Chapter 70

Shikamaru wasn't too alarmed at the sudden downing of several members of their platoon in a surprise assault by bombs of smoke-type ninjutsu. Sure, the platoon he'd been a part of had been damaged in the opening gambit, but running into someone who uses smoke ninjutsu was a lot easier for him to deal with than anything else. It helped that Shikamaru had a Futon Jutsu that would equalize such a thing, though the troublesome part about that was that it could very well be countered since it was a common jutsu. Still, he'd fare better than the Aburame members of his Platoon, including the platoon leader, Aburame Torune.

Several of the Aburame members were already dead, men Torune said he'd served with for years. Their insects had been turned back against them by the smoke ninjutsu. Shikamaru had literally seen members drained to death by their comrades' Kikaichu. The Nara contingent of the Platoon was faring better, with all the smoke hanging about, the shadows were deep and he'd even seen the Kage Nui no Jutsu (Shadow Stitching Technique) be used in mid-air as clouds of smoke drifted into one another, throwing shadows off each other as they merged. Unfortunately, the enemy also realized that and they'd tied the Nara Contingent up heavily.

"It seems you leave me no choice! I will have to do it!" Intoned Aburame Torune gravely.

"Whatever you can do, my smoke will turn back on you and yours, you have no chance!" Retorted the Enemy Leader.

The troublesome little man looked more like a corpse than a living person. Grey, pallid skin, stringy, white, hair, and yellow, plaque-filled, teeth were the defining features of the Leader of the enemy forces. It was almost as if someone was trying to emulate the Jiangshi from those Earth and Iron Country Taijutsu Hero novels that Choji and Lee liked reading by trying to look as disgusting as possible. Looks aside, however, Shikamaru had to admit that the Enemy Leader was right about being the worst matchup for an Aburame. His smoke ninjutsu was a hard counter to their insect-based Clan Arts.

As Shikamaru was forced to duck a cut from one of the remaining other Otogakure Shinobi, he had to admit that the Enemy Leader was at least skilled. He parried a follow-on strike from his current Opponent with his Kodachi only for the Otogakure Ninja to attempt to use his greater size and strength to bind Shikamaru's Kodachi with his Ninjato. That brought Shikamaru back to the matter at hand. Fortunately, he had an ace up his sleeve. Channeling Raiton Chakra through the Chakra Metal of his Kodachi, Shikamaru electrocuted his opponent as the electric chakra of Lightning conducted itself across the bound blades and into his Opponent. His Opponent seized up before collapsing dead to the floor.

Looking around, Shikamaru judged that enough of the enemy had been slain that the risks of keeping the Enemy Leader's smoke clouds on the field outweighed the rewards. Flying through a number of hand seals, Shikamaru cast the Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough), overpowering the technique with extra chakra just in case. The gale force winds that ensued drove the smoke away from the battlefield, sending it all surging down the corridors further into the base. As he did that, he found that half the platoon had been wiped out in the fighting, but also that the entire enemy platoon save for the Enemy Leader had likewise been wiped out.

Unfortunately, Aburame Torune appeared to have also suffered badly. He'd been battered by a smoke explosion that had sent his odd, purple-looking, Kikaichu fleeing from his body to swarm to the corner of the room, where several of them had died. The survivors were streaming back to Torune's body, but Torune himself had been knocked out in the blast. As Shikamaru had been made Platoon Second-in-Command at his mother's Urging, which left him as platoon leader until Torune woke up. How troublesome. Well, it was probably best to finish this quickly, then. Shikamaru turned and began going through hand seals. The Kage Yari No Jutsu (Shadow Spear Technique) sprung to life and several, spearlike, tendrils struck for the Enemy Leader, who went through his own series of hand seals to produce a dragon of smoke with the Enryū (Smoke Dragon) technique.

Shikamaru's spears punched into the Smoke Dragon, piercing through the roaring beast and striking for the Enemy Leader. The Enemy Leader tried to run, but Shikamaru refused to let him, drawing on the power of the Amulet of Tsukiyomi to reappear within a patch of shadow behind him. Going through the seals for the Kage Yari once again, another bunch of pointed, spear-like, tendrils shot out toward the Enemy Leader. Attacked from behind and in front, the Enemy Leader couldn't avoid the assault. Shikamaru's shadow spears punched through the Enemy Leader from both sides and held him there, hefting him up into the air. Shikamaru had a sneaking suspicion his Opponent wasn't done yet, judging from the last time he'd fought one of Orochimaru's Shinobi.

Sure enough, the Enemy Leader had a Cursed Seal. It began to spread over his pallid, corpse-like, body like a tattoo of dark lines. Only a level one seal, though which meant all Shika had to do was hold him in place on his spears and the regeneration would cut out. His strength, speed, and durability might be boosted, but not by enough to escape Shikamaru's shadow spears. From the frantic look on the Enemy Leader's face, he knew that too. There was a wild look in his eye as the Enemy Leader began to thrash around and try and get himself off the shadow spears that were impaling him and keeping him held aloft. It was the only chance he had to survive, as the Curse Seal Regeneration was the only thing keeping him alive right now and that would run out soon enough.

"Try all you like, but this is the end for you, Troublesome Ghoul." Intoned Shikamaru.

"Damn you! Orochimaru-sama will have your hides for this!" Swore the Enemy Leader.

"Maybe, though I don't think it's likely. Orochimaru's only ever in anything for himself, after all. He might decide that Otogakure is a failed experiment and cut his losses." Pointed out Shikamaru.

"He wouldn't!" Insisted the Enemy Leader.

"He would. He's both intelligent enough not to fall for the sunk cost fallacy and treacherous enough to not have any loyalty to anyone but himself. It's a troublesome combination for enemies and allies alike." Shrugged Shikamaru.

As the Enemy Leader moved to say something else, however, he coughed up a spatter of blood instead of saying something. Shikamaru grinned at that since it meant his strategy was working. "Looks like your regeneration is slowing down. It won't be long now." Smirked Shikamaru.

"Fuck you!" Spat the Enemy Leader, blood coming up out of his mouth.

"Any last words?" Questioned Shikamaru.

"Death to Konoha!" Snarled the Enemy Leader as he forced his arms through a trio of hand seals and began to glow with chakra.

"Shit, Jibaku no Jutsu (Suicide Explosion Technique)!" Swore Shikamaru.

The rest of the Platoon scurried away, leaving Shikamaru to grab the unconscious Torune Aburame and drag him back the way they came. Just as they made it into the corridor, there was a flash of an explosion, and the open area they'd been fighting in suddenly collapsed as the suicide explosion caused a cave-in. Fortunately, they'd managed to make it out with the remnants of their platoon, now entirely Nara except for Aburame Torune. However, they'd have to tunnel their way through the cave-in if they wanted to advance further. That would take time and throw off the schedule for the Operation. Somehow, Shikamaru doubted that the War Council would agree to do that. Oh well, that wasn't for Shikamaru to decide. Decisions like that were well above his pay grade. For now, he could just sit back and relax until new orders came in.

And because he'd fought, his nagging mother wouldn't even be able to say anything about it. . .

XXXX

Naruto was frankly, getting a little pissed off at this bendy asshole! Sure, he and Lee could deal with this asshole working together, but Lee's gotten pretty banged up overusing the Gates. As it was, he'd probably have to spend a while in the Field Hospital getting his bones healed up or something. Honestly, Naruto was pretty sure Lee was only still fighting cause he's Lee. Most Shinobi would've pulled back by now, Naruto was pretty sure. Not that he had any room to talk, mind you. The Fox's passive chakra that was in his system meant Naruto could take a pretty decent beating and keep going. Ero-Sennin had tried to tell him about how his seal worked, but it pretty much went over his head. The long and short of it seemed to be that Naruto could heal fast from almost anything, so he'd never really learned how to quit either.

Right now, though Lee launched a Konoha Senpuu (Leaf Whirlwind) that smashed into the rocky, turtle shell, defense that the Bendy Asshole kept using to force them to hit him hard twice. The Bendy Asshole was sent flying backward, shards of rock smashing off him, or her, Naruto wasn't super sure about that. The Bendy Asshole stood up, that cursed bullshit running through him making him even tougher to deal with. True, the Asshole was weaker on offense, but that didn't mean shit when he could just shrug off hits like that from Lee with Five Gates open. Speaking of Lee, he landed and immediately fell to one knee. Naruto frowned, that couldn't mean anything remotely good for their shot at winning this.

"Naruto-kun! I regret to say that I can no longer continue the fight! I must withdraw to tend my leg and rebuild my Flames of Youth!" Insisted Lee.

"Shit!" Spat Naruto, frowning.

Well, there was one thing he'd been trying lately that might be able to get him a win here. He hadn't wanted to pull it out without testing it, though, and really, he'd been saving it for his rematch with Sasuke. A Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere) that was double the size of the normal attack. If this doesn't work, though, there are gonna be problems.

"Right! I've got something I might be able to try, but if it doesn't work, I'll need backup. Head back to the breach and try and rustle up some reinforcements, Dattebayo!" Commanded Naruto.

"Yosh! Good luck, Naruto-kun!" Called out Lee as he began limping away.

"No, you don't!" Shouted the Bendy Asshole before going through a number of hand seals and firing off more of that Nensuikai (Viscous Water) shit that'd stuck folks in place.

The Asshole was trying to capture Lee, fortunately, Naruto had clones to help out. His Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) and Iwa Bunshin (Rock Clones) started to run interference. A Kage Bunshin took the Nensuikai attack for Lee, before exploding in a Bunshin Daibakuha (Clone Great Explosion) that shook the mess hall and covered Lee's escape. An Iwa Bunshin fired off a Doton: Dosekidake (Earth Release: Earth and Stone Bamboo Shoot) while a Kage Bunshin attacked with a Kazanami (Wind Waves). The Rock Spikes and Blade of Razor-sharp Wind forced the Bendy Asshole Back, even as another Kage Bunshin attacked with a pair of Kunai, hoping to puncture the Asshole's rubber body. Unfortunately, a casting of the Raiton: Kaminari Ryu no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Thunder Dragon Technique) by the Bendy Asshe Destroyed all those Clones.

It didn't matter, though, because while his Clones were running interference, Naruto and two of his other clones were busy forming his new technique. Now, a Rasengan that was almost a meter in diameter was swirling around in his hands. It was so large Naruto was having to use both hands to fire it off. Still, as he charged, he couldn't help be smirk at the look on the Bendy Asshole's face. Yeah, that's right, asshole, I've got your number now, he thought. His clones moved to either side of the Bendy Asshole while Naruto himself rushed at the Asshole straight on.

"Take this! Ōdama Rasengan (Big Ball Spiralling Sphere)!" Shouted Naruto as he thrust both hands out.

The beach ball-sized Rasengan was pushed into the Bendy Asshole's Torso as both his clones grappled onto the Asshole's arms and stuck him in place. The oversized sphere of grinding chakra literally ground through the Bendy Asshole's torso. When it was over, there wasn't a whole lot left of the Asshole except pulverized meat, broken bones, and bloody fluids. It was a fucking grisly sight, and his clones dispelling to avoid having to think about it definitely didn't help. When hit by three images of that sort of carnage from three different angles all at once, Naruto couldn't help himself. He threw up right then and there.

He didn't calm down enough to return to duty for another few minutes. . .

XXXX

The Enemy Bat User had been smart. He'd both waited for his minions to wear us down and done something to mess with everyone before he attacked. Some sort of sound-based Genjutsu that had knocked out Kibagami, Fang, Shiori, and Saisu. Fortunately for me, my Roku-Ten Kokoro no Yoroi (Six-Point Mind Armor) Amulet was more than capable of protecting me from that, even though Saisu had gone down struggling with enemy jutsu even through my old amulet. It seemed that the Enemy Leader's Jutsu was at least B-Rank to get through the amulet I'd given Saisu. Now with everyone else unconscious, and the Enemy Leader's flunkies dead by our hands, it was just the Enemy Leader and I facing each other down.

"Hmm. There's more to you than meets the eye, it seems." Smirked the Enemy Leader.

"Unless you've got an S-Ranked one up your sleeve, Genjutsu isn't going to work on me, sonic-based or not." I scoffed.

"Sorry, the Chōonpa: Memai Teiden (Ultrasonic Waves: Vertigo Blackout) is the strongest one I've got and it's A-Rank. Looks like I'll have to switch tactics." Snorted the Enemy Leader.

Immediately, I began dodging. Good thing I did, too, because the Enemy Leader went through a series of hand seals and let out a sonic shriek that impacted the caved-in section of the tunnel behind us, literally shaking apart some of the blockage and causing solid concrete and stone to crumble to dust and rock powder. He did it again as I stood, forcing me to throw myself to the floor to avoid the attack that vibrated a hole through the corridor wall to reveal a nearby forge on the other side of the tunnel. I took the opening to leap through the hole in the wall and into the forge, ducking to the side of the opening and letting the wall tank the next deadly soundwave. In response, I went through a bunch of hand seals of my own, the Shiyoken (Four Witches) technique causing extra arms to sprout from my shoulders.

With that, one pair of arms unsealed the Blade of Inoshishi-no-Kami while another went through the hand seals for the Raiton: Taiyoken (Lightning Release: Solar Flare). The Raiton-based flash blinded the enemy and threw off his next soundwave, causing it to crash into a bunch of crates full of iron ingots that were stacked against the forge wall waiting to be turned into steel. I charged him as he struggled to see, blade blurring into a Konoha-Ryuu: Yoake (Leaf-Style: Dawn), the Katon Chakra-infused cut launching a wave of flames at my opponent even as he set one of his bats against me with an explosive tag from the side. Both hits struck at the same time, I was blasted away even as the Enemy Leader was caught aflame.

Thankfully, the Kōton: Kōtetsu no Tai (Steel Release: Body of Steel) has supercharged my body's durability, which was already suped-up thanks to the Oni no Karada no Jutsu (Ogre Body Technique) and an explosion that would have severely injured most Chunin instead simply scorched my side and did light damage. Similarly, my opponent managed to avoid being burned to death, though in his case it was a lot closer of a thing and forced him to shuck off his poncho and brigandine vest. He also had several patches of burned skin along his chest, stomach, and shoulders, though nothing fight-ending. Light damage on both sides, then.

"Huh. How the hell are you still Chunin?" Queried my Opponent.

"I only just got Chunin Rank during your Master's sneak attack on Konoha." I frowned.

"Would it surprise you to learn that I'm a Tokubetsu Jonin? My Ninjutsu and Genjutsu bridge the gap to Jonin-level. You, though, it looks like you've got even more things bridging the gap. I gotta know your name, for bragging rights, yeah?" Asked my Opponent.

"Akimichi Choji. They call me the Second Coming of the Strongarm." I answered.

"And I'm Rinji of the Chōonpa. Hope you're ready, Strongarm Junior, 'cause I'm gonna put everything I've got into this next one." Grinned my Opponent, Rinji.

"That being the case, I'll do the same. If you're gonna bet everything on the next strike, I'll call you." I smirked.

Immediately, I engaged the techniques of the Gogyō-Ken and put away the blade of Inoshishi-no-Kami. Rinji began going through a long series of hand seals. I began to move at the same time as Rinji finished his seals roaring out, "Chōonpa: Seigen Nami Taihō (Ultrasonic Waves: Sine Wave Cannon)!"

Immediately a blast of crushing sonic energy shot toward me, even as I blurred to the side to begin my attack with the Ura Renge (Reverse Lotus). His attack cored through a decent chunk of the mountain, bursting through the corridor walls, three empty storage rooms, and twelve meters of solid rock. My own attacks cracked his ribs and skull, rupturing both his eyes and his heart as my punches and kicks came in with enough force to effectively juggle him in mid-air. As black tattoos began to spread along his body and heal the damage, I kept up the attack, making sure he couldn't get back up. He could only cheat death once with the Cursed Seal at Level One, after all, and thanks to my Steel Body, I didn't have the same drawbacks others did when using this.

By the time I was finished, Rinji was nothing more than a broken corpse. It had drained my chakra something fierce, but I had Bala Matcha and soldier pills for that if all else failed. I switched off my various enhancement techniques and pulled a thermos of Bala Matcha from a storage scroll, downing it so I was no longer running on fumes before moving to wake the others up. As I did, I realized that it was likely that had I been hit by that last attack, I would have died instead of Rinji. If he was a Tokubetsu Jonin, then I was ready for that rank. I would just have to survive the war to see my promotion assessment done.

As I woke the others up, it was decided we would proceed to the enemy armory as ordered, even though we were cut off from the rest of the assault force. Fortunately, the forces defending the armory were light. A squad of eleven shinobi, all of which were green as grass. I took three out with Tetsubo, Bo Staff, and Sansetsukon strikes, while Kibagami took out four on his own with just his blade and Fang blazed forward in a blur of striking limbs to handle the remaining four. Saisu and Shiori didn't even have to lift a finger.

Shiori began laying down Fuuinjutsu tags for a Kekkai Hōjin (Barrier Formation Method) that would electrocute anyone crossing the barrier from the outside. I guess we were making our base in the Armory, then. As if to confirm it, Saisu ordered us to take five and do a gear check. I knew exactly how much I had left and of what, and began carving another wooden Six-point amulet for Saisu. I was finished a half an hour later, exchanging his three-point version for this one. Five minutes after that, we finally linked up with Jiraiya.

He'd taken the field personally after the losses incurred pushing up the tunnels. . .

XXXX

Guren was pissed now. The Akimichi had killed two of her personal apprentices, while a Nara and the Kyuubi Container had killed Kihō and Nurari respectively. That effectively cut the number of Shinobi she could count on to actually do something in this fortress down to just her and Gozu. Sure, they'd bled the Tree Huggers, killed or wounded around a hundred-sixty of the bastards, but it wouldn't be nearly enough. Gozu had held the Topside Entrance against the Senju's assault, maybe it was time to withdraw? By Guren's count, they only had around one-hundred-eighty Shinobi remaining who were capable of fighting, and most of those were Genin-level.

"Wait, is that Jiraiya of the Sannin? He's taking the field?" Blinked Guren, looking out over the security monitor.

Indeed it was, Jiraiya himself was blitzing up one of the corridors, looking to put an end to the fighting. There was no way that any of them would be able to deal with someone that even Orochimaru-sama couldn't deal with permanently. Guren growled in frustration at the situation. She had no choice now, she would have to order a withdrawal. They'd link up with the forces fighting near Fort Rattler. Hopefully, they were still fighting, because if not, then Guren would have to return to Otogakure empty-handed and that wasn't something that she figured Orochimaru-sama would be lenient about. Guren went over to the central communications unit, a Seal-scribed radio that could broadcast to the radios of all platoon leaders in the base to give the order.

"All troops, this is Commander Guren. I am ordering a withdrawal based on retreat plan Crimson Shadow! If you weren't paying attention during drills, well it sucks to be you. I repeat retreat plan Crimson Shadow is in effect!" Guren spoke, transmitting to every Oto Shinobi with a radio left. Then, she flicked a few seals on the security monitor to set the Fort's self-destruct and headed out toward the Topside Entrance and Gozu herself.

With any luck, some of the tree huggers would get buried when the self-destruct collapsed the tunnels. . .

XXXX

A half an hour after the battle ended, I wound up back at camp, helping to carry wounded from the enemy base. Ino and the Field Hospital Staff were working overtime, but it looked like most of the wounded would make a full recovery, though they'd need time on light duty for rehabilitation. Of the eighty wounded I and others brought back to the camp, only fifteen wouldn't make it, even with triage. Ironically, one of the wounded was Lee, who'd definitely overdone it with the Eight Gates, having compound fractures in both arms and his right leg, while cracking two ribs and his skull. His muscles were also torn up. I'd been forced to carry him back to the camp, where Sakura had laid into him about recklessness.

She had no bedside manner, which I found hilarious, so long as I wasn't the target of her anger. Instead, I'd come off light from this battle. Two bruised ribs and a burn from Rinji's explosive Bat Bomber, and a cut on my face from Kigiri's Kunai. Both were lighter wounds and I'd been press-ganged into helping with post-battle cleanup by playing human ambulance. Fortunately, Naruto and his clones had taken over for that twenty minutes ago. Actually, they'd taken over for a lot of stuff. Battlefield Salvage, intelligence-gathering, prisoner handling, you name it. Naruto was basically being used as a one-man army for the purposes of cleanup.

Here, a group of Narutos dumped a bunch of retrieved equipment onto a pile of armor and weapons while a team of Narutos sorted the gear by type. Over there, a group of Narutos was riding herd on a squad of Oto Prisoners that the enemy had left behind in their retreat. Nearby, several Narutos carried wounded Konoha Shinobi down from the mountain, while several more carried chests of papers, sealing tags, medicines, and Ryo. It was a good thing too, because the enemy base had been effectively emptied when the surprise they'd left for anyone looting their base went off.

Forty-five minutes after the enemy retreated, there was a booming sound as the enemy base Self-Destructed, popping a number of Naruto Clones and killing two Shinobi from Intelligence who were attempting to determine if they'd missed any valuable intel. The corridors and rooms of the base collapsed inwards, changing the look of the cliff face and altering the shape of the waterfall for all time. That meant this battle was effectively over completely, even the clean-up. The total number of casualties for our attack group stood at ninety-seven dead and sixty-five wounded. Otogakure had suffered some three-hundred-twenty dead, thirty-eight captured, and one-hundred-forty-two escaped. By any metric, this was a victory.

Unfortunately, it was far from total. We received word from Kakashi at Target Two three days later. Some one-hundred-twenty-one enemy troops had broken out of the encirclement he'd had them under, owing to a surprise relief force led by a Shōton user. They'd then withdrawn to the North. Gai-Sensei was more successful, capturing or killing three-hundred enemy troops at Target Three. In total, we'd taken out eight-hundred-thirty-seven enemy Shinobi during Phase One of Operation: Grass-Cutter.

Phase two would begin in a few days. . .

XXXX

AN: So yeah, Phase one is a success, and every one of the Rookie Eleven fighting managed to take on a difficult opponent and come out on top. Notably, Choji took on a Tokubetsu Jonin by himself, though one of that Guy's Jonin-Level skills was Genjutsu, which was no-sold by the Six-Point Mind Armor Amulet. The other was the Chōonpa Ninjutsu, which was pretty deadly and allowed him to use ultrasonic waves to attack directly and even do things like control bats.

Honestly, you may be noticing that Oto uses a lot of Ninjutsu like Smoke Ninjutsu or Ultrasonic Wave Ninjutsu. That's because Orochimaru developed those techniques but never figured out how to make a full elemental style out of them. It was effectively a failed experiment in creating trainable Kekkei Genkai Elements. Because it's a failed experiment, Orochimaru has no problems letting others use the stuff.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the start of phase two.

Stay tuned. . .