Chapter 51: The Cascades

The full arrangement of the army was thus: Shin and Kirai's headquarters were set near the top of the hill, on the southern slope, with both of their brigades in reserve. On the northern slope, behind the north stream and just ahead of the tree line were Hotoke and Tetsu's brigades, each had dug in significantly, and a sort of trench system had been developed, with Hotoke taking the western flank and Tetsu the east. Beyond the northern stream, on flatter ground, Maneshi and Kannin were positioned. The ground was too susceptible to earth release to form a proper trench system, so they ordered their men to dig small foxholes, and find as much natural cover as they could--which was usually offered by either finding or summoning large boulders. Warai and Kawaru were put on the direct East and West slopes of the hill, behind Tetsu and Hotoke's brigade, and they had much better terrain for the fight. Their main job was to resist flanking assaults, and protect the headquarters from assault.

They sat in their tents and foxholes for a whole day, just waiting for Suna-nin to discover their position and approach. They didn't have the option of surprising them--not only was their force too big, but Suna hadn't actually declared war yet, and Hiruzen wanted Shin and Kirai to do everything they could to convince Suna to turn back.

While he was sitting with Kiyo amongst his soldiers, he overheard them talking with each other,

"A real treat getting assigned to the exact front, isn't it?"

"Yeah I heard our next treat is going directly to hell itself."

"I didn't know Konoha war command awarded vacations like that..."

Kannin smiled hearing them all banter. It was a necessary thing to do to keep your head in check. Kannin had missed the comradery for the last few months. He usually operated alone on the front line. Most of all, he missed his friends. Looking back, past the front river, he knew they were milling about on the hill; and even just a few hundred meters away it felt like they were countries apart.

'After this,' he thought, 'we should go out for a big dinner, like what Shin helped us to after the chunin exams. That would be good.'

-

That big dinner would have to wait, however, as soon they did spy Sunagakure forces approaching. From the looks of it, the entire expeditionary force showed up. They bounded across the marshy plains in a flash, and in a few hours they had come upon the Konoha forces, all 2000 of them. Kannin stood at the front of his line, the very front of the army, and surveyed the enemy. They looked well supplied and well fed--eager too. He could hear cheering and war cries punctuating the minutes.

He met up with Maneshi, and after sending a fox to HQ, they, as the forward representatives of the Konoha army, approached the Suna force. A hundred meters or so in front of the army, they paused before Maneshi used an amplification jutsu and shouted

"Shinobi of Sunagakure!" their silky voice called out, "You are trespassing on the Land of Rivers and threatening the security of the Land of Fire! Turn back now and you will be spared, otherwise, we will destroy you!"

They witnessed a middle-aged man with greyish brown hair and an old woman in her 50s or 60s walk up to them. Kannin guessed they were Rasa and Chiyo--though he didn't know if Rasa had been made the Fourth Kazekage yet. Once they had walked up to Kannin and Maneshi, they offered to shake hands, which they accepted. Seeing their amicability, Rasa decided to talk.

"Are you the leaders of this Konoha army?" He asked.

"No, just the vanguard commanders." Kannin clarified,

"Konohagakure stands accused of the disappearance of the Sandaime Kazekage." Rasa continued in a gruff voice, "Until you or another representative of Konoha can provide proof contrary to this, we are in a state of war against you, I'm sorry to say."

"I'm not." Chiyo added with a huff

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Kannin responded, waiting for Rasa to give his name,

"My name is Rasa, interim Kazekage until the Third's condition is confirmed"

"I'm sorry, Rasa." Kannin continued, "We do, of course, deny these allegations, but nonetheless cannot disprove them. I know in times of war, niceties tend to degrade, but I think it would be appreciated by all if you were to allow us to return unharmed before hostilities begin."

Rasa simply nodded, and watched the two commanders ran back to their tents, shaking his head due to their youth. With the sound of the rushing rivers slowly being drowned out by the war cries of the Suna-nin, Kannin quickly sent Kiyo to inform HQ while he prepared his companies. He and Maneshi split up, returning to their brigades in order to ready themselves. The tide of sand-nin would break on them first.

'We'll likely be forced to retreat after a while, but we should be able to use the rivers to enhance water release jutsu...' Kannin began strategizing, 'We need to secure a safe way over the river, if we get cut off, we're dead.'

"Sara," he called out, and she came running up, "your company is in charge of securing our path over the river once we're forced to retreat, take your soldiers to the back and prepare yourselves."

She nodded and began calling her company back. With Sara's company guarding the river, he had everyone proficient in earth release begin to roughen the terrain with mud, boulders, bogs, etc. He put himself between Kara and Oyake's companies in the very front, with Mikoto and Mitomi's companies slightly behind them on their flanks, and ordered them to fortify.