Hello everyone I'm back once again to bring you another chapter of my story; if you are enjoying it please keep on supporting me and my other stories. Now with nothing else to say lets begin.
Sabaku no Kitsune: Chapter 54
5 days after the battle; in Konoha: With Shikamaru and Danzo
Shikamaru and Danzo walked through the Konoha hospital listening to the sounds of the dead and dying ninja from the failed offensive; Danzo looked around as dozens of wounded littered the halls as there were not enough rooms to house them in.
Danzo looked to Shikamaru and spoke "over six thousand ninja left Konoha; and only two thousand returned" he said to Shikamaru "we suffered more casualties in one offensive than during the first, second and third shinobi world war combined". "What's more you were the only commander to come back unharmed and successfully captured your objective" Danzo said "I'm not sure whether that shows your intellectual prowess or the complete incompetence of the others".
"Pardon for speaking bluntly lord Danzo" Shikamaru said speaking up "but maybe it was the fact you ordered old men and children to go and fight; maybe if we didn't then-".
"Age is no excuse Shikamaru" Danzo said as he stopped and looked at a dead shinobi who looked no more than 11 "I fought on the battle field at a younger age; as did my father in his old age". "Lord Hashirama and Tobirama Senju, Madara Uchiha and even Sasuke Sarutobi all fought on the battle field when they were eight or nine years old" Danzo said "our population has simply grown soft and pampered". "Look at the 'mighty' Hyuga clan for example; only a dozen members returned alive now seventy percent of the remaining Hyuga in Konoha are not even old enough to join the academy" Danzo said "disgraceful, Hiashi is lucky he died in battle, otherwise I'd execute him for incompetence".
"What do we do know Lord Danzo?" Shikamaru said as he continued walking through the hospital "we've lost three clan heads, most of our anbu and now I'm the last Root commander".
"We are not out of options yet Shikamaru" Danzo said "we still have you, Itachi and his squad, Temari as out hostage and Orochimaru and the remainder of his Oto forces". "All is not lost; but we must go on the defensive" Danzo said "make them pay for every inch of territory they take".
"Yes Lord Danzo" Shikamaru said nodding.
"And we must prepare the village for our final defense" Danzo said making Shikamaru go wide eyed "if we must die, them we shall make our last stand as bloody as possible; I will not lose my village without a fight".
Shikamaru hearing this began to feel doubt and fear; he thought the war was already lost and this plan made it sound like Danzo wanted to fight to the last man. Shikamaru swallowed hard and spoke.
"It will be done" Shikamaru said.
The Northern Front: With Tsunade, Jiraya, Nagato and Konan
Tsunade, Jiraya, Nagato, Konan and a large group of Suna, Konoha and Kiri ninja all walked through the village of Nambu and saw the aftermath of the battle that happened five days ago; wounded were set up outside the hospitals as the insides were over flowing.
Some wounded who could still walk were wandering the streets doing what ever they could to help out; as the group continued to walk two Suna ninja walked out of a doorway carrying a dead Ame ninja by his arms and legs. The two ninja walked around a corner and threw the body on top of a large pile of corpses; the two ninja without saying a word went to a cot outside the building, picked up a wounded ninja and took him inside since a bed just opened up.
"Goddamn" Jiraya said under his breath "I haven't seen anything like this since we fought in Ame all those years ago against Hanzo".
Tsunade looked at him with remembrance as she remembered both Nawaki and Dan dying "we need to find Naruto and Gaara" she said both to figure out what was going on and to make sure they were still alive.
The group walked into the building and were stunned at what they saw; what was once a large tavern was now a makeshift hospital with hundreds of wounded ninja running around.
"Lord Nagato, Lady Konan" A wounded Ame ninja shouted freezing everyone; Nagato looked around and saw all Ame Ninja looking at him with surprise. Nagato walked over to the Ame ninja and observed his wounds; he was missing his left leg and his right eye was damaged.
Nagato reached out and touched his shoulder "you did well" Nagato said bringing a slight bit of comfort to the wounded man; Konan walked over to another Ame ninja and spoke.
"Thank you for fighting so well" Konan said in a soft tone to the wounded ninja; Jiraya and Konan looked at this and saw the mood inside the building begin to lighten.
"Lady Tsunade, Lord Jiraya" came a shout and they both looked over; Sakura wearing a doctors coat and gloves walked over "you came".
"Sakura; are you ok?" Tsunade said as she walked up and gave her a hug.
"I'm fine; just swamped" Sakura said as they broke the hug "we have a lot of wounded; we're losing more people by the hour". "Lady Tsunade I'm sorry to ask but can you help" Sakura asked and Tsunade nodded.
"Of course" Tsunade said "take me to the most critically wounded"; Tsunade and Sakura were about to walk off until Jiraya spoke.
"Wait; where's Naruto and Gaara?" Jiraya asked and Sakura looked towards him.
"Naruto and Gaara are both with Kakashi, Obito, Kurumi and Anko" Sakura said "they're dealing with our 'special guest'".
On the other side of the village: With Jiraya, Hinata and Lee
Hinata was walking with Jiraya and Lee towards a building on the outskirts of the village; the group has walked by several holding areas containing dozens P.O.W's being guarded by Suna and Ame Shinobi.
As they walked by they got dirty looks from the Konoha prisoners as they recognized both Hinata and Jiraya; this was not surprising since Hinata was the daughter of the head of the Hyuga clan and Jiraya was a legendary sanin.
Hinata tried to avoid their gaze as she walked next to Lee; Lee patted her shoulder and smiled "ignore them Hinata; they are the ones who're fighting on the wrong side" he said and Hinata smiled and nodded.
"Thank you Lee" Hinata said; as they continued to walk they saw what looked like an old castle which has been refurbished into a P.O.W camp. Jiraya walked up to the guard standing in front of the gate and spoke.
"I was told to come here with Hinata Hyuga" Jiraya said and the guard nodded "yes sir; let me get someone"; the guard spoke into a radio and waited with the group. They did not have to wait long as a head of spiky blonde hair walked out from the old stone building.
"Hey Pervy Sage, Hinata, Lee; hows it going?' Naruto said as he stood in front of the group.
"Naruto my boy, how're you and- oh damn" Jiraya said as he and everyone else looked at Naruto's arm in a sling and Naruto spoke.
"Don't worry; Sakura healed me, should be good in about two weeks" Naruto said with a smile.
"Hey there Naruto; how's my most youthful comrade doing?" Lee said and Naruto looked at him.
"Feeling alright; better than 5 days ago" Naruto said before looking at Hinata; Naruto didn't smile at her but instead got a sorrowful look on his face "Hinata, I hope you don't hate me for this; but there is a reason I asked for you specifically".
Hinata got worried and spoke "w-what is it Naruto?" Hinata asked worried and Naruto pursed his lips.
"Follow me" Naruto said as he began to lead the group.
Inside the castles lower level: with Naruto, Hinata, Jiraya and Lee
Naruto was leading the group through what looked like a dungeon that had multiple cells with iron bars with anywhere between 5 to 10 prisoners per cell; all of them had chakra restraining tags and there were guards around every corner.
"A lot of prisoners here" Jiraya said as he walked along "how many do you have?"
"Around five hundred" Naruto said "some of the wounded died of infections, some killed themselves and so on".
As they walked along there was a shout from a cell "Lady Hinata"; Hinata turned and saw a cell filled with about five Hyuga branch members. Hinata then realized that she recognized two of them as Natsu and Ko; two branch members who took care of her and her sister.
"Natsu, Ko" Hinata said as she jogged over "you're alive".
"We surrendered when we ran across a group of Suna ninja" Ko said putting his hands on the bars of his cell.
"Where's Lady Hanabi?" Natsu asked "is she ok? Is she in another village?"
Hinata's eyes began to water over and Natsu covered her mouth as the others inside the cell all fell silent "Hanabi is dead… Neji killed her when we escaped Konoha" she said.
Natsu backed away and collapsed against the wall and slid down and began to cry as the news of Hanabi, the girl she helped raise since she was a toddler was dead was too much for her.
Ko hearing this banged on the bars "damn it" he said and Hinata spoke.
"Did you not know?" Hinata asked and Ko shook his head.
"No, all we knew was that Hanabi left the village with you; we didn't know about anything else" Ko said; Hinata nodded and spoke.
"I-I will…" Hinata began before swallowing hard "I will see that upon the cease of hostilities that you be freed and given sanctuary in Suna". Hinata looked over to Naruto and spoke "if you think Gaara will be ok with that" she said.
"Maybe" Naruto said "I'll put in a word for you".
"Technically your the clan head now; even if it's unofficial" Jiraya said "Hiashi is dead, Neji is dead and… yeah".
"Not necessarily" Naruto said stopping him before he began walking again "keep following me"; Hinata said a quick goodbye and started walking again, following Naruto. Naruto led them to a private cell and opened up the heavy iron door "look what we caught during the attack" he said and Hinata went wide eyed.
Hiashi Hyuga was shackled to a wall beaten bloody with multiple chakra seals over his body; Kakashi, Anko, Gaara, Obito and Kurumi stood across from him. Kurumi was wiping her knuckles free of blood as she turned and saw Hinata.
"Hey Hinata; look what pa got" Kurumi said as she looked to Hiashi who was passed out; Kurumi slapped him across the face making him wake with a startle "wake your ass up".
Hiashi looked around until he locked eyes with Hinata; Hiashi didn't say a word as he looked at Hinata who shied away from his glare. Kakashi spoke up breaking the silence.
"We've been interrogating him for the past few days" Kakashi said looking at the disgraced clan head "so far he's given us nothing".
"They Hyuga clan is the mightiest clan in Konoha" Hiashi said hoarsely, his mouth and tongue swollen from the beatings "I will never divulge information to the likes of you".
Anko sent a punch to Hiashi's gut knocking the wind out of him "shut the fuck up" Anko said.
"What are you planning on doing with him?" Jiraya asked and Gaara spoke up.
"Not us, Hinata" Gaara said pointing to her making her go wide eyed "we thought since it's her father she should have a final say in his fate".
"I say we lynch the bastard from a tree outside" Kurumi said crossing her arms "sonofabitch got damn near two hundred of his own clan killed; might as well have murdered them himself".
"Fuck that; I say flay the fucker" Anko said and Obito spoke up.
"Both of you shut up" Obito said stopping any arguing "it's Hinata's choice".
Hinata looked to the ground and poked her fingers together; with all the bad things her father has done, this was a hard decision. He physically and mentally abused her, manipulated Neji to kill Hanabi, basically destroyed the Hyuga clan and who knows what other crimes he may have committed. Hinata took a breath and spoke.
"I believe that the best punishment for him is…" Hinata began before taking a breath "life in prison with no parole"; everyone looked at her surprised and she continued. "I do not believe in capital punishment; he should spend the rest of his life behind bars reflecting on his choices" Hinata said.
Hiashi scoffed at this "Hinata… still too weak to do what has to be done" Hiashi said "you're a disgrace; a true Hyuga would've killed me". Naruto hearing this went over and punched Hiashi across the face with his good arm.
"Shut up prick; not everyone is as cold as you" Naruto shouted "and another thing, all the. 'True Hyuga's' are buried in a mass grave outside town; face it, your clan is fucked… because of you".
Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and spoke "enough Naruto; no need to go any further" he said.
Jiraya cleared his throat and everyone looked at him "sorry if this ruins the moment, but I came here for a reason" he said "Naruto, Gaara, Kakashi; meet me, Tsunade, Nagato and Konan in the HQ in an hour". "We have plans to discuss" Jiraya said and all 3 of them nodded.
"Very well" Gaara said.
"You got it Pervy Sage" Naruto said.
"Ok Lord Jiraya" Kakashi said; Jiraya walked out followed by Lee and Hinata. Hinata took one final look at Hiashi before walking out and when she did Kakashi spoke "take him to a cell and keep a guard posted twenty four seven" he said.
"Alright" Anko said as she and Kurumi began to undo Hiashi's shackles.
Gaara looked to Kakashi and Naruto and spoke "lets go and see what Lady Tsunade and Lord Nagato wish to talk about" he said; both Naruto and Kakashi nodded before walking out.
1 Hour later; Nambu HQ: With Naruto, Gaara, Tsunade, Jiraya, Nagato and Konan
Naruto was standing next to Gaara as they sat at a large table as they waited for the meeting to start; Tsunade stood up, cleared her throat and spoke.
"I have gone over the casualty reports and I must say; it's astonishing" Tsunade said "nearly fifteen hundred dead and the same amount wounded; almost a third of all the northern forces". "But from what I've heard from the battle reports from Gaara, Kakashi, Obito and Baki the enemy suffered far worse" Tsunade continued "along with that five commanders have been killed and one has been captured".
"While our casualties have been immense we are far from out of the fight" Gaara said speaking up "to be honest this Pyrrhic victory has come with great opportunity". "Konoha has threw the bulk of their remaining forces against us and was defeated; which shows us that their man power is nearly depleted".
"That is quiet correct Lord Gaara" Jiraya said standing up "as of right now Konoha is fighting a four front war; in the east with Suna, in the north west by Suna, Spring and Ame, the north east by Kumo and the eastern shores by Kiri". "With all of us combined we have a total force of about fifteen thousand ninja against Konoha who from what my sources tell me has maybe eight thousand ninja left" Jiraya said.
"And that's not considering the quality of ninja as well; since from what I've heard they're using old men and children to fight" Nagato said "also while the majority of the enemy are Konoha ninja, there are still the die hard Oto, Taki and Kusa ninja assisting them".
"Yeah we seen them" Naruto said rubbing his face "so what is the plan now; are we going on the offensive?"
"Yes we are; a full attack on all four fronts" Konan said as she summoned out her paper which covered the table and changed color until a map was formed of the land of fire "I got word that Mei Terumi and A that they are ready to push when we are ready".
"If we put pressure on all fronts then Konoha's defenses will collapse under the sheer weight" Kakashi said and Konan nodded.
"Exactly" Konan said as the map faded away and transformed into a detailed map of Konoha "when we push we'll all converge on Konoha and lay siege until we are ready to attack the village head on".
"That would make sense" Kakashi said "we have fifteen thousand ninja at out disposal, along with that we have 5 jinchuriki too; Naruto, Gaara, Utakata, Yugito and Bee will be instrumental in our assault on Konoha".
"Yes they will" Jiraya said before looking at them "which is why during the offensive all five of them will be with me behind the lines training in preparation for the attack".
"Wait, so we are just going to hang back while everyone else fights?" Naruto said incredulously "that's bullshit; we should be out there".
"I understand how you feel Naruto but you must understand, we cannot afford to lose any of you" Jiraya said "we still have Danzo, Itachi and Orochimaru to deal with; all three of them without a doubt could take on a jinchuriki and win". "We have to prepare you all; Itachi especially, he's the biggest threat among them in my opinion" Jiraya said "which is why Kakashi, Obito and Kurumi will also be training too; they all have the sharingan and stand the best change at killing him".
Naruto wanted to argue but couldn't against Jiraya's logic "alright fine; I understand" Naruto said uncomfortably; he didn't want to hang back but at this point he was in no place to argue.
"I'll get into contact with Katsu, Mei and A in order to organize the offensive and request for Utakata, Bee and Yugito to join you all" Tsunade said.
"Alright" Jiraya said before looking at Naruto "pack up your stuff Naruto and get ready to go; you too Gaara, we need to start ASAP".
"Very well" Gaara said.
"Ok Pervy sage" Naruto said.
The next day; outskirts of the village
Naruto, Jiraya, Gaara, Kurumi, Obito and Kakashi were all at the Northern outskirts of Nambu village looking at Tsunade, Sakura, Karin and Baki as they all got ready to leave off for their training. Sakura was hugging Kakashi and speaking.
"I'll see you soon ok" Kakashi said holding Sakura "I won't be away that long".
"Just don't be late" Sakura said before giving him a kiss and backing up.
"Bye guys, see you soon" Karin said giving Naruto, Kurumi and Obito hugs.
"Catch you later Karin; try not to win the war all by yourself" Naruto said and Karin chuckled.
"Don't worry Lord Kazekage" Baki said to Gaara "I will ensure the Suna forces are taken care of in your absence".
"I appreciate it Baki" Gaara said giving him a hand shake.
Jiraya looked at Tsunade and smiled "anything for me Tsunade?" Jiraya said and Tsunade nodded.
"If you peek on Kurumi or Yugito I'll cut both your balls off" Tsunade said in a warning tone.
"Aww, I'll miss you too Tsunade" Jiraya said making her roll her eyes; Tsunade went in and gave him a hug and spoke.
"Bye you old perv" Tsunade said and Jiraya hugged her back; upon breaking the hug Jiraya spoke up.
"Alright people, lets move" Jiraya said and he and his group began to head North to begin their training.
Meanwhile in Konoha: With Orochimaru
Orochimaru was in one of Danzo's labs going through file after file gaining information; as he sat at a desk the door opened and Danzo walked in.
"Doing your due diligence Orochimaru?" Danzo said and Orochimaru nodded with a smile.
"But of course; dire times call for desperate measures" Orochimaru said "I have found several subjects that will suit my needs; all I need to do is collect some samples and get some 'volunteers'".
"You seem very unconcerned with the results of the war and losing Oto" Danzo said "is there a reason why you are so… serene while everyone else is in a state of worry?"
"I am only concerned with my work; Oto, my subjects, my subordinates… they mean nothing to me" Orochimaru said "besides, I have a few aces up my sleeve; there is nothing for me to worry about".
"If you say so; just be ready" Danzo said "time is of the essence and there is no room for error".
"Of course Lord Danzo" Orochimaru said and Danzo nodded and walked out; Orochimaru chuckled when he was alone 'what a fool, the war is lost but he's still fighting like he has a chance of winning'. 'But then again… who am I to be the bearer of bad news' Orochimaru thought as he began to study the files again.
Root base: With Temari
Temari was sleeping in her bed as several memories flashed through her mind; Temari saw images of dead Suna and Ame ninja, Kankuro dead with his head smashed in, and hours upon hours of Inoichi and Fuu Yamanaka constantly reapplying her seal.
Temari opened her eyes and looked around 'what the… where am I' Temari thought as she looked around; suddenly the images flashed through her head again and she gripped the side of her head 'oh god'.
Temari's seal began to glow and Temari grit her teeth against the pain; the seal stopped glowing and Temari began to breath heavily and collapsed on the ground. Temari then heard metal clang and then she saw a root guard stand at her cell door.
"Shit" the guard said as she fumbled with the keys and opened the door and ran in; she checked Temari's breathing and her pulse "she must be having some kind of medical issue". The Root guard was about to key her radio when Temari sprang up and sent a chop to the guards neck making her choke; Temari then grappled the guard and took her to the ground.
Temari delivered an elbow to the guards neck crushing her wind pipe; Temari covered his mouth as she choked for breath.
"What the hell was that" came the voice of a second guard as she appeared around the corner; without hesitating Temari took a shuriken from the choking guard and threw the shuriken at the other one. The shuriken hit the guard in the neck severing her artery and making her fall to the ground; both guards died a minute later and Temari was breathing hard.
'I-I need to get out of here' Temari thought as she looked the guard she was on top of and began to take off her cloths.
A few minutes later Temari was now in full root garb with the mask covering her face and putting a henge on her hair to make it brown instead of blonde; Temari dragged both bodies into her cell and locked the door behind her.
'Ok, Temari; stay calm and find a way out of here' Temari thought to herself as she began to walk away from her cell as she tried to find a way out.
Ok another chapter done; I hope you all enjoyed it. If you did please like, comment and share with your friends; and until next time bye.