Waking up by being dropped on the ground is not at all pleasant.
It's like when you wake up with a start, thinking you're falling, except you actually are falling, onto the cold hard ground.
"ow."
"get up six, were here."
Remembering what's going on and where I am, I shoot to my feet, scanning my surroundings to understand what I've missed.
Other than the trees being thinner, nothing much looks different, I nod towards Bear to inform him of my cognisance.
Nodding back, he turns forward and we are once again moving in proper formation, Monkey in front Bear and Hound on the sides, and me a step behind.
We don't move for long before we come across a pair of Konoha-nin who lead us to a bunker entrance that I am not even slightly ashamed to say I never would have noticed.
The two lead us into what I assume is a forward base, until we get to what seems to be a command room of sorts, full of all sorts of maps and markers, everything from troop movement to supply chains.
๐๐ฎ ๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด?
I memorise what I can anyway, might be helpful.
As we enter, and the two leading us leave, probably back to guard the entrance, Bear takes us to a gathering of people talking quickly and pointing at various maps.
When we get closer, they all look up at us with some form of irritation, until recognition flashes in their eyes and suddenly they're all smiles.
"Ah! ANBU-san's, more reinforcements are always welcome, what can I do for you?"
Bear hands the guy I guess is in charge a scroll and then proceeds to talk about strategy and what we are going to be doing? When are we attacking? Who's on the field?
I however am much more interested in looking at and memorising all the maps, since it seems like good information to have.
Unfortunately, my viewings are interrupted by someone trying to grab my shoulder, which I dodged on instinct, before they just tried again, much faster this time and I couldn't dodge even if I wanted to.
Turning around I face the woman that grabbed me in silence, thinking how she looks vaguely familiar.
She however isn't even looking at me and instead calls out to the room.
"OI! Who's brat is this? And who thought it would be a good idea to bring a brat here? Dressed like this too."
The clamour in the room quietens down before returning to a low murmur as most present simply send this situation a glance and then figure it's nothing to do with them and go back to what they were doing, which is, in fairness, likely a lot more important.
Bear and Monkey are just staring at me, and I can see Hounds shoulders shaking slightly in silent laughter, the traitor.
*Sigh*
Seeing that no one is going to come to my rescue.
"ma'am, I am ANBU, not a lost child, please release me."
Unfortunately, this woman seems to have a very high opinion of her own thoughts and thus disregards mine.
"Sure you are brat. Now what are you actually doing here? Don't you know that ANBU wear animal masks? like those over there."
Saying so she points to my team, which is just sad really. Even more sad is that I'm supposed to act professional when in uniform around non-ANBU, which means I can't even insult her or anything.
"yes, I am aware, however they are my team, and I am still new, so I only have a number. now please release me."
Now she looks mad at me for not accepting that she's right and has 'caught' me.
Thankfully I am actually saved this time, as the man Bear is talking to shouts over.
"Tsunade-hime, please stop bothering ANBU-san."
Ah, that's who she is.
"You're telling me this kid actually made ANBU?"
"Yes, now please let him go."
"Fine!"
Freedom, she still seems to be staring at me suspiciously.
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ?
Deciding to just do my best to ignore her I go back to my memorising.
What?
Aren't I gonna ask her to teach me?
Surely you jest mythical voices in my head.
Did you listen to that earlier? like hell would I want to be taught by someone like her. Besides, natural geniuses make the worst teachers.
My schizophrenic musings are cut off by my team walking past me, and as I fall in line with them, bear starts talking in ANBU sign.
๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ.
Ominous.
We all sign back an acknowledgment and briefly discuss minor details, apparently, we are going to be flanking the enemy with a few other ANBU teams, specifically our job is to target their Medic-nin.
Oooh, war crimes in my first ever war. That with killing a person before I even hit puberty and enlisting in black ops also before puberty. Do you know what that means? I'm only one away from bingo!
Anyway, we make it to the ANBU assigned dorm, where there are more already present than I assumed there would be. Maybe twenty beds? And I know there are at least four rooms for ANBU.
And it might not seem like much, since there's something like ten times as many non-ANBU, but we are black ops for a reason, even the relatively untrained ones like me.
Other than a few double takes at my height, the others keep to their quiet conversations and silence.
When we get to our bunks, Bear tells us we are moving out in ten hours, so I decide to go straight to bed, not bothering to get changed, since I doubt how bad I smell right now is going to be my biggest concern in a few hours.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you ever wake up, having slept on your arm, and your arm is all numb and raw?
Yeah, apparently sleeping with a mask on does that, but to your entire face, I mean, I already knew this, but it's not any more pleasant than the first time.
Anyhow, despite still feeling slightly drowsy, I am currently running in formation with my squad as well as 46 other ANBU.
The fighting has already started, and every now and then I can hear the ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ of jutsu and the screams of men dying not 300m from here, as we circle around.
The ANBU in the lead have also been passing information down the line in sign.
Apparently, the reason for our offensive is because Lady Chio has been spotted on a more northern front against Iwa.
Which is great, since I don't really want to die just yet. On the subject of Lady Chio, before we left, we were each given injection shots, supposedly designed by Tsunade, that should make us immune to most of their poisons for a few hours, however we were each also given a pill, a vial, and a needle, each holding various antidotes. If we start being affected by poisons, we are supposed to use these to counteract it, depending on which type of poison is afflicting us.
Honestly, I'm pretty happy about that, enough that whatever grudge I would have held against Tsunade is gone, after all, I never got the opportunity to learn any medical jutsu, so I don't actually know how to expel poisons yet.
All said, that's our preparations. However, our enemy are also ninja, and they would be stupid to leave their medics unprotected.
According to our scouts, there will be around 200 ninja present in their camp, not counting the medic-nin, of which there should be around 100.
Now even as ANBU, fighting a force that is effectively six times our number is a pretty tall order.
Which is why as I split off from the main group, alongside 11 others, I can't help but acknowledge Konoha's strategists, because we are actually doing a double flank.
The main force will attack and draw attention, meanwhile those of us with stealth good enough to get past an incredibly distracted sensor, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ, will circle further around and target their medics.
And as I hear the sound of battle commencing the ANBU leading us, ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฐ, signals for us to begin.
Rushing silently into the camp, towards where the medical tents are, things almost immediately go to shit.
We made it to the tents unmolested but just as we were about to enter and start our job, half of our number is reduced to ash by a ball of pale flames.
As the ninja next to me, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ? is erased from existence, I feel, perhaps for the first time ever, ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ.
Those of us who survived turn to look at our opponent and see a lone woman guarding our quarry, she is fairly tall for a kunoichi, fair-skinned with pupilless brown eyes, which is kinda freaky to look at to be honest, she has green hair tied in a bun on top of her head with uneven strands of orange hair framing each side of her face.
And I know this is a serious situation, but despite my fear I can't help but think, ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ?
Sadly, she reminds me of my fear rather quickly with another ball of death, not being caught by surprise this time, we actually all dodge, still there are only six of us left, and I slightly doubt that we can take her, even all together.
Thankfully for me however Gecko quickly shoots of some signs before jumping to engage her.
๐๐ช๐น, ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ด, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ.
And so, as my allies engage the scary woman, me and Mantis dive into the tent, however with the earlier commotion, we don't exactly catch them by surprise.
We cut through the tarp of the tent and jump in, only to immediately be assaulted by multiple wind jutsu, predicting this however, I had also prepared a kawarimi on the first object I saw in the tent, and I distantly recognised Mantis using a shunshin to escape the onslaught.
As I reappear in the place of what I can only guess was an IV drip, I'm mildly surprised to see a shinobi right in my face, and noticing his agape mouth, I guess he was surprised too.
Unluckily for him, I recovered my composure far quicker than him, and jammed a kunai into his throat before doing a quick spin, to get the lay of the land, so to speak.
๐๐ฌ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ช ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Four of them are engaging Mantis, four more are watching, either waiting for an opportunity to strike, or just unsure of what to do and not wanting to get in the way.
The other five however are all looking at me and the dead kid (12?) next to me in shock, before that shock quickly changes to anger and they gank me.
I, however, ignore them, if we want to complete our objective, then we need to first get rid of all thirteen of them, and the fastest way to lower their numbers right now, is to go for the quick kills.
That said, I shunshin behind one of the shinobi watching mantis with the highest chakra levels, and with my chakra still hidden he doesn't notice me until it's too late and my kunai has buried itself into his neck from behind.
He called out in pain when he was stabbed, which brought the attention of the others, which is fine and as I use another kawarimi to get behind another of the watchers, and since they're still somewhat off guard, he also doesn't react in time to dodge my kunai, as it takes his life just as easily.
Of the five that were chasing me however, at least one of them must be pretty smart as before I got a chance to retake stock of the situation, I feel the ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต of a boot to my rib and am sent hurtling towards the other four as one of the watchers goes back to watching mantis, and the other watches me instead.
Before I collide with a puppet of blades that just appeared in a puff of smoke, I use a clone and kawarimi combo and replace myself behind yet another shinobi, this time the one with the weakest chakra, still hoping to lower the numbers.
The boy in front of me smiles a mean smile as my clone touches the blade puppet, only for the smile to turn to shock as the 'me' phases right through the puppet and goes to swing a punch at its master's face, which he instinctively closes his eyes too in reaction.
That was a mistake, taking the opportunity I throw my kunai at him, and it flies true, straight into his forehead, and as I cut down the boy in front of me, I mentally take stock.
๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.
A brief glance at mantis.
๐๐ช๐น ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ.
My opponents have been screaming things for a while now, but I keep ignoring it, it's not important, unfortunately I've shown a lot of my tricks at this point.
So, it's best if I show something new, that said when my opponents now start cautiously circling me, I suck in a deep breath and shoot a condensed blade of wind at one of them, while throw a pair of kunai at two others whilst I approach the fourth, tanto drawn.
๐๐ฆ๐ต'๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ.
With a smile on my face, excited at trying this out in actual combat, I jump towards the suna-nin's head (I'm still short) and as he swings his kunai towards my airborne form, I activate the Henge no jutsu, and turn myself into a kunai, proceeding to fly right over his shoulder as i release the jutsu and swing my blade at my confused enemy, decapitating him.
I roll just in time to dodge an explosion of wind and jump to me feet, only to get impacted by a punch to the face that sends me flying towards a third ninja.
Too concussed to focus on any jutsu, I do my best to twist my body in the air so I can land with a kick, unfortunately he dodges me, and lands a cut on my leg, thankfully not too deep.
I land on my feet facing three enraged suna-chunin charging for me, I throw a barrage of kunai at them, which they dodge, but that's fine, I wasn't aiming for them. Right before they reach me, I've recovered enough sense to use jutsu again, which I don't hesitate to do.
Once again, using kawarimi to appear behind them, only this time I also henge into one of their dead teammates, making sure to look only nearly dead. And as they spin around weapons swinging, having predicted my action, they all suddenly pause for a moment as they take in my face.
Naturally I don't let the opportunity slip and drive my tanto into the closest nin's neck.
This does leave me open to the other twos attacks, but that's fine, and as Mantis closes in, driving a kunai into each of their skulls as they are focused on me, I know my gamble paid off.
"thanks for the save"
"same to you"
Our word over we nod to each other and turn to the rest of the tent, taking in the unconscious patients as well as the few terrified Medic-nin that didn't have the good sense to leave when they could, not that the fight itself lasted very long.
Despite feeling like hours, it was probably only a minute or so long.
Me and Mantis ignore their pleas and their screams as we slaughter all the Medics still here, only eight in total, not forgetting to kill the injured while they can't resist. Does this war crime make bingo?
๐๐ฐ๐ธ?
I sign to Mantis, the mission has pretty much gone to shit after all, and we need to leave before fire lady kills our whole team.
๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด?
I don't know why he's asking but I don't hesitate to answer. I ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ want to leave, just knowing that that fire lady is nearby is giving me all sorts of heebie-jeebies and I'm not sure yet whether or not I like it.
๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ.
๐, ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ถ, ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ.
Mantis seemed relieved at my response, and I suppose this was why.
I nod and we leave the tent, on the opposite side we came from, and as we face the other tents, thankfully alone, Mantis starts going through a ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ lot of hand seals, and figuring were going for a bang, I prepare about half of my overall chakra reserves and mould it all into wind.
We don't call out our jutsu or anything stupid, but as I watch the absolutely ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ of fire trample over the tents in front of us, I am for the first time, amazed at the sheer level of ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ shinobi are capable of.
And as I ponder why we didn't just start with this, I sense the chakras of what can only be thirty ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐บ jonin, I realise.
๐๐ฉ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ.
Sharing a glance with Mantis we both hightail it away as ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต as we can, and as I pump ludicrous amounts of chakra into shunshin after shunshin I realise yet another reason why we didn't do this from the start.
We don't try to regroup with the others, since they are either dead or also running away, instead we just focus on escaping.
A small group of Jonin land in front of us, but neither of us spare them a glance, simultaneously understanding our best bet would be to split up, we do so, Mantis goes right, while I go left.
Now, it might seem like a dick move from him to take the direction that leads to safety while I get the direction that leads to ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข.
However, that is not true for multiple reasons, not only would the more direct route have more resistance, but Mantis is also faster than me, so a direct route is best for him, whereas, despite my age, one thing I am exceptionally good at is ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ.
Better than mantis even, and since we are in Ame, and its late, it will be dark in a couple of hours, not to mention the likelihood of rain makes it the perfect place to hide.
That said Most of the Jonin, ๐ฅ๐ฐ in fact, chase after Mantis, that does however leave me running from multiple people, five times my age, twice my weight and with chakra and physical strength that completely overwhelms mine.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต.
Lamenting the unfairness of life, and the fact that the only reason they haven't caught me yet is because of the chakra I'm pouring into my shunshin, chakra that is rapidly running out.
Leading them further into the forests of Ame, I take stock, and it's only then that I remember the explosion seals I have. Now that might seem like a stupid thing to forget, but it's not like I've ever used them before and I don't even have that many anyway.
Still, even if I am ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ behind enemy lines at this point, all I need if for them to lose track of me once, for only a moment, and they shouldn't be able to find me, it would be pretty stupid to send a sensor after one nin when a battle is still raging.
With that thought in mind, I grab all of my explosion tags together, something which, by the way, I was ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐บ told not to do, and tie them all around one kunai, the result of which looks like a ball the size of a fist, a man's fist, not my little cherub fists. with a ring poking out of it.
I grab the ring, the only part of the kunai still visible, and I light the fuse, so to speak, and spinning mid-air to conserve my momentum, i throw the ball of art towards my pursuers, landing on the next branch in a fit of acrobatics that still makes me feel a little giddy inside to do, and keep running.
A beat passes.
I land on the next tree and,
๐ฝ๐๐๐
Promptly fall of the branch as the earth trembles, and a glance backwards shows a fireball, looking like a miniature sun. The moment passes and I'm back to running.
I don't stop using shunshin until I am dangerously low on chakra.
Panting in exhaustion, leaning against a tree, I take a moment to parse through my feelings.
Frankly I don't know what I'm feeling right now, I think I like it though, it certainly is more interesting than not feeling anything after all.
I really want to talk to Koi right about now. I need a therapist.
As I think that however, I suddenly come to a rather unfortunate realisation.
๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ.
Behind enemy lines, lost and alone, all the while being practically empty of chakra.
๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต.
I slide down the tree to sit with my back to it, still trying to catch my breath.
๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ?
And then I receive yet another disappointment as my stomach reminds me that I haven't eaten since I arrived at the forward base, some, twelve? Hours ago.
After catching my breath for a few moments more, and being reasonably sure no one is still following me, I decide to head east, hopefully I was running away either northwards or southwards, in which case, east should see me to Konoha's borders.
At least we ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ accomplish our mission, probably, so. Success?
Now let's see if I can't find any food, now I really wish I brough some rations, even if it was only supposed to be a short mission, but at least ANBU taught me how to cook in the wild, and how to not eat poisonous plants.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Phew! 3.5k words, my longest chapter yet, a lot has happened and i didnt want to split the action up so, chonky chapter time.
I dont really know where this chapter came from, i am making this all up as i go on after all, but yeah, behind enemy lines. and i dont know shit about Ame so there might only be one chap tomorrow as i do some research, but maybe not who knows, besides this was a chap and a half leangth wise.
Also I don't believe in pay walling chapters, as someone whos never been able to spend money on authors P-trons to finish fics i was enjoying, i promise i will never do such, that said.
If you do want to support me and my ability to pay rent, then I created a ko-fi so please consider donating! even just a pound, of course only if you're financially stable please.
Edit 10 months later: Ignore all of that, I don't use Ko-Fi anymore, and I cba to edit the links out of all the chapters. If you wanna support me, there are links on my profile