16 Chapter 16: A Shinobi's Resolve
Rain poured down heavily from the sky as two figures stood on opposite sides of each other, the field in the forest was covered by quite a number of wooden spikes that had arised from the ground.
Han observed his opponent carefully, he could feel the KI radiating of Naruto...and it was quite a lot for such a young boy of his age.
"So, his power evolves from feelings of hatred and anger...seeing his friends getting hurt must have been the trigger for awakening of his sharingan, even that is acceptable since his mother is an Uchiha and it was bound to happen someday...but Mokuton?" thought Han mysteriously,
He had gotten over his shock of seeing the wooden spikes arising out of the ground, one thing was certain- that there were a lot of mysteries surrounding the Namikaze brat and he had to find out his true power.
Meanwhile Naruto was looking at his enemy murderously, he was beyond mad...how dare the commander killed his friends!
His vision had changed a little and he could see Han's chakra color inside his body...he didn't know what was happening, the only thing he wanted to do was kill this man, no matter what!
"This is how foolish kids like you die...Negligence leads to mistakes, mistakes lead to deaths in war...and all of you let your guard down, it's a pity you survived while all your comrades fell...isn't that right?" asked Han in an insulting tone, and he hit the nail on the right spot.
"I..."
Naruto's faint voice reached the Anbu commander's eyes and he saw that the young cadet was affected badly with the fate of his comrades...but what happened next surprised him.
With unbelievable speed Naruto quickly performed a set of hand seals, however Han was a veteran of war and he saw the "Tiger" seal and he knew what was coming.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu(Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)"
"Fire Jutsu of Uchiha clan...and even a perfect fireball, quite good," thought Han bemusedly, however he just stood there as the fireball approached him.
In one quick slash of his sword he split the fireball in half and it barely just scratched him, but he had to jump on a tree quickly as a few wooden wines emerged from the ground and tried to stab him.
Han had just stepped on the tree when Naruto jumped right in front of him...and attempted to give a roundhouse kick right on his face, however he saw the attack and caught Naruto's leg firmly, in the next instant he sent the young Namikaze sailing in the air until he crashed in a tree.
"So he truly has Mokuton...but he can't control it, he is attacking me with Mokuton and he doesn't even know about it, but still he was quick to spot me with his sharingan and his speed is good...let's take it up a notch," thought Han firmly,
He formed a hand seal and 30 earth clones rose from the ground and now stood in front of Naruto, and Han chuckled a little when he saw the anger increasing in the boy's eyes.
"I thought you wanted to kill me...or is that all you've got? Is this your hatred?" asked Han disappointingly, and spit on the ground.
"Shut up..." said Naruto frustratingly, why couldn't he kill this man!
"You're weak, you're naive...how can you become a shinobi when you can't even protect one of your friends? You're all talk...but you're just a worthless piece of trash..." said Han murderously, and gave a signal to his clones.
Naruto immediately ducked as one of Han's clones tried to punch him, but before he could counterattack another clone kicked him straight on his chest and he was sent crashing a few feet away.
A jolt of pain ran right across his body as he crashed on the ground, a little blood started coming out of his mouth.
However his eyes widened in shock when he saw where he was lying, right next to him was Mikasa and her body was covered in blood. His hands shakily touched her face...and wiped the blood from it.
"Mikasa..." said a tearful Naruto, his heart felt so heavy seeing her like this.
"Fight..."
Naruto's eyes widened when he heard a faint voice on his left, he turned a little and saw Izumo looking at him weakly...and he was holding a kunai in his hand.
"If you win, we live...if you lose, we all die..." said Izumo weakly and slid the kunai in Naruto's direction.
As the kunai was coming towards him, Naruto realized something...he really was naive. Mikasa was right, this world was merciless...and the only thing that mattered was survival.
He heard Kotetsu's and Shizune's weak breaths...and he felt relived that they were alive.
"I won't let anything happen to you...I'll protect all of you," thought Naruto firmly,
His hands stopped shaking and he now realized what he had to do...he was free now, his friends were alive and he would fight till death to defeat them.
Han was satisfied when Naruto got back up, and he was holding the kunai firmly in his hands...his chakra that was flaring uncontrollably was now calm and stable...
"You want a war...I'll give you a war, Commander!" said Naruto coldly,
"He's serious this time...let the real battle begin!" thought Han firmly and ordered his clones to attack.
A clone tried to kick Naruto from behind...but with great speed the boy evaded the attack and in a single flash tore the earth clone in half with his kunai...and the other clones were quite surprised as one of their own crumbled to dust.
"I don't have the numbers to defeat them...but I can atleast do this," thought Naruto quickly and formed the "Tiger" seal.
"Another fire attack?" thought Han curiously, but he had never expected such a thing.
Han had never dreamed of seeing such a thing in his life...he truly thought his eyes were deceiving him. In a span of 10 seconds- 7 water clones appeared around Naruto...and the shocking thing was that it was no genjutsu.
"I never believed the reports that he made water clones out of thin air...but now, I definitely think he is somehow related to the Senju brothers...this can't be just a coincidence," thought Han suspiciously,
"Stick together!" yelled Naruto loudly, and the clones now stood firmly in front of Naruto.
Naruto's clones quickly performed a set of hand seals and fired their attack at once.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu(Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)"
Large fireballs were launched straight at Han's clone army but as expected his clones cleaved the fireballs in half...but the next second a hail of kunai came through and instantly 8 earth clones crumbled to dust.
Naruto and his clones jumped high in the air...and performed another similar set of hand seals...however the real Han noticed something was off.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu(Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)"
Several fireballs were again fired at Han's earth clones but this time they dodged the attacks...but they were quite surprised when a large fireball struck 10 of Han's clones from behind and destroyed them.
"Hn...he knows even with his clones he can never take my clones head on, so he is using diversion tactics and striking my clones from behind, he purposefully distracted my clones by launching the fireballs the first time and just when they thought the attack was over...he struck them down with his kunai...he used the same tactic again...with this time one of his clones attacking from behind. He is becoming a true ninja..." thought Han proudly,
19 out of 30 earth clones were down...and Naruto was panting harshly, his chakra was almost over and his clones were in the same condition, he only had one choice now.
"BANZAI!"
He charged head on, and jumped right on top of one of Han's clone...the same thing was being done by his water clones, his enemy gave him a hard punch to the face but Naruto did not leave him and stabbed his kunai straight in his skull.
He backflipped away as another attacker tried to slice him in half with his sword...he didn't know why, but he could slowly see the movement of his opponents.
Naruto fired his kunai straight and it struck the unprepared clone right in the eye and it crumbled to dust.
He looked around and saw 4 of Han's earth clones were left and they had surrounded him, all of his clones had been destroyed but they had taken atleast a few of Han's clones down.
He was no longer able to see the color of Han's chakra, and his chakra was finished now.
Naruto saw he had no weapons left, and his enemies raised their swords to kill him...even Han watched closely as his clones were about to kill the Namikaze, he didn't know what the hell was that boy thinking? Why wasn't he surrendering?
The swords quickly came down but to Han's astonishment...Naruto's right hand changed and it was now entirely covered in wood and was holding the swords firmly.
"It seems his bloodline is changing his body...was it due to the poison that Shizune mentioned? He certainly has no idea what's happening, hell I bet he doesn't even know he has activated his sharingan...just the desire to protect his friends is driving him this far," thought Han tactically,
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Naruto used all the strength he had left and his hand tore through the swords and he used to opportunity, and in a flash he beheaded all the clones.
His legs felt weak, and his hands slowly changed back to normal...
"What the hell was that thing?" wondered Naruto nervously, but he was brought out of his thoughts when he heard loud clapping behind him.
"Impressive brat...but-" said Han deviously, and the next instant Naruto was given a harsh kick and was pinned down on the ground.
He tried to get back up, but was shocked when Han stabbed his sword straight in his shoulder and this time he couldn't bear the pain.
"Fuck!" screamed Naruto at the top of his lungs as the sword teared his flesh and a pool of blood sprayed all across his face.
"Shinobi Rule 1: Never let your back open" said Han harshly, and to prove his point he kicked Naruto on his chest and the young boy coughed up a lot of blood.
Before he could scream another kick to his face, followed by a kick to his chin that sent him crashing in a tree as the sword tore right across his shoulder and he was sent sailing in the air.
"A true shinobi never let's his guard down...you were living carelessly in enemy territory and now you think by killing a few of my weak clones, you are strong? I'll show you the reality of this world..." said Han angrily and kicked Naruto right on his face as the boy drifted into unconsciousness.
A cold splash of water struck him and violently brought him back to consciousness.
The first thing he noticed was being tied upside down from a 30 feet tree...and he immediately tried to move but found himself bound completely. He was further horrified when he saw four other people tied beside him.
Naruto was horrified when he saw Mikasa, Shizune, Izumo and Kotetsu in the same position.
"What is this?" said Naruto in fear, his face was hurting badly as he felt he was bruised badly.
"You...look...like shit," said a voice beside him weakly, and Naruto found it was none other than Kotetsu.
"Kotetsu...Ah," said Naruto in pain as the bruises on his face was preventing him from speaking much.
"Oh...looks like someone's awake," said a terrifying voice, and both the boys saw it was none other than Han himself.
"Teme..." said Kotetsu angrily, he wanted to kill this man but he just couldn't move.
"NARUTO!"
Mikasa's terrifying scream made him look at her, and he saw tears were flowing from her eyes. She saw the dark bruises on his face, and the blood that was leaking out of his shoulder...
"WHO DID THIS!" demanded Mikasa angrily, and when she heard a loud chuckle above her, she realized who was this person...she could never forget this man.
"Looks like we have a feisty one here...let's see your anger," said Han in a sick voice, and slowly started coming down from the tree.
"What is this?" asked Shizune and Izumo slowly as they too woke up...but they were quite shocked when Han cut Mikasa's rope and lifted her up with one hand...and pinned her to the tree!
"YOU SICK BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU!" yelled Naruto angrily, but he freezed in fear when Han took out a kunai and lightly cut Mikasa's cheek...and then drank the blood on the tip of the kunai.
Shizune couldn't take this...and immediately puked, but this just made Kotetsu and Izumo puke too.
"You don't realize do you...all of you are captured, and have no fucking rights to demand anything. I can kill you, I can torture you...I can even rape these girls and nobody would give a fuck...Ah, that does sound like a good idea!" said Han demonically,
A cold shiver ran down all of the cadets spine, they were truly terrified now...Han was right, they were in a place where he could do anything with them, and nobody would know about it.
"Stop it...what do you want from us?" asked Izumo quickly, he just couldn't see such a thing being done to either Shizune or Mikasa...hell he didn't want such a thing to happen to any women.
Naruto tried to break free from his bindings...but was stopped when Shizune started crying.
"We'll make it out of here...Shizune, hang in there," said Naruto pleadingly, but it seemed that Shizune had just reached her limit, the thought of getting raped was making her scared.
"First survive this..." said Han madly, and cut their ropes in a flash!
"NO!" yelled Mikasa in horror as she watched her friends falling of the 30 feet tree!
"KOTETSU, IZUMO NOW!" yelled Naruto loudly, and all the three boys grabbed Shizune and formed a protective barrier around her despite her screams.
The ground neared and the inevitable happened...as they crashed, and the boys screamed in pain, while Shizune was mortified when she saw her friends bleeding to death.
Naruto's vision started darkening and he knew many of his bones were broken, Kotetsu and Izumo were also in bad shape...they were bleeding to death while Shizune was in shock and had just freezed.
Even Mikasa's screams were not being clearly heard by him, he tried to move but his broken bones hurted him even more.
Han jumped down the tree with Mikasa in his arms, and as soon as he landed on the ground she gave him a harsh kick on his balls and he fell flat on the ground.
"You bitch!" said Han in pain, and slowly got back up despite the pain.
But Mikasa didn't care as she just ran for her friends...and when she saw their condition more tears slipped from her eyes.
"Stay awake...I'll save you, NARUTO!" said Mikasa pleadingly, he was hurt bad and she knew they needed medical aid quickly.
"Take Shizune...and get out of here," said Naruto weakly, and Mikasa looked at him defiantly,
"We'll hold him off...just go," said Izumo weakly, and tried to get up but fell flat on the ground.
Before Mikasa could deny she was grabbed by her hair and lifted high in the air...SLAP!
"That's for attacking me...but since you have some guts I'll give you an option. You want to save your Naruto more than the others, don't you?" asked Han deviously, and Mikasa averted his eyes from her.
Neither of the boys said anything as they saw the tears that were coming out of Mikasa's eyes.
"Then kill Izumo and Kotetsu...and I promise I'll save Naruto, and I'll even let you and Shizune go!" said Han in a promising voice, and put a kunai in Mikasa's hands and jumped on a tree branch.
Mikasa's hands shook violently and her eyes were constantly moving between Naruto, Izumo and Kotetsu...the latter two just lay there, as if they had accepted their fate and were willing to sacrifice themselves.
But could she do such a thing? Could she kill a friend to save another friend?
Looking at Naruto, she realized neither he or her would be able to forgive themselves...if they committed such a crime.
"No..." said Mikasa firmly,
"Excuse me?" asked Han loudly, but was quite surprised when Mikasa threw the kunai straight at him...but he just caught it effortlessly.
"FUCK OFF...DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, I WON'T SELL OUT ANY OF MY COMRADES!" yelled Mikasa angrily,
"Fuck you...Fuck you...Fuck you, bastard. We won't kill our friends...rape us, kill us. That's what you are, monster!" said Shizune murderously and the boys were baffled by the females resolve.
Talking about sacrifice and dying for the country and one's comrades was one thing, but only the brave have the guts to prove that.
Han jumped of the tree and now stood in front of the cadets.
"YOU...Pass," said Han proudly, and what happened next shocked all the cadets.
Everything around them changed, and they found themselves tied to a tree, all of their wounds were healed well except for some bruise marks on Naruto's face.
"Genjutsu..." said Mikasa flatly, and she looked at the others.
"Right, Ackerman...all of you passed the survival and psychological test," said Han flatly, and all the cadets saw the scary commander sitting right in front of us, and instantly they were on alert.
"What was the meaning of all of this, why did you attack us with that exploding tag?" asked Kotetsu angrily, and Han gave a tired sigh.
"I was following orders...blacklight is the best Anbu force of this world...the things we do are dark, bloody and corrupt...and it is for the sake of Konoha and Fire country. This is not a force for weaklings and all of you were placed in death like situations and only those who were skilled or atleast got over their fears survived, while the weak cadets died..." explained Han flatly,
"You murdered them!" said Shizune furiously, and the others nodded.
"It's better to die here than dying on the battlefield...where your one mistake can get your entire squad killed. If even one of your squad member is weak then you will die...it is inhuman but this is what it is," said Han without any remorse in his voice.
"They were humans not some cattle that you killed!" said Naruto angrily,
"You'll not understand it now...this is the reality of our world. The strong survive...while the weak get slaughtered, it has happened countless times in the shinobi world...but the most important thing you need to learn is to always be alert, no matter how safe you are...there is always someone waiting to kill you in a war..." advised Han firmly, and the cadets just gave a nod as all of this was too much for them.
"Why did you torment us so much with the genjutsu?" asked Mikasa slowly, she was just glad her friends were safe.
"There will be times when you get captured...as most of our missions are behind enemy lines. and the enemy would use every tactic to break you...the whole purpose of this test was to find out whether you were truly loyal or not." said Han flatly,
"By putting us in miserable conditions and turning each other against us..." said Naruto accusingly,
"Yes, in such situations people always try to save themselves and sell out their countries secrets and their comrades...and if you had done that, then you would have been poisoned like some of the previous year cadets who broke and sold out their comrades under a genjutsu...the ones which tried to eat you were none other than those traitors...they were even willing to kill their comrades to save their lives, and traitors are killed in blacklight or given punishment worse than death..." said Han firmly, and the young shinobi took a step back as the mere thought of being turned into those animals was terrifying.
"Was it the same poison that was spread in my village?" asked Mikasa seriously, and Han nodded.
"Can those cadets be healed?" asked Shizune nervously, this punishment was even worse than death.
"No...they can't be healed, and there is no mercy for traitors or anyone that tries to harm your country...as blacklight it is your duty to follow orders at all costs.." said Han firmly,
"What are we supposed to do now?" asked Mikasa silently, she was just tired and wanted to sleep.
"You can either continue your training in blackight or will be transferred to regular forces with no memory of all of this...The war has begun and many of our brothers have already fallen, 60% of blacklight soldiers will be dead in 4 years...and by the end of this war only a handful of us will be left. All of you have seen in these 2 days, what is going on out there...knowing this can you still fight for your country? Ask your soul and tell me the answer..." said Han patiently,
"If I stay in this force...then I'll die, FUCK!" thought Kotetsu frustratingly,
"It's hell out there...and we'll have to face it everyday. Can I do this?" asked Kotetsu nervously to himself,
"Death, Misery, Terror...as long as it means protecting you and Armin, I don't care," thought Mikasa firmly,
"I promised everyone that I'll protect them...and no matter what happens I won't let them down," thought Naruto seriously as images of Mikoto, Minato, Itachi and his village flashed in his mind.
"I can't leave my friends alone in this war...I'm scared, but I won't abandon them! FUCK!" thought Shizune nervously
"Damn it..." said all cadets in unison, and Han got a smile behind his mask as he saw the looks on their faces.
"Can you die if you are ordered to, for the sake of your country and your comrades?" asked Han seriously,
"We just want to save our friends...that's the only thing we want," said Naruto flatly and Han looked at each of them seriously.
"I see...I'm impressed by your resolve. This is a true salute from Commander Fox, of Blacklight" said Han firmly and gave a deep bow to the cadets who just reciprocated his action...albeit a bit hesitantly.
Han looked at the kids...no they were not kids anymore. They had endured their fears, and even in the worst conditions they had fought beside each other and with such soldiers Konoha had a chance of winning this war.
If trained properly, Naruto's Mokuton could truly change the course of the war. Their fate was now resting on the shoulders on these fine shinobi.
But one thing was certain...
"Minato...today your son became a true soldier,"
