Chapter 50- The Wind begins to blow
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Prior to the mission start, Domaru, Hikaru, and the rest of their team introduced themselves to each other while enumerating their skills and specialties. Besides the 2 chuunin from the Uchiha clan in their group of 12, the other 10 ninja were dreading the upcoming mission.
They all recognized that they were assaulting a numerically superior force who also had the defensive advantage in an entrenched position. To even make it through this mission while staying alive would be heavenly good fortune.
One of the jonin was a main family Hyuga and had simply introduced himself as Hyuga-taicho while the other jonin was from the Sarutobi family. Several of the chuunin were from various Konoha clans to include the Inuzuka and Aburame, but Domaru was the only Akimichi. The other chuunin were either from civilian families or ninja families to small to be considered clans.
Hyuga-taicho, after everyone had made their introductions, started to go over battle strategy and mission objectives.
The assault would be such in name only. It was more like a hit and run than anything else. The two Uchiha, being fire ninjutsu specialists actually played a mission critical role. They would be in charge of bombarding the enemy positions with ninjutsu along with Jonin Sarutobi. They would have enough time to cast two or three jutsu each, but they would retreat immediately after with the rest of the team.
One of the ninja from the civilian families was an earth specialist with subspecialist training in demolitions, and should they encounter any infrastructure, he would responsible for weakening structures and setting off explosive tags to destroy them.
The rest of the 12 member squad, to include Hyuga-Taicho, Domaru, Hikaru, and the other chuunin were only their provide support and to defend the ninjutsu specialists, getting them in range and protecting them as they cast their jutsu.
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The day of the attack, the team set out before the sun rose, aiming to arrive at the Valley of the End before dawn. Should everything go perfectly, their assault would take place a few minutes after sunrise, and they would be coming in from the east, with the sun at their backs, discouraging any counterattacks.
Four other teams of 12 were assigned to similar tasks, and all in all, only 50 Konoha shinobi would be attacking the Kumo encampment at the Valley of the End directly. The other Konoha ninja would be creating havoc and chaos with intense skirmishing everywhere else along the front lines.
The Hyuga that captained the team ran point with his Byakugan active the entire time, scouting for enemies. The Aburame and Inuzuka were flanking him and trailing by a few yards and also on alert.
As the team progressed closer and closer to the Valley of the End, their anxiety only increased more and more. They had expected to meet at least a token resistance, whether it be scouting parties or random patrols.
They encountered no one, and everyone but the Uchiha were feeling a growing pit of discomfort in their guts. The Uchiha, with only revenge on their mind, were not concerned with such trivialities.
The Team arrived at the predestined spot from which they had a somewhat restricted, but ultimately well hidden, point of vantage over the Valley of the End. The sense of unease in everyone's mind only grew larger, as they expected to see a much larger encampment, representing the bulk of Kumo forces, but the camp at the Valley of the End might've only had a hundred shinobi there.
As the team waited for the planned time of attack, the Aburame chuunin held out his hand, upon which a single kikaichu landed. The insect walked and danced across his palm, and after about thirty seconds, the Aburame gathered the attention of Hyuga-taicho and flashed a series of fast Konoha sign language words at his team leader.
Hyuga-taicho flashed a few back and the two were in a silent conversation for a few more moments. Soon after though, Hyuga-taicho gathered the attention of the rest of the group and started communicating his orders in stilted sign language.
Assault not as plan. Enemy less than expected.
Environment different from intelligence. Proceed with caution.
Mission Objective changed.
1 Ninjutsu from each designated.
Hyuga-taicho then pointed individually to the 2 Uchiha, Sarutobi, and demolitions expert.
Immediate retreat following ninjutsu.
Confirm order change back.
The team captain then made eye contact with each of his 11 ninja subordinates as they signed Orders Acknowledged back to him. Though the two Uchiha did it with a scowl, it seemed like they would still fall in line with military hierarchy. Hikaru and Domaru, the youngest and least experienced of the group almost fumbled the intricate Konoha Battlefield Sign Language, but they had been rapidly improving as their time out in the field increased.
The team assembled into its wedge formation. The two Jonin, Hyuga and Sarutobi would take point, with the two Uchiha directly behind them.
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Flanking the Uchiha to either side, creating a wedge formation would be most of the chuunin. Hikaru and Domaru would be behind the 2 Uchiha, which was the safest position for the newly promoted ninja.
A few minutes after sunrise, the team waited for the agreed upon signal. They would coordinate their attack with the other four teams, each initiating their attacks at the same time.
Each of the teams had been assigned at least one Hyuga. That Hyuga would be responsible for looking towards the sky for a hawk summon. The summon would fly several hundred yards above the battlefield, and only when it performed a figure eight would the assault begin.
Hyuga-taicho had no need to directly look at the bird since his Byakugan was active, and the bird was naturally captured within his 360 degree view, and when the hawk finally made the signal, he and his team burst forth from their hiding place and raced towards the Kumogakure encampment. The other four teams similarly burst from cover at the same time.
The Kumogakure Ninja instantly noticed the assault and fired off signal flares and raised the alarms. They were a little too slow to maneuver however. In a scant 15 seconds, the Konoha teams had gotten within range of the opposing camp, and started firing off their jutsu.
Jonin Sarutobi quickly flew through about a dozen handseals before spewing a giant cloud of ash colored powder from his mouth that drifted into the Kumogakure camp on the wind.
The two Uchiha both prepared their giant fireball jutsu at the same time that the demolition specialist flew through some handseals of his own.
Ass soon as the fireballs left the mouths of the Uchiha and raced towards the giant cloud of gunpowder that the Sarutobi had created, the demolitions expert slammed his hands into the ground, and a giant rock wall erupted from the earth shielding the team from the massive explosion that hit part of the Kumogakure camp.
The team didn't wait around to see the results of their handiwork, and they started running away even as the fires still burned and some of the other Konoha teams were launching further volleys of jutsu at the enemies.
In less than a minute, the team had attacked and retreated, suffering no casualties, and inflicting at least a few if the screams coming from the Kumo camp were anything to judge by.
After about 15 minutes of fast paced evasion, the team had traveled many miles and found themselves in a somewhat safe and defensible spot. They took a quick break to catch their breath as Hyuga-taicho debriefed the team.
"The mission was executed flawlessly. However, we are now in the long and difficult part of the mission which is our retreat. We have certain rendezvous areas we should aim for by certain dates and times, but the main forces will not hold up for us, and should we fall behind, we will be acting independently with the mission objective of returning to Konoha or the nearest fortification and awaiting further orders.
Any questions?"
As soon as the words left his mouth though, no one was able to respond before a kunai with a burning tag attached to it landed in the middle of the group and every Konoha ninja scrambled for cover before the resulting explosion hit.
Hikaru and Domaru, still hyped up on adrenaline from the assault were the quickest to react besides the two jonin in their team and were able to substitute themselves away into cover in the trees.
One of the Uchiha was also fast enough to substitute, but the other, along with most of the chuunin were not. They tried to leap backwards, not having enough time for a jutsu, but they were caught in the resulting shrapnel and explosion.
Popping out from the ground were four Kumo ninja, who immediately charged into to engage the Konoha ninja.
Behind them, from a bit further out, came another four Kumo ninja.
Sarutobi quickly reappeared to engage the first four, while Hyuga-taicho attacked the other four.
Sarutobi's first jutsu was another ash cloud jutsu, this one much smaller than the one he had launched previously, and as soon as the jutsu ended, hit bit down sharply with his teeth, sparking and igniting the cloud with a flint in his mouth, immediately killing two of the Kumo shinobi. The other two were toppled by the explosion and launched a few yards. One of them fell to his knees, and as he got back up, Sarutobi took advantage of that by throwing a kunai into the back of his head. The other one, who didn't lose his footing, unsheathed his sword and charged at Sarutobi, who blocked his attack with a pair of crossed kunai, one in either hand.
A quick flurry of blows were exchanged between the two, the Kumo-nin attacking wildly and desperately, while Sarutobi simply evaded or deflected the blows as he quietly maneuvered around the kumo-nin and corralled him towards a nearby tree.
As the Kumo-nin unknowingly retreated, he got closer and closer to the specific tree that Sarutobi was aiming for.
The Kumo ninja suddenly felt two presences above him as both Domaru and Hikaru jumped down onto him with Kunais drawn, preparing to stab him, aiming for the gap between the collarbone and shoulder blade, to sever the subclavian artery and vein, causing near instant death.
The Kumo nin instinctually reacted to the threat and repositioned his sword a fraction of an inch before he caught himself, but that was all the opportunity that Sarutobi needed, and in that slight moment of distraction, he threw one of his kunai at the Kumo ninja, and caught the man in the eye, instantly killing him.
The other group of four Kumo ninja were already dead, lying within ten feet of Hyuga-taicho, who was still in his Gentle Fist stance. As he slowly eased out of his stance, he called out to what remained of his squad.
"Reform!"
Sarutobi, Hikaru, Domaru, and one of the Uchiha were the only ones to answer his call and form up around him in a defensive position.
Sarutobi broke the silence before it could settle over them.
"What the hell just happened? How did we not detect them?"
Hyuga-taicho shook his head.
"It was one of their Chuunin Hunter Killer Squads, and they were hiding underground. My Byakugan never saw them
I guess that answers the question of what Iwa had to give up to buy peace with Kumo following the Kannabi Bridge loss.
Iwa must've surrendered their Hiding in Stone Jutsu."
He then turned his attention to the three chuunin.
"How the hell did you three survive the ambush? You'd have to be at least tokubetsu jonin level for it to be probable."
The Uchiha answered first.
"I still had my Sharingan Active, so I was able to react fast enough."
Hikaru and Domaru just looked at each other. Hikaru spoke up for the both of them.
"We're coming straight out of the academy, we've been focusing on substitution jutsus for the last year, and the genin corp training we had before coming out into the field also heavily focused on instinctual casting of that jutsu."
Sarutobi nodded.
"Well thank whoever made you do that because if you thought or hesitated for even a split second, you'd be dead."
Hyuga-taicho interrupted as he handed out several pieces of paper.
"It isn't safe here. These are cremation seals. We don't have time to bury our comrades. Take a personal memento from each after refilling any tactical supplies you may need, then burn them. We'll put their names on the memorial stone later, but we've got no time for now."
Wordlessly, Hyuga-taicho, Sarutobi, and the Uchiha clansman started on the task of handling the remains of the fallen, but Hikaru and Domaru stood there stunned for a second. It was too abrupt, too callous for them. They had been fighting for their lives only 30 seconds ago, and they already had orders without anytime to process or reflect. Maybe it was not having enough time to think about it helped keep them sane, but after another moment of hesitation, they went about their dirty business.
They didn't notice the Uchiha clansmen shedding silent tears and growing his third tomoe as he activated the cremation tag he had personally attached to his cousin.
Hyuga-taicho and Sarutobi then spent another 30 seconds searching the remains of the Kumo nin for intelligence, but found nothing.
The surviving 5 Konoha shinobi then disappeared, running off in a different direction, leaving only the scars of the battlefield and bodies of their enemies.
It had been two minutes since the ambush started, and they were already gone. The life and death of a shinobi is always a flash in the pan.