*At the Northern Outpost for Border of the Land of Fire*
In the military-standard GP Medium canvas tent, a boy sleeps lazily on his bed. A snot bubble from his nose expands and contracts as it is rhythmically in sync with his breathing. His mouth is wide open as he greedily gathers as much air as possible. With him occasionally scratching his stomach. I'm sure if anyone saw this scene, they'd think its the ideal picture of what the biggest slacker in the entire company looks like.
snore *snore *snore*
At the entrance to the boys sleeping quarters, walk in two shinobi. One of them leisurely walks over to him as light as a feather. While the other one steps are deliberately heavier in a stomping motion. As if mountains would quake at sight of this figure. Then hands move at lightning-fast speed that any Jounin would find impressive, as the covers are ripped away from the boy and the figure pulls back their arm to give the boy a dynamic punch in the gut that Might Guy would give a thumbs up for.
And as if that wasn't enough, the figure yells into the boy's ear. "Wake up, Shit-head! Your going to make us late!"
"Ouch! I get it, I'm up, I'm up." The boy whines back in defense.
"Would it kill ya to be nice when waking a guy up? And you wonder why Kakashi doesn't give you a second glance." The boy bites back with.
The girl gets a tick mark from my words.
I continue while closing my eyes, as I'm completely oblivious to her getting increasingly angrier by the second. "You're better off catching a flock of doves with that head of hair you got there, birds-nest. Why can't you be nice like Rin-chan? Or thoughtful like Kurenai-chan. I guess I'd get more sleep if Shizune was my teammate too, as the girl is quite soft spoken."
The girl stomps over to me as she gives me a death glare that Shinigami-sama would find impressive. She begins to crack her knuckles, signaling to me that I've made a huge miscalculation. "What'd you say? Go ahead speak up. I must have misheard you." She says in a sickly sweet tone. But I know nothing sweet is about to happen to me.
I begin to bite my nails and shuffle backwards like a frightened kitten, as I begin to try and think of a way to get out of this situation. But just as I'm about to begin my ingenious counterplay, a large, burly man with a Konoha forehead protector makes his way to my tent. Opening the door flap, I get a good look at the man.
He's around 5 feet 9 inches, wearing the standard Chunin uniform of Konoha-issued green flack jacket. blue long-sleeve shirt with a uzumaki spiral on the sides. Shinobi pants with a scar on the left side of his face going down past his lip. With a stern expression on his face.
"Hey Kids! Hurry the hell up, this isn't play time!" He says in an authoritarian tone
At the sound of his voice, we feel the difference in chakra making all three of us straighten up to attention as we simultaneously bow with our eyes to the floor, in a perfect 90-degree angle. And say, "Yes sir, right away sir."
He scoffs and leaves, muttering fucking brats under his breath.
As soon as he leaves, both me and the girl stick our tongues out to blow him a raspberry.
The other boy standing to the side sighs as his shoulders droop down. "Geeze, would you two quit bickering? We need to hurry up and get to formation, or we'd be discharged from the military and sent back to the village as failures on our first mission as Genin."
The two of us nod, and we go to run out of the tent, but the other boy stops me by placing his palm on my chest. I'm confused, asking why he stopped me. Only for him to give me a smug smile as he points to me. I'm confused at to what he's getting at. I look down. I notice the problem as I'm still dressed in my underwear and boxers.
I look back to him and give an embarrassed, apologetic look. Then I jump up in a panic and rush to put on my gear. After I finish changing, I rush to get into formation, with me being happy as I still have 5 minutes to spare. But when I get their that's when I notice that I'm the last one to arrive, with everyone giving me a stern expression.
"You there, Genin! Tardiness won't be tolerated; if your the last one to arrive next time, I'll discharge you."
I'm about to say that I have 5 minutes left but noticing his expression and the other older more experienced shinobi in the unit giving me dirty looks. I quickly close my mouth as I can feel the rise of killing intent pointed my way.
"Do I make myself clear?" Says the spikey headed Commander.
"Yessir," With me giving a full bow. I normally wouldn't be so subdued but this level of killing intent reminds me the power disparity in the world.
As the man begins to talk about the mission, that's when I noticed who he is. The man who just reprimanded me is none other than the famed strategist and Jonin commander of Konoha, Shikaku Nara, father of Shikamaru Nara. To the left of him is Inoichi Yamanaka and to the right is Chōza Akimichi.
I was stationed at the West Border of the Land of fire, being the three-way border between The land of stone, the land of wind, and the land of fire. The prime objective is to hold Iwagakure back with our infantry unit and return fire from the trenches, then advance when we're given the signal.
Basically, I'm the lowest form of cannon fodder on the frontline. You might be asking why the fuck is a green behind the ears, fresh out the academy brat fighting on the frontlines. The will of fire, that's why. On some high platform, somewhere on top of a building a man draped in the ceremonial robes, stands the Hokage. I can already picture Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, saying his same cliche speech right before the war, "Wherever the leaves of the tree fly, the fire will grow endlessly. The fire will illuminate the village and allow the new leaves to sprout again..."
So wait, shouldn't that mean more prepared Shinobi like himself should be on the frontlines? Nope. Well, what about if he took a page from the Senju and allowed his Sarutobi clan of 5,000 ninjas go to the front lines? Heck, I don't see little Asuma anywhere. His daddy probably has him eating dango sticks next to Kurenai. Talking about how his dad doesn't give him any attention and how he has to live up to impossible standards of being the son of the Hokage.
You'd think the old man would get the concept of the will of fire now, you know, given how his teacher Tobirama gave up his life for 5 Shinobi that couldn't measure up to one of him. He willingly gave up his life to protect them. Its like he's forgotten that the village was made specifically so children wouldn't be sent to the frontlines. And here I am. For sure, if Tobirama was alive and standing in front of Hiruzen right now, he'd for sure kill him.
Returning back to the present I notice my surroundings again, to the left of me is the girl from earlier who was inside the tent; her name is Machi Komacine (look up name on google for reference), but I call her birdnest or mochi most of the time. Because of her name being similar and her puffy cheeks. And her hair is wild and more untamed, like a bird's home. While occasionally very quiet, Mochi-chan is an overbearing and abrasive, sharp-tongued individual. She was very blunt and foul-mouthed towards her teammates. She wears a green tank top with a long-sleeved chainmail set underneath with tan shorts. With her hair being the most distinctive trait about her as its pinkish purple hair being extremely rare in Konoha.
Right next to Mochi-chan is Aoba Yamashiro (look up name on google for reference), Aoba has a somewhat laid-back and jovial personality most of the time, often joking with others around him. He is also prone to panicking at times, but when the situation calls for it he is decisive, calm, and collected. Aoba wears his signature tinted glasses along with a black shirt with an orange, gear-like design around the collar with shinobi pants.
The Genin are then dismissed from the meeting, and those assigned to the first shift are told to wait at the gate once they've packed all their supplies. At the gate to the camp, I see my two teammates waiting to leave. I hurry over with a goofy smile on my face, waving to them. Not long after our chunin sensei Bekko-san arrives with a serious expression (look up name on google for a better visual). Bekkō-sensei has spiky brown hair, dark eyes, and a broad, relatively flat nose. He wears the standard attire of the Konoha Shinobi, inclusive of a flack jacket and forehead protector, along with bandages around his wrists. With the man in his early thirties but looking well past his prime. 'An eternal chunin.'
With a serious look on his face he looks at me and says. If you have any hopes of being powerful in the future then you need to learn to be punctual, if you're not early then your late. If you want to be lazy and sleep in all day then do that in the village, as being late out here can cost you your life, the lives of your teammates, and the lives of future citizens of the land of fire. Also if you would have opened your mouth to speak your Shinobi career would have been over right then and there.
I stand there, dazed by his words with a cold sweat going down my back. 'My career was at stake for taking a nap? Why is everyone on my back today?' I can't help but think.
Taking his eyes off me he turns to the rest of my teammates. "Alright, huddle up so I can explain the tactics for trench warfare. Even if things become extremely stressful, don't break formation and don't retreat. Anyone who deserts the battlefield will be named a traitor to Konoha and will be hunted down until they die." Turning to make sure he looks at each and everyone of us in the eye before continuing.
Once he has finished reviewing the fundamentals, we depart from our base and accompany Bekko-sensei and a party of fifty additional shinobi thirty kilometers north-west from the region of fire and past the land of grass Kusagakure, which is where the most of the fighting will occur.
After a bigger group of chunin-level ninja dug out this tunnel using their jutsu, we arrived at our locations. Our group was positioned near the enemy at a defensive trench that had been dug out. Approximately 20 yards long and 12 feet deep, the hole was excavated. Floors and panels made of wood were designed to facilitate movement and provide a more stable fighting environment. The adversary is slowed down by the thin line of ninja wire that I can see in front of us. I was informed that explosive tags were placed in front of us in an area they dubbed "No Man's Land."
Naturally, my confidence in our prospects of success increased as I learned more about the key locations of like the medical unit and support trench. However, just as I was beginning to believe this, I heard.
One of the chunin yelled out "Enemy Attack! Semper Supra!"
When I look up, I realize that a thousand or so kunai with explosive tags have been thrown in the direction of our group, and my eyes enlarge. Not knowing what to do, I panicked. The chunin fortunately didn't, because I heard it next.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" A chunin with an unremarkable appearance puts up a protective wall out of earth. Being about 20 feet high but not being more than 10 feet wide becuse of his flow amount of chakra reserves. Luckily other chunin step up and reinforce the barrier to sheild everyone. Bekko-sensei grabs us and we hug ourselves against the wall. He yells at us
"Get a hold of yourselves or you really will die!" I look over to see that it wasn't just me as all three of us were deathly afraid.
"I won't always be around to protect you so stay light on your toes and observant of the situation and make quick decisions as hesitation works for the enemy!"
It seems like this worked for a bit as we start to regain some confidence. And Bekko-sensei nods in silent approval as we all arm ourselves with kunai in hand.
But it seems like I was the only one to notice the explosive tags as in the next instance a thousannd explosive tags ring out in front of us and were pushed back. Bekko-sensei was the only one of our group able to react in time as he gets out the way quickly.
I try to get up as I gasp for air; all I can hear is the constant ringing in my ear. As I try and take a look around, my vision is blurry, as if my body is moving in slow motion. I push myself up onto all fours and pant deeply.
My body is covered in mud as my mind races. As I have trouble processing. "What just happened?"
I feel a prick of liquid reach into my eyes as I try and rub it out. Looking down, I notice its red hue. "Oh yeah, this is blood. My blood."
"That's right were fighting right now." My vision starts going dark and I see them.
'Fucking Stone ninja's, they somehow crossed our line and made this all for nothing attack on the border of Fire Country.'
Looking to the right of me where Bekko-sensei was, he seemed to be in a kunai taijutsu fight with the enemy stone chunin. While to the left I could see my teammates along with a few other genin engaging in fight with a Rock chunin.