Chapter 2: Start The Operation (Hatake Sakumo)
FLASHBACK:
Konoha Year 56, second month.
(Third Person PoV)
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Sakumo touched the hilt of his tanto boldly before the team dispatched.
Once they were close enough, Tetsu called for them to stop.
He shut his eyes for a few minutes, and the team could feel the slight tug of Omojori's genjutsu.
Tetsu assured them beforehand that while they would feel it, their enemies would not be able to feel the genjutsu.
The three trusted his words and continued the operation. Suki's role started next. She treaded carefully between the ranks of the shinobi on the enemy's side. There were no ninjas on top, so getting her work done was easy. She got her explosives on a large area of the ceiling, making sure that they were placed in such a way that they would create big pieces that would fall on top of the soldiers.
She nodded once she was done and returned to her team's position. The bombs she was using this time were only strong enough to break the ceiling, so her team was safe from them despite their close distance. She set her hands in a seal and activated her favorite weapons. The bombs emitted a loud boom and the ceiling started falling. Tortured screams echoed from inside and Suki could feel the number of people inside dwindling rapidly.
The enemy shinobis outside watched with wide eyes as the toppled ceiling caused the walls of the building to collapse as well. Tetsu took that moment of distraction to launch a series of senbon aiming for the pressure points. Each senbon hit its mark and soon the bodies of the guards started falling one by one.
Tetsu shot every shinobi, kunoichi or bandits that came out of the collapsed structure. When no others came out, the team moved inside. Blood was everywhere, which was to be expected, the bodies were crushed under the rocks, but the Konoha team had no pity for them.
After all, they were only doing their job.
No survivors were left alive.
The squad of four worked ruthlessly and efficiently, Omojori deactivated the genjutsu.
They refrained from using jutsus in the small space in fear of causing what was left of the tower from collapsing. They could hear shouts approaching their location. Thus, without a word, they slipped away from the area and continued further into the enemy's borders. By the time the rogue-ninja's reinforcements arrived, the team was already long gone.
"We're almost to the warehouses," Sakumo stated once they were far enough.
His teammates nodded. This mission was proving to be easier than expected. He was sure that those ninjas weren't the only ones put to defend the village, the reinforcements being a prime clue. 'More were placed around the warehouses, no doubt about it.' Sakumo surely thought.
"There they are," he heard Tetsu say and they skidded to a stop.
"I sense a lot of people in there," Suki commented, "Way more than the ones who were in that tower," Sakumo nodded, he already suspected that part.
"Can we use the same plan again?" Jin asked, his eyes glancing at Omojori, who was almost out of breath.
"I-I just need a few moments," said Omojori as he put his hands on his knees and panted loudly, "Genjutsu of that level just take a lot out of me, I'll be fine in a minute," he explained, "But even then… I won't be able to do it,"
Sakumo bit the inside of his cheek as he thought, 'Suki would not be able to get close enough to plant her explosives without Omojori-san's Genjutsu.'
"If he can't do it we'll just have to think of a new strategy that would distract them," Jin helpfully supplied after a few moments of silence, "Hatake-san, you're fast and strong, more than a few soldiers will run up to attack you. You're our best chance,"
Sakumo nodded, he was thinking of something like that himself.
"Omojori-san and I will cover you from here while Soyokaze-san plants her bombs," The four agreed on a signal after which Sakumo was supposed to retreat so that Suki's explosives could go off.
"Alright, let's do this,"
The team nodded to each other one last time before Sakumo jumped into the guards' line of sight. His team got into position, following him from behind the safe cover of the trees.
When the rogue-ninjas rom the upper level started firing at him with various kinds of weapons, Suki crept away from the others. She silently went up the wall, sending a kunai through a man's heart before he could scream for the others about her. She worked like one of those ANBU assassins as she made her way to the top. Numerous bodies were left in her wake, all of which belonged to shinobi's of low-Chunin level.
After what seemed like an eternity of dodging, Sakumo heard the signal.
The previously unscathed man was now adorning various injuries of different sizes, but he wasn't too bothered by them, they weren't particularly deep. Fortunately for him, no poison-coated weapons were being flung at him. Once he was at a safe distance, Suki set the bombs off. The enemies' attention shifted from the White Fang to the exploding warehouse. 'One down!' the four teammates thought at once, 'two to go!'
They knew the same plan wouldn't work twice on the enemy.
Thus, they talked as Suki patched Sakumo's wounds. Her Medical Ninjutsu was a relief to his system.
'Maybe some of them were deep after all', he thought with a grimace.
They watched the remaining Rogue-Shinobi's not bothering to look for them and divide into two groups each heading to a still-standing warehouse. The warehouses had a significant distance between them that it would take a lot of precious time for Suki to prepare each of them then explode them at the same time. When they asked if the other team members could prepare the others while she worked on one, Suki replied that she had to be the one who puts them so that they would react to her chakra. Apparently, her stronger explosives and the normal explosive tags were activated differently. Therefore, that plan was shot down.
Their plan this time was that they would use jutsus to bring down the warehouse. However, Omojori concluded that the enemies probably surrounded the warehouse with a defensive barrier. Nonetheless, he provided the solution as he popped a chakra pill inside his mouth.
"I think I can destroy the barrier for a limited time… but I can only do it once,"
"You think?" Tetsu questioned with a narrow of his eyes. He held back a scoff knowing that this wasn't the right time to mocked Omojori, given with the tight and lack of strategy they have.
"It's the best we got right now," Sakumo replied with a sigh.
He really hated missions where the information given was faulty. It made his life that much harder. With that said, Omojori got his jutsu ready.
"Now!" he ordered and all three of his teammates launched their strong jutsu. The warehouse toppled over, its contents burned, the hot flames becoming stronger as the night breeze reached them. The enemy was now distracted by the fire, but some of them were heading their way, now that they were in plain sight.
In spite of enemies having most of the Chunin-levels on their member, their number was too great, however. Sakumo quickly half-dragged, half-carried his fallen comrade to safety as he ordered the others to fall back.
The rogue ninjas were hot on their trail but they only followed them to a certain distance before going back to protect the final warehouse. Every time the Rogue-Shinobi's had an opportunity to run after them and possibly kill them, they would retreat back to whatever it was they were guarding. The only warehouse left was the biggest one of them. They really should have started with that one first and then worked their way to the other two. Now, they didn't have Suki's explosives or Omojori's jutsu to make it crumble. Or Omojori at all for that matter, Sakumo thought as he glanced at his still-panting teammate.
"What are we going to do now?" Suki's question was directed at the team captain. There was a ninety percent chance that they would die if they even got close to the biggest warehouse.
However, if they were to turn tail and flee, the mission would be failed as the Rogue-Shinobi's will still have a source for supplies which was less than a day away from the battlefield. If they die, they will fail. If they escape, they will also fail. There was no hundred or even a fifty chance of success of the mission and getting back to the safe, safe village behind the protective walls.
Sakumo, then, found himself faced with only two choices. The first one was to go in anyway and try desperately to destroy the warehouse, killing himself and his teammates in the process and thus leaving his son and Omojori's newborn daughter without their fathers — he unintentionally heard Omojori and Suki's conversation ealier before they had departed.
The second one was to run away and save his comrades, saving both children from suffering through childhood without their fathers.
The White Fang was no fool, however. He knew that if he did choose the second choice, he would suffer dearly for his actions… Kakashi might possibly get drawn in his shame as well. The question he should ask himself was what was more important? The success of the mission and misery in two children's lives or the failure of the mission and misery in only one child's life? Never mind the fact that in both cases his son would be the one getting the bad end of the deal.
Sakumo nodded to himself as he made his decision. It was time to inform his injured comrades of his order.