Currently, Ganryu and the other Mist unit had taken out all the watch towers that they had been warned about in the debrief back in the hidden Waterfall. They had not only been able to capture and decommission all of the siege towers held by the Stone, but they had also been able to do it without losing a single man, something Ganryu was proud of as they charged forwards to their muster point.
"Looks like we are the first to arrive, Haku said, not seeing or sensing anyone else in the area as they arrived at the checkpoint, taking a moment to scan the area around them.
"Do you think the other squads ran into trouble?" Rokuro asked.
"Possible," Kimimaro replied, knowing that was the reason they split in three different directions in the first place.
"Somethings not right," Ganryu said, getting an agreeing nod from Kogetsu who was thinking the same thing.
"They should have been here before us," Kogetsu said, seeing that they had drawn the short straw and been given the task of taking out the watch towers.
"Yeah, they must have run into the enemy," Ganryu said, having a bad feeling about this mission.
"Regardless of that, our mission is to capture this outpost, with or without the help of the other units," Ganryu then said, remembering what Fuyōna had told him of the importance of this mission.
The others in the unit nodded as they listened to Ganryu's words, understanding there was no going back.
"Very well, from this moment on. It looks like we are on our own." Ganryu said, letting the weight of his words sink in for a moment before he looked ahead.
With that Ganryu led the mist unit toward their objective, heading another mile toward where the camp was located.
Kimimaro could tell that everyone was worried, already knowing that it was a suicide mission from the briefing they got involving the details.
But they also knew that this had to be done, with the success of this very mission resting on the possible outcome of the war.
Haku could also see the look on Rokuro and the other's faces, knowing that they might just not make it to the end of this mission.
"Don't worry everyone. We won't die." Haku said, giving them a reassuring smile, trying to put them at ease a little.
"Whatever, if you die you only have your own ability to blame," Hattori said, not caring about the wellbeing of the others in the slightest.
"Yeah well, maybe you will be the one who doesn't make it and the rest of us will," Chika said, hating Hattoris no fucks given attitude.
"Whatever, just don't get in my way," Hattori said, turning away from the group before he pressed forwards.
"That guy never changes," Kujira said, wondering why he was the way he was.
Yuri didn't say anything and simply followed him, only giving the slightest nod of her head to Haku.
Haku simply smiled, already knowing that was her way of apologising for Hattori, even if she never said it.
"We are coming up on our destination, everyone be ready," Kimimaro said, getting all of their attention.
"Yeah." They all replied, getting their game faces on.
Ganryu and the other Mist ninja arrived at the outskirts of the supply camp, with Ganryu raising his hand as a sign for everyone to halt and wait for further orders.
Ganryu and Kogetsu scoped the situation out, seeing that the place was filled with Shinobi and civilians alike, acting as a large base camp for supplying the front lines, but from what Ganryu could see, it was also a medical recovery base, helping to get wounded shinobi back up and running so they could be sent out to fight again.
"There must be over 500 men and women here..." Kogetsu said, not having realised just how big this camp would be.
"It's more like a small village," Ganryu said as he looked through his small scope, allowing him to get a better view.
Ganryu knew that out of the potential 500 people here, there were only 200 able-bodied men who could actually fight. But that was still a problem considering they only had 20 men themselves.
"We are outnumbered over ten to one," Kogetsu said, knowing they didn't stand a chance.
"I can see that..." Ganryu said, knowing that he had no choice but to do what Fuyōna told him to do as a last resort.
"Kimimaro..." Ganryu said, calling over to the boy and causing everyone to fix their attention on him.
"Yes, sir?" Kimimaro asked without hesitation.
"The time has come for you to unleash your power," Ganryu said, knowing what he was asking was not an easy thing.
Kimimaro understood the situation right away, knowing that he would have to use Isobu's power if they wanted this mission to be a success.
"Are you ready?" Ganryu asked.
"I have enough control to see this through," Kimimaro replied, remembering his training with his father.
"Ok... We will leave it up to you." Ganryu said as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
Hattori could see that Ganryu was entrusting everything to Kimimaro, hating that very fact and not being able to get angry at the lack of his own power.
Why him..." Hattori said to himself, clenching his fist and biting his tongue.
Kimimaro nodded his head before he turned around to look at the large camp. He knew that there were civilians there too. But he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, knowing that this was war, and he would do anything to bring peace to the Mist village, just as Fuyōna had done.
-----
"Summoning jutsu, fang pursuit jutsu!" Kakashi yelled, slapping his hand onto the ground before a cloud of white smoke burst from the area.
8 ninja hounds appeared out of the smoke each being a different bread of dog, however, all wearing the same blue jacket and Leaf headband.
"What's the job boss?" Pakkun, a small pug said, looking at his master, seeing he looked a little worse for ware.
"I need you to track the owner of this blood," Kakashi said, showing them his sleeve.
"Right," Pakkun said, getting two of the other dogs to sniff Kakashi's arm.
"We have a scent." One of them said, sniffing the ground.
"Good, take me to it," Kakashi said, having a serious look on his face.
"You aren't seriously going to go after that guy are you?" One of the Waterfall ninja asked.
Kakashi stopped and turned around to look at him, giving him a death glare.
"I just watched that murderer kill all of my subordinates one by one, there is no way I am letting him get away with that," Kakashi said, clearly angry.
"Now get out of my way," Kakashi said before turning to his ninja hounds for them to lead the way, walking away from the remaining Waterfall ninja.
Meanwhile, Hisen and the other group were still doing their best to fight off Kakuzu, but things were not looking good for them.
Kakuzu had entered into his medium-range mode, allowing his limbs to grow so he could keep Hisen at a distance after he had been able to land a killing blow on him once already, not wanting to take any chances.
Both the fire mask and the wind-masked beasts were also still flying around shooting jutsu at the remaining Waterfall and Leaf shinobi, with Iseto having taken out the water mask and the lightning mask having merged back with Kakuzu's body to keep him alive. That left only three hearts left for Kakuzu, something Hisen took note of.
"Now what will you do?" Kakuzu said, watching Hisen carefully.
Hisen could tell that Kakuzu was much more dangerous in this form, knowing he would have to be extremely careful when attacking him now.
Time to test the water... Hisen thought as he slapped his hands together to form the hand signs.
"Water style, high-pressure stream!" Hisen yelled, expelling a concentrated blast of water from his mouth, aiming to try and cut Kakuzu in half with it.
Kakuzu was quick to dodge the attack, using the stitching from his body to push and move across the ground like extra limbs while the water style blasted past him, cutting through the trees behind Kakuzu with ease.
"Is that all you've got!" kakuzu yelled, attacking with his stitching as he pinned Hisen to the ground, slamming him into it.
"Your heart is mine," Kakuzu said, letting his stitching rip into Hisen's body in an attempt to steal his beating heart from his chest.
However, Hisen's body burst into water, revealing that it was only a clone.
"A water clone?" Kakuzu said, scanning the area to try and find where Hisen was hiding.
Darn, it... I can't get close to him like that. Hisen thought as he hid in the shadow of a tree, keeping his back pressed against it.
"If you won't come out, then I'll flush you out like a rat!" Kakuzu shouted as he let the lighting mask beast protrude from his shoulder, opening its mouth before blasting a powerful lightning jutsu that ripped the terrain away in an attempt to draw Hisen out.
"Oh shit, not much time!" Hisen said, seeing that the next blast was going to hit the direction he was hiding in, forcing him to dash out of his hiding place and into the light.
"There you are!" Kakuzu yelled, shooting his stitching out after him, trying to snatch him while he was still in the air.
Hisen quickly dodged one set of the wires and flipped through the air, blasting a quick burst of wind style from his mouth to propel him out of the way before he hit the ground and did a roll to disperse the impact.l, skidding across the ground.
"You won't get away so easily!" Kakuzu shouted as he shot a blast of lightning style from the masked creature on his shoulder.
Hisen placed his hands together, creating two water clones from the puddles around them before he used both of them to shoot a combined wind and water style to block the lightning-style attack.
"Water vortex!"
The large blast of water was enough to stop the lightning blast, creating a large and dense layer of smoke to cover their battlefield, giving Hisen a little time to take cover and think of a plan.
However, on the other side of their fight, both the wind and fire masks were doing a lot of damage, killing one after the other of the Leaf and Waterfall ninja who were trying to fight them.
"We have to stop them things at all costs before they kill any more of our forces!" One of the leaders of the Waterfall ninja said, seeing that too many had been killed already.
"If we can hit a combined water style on the fire one we can trap it and kill it!" Another shouted, getting an agreeing nod from the others.
The fire mask was shooting small concentrated blasts of fire, seeming to keep everyone at a good range, not allowing them to get close to it.
"Now!" The Waterfall commander shouted, getting a group of ten to suddenly surround the creature as they charged it.
However, the mask beasts were not so easy to tackle that it would fall too close range combat.
The Waterfall ninja surrounded it on all sides in a circle, drawing their sword as they charged.
The masked monster quickly let its body bust open, sending thick stitching toward each of the ninjas, attacking all of them at the same time.
"Look out!" One of them yelled, being able to block the attack with his sword, seeing that only two had been killed by its counterattack.
"Don't let it get away!" The commander yelled, watching as the monster changed its form, slivering across the ground before it formed a large O-ring with its body, trying to trap them inside as it tightened its grip around them, opening its jaws as it was about to blast them all to hell.
"What the hell is this thing!" One of the waterfall ninjas yelled as he tried to cut it with his sword, having no luck.
"Take this!" The commander yelled, letting lightning-style flow through his blade, slicing right through the monster's body, causing it to screech in pain.
"Now, water-style piercing bullet!" Three of the others yelled, shooting concentrated blasts of water from their mouths, punching holes through the monster's body before its mask broke into pieces, dropping to the ground.
"We did it!" They cheered, having defeated the monster.
"Just one left." The waterfall commander said before he looked over to where Hisen was battling Kakuzu, knowing they needed to go and help him before it was too late.
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That's the end of this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it!
Thank you all for supporting the story, it means a lot to me.
I hope you all have a great day.