Author's Note: I feel like I should put this out there, even if it should be obvious. But this is a work of fiction, the current enemy faction is fictitious, but some of the locations are.

Also, some might have noticed the X-Overs tag in the description, and wondering, the hell? That will be coming soon. As for now, hope you all enjoy.

Date: Unknown

Time: 0815

Location: Somewhere in Northern Afghanistan

POV: Pvt. Shikamaru Nara, USMC

I wake up, rub my eyes, and throw on a shirt and a pair of pants and walk out, grab some food and coffee and sit down at a table where Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji all sit.

"Morning gents." I say before taking a sip of the coffee.

"Hey, got a long day ahead, at 0830 we'll have a briefing." Naruto says as he finishes eating, and cleans up his tray. "See you guys there." He nods before walking off. I finish eating at head to the briefing at 0825. I see an open seat behind Neji so I take it.

"Any idea on what's happening?" I ask as I lean over.

"Other than some nutcase trying to take over the vacuum of power after Bin Laden was killed, no." Neji says as a sergeant stands up.

"Alright let's get started then." He says as he turns on a projector, showing a map of the surrounding area, with a red circle around a city far west from a star on said map. "Listen up, we have confirmed reports that the group Yad Allah is trying to push into the heart of the city of Kunduz. As you know that's 400 kilometers away from here, so it might take a few days for our armor to get there. But unfortunately we are the closest to them. Plan is to roll out and retake the city. Get geared up, we roll at 0900. Now I understand this is some of your first taste of combat, I know we are throwing you into the wolf's den, but trust the men around you and you'll make it." He says, looking over to us. Everyone heads out to get ready, I grab my M4A1 Carbine, fitted with a vertical grip and a Holographic sight, and check it over. Next is my M9 Beretta, both are good. I grab my top and slide it on, making sure the chest plate fits well, then the pants, add the holster for my sidearm, knee pads, elbow pads, and boots. I grab my gloves and get them on tight, grab mags for my firearms, slamming one into both platforms respectfully. Holster my M9 and sling the M4 over my shoulder before putting my helmet on and head out to the convoy we will use to push our way into the city. We climb into one of the humvees and Neji climbs onto the gun.

"Well look who it is?" We look over to see a familiar face.

"Kiba, the fuck is on your face?" Naruto asks as he steps in.

"The blood of the men I've killed." He brags, Kiba had his parents give him promotion to enlist early.

"That's nice, how about a HighSchool Diploma, got that?" I respond, getting a good chuckle from the others.

"Fuck you." He gives both Naruto and I a glare as he sits down next to the former, and we start moving.

"The hell is his problem?" Sasuke leans over and whispers to me.

"He got turned down by Hinata, later that day was when Naruto asked her out."

"Ohh." He sits back up and looks over at him. "Kiba, stop being a petty bitch." This gets a good laugh from everyone, but Kiba.

"How is she anyways?"

"Not bad. And before you ask, no I did not ask her to marry me. If there is one thing the recruiter told me that was true, don't propose to your highschool sweetheart directly after basics." Everyone nods their heads at that. Naruto puts up a finger and reaches over, giving Neji a pinch on his lower thigh, right above the knee.

"Who the fuck did that?" Neji nearly yells, getting yet another good laugh from us inside. The next few hours were uneventful, Sasuke and Neji swapped seats at about an hour and a half in, and it was getting time to swap again.

"Sasuke come on down, I got the gun." Kiba says as Sasuke comes back down into the cab of the Humvee and Kiba gets on the gun.

"Kiba, put your helmet on." I say, grabbing his helmet and trying to hand it up to him.

"Not to worry, they don't hit shit." As if on cue, he jolts back before slumping back in, with a good chunk of the top of his skull taken off.

"Oh fuck. Be advised we got a sniper, position is still unknown, we have a man down in column four." Naruto reports as Sasuke grabs his sniper rifle and hopes out and crawls under the armor vehicle.

"Shikamaru, poke Kiba's helmet out from the roof."

"What?" I ask, looking at the helmet of our dead comrade in my hand.

"Put it on the end of your M4 and stick it out just enough for the helmet to be visible, but not the lack of a head." Sasuke answers as I start to rig up the impromptu decoy. I poke the top of the helmet out of the roof. After a couple seconds, the helmet flies off and back into the humvee, and Sasuke fires.

"I think I got him." Sasuke says as I grab the helmet and set the decoy up again. Nothing, I sigh in relief and put my head against the metal interior.

"You good?" Neji asks and I nod. "You were shaking when you lifted your rifle up."

"Damn. Any word on what they want us to do with Kiba?"

"Got a chopper heading our way to pick up the body." Naruto answers as Sasuke opens the door and he and Neji carefully lay his body on the floor, propping his head up so as not to spill what is left.

"I wonder if he felt anything." Neji asks as Naruto closes Kiba's eyelids before pulling his own dog tags out from under his plate carrier and kisses a small cross that is on the chain.

"I thought you left the church man?" I ask as he tucks it away.

"Just because I'm not a Catholic doesn't mean I ain't religious. Not by much but still." We wait until the airvac comes to pick him up. Once they grab him, we keep pushing, with Naruto taking the gun on top. I look out and see Choji, who we were all happy was able to survive basics, and Rock Lee. He was another guy who was in our class, but was in a different class of basics.

"Keep your eyes peeled, fuckers could be hiding anywhere in this place." Someone says over the radio as we enter a small village with some run down buildings.

"So what the hell was Kiba talking about when he was saying they don't hit shit?" Neji asks as I turn back to the inside.

"It's a common misconception that the opposition is unable to hit for much of anything because they use shit the Soviets left from the Soviet Afghan war, so the common equipment they use is 22 years old at the least, and over 32 at the most." Naruto answers, before turning to the right side, where Choji and Lee are. "The fucks going on?" Lee walks over to the Humvee.

"Don't know, this family ran up and started talking, I have no idea what the fuck it is they're saying." He says as I take a look and see how close they are to one another.

"Why are they so close to one another?" I ask as I Naruto shifts forward, as if trying to get a closer look.

"Choji, the fuck is that guy holding?" Naruto asks as the man says something, not quite sure what he said as the woman and children cry out before.

BOOM.

The next thing I know, the humvee is off the road on its side and my ears are ringing.

"AMBUSH." Some shouts as I shake my head and recompose myself.

"Fuck, you guys good?" Naruto, I think, says as he crawls over to the roof turret and I notice something is on his face.

"The fuck was that?" Sasuke responds as he crawls out of the humvee.

"Suicide bomber, fucking forced his family to also put a vest on. Come on, I got you guys." We all got out of the humvee and made our way to a building that didn't have any insurgentes. "Sasuke, get as high in this building as possible to take a sniper position, Neji, head to the second floor, Shikamaru and I will stay down here and we will provide covering fire." Naruto gives us some orders and the two nod, but I grab him.

"Hold up, you're bleeding." I say as I take a look at his checks. "Your checks are gashed, I guess from the bomb, it's not too deep, but it's still bleeding pretty good." I grab some quikclot and apply it to his face.

"Am I still able to fight?"

"You should be good, I won't give you any morphine until the coast is clear and your adrenaline wears off. That way you don't end up being drowsy halfway through a fire fight."

"I hear you, thanks." Naruto grabs his rifle and takes a position in a window.and returns fire. I take a breath to recompose myself before I grab my own rifle and take position in another window. I look through the aperture and spot a military aged male running from cover to cover carrying an AK styled weapon system. I put the sight in front of him and squeeze the trigger, dust kicks up just behind him, I adjust my aim and squeeze again, this time he falls over, grabbing his side and moving in clear pain, before going limp. My eyes go to a rooftop opposite of our position and see another man with an RPG-7, aimed at the convoy. I raise my rifle, but as I do so, he takes a bullet to the jaw.

"They got RPGs." Sasuke says I duck under the window cill as bullets take some of the exterior wall off. I re-engage a few more, taking some more down, and keeping the heads of others down. That's when my M4 stops firing. I pull the mag out and see it's empty, so I grab one from my plate carrier and slam it into the magwell before pulling the charging handle back. I pop back up and see that they are retreating and I finally notice that choppers are overhead.

"Looks like we're clear for now." Naruto says as he sighs. "Didn't see that coming so soon." He adds with a grin, getting a small chuckle from me.

"Yeah, hey. Let me see your gashes again." I scoot over to him and take a look at the cuts on his face. I was both in awe and shock at the wound. Three almost identical cuts on both the left and right check of his face.

"I know I'm a good looking guy and all but how does it look?"

"Didn't get as much QuikClot as I would have liked, so there is still some bleeding, and dust, and sand, but other than that it's okay. You're lucky I'll tell you that." We head out of the building and back to the convoy. One of the medics comes our way and checks Naruto's cuts.

"You're heading back to base Marine." The medic tells him, getting a confused look.

"But the invasion isn't."

"Your injured, sorry son." He takes Naruto away to a chopper where a few other men hop on, some worse off than he is. We turn and see Lee sitting next to a humvee.

"Glad to see you alive, how are you doing?" I ask as we walk over to him. "Oh, shit." I say under my breath as I notice the lack of anything from his right knee down.

"Not bad, my right leg feels funny."

"You mean like nothing?" Sasuke asks, somewhat horrified by the sight.

"What do you mean?"

"Well Lee, you know how you wanted to be in the Olympics for running right?" Neji asks, and he nods. "Well, maybe you should try the Perapolympics."

"What do you mean, that's for crippled folks."

"Yeah, I know pal." I look over to Sasuke as he grabs something off the ground.

"Found it."

"Found what?" Lee asks as we all look over to see Sasuke holding a boot the same size as his. I think this is when reality sets in on him, as he starts to freak out. Some of the medics rush over to calm him down and we walk over to the front of the column.

"Had to hand him his foot?" Neji gives Sasuke a smack upside the helmet.

"Oh, says you, mister Parapolympics."

"Guy stop." I get between them to stop them from butting heads in a literal sense. "We've lost some of the guys we knew, Lee is fucked for the rest of his life, and Naruto is heading to a feild hospital. So let's get our shit together and fucking do this."

"Your right, let's fucking go." Neji says as we hype each other up and run over to a humvee that we are being waved to. We hop in and take a few of the empty seats.

"Were you guys the ones in the humvee that got flipped by the suicide bomers." One of the men asks as we get situated.

"Yeah, that guy was fucked up, from what I heard the woman and children looked like they didn't want to have anything to do with it." Neji says as he pulls out his magazine and takes a look at the ammo in it. "What happened to you guys that were in here?"

"One of them took a round to the neck, just missing his jugular. The other took one to the plate, busting some of his ribs. Last I heard they'll make it. The last one didn't make it though."

"Damn, sorry to hear that." I say as I go for my canteen for a quick drink. "Fuck, forgot my canteen."

"Need some water?" He asks as he grabs his own.

"Yeah, thanks." He tosses it to me and I waterfall a small amount into my mouth before tossing it back and sloshing it around as to give moisture to all of my mouth.

"Not a problem. I think we might have some extras in one of the supply trucks in the back, not sure though."

"Say what's your name pal?" Sasuke asks as he whips his pack around to his front.

"John Doe." He says, getting a chuckle from us. "Yeah, my dad was one of those guys. Thought it would be funny because my surname was Doe to name me John."

"That's fucking hilarious. Man Naruto would get a kick and a half out of that." Neji says as he pats John's shoulder.

"Who's that?"

"He was the one on the gun when we flipped, he's heading back to base cause he got injured from shrapnel." Sasuke says as he pulls out his canteen. "Shikamaru, check your pack for your water."

"Hey, mind giving these guys walking next to us a break, they've been walking this whole time?" The man on the gun asks as I discover my canteen is in fact in my pack.

"How many?" Sasuke asks as he tucks his away.

"Three."

"Alright, Neji, Sasuke let's go." I say, putting the pack back on and opening the door as we slow down. "Here you go Marine, rest your feet."

"Thanks, guys are a lifesaver."

"Just doing our job, get in, don't slow the caravan down." Sasuke adds as we start to walk. I look down at my watch 1344, We have been on the move for almost five hours, I don't blame those guys for wanting to get in one of the Humvees.

"Eyes up, we got what looks to be civies." Someone says as I look up from my watch and see a group of three, one woman and two children, and they are walking our way.

"Show your hands." Sasuke barks as he lifts his M4 at them. The woman, who I assume is the mother of the children starts pleading with him, what I assume is, not to hurt them. "The fuck is she saying?"

"Hell if I know, I don't speak Arabic." Neji answers, as she motions her hand to her mouth as if she had a cup in her hand.

"I think she wants water." I say as Neji grabs his canteen and pours a very small amount of the ground.

"Yeah, this is what you're asking for?" She nods and waves for him to hand it over, and he does. The three take a drink before giving it back and she says something, that again, we don't understand, but taking her tone and motions, I assume she is thanking us.

"Take care." I say as we march along. A few hours pass, I look down at my watch, now it's 1550. "Any ideas on when we should pull out an MRE so we can eat?"

"Once we set up an FOB or get in a humvee I guess." Neji answers as the humvee next to us slows down.

"Y'all getting hungry?" The gunner asks as I look in front and it looks as if the whole convoy has halted.

"Yeah, I could use something in my system."

"You're in luck, we're stopping for now so we can get reinforcements and some armor."

"How nice." Neji says as we switch out with the guys from before.

"Hello again gents." John welcomes us back in as we all get seated and grab ourselves some food.

"I got lemon pepper tuna, what about you guys?" I ask as I rip open the pouch.

"Cheese tortellini." Sasuke answers as he stuffs his mains retort pouch into a flameless ration heater.

"Buffalo chicken."

"You're guy's menu has new shit doesn't it?" Sasuke asks, pouring water into the beverage bag and adding it to his FRH.

"I think my main is new."

"I got turkey nuggets."

"And you guys have an FRH. I gotta eat mine cold." I mention as I put the pack of light mayo and seasoning pack into the retort pouch and mix it together.

"What y'all think Naruto is eating if he is?" Neji asks between bits of food.

"Probably some kind of hospital food." Sasuke answers as he also starts to eat.

"He probably was giving the okay to head to the mess hall and is eating some properly prepared food." I say as I start mixing the milkshake mix. We finish eating the bulk of the meals, saving the smaller things for snacking through the trip to the AO. Day turns to dawn, and dawn turns to night. I'm on the gun, scanning the area and can feel my eyes starting to get heavy. So I look down and give Neji a shake. "Hey, mind taking over watch duties so I can get some sleep?"

"Mm, huh. Oh yeah, come down." He rubs his eyes before putting his helmet back on. "Get as much as you can, got another long day ahead of us again." He stands up and continues the sweep.

"Yeah, wake us up if anything happens."

"I won't, but Mr. Browning here will." He says, just by his tone I could tell he was grinning, and I give a soft chuckle before getting as comfortable as one can and dozing off to sleep.