Chapter 35: The plans of Mice and Men III

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sorry for the late update, the reason for that I have been working on a new fanfic for DxD so my time is kind of busy right now.

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Thank you, Naruto-kun.' Hiruzen thought as he charged at his still seething former student, intent on taking advantage of the opening afforded to him.

And so, the battle between the leaders of the respective armies started their titanic battle.

...

While this was happening, Naruto, the original one, was heading to a much more interesting place. It was a small clearing just outside Konoha. Here he could see the enemy's intelligence officers bustling around and commanding officers in charge of directing traffic for the foot soldiers.

These were the men in charge of providing crucial information to their Shinobi as well as the ones who pick the priority targets. He also spotted a few Konoha ANBU with blank masks amongst them. He smirked when he saw that, knowing exactly what division they were a part of and who ordered them here.

'It seems that old war hawk is getting impatient in his old age. I didn't think he would overplay his hand by his much. The old man will have a field day with this.' Naruto thought as he discreetly took a few photographs of the scene with the camera he kept on hand to record his glorious pranks. He made sure to include the Konoha-nin in the picture with the enemy commanders.

All in all, there were about 20 of them, including the ROOT agents. Six of them were Suna-nin with the remaining ten being Oto-nin. A normal person would have walked away from the scene and called a superior officer.

Not to mention, the political power of the one in charge of the traitors was nothing to sneeze at either. But Naruto was the furthest thing from normal. He wasn't afraid of fighting the odds nor was he afraid of some old prune who probably couldn't even get it up anymore.

He knew that if, no, when he cut off communications with the rest of the invading army, they would run around like headless chickens. Making the jobs of the rest of the Konoha-nin a lot easier.

He knew he couldn't allow any of them to leave, especially the ROOT agents. This was a golden opportunity for him to get a peek at the infamous seal that is said to be on the tongues of all ROOT agents that apparently prevent them from divulging information about their organisation as well as their leader.

Through his own little spy network, he picked up a few titbits here and there regarding the seal and he has been curious ever since. The Uzumaki blood in his wouldn't allow him to let it go. Not to mention, Danzo has been a thorn in the side of the Sandaime for a long time, which translates to being a thorn in Naruto's side going into the future.

The man was an instigator with a superiority and inferiority complex towards the old man. He was a lot like Sasuke in that regard. Which was enough to put the guy on the top of Naruto's shit list. But the guy was apparently the one behind the civilian portion of the Konoha council thinking they actually have the power to run things as he has been rallying them from the shadows.

Which was even more motivation to try and crack this seal. He wasn't sure if he could actually get something concrete on the old bastard to have him executed, but if he could make his life even a little more difficult than it was a win in Naruto's books.

With nary a thought, four shadow clones silently popped into existence. He gave them each a nod and they vanished from the spot. He hid a smirk to himself.

It was a bit of karmic justice for him as he would use the very same technique that they did in their quest to destabilise the village. He knew he could have stealthily killed them if he wanted to. But he was in the mood to have a little fun today. Not to mention, most of these cocky assholes looked likely to brag about their objectives if he egged them on enough.

So he would forgo any stealth and he would do what he always did. Kick down their front door and cause as much anarchy as humanly possible.

"Ninpo: Shishi Enjin"

A translucent violet box encased the clearing, same as the one that the Hokage was currently trapped in.

"What!"

"What's going on?!"

"Check the perimeter! Find out the source! If we take out at least one of the casters, the Jutsu will fail." One of the more level headed commanders belted out.

"Ara ara that was impressive thinking under such a stressful condition. I must say, I'm impressed with your fortitude Hiroshi-san." Naruto drawled out as he made his position known.

He was casually sitting on a tree branch with his right leg crossed over his left and his chin resting on his palm, the arm of which was being supported by his leg. There was a half-lidded look in his eyes as he gazed down at the tense enemy Shinobi.

"Who the hell is Hiroshi?!" The once level headed commander retorted.

"Eh? You're not Hiroshi-san who used to run the local pet shop?" Naruto asked. He cupped his chin and adopted a thinking pose as he squinted his eyes a little and stared at the man.

"Sure, you lost a lot of hair, your stomach looks a lot bigger that before and your face looks a little more deformed. But I'm sure you're the real Hiroshi-san." He finished, nodding his head sagely like it was a forgone conclusion.

"You little bastard! You dare to make fun of me?!"

"Calm down, Hiroshi-san. I just came here to return this collar and leash I bought from you. It was bad stock and my girlfriend said it makes her neck itch. Could I get a refund?" Naruto questioned as he held up a dog collar with a leash attached to it.

"You!" The enemy commander gritted out, clearly recognising that Naruto was mocking them. He eventually got himself under control though as he smirked at Naruto.

"You made a mistake coming here boy. You trapped yourself in a box with us. There is no escape for you now. Men, teach our little friend a lesson in respect. Keep him alive though, I want to be the one to end him." The man ordered with a cruel smirk on his face.

Naruto continued to look bored at the proceedings, further unnerving the men in the clearing. He was keeping a careful eye on the four ROOT agents though. He knew what they were most likely to do in this situation.

They couldn't afford to let their involvement in the invasion become known to the public and by extension implicate their leader. Even though there will be no solid proof to incriminate Danzo, the Sandaime is smart enough to know that he had his hands in it.

They also couldn't afford to kill Naruto as he was too high a priority for the village, not to mention that their leader probably had his own plans for him as the village Jinchuuriki. The only option they had here was to incapacitate him and take him back to their base to be 're-educated' in a way that would benefit their leader, passing it off as him being a casualty of war.

Naruto gave them a calm smile as he eyed them predatorily. They assumed him to be easy picking because he was a kid…they were sorely mistaken.

Before they could even react, Naruto flung a handful of shuriken at five of them before going through rapid hand-seals.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin No Jutsu"

The handful of shuriken multiplied into hundreds of them. There were far too many for the men to effectively dodge successfully as such many of the shuriken embedded themselves in their bodies. It wasn't anything fatal, but it was sure to be painful. He was doubtful they would be able to fight at full capacity, which was the point of the attack.

"What are you idiots looking around for?! Attack him!" The leader urged.

They sprang into action with two Oto-nin and one Suna-nin charging at him with kunai at hand. Four others stationed themselves just behind the charging group, going through hand-seals. Naruto gave a languid smile as he blurred from his position, coming to a crouch a few metres in front of the charging Shinobi.

He lashed out with a thrust kick to the stomach at the closest one, sending him flying into a tree. The second one received an uppercut that caused him to bite his tongue as well as lifting him off the ground. As he hung in the air for a few seconds, his mouth filling with blood, Naruto delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to his side.

You could hear the crunch of bones as a few of his ribs shattered under the force of the kick and his body went skidding along the ground. The final Shinobi tried to take advantage of Naruto's focus on the other two and slip a kunai into Naruto's unguarded back.

Unfortunately it didn't work out that well for him as Naruto twizzled his body at the last second, allowing the arm to pass through nothing but air. Naruto then caught the arm, his back still facing the man, and casually snapped it at the forearm. The man's scream pierced the clearing.

Naruto then spun him around and clapped him hard on his ears, further disorientating him.

""Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu""

""Fuuton: Daitoppa""

Naruto heard as the four from before unleashed their Jutsu. Two of them used the Gokakyu no Jutsu, which melded as they flew through the air. The other two augmented the already impressive fireball with the Daitoppa no Jutsu. Naruto actually took a moment to admire the seamless collaboration Jutsu.

It was a pretty impressive sight. He didn't think the cannon fodder could produce something so good. He wasn't too worried though as he used the still groggy Shinobi that he had just incapacitated as a meat shield. His screams once again echoing throughout the clearing as the sizzling of his flesh could be heard along with the putrid smell of it.

Naruto, not waiting around to admire his handiwork, used a Shunshin to appear in the immediate vicinity of the Jutsu casters.

They were still a little disturbed by their comrade being roasted alive by their Jutsu that they were a little slow to react as Naruto enhanced his kunai with Fuuton chakra before throwing it at one of them, piercing his brain.

The other three quickly snapped out of their shock and charged him, intent on engaging in a Taijutsu battle. He was happy to oblige them as his fists and feet danced through the air as he took all three of them on.

Blocking and dodging. He would strike out every so often when he found an opening in their guard. He used his superior strength and agility to evade most of their hits as well as landing his own. He could tell they were tiring a little.

The drain from those large Jutsu they used earlier along with trying to match his stamina was always a battle that they had no hope in winning. Just as he was about to finish them off, he was grabbed from the back and held in a full nelson position.

From the corner of his eye, he could see it was the guy that he first kicked away.

"Excellent men! Cut him up a little. This little brat needs to be taught a lesson in respect." The leader ordered. He had yet to move from his position as he stood with the ROOT Shinobi just watching.

The three he was fighting each took out a kunai, intent on carrying out their orders as the one holding him tightened his hold. As they got within range, Naruto gave them an indulgent smile as he uttered two words.

"Bunshin Daibakuha"

His body glowed white before he exploded violently. The Shinobi that was holding him took the brunt of the attack as his body exploded in a shower of bloody chunks. The other three took quite a bit of concussive damage from the attack but managed to escape the more fatal effects.

Their good luck didn't last long however as three Fuuton enhanced kunai penetrated their skulls.

The leader looked around the clearing to see Naruto still sitting in the same position, only on a different tree. He was casually tossing a kunai in the air with that same placid expression on his face.

Before the leader could say anything, Naruto flicked the kunai he was tossing to his left, killing the Shinobi that was curled up on the ground. It was the same one whose ribs he broke.

Naruto turned his attention back to the leader. There were only 13 of them left now. It didn't look like the leader or the ROOT agents were planning on moving anytime soon so that just left 8 more till he got to them.

"You!" The leader growled, the vein on his forehead throbbing violently.

"Oi oi…you might want to calm down, Hiroshi-san. It's not healthy for a man of your age to be under so much stress. You might have a brain aneurism. Shizuka-chan will be sad if anything happened to her Tou-chan." Naruto warned, though there was no sincerity in his voice.