With Alvarcus
"Think this should be enough?" I ask the Jiongu as I look over my fifty boulders. "I can make more."
~Depends on how the base is set up. You do know how it's set up right?~
"Of course." I scoff out. "I had Shirokumo tell me as we were running here. There is an abandoned town on the border between the two countries. The Kusa shinobi have taken up residence in it. It's a small town, really it's only six farmhouses and one town hall. Basically the town hall is the place where the fun stuff happens and the farmhouses are where people sleep and go on break and such."
~How many shinobi are there?~
"You can't sense them from here?" I ask. That's strange, I thought the Jiongu could.
~Host we're half a kilometer away from them. My range is not very big.~
"Right. Good point. Somewhere around thirty. How far can you sense anyways?" I should know that for future reference.
~A hundred meters or so. Two hundred if I push myself to a breaking point.~
"Good to know. So, you ready now?"
~Of course. I am always ready.~
With the Hunters
"Now what the hell is he doing?" The Leader asks in mild anger. He doesn't like not knowing. Not one bit.
"Uh... taking his shirt off?" The Second supplies in confusion.
"Holy shit." The three of them say in unison.
They're seeing his scars. Not a single space on him is spared, he's covered in them.
"What's on his back?" The First is the first one to regain his composure. "Are those WHAT THE FUCK!"
Four black things rip themselves out of the targets back. Each one has a stark white mask and they all resemble hulking humanoid figures. Each monster stands well above the average human height and they look like the stuff of nightmares.
"What the fuck are those?!" The Second shouts.
"Quiet you two!" The Leader reprimands his team. "Don't alert him to our presence!"
"But what the fuck are those?!" The Second whisper shouts again.
"I don't know." The Leader admits. "But this is good. We know that he has them now and we can plan around it. This is why we wait and watch. It's so we know about these things."
"Right but are you sure we can take those things on?" The First asks. "It just went from us having the numbers advantage to him having it."
"We don't know what they are or what they're capable of yet." The Leader says to his team. "For all we know they could be incredibly weak. There has to be some weakness to them, some downside."
"Uh... I don't think they're weak." The Second points out to the clearing.
All four of the monsters that came out of someone's back are all doing the exact same thing. They're going around the clearing and throwing the boulders into one large pile. Each one is hefting up a boulder and tossing it across the clearing to join the rest. No longer is the clearing littered with boulders, now they're in one large mound.
"Okay. So each one of them is incredibly strong." The Leader admits. "But that's probably their only strength. They seem pretty slow, we can work around that. Just don't get hit."
"They're doing something now." The First calls out in warning.
Three of the monsters are joining together. They're becoming one mass of whatever the hell they're made of. But they aren't in the shape of a human anymore, they don't even resemble a human at all. Nor do they look like an animal. They look like a tripod, three strong black legs that dig into the ground for extra stability. On the top of each leg is one stark white mask, as if it's looking outwards in every possible angle.
Then something about it changes, it shifts again. Out of the top point of the tripod comes a long arm. No, an arm is the wrong word. It's a long spindly tentacle that splits four ways on the end. It's made to grab things.
"What the fuck is that?" The Leader whisper shouts to his team but he doesn't expect an answer. He's already forgotten why they are even here, he's captivated by the freak show going on before him.
His other teammates are the same way, they are rendered speechless.
Then the black monstrosity reaches its tentacle out and grabs a boulder off of the top of the heaping mound. Then it rears back and prepares to throw.
"It's... a catapult?" The Leader squeaks out in fear. "He made that thing into a catapult?"
But the Leader is only half right. Alvarcus and the other monster are standing on either side of the monstrosity, Alvarcus is holding the last sign for a jutsu and the other monster is breathing a coating of wind around the boulder. Then Alvarcus releases his jutsu and a white hot fire roars to life around the boulder. It's a flaming catapult.
The monstrosity heaves and the boulder sails high through the air never to be seen again.
"The base." The Second whispers in sudden realization. "The Kusa base is in that direction."
The monstrosity grabs another boulder that's quickly coated in wind and fire. It throws this one too. And the next. And the next. Over and over and over again. Boulders are flying through the air at an astonishing rate of one every second. It takes less than a minute for the stock of boulders to be used. All fifty of them.
All fifty were thrown at the base.
At the Base
"Got any... sixes?" One of the Kusa shinobi asks one of the other three players. They're all playing a game of cards while they have the chance.
"Nope!"
"Gah! You suc-"
BOOM
A heavy thud shakes the entire building and each shinobi leaps to their feet.
"That came from the Town Hall! What the fuck was tha-" This shinobi can't finish his sentence. In fact there's no one around left to hear him anyways. They've all just been crushed and incinerated by a flaming boulder that ripped through the entire building to squash them in the basement.
Only one shinobi in the room survived the unexpected impact. He doesn't waste time mourning the loss of his friends, not when the fucker who launched this jutsu is outside. He quickly jumps through the flaming hole in the wall to confront the soon to be dead man then freezes.
His arms fall slack to his sides as he's staring at the sky.
It's full of flaming boulders that are raining down on the outpost.
"So this is how I die." He says as he falls to his knees. He's one of many shinobi to share those words.
With Alvarcus
"There. That should do it." I say as the last boulder disappears into the sky.
~Yes, fifty may have been overkill.~
"I was told to send a message." I gaze at the rising pillar of black smoke on the horizon. "Consider it sent."
With the Hunters
"We're leaving." The Leader orders. "Right fucking now!"
"That's fucking insane!" The Second says as everyone turns to run. "A base! An entire base just like that! Gone!"
"What if he did that to a village?" The First says in fear. "Could... could anyone stop that? Are we sure he's A-rank?"
"Fuck if I know! Now shut up and run!" The Leader demands as they flee from the monster. They're not talking about the black monsters but the monster who commands them.
With Konoha's Team
"Kakashi." Anko says with a very serious tone as she's staring at the skyline.
"I see it too." Kakashi confirms. "There's smoke. Lots of smoke."
"Do we have a base over there?" Anko snarls out. "Otogakure is over in that direction, just further. It's on our border."
"No. We don't." Kakashi says. "But Kusa did."
"Does." Shikamaru cuts in. "Kusa does. We don't know if it's gone."
"Team Leader, what are your orders?" Kakashi asks Shikamaru. "This isn't part of our mission. It's nothing that we have to go investigate. We can walk right past it and no one will fault us."
"We're going to check it out." Shikamaru says with confidence. "They're our allies, the least we can do is make sure they're okay."
Kakashi smiles down at the chunin. That's the exact answer he wanted to hear.
"Kakashi you're on point." Shikamaru orders, he's still the leader. Kakashi hasn't taken over yet. "Naruto and Anko you two are next, Naruto on the left flank and Anko on the right. Ino and I will be coming up behind you both. We're running in a pentagon, Naruto and Anko will be further out on the sides than Ino and me."
"Why that set up?" Kakashi asks.
"You're the best one here, you'll be able to deal with any surprise threats quickly. Anko then Naruto are the next most skilled in a straight up fight, they'll deal with whoever gets past you or you leave for us. Then there's Ino and I in the back, we're supporters. We'll help whoever needs it but we can't help you if we're fighting our own battles."
"Solid reasoning." Kakashi praises the Nara.
"So we're expecting a fight?" Naruto asks eagerly. "It's been awhile since I was in a real fight."
"Yes." Shikamaru says. His lazy drawl is nowhere to be found. "We're going in with the mindset that we're going to be attacked, everyone be on high alert. Ino how's your sensing coming along?"
"It's getting there." She admits. "My range isn't that good, maybe twenty meters at my best. I only just started to work on it."
"Better than nothing. Keep a lookout for anything and everything." Shikamaru orders. "I don't like surprises."
"You got it!" Ino confidently responds.
"Let's move." Shikamaru orders and the five shinobi take to the trees.
With Alvarcus
Four sickening squelches echo out into the clearing as I pull my loyal minions back into me. Then I put my shirt back on and swing my coat over my shoulders. I'm back to my usual outfit.
~Should we go check to make sure some of them lived?~
"No need." I turn away from the pillar of thick black smoke towards my own personal destination.
~I thought we were supposed to let some of them live?~
"A few probably did since that was an attack based completely on luck. We bombarded the area, someone probably was in the right place to survive it. Who knows, maybe someone over there knew a jutsu or something to defend themselves. But it wouldn't matter if every single one of them died."
~Why not? Ah, I get it. The Hunters.~
"Correct. They will spread the news about me like wildfire." I sigh in both contentment and resignation. "I'll probably never be able to use this combination attack as effectively again. It's been a very long time since a single shinobi destroyed a base. Usually a stealth team sneaks in and rigs it to blow with tags but Orochimaru wanted it to be flashy. He wanted memorable. He wanted me to send a message and to show off just how strong I really am."
~This is him saying fuck off to the world.~
"Well... yeah." I cringe as I start to move again. "It sounds a lot worse when you say it like that."
With the Konoha Team
"Stop." Kakashi orders the entire group and the other four members are quick to join him. They're all perched high in trees around the clearing where the base is.
Used to be. The base is nothing more than smoldering ruins now. All of the buildings have been demolished and resemble little more than rubble. There are giant craters and rents in the ground from some form of advanced technique, obviously it's the one that brought this destruction down upon the unsuspecting Kusa shinobi.
"Shikamaru I'm taking over for this." Kakashi's tone brokers no arguments.
"All yours." Shikamaru readily agrees. He has no idea how to react to this situation. He has no experiences to fall back on. Hell he's never seen destruction of this magnitude before, even when Konoha was invaded there were a few leveled building but you could tell that they were buildings. But here they're just crushed into unrecognizable heaps.
"What happened here? Who did this? Who can do this?" Naruto asks the questions that everyone wants answered.
"We'll figure that out later." Kakashi rises up from his kneeling position. "We're going to go look for survivors. Be wary, it's possible they will attack us. They just went through this, they're sure to be jumpy. Just remain calm and let Anko and I do the talking. You three are strictly observers. Do not engage anyone unless they attack you, even then only defend yourself. This is a very delicate situation. It's one I hoped you all would never have to see."
"Kakashi? Anko?" Ino hesitantly asks. She's very shaken up from seeing the ruthless destruction. "Does... does this happen a lot? Is this normal? Will we be expected to do something like this too?"
"Not in times of peace." Anko quietly says as she shares a look with Kakashi. Neither of them will sugar coat this. They're telling the kids - the shinobi - exactly how it is. "But in times of war, that's a different story."
"Have... have either of you done something like this?" Ino gestures out at the indiscriminate destruction. Whoever did this didn't care who they caught in their attack.
Kakashi and Anko share another look. Each one is asking the other to respond to this question, neither of the jonin want to portray themselves in a bad light to the others. But it's Kakashi who folds first, even if it's only temporary Ino does look at Anko as a sensei. He won't let that relationship be tainted so soon.
"Yes. I have." Kakashi admits to everyone else present. "It's as you all have said before, I am one of Konoha's top shinobi. I'll be given missions that no one else can do. Sometimes I'll get assigned to systematically dismantle an entire base with cold and unforgiving precision. Other times I'll be told to blow up a bridge that hundreds of enemy forces are depending on to bring them food and medical supplies. Usually it's with a team. Sometimes it's not."
He feels four unique stares at his back. The first one is full of thanks and pity, this one is Anko. The second is one of shock and fear, this one is Ino. The third is one of surprise and then hate, this one is Naruto. The fourth one is calculating and morbid sense of awe, this one is Shikamaru.
"That does not mean I enjoy such things. They are the things that keep me awake at night. They're the things that haunt me to this very day. They're the things that I've done so no one else had to."
An awkward silence falls onto the five shinobi.
"We've wasted enough time." Kakashi breaks the tense atmosphere. "Let's go check for survivors."
At the Ruins of the Base
"Are there any survivors?" Kakashi calls out from the middle of the town. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, I'm with a Konoha team that was passing close by then saw smoke and came to investigate. We're here to help."
"Do you really think anyone will respond to that?" Anko chirps to the more experienced jonin. She's trying to give off a not hostile vibe so they're more likely to respond.
"I hope so." Kakashi responds in an equally loud voice. "Kusa is our ally, it's only natural that we help each other."
A wet cough comes from off to their left and all five shinobi reflexively take up defensive stances. Kakashi even zoomed to stand between everyone and the sudden noise in case the person who made it is hostile. They'll have to go through him to get the others.
"Konoha... HACK... shinobi?" A weak voice says from beneath part of a destroyed building.
The owner of the voice is male and he's on the verge of dying. Upon closer examination everyone can see that the only reason he's still alive is because part of the collapsed building is still on him. It crushed his lower half but it's also preventing his organs from spilling to the ground. They can't lift the rubble off of him or he'll die but if they do nothing he'll die anyways. There's no hope for this man.
And from the resigned look in his eyes he knows it too.
"You're lucky... wheeze... you weren't here an hour ago." The Kusa shinobi forces out.
"What happened here?" Kakashi kneels next to the Kusa shinobi. "Who did this?"
"Not enough time." The Kusa shinobi weakly says between labored breaths. "Dead. Soon."
"Eito-san?" Ino gasps out as she finally looks at the Kusa shinobi's face.
"You know him?" Kakashi gently asks Ino without leaving Eito's side.
"Yes." Tears form in her eyes. "He was the proctor for the Chunin Exams I just went to."
"Leiko." There's a spark in Eito's eyes for just a fleeting moment. "Tell Leiko... tell..."
Eito trails off. He's no longer capable of speech, he only has moments left in this world.
"Shh." Ino steps forward to kneel down next to Eito with Kakashi. "Don't speak, just think. I'm a Yamanaka, I'll skim your surface thoughts. Not enough for a full possession but enough so I can read you. Don't worry about me, we're not connected enough to do any damage. You can tell me that way."
Ino gently lays a hand on Eito's head as bursts of fragmented images assault her mind.
"Fire rained down from the sky." She quietly says to her other teammates. "It was Hell on earth for just one minute, but in the minute everyone died. Everything broke. It all ended so quickly so unexpectedly. Just like that. No one even saw who did it."
The Konoha shinobi analyze the destruction again with a new eye. There's a lot of smoldering boulders at the epicenter of most of the craters and rents in the ground.
"There were three other survivors." Ino continues. "Somehow they came out nearly unscathed but they've long since fled back to Kusa. They saw Eito like this and left him here. No, he told them to leave him. He knows that he's going to die."
A new burst of images flows into Ino's mind. They're not of this senseless destruction, they're softer. Gentler. A new tear forms in Ino's eyes, but it doesn't carry the same meaning as her previous tears.
"You truly cared for Leiko. You saw her as the little sister you never had and she looked up to you so much. You want to apologize to her, not for dying, but because you can't see her grow up. I'll make sure she knows."
"Thank you." Eito speaks despite the agony it causes him.
The connection between him and Ino is severed but Ino wasn't the one to break it. He's dead.
"You're welcome." Ino removes her hand from the corpse.