Hokage Tower
It felt weird being on the opposite side of the table. The table from which he had directed legions of shinobi to win the third world war and shape the ninja world as we see it today. He had grown all too comfortable and his mind had become soft. Soft minds let emotions poison one's mind. As such, he chose to let go of the Hokage's chair for the final time.
Orochimaru was like a son to him. The perfect shinobi. Sarutobi had believed his line to be secure. Orochimaru would be his successor and then Minato would be the heir apparent. However, Orochimaru's tendency to prioritize his own power over the collective good of the village forced Sandaime to overlook him for the big chair. Minato had assumed the throne a lot sooner than he had assumed. Thankfully, the young prodigy had proven to be a skilled leader of men like his shinobi side. Sarutobi had placed Orochimaru within the R and hoped that the Sanin would find his stride in life without doing anything stupid.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru chose to be massively stupid.
"Sandaime-sama." The man on the opposite end greeted him.
"Yondaime-sama," Hiruzen replied. "It's a privilege to see you whole again and at your rightful place, Hokage-sama."
"The pleasure is all mine," Minato replied. "Although I had hoped it would've occurred under our agreed timelines."
"The best-laid plans of mice and men…." Hiruzen trailed off.
"Indeed," Minato said and leaned back in his chair and looked at the bashful Sandaime.
"He needs to die, Hiruzen. No more games. No more second chances." Minato said. "His leash should've been tightened ages ago. Perpetual indulgence to his every tantrum has led to this moment."
Hiruzen bowed his head in shame. "I volunteer for the mission, Hokage-sama."
Minato held a hand up at that, "No. It has already been taken care of. Jiraiya, Tenzo, and Kakshi are already leading squads to apprehend Orochimaru."
As if to validate Minato's words, the crystal ball glowed and showed streams of shinobi raiding Orochimaru's labs all over the Fire Country.
A voice on the intercom chimed in, "They've all gathered in the grand hall, Hokage-sama. The meeting can begin."
"It's time. Operation Millennium can now truly begin in earnest." Minato declared.
Sunagakure no Sato
The pools of bloody liquid before her were a dead giveaway of the Jinchuiriki's presence. Even from here, Kushina could sense the vile demonic chakra of the sand demon. Her lips involuntarily curled up in disgust at the sloppy display of the Fuinjutsu. Clearly, these dimwitted morons had no skill in the fine arts of her ancestral clan.
Makes sense. Primates can only ape divinity. They could never fully achieve it. Kushina thought to herself. Another kunoichi raced and then ducked near her.
"Tsunade." Kushina acknowledged.
"Kushina," Tsunade replied. "Your suspicion was correct. The boy is too mentally unstable to be left inside the village. So, they leave him out here to do as he pleases. No bodyguards either. Suna truly believes Gaara to be invincible."
"Well, they are about to be proven wrong," Kushina replied with conviction. Between Tsunade's super strength and her chakra chains, subduing Gaara would be a cakewalk. The two placed their masks back on and jogged alongside the bloody sands. They came upon a child crouched near a dead body. His demon must've alerted them because a sand wave soon rose high above in the air, ready to crush them to death. The two raced around the wave and flanked Gaara. Sand rose around Gaara in 360 degrees forming a spiky barrier that raced towards them. Kushina once again jumped back but Tsunade stood her ground. When the sand wall neared her, she struck and with a single jab shattered the entire wall.
Several large sand golems rose up all around them, but Tsunade didn't wait for them to march. It took her a grand total of six seconds to obliterate the six golems. By now, Gaara was watching the display with glee. He never had this much fun before. Too many of his previous playthings were weak and broke too easily. He tried to clap his hands to summon his chakra but was unable to move. Gaara glanced down to see several glowing white chains holding him in place. His skin burned as he tried to resist the restraints.
However, it seemed his chakra was being sapped…. His mother seemed calm…. Her scary voice was a distinct memory in the background. He turned to face the redhead with tear-filled gratitude.
"Tsunade now!" Kushina yelled. A pinprick on his neck and he turned to see the blonde kunoichi injecting something directly into his neck. Gaara felt groggy as he fell to his knees and became unconscious.
"Damned brat…" Tsunade muttered in annoyance as she pulled out the needle. Meanwhile, Kushina got to work on the boy. She immediately drew invisible seals all over Gaara's head and then glanced over to his demon seal.
This would be much easier than she had anticipated…
The Jinchuiriki would be disabled before he even became a threat.
Team 8
Naruto watched as Satsuki went through the katas with her sword. Against the backdrop of the setting sun, her form was cast into shadow. It looked pure black with flowing hair. There was nothing to distract Naruto from the sheer deathly beauty of her moves. Her confidence and skill had grown considerably ever since she advanced to the next level of her Sharingan.
All of them had improved considerably since their last mission. No longer did they hesitate, panic, or choke before a fight. Their motions were smooth, their retaliation even more so. A twinge of jealousy went through Naruto as he realized that both his colleagues had advanced to levels beyond him. Anko could directly aid Hanabi and Satsuki since their domains were mutually aligned. Anko knew not a lick of science beyond rudimentary explosives and munitions handling. There were no known Fuinjutsu users offering tutelage because all of them were dead. Taijutsu and Kenjutsu weren't much of his domain.
If he wanted to remain competitive within the team, he needed to think of something good and - fast.
Anko appeared beside him and put a hand over her eyes for shade as she watched Satsuki. "Damn, kiddo. Your woman has fire. Very rarely do you see kunoichi struggling this hard and at such a young age."
"Fascinating," Naruto replied.
"What crawled up your bum and died?" Anko said but Naruto said nothing and pridefully stared ahead. Anko patted his shoulder in understanding, "There there kiddo. We will find your niche soon. The best things are always late."
She put her fingers to her lips and whistled, "Oi! Gather round team!"
Satsuki stopped her drills and looked towards them. Anko waved her over. She pulled out a scroll and used nearby items to pin it to the table. A gust of wind blew towards them, covering them all in sand once again. Anko coughed and muttered, "Damned sand. Always getting in my crack…."
The team gathered around her, all waiting to hear her "proclamation". Team 7 had recently gone on to complete another C-ranked mission much to Naruto and Satsuki's chagrin. Both had whined incessantly to Anko to go on to another mission. Ever the sadist, Anko had demanded the team complete water and tree walking to go on another mission.
"Gather round kiddos, your incessant bitching over the last few weeks has worked wonders. I just received word from FOB Thunder, that the mission is a go." The team exchanged excited glances before Anko held up a hand. "You can celebrate once we are behind safe village walls. Or when we are dead. No lady likes a pre-mature fellow."
The trio blushed uncontrollably at Anko's implication but straightened up.
"I won't lie team; we are not the main characters in this mission. Judging by the mission description, we are most likely to be distractions for whoever is currently doing bloodwork in Suna right now." Anko said.
Blood work. Satsuki thought. It was shinobi slang used for talking about operations that involved taking a liberal number of lives.
She pointed towards two roads on the map, "These two large observation posts near the border area. They are well-fenced and trapped. Suna regularly patrols these lanes. Our objective is to raise enough hell that it distracts our enemies. Suna will funnel troops over here fearing that a major breakthrough is happening. This will leave other spots vulnerable enough for blood workers to escape safely."
"Uhm, sensei... won't directly attacking Suna shinobi raise serious diplomatic issues?" Hanabi asked.
Anko shot her an annoyed stare, "Shinobi, you are paid to kill. Not question."
Hanabi looked like she wanted to say a lot more but didn't, instead, she merely chose to remain silent.
"If we are done with inane questions, I would like to move forward now," Anko said.
"Hai sensei." Satuski said.
"We attack loud and bold. No need to give quarters because you won't be shown any. A good opportunity for you, Naruto. Blow up everything and make sure every Suna patrol within a mile-long radius witnesses what's happening." Anko ordered. "Similar attacks will be taking place all over the border wall so don't worry about being overwhelmed."
"Hai sensei," Naruto replied.
"Good. Go ahead and fear no darkness. If you perform well and good here, who knows what the future might hold for you lot." Anko said. "Also, you will be handling this mission on your own. I will only monitor from afar and intervene if there is a direct threat. Coordinate among yourselves to achieve success."
Planning
"They have generators running all through the lines. They power everything Suna has on this outpost." Satsuki said. "A strike here will certainly send panic down their lines."
"Yes, but despite the intentions, the outpost does have significant guards." Hanabi countered. "Getting inside much less outside, would be a suicide."
The two girls glared at each other in a bit to establish dominance. Neither could feel Anko's disappointed glare from the shadows. Shouts went on all around them and the noise of combat taking place around them went off. The other squads had already launched their attacks.
"We need to be decisive," Satsuki said.
"Aye. And we need to get out alive as well." Hanabi countered. Before they could fight further, a dead body slammed in between with its throat slit. Satsuki angrily turned to see Naruto gently cleaning the blood of his kunai.
"Henge." He said before either girl could yell at him.
"I beg your pardon, Naruto?" Hanabi said.
"Memorize every detail of the Suna shinobi's uniform. We will henge to look like Suna shinobi and infiltrate and destroy the generators." Naruto said. Both Satsuki and Hanabi exchanged a glance before Hanabi nodded in acknowledgment.
"Fine," Satsuki muttered. "I don't care how we do it as long as we kill some fuckers."
Hanabi shook her head in exasperation while Naruto couldn't resist a smirk from forming.
Raising Hell
"Halt! Identify yourself!" The sauna shinobi commanded the two-running shinobi. The entire world had gone to hell in less than a minute. To be more precise, Konoha had gone to hell and attacked them for no reason.
The two shinobi responded by leaping towards him in an eye-blink and easily slitting his throat. Taking the explosive devices, they got to work in placing them across the generators. Soon the massive searchlights that were focused on the intruders went dark as their power source went off in shockingly large explosions. Three Suna shinobi ran towards the generators to confront the intruders.
"Wait!" A new entrant said, and the trio turned to face them. "Don't go there."
"What?!" The lead Suna shinobi demanded. "Why the hell not? Who the hell are you?"
"Captain's orders!" The shinobi said as he jogged towards the shinobi. "Don't go there!"
"Who the fuck is the captain? No captains here." The shinobi barked, now slightly wary of the bizarre chunin who was gasping for air in front of them. It was a little too late when the Suna shinobi realized his error as the "chunin" pulled out a detonator with a shiny red button.
"Gotcha." He whispered and clicked. A massive explosion rocked the place, and the Suna shinobi were torn apart as a result. The clone too vanished with a puff, transmitting the data back to Naruto. He gave a thumbs up to Satsuki who nodded before dialing their secure channel.
"Primary objective complete," Satuski said over their secure link. Yet it wasn't over for them. It most certainly didn't feel that way. Adrenaline coursed through them and their bloodlust was high. Blowing up power sources certainly didn't satiate it.
"There is still fighting going on….."Hanabi trailed off as she flexed the grip on her kunai. "It would be a shame if we were to leave everything to others."
Sharingan blazing, Satsuki turned to Hanabi with a sadistic grin, "Girl. You read my mind."
Hanabi returned the grin with one of her own. "What about you, Naruto?"
Naruto didn't respond, instead took out a grenade and handed one to each. A clutter of footsteps alerted them to approaching Shinobi.
The medic-nin rushed to where the gurgling body of a Suna kunoichi lay.
"Hand on girl. We can fix this!" The medic shouted and gently slapped her cheek to keep her conscious. The kunoichi frailly grasped the medic's neck and made a come-hither motion. The doctor leaned in only to gasp as her eyes turned into blazing red embers with dark tomes in them. A kunai was soon plunged into his neck. Naruto appeared behind his apprentice wrapped a garrote wire around his neck and squeezed. Her trachea soon gave out and she choked on her own blood. One of the escorting Suna shinobi tried to make desperate hand seals for a doton jutsu. His arms refused to respond to his brain's commands. Soon his entire body felt numb, and he dropped to the floor. Hanabi stood behind him, having shattered the man's spine with a few precise strikes.
The medic squad lay dead in front of the medic squad. The medic squad stared at their dead bodies before the kunoichi turned to the lead medic-nin. She straightened his flak jacket and asked, "Shall we go, doctor?"
"Most certainly nurse." The doctor replied.
Bloodbath
"Be advised, enemy shinobi have deeply penetrated our lines. Be on the lookout for henges. Reinforcements are on their way." A voice crackled over the radio and Temari sighed in frustration as she stood guard outside the field hospital tent. She wanted to be out there in the thick of fighting, not twiddling her thumbs while standing guard.
A grunting shinobi was being pulled on a stretcher by a harried-looking doctor and nurse.
"Halt! Ids first!" Temari demanded.
"Are you serious right now?" The medic-nin demanded.
"Orders are orders, doc," Temari said and made a gimme motion with her hand. The medic-nin patted his pockets down in frustration but came up short.
"I don't have it. Now move it." The medic-nin said.
"Then I can't let you through doc. I will call the supervisor to see if we can sort this out." Termari said. Out of anger the man grabbed Temari's collars and forced her to look at the the injured man's body.
"Doc, you got 5 seconds to take your hands off before this gets messy," Temari said.
"The man is very clearly dying here!" He pointed at him. "If he doesn't get immediate medical treatment. He will die! Shinobi or not, you can be the Kazekage's daughter and I will not stop holding you accountable for his death!"
Temari looked at him in anger.
"Now make your decision, shinobi." He said. Temari looked at the grunting man in pain and then back to him.
"The man can go. But you both stay here." Temari said and the medic-nin grew even more furious at that.
"There aren't enough doctors here! They need me inside! Lives are at stake! Your comrades!" He yelled. Temari pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration before shaking her hand.
"Fine. Go. Now. Before I change my mind." Temari muttered and made a dismissive gesture.
She turned around and returned to her post. A heavy anxious feeling settled in her stomach. Had she done the right thing? She had overruled protocol in favor of solving an immediate dilemma. Every shinobi training manual would advise against such a play. Before she could ponder further, a heat wave prickled her neck and before she could turn to investigate it – a massive explosion from behind knocked her out cold.
Fin
Author Notes: Read and Review.