"Lord Kazekage, do you really think it wise to send them? This is a real combat mission that will likely involve combat between Jonin. They are skilled for Genin, but they will only be dead weight in such a battle..."
Kneeling before the Kazekage, Baki couldn't help but question his leader's decision to send his children and Baki's pupils on a dangerous mission that they were certainly not prepared for. He had told Temari the basic gist of things already, if only so she could find her brothers and prepare, but even now, Baki was trying to exempt his team from this mission to the Land of Water. He feared for their safety in the battle to come.
The Kazekage's face was a mask of indifference, though whether he was forcing it or not was unknown. "We simply do not have enough shinobi to spare, Baki. With our limited number of experienced personnel, even dangerous missions like this one must sometimes be filled with whoever we can spare. You already know our state of affairs, so why do you even ask this of me?"
Unfortunately, Baki did know quite well that the Kazekage's words were true. The dire economic state of the village for several years now had naturally caused many of their people to leave for more profitable lands. The gradually decreasing population over the years had naturally lowered the number of civilians choosing to become shinobi, to such an extent that the Hidden Sand had been losing shinobi through battle and desertion faster than they had been gaining them through each year's graduating classes.
Naturally, less shinobi meant less available personnel for missions, which were the most critical means of monetary gain in this time of crisis. And naturally, even the new shinobi they received annually took time to reach the level of Chunin or Jonin, if they were ever that good to begin with.
Which meant that Jonin were extremely valuable, and losing even one of them was a major blow to the village's economic income, since the missions they could undertake were obviously the most profitable. The Kazekage had to carefully distribute the deployment of his Jonin, even on extremely risky missions.
Seeing that Baki understood his position in this situation, the Kazekage continued with the explanation of why his children were being deployed at all. "As you know, this mission will be extremely dangerous. I must send a large number of shinobi, but if I send nothing but Jonin our casualties will be nothing but Jonin. I must send Chunin, and even they are more valuable at their current level of skill than any of the village's Genin. A mix of all three ranks will mitigate the truly grave casualties we incur."
Not for the first time, Baki wished the Wind Daimyo hand never signed that accursed deal with the Land of Fire. Every day it seemed to put more Sand shinobi in compromising positions. "I suppose that it is logistically accurate to say that Genin are more disposable than their more experienced counterparts..."
That last remark earned the Jonin a glare from his leader. "No, not disposable. It is true that losing a team of Genin will be less crippling to our economy than a team of Chunin, but my children are not pawns: Karura would never forgive me for throwing their lives away so carelessly. What happened with Gaara was already failure enough."
The mention of the Kazekage's wife caused Baki's body to stiffen. Very rarely was Temari and Kankuro's mother mentioned, not after she had slipped into the coma she had been in since giving birth to Gaara.
With Baki himself choosing to say nothing, the Kazekage clarified his intention to send his children on this dangerous assignment. "I am sending your Genin team on this mission because I believe your team will survive. My children are no pushovers, and RÅzeki is not to be underestimated either. If there are any Genin in this village who could actually prove useful on a high-ranking mission, it's those three. They are not experienced, but they are strong regardless. If they survive, this will help them grow as shinobi. Moreover, I trust your judgment in ensuring they don't go over their heads in the heat of battle."
Hearing that the Kazekage trusted Baki on something so important, the half-masked Jonin felt both honored and concerned. Obviously, if anything did happen to his team, there would be extremely dire consequences. Of course, it wasn't like Baki wouldn't try to protect them for its own merits as well. By now he would certainly do his best to protect those three simply because they were important to him.
Having not really put Baki's fears to rest, the Kazekage nevertheless ended the conversation the Jonin had brought up. Truthfully, there was really nothing more to discuss. "Gather your team and rendezvous with the other shinobi assigned to this mission at the village gate. The Jonin who is leading this mission will explain the situation there."
Nodding his affirmation with no small amount of unease, Baki rose to this feet and stepped out of the Kazekage's office, leaving the scarlet haired village leader to silently ponder his own decisions.
---
Fortunately, gathering his three students did not take Baki very long. Though he had not been able to tell her the specifics, not knowing them himself, Temari had taken it upon herself to inform her brothers of the situation so they could all be prepared when Baki came back for them. They had been waiting for their teacher at the foot of their own home, armed far more heavily than they had ever been for any other occasion. Baki had tried to avoid revealing the dangerous nature of the mission to Temari when he told her about it earlier, but apparently she had been able to read the mood.
Without a word on anyone's part, the team and its sensei quickly headed towards the village's main gate, which in reality was not a gate at all, but rather a large cleft in the cliffs that surrounded the Hidden Sand. Baki's team arrived at the same time the last squad of Chunin did, so the Jonin commander was able to brief all fourteen ninja at the same time.
"For those of you who haven't been told already, we're deploying to the Land of Water on a search and rescue combat mission, to save a unit that sent a distress call a few hours ago when a diplomatic mission turned hostile. Our primary objective is to find anyone still alive and extract them, but one shinobi in particular is to be saved no matter what, if she's still alive at all: Pakura of the Scorch style. She's the last remaining user of the Scorch style here in the Sand, and an incredibly valuable military asset. Before all else, we have to make sure she gets back here alive."
With the Jonin's commanding voice coming to a temporary halt, Ash asked a question. He had half a mind to raise his hand or something, but technically, they were all adults here, so he quelled the need very quickly. "Sir? Do we have an estimate on the strength of the enemy for this operation? I'm assuming we're outnumbered, but how badly?"
Almost every ninja save his siblings cocked an eyebrow at the boy, but since he had asked a sensible question, none sought to reprimand him for speaking. Their Jonin commander was quick to relay the information that had been asked for. "The SOS we received estimated roughly forty enemy shinobi in the area, but we would do well to assume that number has grown since then. Also, Pakura relayed that one of the infamous Seven Ninja Swordsmen was mentioned as reinforcements for the enemy. We will likely have to deal with him as well."
Before anyone could comment on this, Ash spoke up once more. "Am I right in assuming that even though we are told to avoid casualties at all costs, that this Pakura's life should take precedence over my own on the battlefield?"
"That is correct for all of us. We cannot lose one of the few Kekkei Genkai wielders the village has left. If we ever hope to revive the Scorch style here, we need Pakura alive, even if it means one of us has to die for her. I hope you're not voicing dissent?"
With no other questions to ask, Ash shrugged his backpack of weapons and tools into a more comfortable position on his shoulders. "I was simply clarifying the rules of engagement, sir. Better to know now than when we get there."
With a nod of satisfaction on his part, the Jonin commander turned towards the village entrance. "Very well. Time is of the essence, so we're moving out right now. We'll discuss our exact strategy when we arrive. It'll take days to get to the Land of Water even at top speed, and the longer we take to arrive, the higher the chance of our comrades being slain. They can only evade the enemy for so long. Follow me, and prepare for a long run!"
---
Pakura wished she could say she was surprised. She honestly wished she was an optimist, who would have expected a diplomatic mission to the Hidden Mist to run smoothly. Unfortunately, she was not. She was a realist, and she had been expecting a trap with every step she had taken into the Land of Water. This suspicion was the only reason she had survived the Mist ambush in the first place.
When she and the three Chunin who had accompanied her came to the dismal valley that was their designated meeting point with the Mist ninja they were supposed to negotiate with, Pakura had ordered her comrades to stay behind at the valley's entrance, so that they could assist her if there really was a trap in place. Going into the meeting place alone, the green and orange haired Sand kunoichi grew ever more suspicious as heavy mist began to spread rapidly throughout the narrow passage of land. The Land of Water was known for natural heavy mist, but any shinobi who had ever heard of the Hidden Mist village knew that said mist could easily be the setup for an ambush.
When her brown eyes finally spotted a Mist ninja waiting for her in the center of the valley, Pakura was almost certain she was going to be attacked. The man's smile was far too forced, and though he tried to hide it, he looked at the Sand Jonin with contempt and hatred, rather than the acceptance of a foreign envoy.
Still, she played her part, shaking the man's hand and exchanging a few words of pleasantries and wishes for better relations between the Mist and Sand. It was at this point that the Mist ninja suggested that Pakura take the lead down the valley, and if she needed a final reason to prepare for the worst, that was it. No one in their right mind would walk in front of someone who could possibly kill them.
Yet she did. Pakura was an experienced shinobi who was hailed as a hero in the Hidden Sand for her exploits against the Hidden Stone in years past, yet she was going to put herself in an impossibly compromising position that was practically guaranteed to get her killed.
In fact, the trap was so obvious at this point, that Pakura was not surprised in the least when the Mist ninja stabbed a kunai into her clone's bare back, right into its spine. Pakura had created a shadow clone of herself the moment mist had descended upon the valley, sending it forward into the enemy trap instead. The enemy had apparently not been able to tell the difference, because even as her clone failed to bleed, the Mist ninja who had stabbed it shouted in victory, beginning to rant about the grudge of the Hidden Mist against the Hidden Sand.
Pakura was not eager to listen to all of what the man had to say, especially as she was supposed to be 'dying' rather than watching the fiasco from the cover of the mist and rocks in the valley. Having been betrayed by the man who was supposed to help her establish some semblance of rocky peace with the Hidden Mist, Pakura felt no remorse as she made a handsign that ordered her damaged shadow clone to self-destruct.
This was a very complex technique, since causing a shadow clone to explode was not quite as easy as making any other clone do the same, but Pakura had spent many years honing this jutsu, and the man who stood next to her clone was doomed. In a blast of Pakura's crimson Scorch style flames, the enemy ninja was killed instantly, his body mummified by the intense heat of the blast. While not one who found pleasure in death, Pakura could not say this man did not deserve his fate, for trying to kill her in such an underhanded manner as he had.
Unfortunately, her use of chakra revealed Pakura's location to the enemy, and a veritable storm of kunai and shuriken came her way before the dust and debris from her explosion had even cleared. Her reflexes allowed Pakura to somersault out of harm's way, but upon landing she found herself faced with several squads of Mist shinobi appearing to confront her. They were all at least Chunin rank, and well over a dozen of them had shown their face already, with many more likely hiding in the mist.
"You're gonna pay for that, you desert bitch."
Sure that she could handle a group of Chunin, whether she was outnumbered or not, Pakura did not seem worried about this situation in the slightest. "Me? Aren't you the ones who tried to stab me in the back? If anyone is going to pay, it's all of you."
Unbeknownst to her, one of the Mist shinobi Pakura was talking to happened to be the brother of the man she had just killed, and he was far angrier than his comrades. Grabbing a kunai from his holster, he charged Pakura alone, blinded by rage. "I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna kill you right now!"
One of his comrades from behind tried to stop him, but to no avail. "Saizo, don't be stupid! Wait for Raiga to get here!"
Heedless of the warning, Saizo rushed Pakura head on, his mind empty of everything except driving his blade into the kunoichi's guts. The far more experienced Jonin hardly reacted at all, not concerned in the slightest over such a foolish attack. Losing your cool was almost always fatal for a shinobi, but against a skilled Jonin, losing focus was practically asking to die.
The man didn't even think to throw some shuriken at her or something, instead coming into melee range as quickly as possible. He wanted to feel the blood of this woman on his hands, and he wanted to feel it now. That bloodlust blinded him to any strategic thought, or concern for his own safety.
Jabbing his kunai forward in a vain attempt to kill a far more skilled opponent, Saizo quickly found himself in a hopeless situation as Pakura sidestepped his attack, leaving him wide open for a counter. The famed kunoichi grabbed her foe's outstretched wrist as he sailed past her, choosing only to plant her fist in his stomach. While appearing to be nothing more than a physical blow, Saizo soon felt an agonizing burning sensation in his organs, as Pakura's Scorch style almost instantaneously killed him from the inside out.
Pakura's jutsu killed the Mist ninja long before he could manage to scream, but the sight of bubbling blood and melted flesh leaking out of a new hole in the man's torso galvanized the other enemy ninja to action, rather than scaring them off. Well, it seemed they weren't cowards, at the very least.
"D-damn it... why are we just standing around?! Let's get her already!"
The shinobi's words spurred on another wave of projectiles, prompting Pakura to quickly heft Saizo's lifeless corpse in front of her, using it as a makeshift shield. The sickly sound of weapons piercing the man's charred flesh did nothing to improve the moods of Pakura's enemies, and as she tossed the body aside, the Sand Jonin found several of her foes rushing forward to attack her in close range, though they were not going about it as foolishly as Saizo had.
With two enemies splitting off on either side of her, and two more coming down the middle with one leaping over the other, Pakura was on the receiving end of a simple, but effective blitz.
Drawing a kunai in each hand, she leaped above the enemies on the ground, intercepting the one in midair as their weapons clashed together. Kicking the enemy shinobi away, Pakura tossed her kunai at two of the enemies below, both opponents dodging the attack rather than blocking. This left only one of the assailants to immediately threaten Pakura, one that didn't remain such for long. A quick plume of the crimson Scorch style dispatched the airborne Mist ninja before he could think of a way to evade. That was why mid-air movement was always risky.
The Mist ninja found herself dead before her charred corpse hit the ground, something Pakura counted as a mercy, all things considered. But despite dealing with the first wave, the kunoichi from the Sand had no time to analyze the situation again, as a storm of kunai armed with paper bombs came at her out of the mist. Knowing that she would be unable to evade the blast of so many tags with her own speed, Pakura turned and threw a shuriken into the air behind her, quickly forming the hand signs she would need to switch places with the projectile.
Pakura's substitution moved her several dozen feet away from the paper bomb explosion, and more importantly, made it look as though she had been caught in the blast. Using both the mist and the residual noise of the explosion, Pakura retreated away from the enemy and towards the entrance to the valley where her Chunin squad mates were waiting. She could have contacted them ahead of time via radio, but there was no need to risk alerting the enemy to her survival.
Taking extra effort to make sure her footsteps made no sound, Pakura made it back to her comrades without incident, all of whom were nervously awaiting her arrival among some large boulders after hearing the explosion echo off the walls of the valley.
"Pakura! What happened?"
"We're leaving. The negotiations were short."
One of the younger Sand Chunin rose to his feet as he reached into his weapon holster, indignation evident on his face. "Those backstabbing scum!"
Pakura grabbed the man's shoulder and pushed him back into a kneeling position. "We're far outnumbered, and apparently Raiga Kurosuki is leading their force. Trying to fight is tantamount to suicide."
His anger subdued by the logic in Pakura's words, the Chunin nodded in understanding, ashamed that he had let his emotions get the best of him. Having placated the brash man, Pakura turned to the one member of her squad who served as their link to the Hidden Sand. He was specially trained for long range mental communication.
"Can you establish a connection with the missions operator in the village?"
Forming a hand sign to focus his chakra, the communications shinobi tried to contact his home village for assistance. His face contorted in focus and mild pain for a few moments, but when he released his sign, only dismay crossed the man's face. "I can't make a connection. Something is interfering with the jutsu."
Pakura's expression turned sour, having hoped that this exact obstacle would not surface. "The Hidden Mist jutsu is laced with chakra: it might be interfering with your own. If that's the case, we need to get away from this immediate area. Stick close to me and watch your backs."
---
Standing over the empty crater his Mist comrades had created with dozens of paper bombs, Raiga Kurosuki, an ANBU mask obscuring his face, glared into the mist around him. His intense grip on the twin lightning blades, Kiba, would have crushed the hilt of any normal sword. For reasons the shinobi around him couldn't understand, Raiga was very angry.
"Master Raiga, what's the matter? We got the Sand kunoichi. What else is there?"
Though a mask obscured his face, the ninja who had posed this question could feel Raiga's furious glare on him. "Do you see a corpse here?"
"W-what?"
"Do you see a corpse here?! I don't see a dead kunoichi, I see an empty crater! She escaped, and you've all been standing around here doing nothing! Who knows how far she's gotten?!"
The ninja Raiga was personally accosting took a step back. "W-well, we figured the blast would-"
Unwilling to entertain any excuses, Raiga swung one of his blades at the man's neck, decapitating him with disgusting ease. Kiba's edge stayed completely clean of blood even as the dead ninja's jugular began to spray blood into the air: its keen edge was rarely dirtied by blood, since it passed through human flesh so swiftly.
As the betrayed shinobi's head and corpse crumpled to the ground, expression of surprise still etched on his face, Raiga turned to the rest of the ninja around him. "What are you waiting for?! Find that kunoichi! Do not let her leave the Land of Water alive!"
With all the incentive they needed laying dead on the ground at Raiga's feet, the three dozen Mist Chunin and Jonin scattered in all directions, determined to hunt down and kill Pakura and any of her allies, lest they incur Raiga's wrath as well.
---
After roughly an hour of retreating towards the Land of Water's borders, Pakura stopped her team at the edge of a sparse copse of trees in the Mist countryside, ready to try and contact the Hidden Sand once more. It had started raining a short while ago, and not for the first time, Pakura regretted her choice of clothing. Her backless black top may have kept her cool in the desert, but in the rain, it only served to provide the cold water with easier access to her skin.
Still, as an experienced Jonin, Pakura was more than capable of ignoring the cold, instead looking to her communications officer as he attempted to contact the Hidden Sand once more. His expression was strained, but that was to be expected from a long-range telepathic communication. That skill set was immensely rare to start with, and it wasn't easy even for the most experienced practitioners.
"It's rough... but I think I can make the connection..."
After a few more moments of concentration, the shinobi held his hand out towards Pakura. "Captain, I have them. I don't know how long I can hold the connection though."
Reaching for his hand, Pakura decided to ignore the man's doubt, instead closing her eyes so she could focus on the mental conversation about to take place. With their concern over preserving their shinobi, the Hidden Sand had long since developed an emergency response system: any squad that deployed on a high risk mission had a shinobi with specialized communicative jutsu who could contact the village in an emergency. Of course, the shinobi capable of doing that were rare, so what exactly got counted as a 'high risk mission' tended to only be the most daunting or risky of prospects.
It was for this reason that at least one shinobi skilled in this art was always available at the village proper, and why one of them spoke to Pakura the moment he could sense the Jonin's mental presence. Pakura's communications squad member had already relayed the mission and squad details, so there was no need for Pakura to identify herself at all.
Captain Pakura, please relay the nature of your emergency.
Her ultimate goal being to acquire reinforcements, and knowing that they would be few in number no matter what, Pakura tried to make the situation sound as dire as possible. The worse things seemed, the better for her and her subordinates. Though admittedly, she didn't have to do much exaggerating for this situation to sound really bad.
The negotiations with the Hidden Mist were a complete failure. I was ambushed by a Mist ninja on the way to the village: my squad managed to escape without casualties, but we're being hunted by a far superior force and need reinforcements as soon as possible.
The ninja on the other end of the telepathic link sounded completely calm as he spoke to her. After all, he wasn't the one in danger.
What is the approximate size of the enemy force?
It's impossible to tell exactly how many were hiding in the mist, but I would estimate the strength of the enemy to be around forty shinobi. However, the enemy mentioned one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was coming to reinforce them as well.
While he still did not sound alarmed, the Sand ninja Pakura was talking with seemed to recognize the danger presented with the name of the Ninja Swordsmen. They were a force not to be trifled with.
Understood. We'll send the appropriate amount of reinforcements. What is your squad's location?
Pakura was glad that she could answer this question the way she could. The Land of Water was essentially a bundle of islands, but they also owned a piece of the main continent's southeast peninsula, which bordered the Land of Fire. Pakura was grateful that her squad had been ambushed before reaching further into the Land of Water; retreating from one of its many islands would have been much more difficult than retreating from the small piece of the mainland they owned.
We're nearing the border between the Land of Water and Fire, advancing across the southeast peninsula. I plan to egress approximately around the Subuku Cliffs area.
Acknowledged. Stay in contact if you can; reinforcements are on the way.
Severing the connection to the Hidden Sand, Pakura faced her squad once again. "Help is on the way, but we all know how far the Hidden Sand is from here. It'll be days before they arrive, and until then, we're on our own. Our safest bet is to cross into the Land of Fire; a force of Mist shinobi as large as our pursuers would never come very far into another country's territory, for obvious reasons. Still, they'll definitely try to cut us off before we make it there, so stay alert."
With a nod from all of her men, Pakura's endangered squad rose to their feet once more. The only thing left for them to do right now was run, hide, and survive.
---
Having departed the Hidden Sand as soon as possible, and moving as quickly as they could besides, the unit of Sand shinobi that had been dispatched to rescue Pakura's squad had already crossed the border into the Land of Rivers by late evening on the day they had left. The moon had already taken its place in the cloudy skies above, but the night did not signify rest for the ninja of the Hidden Sand.
There was actually no intention of resting on the way to the Land of Water. The plan was to cross the Land of Rivers that night, and to cover as much distance as they could before morning in the Land of Fire, at which point they would move more slowly and carefully, to avoid being detected by any patrolling Hidden Leaf ninja. While they were a small force, the Hidden Leaf would likely take the Sand's presence in the Land of Fire as an act of aggression, and the last thing anyone needed was another conflict. This time of slow advance would be the only real rest the unit received, even though they would still be moving.
Once darkness had settled over the land once again, they would increase their speed as much as possible, using the cover of night to cross the Land of Fire as quickly as they could manage. If everything went according to plan, the unit would arrive at the border between the Land of Fire and Water in just two days. Given, this breakneck speed would exhaust them all, but it was better to arrive tired than to not arrive in time. Besides, everyone had brought an excess of high potency soldier pills, both to keep them going and give them the strength they needed to fight when they arrived at the scene of battle. Sure, they would all crash from the boost later, but hopefully it would only be after they were out of danger.
Leaping through the trees of the Land of Rivers as quickly as he could manage, Ash surprisingly found himself very calm in the face of the danger before them. Of course, that may have been because the battle was still a short time away, but Ash figured he would have at least been a little nervous, considering that he could and would probably die. He had no illusions about the fight ahead: he and his siblings were going to be far outclassed by the enemy. One enemy Jonin could easily kill all three of them without batting an eye, and that would be that.
He honestly had no idea why they had been sent on a mission such as this, but as the thought of being expendable further cemented itself in Ash's mind, he was suddenly reminded of his overall distaste for both his career and the village that career served.
But his fatigue surprisingly helped Ash's anger subside. He was literally too tired to be angry, and this allowed the voice of reason to come through, at least to an extent.
I suppose I won't really be throwing my life away for the village... this mission is to save someone else, so if I think about it that way, it isn't so bad... I might be willing to risk myself for another person. That's a little different than a cluster of buildings in the middle of the desert. Though it still would have been nice to have a choice in the matter.
As if Baki could sense the mounting discontent in Ash's mind, he shouted back at his team, who were bringing up the rear of the entire unit. "How are the three of you doing? Can you keep going?"
Distracted from his disgruntled thoughts, Ash eyed the man ahead of them with a cocked eyebrow. What was the point of asking them if they were tired? First of all, of course they were. Just speaking anatomically, kids like them didn't have the stamina of the adults they were traveling with, even if they supported their bodies with chakra. Second, no matter how tired they were, Ash and his siblings had no choice but to keep going. They were on a mission, and they were shinobi. They had to perform just as well as the comrades with them, and could receive no special treatment because of their age or rank.
For these reasons, Ash decided that complaining about the situation was pointless, as it would change nothing about it regardless. "I can keep going."
Kankuro was apparently too focused on breathing properly to answer verbally, so he simply nodded his head, while Temari seemed to be in the best shape out of all of them. "There's no point in asking that, Sensei. We can't afford to slow down the unit, and we have to arrive to help our comrades as soon as we can. We aren't stopping."
Baki was pleasantly surprised that his students were handling this so well, but was also a little surprised that Temari appeared to be in such good shape compared to her brothers. "Temari, you don't seem to be very winded. If anything, your breathing seems almost completely regular."
While Temari didn't want to brag, she couldn't resist explaining herself now that she had been called out. "Well it gets hard to breathe after you push yourself for awhile, so I'm using my Wind Style to get as much air in my lungs as possible. It only takes a tiny bit of chakra, and it's really working wonders. My legs still hurt, but I feel like I could keep going for hours."
At this, Kankuro wheezed at her from the side. "So... unfair..."
Temari couldn't resist a cheeky smile at the reactions she was getting. Irritating Kankuro was always fun, and she could see the faint smile on Ash's face, showing that he was more impressed with his sister than jealous of her. Baki on the other hand stared at her blankly, a number of questions running through his mind.
I can't believe this! In all of my years as a wind-style user, how could I not have thought of this?! How did a young child utilize such an obvious technique before me?! Before anyone?! Do any of the other wind-style users in the village think to do this?!
Ash smirked at the flabbergasted look on Baki's face. "You alright there, Cyclops? Something rubbing you the wrong way?"
Not falling prey to Ash's obvious attempt to provoke him, Baki faced forward once again. He was a little mad to have been shown up by Temari just now, but as he began using her technique for himself, he couldn't deny that it was pretty effective.
---
"It looks safe to me."
Pakura resisted the urge to accost the Chunin next to her for making such a foolish comment. Indeed, the Subuku Cliffs that marked the border between the Land of Water and Fire looked clear, even from their position under the rain-soaked bushes at the edge of a forest the Sand shinobi had chosen for cover. As best as Pakura could see, there were no enemies occupying the open ground between her squad and these cliffs, but she knew better than to make assumptions. Making an assumption on the field was just asking to die.
"It may be possible that the enemy hasn't reached this point yet, but no country leaves their border unguarded. Even if our pursuers aren't here, there are enemy patrols that have probably been informed of the situation. The chances of this being another trap are very high."
One of the Chunin cast a sideways glance at her, a little irritated with his captain. For the life of him, he couldn't stand how slowly she chose to take things all the time. "So what are we going to do then? Just sit here? We have to cross the border, you said so yourself!"
While Pakura knew that the stressful nature of this situation was straining her men's nerves, she herself was growing quite irritated with them. This was no time for anyone to lose their cool. "Yes, I did, and yes, we do. But running straight towards the border across a barren field is not the way to reach safety. For all you know, the distance between us and the border could be lined with explosives, yet you want to rush straight in. Would you rather reach the Land of Fire safely or in pieces?"
Unable to dispute her words, the Sand Chunin fell silent, cursing the day he was selected for this mission. He was glad to be under a capable leader like Pakura, but he would have preferred to not be out of the Land of Wind at all.
Seeing that no one else had any objections to raise, Pakura decided to lay out her plan. "It's clear that the enemy planned to betray us from the very beginning, so even though they wanted to destroy us back at the valley, they probably placed a backup unit at the border in case we managed to escape. If we try to cross into the Land of Fire and get intercepted by the border guard, we'll get flanked by our pursuers from behind. We won't stand a chance if we don't find a way to distract the enemies ahead of us. We need to draw their forces to a decoy, which will create an opening in the line for us to escape through. If we create clones and send them forward here, the enemy will focus on them until they discover the trick, and that may give us enough time to escape."
"But Captain, normal clones can't fight or take hits. The moment an attack passes through them, the enemy will be onto us."
"All the more reason for our clones to make doubly sure they evade any and all attacks for as long as possible. I would send a shadow clone, but we can't afford to needlessly waste energy. If this plan fails, we'll need all of the chakra we can get to fight. That said, if anyone has a clever idea, I'm open to suggestions."
When no one else spoke up, Pakura extracted herself from the bushes they were hiding under and rose to her knees, forming the necessary hand-sign for making a standard clone. "Then let's go. The longer we wait to do this, the more likely it is that the enemy behind us will catch up. We don't have time to stand around."
Pakura's squad quickly followed its captain's example, and soon enough, four clones of the Sand shinobi stood ready to distract the enemy for their creators. Pakura spoke to all of them at once. "Wait here for ten minutes, then rush the border. If you're intercepted by enemies, do your best to avoid any and all attacks. Distract them for as long as possible. Understood?"
The four clones gave a collective nod, which was about the extent of their communicative ability. Certain that they would do as they had been told, Pakura lead her squad further down the line of trees they hid in, staying parallel to the border. Hopefully any Mist ninja in the section they were heading to would move to intercept the clones once they made their move. Any shinobi with half a brain would stay at their post in case something went wrong, but the Hidden Mist's training methods tended to produce overly bloodthirsty fighters, always itching to kill. They wouldn't want to pass up the chance to gut their hated enemies.
Once Pakura and her men had moved far enough away from the area their clones would be drawing attention to, they simply hid in the outskirts of the woods, waiting for the doppelgangers to follow their orders before making a break for it. Having spent a good part of the ten minute waiting time just reaching their position, the four shinobi did not have to wait long, as they soon heard the blast of an explosive tag in the distant area they had abandoned.
Taking this to mean that the clones had begun their diversion, Pakura waited another thirty seconds, waiting for any shinobi in their area to hopefully abandon their posts and investigate the disturbance. Still, if she waited too long, the trick would be discovered, so Pakura did not waste more than a minute before motioning her squad forward.
There was a rather large expanse of open ground between them and the cliffs on the opposite side of the forest, but they had no choice but to simply cross it as quickly as possible, and reduce how long they were exposed. Sprinting at top speed allowed the four ninja to pass the open area in under a minute, but even though she should have counted it as luck, Pakura was immediately suspicious of how smoothly things were going. The plan had been to divert the border guard to another area, but Pakura didn't think it would actually work this well.
Upon reaching the foot of the cliffs that separated the Lands of Fire and Water, Pakura brought her men to a halt, much to their own chagrin. Salvation seemed so close, and here there captain was, preventing them from reaching it.
"Captain, why are we stopping?! The enemy has probably already seen through our diversion, we have to move!"
"Yeah, the border is right up there, what are we standing around for?"
Pakura refused to answer these questions as she tried to determine what was making her feel uneasy. Something wasn't right here, but she couldn't quite tell what it was. There was something in the air, something that was making the hair on her arms stand on end...
As a loud blast of thunder echoed throughout the rainy skies, Pakura suddenly realized what felt amiss in the air. "Everyone, dodge!"
Taking her own words to heart, Pakura was halfway through a backwards leap before anyone in her squad was thinking to do the same. They all followed her lead, leaping away from their position as soon as they had processed Pakura's warning, but one of them was just a second too slow, as a bolt of chakra-laced lightning struck him from the cliffs above.
The attack was so powerful, that the unfortunate victim was killed instantly by the heat, not even allowing him enough time to scream as his body slumped to the ground in a charred, sizzling heap.
Skidding to a stop, Pakura glared up at the cliff where the bolt had originated from, laying eyes on the person she had expected: Raiga Kurosuki, one of his blades still smoking with residual heat. He was also not alone, as Pakura spotted two squads of Mist ninja flanking the Ninja Swordsman on both sides. Based on their uniforms, a few of them appeared to be Jonin, much to Pakura's dismay.
Damn, guess I underestimated them...
While his expression was hidden behind his ANBU mask, Raiga's contempt for the foreign shinobi below him was obvious in his voice. "So, did you really think a cheap trick would throw me off? Is your opinion of Mist shinobi truly so low? I'm almost insulted, to think that you would disregard me as your enemy so easily. If only you had been as overconfident as your comrades... that last attack would have killed all four of you had it struck."
The two surviving members of Pakura's squad looked up at the enemy in fear. They were outnumbered and outclassed, and they had just watched one of their comrades die right before their eyes. To say they were scared was a bit of an understatement.
Seeing this, Pakura was quick to rally them, as best as her abilities could manage. "Don't freak out just yet, you two. If you don't stay calm, you're guaranteed to die. If you focus, there's at least a chance that you'll get out of this alive. I'll do what I can to get us out of this, but I need you to do your parts as well."
While her words were not completely assuring, Pakura nevertheless spoke the truth, so the two men with her steeled themselves as well as they could, facing the enemy above them with whatever courage they could muster.
This act of resistance seemed to disgust Raiga even further. "Little fish like you standing up to a shark like me... does no one know their place anymore? Heh... allow me to fix that." Raiga turned his gaze on to Pakura. "Bow before me and beg for your life, and I may let you live: I've never seen how a desert bitch like you grovels."
The accosted kunoichi smirked up at the large man that looked down on her, seemingly unbothered by his bravado or his insults. "I really don't think that's going to happen."
"Oh? Are you so foolish as to resist me with your paltry numbers? Do you really think you can escape us?"
Pakura formed a sphere of her crimson Scorch style chakra in her right hand. "I do. Trust me, I don't pick fights I can't win."
Her reply earned a spurt of malicious laughter from the only Mist Swordsman present. "Is that so? I will admit, you vermin certainly are amusing. Well then, if you are so eager to entertain me, so be it! Show me the extent of your petty resistance!"
With that, Raiga raised the twin blades Kiba once more, preparing to launch another lightning style attack. Pakura charged her own jutsu to meet it, speaking to her surviving squad-mates as she did so, while also making a communication hand-sign with her free hand. "The moment these attacks collide, we break east, got it!?"
With a simultaneous nod from her men, Pakura unleashed her Scorch-style attack as Raiga cast another bolt of lightning at her. The collision of these jutsu created a blast that covered the area in smoke, and the threatened Sand shinobi were on the retreat immediately, sprinting to the west under the smoke's cover, just as Pakura had said they would with her silent communication a few moments ago.
Misdirecting the enemy with her words probably wouldn't buy much time, but at this point, Pakura was willing to try anything to survive this accursed situation.
Damn, I hope these reinforcements have a sense of urgency!