Naruto Of The Shadow Clones

Chapter 56 Call of Duty: Heading To The Capital

Story Start: Two Hours After Team Maelstrom's Return From Ship Yard

Captain Iroh of the Land Of Fire Navy Ship Infinity had a rather serious choice on his hands, and both options had just as serious consequences. On the one hand, they had accomplished their mission: the ship that had been attacking ships on their side of the great ocean separating continents had been found and destroyed, as had the follow up armada. Then just to be thorough, they had totally wrecked every patrolling ship, ship yard, naval base, and even an airport to keep the enemy from being able to launch another invasion force anytime soon until they rebuilt. However, while that was all well and good for the Elemental Continent in the short run, it still left them open for attack sometime in the future, possibly leading to a war that would cost them thousands, and only if they won it.

On the other hand though: Infinity and her crew was in the perfect position to make sure that that possible war would happen even further in the future, if at all. They had achieved a foot hold on the coast, within a single hour when it was time to strike thanks to Team Maelstrom. They had the ability to travel inwards thanks to Infinity's ATVs, and they literally had an army at their beck and call thanks to Naruto Uzumaki (Not so secretly anymore Namikaze) and his shadow clones. Theoretically, they could wage war on this country, destroying every single military installation the enemy had, kill off their supposed gods and force the enemy to say 'We have made a serious mistake. It is not worth provoking the Elemental Continent ever again'. The problem was, such an action would be incredibly dangerous for the men and women under his command. The further inland his people traveled, the less naval support they would have from Infinity's MAC guns, and they didn't know how far inland that might even be. And village slayer with an ungodly amount of stamina or not, Naruto was still only human. If they relied on him for too long, it was quite possible that he could burn out, and then they'd really be in trouble. Oh sure, his teammates were formidable in their own right, but they didn't have quite the punch their leader had, being more suited for ambush and sabotage than outright war.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. There was a knock on his ready room door and the sailor posted outside said "Captain, Team Maelstrom here as requested."

"Let them in." Iroh said and as the door opened, he turned from the room's porthole and strode over to the small table in the center of the room. Team Maelstrom filed in and took the seats opposite him after he had sat down first. Studying them intently, Iroh said "Team Maelstrom, I have a quandary on my hands that I was hoping I could get your opinion on."

To the Shinobi's credit, they didn't even glance at each other or even shift as Naruto said "We'd be happy to help Captain. What seems to be the problem?"

"I find myself caught between the necessity to do what is best for my crew as their captain and the necessity to do what is best for my country as an officer of its navy." Iroh said before he explained his dilemma.

After he had explained everything that he had been thinking of during and after Team Maelstrom's mission, the captain studied the three Shinobi carefully. While it was true that these three WERE currently under his command, Naruto was the only person Iroh currently had contact with who had experience in ground level warfare on the level that would be required. With how many clones he could, and more importantly had created over the last year, it wouldn't be a bad comparison to consider him more as a visiting general than one of Iroh's subordinates. What Naruto said next certainly didn't help to dispel that mental image either.

"The Covenant have declared war on us. When fighting a war, you do not reach the borders of your enemy's country only to fall back to your own, especially not when what separates the two is an ocean as large as the one dividing ours where they could form large armadas to attack us without our knowledge of them. We need to locate not only their capital, but every military installation they have. Destruction of Military Targets are essential of course, and the faster we get all of them the better. If we can destroy them all quick enough, then when we reach the capital they will not have had time to erect any meaningful defenses that aren't already in place making our attack on it relatively easier. I recommend sending out clone squadrons transformed as local avians for recon, and as soon as they locate a military establishment allow either more squadrons of clones or even this team itself to deal with them while you concentrate all of this ship's fire power on the capital. There will of course be back up from at least one division of clones and Team Maelstrom will most likely be there as well once all military targets are dealt with."