The Son of Two Heroes

Chapter 35

The son of the Fourth and his team stood at the border of the Land of Bones. They'd used Zabuza to track Kabuto all the way from the border of the Land of Fire and Land of Hot Water to here. Naruto knew that Kumo and Iwa wouldn't leave their ace in the hole undefended, thus they'd just contacted Konoha and Suna, and were minutes away from receiving two platoons of backup. One ANBU group from Konohagakure and one from Suna, both had been given the briefing the blond commander was about to give.

Once the shinobi arrived, Naruto addressed the battle group. "Listen... your Kage have called upon you. However; I have ultimate command of this mission. This is likely suicide. There's a chance that the Raikage or Tsuchikage could be here. There's likely hundreds of shinobi, and even more reanimations. I will not command you to take one step over this border."

For over a minute, no one spoke. Finally a Konoha and Suna nun stepped forward and nodded to each other. "Sir, I think we speak for all of us when we say that we're all committed!"

"Good enough for me. Grab your gear, we leave in fifteen." The Namikaze said, before walking off to join the original Team Seven and Zabuza.

As he approached, he caught the mist shinobi speaking to the Copy Ninja. "That boy turned into one hell of a leader."

"That he did Zabuza." Kakashi replied with an eye smile.

"What about you dobe? You've got a child now. Maybe you should stay behind." Sasuke said to his friend.

"I'm the only one who can combat my father..." He said with a sigh before continuing. "I can't send men off to die if I'm not willing to die myself. This could end this war."

"I guess that's fair. So I've been meaning to ask you something." The Sharingan weilder asked.

"What is it?" The blond haired man acknowledged.

"Why did you say you'd kill the Raikage?" The Uchiha questioned.

"He's willing to force the dead from their rest. I'm not gonna let him get away with that. That bastard is using something terrible to gain a ridiculous advantage. By the time we kill Kabuto, there's still a possibility that we will have lost enough shinobi to the point where genin may have to enter the battlefield again. This is something I won't stand for. The Tsuchikage is on that list right there with him, but I doubt Old Onoki will come in person." Naruto answered. Across the front lines of the war, Konoha and Suna were still battling large amounts of reanimations. This behind enemy lines operation was the only chance at stopping more of them from joining the war. Once Kabuto was handled, Naruto could sweep across the front and seal away the remaining ones.

"Naruto.. are you sure that's the route you want to take?" Sasuke asked.

"I think Kumo is overdue for new leadership. It's time I put Ay in the ground." The blond jounin said.

"All right, listen up. This canyon valley is the only way to reach the area the enemy stronghold is located. It's a likely place for an ambush, so stay on guard." Naruto commanded.

Quickly, one of the ANBU spoke up. "Sir, if we know it's an ambush point, why don't we navigate around it?"

"Bypassing and ambush is exactly what the ambushers are expecting us to do. We're not gonna surprise the enemy by waiting. We're going to seize the initiative by assaulting them directly." Naruto said aloud to the shinobi battle group.

While they marched on, one ANBU turned to address his partner. "Ummm...I think we just agreed to be ambushed."

"Quiet, the commander knows what he's doing. Follow his lead, and we might make it home." The second ANBU instructed.