It was late evening, and the sun was setting behind the barren hills. Akio sat on a bench inside the castle, a bandage over his left eye and knee, and a somber look on his face. He leaned over the wall behind him, and a cane lay beside him. The attack two days ago was a costly defeat, although they managed to burn the enemy supplies and delay their advance. But it didn't seem worth it, at least not after losing an eye. Akio wasn't alone with these thoughts, as all other survivors from the sortie thought the same, and not a single one of them was at least scarred for life.

Before Akio was lit a small campfire, where he and a few others were warming themselves. These were reasonably cold parts, even during summer. Akio's face was blank, as he stared at the crackling fire. His vision was becoming hazy, as slowly the fire became one with the setting sun. The pain from the empty eye socket was gone by now, but the feeling of losing half his vision still lingered. The sun lowered ever more behind the hills, but the one-eyed man's mind remained blank. There was nothing to think about, he was alone in this world with no family to worry about, no responsibility except the debts, and no legacy except for being an unfortunate casualty of this godforsaken endeavor. Perhaps it was also that losing one eye took with it one-half of his thinking capability. But there is always an animal instinct in humans, to save themselves from danger no matter if their only thought is to just die.

This was proven right, as once a flaming arrow landed on the campfire and scattered the charred wood around, the seemingly half-lamed Akio sprung upright and took hold of his cane in a fighting stance. As he looked around, all of them were alarmed, more than a dozen arrows were landing inside the fort, and more coming yet still. The arrows flew at great speed from all directions, hitting the walls, the buildings, and human flesh. The arrowheads were lit with fire and charred the flesh upon impact. Akio hastily looked around to find cover, he wasn't wearing his armor. Spotting a wooden cart nearby, he half-limped and ran towards cover, the arrows flew at imperceptible speed beside him, but suddenly he tripped and fell; while his fragile cane broke in two. His face was smeared with dirt, but he cared little, survival was more important. Trying to get up, but unable to do so, he somehow crawled behind the cart, where a few others were now hiding.

One of them was a samurai, with a metal face mask and a bow drawn, but who had nowhere to shoot. This was a clever tactic, the Romans shot blindly inside the fort, while they couldn't see where the shooters were because of the same walls supposed to protect them. Akio gathered his strength and rested himself on the cart-wheel's support. The samurai looked back to see the person beside him; Akio could see a gleam in his eyes upon spotting another fellow warrior, but that waned as soon as he saw his bandaged leg. A lame man is no help to anyone it seems. The samurai redirected his attention to the arrows, trying to vainly guess the position of enemy shooters.

Around them, everyone was doing the same, hiding and trying to return fire. A few bodies lay around on the ground, arrows planted on various parts of their body, while some who were still alive tried to crawl to safety; all in vain. A state of complete panic with every man for himself. The arrows continued to fly inside the fort, but they got fewer and fewer until the volleys stopped completely. Akio struggled a little but managed to lean on the cart-wheels side and peek out. There was a complete and uncanny silence, except for the groans of wounded soldiers. Then suddenly, a loud bash came from the main door. The samurai pulled Akio back with his tunic. The samurai seemed to realize something, he put away his bow and quiver, and took out his katana, kneeling behind the cart and ready to spring into action.

Another bash came from the wooden gate, then another after a while, with which several pieces of the gate broke away. At last, after a fifth bash, the gates fell. There were war cries as the men charged at each other, but Akio didn't dare look back. He could only hear cries of battle and agony, metal clanged as swords met swords and shields. Arrows flew around, and several javelins even landed near Akio. In a fit of panic, he clutched the cart tightly and tried to get up, painfully managing to do so. He balanced himself with the injured knee, and slowly began limping the direction opposite to the fighting.

The noise now doubled, as Akio witnessed Romans climbing the wooden ramparts with ladders and massacring the samurai and ashigaru. It was a bloody mess on the walls, where falling would kill men more often than the blade. A section of the wooden walls was burning, while even more Romans climbed the ramparts from all sides. Akio quickened his limped pace, as much as he possibly could. In a state of uncontrollable fear and panic, he looked back at the main door. Few defenders remained, many of the samurai and footsoldiers lay on the ground, their faces and armor reddened by their blood; while the rest were being cleared up by the red-adorned messengers of death. Adrenaline rushed through Akio's body, and he ran with all his strength. But where to run? They were surrounded, and the only narrow chance of survival was now surrender. But Akio had no time to think of this, and he kept running, away from any Romans he saw. But it was all in vain, as the man limped through the path, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and almost instantly fell to the ground; nothing except horror in his eyes, horror and pain.


Land of Frost

Maximus and the party were riding at full speed on the dirt path as if their life depended on it; it did, and that of their comrades. They had been riding for an hour or so now, the horses were getting tired. But as they kept apace, they could see the capital, and something else as well. There was a huge force gathered before the walls. The nearby manors and farms were burning, but no fighting seemed to occur near the walls.

The captain and everyone else halted, gazing at the sight before them with shock and horror, as the captain mumbled to himself,

"Dear gods," There was an uncanny silence for a while, which was broken by the cavalryman at the back,

"What, what do we do now?" The captain took a deep sigh, and calmed himself,

"It's only a large peasant rabble, we must remain calm and work this out." Saying this, he looked at Maximus and commanded him,

"You boy, you sneak back inside the city and inform them of everything. We'll do something for ourselves." Maximus seemed to hesitate, the commander repeated himself, now more sternly,

"I said, you sneak back inside the city. We'll manage ourselves. You needn't doubt me, boy." Maximus nodded and got down from his horse. The cavalryman at the back took control of the mountless steed, while Maximus quickly ran towards the city in a shinobi manner, disappearing.

The captain turned to the rest of the crew, and spoke to them,

"It's clear, we can't reenter the city now. We must find shelter and the remaining food in these manors, the most we can do now is harass small groups of enemies." Saying this, he turned his horse and rode in the opposite direction from the city, soon followed by the others.


Village Hidden in the Leaves

The council room was well-lit with electric lights, and four people; Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, the two elders, and a representative from Kusagakure presided over the meeting. Hiruzen and Danzo were calm as usual, while the Kusagakure diplomat had a serious look on his face. The mood seemed tense already, even though the meeting had just begun and they had only greeted each other. Hiruzen puffed from his cigar, and opened the conversation,

"So, lord Yorimasa, what is it that Kusa wishes to discuss with us?" Yorimasa adjusted himself, straightened his back on the chair, and replied seriously,

"As you may know, lord Hokage, our nation has recently been suffering from some, 'instability'. Due to the conditions, our Daimyo lord Yoritomo granted permission to Konoha to take in any Kusa participants of the Chunin exams as refugees, if they wished so. The teams in question Squad Three, eight, and Five, Squad Three and eight have decided to return home. Team five, consisting of Noriyori, Munemasa, and Karin Uzumaki have decided to stay."

"And?"

"Just to inform you, lord, since the political situation has been resolved with the ascension of lord Kiyomori-" Koharu cut in between the diplomat,

"Sorry?" The diplomat gave Koharu a questioning glance,

"Is there something wrong lord Koharu?" The latter's manner became grim, and he leaned over the table with his mouth over his hands,

"If I remember correctly, lord Yoritomo WAS the leader of the Land of Fields and Kusagakure. Who is this 'Kiyomori'?" The faces of Hiruzen and the other elders showed they had the same question in mind, the diplomat stuttered for a bit, but then replied with a smile,

"You see, respected lords, lord Yoritomo was no longer 'fit to rule', and thus his deputy has taken power. It isn't our fault if the news doesn't travel with the speed of the Fourth Hokage." Danzo and the others were doubtful of this,

"Political instability, and lord Yoritomo 'unfit to rule', is this just instability; or, an attempt to usurp power?" Homura commented,

"We received the message to accept refugees only four days ago, and it isn't possible that lord Minamoto suddenly changed his mind. As far as it goes, Konoha only recognizes lord Yoritomo as the rightful ruler. Without a direct message from him, we refuse to comply with this 'Kiyomori'. So tell him, we will only elaborate further with lord Yoritomo." The Kusa ambassador seemed annoyed, and tried to reply,

"This isn't just, lord Danzo, lord Kiyomori is now the leader of the nation and wants Kusa shinobi back-" Danzo seemed slightly angered at this, and intimidated the diplomat,

"You and your small, farming colony better not be teaching Konoha the difference between what is just and unjust. So tell your Kiyomori that he should be grateful, that Konoha hasn't already sent his head as a gift to lord Yoritomo. This has been no transfer of power, but rather usurpation. Without lord Yoritomo's permission, the refugees will stay in Konoha, you can take those who wish to go back."

The diplomat was insulted. Fuming, he quickly got up from his seat and left the room. There was silence for a moment, then Hiruzen commented,

"Odd of you, to speak like that." Danzo turned his single eye to Hiruzen and calmly replied,

"Those small villages think they are our equals, you must learn to put them in line, Hiruzen. And besides, that Uzumaki girl has good healing abilities." Hiruzen now got up, and started walking out, speaking,

"However Danzo, just remember, I'm not gonna give them to your ANBU instructors. They seek our protection here." Danzo rolled his eyes away, as the other two elders also got up from their seats and left the meeting room.


Author's notes

Phew, quite a lot of viewpoints. As you may have recognized, this is gonna go heavily AU in some chapters, but overall it won't stick to canon that much. This is what you get when you embrace an idea like the one I have, although I do enjoy writing this. Any suggestions on how to make the Romans more powerful against shinobi while still maintaining the fact they are Romans? All suggestions are welcome and do review the story.