So I am currently working on the AJD fic's next chapter guide, well, a bit on my own. With the new COD MWII 2022 having come out, with the information in that I waited for. So do not worry, I am writing it.
As for this story I'll be taking a shorter route on some chapters, depending on the mood and when I feel like finishing it - so I can possibly make a chapter with 8K or a minimal 5K chapter in the future.
For now? I'm going to continue with the 'Elemental War' flashback chronicles that will give more backstory on the present. Like why Ace' involvement in the Foreign Legion and Whitebeard's connection with Naruto is.
The reason I am speaking about this is frankly my lack of planning. Which to no surprise, is my own fault. Sorry about that.
Now? I am on a bit of a row with writing, thanks to some guys of some fanfic servers, including Kurogane7, who's been a tremendous help on cleaning up my writings.
Let's get back to the plot - enjoy this chapter, and be ready to know that I'm coming up with more.
Shoutout to Kurogane7, and UnitedOsprey1992 for the military stuff. Also ReaperOfSanity for double reading it.
Enjoy.
In the freezing cold, already a large group was seen amassing in the snow, with them all being Ivankov's people who were now all armed to the teeth but also seen trembling from the cold as they were wearing any fabric from winter coats to sheets to warm themselves up.
"Everybody ready?"
The response Ivankov was given was biting teeth and understandable frustration of standing out in the unbearable cold as they were not properly dressed for this brutal winter conditions, but hoped to be moving up fast.
However, two pairs of boots were seen entering the empty circle where Ivankov was standing, as it was surprisingly Naruto who entered.
"Ivankov."
The Okama turned to the blond young man and wondered what he wanted.
"May I?" Naruto asked out. "I'd like to address your people."
Hearing that, it made the purple big-headed man raise his eyebrows out of interest, as he nodded and took a step aside as he allowed for Naruto to take the center.
This however made every pair of eyes turn to focus in the center as even Crocodile and Jimbei, both who were usually reserved, wanted to see how it unfolded.
But the most surprising spectator was perhaps Luffy, who would normally already be seen running for the staircase, yet was seen standing still, absolutely unbothered by the cold that he was not properly clothed for, unflinching as he watched the blond.
Slowly, everyone turned to hear Naruto as he looked at every last one of anyone around him, and began to speak.
"I may not know any of you by name, but I'd like to address you all - like how I did my men when I fought in the war in the Shinobi Continent." Naruto began as he went further. "So it's only fair that I speak to you all about what's ahead of us."
The words sank in with the Okama people, all of whom knew of Naruto Uzumaki's claim to fame, and so some were more focused than others.
"We're about to pull off an extremely dangerous breakout, so all of you know that this will mean certain death, or worse, recapture and merciless beatings you will receive if you yield. So that is why I will ask you the same thing as I asked my men back then those horrendous battlefields - to trust me as I will trust you."
Those words however caught the mostly queer people out of guard, as more of the trembling was seen to be not there anymore, but instead of sheer surprise.
"I know that you people haven't been given the best treatment in or outside Impel Down, by judgmental or ignorant norms of society, but those don't matter to me." Naruto however wasn't finished as he sternly addressed them further. "You've all come forward and volunteered to help Straw Hat save his brother even when the odds are totally against us. Even when we are with many, there will be those among you who won't make it - and for that, I appreciate your willingness and will consider you as my equals."
The trembling had now fully disappeared and confidence was seen growing among them.
"And for that, and that only." Naruto started to finish. "I am honored to fight alongside another group of brave people who I will respect to my dying breath, thank you."
The gathered Okama cheered. With some having been given a morale boost to the point the cold didn't bother them anymore.
"My, my, truly someone worth his glory." Ivankov smiled. "Cannot wait to see what this young man does in battle."
Inazuma simply nodded, agreeing to him as he himself was impressed with the former Legion Captain's moving words.
Crocodile saw this and kept himself neutral, but did show a small smirk as he had seen this before years earlier.
Jimbei however was not able to contain much of the emotions as he was seen smiling at the man that the young Naruto had grown to be, as he clearly had changed a lot yet still held the same lessons he was taught years ago.
Naruto thoughtfully settled down to begin assigning orders. "Straw Hat's gonna need some help, so some of you are going to accompany him to whatever he needs to do. In the meantime, we need to gather materials for our breakout - every gun, every sword, every piece of explosive will be needed. But we also need strength in numbers so we will be freeing other inmates to boost our chances of escaping this place. So if you find any keys from the guards, do not hesitate to release as many inmates as you can."
Many nodded as Bon Clay was seen spinning around fast in the background.
"And a word of caution: do NOT engage the likes of Magellan - you find someone too tough for you to handle, you run whenever you can," Naruto warned them. "We only have a few hours so we cannot be stalled for too long. So allow those who are stronger than you to stall them. Any questions?"
"Well-"
"LETS GOOOOOOO!"
The shout came directly from Luffy as he already was seen sprinting ahead for the exit, sparking off the start of the breakout.
"This is it, people." Naruto began as he turned to Domino. "You'll stay with Ivankov and the others."
Domino nodded. "Right."
"Crocodile, Jimbei, with me." Naruto shouted as he began to run after Luffy to try and catch up. "Ivankov, in 5 minutes we expect you! Five minutes!"
"After a speech like that, you can count on us!" Ivankov stated cheerfully. "Like everyone else, YEEEEAAAAH!"
"Let's move it!" Naruto shouted. "Jimbei, Crocodile, on me!"
Jimbei shouted. "Right!"
"'Bout time." Crocodile muttered as he began floating over the snow with his sand, joining the strike team.
Going for Level 4.
Meanwhile…
Seen running downstairs, Magellan and Gion were hurrying up to level 2 by the stairs as they were trying to get down to Level 4 as fast as they could. With backup of course, behind them were not only a whole squad of Impel Down guards but also a whole battalion of Marines who were from the vice admiral's crew.
And the stakes were high as they were wasting no time to get down fast.
"I just got word from the Monitor room, they repaired the elevator!" Magellan said while taking the lead. "We can use it on level 2 once we get there!"
"Good! We just need to hurry up." Gion said, following right behind. "Sorry we can't call for more-"
"Don't, we know that all focus is on Fire Fist's execution and Whitebeard's move, meaning we're on our own!" Magellan stated as he laid it out, "With only the rear-admirals out at sea, we're forced to deal with this by ourselves."
"Sir, Vice Warden Hannyabal has called in all available forces to be called to level 4," reported the guard carrying the transponder snail, "Chief Guard Saldeath and Sadi are already on their way with the Blugori."
Arriving at Level 2 - Magellan and Gion's teams started pulling the large wooden door open as the vice admiral asked.
"We'll still could use the extra help," Gion noted, slightly frustrated. "With both Jimbei and Crocodile loose, Uzumaki is then the least of our worries."
"Do not worry, I've got something if the situation worsens," Magellan replied, with a warning. "But let's just hope it won't get to that."
Once the doors to Level 2 were opened up widely - and they readied themselves for the mess to come. The entire floor had turned into total chaos, with many of the inmates seen coming out and celebrating the fact they've just taken out the skeleton group of guards whose weapons were confiscated from them.
"Hurray to Captain Buggy!"
One downed guard was kicked in the stomach by an inmate, clearly not responding with multiple cuts on the uniform, pretty much indicating what he went through - and seeing this caused Magellan to then reply.
"Looks like I jinxed it. We're going to be busy."
Gion nodded as she then was given a gas mask by one of the guards.
Slowly but visible, purple substance was leaking out of Magellan's arms as he has gotten himself ready but then gave a quick warning.
"Gas masks, now."
Level 4
Having reached the top of Level 4 already, Naruto was awaiting the others as they were not that far behind, quickly checking the bandages wrapped around his arms that fell off earlier.
'Remember, you got your men on this floor and on Level 2, so they will try to keep you away from them as much as possible,' Kurama reminded him, 'By now, I can only presume they'll be on their own now with the Marines being busy.'
"Thanks for the heads-up, but I already figured that out," Naruto said as he tightened one of those bandages taut, "I'll be fine."
'Are you sure? You haven't been doing much for nearly a few years, so you might be getting rusty at first. So don't waste too much energy.'
*CLICK!*
Just having readied and set his revolver, Naruto loaded the cylinder with fresh bullets before holstering the antique.
"That's fine." Naruto said as he looked up towards the door. "Need to start slowly anyway."
'Fine by me.'
"NARUTO!"
Turning his head towards the stairs, there came Jimbei along with Crocodile and Luffy, arriving as planned now that the others were on their way.
"Let's move in, we don't have much time." Jimbei stated as he urged them. "It's almost 10 in the morning. Ace's execution is set for 3 in the afternoon."
"Meaning we just got around 5 hours to do this, I know." Naruto said figuring it out as he turned back to the door. "We're in a time crunch, but that's nothing new."
"But that means we still have time?" Luffy asks as he was more concerned. "They won't execute Ace up until 3, right? So we still got a chance to save him."
"Whitebeard will most likely attack any moment, so hopefully he can stall them." Naruto said as he could guess it. "But that does not mean we must slack down."
The sand-man flew over and reached the door with his hand, planting it as he was speaking with the cigar in his mouth.
"Is this supposed to slow me down?" Crocodile scoffed unimpressed. "I'll use my right hand and turn it into sand."
"Your call." Naruto said as he was fully ready. "Do it when you can."
And there Crocodile began, with only the touch of his hand the thick wooden door started to crumble apart into sand at an almost alarming rate, causing those on the other side of that door to be shocked.
On the other side of the wooden door, the first units of Impel Down guards had already arrived, having assembled at the entrance to Level 5 as they were witnessing something that they rather not wished to see.
The door in front of them, except for the metal bars, was slowly disintegrating as all that wood was turning into sand as it could only mean one thing that was causing it.
"Must be a Devil Fruit user… Prepare men!"
BOOM!
The remainder of the door and even parts of the wall exploded as the door was now a gap that now revealed four individuals standing in the midst of that dust.
"They're here!"
Soon all guns were raised up with the barrels aimed for those four persons, as they were forced to fave off the first of the escaped criminals who they now were ordered to subdue. Only they however would not be ready once they saw the first person coming out was Naruto.
"N-No! That's not possible!" The head of the unit screamed. "That's Naruto Uzumaki!"
"HE'S STILL ALIVE?!"
"Hmph," Jimbei cleared his dry throat. "Apparently they are not all notified about your presence here."
"That means we got the element of surprise for now." Naruto said as he swept the sweat from his face. "Damn, it's hot in here."
The sheer shock was mostly focused now on Naruto, something that caught the eye of both Crocodile and Luffy who had a small unusual exchange of words.
"I think they're more focused on Naruto now than on us."
"Huh?" Luffy was confused. "How so?"
"Idiots! Shoot Uzumaki first, he's not allowed to be left alive!" The leader ordered as they all listened to him. "FIRE!"
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
Numerous guns fired at Naruto's direction - intending on killing him as quickly as possible.
Naruto muttered. "Your choice."
Before the bullets even hit him, Naruto disappeared into thin air - way before the bullets managed to reach him.
"Wow!" Luffy was stunned. "That's fast!"
The guards looked around as they panicked, causing the leader to shout at them-
"Use the prison bulle-"
*SLASH!*
"AAGH!"
The sound of their commanding officer screaming caught the Impel Down guards off guard, turning and horrified seeing what just happened.
Without any of them having noticed, Naruto had gone past all of them and used his tantō blade, having just slashed the officer holding the transponder snail across the chest and shredding his uniform in half without any given warning as the man dropped to the ground.
Three guards right behind Naruto aimed for his back.
"IDIOTS! Take out Uzu-"
"Crescent Cutlass!"
Those three however were unlucky as they got caught by Crocodile's attack, as he swung his right arm forward while leaving a crescent shaped trail of sand behind it, with those caught in it, getting painful results.
Their bodies not only felt immense pain but also started to dehydrate in an instance that sucked all the moisture out of the guards' skin and clothing, cutting them down ruthlessly.
"Look out!" One of the guards warned. "They're working together!"
"GUM-GUM-"
More surprises, they looked up seeing Straw Hat had just jumped upwards and was seen in the air.
"RAIN!" Luffy shouted as he unleashed a series of punches he used from his overstretching arms, so fast that it looked like an artillery barrage. Pummeling any guard to the ground that got hit.
Then the focus laid on Jimbei, who was faced by a number of guards who were only armed with pitchforks and rifles. Yet that did not deter the former Warlord who took a stance:
"Fishman Karate…."
The nearest guard flinched.
Jimbei then punched once in the air - as a sonic wave was felt throughout the area….something felt off.
But then they noticed the little pebbles of rocks being moved backwards, and before they knew it their bodies felt being pushed back for no reason they could understand-
"Arabesque Brick Fist!"
PUNCH!
By then a powerful surge of power sent those confused guards flying and unconscious, being taken out without even being given a fighting chance.
A clear delay of Jimbei's attack that Naruto witnessed, knowing exactly why that happened.
"You okay, Jimbei?" Naruto asked, sheathing his blade, "Your attack delayed."
"I'm fine." Huffing for a bit, he replied. "This heat is not exactly the place I can fight with, but that doesn't stop me from helping."
Naruto nodded before he then turned right around to see one of the downed guards trying to stand up from his knees with much effort.
"Come here."
"Ugh-" The guard got grabbed from his mask as he was unable to resist. "What are you-"
"Give me that." Naruto yanked something from the guard's belt that caught his eyes and what he just needed.
A couple of keys to the cells of Level 4.
"Thank you."
The defeated guard was released and fell down to the ground, just as more guards were seen rushing for Naruto with their pitchforks.
"Get Uzumaki!"
"Take him down, at all costs!"
Naruto however, just slowly raised his head towards the group of four guards whose presence was only an annoyance to him, causing him to only grip his right fist.
"GET HIM!"
PUNCH!
The four guards were taken out, all at once by the sudden and painful punch of Naruto's right fist that caught them all at once, forcing the other guards nearby to be surprised.
"He took them all out at once!"
The four guards were sent flying, landing in a heap near their other colleagues who were shocked upon realizing what they were facing. One of the remaining officers began barking orders.
"Straw Hat! Jimbei! Hold them off for a while!" Naruto ordered, grabbing a few rifles and slinging them over his shoulder, "I'm going to set some of the prisoners free with Crocodile."
"Right!" Luffy shouted.
"You can count on us!" Jimbei replied.
"Good!" Naruto nodded, turning his attention to Crocodile, "Coming along?"
"Don't order me around, kid! You're not an officer anymore!" Crocodile fired back, chewing on his cigar, "But yeah, I'll come along."
Both were seen jumping or flying upwards to the upper cells, splitting the group of four into two teams…not that it invigorated the remaining guards.
"Focus on Straw Hat and Jimbei!"
"But sir-"
"We need to hold out until reinforcements arrive. We stand no chance against them by ourselves!" The standing officer told his men. "Now keep the focus on Straw Hat and Jimbei!"
Standing by themselves, Jimbei and Luffy noticed the hesitation that the guards were having, leaving Luffy to wonder why they were so cautious about the blond.
"Hey, big guy. I've got a question."
Jimbei took a moment and nodded. "Shoot."
"Why are all these guards scared of that blond guy, Naruto, what did he do?"
Hearing that nearly made Jimbei to be shocked to find someone who didn't know about it, and asked him then.
"You're serious?"
Luffy turned to him confused but nodded. "Yeah, what is it?"
*PANG!*
A bullet whistled right in between the human and Fishman, causing them to put their focus back on the incoming guards.
"Let's go!"
"On it!" Luffy agreed, as both men went head-on into battle against the guards.
Meanwhile
On the Sabaody Archipelago, the crowd was growing larger and larger.
The reason for that is the large screens that were set up, where hundreds of journalists of numerous newspapers and agencies around the world had assembled to follow the live feed of the biggest news in a long time.
The execution of 2nd Division Commander Whitebeard Pirates, Fire Fist Ace on live television was going to occur in Marineford with the security measures of almost a hundred thousand active marine forces ready.
Ready for the possibility of reprisal from Whitebeard, and most of the higher-ups saw this as a highly likely outcome.
Especially those groups of people seen watching from the rooftops, they were members of the newest band of pirates that traveled through the first part of the Grand Line and had very recently returned to Sabaody after the World Nobles incident that happened a week ago.
One of those pirates present was a young man in his early 20's formerly from a forgotten island in the North Blue called Flevance. He wore a noticeable northern-style fur hat and was wearing modern clothes as his hands were covered in tribal-style tattoos that even reached to his arms, with tattooed in black ink on the back of each finger.
The tragic irony is, he was a professional doctor. And not just any, his name was Trafalgar D. Law, a young man coming from a family of doctors, with a tragic history not told for today.
"What do you think, Whitebeard's going to come?"
"I don't know, that's why I'm sitting here."
Turning his head around slightly, he was joined by a few members of his Heart Pirates, all of whom wore beige boiler-suits except for the ice bear who wore an orange version of it.
Yes - an ice bear was part of the crew, and his name was Bepo and he was a reliable crewmate who had occasionally the weak will-minded personality that allowed him to be depressed easily and apologize for the smallest fault he could make, but that was a minor fault of his.
Alongside him were two human members of the crew, Shachi and Penguin, both wearing the suits with hats as they were busy discussing the upcoming event.
Uninterested in their conversation, Law held his hand over his Ōdachi katana sword named Kikoku, he looked downwards to the ever-growing crowd and something caught his attention.
Walking through the crowd, one man was seen using crutches as he was stepping, with much difficulty with people barely going aside for the obvious cripple, he was seen wearing a long, dark green military coat with only one boot being visible, while the other was absent. In its place, he noted a prosthetic leg consisting of a telescoping pipe and a heavy-gauge spring coiled outside of it, fitted onto an axle that substituted the ankle.
"Young man, what're you doing?" asked a fat man in a well-tailored suit, standing next to his wife in a dress. "Don't you want to see the execution of Fire Fist Ace?"
The amputee's response was hollow. "No…"
"Why is that? This will be huge - "
"You have no idea what's really going to happen do you?!" spat the amputee, "You think Whitebeard's going to let this slide? You are celebrating the esteemed 'World Government' as they're about to start a bloodbath!"
"Bah! The World Government will…"
"Shut it, old man! You don't know what you're talking about!" The amputee scoffed him off as he noted. "The only thing the World Government's good at is filling caskets and lying their asses off for their own benefit…take that from me."
Those words being said out loud caused some to listen as the rich couple was left baffled by the words of the amputee war veteran who was going in the opposite direction of the whole spectacle seen muttering.
"And even that, this is no war - not after what I've seen. Not after Ame."
Those words were deafened by the large crowd proceeding to turn back to the large screen as the only persons to have played close attention to it were Law and his white fur crewmate.
"He's an Elemental War veteran, huh." Bepo turned his head. "Captain, maybe you-"
And there, his captain's place was absent.
"Where did he go? Did I do something wrong?"
Walking into an alleyway, the crippled veteran was seen clearly struggling as the pain was taking an unfortunate toll on the young man, who was forced to go and sit on a few boxes to try and get some rest.
"Damn, damn, damn." He hissed in pain as he laid aside the crutches on a stairway, removing the prosthetic leg.
Even by removing it, the pain only intensified, but that didn't stop the vet from taking it off. He needed to adjust the mechanisms if he wanted to walk comfortably.
"Come on, work with me…Agh…"
Once removed, the bandages were shown to be staining a miniscule amount of blood, meaning something was wrong.
"Not again, ugh." The veteran groaned. "And I'm just out of fresh bandages."
"No you're not."
The vet looked up to find a figure looking down at him with some measure of sympathy in his eyes. "And from the looks of it, you could really use some help. Mind if I have a look at your prosthetic?"
The amputee sighed in resignation, handing him the leg, allowing the doctor to inspect it. "Well, it looks well-made, all things considered. Either this was a hack job, or someone's new at making prosthetics."
"I'm still working out the kinks," admitted the veteran, "Tried to make it feel like a real leg as much as possible, but kinda hard to do when all you've got is junk metal."
The two remained silent for the next few minutes as the doctor went to work on the amputee's prosthetic.
"So, I'm guessing you're from Ame," began the doctor, tightening the screws on the leg.
"No, but I fought there in the war," The veteran admitted, "15th Mountain Division from the South Blue. Signed up the moment after the attack on Haran Harbor, fought from Nadeshiko to the outskirts of Ame. The only problem is that after the war, the World Government, in all their 'infinite wisdom' decided to screw over one of the real heroes of that war."
The doctor nodded as he proceeded. "How did you lose your leg?"
"Sky Nin raid, surprise attack," The veteran kept it short when he responded. "Those effing airheads really love to play dirty…but we took out a lot of those bastards down."
Hearing that, the doctor couldn't help but let a small smirk escape from his mouth as he then continued to ask. "You said you were part of the 15th Mountain, right?"
"Yeah, we were a mishmash of remnants coming from the First Battle of Kannabi Bridge, you know, after the surprise offensive of the Akatsuki that caught us by surprise?" The vet explained. "When the forward units of the Marines were shattered, my original unit, the 49th Volunteer Brigade, was nearly wiped out to the last man. So we were consolidated with other remaining units and reorganized under the command of the Central Front in Konoha." The vet asked. "Why do you ask? You served?"
"Field Medic, former Alabasta Foreign Legion," admitted the doctor, "I think you'd know us as The 9th 'Damned Raiders' Division."
"Really? You were part of the Damned Raiders?" The vet asked and then said. "In that case, thanks a lot. You guys saved our asses."
"There, that should do it," said the doctor, fitting up the prosthetic on the vet's leg, "Before I go, what did you mean when you said the World Government screwed over one of the real heroes of the war?"
The vet raised his eyebrow and asked him. "Are you asking if he was discharged after the ceasefire?"
The doctor nodded.
"Well, he wasn't, I was too wounded to be moved after the ceasefire started so I stuck around in Konoha to rehabilitate." The vet admitted. "But I was there. I saw what happened."
"What did they do?"
Impel Down
*CLANG!*
Landed onto the ground were the keys of one of the guards, thrown inside the cell that one prisoner who looked ecstatic as he grabbed the keys.
"Holy crap, the keys! Now we can get out!" The prisoner smiled, turning to the door. "Thanks buddy, you don't know how - Oh! It's Crocodile!"
Crocodile smiled as he spoke. "I'm thinking about breaking out of here, but I might need a bit of assistance. And you…you're a man of action. Aren't you, Mr. One?"
The person he was referring to was the man sitting on the bed bench at the end of the room as other convicts were turning their gazes towards him - he was no small fry.
A tall man with no care for the heat, he was a dark skinned muscular individual with his arms in shackles but with those of sea-stone, meaning he was an Devil Fruit user - and it was that power of his that made him an excellent for the likes of Crocodile.
His name was Daz Bonez, but he was better known as Mr. One, and he looked up to his former boss and closest ally in this damned place.
A smirk escaped Crocodile's mouth as he waited for a response - not that he needed to wait long.
"Now that you mention it, things are a bit boring here." Mr. One said, raising his chained hands, "I think I might take you up on that offer, old friend."
While on the other side of the same upper cells, Naruto was busy getting his own backup. In this section, he was met with silence that was not normal in the norm of a prison riot.
But that was because these cells were filled by people that Naruto was all too familiar with, with those he had fought alongside with and bled with for nearly four years, and who were, to his knowledge and Domino's reports, keeping a low profile during their stay.
"Damned Raiders!" Naruto shouted in authority, like in his officer days. "Attention!"
THUD!
A collective sound of boots stomping to the ground could be heard as every man, in their cells, small or big, was seen with their heads raised up and with their arms locked behind while standing in the shadows.
They were prepared. And looked all ready.
'Your men were waiting, Naruto. They knew. They knew you were alive yet they did not tell a soul about it - That's some loyalty you inspired.'
Naruto nodded, and he could only then proceed to then speak to the men inside the cells.
"I understand all of you have been having a rough time, ever since the war ended; truth be told, it hasn't gone well for me either," Naruto said as he spoke to them firmly. "What the World Government did to us after the ceasefire occurred made us all marked men, denying us any chance of going back to our old lives, or whatever you guys had prior to your service."
The men kept themselves still, listening without any question as they listened to what their former commanding officer got to say.
"Now I am here to ask you all for your service once again, to fight - fight to not only get out of this damn hellhole, but also to fight at Marineford - where one of our brothers-in-arms is about to be executed in only mere hours from now."
The silence was still there. As expected, they were listening.
"Now I know, you all have seen enough war." Naruto continued with understanding. "You've all made sacrifices in the past. For four years exactly, you've given up your best years, and have seen all kinds of horrible stuff that nobody else has seen. But here I am asking you again for your services - to fight…"
….
"We heard that Fire Fist Ace was going to be executed. Is that right, captain?"
"That means that Whitebeard is going to be there, I assume? Facing the Marines off?"
The first questions being asked, Naruto knew he had to be clear of the risks with them and so he spoke to them honestly.
"Whitebeard will be there, yes. Alongside his commanders and allies." Naruto went on with the honest truth. "But they'll be facing over 100 000 Marines, including the vice admirals, Warlords, the three admirals. So I'm not gonna lie, the odds are stacked against us."
Once the silence was present again, hearing that all at once would make anyone think twice about going on this suicidal mission.
But then-
"The odds have always been against us. Captain." One of the men inside spoke up. "That's why we're called the Damned Raiders."
"From Nadeshiko to Ame, we've been encircled by armies of bandits and whatnot in Konoha, bogged down in the forests of Kusa and fought house-to-house in any city that was in front of us."
"For 4 straight years we were fighting in the Elemental War, yet nobody remembered our deeds - So I say to heck with it, screw the government and their two-faced hypocrisy. Let's go fuck shit up!"
He could hear murmurs of confirmation, though he thought he'd heard a "Damn straight!" somewhere. And unable to withhold it, Naruto smiled and threw the first two sets of keys into the cells.
"I'll take that as a yes - now get yourselves ready, we got prison to break out from."
The roars of approval could be heard as soon as the sound of cells and shackles being unlocked caused Naruto to then turn his focus on the one cell that held only one person inside of it.
The person had long, unkempt black hair and an effeminate form reminiscent of a yuki-onna of Elemental and Wa no Kuni mythology. Naruto knew those hands had saved as many lives as they had taken.
"What do you say? Are you in?"
Looking upwards, the person was one of Naruto's lieutenants and he gave the captain a look of neutrality.
"Haku?"
Haku, the former Kiri-nin and bunny lover, could only give the innocent smile he was known for and how he met the Uzumaki captain. His response was simple, but meaningful.
"Of course, I'll follow you to the end. Naruto."
That's it for this chapter - I hope you all liked it.
Till next time.