Warning: There's detailed violence and death in this chapter.
Chapter Twenty One – Fields of Blood
"We were alone and starved for love. Kids that lived in a world full of hate." - Uchiha Sasuke
Anko and Naruto had woken up early to soothing, shiny weather and had a quick but entertaining breakfast. Naruto juggled the cereal box, their bowls and spoons in a circus number while Anko laughed at the silliness.
This was what Orochimaru's training tips had ended up used as most of the time; Quick entertainment in social settings. As far as Naruto was concerned, their sensei should just be happy she didn't let her training go to waste.
After the successful and harsh training session last evening Naruto felt full of energy despite getting very little sleep. These days it was difficult to find time for training, and it meant eating into their meal time and sleep if they wanted to practise outside of missions.
But in a surprisingly refreshed mood the girls left the apartment to meet Orochimaru and Shisui by the gate.
After a quick briefing together they set out. They were meeting a client who needed security to deliver rations to Konoha. It was one of their more regular missions, and they had even met this particular client once before. It would take them a day to get there, but there was always the possibility of running into enemies.
Team Orochimaru wasn't too worried though. Much of the heat had been concentrated on the western border as of late, while they were heading northward. Hopefully they'd have a smooth mission without any unnecessary battles.
A little past noon they stopped for lunch by a lake. Even taking the time to light a fire to heat up their food. Naruto tried to pry information from Orochimaru regarding Tsunade, but all she got was that the slug sannin was staying in Konoha for a few weeks.
Half an hour later they were packing up and getting ready to leave. However their activity was disturbed when a puff of smoke erupted a few feet from Orochimaru. All four were surprised to see a monkey summon appear.
From there things went quickly downhill.
"Orochimaru-kun, I have an urgent message for you." The monkey said in a deep voice considering its size. It wasn't much larger than a house cat.
It was hard for Naruto to keep a straight face after hearing anyone address Orochimaru with '-kun' and she immediately liked the funky looking monkey.
Wordlessly Orochimaru walked up to the monkey and bent down to hear what was going on. Meanwhile his students dealt with the rest of the cleanup, and waited curiously and patiently to hear what was happening.
The monkey went up in smoke after five minutes, and Orochimaru turned back towards his students with a strangely serious expression.
"There's a change of plans. We're abandoning this mission. We're heading for the Midori fields instead." Orochimaru told them while brushing a calm, white hand through his hair.
"What? Why?" Naruto asked. For the last couple of weeks warnings about Kumo activity had made Konoha stop doing regular missions in that area. It was extremely dangerous there, and it almost guaranteed they'd run into trouble.
"That was a call for backup from the Hokage. An army of Kumo ninjas has been reported heading for our base there, and Iwa is moving from east. There will be a battle soon, and if the number of the army was counted correctly then they are badly outnumbered."
"W-what?" Anko asked breathlessly.
The smile on Naruto's lips was wiped away as she understood what was being said. They were being sent to the battlefield? As in… the front lines?
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