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Chap-39
🕑 Added 2022-03-01 08:28:35 +0000 UTCItama Senju was chasing after the royal army alongside his own forces. It was a bizarre scenario which he had never imagined to happen. Instead of facing them openly, the royals had decided to run back towards the vicinity of the Daimyo's Castle.
Itama had no choice but to follow or risk allowing them an opportunity to set another ambush.
Looking at the Daimyo's castle made Itama wonder about the safety of his brother. Hashirama was the strongest fighter he had ever seen and he had almost 500 fighters helping him. Still he could not help but worry for his brother and dearly wished they had Yamanaka in their forces right now if only to help him learn if his brother was safe.
He was disrupted from his thoughts when the royal army reached the gates and suddenly adopted a tetsudo like formation. Looking closely he realized there was a thin barrier that would stop any jutsu being fired by his shinobi from long distance. The Daimyo had went to great lengths to make his fortress very difficult to be attacked by shinobi from the outside.
Still, to figure out such a strategy was not the work of any normal civilian commander.
Itama looked at his own forces and saw he had roughly around 1800 men with him, the remaining were away fighting for his sister and Naruto. The royal army had roughly the same number of forces but still an uneasy feeling was emerging in Itama's gut.
He cursed outloud when nearly a hundred hot-head Inuzuka's charged forward without any warning.
Itama yelled for them to come back but it was too late as suddenly dozens of archers appeared on the Castle walls.
It was a trap.
The Inuzuka force realized too late their own folly and paid for it with their lives as they royal archers mercilessly shredded them with hundreds of arrows. The royal army cheered as every single Inuzuka and their ninja dogs was butchered.
Suddenly two of the other gates of the Royal Castle opened up and Itama stiffened.
From the eastern gate emerged hundreds of cavalrymen. Judging from their armor they were veteran Samurai trained to fight against shinobi. From the western gate, emerged two entire platoons of massive war elephants with dozens of archers mounted on top of the beasts. If that was not enough, from Itama's rear emerged hundreds of civilian fighters armed with light swords, axes, and whatever weapon they could find. The defenders of the city were out for the blood of those who had threatened their leader's rule.
The shinobi force buckled and started taking whatever little cover they could find as volley after volley of deadly arrows started raining down on them.
Itama was trapped between the expertly crafted hammer and anvil of the enemy forces. Looking up at the Castle walls, he was surprised to find a Nara commander looking down at him calmly.
The Nara's were said to be the best strategists in the elemental nations and their entire clan was loyal to the Fire Daimyo for generations. Now they were repaying that loyalty when the Daimyo needed it most.
"We've got no chance!" yelled several allied shinobi,
Itama had to think fast or risk the annihilation of his entire force. If they were killed here, it wouldn't matter how strong Naruto or Tsunade were because they would be butchered against this organized army led by a capable Nara commander.
Just looking at the charging war elephants stopped his heart several times. The beasts didn't care if they stepped over houses of nobles or crushed a few unlucky souls that got in their way. Their wide and dangerous tusks making quick work of any human that had the audacity to stop them.
The royal army at the gate was slowly marching forward leaving even less room for Itama's forces to maneuver. There were no high buildings nearby which the shinobi could use to escape, only small but lavish houses that could be easily destroyed by the war elephants.
His army was wavering and none of his family members were here to save him.
It was just him.
He didn't know from where that courage came but he looked at his fighters.
"To me!" he yelled valiantly,
Despite the dire situation, hundreds of Senjus rallied around him followed by many Sarutobi and few Inuzuka that were still left. The few Uchiha's clearly didn't want to follow him anymore, but seeing there was no other choice they did the same.
"Uchiha's use fire to break the cavalry charge!"
"Inuzuka's, you'll charge with me towards the gates drawing the attention of the archers away from the Uchiha's!"
"Senjus and Sarutobi's, block the elephants with earth and water attacks!"
He unleashed his sword and took a deep breath before staring at the heavily organized royal army closing in and the archers ready at the Castle Walls. If this plan was to work, then he had to take the lead as a true leader would.
"FOLLOW ME!"
Itama was the first to charge forward and the brave roars of the Inuzuka fighters told him that they were following his lead.
Maybe it was the sight of him charging bravely at the enemy army or some new found motivation, Itama was glad to see his forces regain some of their vigor and run to carry out the objectives he had assigned to him. He couldn't think about failure right now as he finished performing a set of hand seals.
"Lightning Style: Lightning Stag!"
From his fingers, Itama unleashed gigantic beams of lightning that soon took the form of several massive stags with tall horns of the same element. The Senju were known for their fury and there was no other animal Itama found more befitting to represent his rage. The beasts roared and charged forward cackling devastating lightning bolts across the barrier protecting the royal forces at the gate. Within seconds, it shattered and the stags charged clean through the defensive enemy.
The beasts were not alone as Itama heard another yell,
"GATSUGA!"
The Inuzuka force and their ninja dogs joined together to launch devastating tornado like attacks that drilled massive holes in the enemy formation and butchered hundreds of royal soldiers on the spot. Those who survived the clash were soon being torn apart by the hungry ninja dogs. Their masters son joined them in the slaughter tearing apart enemy forces and taking vengeance for the murder of their comrades.
Itama blocked a sword from a royal soldier and batted away a spear aimed at his ribs. Turning around in a half circle he instantly spilled open the guts of a dozen royal soldiers that tried to corner him down. His eyes narrowed when he spotted several Inuzuka dogs and their masters getting cutting down by the heavy fire from the royal archers on the walls.
With a mighty roar, he jumped high in the air and unleashed a hail of kunai right at the Castle walls.
He grinned in satisfaction when the explosive tags on the kunai went off shredding a third of the Castle walls and burying many archers alive. Several others were caught up in the blast and had their limbs torn off, some were caught on fire and were now running around in panic spreading the deadly element among their disorganized comrades creating even more havoc.
Itama was relieved on seeing the Uchihas forming a single line against the approaching heavy cavalry of Samurai. Their hands moved in sync as they all unleashed their attack at the same time...
"Fire Style: Fire Flame Wall!"
A monstrous tidal wave of fire was unleashed by the Uchiha that roared furiously as it charged right towards the incoming cavalry. It burned houses and even the Castles walls taking down many more archers in its rush to reach its target. The horses panicked on seeing the approaching fire and kicked off dozens of riders from their backs. The Samurai in the middle and rear had to instantly reign their own beasts as their frontline panicked and collapsed. They started to turn around in order to flee from the raging fire wall but were too late as the flames consumed them in a matter of seconds.
Itama found himself cheering alongside the Uchiha's as the entire Samurai cavalry was consumed in flames. The dragon warriors roared before rejoining the battle at the gates helping the Inuzuka slaughtering the diminishing royal foot soldiers. The archers on the wall were mostly dead, thrown off the walls, buried alive, or injured. The few still left alive were bravely doing their best to crush the enemy forces but were not able to make any decisive impact.
The Senju commander continued fighting against his enemies in close combat while wondering about the plan of battle.
Initially, it was agreed upon by both factions that only the Daimyo's family should be secretly captured and the royal Castle taken over. That would have been enough to pacify the thousands of defenders in the city for they would not attack until the enemy had their liege lord hostage. But Hashirama pointed out, that while the defenders would not attack they would surely surround the ninja forces preventing them from leaving or anyone from coming to their help. Leaving those soldiers alone also posed the risk of them calling for reinforcements and making the common civilians rise up in revolt.
No ninja army could stand against more than 150,000 civilians and nearly 9000 highly trained soldiers.
It was why it was decided to not only capture the royal family but also subdue the city garrison that would allow the ninjas to assume complete control over the Capital.
But this plan had several fatal flaws.
The most important one being the ninjas had underestimated the skill, tenacity, and loyalty of not only the city garrison but also those of the civilians loyal to the Daimyo and were now finding themselves trapped.
Second error was the fact that the Daimyo had not only prepared his city but also his forces in fighting against trained ninja forces. The presence of the Nara commander only added further problems for the ninjas. His intervention could be the reason as to why the allied ninja army's flag was yet to fly from the top off the Castle.
Third mistake was the presence of hidden special forces in the form of Samurai cavalry and war elephants which the Daimyo had been expertly able to conceal from the ninjas for a long time. While, the Samurai cavalry was vanquished...
Itama could only watch in horror as the war elephants continued their charge despite facing massive tidal waves of water launched by the Senju. The Sarutobi warriors uprooted the entire ground with the intent to make the elephants panic but instead the beast madly charged forward without any thought for self preservation.
It was then the Senju commander noticed the shadows stretching from top of the beast to its legs. The ones controlling the beasts were now revealed to be Nara shadow binders supported by squads of archers.
Hundreds of ninjas were either crushed alive or sent sailing away halfway across the city as the war elephants smashed into their lines. They were moving more rapidly and wildly than any animal of their kind ever had which was another proof of the Nara's fine control. Whatever Senju or Sarutobi ninjas lucky enough to survive the rage of the beasts found themselves getting slaughtered by the hail of arrows launched by the enemy archers on elephant backs.
Itama grabbed a nearby spear and made ten earth clones of himself quickly. In front of his eyes, hundreds of his fighters were dying horrible deaths. They had followed him into this peril and as their commander it was his responsibility to step up. No more running away, no more cowering in the shadow of his siblings.
He had to act!
The young Senju and his clone force charged forward and took up positions several feet away from the charging elephants. The Nara's saw him instantly and focused their entire force in his direction.
Itama took in a deep breath and controlled his nerves as he commanded his clones to raise their spears while he did the same himself.
"Steady!" yelled Itama, as the beasts crushed a few more of his men.
"Hold!" he commanded again, as his own clones gulped because the beasts were just about to reach them.
"TAKE DOWN THE RIDERS!"
No sooner had he given the command, Itama threw his chakra coated spear right at the one who he assumed was the Nara officer leading this charge. The enemy ninja realizing the threat instantly moved out of the way but in turn lost his control making his elephant crash against the one on his right.
It was as if a tidal wave had been unleashed as one after another the war elephants started colliding with each other. They all gracelessly fell to the ground burying most of their riders including the Nara officers.
The few who managed to remain standing were taken down by the hail of the chakra spears launched by the clone army of Itama.
The ninja forces and royals alike were stunned at the display of valor and skill of one Senju.
Itama was not done as he unleashed his sword and valiantly charged towards the downed beasts intending to make sure they and their masters never rose again. The surviving Senju and Sarutobi were more than inspired by their leader's courage and followed after him.
By the time they finished off the elephants and their riders, Itama found himself facing another grave problem.
He grit his teeth in anger and frustration when he saw the Nara commander of the Castle had personally arrived outside the gates. With his shadow binding, he had already took hold over the bodies of atleast ten Uchiha and three Inuzuka alongwith their dogs. He was making them attack Itama's remaining forces creating more confusion and allowing the remaining royal foot soldiers and archers to hammer down more casualties.
"Let's kill the bastard fast!" proposed one of the Senjus,
"Before he falls he'll make sure to butcher the Uchiha and Inuzuka under his control!" warned a Sarutobi frustratedly,
"Who cares? Let those dragon bastards die!" yelled another Senju,
"What about the Inuzuka? They are our allies or are you craven enough to let them die willingly?" shouted another,
Mayhem broke across his divided forces with each ninja proposing more and more radical suggestions. But if one thing was common was the fact that for the price of the Nara commander's life, the Senjus and Sarutobi's were willing to sacrifice every Uchiha in their force.
This was exactly the kind of scenario Naruto had warned them about. One which could threaten their entire mission and get them all killed.
"Shut up and follow my lead!" barked Itama furiously, never having used such a murderous tone in his entire life. But right now he didn't care.
His men flinched on seeing the raw fury blazing in his eyes. He couldn't believe the nerve of his own men! There were Namikaze fighters currently fighting beside his sister. If those Uchiha bannermen could put aside their differences and actually work side by side with Tsunade herself then these men had no reason to betray their allies.
Hashirama would never forgive him if he let their allies die needlessly.
Most of all, Itama could never forgive himself if he didn't stop this.
When he charged towards the last enemy forces, the Nara commander immediately noticed him and made sure to send every Uchiha and Inuzuka under his control straight towards Itama. A sly grin came on the Senju's face as he decided to take a page out of Naruto's book.
Having personally experienced the power behind this move, he knew how much he needed to apply his power.
When the Uchihas and Inuzuka fighters got close to him, Itama fired bolts of lightning from his hands striking every one of them in non-vital body parts but with enough force to shock their brain. The Nara commander grimaced when his pawns fell unconscious with minor burns, the shock to their neural system enough to make them black out. Naruto had used more than a dangerous amount on Itama, fortunately for The Young Dragon his former enemy was not that vengeful or his people would be dead tonight.
The two armies clashed against each other as Itama reached the Nara commander. He was older than him by atleast a few years and his face was marred by nasty scars which proved he had faced more war than Itama had years.
Itama knew the Nara would force him to engage in long range combat in order to try to capture him with his shadow binding technique. His only option was to get close quickly and finish off the man.
Just when he was about to move, his eyes widened in shock.
One of the Inuzuka dogs leapt out of nowhere and brutally tore apart the head of the enemy commander in a gory manner. The headless body slumped gracelessly to the ground.
The remnants of the royal forces could only watch in despair as their commander was brutally murdered in the chaos.
If that was not enough to break their morale, the cacophony of war horns and a very familiar war cry shattered their last courage.
Fire and Blood.
The war cries could be heard even so far away from the gates because they were being yelled out by thousands of bloodthirsty warriors.
Itama had known this could happen but he never actually imagined those bloody dragons would come through.
Whatever miracle happened, it was the death nail for the royals because...
Madara Uchiha was here with the entire Uchiha army!
Tajima watched his eldest son dismount from his horse and was soon surrounded by various clan heads. The Uchiha patriarch could have taken the lead but their people had chosen Madara as their Hokage, this was his son's moment to show their people that their faith was not misplaced.
They were all stunned when they received the urgent message from Naruto stating that conflict was imminent as the Daimyo had been already making steps to take Naruto hostage the moment the Uchiha's refused.
Madara marched his entire army hard and fast to the Capital before the royals could lay a hand on his last sibling.
It was a mistake.
Tajima glanced at their vast army and saw nearly a third of their fighters were tired after having ran from the river to the Capital in a span of two hours. A journey which would usually take eight hours. While the veterans looked a bit tired they were still ready enough to fight. The same could not be said of their most inexperienced and youngest fighters who looked ready to fall dead.
Now they had to lay a siege to the strongest city of the world with such a force.
Still, Tajima knew he could not make Madara's choices for him or the boy would never learn how to lead. His victories or losses should be made on his decisions and not on Tajima's instructions. Still, he wished the boy would show restraint in the future.
While it was true Naruto's life was in danger, the boy was not alone.
He had 500 of their most loyal bannermen with him who would defend him to their deaths should the Daimyo make any move against him. But Madara didn't listen, his love for his brother overriding his rational sense of properly leading his army.
Despite the tactical error, Tajima could not openly blame the boy because it would be hypocrisy as he would be doing the same thing as Madara if it was Naori in Naruto's situation.
"Command any fighter in our army who has an aerial summon to call their beast. We shall send in a small force that will open the gates!" commanded Madara,
Shin Aburame demurely nodded in confirmation as he went out to find the said ninjas.
"Have the Kurama fuinjutsu masters start working on disabling the seals on the city walls that prevents our ninjas from scaling them. If that fails, then we'll tear those bloody walls apart!" yelled Madara furiously,
"Hokage-sama, why are there no defenders arriving to stop us?" asked Rei Namikaze suspiciously,
Madara glanced at the tall city walls and activated his sharingan. It was true there were no defenders manning even an inch of those walls. There should be an entire city garrison ready to greet his army on first sight!
He closed his eyes and let his senses flow. At first there was nothing, but as he concentrated more he sensed the disturbance, the sound of steel clashing, the cries of the dead and dying.
"They are already attacking my brother!" hissed Madara murderously,
He turned towards his most loyal bannermen and saw the man look at him with full confidence.
"Tear these bloody walls apart! And get me a damn bird, I'm going in!" commanded Madara,
Tajima quickly stepped forward to intervene.
"Madara, don't be hasty. Naruto can take care of himself for a while and you need to lead this army through this siege. Break the gates or scale the walls, whatever you do...don't abandon your forces to the task and rush in like that" chastised Tajima, yet even so he carefully chose his words in order to not diminish the authority of his son in front of all their allies.
"A siege will take too long to break. How can I leave my brother out there to die?" asked Madara worriedly,
Your love for your brother will be the end of you someday, Madara.
Tajima desperately wanted to say those cruel words to his son for making such a grave mistake. But he had to restrain himself and think about how to convince Madara to act like a leader and not like a worried elder brother.
"It's not going to be a siege, Hokage-sama" whispered Rei Namikaze,
Madara and Tajima both turned around to see what had made the Namikaze leader go so pale.
The voice reached them first before the sight...
The Uchiha leadership and their 10,000 strong army could only watch in dismay as thousands of horses broke out of the forest. All of them carrying the royal banners but it was the one leading them that made them shiver.
A Deer.
In the thousands of years of clan wars, numerous attempts had been made by both Uchiha and Senju to gain the loyalty of one clan by force, negotiations, bribe and threats. Every attempt had ended in utter failure.
No matter their power, numbers or skilled warriors; No Uchiha or Senju clan head had ever been able to bring this clan to their knees. It became an impossible task when the said clan swore loyalty to the Daimyo and received his protection leaving them out of the grasp of their enemies.
They were not the strongest fighters of the world but they had a power not even Tajima could dismiss.
The Uchiha clan head clenched his fist when he saw Daen Nara at the head of this army that only seemed to grow larger and larger as more and more royal fighters came running out of the forests.
Atleast 5000 Samurai Cavalry, 3000 archers, 12000 infantry, and another 6000 or so bunch of mixed fighters carrying the emblems of Shogun or mercenary armies. Among this vast sea of royal forces, there were also nearly 4000 Nara fighters rushing towards the battlefield.
It was a trap and they all fell for it.
Tajima bitterly smiled at the ingenuity of the man he was here to depose. From one hand he offered a choice of slavery and with his other he prepared a sword to stab into the hearts of his enemies should they refuse.
The said sword was the entire royal army lead by the Nara clan that now surrounded the enemies of the royal family.
Naori glanced at her brother in alarm, even if she was not a military strategist her eyes could see the 10,000 strong Uchiha army was now facing a 30,000 strong royal army of the Daimyo lead by one of the most feared clans of the world.
They literally had their backs against the wall facing an enemy that outnumbered them 3 to 1 which was not taking into account the summoning creatures that would be unleashed, the nasty tricks the Nara's would definitely play or the possibility of the city defenders striking them from the back.
The Uchiha army was now trapped between the hammer and the anvil.
Madara's face was blank for several long moments even as his supporters looked at him for an order. And then the newly appointed Hokage smirked...
Naori shivered when Madara unleashed his sword and gunbai at the same time. Following his lead almost every Uchiha who all loved Madara unleashed their weapons forcing their allies to do the same. She looked at Tajima to stop this madness for no matter their skill or courage, they would all be slaughtered here to the last man because of the sheer numbers the enemy had brought with them.
But then she realized they had already rebelled against the Daimyo, if they surrendered right now their fate would be worse than death. She looked at the Capital and could only pray for the safety of her trapped nephew because it didn't look like they would be able to help him anytime soon if ever.
Not even Kami could save them from their doom but it didn't stop Naori from unleashing her own sword as Madara charged forward and was joined by thousands of his forces.
"Let's show these weaklings how to dance!" barked Madara with a laugh, his battlelust taking him over.
While the Uchihas understood the joke and laughed like their bloodthirsty leader, their allies could only hesitantly prepare themselves as the enemy army started to spread out in order to encircle them.
Both armies were now rushing towards each other in a mighty clash that would soon change the course of history for either side.
Until, thousands of warriors from both sides lost their balance as a massive tremor passed across the land. The next moment there was a monstrous sound of a horrible explosion which instantly shrouded the entire battlefield in dust and smoke.
Madara and Tajima stopped each other from falling. When they were sure of their footing they looked at their rear from where the explosion had come from. The entire area near the city walls was now shrouded in dust and debris.
However, Madara with his sharingan saw what others didn't and he froze.
His shock was soon passed among his family and entire army alike, even the enemy forces that were previously confident of their victory now started taking several steps back in horror.
As the dust cleared a mighty roar shook the entire landscape.
A roar which had not been heard in a thousand years.
Naori fell to her knees as she saw the monstrous shadow step out of the dust. The first thing everyone noticed was its sheer size and demonic eyes that glared at all of them as if they were pesky insects. Its massive nine tails were unleashed in every direction threatening to crush this entire land with one swing. But what brought nearly half of both armies to their knees was not the beast's size...
But the unending hatred and anger that threatened to burn them all in a never ending inferno.
"I...don't...believe...it...all...this...time..." whispered Tajima in awe,
Madara was the first to catch sight of a shining glint on top of the beast with his sharingan. He could never fail to recognize that sword nor could he not recognize the man in golden armor bearing the dragon on his chest. The lone warrior was murderously glaring at the royal army.
"A Biju..." whispered Naori in fear,
"Naruto..."
Madara's declaration shocked each and every clan head and ninja alike as they all now saw the youngest son of Tajima standing atop the massive nine tailed fox. And his eyes were as cold as ice...
They all watched The Young Dragon raise his sword and point it straight at the stunned form of Daen Nara, the enemy commander. No words were spoken but the message was clear.
The reply from the royal army commander would be pondered over by historians for several centuries because instead of doing what most would expect from a Nara in this situation, Daen picked himself up from the ground and grabbed a nearby sword calmly pointing it straight at Naruto.
Nor would any historian or shinobi alike ever forget The Young Dragon's words...
"CHARGE, KURAMA!"
