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Chapter 6

Battle of Nagaon: Part 1

(Eight Months Later)

Admiral Tobirama Senju wearily looked at the details of the next mission assigned to him and the reinforced 5th fleet that was finally back at full strength after nearly four years of waiting.

Being the fleet that had scored humanity's only victory against the Otsutsuki Empire had made them a priority for their civilian leadership to bring them back up to full strength.

He had lost half of his ships in the Battle of Freedom and replenishing such large number of vessels had taken four years despite Tobirama's best efforts.

Thinking back to that lone victory of his career, he couldn't help but remember Captain Kushina Uzumaki and her husband Lieutenant Colonel Minato Namikaze who had both alongside thousands of other servicemen made the ultimate sacrifice allowing Tobirama to crush their enemies.

The sacrifice of those heroes of Terran Federation had allowed them to win against the Otsutsuki, only for it all to be in vain when their enemies returned in massive force to destroy the colony for good.

Admiral Tobirama and his depleted 5th fleet had fought hard to save the colony of Freedom, their sole symbol of victory- but had been ordered by High Command to abandon it when their losses became too much to handle.

It was why his next mission to protect the Ship-building world of Nagaon that much more vital.

The Otsutsuki had already destroyed all of humanity's outer colonies in more than a decade long war and were now moving towards the Inner colonies, worlds that were vital for the Terran Federation military that depended on them heavily for major resources that were earlier in large part supplied by the now destroyed outer colonies.

Nagaon was a world near thrice in size to the colony of Freedom and had massive ship-building yards that created ships and armaments for the Terran Navy. Its loss would be a crippling blow that humanity would find it extremely hard to recover from which was exactly why High Command had given Tobirama another impossible mission.

The 5th Fleet was now tasked with defending the besieged world with a population of nearly 2 billion, it was also a key planet for one of the largest ship building yards of Asimov Aeronautics & Engineering- the leading ship building company in the Federation.

Tobirama's saving grace was the fact that Supreme Commander Madara had recently finished bringing the 5th fleet back upto full strength with many of its newer addition ships bearing better armor, upgraded energy weapons and full supply of manpower. Apart from that were entire divisions of the Army, Marines and Air Force under his command alongwith three battalions of the infamous 105th Shock Troopers Division.

All of that added strength he was grateful for, but what he was equally concerned with alongwith the heavy enemy presence awaiting them was the arrival of another group tasked under his command by the Office of Naval Intelligence itself.

While he always had a grudging respect for the activities conducted by humanity's secret branch to keep it standing, he was quite unhappy at how they had bypassed him to get Supreme Commander Madara to deploy their personnel on the colony world of Nagaon.

That decision should have fallen to him, especially when he was hardly given any information about these ONI forces.

He could vividly recall his bitter conversation with the Supreme Commander on that topic just a few hours ago.

"I'm not sure this is the right call, Supreme Commander" Tobirama had said boldly, earning a tired sigh from the veteran Uchiha warrior.

"Normally, I would leave deployment of personnel strictly under your purview, Admiral. But ONI has been adamant on deploying their troops groundside at the earliest alongside the Shock Troopers and other forces. They have pulled a lot of strings both in the military and civilian government to make this happen" explained Madara Uchiha tiredly,

"Since when has saving colonies through direct intervention become ONI's operating procedure?" asked Tobirama with a heavy frown, making Madara massage his temple in frustration.

"What I am about to tell you is on a confidential basis. I hope you know what that means, Admiral"

Tobirama froze knowing there was only fate that awaited him should he disclose the information he was about to learn. It was why he gave a careful nod in return making the Supreme Commander look at him seriously.

"ONI has informed us and the government recently that they have been working on a secret project since the past four years. The Spartan Program is a highly classified operation that has now reached its final stage with its personnel ready for combat deployments. Myself and the government are already pulling them up for this serious breach of protocol, but ONI has in its defense asked us to see the results of their labor before passing judgement. Admiral Orochimaru has risked his own neck on the performance of the personnel headed your way" explained Madara in detail,

"The Spartan Program, sir? It must be really something for a canny man like Admiral Orochimaru to risk his neck like that" stated Tobirama carefully,

"He has offered his own life as punishment should the results not be worth the breach of regulations made by his department. Hashirama has agreed to give the man that chance despite being quite angered, now you realize how serious this is?" questioned Madara with a firm look,

Tobirama nodded as for the head of ONI itself to stake his life and the future of his entire department was no small feat given the agency's reputation.

"Understood, sir. The 5th Fleet will follow your orders, can I atleast know the number of ONI personnel we will need to account for?" asked Tobirama seriously,

"150"

If Tobirama was surprised before, he was in complete shock now as he could not rationally imagine how the head of ONI in his infinite wisdom had thought barely more than a company's worth of its personnel would be enough to achieve victory over a large world like Nagaon.

The disbelief must have shown on his face quite clearly eliciting a word of caution from the Supreme Commander.

"Do not underestimate these Spartans, Admiral. I have seen some of the information related to their program presented by Admiral Orochimaru, they can prove to be some real bad news for the enemy. Use them well" advised Madara frankly,

Tobirama could only offer a firm nod in return as such consideration from a man like Madara himself was not to be taken lightly.

As he stood in the hangar bay of his flagship- Battleship Colossus, awaiting the arrival of ONI's Spartans- he only had two armed guards with him. The rest of the personnel of this particular hangar had been asked to vacate the premises to maintain the secrecy as mandated by the Supreme Commander.

Tobirama wasn't kept waiting for long as he was informed by his XO that the Heavy Transport class ship- Hercules was ready to dock, fifteen minutes before their scheduled arrival. He provided his consent and a few moments later the vessel arrived smoothly within the hangar bay.

Gesturing his tense guards to restrain themselves, the veteran Admiral stood firm as the troop bay doors finally opened a few moments later as the vessel anchored itself.

In all his years of military service, Admiral Tobirama had never seen or expected what came out of the ship.

His guards were equally stunned when a man more than seven foot tall dressed in a some new form of armor never seen before stepped out into the hangar bay.

Following after him were more than a hundred similar armor wearing personnel of all sizes, but none as tall and imposing as the first Spartan.

Tobirama saw even the smallest of these arriving Spartans was nearly 6 foot and 5 inches tall with a body build enough to make even the most fiercest Otsutsuki pause.

The tallest among the Spartans also turned out to be its leader as the rest of the force assembled around him without a single word, together they turned towards Tobirama and his guards making them stand a little more straighter.

With perfect discipline and unison, the newly arrived Spartans marched towards the Admiral making him hold his breath. The two guards around Tobirama tensed even more and gripped their weapons more tightly as the giant behemoth's stopped a respectable distance away from the leader of the 5th Fleet.

Unlike quite a few ONI personnel known for their high-handedness and lack of discipline to follow the military chain of command, these Spartans offered a respectful salute to the Admiral upon the action of their leader who only had the number "141" imprinted on his armored chest.

"Commander Ruto-141 and ONI's Spartan forces reporting for duty, Admiral" said the leader of the Spartans dutifully,

Despite his imposing size and the high rank this Spartan held, Admiral Tobirama couldn't help but feel the voice of the man was too young. Even if it was coming out of the armored suit he was wearing, Ruto-141 barely sounded like a person out of their teens.

It only made him wonder as to what the hell had ONI done behind all their backs?

"Welcome aboard, Commander. I am Admiral Tobirama, leader of the 5th Fleet. Have you been briefed on your mission parameters?" asked Tobirama seriously, receiving a nod from the Spartan Commander.

"We are here to aid the 5th fleet in defending Nagaon at all costs. We are ready to serve at your command, sir" answered Commander Ruto frankly,

"Glad to hear that. I hope you and your Spartans will not have difficulty in following my leadership, the same as ONI" said Tobirama shrewdly, but to their credit neither a single Spartan even flinched at the subtle remark.

In that way, he wondered if these soldiers were even human for everything except the voice of their leader suggested otherwise.

"We are honored to follow your command, sir. We await your orders" replied Ruto seriously, which finally earned an acknowledging nod from the veteran Admiral.

"Very well. As per High Command's directive, the 5th fleet is already enroute to Nagaon as we speak. We shall be reaching the planet in less than ten hours, till that time my marines here will get you settled in your quarters. Once we arrive in the sector, I will relay your mission orders after I have the facts of the Realtime situation on the ground" advised Tobirama,

"Understood, Admiral. We shall standby for further orders"

Tobirama gave a final nod and gestured his marines to escort the Spartans to their isolated compartment of the ship, it was a good call by Supreme Commander Madara to keep these new and strange troops isolated from the other forces on this ship until absolutely necessary.

As he watched the Spartans follow after his marines to their compartment, Tobirama frowned upon seeing there was barely any sound made by these ONI soldiers in their steps despite their massive armored frames.

Something was off about them and it rankled Tobirama greatly.

The suspicions harbored by the 5th Fleet's Admiral came true when just two hours before reaching their destination, he received an urgent call from none other than the head of ONI itself.

Even if they both shared the same rank and despite being the younger brother of the Terran Federation's leader, Tobirama Senju knew Orochimaru ranked higher in the chain of command due to his agency's subtle usefulness to the war effort.

It was why he accepted the call without much delay and partly also to get some answers regarding the giant behemoths ONI had saddled him with.

"Admiral Tobirama, it's good to see you" said Orochimaru with a pleased smile,

"Admiral Orochimaru, I wish I could say the same, but you have left a Spartan question at my doorstep" retorted Tobirama snidely, earning a pleased smirk from the pale man.

"I had a feeling you might have some apprehensions which is the reason behind this call. From preliminary reports, the enemy resistance at Nagaon is quite heavy. An entire Otsutsuki fleet and millions of ground forces, suffice to say you are going to be outnumbered in both ground and space warfare. While ONI can't magically spawn fleets to aid you, regardless we have decided to offer you our finest personnel for assistance" answered Orochimaru in a pleased voice, making Tobirama frown heavily.

"What exactly are they trained in?" asked the 5th Fleet Admiral carefully, making Orochimaru nod and transfer a file to the Tobirama's personal datapad.

The very first classification made Tobirama freeze.

Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Offensive Raids, Infiltration & Sabotage, Planetary Evacuation & Reclamation, Advanced Recon, Counter-terrorism, Search & Rescue, the list went on.

Each of the Spartans was an expert in multiple form of warfare ranging from Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Fuinjutsu, Weapons Experts, Demolitions, Communications & Hacking. They were certified to operate all ground based vehicles with a select few even certified to operate aerial fighters including frigates.

Even their method of arrival on the battlefield left Tobirama pale.

"You can't be serious, Orochimaru!" he said in disbelief, dropping the rank altogether but it only made the smile disappear from the pale faced man.

"I have staked my life on it, Admiral Tobirama. My Spartans can handle whatever the enemy has in store, including facing the Otsutsuki themselves should they appear on the battlefield. Throw them in the thick of fighting, they are our finest weapons. Worth far more than entire battalions of Shock Troopers under your command" explained Orochimaru honestly,

"Then why risk them so openly and so many at the same time?" asked Tobirama in concern,

"This battle is not just a test of their resolve and dependability for something much greater later, but also a clear message for our enemy. We want them to experience fear like humanity has all these years, the fact that it is you the famed hero who handed the Otsutsuki their only defeat leading this mission only adds a cherry on top of the cake" said Orochimaru with a menacing smile,

"There is something going on way above my clearance level, I can feel it even if you and the Supreme Commander refuse to say it outloud. Do not take me for a fool, Admiral. What exactly are you expecting of this entire operation?" asked Tobirama contritely with a deathly glare,

"Evacuation of the ship-building assets which are critical to our Navy alongwith the population is the primary mission objective. The enemy hordes are descending upon both of them in droves, my recommendation would be to tactically use the Spartans as a shield first to stop that, followed by as a vengeful spear that carves through the enemy. This might be their first military operation, but my Spartans can help you turn the tide of this upcoming battle- even score a victory if you use them wisely. Humanity and ONI wishes you good luck, Admiral Tobirama"

Before Tobirama could respond or ask anything further, the transmission was terminated which made him curse silently. It left him with many more questions than he had started with, but he also couldn't deny he had received some vital answers as to what these Spartans were capable of, if only on paper for now and through assurance from the head of ONI itself.

Adding to the subtle confidence he had seen in Madara's reasoning, he had a feeling some of those claims could be proven true.

(Four Hours Later: Colony of Nagaon, Capital of Nuira)

Captain Kakashi Hatake had been a part of the Shock Troopers Division for nearly a decade now. Having started as mere Private, he had risen up in the ranks quite quickly partly in thanks to his skills and leadership ability, another reason was the high rate of casualties incurred by the Shock Troopers as they were the best humanity had to offer and were often thrown against the enemy headfirst.

He looked around at the squad of Shock Troopers around him and regarded them as fellow survivors, as Red Team were the last personnel still alive from the legendary 7th Battalion of Shock Troopers led by Lieutenant Colonel Minato Namikaze.

While the rest of Red Team's battalion led by Minato had made a heroic suicidal charge dealing the Otsutsuki their only defeat, Kakashi and his team had survived only because all of them were badly wounded in an earlier operation on the colony of Freedom.

Thanks to that alone, Red Team was still alive and now assimilated into the 10th Shock Troopers Battalion while the rest of their battalion comrades had died alongwith their brave Lieutenant colonel.

Even while rendered combat ineffective, every single member of Red Team including Kakashi had begged Minato to let them accompany him on his final mission only for their leader to deny that request with a smile.

The refusal was a bitter one especially for Kakashi and Obito Uchiha, members of Red Team who had served alongside Minato from the days when the man had been a lowly Lieutenant rank officer.

To watch their mentor and friend head into certain death while they could do nothing was something that had affected the two younger men greatly.

"The 7th Battalion must live on, not just in memory but in the hearts of each member of Red Team. I am counting on you, Kakashi"

Those last words from his mentor still resonated within Kakashi's heart even if he and Red Team operated as one of the most effective squads of the 10th Battalion.

As he ducked beneath one of the concrete walls of a restaurant, he wondered just how long he would be able to carry on his mentor's last wish.

"Obito, burn those Ghosts quickly!" he commanded with a scowl, as his position was battered by relentless heavy weapons fire from the Otsutsuki's walking tanks.

"Little occupied right now with these pesky Grunts!" responded his longtime squadmate and friend in frustration, as he traded fire with nearly a dozen yammering Grunts with vengeance.

"Asuma, blind them!" commanded Red Team's squad leader,

The bulky Sarutobi warrior grinned as he unleashed a hail of Ash form of chakra all around the battlefield before clicking his teeth and setting scores of Grunts and Arachnids in a fiery inferno.

"Thought you Uchiha's were experts with Fire!" teased Asuma, earning a comical glare from Obito.

"Cover me!"

Kakashi and Asuma leaned out to deliver a concentrated hail of assault weapons fire upon the heavily armored Ghosts giving Obito the opening to charge forward out of the ditch he had taken cover in.

"Fire Style: Fire Balls Jutsu"

The Uchiha clan fighter earned his pay as he unleashed a dozen massive fireballs that crashed straight upon the pair of Ghosts blowing them to pieces. Obito grinned and was about to take cover once more when he dodged a series of shots that would have taken his head off if his Sharingan had not seen it coming.

"Anko! Kill those Nur snipers already!" cursed Obito grumpily,

"Quit whining, here I come" replied their team's sniper in her usual cocky manner,

"You know that sounded wrong on every level!" teased Obito with a sly smile,

The only answer given by Anko was in the form of a series of accurate shots that made two Nur officers in charge of this area to tumble lifelessly from their rooftop positions.

"Headsup guys, I've got scores of Bugs heading our way" warned Anko,

"Kurenai, mess up their vision. Anko, support fire. Rest of you charge on my signal" commanded Kakashi seriously, receiving a score of acknowledgements swiftly.

Up ahead on the boulevard were a horde of nearly a hundred Archanids marching towards them with vengeance, moments later the ones in the lead suddenly stopped making the rest of the horde to crash into them thanks to Kurenai.

Anko was already blasting holes into the maws of the beasts when the rest of Red Team charged forward fearlessly with Kakashi in the lead.

"Lightning Style: Shockwave"

Red Team's leader unleashed bolts of lightning that zapped through the hordes of giant bugs eliciting pained screams and the smell of burnt flesh and something much worse. Obito and Asumi decided not to deal with it for much longer as they unleashed a stream of flames from their mouths creating an inferno that burned the entire frontal line of bugs mercilessly.

Even as the enemies screamed, Kakashi unleashed his next attack.

"Chidori!"

Kakashi's lightning style blade carved clean through the exposed mouths and torso of several bugs sending them to the afterlife even as the rest of his squadmates employed closer quarter combat by unleashing their chakra swords.

Yugao led the butchery with her deadly Kenjutsu techniques that sliced dozens of bugs into pieces swiftly, while Asuma and Obito did the butcher's work as Anko and Kurenai provided support fire easing their way through the mass of enemy bodies.

In a few moments the last of the Otsutsuki forces in the area were effectively neutralized as Red Team methodically carried a full sweep to ensure there were no more hidden surprises left in store by the enemy.

"Incoming message from Neptune Actual, Captain" informed Kurenai, who also served as the radio operator and air support expert of the team.

Kakashi nodded as he plugged his communication device to the incoming transmission.

''Red Team, how's it looking at your end?" asked the ever calm voice of Colonel Shikaku Nara, the leader of the 10th Shock Troopers Battalion.

"We have captured Sanshi Boulevard, Neptune Actual. All enemy forces neutralized, the evacuation route on the western zone is clear" reported Captain Kakashi,

"Excellent work. Rest of our 10th battalion alongside 22nd battalion supported by Army mechanized forces and marines have also completed securing remaining routes leading to the Starport. The 43rd Battalion is busy holding off the bulk of enemy forces in the city center, your new orders are to relink with us at Starport. We will be setting up defensive lines around it to begin civilian evacuations in the AO with the ships already present there and the vessels the Navy will be sending our way" explained Shikaku seriously,

"The enemy will try to disrupt that, sir" suggested Kakashi knowingly,

"I concur as does the rest of command staff which is why we are ordering all available forces nearby to defend it. The Army and Marine forces will support us the best they can, but their primary task is to transport the civilians for evac. The 10th and 22nd Battalion of Shock Troopers will be primarily tasked with defending the Starport" advised Shikaku,

"Understood, sir. We will be there to assist shortly" agreed Kakashi with a nod,

"Get to it, Red Team"

(Few Hours Later: Flagship Colossus)

Ruto-141 alongside all Spartans found themselves standing in a large conference room facing the Admiral of the 5th Fleet. Their waiting time for further orders had been quite long, not that their training would allow any of the Spartans to voice their discontent outloud.

But it would seem the time had finally arrived for them to step into humanity's existential war.

Admiral Tobirama looked at them all for a long moment before beginning his briefing.

"The 5th Fleet is currently doing all it can to hold off the enemy fleet, while we have deployed majority of our ground forces planetwide to assist in evacuations and securing the shipyards alongside other vital assets. The Shock Troopers alongside the Army and Marines are doing everything they can to create evacuation zones across the three major continents on Nagaon, but enemy resistance is extremely heavy.

I have decided to split of your force into small tactical teams to assist across the planet. Some teams will be tasked with securing the shipyards alongside other friendly forces, while the rest will be focused on holding the line against enemy counterattacks on civilian evacuation zones" explained Tobirama in detail, as he pointed at the multiple action points across the planet of Nagaon.

"We will hold the line and secure the assets, Admiral" assured Ruto-141, as looking at the situation planetwide mandated Spartans to be deployed across multiple continents and battlefields to assist friendly forces on ground who were hard pressed.

The Spartans saw their new mission objectives arrive at the respective HUD in their visor alongwith their means of deployment to said zones. It made Ruto-141 look at the various squad leaders of their group who only offered a single nod in return confirming their agreement.

"Let's get this done, Spartans"

Admiral Tobirama watched curiously as the Spartan Commander just made a simple statement to his troops instead of a motivating speech despite this being their first battle. But to his continued intrigue, that was enough for ONI's new warriors as they all saluted him making Tobirama return the gesture followed by the Spartans dispersing to carry out their respective missions.

There were no banter among the Spartans, just an eery silence as they went out of the room.

When Ruto-141 and his Noble Team were about to exit themselves, Tobirama stopped them.

"Admiral Orochimaru sent me some information suggesting Noble Team is one of the finest squads. Which is why I am deploying you to the planetary capital- Nuira. Half of its 50 million population was massacred during the enemy's invasion, groundside forces led by the Shock Troopers have secured the local Starport to begin evacuations but are under heavy counterattack consisting of several enemy divisions including a large forces of Cannibals apart from the usual Otsutsuki rank and file.

Combining two Shock Troopers Battalion alongside scattered companies from the Army and Marines, we barely have 3,000 troops defending the Starport. We are tasking additional reinforcements to their aid but I'm afraid they won't reach there in time. I have my reservations about the extent of your abilities but have no other option but to trust the chain of command. Millions of lives are depending on the Starport remaining in our control, can you hold the line?" asked Tobirama seriously,

Commander Ruto towered over him like a giant and stood firm as the rest of his squad with determination.

"You'll have your evacuation zone secured, sir. I understand your reservations, let our actions speak for our reliability. We are committed to ensure the survival of as many civilians and fellow soldiers" assured Ruto confidently,

"I'll hold you to that, Commander" replied Tobirama, earning a firm nod from Ruto as he alongside Noble Team turned around to march towards the exit.

Just when he was about to exit, Ruto stopped and looked back at the veteran Admiral.

"We'll make it count, sir"

The door closed as Ruto-141 made his promise leaving Admiral Tobirama with a renewed confidence.

(Nuira- Defensive Lines Near the Starport)

The enemy attack had came from every direction.

The Otsutsuki forces seemed to come out of the sewer exits and buildings around the Starport like a tidal wave joined by thousands upon thousands of additional reinforcements that had steamrolled through the Army and Marine forces fighting in the eastern and southern parts of the capital.

The 43rd Shock Trooper Battalion of the 105th Division were desperately trying to hold a similar advance of the enemy in the Northern sector of the city, leaving only the 10th and 22nd Shock Trooper Battalions alongwith four marine companies and three Army battalions with limited mechanized support as the only line of defense around the Starport.

Colonels Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka leading the 10th and 22nd battalion of Shock troopers respectively had dispatched a large amount of their best fighters to the front lines across the Southern, western and eastern flanks near the Starport to hold off the enemy. Every marine and army trooper alongside every tank and armored fighting vehicle still operational was deployed for the same task.

Still the enemy hordes outnumbered the defenders nearly 10 to 1 which made the task seem almost impossible.

"Hold the line, troopers!" encouraged Captain Kakashi, the highest ranking officer currently overseeing the defense of the western flank near the Starport.

Red Team and several other Shock Troopers winked their green lights in acknowledgement of the orders as several of them took cover behind destroyed Nightmare Tanks of the Terran Federation and hastily created trench lines to avoid the massive enemy fire coming their way.

Kakashi cursed when he saw several companies worth of Archanids and Grunts charging towards their defensive line with blood thirsty cries.

"Let them get closer. I'll break their charge, rest of you open up with everything you got then!" commanded Kakashi,

"Sir!"

He waited for the enemy to get nearly a 100 yards to their defensive line before slamming his hands on the ground.

"Earth Style: Shockwave!"

The ground shook violently making every living being on both sides to lose their balance, yet it also provided an opportunity for the Terran forces as the enemy charge faltered with Archanids and Grunts crashing into each other upon losing their balance, the massive bugs ending up killing dozens of their smaller gas mask wearing comrades in a friendly fire.

"Now!"

A dozen Shock Troopers rose up to unleash a wave of Fire Style attacks supported by suppressive fire from nearly two hundred assault rifles, dozens of rocket launchers and accurate sniper fire from Anko and her group of snipers in the rear.

Archanids were torn to bloody pieces or burned alive the same as their Grunt comrades in a fiery inferno as the human forces carried out the merciless massacre.

Kakashi cursed when four Shock troopers alongside two marines fell with bullet size holes in their faces courtesy of enemy's counter sniper fire. His own snipers replied with vengeance even as another massive wave of enemy forces renewed the destroyed charge of their earlier counterparts.

"Incoming Banshees!" warned Yugao,

The arrival of Otsutsuki ground support aircraft made Kakashi scramble in ordering his troopers to start erecting Fuinjutsu aided Earthen barriers on the double, while the Rocket Launcher troopers were ordered to bring the incoming enemy aircraft down. The effort was made even more difficult by a renewed enemy ground assault wave beginning their charge.

Rockets flew in droves towards the Banshee's making most of their squadron begin evasive manevoures to avoid a fiery death, but a few suicidal pilots stayed their course and discharged their fuel rods on the left flank of the human defensive line.

Dozens of marines and Shock troopers were engulfed in scorching flames, their dying screams merging with the rest of the conflict happening across the battlefield.

Kakashi had to lead a counter-charge in return alongside most of Red Team and several other Shock troopers to push back the enemy's new assault wave that had gotten too close for comfort.

Even as they made quick work of dozens of Archanids and Grunts, their casualties started rising as Kakashi's own forces fell either in close quarter combat or deadly enemy sniper fire.

"This is Colonel Shikaku Nara to all forces, fall back to the 2nd defensive line on the double. You've got a Cannibal horde incoming!"

The order to retreat came a little too late as Kakashi witnessed the arrival of humanity's most feared opponents apart from the Otsutsuki themselves.

Even as Kakashi's vanguard battled against the enemy's dwindling assault wave, they came under a more dangerous attack.

"Kakashi!"

As he was plunging his blade through one of the Archanid giant bug, Kakashi was harshly kicked to the side by Obito who was fighting beside him. The Sharingan wielding Uchiha was instead hit by by the full force of a corrupted chakra energy ball that speared clean through the Archanid whom Kakashi was dealing with earlier.

Obito was sent flying dozens of meters and landed gracelessly in their defensive trench line.

Similar attacks took place upon the entire human Vanguard as sharp spikes and chakra balls tore through the Otsutsuki forces and hit the Terran fighters mercilessly and sent them to the afterlife.

From the corner of his eyes, Kakashi saw the reason behind this attack that didn't differentiate between fighters of either side.

Absolute fear coursed through his heart as he witnessed the arrival of an entire Cannibal horde on the battlefield.

The Cannibals were quadrupedal carnivorous creatures that were distinctly white in color due to their lack of skin pigment. Standing roughly nine feel tall, they were wider and more muscled than any human fighter. They had a 'hunched' look standing on four legs with their two front arms tucked under their chest. Cannibals also had two tentacle like limbs which exited the upper rear of their backs. Their three toe like pads on each leg were equipped with razor sharp claws, their arms also possessed two such claws to tear apart their enemies.

Sharp spikes were present on their backs with several more tentacles to unleash their most devasting attacks.

Corrupted chakra laced super-sonic bombs and precision strikes.

Never differentiating between friend or foe, the Cannibals were forces of pure destruction unleased on the battlefield to rain death upon anyone that got in their way. The presence of a Cannibal squad was alarming on any battlefield, the arrival of an entire horde was a death sentence.

He looked at their fear inducing faces with a wicked nose plate and a large mouth of sharp teeth that had gobbled countless humans in earlier conflicts.

As the Cannibal horde prepared to unleash a tsunami of chakra bombs, a large portion of their numbers prepared to charge.

Kakashi could only offer a single word order to his surviving forces.

"Run"

Colonels Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka were bitterly watching the retreat ordered across the entire 1st defensive line on the holoscreen in their command center.

Thousands upon thousands of Archanids, Grunts, Nur's and Ghosts were following a fearsome charge unleashed by a horde of Cannibals mercilessly.

Shock Trooper squads stayed behind in many instances to buy time for their Army, Marine and remaining fellow Shock Troopers to retreat back to the 2nd line. The noble act saved a complete collapse of their front but resulted in those brave shinobi meeting a horrifying end when the Cannibal horde tore them apart limb from limb or simply reduced them to ash in a series of chakra bombs that destroyed the entire 1st defensive line.

"Unleash our artillery barrage to stop the enemy charge and buy our forces time to escape" commanded Shikaku with a clenched fist, earning a quick acknowledgement from one of the artillery officers in the HQ.

"Tanks and IFV's are ready at the 2nd line, Shikaku. That's the only good news, air support is tied up defending other civilian evacuation zones and additional enemy waves across the city. Command has routed two Marine battalions and units from the 43rd Shock Troopers Battalion to our location, but they will not arrive before an hour" reported his fellow Colonel Inoichi Yamanaka, leader of the 22nd Shock Troopers Battalion.

"We barely have a few dozen minutes at this rate, not an hour. Get me Admiral Tobirama!" commanded Shikaku urgently, earning a nod from Lieutenant Mabui who contacted the leader of the 5th Fleet.

"The Admiral is tied up in dealing with the enemy fleet in space, Colonel. We have a priority message from his flagship that he has deployed a Special forces squad for our assistance. ETA is 10 mins" reported Lieutenant Mabui with despair,

"A single squad? We need an entire division down here!" said Colonel Inoichi in disbelief,

Shikaku narrowed his eyes at the implication and could only wonder what a veteran officer like Admiral Tobirama was thinking. If the Starport was overrun, the remaining population of the capital alongwith all Terran forces in the city would be massacred.

What could a single special forces squad do against those odds?

"Sir, we've got an incoming priority hail from the leader of the special forces squad dispatched by the Admiral" reported Mabui quickly,

"Patch them through" ordered Shikaku swiftly,

He waited in anticipation as the connection was made and a new voice filtered in through the command center.

"This is Commander Ruto-141, leader of Noble Team- ONI's Spartan forces. Starport Command, we are enroute to your location. ETA 10 mins, request your forces to fall back to the 2nd defensive line. We are coming in hot"

Shikaku and Inoichi were both veterans who had survived more than a decade of the Otsutsuki genocidal war, but both officers couldn't hide their surprise at the new message. It only made the bizarre scenario even more complicated.

"Spartan Commander, this is Colonel Shikaku Nara of the 10th Shock Troopers Battalion and Ground Commander of the Starport Defensive Zone, acknowledged. Our forces are already retreating to the 2nd defensive, enemy presence is massive and following after them relentlessly. I don't know what you are packing, but it better be lethal or you'll be dead within moments upon landing" replied Shikaku seriously,

"We copy, Colonel"

As he finished his communication with Starport Command, Ruto-141 glanced at the Orbital Entry drop pod he was placed in.

"Noble, status check" he commanded,

One by one, he received green lights on his visor's HUD from the rest of his squad who were also waiting in similar manner across other Orbital pods. Their way of entry onto the battlefield would alter the course of human warfare forever.

In less than a minute, the 5th Fleet Flagship launched their orbital drop pods towards the planet of Nagaon.

Similar actions were taking place across the entire fleet as Spartan forces were launched all over the planet across a dozen battlefields.

Ruto's head jerked back from the momentum as he felt his pod rapidly descending towards the planet's atmosphere. Upon entry, red tinted flames started burning against his pod's virtual screens depicting the high temperature outside as his pod made a forceful entry into the planet's atmosphere.

"This is fun!" remarked Sasuke-297 on the squad comms, earning a brief chuckle from Darui.

"You always were an adrenaline junkie, Uchiha" retorted the dark skinned warrior,

"Loved it during training and still do now" replied Sasuke with a chuckle,

That remark only made Ruto think back to the past few months all the Spartans had spent in getting to relearn their new bodies, mastering the Orbital Drop Pod functionality- a new tech deployed by ONI to rapidly deploy Spartans in hot zones, and learning how to fight alongside the Biju's in Ruto and Gaara's cases and utilizing the beasts chakra fragments inside their bodies by the rest of Noble Team.

The Nine and One Tails were less than co-operative even now, but had not made any moves to kill their hosts as had been feared by ONI command. The worse they had done was the One-Tail preventing Gaara from getting much sleep, something the Spartan had a hard time getting used to even now.

Ruto could only hope the beasts lent them their strength for the battle to come or things would not go well for the beasts and their hosts.

As clouds started passing through the camera feed of his pod, he couldn't help but feel the weight of Tayuya's dogtags concealed into his armor and above his chest growing heavier.

For a moment, he imagined another 119 pods falling down towards the surface of Nagaon alongside Noble Team.

Comrades he had grown up and bled with, ones who would never get to fight in a war they had sacrificed everything for.

"We fight this battle in their memory, Noble-1" whispered Samui over a private channel,

"How did you know, Noble-3?" asked Ruto quietly,

"Because I am fighting for the same reason and for all we have lost"

His respect for Samui went up a little notch upon hearing her answer and made him steel his resolve as the 5th Fleet sent visual feeds of the groundside battle to his and entire Noble Team's HUD.

"They have it rough" commented Gaara calmly, upon watching the massive enemy wave steamrolling over the 1st defensive line near the Starport even as scattered Shock Troopers and some Marine squads stayed behind to allow the rest of their comrades a window to retreat to the 2nd defensive line.

"We'll return the favor twice over to uglies down there, Noble-4" said Pakura vengefully,

"We are approaching exit point in one minute. Diamond formation everyone, Noble-4 you ready for this?" asked Ruto earnestly,

"Let's kill some Otsutsuki hordes, Noble-1" replied Gaara confidently, as he angled his pod to get closer to Ruto's position at the bottom of the diamond formation making the two Jinchuuriki hosts as the tip of the spear of their squad.

The seconds flew by as they descended further down towards the surface and saw a sky full of raging clouds.

"Now"

Ruto's command was followed by the metal doors of the Drop pods blasting outwards exposing its inhabitants to the raging atmosphere outside.

Noble Team jumped out of their flying coffins at a height of 25,000 feet and continued their free fall towards their target.

"Mark Targets, Noble-2&5" commanded Ruto,

"Copy" acknowledged Sasuke and Neji respectively in unison,

Soon Ruto and Gaara's HUD were painted with a horde of enemy targets advancing towards the fast approaching Starport from multiple directions. The dwindling green dots designating friendly forces were rapidly blinking out under the massive onslaught.

"Friendly forces have a good amount of Tanks and IFV's on the Eastern & Southern front, they can hold for the time being. Let's carpet bomb the enemies on the Western front first which looks the worst. We make Landfall in that sector, then sweep towards the Southern and Eastern front backed by allied forces. Copy?" asked Ruto seriously,

"Let's tear them apart, Noble-1" agreed Darui enthusiastically, even as the rest of the squad blinked their green lights marking their agreement with the order.

Kakashi and what was left of his forces were taking cover in the 2nd defensive line's trenches while trying to hold off the enemy hordes trying to run them down through brute force.

"We can't hold them much longer, Kakashi!" warned Asuma, even as he launched a dozen fireballs turning a wave of Archanids on fire.

"Obito's in bad shape, Captain" warned Yugao, even as she tried her best to patch up the Uchiha who had been wounded while saving Kakashi's life.

Kakashi panted tiredly from the exertion of the battle and saw the rest of his forces who had fallen back from the 1st defensive line were in similar shape. The defenders of the 2nd line whom they had linked up with were faring a little better, but one glance at the approaching horde of Cannibals and other Otsutsuki forces in droves made him wonder how long they could hold this line as well.

"Kakashi, priority message from Neptune Actual. We've got friendlies inbound in a minute!" reported Kurenai with a desperate hope, as she relayed the order she received from Colonel Shikaku himself.

"How many and from where because I can't see anyone except the enemy!" said Kakashi with a frown as he emptied his magazine into a host of Grunts and a Nur officer cutting them down mercilessly.

"A special ops squad, they are making orbital insertion"

"What?"

Kakashi had only uttered his disbelief when Kurenai and many other soldiers pointed their fingers towards the skies making him look up as well.

"To all Terran forces groundside, hold fire. Spartan forces inbound hot, we will mop up the enemies in your sector" came a calm and collected voice over an open channel,

Kakashi and Red Team could not hide their disbelief upon not just hearing that bold request, but also the sight of seven figures falling from the skies towards the very center of the enemy horde.

"This is Noble-1, brace for explosion"

That was the only warning given by the leading voice of these new Spartans on the open channel before two massive dark orbs were unleashed by the leading Spartans right towards the center of the charging enemy forces.

Many of the Cannibals, Nur, Grunts, Arachnids and few Ghosts looked up to freeze in horror as the massive dark orbs of violent energy crashed down upon them mercilessly.

Kakashi's vision went blank alongside many other Terran forces as two massive explosions ripped through the enemy forces akin to a mini nuclear fireball.

Thousands of enemy forces were simply vaporized in an instant while thousands more were thrown in different directions like ragdolls in the following shockwave.

Several more explosions followed after that, but Kakashi was still regaining his vision and cursed himself for witnessing the blasts directly, his helmet's visor the only thing protecting him from going completely blind.

He heard a soft whining and forced himself to see a blur of shadows descending towards their position rapidly with jetpacks on their backs slowing their fall to acceptable momentum.

By the time his vision cleared, Kakashi found himself facing the back of an armored behemoth.

He was unbelievably tall, very close to the Nur who were usually eight feet tall. Even the other green, blue, red and black armored soldiers that landed around the giant were taller and broader than most human beings in existence. Their helmets with golden vizors prevented Kakashi from seeing their faces, they couldn't be mechs as the voice he had heard earlier was human.

The rest of Red Team alongside surviving Terran forces were also watching in absolute silence the sheer destruction wrecked on the battlefield by their new reinforcements.

Still there were a few hundred enemy forces left who were trying to get back into the fight.

"Execute"

Upon that single command of the tallest Spartan, his smaller red armored counterpart thrust both of his hands forward making vast swathes of sand and dirt to rise all over the battlefield. It rapidly transformed into a sandstorm that further disoriented the enemy's attempts to get back into the fight.

The red armored Spartan then buried several Nur's and Ghosts in sand coffins before crushing them mercilessly.

Even as the red armored Spartan wrecked havoc, his black armored counterpart who was definitely a female judging from her physique unleashed a new sniper rifle that made Anko want to grab her hands on the majestic looking weapon.

What Red Team's sniper couldn't match was the speed and lethality with which the Black armored Spartan sniper started murdering Nur officers rendering the enemy groundforces with dwindling leadership personnel.

"Charge"

The remaining five Spartans sprinted towards the disoriented enemy forces at dizzying speeds, with the green armored Spartan giant becoming nothing but a blur.

Scattered enemy fire came their way but simply bounced off against their armor as bright shields took the brunt of those attacks.

"Energy shields!" thought Kakashi in surprise,

The five Spartans returned an equally vengeful salvo of their own mid charge, the rounds unleashed by their new rifles blasting scores of Archanids to pieces, incendiary rounds that made Grunts explode, poison rounds that made Ghosts crumble, all the while their Sniper and Sand wielding squadmate took out Nur officers one after another like vengeful gods passing judgement.

Within 30 seconds, dozens upon dozens of wounded and shaken enemy forces were mown down under the onslaught.

Their greatest challenge however came when a large group of surviving Cannibals charged straight towards them furiously.

Even as the rest of his squad battled the remaining enemy forces in close quarter combat, the Spartan leader charged straight towards the approaching Cannibals without a shred of fear or hesitation.

Colonel Shikaku Nara alongside his counterpart Colonel Inoichi Yamanaka and the rest of the staff officers were unable to believe the video feeds they were witnessing on the western flank.

From a sealed defeat of their forces on said flank, the tables had turned completely upon the enemy with the arrival of these Spartans.

"What the hell are they?" asked a pale faced Lieutenant Mabui in horror,

Shikaku couldn't fault her terror, not after witnessing two members of Noble Team unleash an attack equivalent to nuclear bombs that wiped out the enemy center in an instant upon arrival.

What followed after that was pure butchery.

They were barely able to keep track of the synchronized charge and hyper fast actions of these Spartans.

Two of the Spartans remained near the 2nd defensive line alongside surviving human forces as an unbreakable wall while continuing to rain havoc upon Nur officers on the battlefield, while the rest of their squad charged in.

Inoichi particularly watched the feeds covering the combo attacks unleashed by Sasuke-297 and Pakura-156 upon two platoons worth of Grunts.

Pakura-156 rained down massive fireballs that literally mummified several grunts before their gas tanks exploded under the sheer pressure, while Sasuke-297 unleashed a violent fire wave that set the remaining grunts to explode.

Neji-199 was in another league of his own as he took on an entire company of Arachnids single-handedly.

"That's a Hyuga!" whispered Shikaku in realization, upon watching the blue armored Spartan using the infamous Byakugan attacks to either tear apart any Arachnid that tried to skewer him or send them sailing away like ragdolls.

Darui-183 on the otherhand was making violent lightning strikes directly rain down from the skies upon several Ghosts, it either fried the Otsutsuki's living tanks to a crisp or immobilized them enough for Darui to put clean bullet holes through their thick armored heads.

Each Spartan of Noble Team had chosen their targets and were working well in eliminating them all with extreme prejudice.

Their leader however had decide to take on the biggest challenge.

"Is he charging towards the Cannibals?" asked another officer of the HQ in disbelief, making Shikaku and Inoichi look at another feed that made them both freeze.

"It can't be..." said Colonel Inoichi in shock,

Colonel Shikaku Nara froze in his spot not upon watching Ruto-141 charge towards a horde of furious Cannibals, but the way he moved for it reminded him of a dear comrade and close friend who had died years ago.

The Cannibals launched a row of spiked projectiles from their tentacles towards Ruto-141 even as they charged forward to rip him apart limb from limb.

The Spartan commander started dodging the incoming deadly projectiles by literally doing small teleportation jumps from one spot to another, the speed of the manevoure was barely being recorded by the camera feeds as bright red flashes at most and stunned the Cannibals even more who couldn't keep a track of their target.

They paid for that mistake when Ruto-141 teleported right in front of the leading Cannibal and tore it apart from top to bottom with his chakra sword. Even before the severed body could hit the ground, the Spartan delivered a roundhouse kick to the nearest Cannibal making the beast give a death cry before being pulverized to disgusting mass of flesh and blood on the ground beneath the Spartan's boot.

Seeing the demise of two of their own, made the next Cannibal jumped wildly towards the monstrous Spartan only for the ONI warrior to catch the heavy beast by its throat and sever its tentacles instantly making it scream in agony.

Ruto-141 threw the dying beast with all his might, sending it crashing into three more Cannibals destroying bones and tentacles alike.

The rest of the Cannibal horde roared even more furiously and jumped towards the lone Spartan in vengeance.

"Wind Style: Razor Blades"

An explosion of blood and guts followed as a large number of Cannibals were blasted apart with missing heads, limbs or entire sections of their body.

"He's got Banshee's incoming!" warned Mabui urgently,

Shikaku quickly saw the threat as a pair of Banshee fighters soared towards the Spartan Commander to neutralize him, only for one of the enemy aircrafts cockpit to explode as a single round tore through it.

Before its wingmen could get over the loss of his comrade, a similar round put an end to his life as well making both Banshee's crash to the ground resulting in further explosions.

"Sky's clear, Noble-1" reported Samui-07 calmly over the open channel, making the two Colonels and their officers look at the Spartan sniper with renewed interest as she had made kill shots on rapidly moving targets that would have been impossible to execute for seasoned snipers in such a short time over that long a distance.

"Copy. Let's finish this, Team" asked Ruto-141 calmly, even as he brutally punched the last Cannibal to pieces.

Sasuke-297 finished emptying his assault rifle into the last of the Grunts before charging towards his squad leader rapidly even as another horde of Archanid bugs came rushing forward.

"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

A massive wall of flames was unleashed by Sasuke-297 which was further enhanced by a deadly wind combo provided by Ruto-141 that spanned the inferno in every direction the enemy was coming from.

Pakura-156 joined the attack by launching several dozen scorching fireballs into the inferno, as Ruto, Darui and Neji backed by Gaara and Samui provided a deadly salvo of firepower that tore the last of their enemies to pieces if they weren't burned alive in the flames.

The handful enemy survivors, mostly Grunts simply threw down their weapons in fear and ran screaming of Demons.

In less than seven minutes, the western sector was neutralized of all enemy presence.

"Colonel Shikaku, permission to assist the other sectors?" asked Ruto-141 calmly,

"Granted, Commander. I'm assigning one of my best squads to assist you" said Shikaku confidently,

"Copy, sir"

Kakashi had not yet gotten over the shock of watching an entire Otsutsuki Division being massacred in a few minutes when he got his next set of orders from Colonel Shikaku.

"He wants us to assist those guys?" asked Asuma in disbelief,

"This area is pretty much cleansed and command doesn't expect any further attacks anytime soon. Yugao, you stay with Obito to patch him up. Rest of Red Team after me- we will help Spartans in cleaning up other sectors of the defensive line as per new orders. Lieutenant Yamada- you take over command here in my absence" instructed Kakashi swiftly, earning a firm nod from the next highest Shock Trooper officer still alive.

He was interrupted by the sound of a series of weapons being reloaded, by the time he looked in the direction he found the two Spartans near their defensive line already waiting for him.

The rest of Noble Team lead by their giant of a leader soon arrived in front of Kakashi.

"Commander Ruto? Captain Kakashi Hatake, leader of Red Team, 10th Shock Troopers- thanks for the assist. We have been tasked with aiding in your next objective" said Kakashi honestly, earning a nod from the tall green armored Spartan.

"Just doing our job, Captain. Glad to have you with us alongside your team" answered Ruto,

Kakashi fought back a frown not over the respectful reply from the Spartan, but his voice that sounded young.

Far too young for the kind of destruction he and his squad had just wrecked.

Looking at these Spartans only made him nervous not just because of their size or the butchery they were capable of in the blink of an eye, but the dark sensation he felt radiating from everyone of them.

The sensors within Kakashi's ranks felt it too, when Anko who was usually fearless actually took a step back and her face went pale as her senses zeroed in on the two Spartans from whom the ominous feeling was too strong.

"What are you?" she asked worriedly,

"That's classified"

The firm answer from Ruto-141 was enough to silence Anko and anyone else including Kakashi who all had too many questions still unanswered about their new comrades.

"This is Neptune Actual to Noble & Red Team. The Southern & Eastern lines are crumbling under a heavy Otsutsuski armored assault. Suggest you get there on the double!"

Colonel Shikaku's orders muted any further conversation as Commander Ruto looked at Kakashi meaningfully earning a firm nod from the Shock Trooper Captain.

"Let's go"

Author's Notes: End of Chapter.

Hope you guys liked it.

Spartans are finally entering the war and we'll get to see the impact of that across both friendly and enemy factions soon enough.

We will also get to see more Biju storyarc & interactions as we progress further into the story.

Reviews would be much appreciated.

Until Next Time,

Blackwolf501