Chapter 68

Target One was an underground hidden in a cliffside behind the Akaoni Falls. The Legend, or so it went was that back in the early days of the Warring Clans Era, a Crimson Oni fleeing the collapse of the Obsidian Empress' Realm took up residence on the lake at the top of the cliffs and began extracting tribute from nearby towns until defeated by Fuuma Kotaro, the Progenitor of the Fuuma Clan. Their battle reshaped the landscape, causing water from the lake to flow outward like a river over the cliffside, becoming the eponymous Akaoni Waterfall.

Honestly, Orochimaru must have enjoyed the irony of putting a large base here while also subjugating the clan whose progenitor created the waterfall in the legends. Or maybe it was simple defensive benefits that drew the Snake Sannin's eye. There was only one way up to the entrance from the valley below and that was to climb the cliff face. Furthermore, from the top of the cliffs, near the Lake of the Oni, you could see not just everything in the river valley below, but everything around the area.

Those sight-lines were the reason that our rendezvous was in the Shinomoto Forest an hour's travel away from the Target. Even then, the sentries guarding Target One would spot us in time for the alarm to be raised before we made it to the cliffs. The Shinomoto Forest didn't extend more than forty-five minutes' travel closer to the base. There would be fifteen minutes for them to reinforce their guards and attack us from range before we even reached the cliff face.

I had to assume that Uncle Shikaku and Lord Third knew this, but couldn't do anything about it. Why else would this be the plan we went with? Ironically, realizing that fact, that there wasn't much we could actually do about the situation aside from getting our Platoon anything they might need to stand a chance at getting through the dead ground in a reasonable shape.

To that end, I spent the majority of the time that I wasn't dealing with disputes while we waited for the other platoons to make the rendezvous in the Shinomoto scribing tags. Flash Tags, Smoke Tags, and Explosive Tags, mostly. I was making sure that everyone in the platoon had enough of each to qualify for heavy artillery duty. After all, I was only just able to scribe Tokubetsu Jonin-grade versions of each thanks to my studying of the Uzumaki Sealing Scroll we picked up from the Pirates helping me to refine my Sealing Abilities. I was still a ways from being a Sealmaster, but I could do this much. Honestly, it was a bit overkill and Saisu even said as much. We spent a full day waiting for everyone to rendezvous, after all.

Speaking of the Uzumaki Sealing Scroll, I was able to carve, energize, and test an amulet with the diagram for the Roku-Ten Kokoro no Yoroi (Six-Point Mind Armor) on it. Mind you, testing that involved asking Ino to hit me with her strongest Genjutsu, something that drew a bunch of looks from the other Med-Nin that were setting up the Field Hospital in the Shinomoto. Ino just rolled her eyes at my request and cast the Magen: Jubaku Satsu (Demonic Illusion: Tree-Binding Death) on me. When it slid off my mind like water off a duck's ass, I knew that I had it down.

"You don't happen to have any A-Rank Genjutsu too, do you? The seal is supposed to work for that too." I grinned.

"Absolutely not! We can't afford to spend resources on self-inflicted mental damage!" Insisted one of the other Med-Nin, a tall, thin, beanpole of a Man with brown hair.

"Settle down, Yuto-Kun, Choji will be fine. This will just put him to sleep if it works and I can wake him up easily enough. Kami knows I have enough practice at that from Shikamaru." Waved off Ino.

Before this Yuto Guy could even begin to protest again, Ino began going through the hand seals to cast the Nehan Shōja no Jutsu (Temple of Nirvana Technique) that failed to register on me as well and I grinned at the lack of reaction. Ino just sighed at that and began muttering under her breath about Fuuinjutsu being cheating.

"I don't know what you're so worked up over. Isn't Tsunade-Hime going to be teaching you her Taijutsu stuff? You're her apprentice, so you should be able to get that from her, right?" I questioned.

"One of her apprentices." Corrected Sakura as she passed by carrying a stack of storage scrolls containing blood packs labeled by blood type.

"Oi! Stay out of this, Billboard Brow!" Scowled Ino, but Sakura had already gone into one of the various trauma tents that would be used for field surgeries with the pile of scrolls and didn't hear her.

"That isn't the point! Tsunade-sama said it'd be at least a year before she can even start teaching me how to do that stuff, probably more like two! Until then, I only have Ninjutsu and my Poison Stuff to work with offensively! Even Shika has got better stuff offensively and he's the Laziest Shinobi I know!" Scowled Ino.

"But neither of us can do the stuff you can do, Ino. I have a pair of very basic Medical Ninjutsu that seem more like first aid than any of the stuff you can do. Plus, neither Shika nor I are Sensors, and you've got the Yamanaka Barrier and Mental Jutsu too." I pointed out.

"Most of that's support stuff, though. I just feel like I'm being left behind offensively by you two." Griped Ino.

"There's nothing wrong with support, Ino. Hells, just look at my Dad. He mostly does support, what with running the Quartermaster's Office." I tried.

"Still." Grumbled Ino.

"Lady Yamanaka, do I have to assign you a proper detail? There's plenty of things that need doing to establish this Field Hospital and talking to Lord Akimichi isn't one of them!" Snapped an Older Med-Nin wearing Glasses.

"No Doctor Kusushi!" Responded Ino.

"Looks like you need to go." I remarked.

"No rest for the weary, Choji. We'll talk later." Agreed Ino, before heading further into the half-constructed Field Hospital to help out.

Aside from that and my sealcrafting, I had to settle a single dispute that had cropped up in the camp the day we'd been waiting for the green light. It was a fairly minor dispute over Sake rations between Kibagami and some guy in Dango Company named Sogetsu. Sogetsu tried to steal Kibagami's Sake Ration and get away using some sort of Suiton-based movement Jutsu only to get caught. Unfortunately, Sougetsu had already drunk some of the Sake Ration and the rest had spilled out onto the forest floor when he'd been caught and captured for judgment. In reparations, I had Sougetsu commit the instructions to cast his Suiton movement jutsu, the Suiton: Hatō Isogu (Water Release: Wavecrest Rush) to a scroll for Kibagami to learn from.

By the time everything was said and done, and we were ready to attack Target One, every member of Platoon Saisu had at least five each of Tokubetsu Jonin-Grade Flash Tags, Smoke Tags, and Explosive Tags, I had my Six-Point Mind Armor Amulet, and Kibagami had his Suiton Movement Jutsu down. I even gave Saisu my old Three-Point Mind Armor Amulet just in case. He was dubious, but still put on the amulet. Fifteen Minutes before the attack, Jiraiya gathered everyone for one last big speech.

"I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, the enemy picked their site well. Many of you probably did your own recon over the past day or so and figured out the Shinomoto ends a fifteen-minute run away from the Cliffside. We will be in the open before we hit the cliffs and the Oto-Nin will be able to fire on us before we reach the Cliffs. Some of you aren't going to make it through that and for that, you have my apologies. I can offer you more than that, though. I can offer you the promise that you will be avenged." Began Jiraiya.

He waited the appropriate amount of time for everyone to get over the shock of being flat-out told that some of them weren't going to even make it to the cliff face before he continued. As it happened, the appropriate amount of time was apparently only ninety seconds. Given how we were all Shinobi and knew the risks this life had before signing up for the Academy, that seemed about right.

"Intelligence has informed me that Orochimaru, my bastard of a teammate, is currently traveling along the coast of Gaikotsu Bay. He's a day away from where we believe Otogakure to be, which means he's a week away from here. With that in mind, the enemy has nobody here that should be able to stop our assault even with those clear sightlines and the killing field. That means that vengeance will be had for our fallen no matter what the enemy does. You can take solace in knowing that. If you go down, you'll do so paving the way for your own vengeance. I dunno about you, but I call that a bit of comfort." Grinned Jiraiya.

A vigorous round of nods and assenting murmurs went through the crowd at that. Most Konoha Shinobi were pretty well indoctrinated into the whole Will of Fire thing. Most of my fellows wouldn't hesitate to lay down their lives for the Village if it meant victory for Konoha or even just survival against enemies. That'd never really taken with me, not fully, but that just meant I was even more determined to kill the enemy before they killed me. Once he got that wave of assent, Jiraiya continued.

"All right, you all know the plan here. We're hitting the Target in two waves. Toad Company, Lance Company, and Dango Company will be the tip of the spear, followed by Shade Company and Forest Company. When you hit the cliff face, it should be a straight climb up to the entrance. We know there's a number of emplacements further up the cliffside for the enemy to rain jutsu down on us, but thankfully, I'll be summoning toads for counterfire. Aside from that, when you get into the tunnels, be careful of traps. Assume any seals you see are fail-deadly until proven otherwise and do not attempt to scribe any counterseals you might know. Simply spring the trap from a distance and move on." Commanded Jiraiya.

I looked over at Shade Company, led by Auntie Yoshino, where my grumbling teammate was. Then over at the other companies mentioned. Jiraiya led Toad Company Personally, and that's where Naruto was, but Dango Company was being led by Mitarashi Anko who was. . .questionably stable at times. Forest Company meanwhile, was led by Senju Hotaru, a fifty-something Kunoichi and one of the few Senju still in active service and not sitting behind a desk in administration somewhere. That the Senju Clan was putting its shinobi out there for wartime missions even when the mobilization of the village was only partial said a lot about how Tsunade-hime's return was reinvigorating the Clan.

"Right, now, I'm gonna go summon some Toads. When I'm done, I'll send up a firework and that will be the sign to commence the attack. Get ready, folks, because this is war." Finished Jiraiya with a nod.

Ten minutes later, a gigantic, red, ball bloomed in the sky and we went on the attack. . .

XXXX

Guren sighed as she finished up the boring part of commanding Fort Copperhead. Orochimaru-sama's naming scheme was just about the only thing that she disliked about the man. Guren understood why he used it, of course. Snakes were effectively his brand at this point, but still, she could have done without being the commander of Fort Copperhead.

Unfortunately, commander of the fort she was. It had been one of the bitter turns of life that had cast her out of the potential to be Orochimaru-sama's new host to be replaced by the Uchiha Boy. She had been Orochimaru-sama's host-presumptive ever since the Kaguya Boy had caught consumption, but now that the damned Uchiha had come with his fancy Dojutsu, that was in the past. She had begged Orochimaru-sama not to set her aside, that she could still prove her worth more than a brat with Dojutsu he was barely trained in the use of. Orochimaru-sama had sent her to command Fort Copperhead to prove it.

So far, that duty mostly consisted of ensuring the garrison was up to snuff and doing paperwork. While she relished the opportunity to beat the garrison into shape, sometimes literally, much to her enjoyment, Guren found paperwork utterly monotonous. It was just so boring, however, Orochimaru-sama had commanded her to take this position and Guren would rather vomit up her own entrails than disobey Orochimaru-sama.

"I just wish something would happen! It's been far too long since I've disemboweled an enemy shinobi." Groused Guren.

Indeed, while they got the occasional scout from Yumegakure passing through the area, Orochimaru-sama's orders on that front were clear. Do not engage Yume shinobi and allow them to return to their Fort over the border in Hotsprings Country. Apparently, their presence was useful in limiting whatever Konoha might try to do in the area. The Tree-Huggers were scared of escalation, so Yume being in the area and part of a bigger alliance with Kumo and Iwa helped in that regard.

Guren had attempted to convince Orochimaru-sama that by killing Yume's scouts and manufacturing evidence of Konoha involvement, that they could bring the Kumo-Iwa Alliance down on Konoha just as the Tree-Huggers feared. Orochimaru-sama had flatly rejected that plan. He wished to deal the fatal blow to Konoha himself, it seemed, not work through intermediaries. Guren would not gainsay him that. Indeed, she could not go against Orochimaru-sama's wishes even if she tried. To do so would be to betray everything she was.

Guren, you see, was infatuated with the Snake Sannin. It was a love so deep and so irrational that even thinking about doing something contrary to Orochimaru-sama's wishes made Guren feel uneasy. Many people in Oto believed, rightly or wrongly, that the Snake Sannin had used some form of Mental Jutsu to instill that compulsion within Guren. For her part, Guren refused to countenance such slander. She would have devoted herself to Orochimaru-sama regardless, jutsu or no, she was sure of it.

Just then, the alarm system, a ringing series of bells powered by an electric generator, one of the few inventions of the Polar People they had traded to everyone, echoed throughout the base. With a grin, Guren stood from behind her desk of clear, pink, crystal and moved to the door. Opening it, she stepped out into the corridor and demanded a situation report from the first sentry she saw.

"Several Giant Toad Summons have appeared from the Treeline of the Shinomoto! Konoha is attacking!" Informed the Sentry.

Guren's grin widened into a full-blown smile now. She stalked past rushing Oto shinobi, into a gantryway carved into the rock of the cliff face with several Shinobi firing Katon, Raiton, Futon, and Suiton Ninjutsu out of firing ports, and peaked out. She spotted three gigantic toads who were spitting flammable oil at various firing ports and lighting it aflame with Katon Jutsu as a form of counter-battery fire. Below, rushing out from the forest, was a wave of Konoha Shinobi. A quick count of the bodies along with the living shinobi suggested three companies of two-hundred-forty enemy shinobi each were attacking.

"So it's war? How marvelous!" Cackled Guren.

Immediately, Guren began going through hand seals and performed the Shōton: Kesshō Hari (Crystal Release: Crystal Needles). As she did so, razor-sharp darts of pink crystal formed out of thin air and fired out of the viewport at a few of the incoming Shinobi. Two of them were downed, the first, a Civilian in a full suit of lamellar whose helmet didn't have a menpo took a dart through the eye, shattering his spectacles. The second was a scarred Inuzuka with a Brown Ninken who tried to dodge but still wound up taking the foot-long spike of pink crystal through the shoulder. However, a third, an Akimichi in armor that made him look Turtle-like from the company to the right of the two she'd brought down, deflected the dart with a drawn Katana from nowhere, snapping off a last-second parry.

Then the Akimichi pulled something else from elsewhere and tossed it ahead of him. It turned out to be a smoke tag from the explosion of white smoke. Furthermore, several others from his unit also laid down smoke, obscuring half of the rightmost company to the attackers from the gantries. Guren growled at that, the Akimichi had just ruined the first bit of fun that Guren had had in the last two days. For that alone, she would gut him. Oh sure, she could and did fire blindly, but it just wasn't as fun if you couldn't see the enemy bleed.

Two minutes later, Guren tired of firing blindly into the smoke cloud and switched her targets to the other Company, firing Crystal Needles that downed several more of the Tree-Huggers over the next two minutes. Then she got bored of killing from range and moved out of the gantryway to wait for the enemy to make it to the cliffs. They wouldn't kill enough of them like this to stop the attack. Not with this many of them attacking Fort Copperhead.

One minute after she left, the gantryway whose firing ports she had been attacking from was hit by Toad-based Counterfire and washed in flames. . .

XXXX

With a huff, I kept up my charge. I wasn't sure what had been up with the crystal darts, though. Oh sure, Crystal Release was a known Kekkei Genkai, but it was supposed to have gone extinct during the last war. The Yondaime had killed the last known Iwa Shinobi who had it. I wouldn't put it past Onoki to have kept some users back, though. He was cagey like that due to being so damned old. The clan that was supposed to have it was the Shujing Clan from the North of Earth Country who joined up with Iwa reluctantly, so it's possible the Clan insisted on keeping some members back from the front as well, one of which had clearly since gone missing-nin and joined up with Orochimaru.

I could only focus on that now thanks to popping smoke tags. As we advanced, Platoon Saisu kept laying down smoke to cover us. It had worked well enough that our whole platoon had made it through the storm of Jutsu without losing a single member, even to those weird Crystal Release Jutsu, though I'd been forced to parry an incoming dart myself. That was more than could be said for Platoon Ebisu to our left, who'd lost a few people including Yajirobee, their second-in-command. He'd taken a crystal dart right through the eye, killing him outright. Fortunately, the fire from that firing port slackened off some and Gamabunta pasted it with oil and fire shortly afterward anyway.

I popped a fifth and final smoke tag, as Saisu, Kibagami, Shiori, Fang, and a few others did likewise. The plume of smoke thrown up from the tags should cover the remaining stretch of open ground on the way to the cliff face. As I ran, the telltale whoosh of an incoming fireball alerted me to someone from the firing ports shooting a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball) at us as we closed the last few steps. Sure enough, there was a hidden firing port overlooking the base of the cliffs, and a great fireball headed toward us.

"Kibagami! Suiton Jutsu now!" I called out.

"Right!" Shouted Kibagami as he went through the hand seals for an overpowered Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Bullet Technique).

Kibagami's water bullet punched into the center of the Great Fireball, popping it like a giant balloon from the sheer water pressure and covering the area in steam. For good measure, I fired off a spray of buckshot with the Kōton: Kōtetsu no Dangan (Steel Release: Steel Bullet) at where the firing port had been. The cry of pain that I got in response let me know that I managed to at least wound the caster.

Then we made it to the cliff face and began climbing up using Tree Climbing to help us do it with Chakra adhesion. As we made our way up and out of the mix of smoke and steam I looked to my right toward Platoon Geki where Lee was sent. I hoped he hadn't gone down to any of those attacks. I needn't have worried, however, since he seemed to be running up the cliff face just fine. I should've realized he wouldn't have gone down to long-ranged sniping like that. He looked over at me and I nodded at him.

"YOSH!" He shouted before pouring on steam and speeding ahead.

With a groan, I realized that I couldn't speed after him, since I was busy with the responsibilities of second-in-command of Platoon Saisu. Saisu himself chuckled as he ran next to me at my expression.

"Go on, I'll handle the platoon." He urged.

"Thanks. Lee isn't exactly the best at keeping out of trouble." I grunted before I put on a burst of speed and raced after Lee.

As I pulled ahead of the rest of the Companies, I looked to my left and spotted Naruto doing the same. The pair of us caught up with Lee shortly after, racing past a number of firing ports, only some of which had been hit by the toads. As I raced past two active firing ports, I slipped a pair of explosive tags in through the openings, racing past as they detonated and turned the Oto Nin inside into chunky salsa. Naruto did the same as he passed by one. Lee had gotten three on his way up with his own tags and was waiting for Naruto and I just below the Cliffside Entrance to the Target, standing on the cliff sideways with his chakra adhesion like a branch off a tree.

We caught up with him within a minute of demolishing the last firing port. Naruto was, being Naruto, not very amused by having to run to keep up with Lee. He voiced his displeasure loudly as we came to a halt.

"You know, you coulda waited for us, Dattebayo!" Demanded Naruto.

"Then it would not have been a test of our Flames of Youth, Naruto-Kun!" Insisted Lee.

"Not everything needs to be, Lee. After all, I'm pretty sure there's gonna be plenty of Oto Shinobi in the Fort to do that for us." I pointed out.

"That's a good point. Should we breach? Cause I really don't feel like waiting for those slowpokes to catch up." Queried Naruto.

"Do you think that's a good idea, knowing we're at war?" I asked.

"Whether it is or not, the enemy will not get any weaker by us standing here." Pointed out Lee.

"Well, that's me sold. Let's head in!" Grinned Naruto.

"Yosh! We shall break down the very gates of the enemy!" Exclaimed Lee.

"Great, let's just do it before they decide to counterattack." I grumbled.

And with that, the three of us hoisted ourselves onto the Cliffside Entry Ledge. Two, Bronze, Seal-scribed Gates barred our way into the fortress. Looking at the seals, I realized they weren't traps, they were just meant to reinforce the gates against attempts to knock them down with Jutsu. I told Naruto and Lee that, and on hearing that, Lee got a massive grin on his face.

"Yosh! Then we should not use Jutsu! I will break down the gates in a single blow!" Called out Lee.

He immediately opened the first three gates and lashed out with a flying double stomp of a dropkick. The gates of the fortress creaked on their hinges but remained standing. With a growl at not being able to make good on his promise, Lee hit them again. They creaked again but remained in place. It took two more hits with Naruto and I adding our own blows to Lee's to finally batter the gates down.

"Close your eyes!" I shouted, before lobbing a flash tag into the entryway. It went off in the middle of a group of eight Oto Shinobi who had been sent to reinforce the Gate, blinding them. I killed two with a pair of thrown Kunai, even as Naruto hit three with a casting of Futon: Kūki Dangan (Wind Release: Air Bullets) and Lee took out the last three with a Konoha Senpu (Leaf Whirlwind).

With the entryway clear of hostiles for now, I began my own jutsu, bulking out with the Oni no Karada no Jutsu (Ogre Body Technique) and turning my body to steel with the Kōton: Kōtetsu no Tai (Steel Release: Body of Steel), Naruto summoned a quartet of Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones), and Lee recovered spent Chakra with one of his bespoke Chakra Battery Tags. We finished our jutsu just in time for a bunch of Otogakure Shinobi to pour out of three of the branching tunnels and surround us on three sides.

One of them, a gray-eyed, purple-haired, breathing mask-wearing Shinobi stepped forward. Clearly used to being in charge, he looked at the three of us and scoffed.

"It's just a few brats! I'll handle them myself. The rest of you get ready to defend when the main force arrives." Sneered the Leader.

The enemy shinobi did so, going around us to form a line that cut us off from the rest of the companies coming up the cliff face behind us and leaving us to their leader. The Leader immediately began to go through a bunch of hand seals. Lee moved to stop him with the power of three gates and a Dynamic Entry, but his kick smashed through a pillar of smoke.

"Kemuri Bunshin (Smoke Clones)!" I exclaimed.

All at once, six more smoke clones dropped their jutsu, revealing them to have been waiting using the Meisagakure no Jutsu (Hiding in Camouflage Technique) and all six immediately began firing smoke at Naruto, his clones, and myself. I dodged the stream of smoke, Naruto almost did the same, the smoke latching onto Naruto's ankle like a rope. His four clones were completely bound up. Lee was also bound, the clone he dispelled used as a trap against him.

"Enmaku Rō (Binding Smoke Prison) complete. Partially anyway. You're faster than I thought you'd be for a kid." Came a voice from up one of the hallways.

I looked over to see another version of the Leader making his way out of the Hallway. Immediately, I tossed a Shuriken that he dodged instead of taking full-on, revealing him to be the real deal. I wasn't finished yet, though, going through hand seals to cast the Fuuton: Kaiten Shuriken (Wind Release: Rotating Shuriken). My thrown Shuriken made its way back around but the Leader dodged again.

"Neat trick, but you missed me." Smirked the Leader.

"I wasn't aiming for you." I retorted.

Immediately, my shuriken smashed through the smoke binding Lee, the wind chakra dispelling the prison, before continuing on to do the same for Naruto. As my impromptu teammates were freed, two things happened. First, the rest of the Companies began to arrive and attack the enemy shinobi holding the gates. Second, the Leader launched a trio of flames created from sparks that ignited when he snapped his fingers. That forced Naruto, Lee, and I to dodge, jumping away. I rebounded off the ceiling of the entryway, a self-aggrandizing mosaic of Orochimaru as Kage, and rocketed toward the Leader, drawing the Blade of Inoshishi-no-Kami from its storage scroll as I did. I lashed out in a slash that forced the Leader back into a punch from Lee that shattered the bones in his blocking arm. He stumbled back into a Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere) from Naruto even as his fireballs immolated Naruto's still trapped clones.

The Rasengan smashed into him and tore through the leather robe and the lamellar armor underneath bruising his ribs before the Leader was sent rocketing back into the wall, smashing into it and sending cracks spiderwebbing through the stonework.

"That's fucking teamwork, Dattebayo!" Exclaimed Naruto.

"Yosh! Truly that was quite youthful!" Agreed Lee.

"Uh, guys? He's getting up." I pointed out.

Naruto and Lee looked over to the wall to see that the Leader was, in fact, getting up as the black tattoos that denoted a level one curse seal began to spread across his frame. Instantly, his arm and ribs healed up, though I was fairly sure the regeneration wouldn't keep going like it would with a level two curse seal. I frowned and put away the blade of Inoshishi-no Kami before flashing through the Hand Seals for the Shiyoken (Four Witches). As a pair of extra arms sprouted from my shoulders, I turned to Naruto and Lee.

"Go help the others break through the defenders. I'll handle this guy." I intoned.

"You sure? He's got one of those freaky seal things." Questioned Naruto.

"I'm sure." I nodded.

"Yosh, Naruto-Kun! Let Choji have this! He needs to prove his Flames of Youth burn brighter than the Enemy's!" Intoned Lee.

Then they attacked into the rear of the enemy Shinobi's formation, leaving me to deal with whoever this Guy was that was leading the Oto-Nin's response to their gates being breached. He finished his regenerating and looked over at me with a smirk.

"Your friends abandoned you. Smart of them." Sneered the Leader.

"They just know I can handle you on my own." I responded.

"Cocky, huh? I see why Sensei wants to gut you. You pissed her off with those smoke tags and by parrying her Crystal Needle like that, you know." Huffed the Leader.

"Your Sensei, huh? I'll be sure to let her know you're dead when I see her if you'll give me your name?" I pressed.

"Heh, the balls on you. Fine, I'm Kigiri. No fancy clan name." Grinned the Leader, Kigiri.

"Akimichi Choji, remember it for when you get sent to Jigoku." I retorted.

And with that, the fight was on. . .

XXXX

Guren was busy organizing the defense. Oh sure, the enemy hadn't breached past the cliffside gates, and she'd already sent one of the trio of Shinobi she'd taken under her wing personally ever since being made Commander of Fort Copperhead to handle the defense of the Gate. That was no reason to sit on her, admittedly perfect, ass and wait for the enemy to seize the initiative, though.

The other two of her students were likewise leading contingents. Nurari, an Androgynous Suiton user with the Soft Physique Modification was currently handling the group that was waiting in ambush past the entrance hall, while Rinji, the Cocksure Bat-Controlling Soundwave-nin was handling things at the armory. That left Guren and her second-in-command, the Brutal, Mud-Using, Gozu to handle the reserves.

"Gozu, send a platoon to check on the topside gate. I don't think that the enemy will figure out that there's a path of attack through there, but it's better to be safe than sorry. We don't want to be stabbed in our asses, do we?" Ordered Guren.

"As you wish." Nodded Gozu as he began to make his way over to the milling troops in the reserve and bark orders.

Guren nodded. She'd been with Gozu for a long time, after all. Saved his life, in fact. He was more loyal to her than he was to Orochimaru-sama, something that Guren disapproved of. Still, she was Loyal to Orochimaru-sama, which meant that Gozu was loyal by proxy so it all worked out in the end. That's what she told herself, anyway.

"I wonder how Kigiri is doing?" Mused Guren.

She didn't have to wonder, actually. The seal packages that were worked into the important rooms of the Fort had surveillance seals bundled into them. She could simply head over to the security monitor here and hone in on the entry hall. She did just that and found the Akimichi that had ruined her fun earlier was fighting him.

"Interesting. I suppose I'll just have to avenge Kigiri if he snuffs it." Muttered Guren.

Not that she wasn't planning on engaging and massacring that Akimichi anyway for ruining her earlier fun with smoke tags and last-second parries, but it was the principle of the thing. Guren refused to allow an insult to stand, and if he killed Kigiri, that'd be two insults the Akimichi would have paid her. He was younger than she thought he'd be mind, but that wasn't really a problem for Guren. She'd killed kids younger than his apparent age before, after all.

Guren looked over to Gozu to see he'd badgered a platoon into formation and gotten them on the move. Good, maybe now she wouldn't feel like there was a chink in her defenses. Not that a platoon of these fools would be much use when Jiraiya of the Sannin was clearly among the enemy force. Orochimaru-sama was supreme in combat so Jiraiya had to be good himself if he was able to survive against Orochimaru-sama, after all. Yes, Guren would be keeping an eye on both entrances through the surveillance monitor.

It wouldn't do to let an opponent like that slip in unchallenged, after all. . .

XXXX

It turned out that Kigiri wasn't actually that good at Taijutsu. He seemed to be too used to being able to immobilize enemies with his clone traps and shooting fire and smoke from a distance. That honestly was pretty typical for Otogakure Shinobi, from my limited knowledge of and experience with them. They tended to overspecialize in a single method or range of combat. The curse seal was powering him up just enough to be able to avoid death in Taijutsu, but it wouldn't last.

Already, I'd cracked two of his ribs with a roundhouse kick and busted open his forehead with a cutting elbow that was now bleeding into his left eye. Behind me, Lee and Naruto were twin murderblenders going through the rear of the enemy formation. A platoon's worth of Oto-nin had already fallen and the remaining platoons were being sorely pressed from front and back even as they traded jutsu from afar with the approaching members of the main force.

That wasn't to say he hadn't gotten hits in of his own, the gouge in my cheek where he'd pulled a surprise, Katon Chakra Flow-enhanced, Kunai strike was a testament to that much. It was just that that was all he could do and so long as my body of steel was up and running, that caliber of attack wouldn't do more than crease my face.

"Surrender, it's only a matter of time before your men are done for." I intoned.

"Fuck you, brat!" Spat Kigiri.

"Your funeral, I'm done playing around. I'm gonna be ending this with the next exchange." I shrugged.

Kigiri immediately snapped his fingers and made a trio of hand seals as his fireballs shot for me. I dodged, launching myself into the air and bouncing off the wall to his left. He turned and I went through the hand seals with one pair of arms for the Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet) forcing him to fight fire with fire literally. A wall of flame interposed itself between Kigiri and I as the jutsu clashed, and I immediately launched a Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough) with my other hands that changed my direction mid-air.

Like a rocket, I was blasted to the right, bouncing off the floor to come at Kigiri from another angle, bypassing the conflagration. As I came in at him, I lashed out with a quartet of punches from all four arms, each of them enhanced with the Raigo: Susanoo no Ken (Welcoming Approach: Fist of Susanoo). He turned and threw up his arms to block two of the punches, only for his arms to break from the power of the Storm God thundering into them. My other two arms smashed into his chest and pulped it like a melon.

Kigiri collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, the power of the Cursed Seal doing nothing to save him from that. At the same time, the main force finally managed to break through the enemy defenders thanks to Naruto and Lee hitting them from the rear and the enemy being forced to abandon ninjutsu for hand-to-hand. I immediately powered off my various Jutsu and pulled a thermos out of one of my storage scrolls. I drained the Bala Matcha and grimaced at the taste, even as it refilled the lost chakra in my tank, and then I bandaged the superficially bleeding cut under my eye with an adhesive bandage from a storage scroll.

Once that was done, I made my way over to the fighting and pulled a Bo staff, cracking the skull of an Oto Shinobi that was trying to badger the broken enemy line back into some semblance of formation before parrying a ninjato strike from his deputy. A short thrust of the haft part of my Bo staff smashed the Ninjato-wielder's throat in and he fell choking on his own trachea as Naruto shoved a Rasengan into the side of a beefy Oto Shinobi who was using Doton: Iwa Yoroi (Earth Release: Rock Armor) to block hits from a member of Dango Company. Lee was a whirlwind as always, breaking the arms of an Oto Shinobi and bashing the skull of another with the Konoha Senpu.

It took all of five minutes for us to section off those Oto Shinobi still fighting into three separate pockets, with Platoon Saisu cutting off one, Platoon Geki another, and a Platoon from Dango Company sectioning off a third. I watched as Fang literally punched the face of an Oto Shinobi trying to break through our cordon in while Kibagami literally split another in half with a jumping, rising, slash. Saisu managed to set fire to two Oto-Nin even while parrying an attack from a third with his Kusarigama's sickle. Then Shiori put up a barrier that literally fried the next Oto-nin to try and break out to death with electricity and the fight pretty much went out of the rest of them.

Looking around, I saw that Mitarashi Anko had arrived to help out Dango Company, ensnaring several of the enemy with coiling snakes that bit down to inject lethal poison right into their bloodstreams. Over near Platoon Geki, I spotted Geki impaling an Oto Shinobi that attempted to break out on his Tekko-Kagi claws while he fired a Raiton: Raikyuu (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball) at another that shocked him into a smoking heap on the floor.

For a few moments, everything was tense, nobody knew if the Oto-nin would try to break out despite their losses. Then Jiriaya arrived with his command platoon from Toad Company and glared the Oto Shinobi into submission. One of them, a black-haired Woman in a gray top wearing the lamellar vest of a Chunin stepped forward.

"It looks like I'm the seniormost shinobi left. I'm surrendering to Jiraiya. Anyone who doesn't want to die might want to think about doing the same." Intoned the Woman.

That seemed to break the rest of the Oto Shinobi's spirits. The surrenders came hard and fast then and Jiraiya had to detail two whole platoons from Dango and Lance Companies just to watch the prisoners and keep the foothold in the base open. He made his way over to where I was standing next to Lee and Naruto.

"Looks like you Gaki actually managed to do a lot to secure us our entrance. I'm gonna be putting you lot up for commendations for that." Nodded Jiraiya.

"Yosh! Already we are on our way toward promotion!" Shouted Lee.

"Settle down, Gaki. You've only just gotten one." Chuckled Jiraiya.

"Lee's not wrong though, Ero-Sennin. If we keep kicking ass like this, we'll totally get promoted again, Dattebayo!" Exclaimed Naruto.

"No, he's not wrong. Just loud, especially when we're still in enemy territory. Operational security has merits of its own when it comes time to getting promoted, you know." Groused Jiraiya.

"What happens now that we have our foothold?" I queried.

"Well, how would you and Platoon Saisu like to head down one of these tunnels and see what's what?" Offered Jiraiya.

"Which one?" Asked Saisu, making his way over to the group.

"How about the right one? That ought to lead you to an armory if intelligence is right." Shot back Jiraiya.

"Sounds good." Nodded Saisu.

With that, our next assignment was set in stone. Saisu gathered up the rest of the platoon and together, we headed off down the rightmost tunnel toward the armory. I could only speculate that some of the intel from the Forward Operating Base had base schematics for this place and that's how Jiraiya knew. It seemed to be going all right, though, and conforming to said schematics.

There was just one thing I wasn't sure about, all the damned bats. What self-respecting shinobi lets bats into their secret underground base? I guess whoever was in command was a lot more lax than I'd ever thought possible when it came to pest control. It was probably nothing, though. I shrugged it off and didn't let it bother me as we made our way further down the tunnel. As it would turn out, I probably shouldn't have shrugged that off. We would wind up meeting another student of the mysterious Shōton user at the armory.

One who could use soundwaves to control bats. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the first part of the attack on Target One, also known as Fort Copperhead. It turns out, the snake theme of Orochimaru extends to his fortresses too. As to why Choji doesn't recognize Guren or any of her subordinates, that'd be because his memories cut off before they showed up in the anime, and as filler characters, they weren't part of the Manga.

You guys are lucky I had this one half-completed already by the time my aunt and cousin showed up because this much writing wouldn't have been doable with them here. Not in one sitting, at any rate. We're over seven-thousand words here, after all.

At any rate, the next chapter will be part two of the assault on Target One.

Stay tuned. . .