The battle was bloody, as both sides of shinobi used all they had in this one fight. The battlefield was now littered with the corpses of fallen ninjas, from both Kumogakure and Konoha. It was late morning now, and the sun shone brightly in the sky. The fight was so destructive that already, there were vast deformations in the terrain of the battlefield due to the Jutsus and paper bombs. The Roman cohort was narrowly holding out its own against the skilled shinobi but was effective and skilled enough to divert attention from Konoha itself.
In this fight, Sasori, the puppet master, was the most aggressive and ruthless warrior. He hid away somewhere in the woods, not seen by the rest, but his wooden puppets went around the battlefield with blades, cutting through anything moving they saw. Whether from Kumo or Konoha. The puppets moved at great speed and had many modifications and enough flexibility to make them unpredictable, and through this, they caused the most amount of casualties.
But then suddenly, as the fight was raging on, three giant Susanoo appeared behind the Konoha line, as well as many other shinobi behind them. The Kumogakure force disengaged and retreated to a safe distance, followed by Konoha. Only three squads of Kumo shinobi stayed at the front. They were standing on the fallen trees, and each of them wore a mask imitating a demon; their armor consisted of small shoulder pads and forearm guards, a cuirass that covered almost the entire torso, and shin guards and military boots, the rest of the body was covered by completely black clothes. They also had the symbol of a Lightning bolt on their arm, burnt in with hot iron, and all of them were equipped with swords.
As Fugaku Uchiha came forward with his Susanoo and two others at his back, two of the masked Kumo shinobi came forward and put their hands on the ground after some hand signs. In an instant. Smoke covered the entire area. When it cleared, everyone was struck with awe and fear, as the shinobi was standing atop a giant snow leopard, almost the size of the Susanoo. The snow leopard had white fur and dark patches all over, he had fiery eyes and snarled with rage and hatred at the Uchiha in front of him. Fugaku squinted his eyes and stood in battle stance with a serious look on his face, as well as the susanoo. The three other Uchiha, who had only managed to perfect the skeletal torso of their Susanoo, stood at his sides.
The two large creatures charged at each other, engaging in a fight. The summoned leopard was ferocious, his teeth nearly managing to pierce Fugaku's Susanoo. But the three Uchiha stood their ground, but the beast didn't budge. Suddenly, two of the eleven shinobi appeared behind the Susanoo and also performed a summoning jutsu, spawning a similar beast. The numbers were now even, but Fugaku and the other two were surrounded and were thus at a disadvantage. This had become a battle between six gigantic creatures, and Shikaku ordered several Anbu squads into the fray to take down the enemy summoners, but they were intercepted, and the rest of the nine enemy shinobi. The battle was in a stalemate again, the Uchiha were losing ground but wouldn't be defeated, while the Kumo shinobi had an advantage but struggled to go through the Susanoo.
The rest of the shinobi on the two sides stayed back, waiting for the fighting shinobi to earn an advantage, and only then strike. None of the two sides decided to interfere in the battle, fearing the other would do so as well. While this was going on, Hiruzen finally appeared beside Shikaku in full battle gear.
"What is the situation, Lord Nara?" Hiruzen asked the squatted Shikaku in front of him, keenly observing the fight,
"The enemy hasn't been able to breach our defenses, some skilled Kumo shinobi are currently fighting Fugaku and two other Uchiha."
"What shall we do?" Shikaku finally looked back at the Hokage, and spoke,
"We must not make a move. If we do so, the other side will send a greater force to deal with it, followed by us. This will continue until the battle has started again in full heat, and the casualties and friendly fire would now be outstanding, considering we'll get between the fight of those leopard summons and the Uchiha." Hiruzen nodded, and both men looked over the fight between the Uchiha and the Kumo shinobi with dead serious faces, Hiruzen spoke after a brief pause,
"We should send several squads to assist the Roman cohort, they are probably having a hard time." Shikaku let out a yes, and a dozen Konoha anbu were ordered to sneak their way to the Roman fortifications and help them repel the enemy.
Inside the village
Most of the citizens had been safely escorted to bunkers and emergency shelters, guarded by shinobi. The streets were quiet except for the noises of the battle in the North side, the village felt deserted. There were some shinobi positioned inside the village, mostly Chunin and Genin, to look after the civilians and prevent any flanking maneuvers on the enemy's behalf.
Danzo and Brutus sat in the latter's guest house, on the balcony to be precise, discussing.
"We should go, there is an attack on the village," Brutus spoke in a slightly worried tone. Danzo replied in his usual calm manner,
"Sit back, Lord governor, we can't do much even if we wanted to. I am a crippled veteran and you are too vulnerable to shinobi." After this, both of them were quiet for a while. The fight between the Uchiha and the Kumo shinobi could be seen from the Balcony, while the streets below were lonely. Danzo leaned back on his chair and took up the tea he was served,
"I have been alive for a long time, since the time of the second Hokage. I know them, the Kumo ninja fighting Fugaku and the two others." Brutus turned his eyes at Danzo, showing interest. Noticing this, the latter continued speaking,
"They are like special forces of Kumo, similar to the seven swordsmen of the Mist. Ever since the founding of the five great nations, Kumo had always been in a cold war with the other villages, a never-ending arms race. These men are called Lightning spirits, referring to a local myth of their country about thunder spirits that serve Kami. Every academy student is monitored from his first day, up till he is a chunin. Those who show promise and potential are taken in to be trained under a rigorous program, to produce the toughest, strongest shinobi in the village with a cold heart."
"Like your Anbu?" Brutus replied,
"No, our Anbu is a special force trained for sabotage, spying, assassination, etc.. These 'thunder spirits' are trained only for open combat."
As Danzo had finished speaking, an Anbu from the ROOT, one of several tasked with protecting Danzo and Marcus, entered the balcony. He formally bowed to the two men, and spoke in a worried manner,
"Lord Danzo, four squads of enemy shinobi have managed to infiltrate the village." Danzo's eyes finally showed worry and tension, two things that had been absent from his face from the first day Marcus saw him. He got up and picked up his walking stick, ordering the anbu,
"Gather every other anbu and chunin you can find, we must deal with this quickly." Recognizing the significance of the matter, Marcus also got up and started walking downstairs,
"I'll lead my eighty personal bodyguards to deal with them, you needn't worry much." Marcus was stopped by Danzo, who spoke in a serious voice,
"Please, lord Marcus, you are our guest here and an ally. We can't allow you to risk your life." In truth, Danzo didn't care if these foreigners died or lived, but the man in front of him was the key to Konoha's victory in this conflict, and without his support, Rome may withdraw from this conflict completely. Danzo needed a man like Marcus, contained but equally zealous for war.
"Do not worry, Lord Danzo. My bodyguards are one of the finest warriors you'll find in all of Rome. Believe me, this is our duty as allies." Thus, Marcus waved off Danzo and walked out of the guest house, followed by Danzo. Outside of which were standing eighty warriors. They wore a lamellar cuirass over a long coat of mail armor, metal strips on their forearm and legs, and a metal helmet connected to mail that covered their entire face, only leaving eyeholes. The men were equipped with large, round shields with iron buckles and rims, the rest made of wood and designs painted on them. They also carried a two-handed axe with wooden handles and steel axe heads, and a one-handed sword alongside its scabbard.
The men slightly bowed at Brutus, the latter commanded their attention and spoke to them in a language Danzo didn't know, probably Latin. Danzo looked intently at the warriors before him, and commented,
"If these are the finest warriors you can offer, then I don't think how you will fight those ninjas." Brutus turned back to look at Danzo, and smirked,
"Don't speak before you see, lord Danzo. These are Varangians, the finest soldiers available to Rome. I have also taken the liberty of making their armor chakra-insulated and teaching them how to enhance their abilities through chakra, with help from the Land of Iron. I have full confidence they can drive out the barbarians."
Danzo didn't speak, Brutus equipped a plumed helmet brought to him by one of the soldiers, took a spatha, and led the eighty men towards Konoha.
"Do you sense the nine-tails?" A masked Kumo shinobi asked his comrade, as the sixteen shinobi jumped from roof-to-roof of Konoha's buildings. The sensory-type ninja answered in an irritated tone,
"This village is huge so it takes time okay? You've been asking the same question four times now." The shinobi continued sprinting through the village, the sensory-type spoke again after a while,
"Wait, I do sense a very large chakra signature. It's huge, dwarfing all others in its vicinity. I-"
"Just tell us where it is." The ninja was interrupted by his comrade and seemed upset about it. But directed the shinobi at one point near the Hokage monuments, where he spoke,
"I can sense a lot of chakra signatures alongside the nine-tails inside those rocks, there must be a bunker there."
The other Kumo shinobi needed no further telling, and in a second were near the monuments. One of them performed a few hand signs, the others got back. The shinobi pointed forward the palms of his hands, and a second later destructive lightning bolts came out; which easily destroyed a section of the walls, revealing a large number of civilians inside a large room. Several Konoha shinobi, several chunin, and a Jonin appeared at the fallen section of the walls, to face the Kumo shinobi.
"Shall we spare the civilians?" One of the Kumo shinobi, who had a menacing look in his eyes and covered face, asked. Another shinobi, who seemed the captain of the platoon, answered,
"No, it will only waste our time. Take care of these Konoha shinobi and then find the nine-tails. There must be reinforcements arriving, so we need to make this quick." Saying this, the captain drew out his sword from its sheath and prepared to face the Konoha ninja, who did the same. A bloody melee ensued, both sides at each other's throats. The Konoha shinobi refrained from using destructive jutsu, but their Kumo counterparts did not. This caused the former to lose.
After a bloody fight and a heroic stand by the Konoha shinobi, the Kumo platoon appeared before the crowd of civilians, scared out of their wits. The captain of the platoon put his bloodied blade back into its sheath and commanded the men,
"Search for the nine-tails, and make it quick. Cut down anyone who gets in your path." Hearing this, the Kumo ninja quickly spread in the crowd, pushing their way through; the scared civilians easily making way.
Hayato, Maximus, and Naruko hid in an isolated spot in the hall, the latter gripping her brother tightly by the shoulders. All of them had stern and serious look on their faces, Maximus and Hayato with kunai prepared behind their backs. As they hid, they could hear the sensory-type ninja speak loudly mockingly,
"Be careful, I can also sense three genins here judging from their chakra." There were a few laughs here and there from the Kumo shinobi, but the mood remained tense. Hayato whispered to his teammates in a worried manner,
"We need to escape," Maximus whispered back,
"But how? Do we dig a tunnel through the wall and escape?" As the teammates whispered among themselves, they suddenly heard a voice behind them,
"Found 'em!"
The four quickly looked back, to see a Kumo ninja behind them. The civilians were a fair distance away and had made a path for the ninja. Naruto got back, as Hayato and Maximus stood to face the shinobi with kunai in their hands. The Kumo shinobi chuckled,
"Cute." Saying this, he walked towards Naruto. Hayato got in his way, trying to shove his kunai into the Kumo shinobi's chest. But the latter caught the hand of the former and sent him flying to one corner of the hall. Similarly, Maximus and Naruko also tried to resist but put up a better fight. Naruko formed a few shadow clones and charged at the shinobi, while Maximus used dozens of projectiles. They managed to stall the ninja, but their attempts were futile. The enemy shinobi easily dispelled all the clones and dodged the projectiles.
In one swoop, he punched Maximus out of his path and snatched Naruto away from Naruko, forcefully carrying him outside. Having managed to obtain their target, the Kumo platoon took Naruto out of the hall. The captain commented mockingly,
"Is this how Konoha defends its jinchuriki? It is no surprise they experienced the nine-tails rampage seven years ago, and still, they haven't learned their lesson."
But as the Kumo shinobi prepared to escape with the nine-tails, a kunai flew by the captain's face at lightning speed, scratching his cloth mask.
Author's notes
So yeah, how did you like the chapter? For some reason, I have the habit of leaving cliffhangers with kunai scratching people's faces, but let's ignore that. Do rate the chapter. :)