be a light-hearted one again.
Anyway…
Responses to Reviews:
On with the Story…
Chapter 12, This is Normal
502nd base, main Hanger
The Wrecker Trio were sitting in the most uncomfortable position imaginable. Seiza.
No, that wasn't quite right.
It was Seiza on a bed of coarse gravel. That was beyond the most uncomfortable position imaginable.
"Nipa has the excuse of simply being a walking entity of misfortune, but what are your excuses, Kanno, Karibuchi?" Naruto glared down at two of the three witches, who all were shifting around on their knees, trying to find a somewhat comfortable position without the gravel digging into their legs.
"Uhm…I have smaller magical reserves and ran out of magic before I could finish landing…" Karibuchi tried, and failed, to convince herself that a quarter of the wrecked Striker Units behind her and her friends were entirely her fault.
"Ugh. Nipa crashed into me." Kanno explained.
"That was only that one time, and you managed to at least land your Striker Units in a repairable state." Tenten stated, holding a wrench in one hand and hitting the head into the other. "We are talking about the 2 FUBAR Strikers you returned with."
Nipa remained quiet, glad that they weren't roasting her at least.
Sure, she may have had a bit of a rough time this last week where she set a new record of 6 broken Striker Units, but only one of those was her fault. She did crash into Kanno, but as the crazy Tech Priest ('No seriously, this crazy Tenten person WORSHIPS technology' Nipa thought) had said, the Striker Unit was at least reparable.
The other times…how was she to know that she'll be struck by lightning on a beautiful winter day (sure, there was some dark clouds about, but still), have a flock of bird appear out of literal thin air and jam her Striker unit, get shot down by a Neuroi (this happens to everyone, don't judge her), have her weapon misfire in the Hanger without having a finger anywhere near the trigger (she was holding the carry handle for crying out loud), resulting in a damaged engine block and a couple of broken transmission lines, and lastly when part of the roof collapsed during the night, burying her Striker Unit and Krupinski's, whilst everyone was sleeping. How was any of this her fault? Sasha still teases her about it.
Well, Karibuchi did have the valid excuse of running out of juice once and having one of her two Striker Units hit by Neuroi the other 2 times, but still, how Kanno managed to have the air-intake channels BLOCKED by pine needles…that was a feat that Nipa had yet to achieve herself.
And the other Striker Unit literally set itself on fire, but that was so common with Nipa that she didn't give a comment.
Naruto and Tenten sighed. "You three can finish your assigned times here, then go on with your daily chores." He said, walking out of the Hanger and heading towards Hanger 3.
It has been 2 weeks since the 502nd had begun training with the 101st, and despite their protests, the grumbles and snow now covering the land, the witches couldn't refute the results.
The higher stamina they developed together with the stronger core allowed them to remain in their Striker Units for longer durations, unless something unforeseen happens, such as 11 brand new Striker Units being requisitioned in the last week alone…
But hey, that is just the official count.
Anyway, Rall, thanks to Kei's therapy sessions, was able to finally walk around without her corset, though she still had to be careful as any sudden and unusual movements would send a lance of pain shooting up her spine. Her training regime involved Kei teaching her some Yoga and Pilates motions…
It may not be strenuous as it sounds, but damn, she was needing a nice warm bath after the first session as she trained muscles she did not know existed.
Anyway, whenever anyone of a certain trio sortied, the 101st always got ready for a rescue sortie of their own, especially to rescue a certain problematic trio of witches.
"Don't be too hard on them, Naruto, Tenten." The two shinobi turned to see Hiken cleaning his Katana. "They are young and make mistakes."
"This goes beyond 'making mistakes', Hiken." Naruto grumbled, then sighed. "At least things aren't boring. I heard that that Maleshenko is now in Siberia on a permanent posting at one of the Gulags…as the sanitation officer."
"And that Commissar who stole our plane from during our last big Op is being demoted to a mid-level officer." Temari said, appearing next to them. "Naruto, Fuso Command just called in. They'd like us to meet the Command Staff of the entire Eastern Front and discuss our refusal to train 'Special Forces' for the War effort."
"My answer won't change." Naruto said. "Why can't those Higher-ups understand that the methods used to train us simply won't work anymore for any modern-day soldiers?"
"They believe that we are the product of some secret Fuso experiment." Temari commented.
"Not that far off, to be honest." Tenten and Hiken muttered.
"We did kinda wake up in Fuso territory." Tenten added.
"And we are technically a secret project funded by the Fuso Government." Hiken added. "Now, if only that damned princess would stop writing me…"
"Wazzat?" Naruto, Tenten and Temari asked.
"That one niece of Emperor Hirohito had been sending me love letters and love poems every single week since we did that stint guarding the Imperial Family back in '41." Hiken muttered. "Seriously, I am running out of excuses to give the Imperial Family as to why she can't come and visit us here on the front lines…"
"Which niece are we talking about here?" Naruto asked. "Maybe I can help placate her advances."
"It's the one you said reminded you of the wife of the Fire Daimyo, you know, the owner of that Hellcat you used to chase down, Tora was it?" Hiken said, making shivers run down both Naruto and Tenten's back, remembering their dark Genin days chasing that Log damned Cat down.
"Still…you are a member of the 101st." Naruto finally responded after a long pause. "I am sure we will find an answer for this…problematic situation."
"I was expecting you to tease him about this." Temari commented as they entered their barracks…or 'the bunker capable of surviving the end of the world', as basically all witches passing by the Hanger have taken to calling it.
It's only bristling with guns, cannons and traps, so the 101st have no idea where the name came from. It's not like they have some MOAB bombs lying around. Those were still sealed in one of Tenten's scrolls.
"Being in a relationship has mellowed me somewhat. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy a good prank, but I guess my focus is now diverted elsewhere." Naruto said with a smile.
"What did you do this time?" Karui and Omoi poked their heads out of the Barracks.
"What makes you think I did anything?" Naruto asked them.
"When you smile like that, it usually means that Hell is about to break loose." Karui answered.
"I did nothing, except for maybe giving some advice." Naruto held up his hands placatingly. It was true. He didn't prank anyone. He just gave friendly helpful advice to aid Karin with pranking Krupinski and Rossmann, something about locking them in a room together. He refused to elaborate more on it.
"I can vouch for that." Tenten added. "Naruto was with me for the whole morning, berating the Wrecker Trio. No way he had time to disappear and make a clone."
Karui and Omoi blinked, ran out of the hanger, looked around, then walked back with an amazed look on their face.
"Hell must be freezing over." Omoi muttered, before gaining a horrified expression. "Meaning all the troublesome entities there will be migrating here because of the cold, then the …" #Smash, #crunch, #Que "Hey, that's a M2HB you just broke there!".
Karui smacked Omoi over the head, sending him flying into one of their heavy machine guns, denting the box housing the firing mechanism, resulting in Tenten shouting out at her beloved now-damaged equipment.
2 days later, Moskow
Naruto/Fox and Temari/Dancer did not sign up for this.
They had arrived in Moskau that morning in their full combat outfit, including masks, to meet with Orussian High Command about the entire 'Special Forces' stuff, with spectators from the other major powers present as well…
And the entire meeting until now has been nothing but one big pile of verbal BS from the Orussians.
"You are nothing but a subhuman race…"
At least until one of the commissars crossed a certain line.
"I'll give you a warning right there." Naruto said as the entire room went quiet as each and every Officer in the room suddenly felt as though the gravity had increased tenfold. "The entire concept of having multiple 'Human races' is nothing but a play by those in power but without any real strength to keep their power. In other words, Discrimination with a stupid name." Naruto levelled a glare at the commissars. "Am I correct in my understanding that most of you…" he indicated most of the people in the room. "…are Christians, correct?"
Many of them nodded in affirmation.
"Alright then." Naruto continued. "Where in the Bible does it say that God created the 'Races of Man'? Or even…do the terms 'Race' or 'Human Race' even appear in any of the globally accepted translations of the Bible in the first couple of chapters, let alone in any of the books of Moses?"
He had to hand it to the Brits…several of them pulled out Bibles of their own to read through Genesis Ch. 1. Even as his Killing Intent was radiating outwards from him.
"Granted, some of you may claim that God changed humanity during the Tower of Babel thingy event, but wouldn't that then mean that only people with a certain genetic trait are capable of speaking a certain language? Yet most of if not all of you are multilingual. The old guy up there just changed what language they speak, not what they are." Naruto commented, smirking beneath his mask as he saw several people close their mouths.
After a while, Naruto began speaking again. "I reiterate: Racism is nothing but a ploy by those in power to suppress those they see as beneath them, when in actuality, according to the Holy Texts of the Jews and Christians, nobody is above or below the other. I mean, wasn't David initially just a shepherd before he became King? Wasn't Jesus just a simply carpenter before he began his journey with his disciples? Wasn't Joseph made a slave before rising to become some noble in Egypt?" Naruto shook his head. "The point is, great people can come from anywhere. They are not born into that position nor are they entitled to being a great person either."
The pressure lifted as Naruto calmed down.
"There is one major reason as to why we refuse to train a group of so called 'Elite Special Forces' for any Nation on this planet, not now, not ever." Naruto began, and he and Temari knew that they had the full attention of everyone in the room. "Until our arrival on any battlefield, you were doing very well for yourselves in this war already. Sure, we helped expedite victories here and there, but you would have eventually found ways to achieve those as well, albeit with more time and manpower, but the results would still have been the same in the end."
"The world as it is does not need more people like us." Temari continued. "We are not heroes." She added, much to the confusion of many in the room. "We are soldiers simply doing what we must in order for our home to be safe. Even if that means walking down dark roads."
"We were Child Soldiers, entering military academies at age 5 or 6, entering military service at 12 or 13." Naruto told them. "Sure, many of your nations employ children in your factories and/or coal mines merely so that their families can eat…", he saw several people flinch from the corners of his eyes as he mentioned their nation's child labour practices.
"Self-centred nobility asshole fucks!" Temari swore in one of the 'old tongues'.
"It is illegal for any Nation to field Child-Soldiers…" one of the Liberion Officers called out.
"'Illegal'. Illegal for whom? Maybe for you, but there are other people out there who don't have the privilege of being a so-called 'first world country', where their enemies don't give a shit about your ridiculous rules or laws, where the only truth is 'Kill or be Killed'." Naruto's voice turned Icy as he said this.
"What about the people in Africa? Those very people whose descendants are being oppressed in Liberion even now, as though they are still slaves?" Temari asked the Officer, who flinched. "I recall that during the first Neuroi War, the Liberion 369th was your best Unit fielded in Europa, if not the best period. And it consisted almost entirely of people of African descent, Caucasian officers not included. In every report I have read about your units from other countries, none of your units had as much praise heaped upon them as the 369th. Yet…your own reports seems to be rather vague in describing their exploits."
The Liberion officers had different reactions. Some grimaced, others frowned, not accepting what had just been said, the rest looking solemn as they either accepted or already knew the truth.
"That leads to yet another major reason as to why we won't be training anyone." Naruto continued. "What will happen to these 'Special Forces' after you have defeated the Neuroi? Will you disband them, or will you start fighting each other over some minor difference that you feel you have?" he asked.
Under different circumstances this wasn't that important of a question. Like Politicians, the Officers could/would lie after all.
But with foreign officials in the room…
"You seem to know much about Christianity…" one Romagnian Officer spoke up, clearly trying to divert the focus away from the uncomfortable question Naruto has asked.
"That is not the topic at hand, Sir." Naruto answered him with a smirk. He then turned his attention to the room again.
"I speak for the entirety of the 101st. We will not, now or ever, train any Special Forces or anyone in the ways we were trained." Naruto spoke up in a clear voice. "If you cannot accept that, then consider us never stepping in to aid your forces again. End of discussion. If you try to force us…remember what happened in Brittania all those months ago."
With that, he and his second turned and left the room.
"How do you know so much about the Bible?" Temari asked him after they walked out of the doors.
"You forget that I am in a relationship with a Christian. I got curious and had several clones read the 3 most common Karlslandian translations currently in circulation. There are some minor inconsistencies between the translations, but otherwise they agree on all the important points." Naruto answered. "I also tried looking for texts from the youngest Abrahamic Religion, but, well I wasn't very successful there. That Religion is somewhat oppressed in Brittania, Romagna and Orussia whilst we were just too busy in Burma, you know, with the Officers hating us and all that."
Temari nodded. As Shinobi, they didn't really have much of a religion themselves other than some very early form of Shintoism. Too busy training and fighting and all that…or in Naruto's case, trying to save their world…
"You think they'll allow us to simply leave?" they heard Katashi where he and Matsuri stood, also in their military getup.
"If they don't, they'll lose the Kremlin." Naruto answered. "Let's go. I am sure that that bloody Suomi Witch has gone and crashed somewhere again whilst we were here…or managed to destroy her eating utensils during lunch."
They were indeed stopped on their way out, though only by a group of drunk Orussian military thugs who began hitting on Dancer and Mascot…
Moments later, the 4 shinobi were cleaning their gloves of dirt as the nearby rubbish bins had some suspiciously human legs sticking out of them.
That evening
Rall was shaking her head in exasperation.
One of her Witches had gone and crashed…
"I swear, if it is that damned Flight Sergeant again, I'll make sure she remains grounded for a month." Naruto growled, reading the report.
"No, this time it was Pilot Officer Lemare who crashed. Flight Sergeant Katajainen decided to descend and help her out. From what we have heard, her striker is completely functional for once." Rall sighed again. "But out of all the members of the 502nd, Nipa is the one with the most advanced survival training. If anyone can help Georgette survive until they get rescued, it's her."
"What is their current location?" Temari asked.
"Within allied territory around here." Rall answered, indicating a location near a village about 100 miles away from Kiev. "I have already called for the Orussian military to go and bring them back."
"Oh? So why did you call us?" Naruto asked.
"Greek High Command has put in a request for your help to the south-west, in the Balkans. They want you to repeat your 'Behind Enemy lines raid' again in the Balkans once spring rolls around." Rall answered.
"Why not contact us directly?" Temari asked.
"They tried. Apparently Orussian High Command is not willing to have an asset removed from their command at this time." Sasha answered. "This request was sent through one of my friends, a Witch in the Greek Airforce."
Naruto and Temari exchanged glances.
"Unless it arrives through official channels, our hands are tied." Naruto explained. "But if a Witch were to crash behind enemy lines, say somewhere in the Balkans, and Fuso HQ asks for our help…" he added, a sly smirk forming on his face.
Rall's eyes widened, then she smirked behind her closed hands. "I am sure that something can be arranged."
"When will your lease period end here in the east?" Sasha asked.
"We don't really have a time limit on our duties here to the Eastern Theatre. Around the Winter Solstice, we intend to do another deep recon sweep behind the Neuroi lines, then we'll bugger off to some other place, hopefully one where we are not subjected to as many political officers as this place has." Naruto answered.
"Unfortunately, the Orussian HC is having 'problems' supplying us with white cloth for Winter Camoflage." Temari sighed. "Something about their troops in Siberia and in the north, far away from the frontlines, needing it at the moment."
"And Fuso?" Rall asked.
"The shipment from them to us has suspiciously disappeared somewhere in the Ural mountains, whilst soon afterwards, a Orussian Unit stationed there was reported to have gotten some new Equipment that they never requisitioned." Temari responded. "I really wanted to strangle that mother fucker over the wire when he told us that with an overly smug tone."
"We can still destroy the Kremlin, you know." Naruto commented.
"Nah, I think the Tsar's Palace in St. Petersburg would make a bigger statement." Temari countered. "Although, in hindsight, Tzar Niki II probably does not know what the hell is going on with his own staff, so maybe bombing his home will be pointless."
"What about the General's homes?" Omoi asked. "I mean, if we burn down all of their homes, both the ones in the big cities as well as their numerous homesteads all over Orussia, then they'll be preoccupied with that, meaning that they won't be present here to screw over their own soldiers and nation, meaning…"
For once, Omoi's rant actually made sense, and nobody came to whack him over the head.
After a while, everyone in the 101st reached the same decision: "Fuck it! Let's do this!"
Rall and Sasha meanwhile just stood there, pale as they witnessed team shinobi effectively plan out a massive bloodless terrorist strike.
And the strange thing was…apart from being pale from the sheer scale of destruction these lunatics were planning…they actually felt fine with the news.
…
AND DONE!
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.
Please feel free to R&R.
I don't bite, I chew, after all.
