Saints and Suffering: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 48- As the dust settles

Around 0030 in the morning, the first report from made its way into the main Konoha base at the border with the Land of Hotsprings. It was only two words.

  Enemy Attack.

No more words were necessary.

Akimichi Doto, the Konoha Commander stationed against Kumogakure, paled involuntarily when he read the message.

He had underestimated the shamelessness of Kumogakure, which was a fatal mistake for a ninja. Their messenger had threatened war at sunrise, and they struck at midnight.

As further reports rolled in, he started to realize the gravity of the situation. He was losing ground at an alarming pace, and Kumo was making fresh assaults on his western flank.

As more and more information came in, he quickly realized just how hopeless the situation was. However, the worst news was no news. The expected and scheduled reports of numerous outposts and fortifications did not come in on time or at all, and Doto could only assume the worst, that he had lost those positions with all hands. The best he could hope for was that a few survivors from each posting were on the run, engaging in SERE tactics.

In the time that Konoha was gearing up for war, many of the ninja were put through the standardized Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape courses. Hopefully one or two shinobi would find their way back to base over the next few days.

Doto quickly realized that he and his troops no longer had any hopes of a successful border defense, but rather they were fighting for their own survival.

He had ordered a complete retreat back to Konoha, but the western flank was still the issue.

With his fragmented and injured troops slowing down the retreat, the assaulting Kumogakure forces would be able surround the entirety of the Konoha forces should the Western flank fall.

The only decision that Akimichi Doto could make was to engage in a fighting retreat towards the southwest. Doto ended up mirroring Kumogakure's movements, creating a rotating shift of shinobi that followed the Kumo efforts to move the battlelines further and further west.

Shijin was at the main base, by himself following his order to disperse the genin out towards the front lines. Being absent from the chuunin and jonin command structures and with the assault of Kumo being fully underway, no one would talk to him, busy with other, much more important tasks.

Hearing fragments of conversation here and there, Shijin started to piece together what had happened to his genin. Shijin had expected Kumo to hold to their words, unknowingly judging their character according to what he had seen in the future from and older and more mature fourth Raikage.

As the weight of what had happened slowly settled onto his shoulders, Shijin was at first frozen. Without conscious thought, his body moved on its own accord.

Shijin walked back to his tent and sat down on his cot. His movements were stiff and jerky, as if he were a puppet in the hands of a child with a new toy.

In each and every joint, shooting pain sprinted along, starting with a hot flame in his core, reaching his extremities as an explosion of sensation. He did not care though. It was intense beyond description, but he paid it no mind. His thoughts were curiously empty.

Up and down his back, along his spine, electricity danced as he tried to control his body's spasming. As he convulsed in place, he fell from his sitting position and found himself on the dirt ground of the tent, staring into the canvas that made up the rainproof ceiling.

For the first time in a very long time, Shijin was at a complete loss. The edges of his vision started to creep in, not black as one would expect, but white.