Chương 60: Flashback Intermission 2

Third Shinobi Warzone"Koto", Suna ANBU Squad-Leader The foremost virtue is motion. Motion was life. Motion was energy. Motion was victory. The principle applied to all things, but most especially to warfare. To remain still was to surrender movement, initiative, action to the enemy. Field Commander Ebizo understood this principle well, hence the nature of their deployments.

So long as Konoha and Iwa maintained their aggressive pushes into Suna-aligned territories, Suna would need to maintain a roaming defense of the entire north-eastern quadrant. Positions needed to be held, attackers fended off, defenders repositioned, and the next attacks defeated. Their numbers were not sufficient for a fully static defense, and neither was that the way of the ninja. That was the way of the samurai, of the footman, to hold and hide in fortresses.

To wage war as a ninja was to be fluid, and to sublimate motion. Constant motion required constant energy. The young were rarely able to maintain this pace for long. A three meter giant of wood crashed down upon the battlefield, kicking up waves of ash with a creaking of steel and groaning of plates. Koto landed soon after, waving his hand at his subordinates.

"Support the Weapon." He commanded firmly through his veiled features.

'Keizobo', 'Iju', and 'Masaki' gave a handseal to show affirmation, then leapt forwards to take positions around the wooden giant as it advanced. Koto watched them go for a moment, then turned his gaze down to the sand-filled trench he had landed next to.

"Thirty-seven C. Lizard Squad, you are hereby relieved of this position. Return to HQ for further orders from Field Commander Ebizo." A head poked its way out of the sand, then two more. Heads wearing the headbands of Suna. The sand fell from around them, pouring into tunnels beneath their feet and revealing a trio of ninja giving affirmative salutes.

"Thirty-seven J. ANBU, this position is in a precarious state. There's at least a dozen enemy ninja waiting for us on the other side of the ashfield. Abandoning it would mean to allow them to penetrate into our defenses-""No." He interrupted with a shake of his head. Distantly, a chorus of explosions rang out.

"My group will eliminate the enemy."

"Eliminate the enemy…" The team leader responded with a grimace and furrowed brows.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Koto grumbled, nodding briefly. This extended conversation was keeping him away from his team. Another series of explosions rang out, followed by the sounds of whistling needles and howling winds.

"Return for recuperation and redeployment. That's a direct order from the Field Commander."

"Aye." The team leader saluted with a frown.

"Our remaining supplies are here, good luck." He said, tossing a little scroll his way before signaling for his team to head out. They jumped out of the deep trench and away towards the south-west. Koto leapt forwards, towards the ensuing clash. It took a few moments to pass through the clouds of ash the wooden giant had left in the wake of its tremendous wind-fueled leaps. He emerged on the other and quickly spotted his team.

The shattered remains of earth walls were erected at scattered locations, discarded metal fragments were scattered around, and a handful of bodies littered the ashfield. There in the center, moving ponderously onwards with arms raised and salvos of random metal fragments launching at a steady pace, was the wooden giant. Its vaguely egg shaped body suspended on thick clawed limbs, and its face was a heavy demon mask. It grinned, twisting erratically to bombard hastily-erected defenses.

"What the hell is that?!"

"Keep harassing it, don't let it pin you!"

"The Suna ANBU are here- we can't get a steady shot- gah!" Koto jumped again, hand flashing and a trio of kunai flying through the air, down behind an earthen wall. The pair of konoha ninja behind said cover were competent enough to notice and leap away. Exposing themselves in front of the wooden giant was their last mistake. A four-stream salvo of random metal shrapnel came flying out. Before they had even landed they were forced to defend themselves again, kunais raised to block.

"Wind Release: Air Cutter." Masaki calmly finished her hand seals, a wave of slicing wind catching both of the exposed and pinned Konoha ninja. The blade bifurcated them, sending their halves down to the ground. A moment later, the halves burst into smoke to reveal chopped wooden logs. A substitution.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball!" A roar came from their flank, a ninja of Konoha with black hair exhaling a great wave of incinerating flame. They wouldn't have time to counter normally, forcing them to dodge. They wouldn't need to. Koto lined up an attack, sheathing a kunai in violent wind chakras, and allowed the fireball to draw closer. A soft voice called out from inside the wooden giant, barely audible over the violence of the battlefield.

"Fire Eater Seal." A conical spiral of bright green chakra exploded out from the wooden giant's eyes, catching the incoming fireball and drinking it, fire rapidly diminishing as it was sucked into a pair of glowing seals in the giant's pupils.

"What the-!" The black-haired enemy didn't have time to finish, as Koto's hurled kunai punched through his neck and sailed into the distance. He staggered, falling limp with the severing of his spine, making a puff of ash with his fall. The eyes of the wooden giant slid closed as the last of the fire was devoured within.

"It can negate our fire ninjutsu! Retrieve the bodies and retreat!" A strong voice called from the hazy distance. The wooden giant turned to the noise, spinning on its pelvis. Its jaw clicked open, revealing a glimpse of a small figure inside, little hands flashing through seals. The Suna ANBU jumped up and back, away from the direction and defensively around the giant wooden puppet. Koto made his own handseals.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." The small, soft voice forced out. A great column of wind poured out of the wooden giant's open maw and rushed towards the enemy. The eyes of the mask opened again. A torrent of flame spilled out, unleashed back at the enemy. The flame set the winds alight, and the strong, wide gust of wind was suddenly turned into a great beam of white flames. Koto finished his handseals.

"Wind Release: Sandstorm Wind Wall." The beam of fire suddenly strengthened again, and widened considerably. A wall of blazing fire that made his front bake and his back frigid. Like opening a furnace door, the horizon before them turned into hot, hateful sunfire. The blaze roared loudly enough that the screams of dying enemies could scarcely be heard over it. They held their positions for a few long, stiff moments after. Silent and tense as they awaited any indication that the enemy was still alive.

The fire died down slowly, revealing a wide, long section of ashfield that was simply charred slag.

"Clear." Masaki said from her side.

"Clear." Keizobo repeated.

"Clear." Iju finished. Koto maintained his own watch for several tense seconds longer, before slowly nodding.

"Clear. Fan out and retrieve everything." His team scattered. He turned to the wooden giant and nodded towards it.

"Chunin, you are free to repair and rearm." The wooden giant fell back into a limp seated position, maw still open, and the little figure crawled out. Tan robes, wooden sandals, and a straw hat. His brown hair was sticky and limp with sweat, and his eyes were ringed with exhaustion. Priority escort Chunin Ryoma. Up and coming puppeteer. Connections to MIA Sasori of the Red Sands. Pilot of the 'Wood Dragoon' mass-combat puppet. Ryoma was young, and the youth had little in the way of stamina for war.

Ryoma immediately staggered, legs shaky from disuse, then shook himself and retrieved a series of scrolls from his crumbled satchel. He began to mutter, strings of flickery green chakra extending from his fingertips and making various components of the wooden giant dissemble themselves. Seals and compartments were revealed, and he began to transfer scraps of metal from his bag-scrolls into the storage sections of his puppet.

An explosion in the distance caught his attention, he immediately swiveled, turning to the source.

"Keizobo!" Iju called out, worriedly. Masaki moved forwards to investigate, disappearing into the cloud of ash. Koto held his position near the priority-escort, kunai raised defensively. Ryoma had flinched harshly, diving into cover behind the great frame of his wooden giant. Strings made it rise into a suddenly-ready position, the puppet coming to life ready to defend its master.

"... Man down." Masaki called out, moving out from the smoke and carrying two corpses with her. A small fire shouldered behind her, and she placed the corpse near Koto's feet. Keizobo, legs blown off and only stumps near the hips remaining, coughed up at him.

"S-shit…" He groaned.

"Two-layered self destruction seal…" Koto crouched near him, eyes scanning to inspect the damages. High levels of heat-based damage all across the torso and arms, legs gone below the hips, bleeding already slowed, face undamaged.

"You'll survive." If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"But my career is over, isn't it...?" Keizobo groaned out beneath a white veil. He leaned his head back, suppressing a writhe of pain. The stumps where his legs used to be rose up, holding an upwards position and staunching the bleeding further.

"That bastard… ugh…" Koto nodded sadly. Keizobo looked up at him, squinting through the pain he was in, before glaring and growling to the sky above.

"Damnit… Losing at the very end huh? What a cheap trick."

"You didn't lose." Koto declared, withdrawing a medical kit and crouching near the injured comrade.

"They're dead. You have achieved victory for Sunagakure on this day." With that, he ripped away the slag that was Keizobo's old pants. Keizobo clenched his jaw in agony as his wounds were freshly opened, but his training let him hold in the screams. Exposed, bloody scraps of flesh clung erratically to the stumps. Koto layered his hand in cutting wind chakra, and got to work. Keizobo's jaw clenched the entire time, muffled screams and stifled thrashes as Koto cleaned and patched his wounds.

"I will be done in ten minutes. We move out by then." Koto calmly ordered, turning to glance at Chunin Ryoma. His face was unreadable, distant, and entirely too tired. He was barely standing. Koto maintained the look for a few seconds, then turned back to the injured, slightly-thrashing Keizobo.

"Masaki, you are to carry the priority escort to the next battlefield."

"Affirmative, Koto." Koto continued his work quietly, eventually coming to a satisfactory stopping point and pulling back, storing his medical supplies away again. As he did, he relayed orders to his injured comrade.

"Ninja Keizobo. We found you on the battlefield. You were not a member of the Sunagakure ANBU at any point. You are to resume your normal identity effective immediately." It was the current official policy to minimize all losses suffered by the ANBU as thoroughly as possible. The staggeringly low number of reported deaths or injuries in their division helped to maintain morale for the common ninja. Keizobo let out a staggered wheeze, before nodding, reaching up to remove his white veil with a pained grin.

"Thanks for picking me up, ANBU. I'm glad our best haven't suffered any issues in this war." Masaki knelt, removing the white veil from his hands gently.

"Shame my squad didn't make it."

"We will avenge them, Chunin Ren." Koto replied with a calm and steady tone. Wounds patched, he hoisted the injured ninja up and slung him across his shoulders. He glanced over to Chunin Ryoma, who was being quietly ordered by Masaki to store his things again. The young ninja's tired mind went through the motions, and practically fell into her arms afterwards.

"... He can sleep along the way." Koto muttered quietly, turning his attention to their next battlefield-objective.

"Move gently." Iju sealed away everything taken from the battlefield, turning to him and giving a slight nod. And with that, they leapt again, disappearing from one ash-covered killing field and heading for the next. — Another enemy screamed as the wooden giant's clawed hand slammed into them, smashing both against a broad oak tree with a meaty, wet impact. The claw clamped down around the enemy's torso, immediately beginning to wind back and drag the target with it.

A flash of white passed through, severing the line with one heavy chop and leaving away again as shuriken chased. Another enemy saving the first from being reeled in and brutalized further.

"Don't let it pin you!" Koto grit his teeth, kunai crossed to block the heavy blade of his own enemy. A white-masked figure with the symbol of Iwa emblazoned across his vest. Their sword twisted and swiped again, forcing him to back up and adjust his block. All around him, the violence rang out in the night. A screaming red glare cast over the battlefield from the wooden giant's back-mounted launcher.

"Koto!" Masaki called out, twisting around a sturdy oak to avoid her own attacker- a rolling tendril of rock following after her with hateful intent. Koto shifted, blocking another rapid swipe. He lashed out with a kick, smashing the enemy away and finally making space enough to call out an order.

"Dragoon! Deploy Umbrella!" The wooden giant shifted, whiplike cable twisting to swipe at the legs of a massive man. The man simply hopped, stance shifting to palm-strike down at the massive puppet. The umbrella was deployed as ordered regardless, sending a spiraling fan high into the air above. Iju smashed into the attacker's side with a furious tackle, sending both of them tumbling to the ground a short distance away. They wouldn't be able to dodge in time.

Koto leapt back, disappearing behind a trunk just in time for waves of poisoned senbon to shower down upon the field. Everything within a hundred feet of the wooden giant was perforated with dozens of foot-long needles, some of which were still dripping with strong poisons. Iju and the hopping attacker were riddled with steel, and were motionless afterwards. Koto moved out, leaping forwards and clashing knives with the white-masked ninja, interrupting a heavy charge towards the giant.

"Your opponent is me!" Koto growled, kunai igniting with clawing winds. The white mask smashed a knee into his gut. Koto doubled over, soaring through the air and smashing into a distant trunk. The battlefield blurred and sounds grew fuzzy, but he maintained just enough presence of mind to tumble to the side and out of the way of a heavy chop that scored the bark. The white mask stepped forwards to swing, but was forced to abort his attack, sword flashing to side to send away a hail of steel fragments.

Koto threw his kunai, layered with furious winds. The white mask was forced to jump. Another salvo of random metal fragments followed. Time slowed as Koto saw the hissing explosive tag attached to last shot. He threw himself back. White mask moved his sword to block again- The explosion engulfed him, and Koto was showered in a spray of messy gore. He flipped around, vision swimming, trying to steady himself again.

A wave of churning earth covered the field, engulfing the wooden giant's legs and sending it tumbling to the ground. Koto's hand flashed, sending his weapons flying towards a heavy ninja at the edge of their battlefield, his hands clamped on the ground. The heavy ninja lifted his hands, forced to abort his jutsu, and jumped away to dodge- Falling right into the path of Masaki's blade of wind. The bifurcated halves of the Iwa ninja tumbled to the ground messily.

Koto jumped forwards, towards the wooden giant in the middle of the field of churned earth and arms raised defensively. Masaki joined him a moment later, breathing heavily and blood trailing down her forehead. The wooden giant was on its back, half-buried in the earth. He crouched next to it, tapping it lightly on the side while keeping his jumbled awareness on their surroundings. The pattern of taps was returned a moment later, the wooden giant's arm clawing in an attempt to pull itself out of the ground.

The limb shook violently, then snapped out of place with a loud ringing of steel and dull thud of wood. The torso slumped back to the ground heavily, and remained motionless for a few moments.

"... Clear." Masaki said. They waited for Iju to repeat for several long seconds. No sound came. Koto looked around the churned earth, but could not see any body. He closed his eyes.

"Clear." He said with a low and heavy voice. The heavy mask of the toppled puppet slid open. Chunin Ryoma crawled out, straw hat now crumpled, covered in bruises, drying blood, and reeking of sweat. He pulled out, falling out the side of the giant puppet and landing heavily on the ground. He stayed there for a few moments, before pushing up and turning to stare blankly at his fallen puppet.

"... Are you harmed, Chunin Ryoma?" Koto asked bluntly.

"... I won, right?" He asked faintly, distantly. Koto pulled back, staring down at the young ninja with silent observation. The young ninja pushed up from his kneeling position, unsteadily standing up to his feet.

"I won. I'm alive and they're dead, so that means I won. That's what you said." Koto turned his gaze from the back of the young puppeteer's head.

"... That's right."

"I won. I'm alive so I won…" Ryoma continued to repeat, voice drained. Masaki stepped forwards, crouching before the young ninja. He turned to her with a motion as ponderous as his now-fallen wooden giant. She reached into her vest and withdrew Keizobo's white veil. She glanced up at him. Koto considered it for a moment, then gave a brief nod. The circumstances were acceptable. She tied it up around the lower face of the young puppeteer.

"You'll need this." She said softly. The veil and mask made it significantly harder to read the young ninja's expression. That was good. All that could be seen was his slumped shoulders and shaking limbs. Koto reached into his pocket and offered the young ninja another chakra-pill, judging that he'd need the energy more than Koto would.

"Retrive everything from the field. We return for repairs and unit replenishment, then deploy again." Motion was the key. They just had to keep moving.