Chapter 108:
So far both sides had set up defensive measures as the sand had come to a halt in the middle of the land of rivers, having been met by the hidden leaf forces, as they did their best to halt their advance.
However, the sand knew that they outnumbered the leaf forces two to one, having been given the report from their scouts. And they would not allow the leaf to block their advance for long as they prepared to attack.
The battlefield had been decided along the rough terrain full of large tent rocks that spread across the entire battle scape, with only a small clearing where the sand had deployed their troops.
The leaf would try and use these as a natural defence from the sand's siege weaponry. But they knew it would take more than hiding behind rocks to survive, let alone with this battle.
"The men are in position sir." One of the leaf jonin said to their commander.
"Good, any sign of the mist reinforcements?" The commander asked, looking over to the scout.
"Not yet sir." He responded, not seeming hopeful.
"Looks like we are out of time then." He said as he lead the way out of his small tent that had been set up for tactical reasons.
The sand had been edging forwards ever so slightly, moving closer and closer as they got ready to attack. Each and every time the leaf scouts reported their advance, letting the commanders know that the time for battle would soon be upon them.
"Sir, it won't be long now until we are in range of their siege weapons."
"give the order to prepare for battle. We can't let them use their siege equipment to its full extent." The commander said, knowing it would cause a heavy amount of casualties.
The sand had three different types of artillery weapons, ranging from a giant demon shuriken launcher, that could fire up to four shurikens at a time. Basic catapults, and ballistas that would be shooting giant arrows. All of which were designed to do massive damage to large areas in a full-scale battle.
"Formations!" The captains of the hidden leaf's unit shouted, getting their men to take a position within their squads and units.
The atmosphere was tense as the eve of battle was upon them, all of men and women that made the ranks sweating as they waited for the order to charge to be given.
"Remember men, show these bastards no mercy!" The commander shouted as he looked down at them, seeing the nervous looks on their faces.
Meanwhile, the hidden sands forces were lined up and in perfect formation alongside their siege weapons that made a long line that stretch at least 400 meters across, as they prepared for battle.
"Lady Kazekage, the men are in position and we are ready to attack upon your orders." One of the hidden sands captains said to Pakura, who was currently the fifth Kazekage.
Pakura currently sat in her tent, wearing her Kage hat as she sipped on a small cup of tea before she looked over to the man giving her the report.
"Is that so." She said as she slowly placed the teacup down and stood to her feet, placing her hands on her hips.
"In that case, give the order to attack at once. I want to press on the attack and destroy them as quickly as possible!" She shouted, giving the man a serious glare.
"At once lady Kazekage!" He shouted, quickly bowing to her before he turned and ran to give the orders.
"The leaf will pay for aligning with the mist." She said as she looked through the gap in her tent entrance, knowing now was the time for battle.
"Lady Mizukage..." An elderly voice said coming from behind her, taking her attention away from her thoughts.
"I hope you are not planning on engaging in this battle from the very start." The voice said again before she turned around to look at who it belonged to.
"Lady Chiyo. I can assure you I will follow your advice and restrain myself from getting involved until later." Pakura said, flashing her elder a smile.
"Good. We wouldn't want a repeat of what happened to lord fourth." Chiyo said as she gave Pakura a hard look.
"No... No, we wouldn't." Pakura said, giving her a hard look before he looked to her other trump cards.
"I hope you are ready..." She said as she eyed up their cloaks.
"We will do what we have been paid to do. That you can be certain of." A deep voice said coming from the shadows.
"Very well," Pakura said as she turned her attention back to the entrance to her tent.
"Sir! The siege weapons are in range!" One of the scouts of the leaf shouted to his commander, letting him know as urgently as he could.
"Very well..." The commander said under his breath before he looked up in the enemy's direction.
"Alright men, CHARGE!!!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, getting an almighty roar from everyone as they did as instructed, charging into the fray of battle, knowing not all of them would make it out alive.
"Fire!!!" The sand captains shouted, giving the order for the artillery to be let loose at their targets.
The sand units did just that as they pulled the levers and switches of the different siege weapons, letting them loose into the air before they quickly started to reload them.
The hidden leaf forces charged towards the hidden sands forces, watching as the sky was suddenly filled with all sorts of heavy weaponry, having no choice other than to keep running as if their lives depends on it.
"Incoming!!!"
The warning of many was ill heard as the crash and thunderous sounds of catapults and other heavy weaponry hit the ground, causing explosions all around as fire engulfed the area they hit.
"Look out!!!" Others tried to shout as massive demon shuriken's hit and tour through the ground and tent rocks, showing that they provided little cover from the massive weapons.
"Keep going, men!!! We cannot stop here!" The commander shouted, doing his best to keep moving forwards even as he watched his men get torn apart from another set of massive shuriken before his very eyes.
"Sir, the leaf forces are advancing on us quickly." One of the sand captains said as he watched from the distance.
"I can see that." The commander said as he also watched from their vantage point.
"Send in the first wave, and do not stop the artillery from firing." He said, causing a worried look to form on the captain's face.
"But sir, many of our own men will die if we continue to fire."
"I gave you an order man! See that it is done!" The commander suddenly snapped, cutting the captain off.
"U-understood, sir." The captain said as he slowly backed off and gave the order for the first wave of soldiers to charge.
"ARRGHHHH!!!" Both sides screamed as they finally clashed in the middle of the battlefield, engaging in vicious and brutal combat.
The first wave of sand ninja roughly 1000 strong clashed with those of the hidden leaf, engaging in combat that ranged from taijutsu, kenjutsu, kunai, shuriken, and a variety of Jutsu. Each side clashing in vicious and bloody battle as they tried their very best to destroy the other side.
"Hold the line men, we have to push through no matter what!" The leaf commanders and captains shouted as they tried to keep their men's morale up, doing their best to push through.
"Sir look out!" One of the leaf ninja shouted a warning, seeing that the sand continued to fire their artillery weapons from the distance, even though their own men would take damage too.
"Blast it..." The commander said as he watched in horror, knowing that the sand had planned this all along, using their own men to trap and stop the leaf forces into one place so they could take more of them out from a distance.
"At this rate, we won't have enough men to stop them!" One of the captains said as he watched the messy battle rage.
"It's no use... We have to retreat to safety and get out of range of the artillery!" The commander suddenly shouted, getting ready to give the signal to retreat.
"Sir look out!" One of the captains suddenly shouted as large demon shuriken was flying towards them, doing his best to try and form hand signs before it got too close.
Time slowed down for the commander as he watched it come towards them, knowing that this was the end for him and his men, as the captain also realized he could form the hand signs quick enough.
But for some reason unknown to the commander, the shuriken never hit them, leaving him and his men standing there confused as to why they were still alive.
"Is that a mirror...?" One of the captains asked as he looked closer, seeing their reflection.
"Sorry we are late." A voice said coming from behind them, causing them to turn around and see who it belonged to.
Kaga and Ganryu stood behind them, flashing them a smile as they gave the leaf commander a nod.
"Y-You are mist shinobi... Does that mean?" The commander asked.
"See for yourself," Kaga said as he turned around to show him.
Suddenly large ice mirrors opened all around the battlefield, causing both sides to stop fighting as they watched in confusion.
A large amount of mist shinobi appeared from the mirrors, running through them as they took their formation giving a large war cry to get everyone's attention.
"Sorry we are late commander, but things will be different from here." Another voice suddenly said, getting his attention again.
"Y-you are!" The leaf commander said in shock as he saw who the voice belonged to, seeing it was Fuyōna, standing tall and proud as he walked over towards them and took down the large ice mirror that had shielded them from the artillery.
The leaf commander could see all of the mist reinforcements had arrived, ready to help turn the tide of the battle. However, he knew with the enemy's artillery they would still have a hard time and take a large number of casualties.
"Sir! Another round of artillery is about to be released!" One of the captains suddenly shouted, gaining all of their attention.
"I wouldn't worry about that," Fuyōna said as he made the hand signs, allowing ice mirrors to suddenly form in the sky, absorbing all of the projectiles from the sand's artillery.
"Oh, and don't worry about the artillery. That's taken care of." Fuyōna then said as he placed his hands together again, concentrating for a moment.
The sands troops were forced to watch as ice formed under their siege weapons, seeming to swallow them into the ground and causing them to disappear in an instant.
"W-what the hell happened to our artillery!" The sand's commander shouted, watching in confusion as first all of the projectiles had been absorbed and then the artillery itself was swallowed by the ice mirrors before they disappeared.
"I-I don't know sir... They just disappeared into the ice." One of the men said as he had fallen back onto his arse confused.
"Sir look!" One of the captains said as he saw the large ice mirrors appear, allowing the mist units to run through them onto the battlefield.
"What the hell kind of jutsu is that!" He shouted, having never seen anything like it before.
"That commander, would be the fifth Mizukage." A voice said coming from behind him, causing him to stand upright at attention as he instantly recognized who it belonged to.
"L-Lady Kazekage!" He shouted, bowing to her at once.
"I didn't expect him to come here right away either... But it would seem we are going to have one hell of a fight on our hands." She said as a smile appeared on her face.
Fuyōna watched as his men charged onto the small amount of sand shinobi who remained as they tried to hold the line against the leaf, crushing them in a quick charge as they had the element of surprise.
"Now that the sands artillery has been taken care of, we can advance without cause for concern," Fuyōna said, waiting for the leaf commander to pick his jaw up from the floor.
"Sir, it would seem they still outnumber us by around 2000 men," Kaga said as he did a rapid count and analysis of how many shinobi he could see.
"I see..." Fuyōna said as he took a good look at his surroundings.
"Kaga, gather the men," Fuyōna said as he gave the order before he turned to the leaf commander.
"Are your men ready?" He asked.
The commander was quick to shake his shock off, knowing he shouldn't have expected anything less of one of the five Kage, especially one of Fuyōna's reputation.
"They are sir." He said as he turned to get a good look at them, seeing they had, had a small boost to their morale now that the mist reinforcements had arrived.
"Very well, the real battle starts now," Fuyōna said as he nodded to Kaga.
Kaga nodded back as he quickly made his way to the front line and began to bark orders to the men and women who made the front lines up.
Fuyōna closed his eyes as he focused on the chakra signals that were coming from the enemy, trying to find those who would pose the most threat on the battlefield.
"There you are..." He said as he locked onto Pakura, followed by four other S level chakra signals he knew were very strong.
"Seems they really aren't holding anything back." Fuyōna thought as he knew they amassed as many troops as they could afford to take away from their village.
"Keep doing what you are doing commander, your men will need you if they are to keep fighting at their best," Fuyōna said as he turned his back on them, making his way to the front line.
"W-wait, lord Mizukage! Where are you going?" He shouted as he watched him walk away.
"I'm joining the front line commander." He said, not even looking back.
"After all, what kind of leader would I be if I hide behind my own men." He said, leaving the commander with Ganryu and his own captain.
"That's our Mizukage for you," Ganryu said as he watched him walk off.
"He can't be serious." The commander said.
"I know he is strong, and a Kage... But still, fighting on the front line from the get-go will get him killed!" He shouted as he took a step forwards.
"I wouldn't bother commander." Ganryu suddenly said, grabbing his shoulder.
"Just watch." He said as he let go of him, knowing it would make little difference if he tried to stop him or not.
Fuyōna made his way over towards the front lines, getting stared at by every one of the leaf and mist shinobi who also made up the ranks.
"Lord Mizukage fights with us! There is no way we can lose!!!" Some of the men shouted, causing everyone to cheer in amazement as they watched him join their ranks.
"Alright, men! On me!" Fuyōna shouted as he turned to face them, getting an almighty roar before he started running.
"Here they come, sir!" One of the sand captains shouted to his commander and Kazekage, as they watched the combined force of the leaf and mist charge towards them.
"Give the order!" Pakura shouted, watching from the distance as she spotted Fuyōna leading the charge.
"Devil of the mist. Your time has come to an end," She said as she extended her hand.
"Charge!!!" She shouted, getting the whole of her 7000-strong army to march forwards.
"Whoever brings me the Mizukages head will go down in the history books! Now go, fight with everything you have for the sand!!" She roared, getting her own battle cry from her force as they burst into a sprint to match that of the enemies.
"AARAGGHHHHH!!!" Both sides roared as they ran towards each other, each side getting ready to unleash their strongest attacks as they got closer and closer.
Fuyōna watched as the enemy got closer and closer, also seeing that he was much further ahead than the rest of his men, seeing that he would enter the fray of battle first. Something he was happier about, as it meant no one would get in his way.
"Here we go!" Fuyōna yelled as he crossed his arms over his head, allowing bones to suddenly burst all around his body as he was about to clash with the enemy.
"Time to let loose!!!"
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Alright that's the end of this chapter! I hope you are enjoying the story so far, and as always thank you for supporting the story!
Anyway, until next time!
have a great day.