I am legitimately sorry.

for those of you who haven't read Stigma of a Jinjuriki, let me catch you up to speed.

My brother in law (Practically my dad) who live with had to go and get surgery at the hospital recently, and so I had to take a break from pretty much everything to help him recover. the nature of the surgery made it so he couldn't lift anything above 20 pounds, or he'd have the stickes break open.

After he got the stitches removed, he started going back to work, and then everything else in May/June started going on.

it got to the point where I couldn't find a moment where I was inspired, motivated, or writer's block-less enough to sit down and write.

I've literally spent at least the past two weeks trying to spit this chapter out. But I just couldn't.

I decided today I wasn't doing anything, not sleeping,eating, showering or gaming or anything else, until this chapter was out.

and here we are, a new chapter, and a longer chapter than usual to boot.

so, here it is, chapter 16 of Naruto Evergarden, in its full glory.

I hope you all enjoy.

happy reading.

"A shinobi's job is to be useful. Not according to our desires, but according to our power."

Itachi sat his bags down on his bed, eyes roaming over the grey walls of his room. He had already greeted his mother on his return, his father already hounding him on 'Uchiha clan matters'.

He just got back and that was the first thing on his father's mind, despite Itachi serving in another war. No matter, his father could wait. Itachi had more important matters to attend to.

Maybe he should go catch up with Izumi, she was stationed in the village right? And Sasuke would no doubt be thrilled to find his older brother picking him up from the academy today. Itachi hadn't seen his brother in a while.

He had a few hours before Sasuke would get out of school either way. Maybe he could drop by a shop and find some Pocky, something strawberry flavored would be nice. He had nothing pressing to attend to, having already reported in to the Hokage.

He steadily ignored the knowledge that he had duties he would need to fulfill. For now, he just wanted some normalcy. It was in increasingly short supply these days.

Itachi turned to leave his room, leaving unpacking for a later time. He'd probably regret it later when he was too busy to do anything else, but he didn't care. For now he was going to find some pocky, and then find his on again off again girlfriend. After that, he'd spend some time with her, maybe treat her to some lunch. Then they'd both be there to pick up his brother. Then they could spend some time, just the three of them, away from clan politics and secret meetings and schemes, away from all the double crossings and secret spy work.

He's hoped that being assigned to the Hokage's 'protect Naruto' Anbu team would get him away from all this. Alas, it didn't last.

But that was ok, because today he wouldn't be worrying about any of that. Just pocky, his girlfriend and his little brother would be all that occupied his mind, that and where they'd go to squander their time.

Tomorrow would be different, but for now, he was looking forward to some personal time.

It was long overdue.

Genkai was a man with no last name. He was not the sort of man to have proses written in his honor. There were no songs about his deeds, and there would never be historians to research his life in full. Despite his service to his village, Iwa had seemingly forgotten him.

Sure, the retired Chunin had friends, a lover, a child even. And his service, while not outstanding, was commendable. But it had been cut short, much too quickly.

The explosive tag that took his arm saw to that.

The injury was old by about ten years, and he had adapted. It sometimes still felt like he was adapting. He could look after himself just fine, and his eight year old daughter never even thought of his injury as anything but normal. He was lucky to come back at all.

But even to this day, Genkai was still devastated. He loved his village, almost more than his friends who came from clans or prestigious shinobi families did. His only wish was to give back to the village that had taken his family in. And he had been doing that when he served as a shinobi.

And then the tag took his arm, and he had been honorably discharged.

Even though he knew he should be grateful to be alive, even though he knew his family was, he couldn't help but to be devastated still. And he knew how much his devastation weighed on his family's mind. How much it hurt them to see the pain in his eyes every time the disability check arrived via messenger Chunin.

He couldn't help it.

He played it off sure, in an effort to spare their minds the burden. He did not complain when he learned to be a stay at home dad while his childhood sweetheart and now wife worked hard in the village's accounting division. Even picked up a hobby that he could make a profit off of. And he never once mentioned his pain while watching the ninja surrounding him serve their village longer then he ever did, instead offering tips and tricks to any youthful ear that would listen.

So when his old Jonin Sensei asked to meet him at their old hangout, he did not stop to think twice before he decided he would be there. Even arriving twenty minutes early.

He sat at the booth, stirring his purchased tea, and waited.

The minutes stretched on, and Genkai felt each second ticking by, each seemingly slower than the last. Finally, he arrived.

The greying man approached his booth slowly, limping steps somehow gracefully carrying him through the aisles. His eyes did not once leave the form of his old student, even when dodging the careless new waitress' tray of food.

The old Jonin sat down across from the retired chunin, a warm smile lighting his face. "Its been a while Genkai-kun."

"Likewise Sensei. I don't believe we've seen each other since Shoko's fourth birthday."

"How is she by the way?"

"She's been doing well. She started the academy just a few months ago, and she seems to be well on her way to being an excellent shinobi. How has Veterans Affairs been treating you?"

"Same as always. Constant bickering on where to send funding amounting to no real progress on any front." His Sesei dramatically moaned, thudding his head against the booth table.

Genkai caught his soup from where it was about to tip over, only the slightest drip of soup spilling out. "Well, that's to be expected I guess. Doesn't really surprise me when most of the board is filled with civilians who've never seen a day of combat."

"At least the Tsuchikage will be whipping them into shape soon."

"Oh? What's happening to make the Tsuchikage focus his attention on Veterans?" it wasn't common for the Kage to switch his attention to people not currently serving.

His old sensei sat up and leaned closer to him, eyes darting around the restaurant. A gleam of excitement temporarily overpowering the crows nest around his eyes, almost making the man seem years younger.

"Well, the Tsuchikage will be making the announcement soon, and we weren't strictly forbidden from spreading the knowledge, so i guess I can tell you. But only because I know how much it'll mean to you personally."

He leaned forward, a quick and low powered privacy jutsu thrown around their conversation to discourage nosey civilians. "There's been a breakthrough in Prosthetic Technology lately. The Tsuchikage will be offering it free to any disabled shinobi who wishes, on the condition they sign back to active duty."

Genkai froze, looking at his Sensei in surprise. "Really?"

His sensei nodded his head.

Genkai nearly burst from his seat in excitement, ready to sign the contract already. A stray thought made his celebration come to a screeching halt early. "And what if someone doesn't want to go back to fighting? What if they have other responsibilities now? Will we still be allowed to get a prosthetic if we can't commit to the frontlines?"

His Sensei shook his head. "There will surely be plans to spread the prosthetics into the civilian world after the war. But for now, the war effort gets first priority to all resources, and the prosthetics are all pretty costly. The Tsuchikage knows that we need to bolster our forces, and new recruits won't exactly have the experience or training to stay alive. It's lucky we have these prosthetics, or we wouldn't be able to draw from those willing to fight in the Veterans."

Genkai sunk to his seat as he sunk in his thoughts. On the one hand, he could finally go back to serving his Village again, he could have his arm back! On the other, his wife and child needed him. Sure, they both could take care of themselves, but he knew what it was like to grow up without a father. How would his daughter feel if he seemingly abandoned her to fight in a war, one he could easily have gotten out of with the excuse of being disabled, of having already served his time?

This was not a decision to make lightly. Or alone.

"I need to talk to my wife about this Sensei. I can't make a decision this big without her input."

His Sensei nodded. "I thought it would be so, which is why I told you now. The Tsuchikage announces the project this weekend, that gives you four days to talk it out with your wife.

They both stood, and His Sensei embraced him in a hug. "No matter what decision you make, know that I'm proud to have served with you as a shinobi. And If you decide to stay with your family, know I will never judge you."

The two of them parted, and as his sensei payed the tab, Genkai left the restaurant, heading straight to his house. He'd better tell his wife immediately, or they wouldn't have the time to make the decision wisely.

Four days after he and his sensei had the conversation, Genkai stood near the front of the line outside the Veterans office. He and his wife had been talking since then, and had come to this decision.

He would accept the Prosthetic, and the duties that came with it.

It was highly unlikely he would be sent to the front of the lines, there were thousands of shinobi, and likewise thousands of jobs needed to be filled. Even if he was on the frontlines, he and his wife were convinced he would be safe. The Tsuchikage had been introducing new technology into the shinobi war effort for a few months now, and with all these innovations, everyone was convinced they'd wipe the floor with Konoha.

He was sure shoko knew something was up, but neither he nor his wife had talked to their daughter about it yet. He had convinced his wife, after many arguments, to let himself do it. It would be best for him to have that conversation with his daughter. Only after he had accepted the prosthetic though, that way there was no chance to turn back when he had the conversation. Shoko could throw out some mean arguments, and he wanted to make sure there was no way his daughter could convince him to change his mind.

The line moved up, and soon it was his turn to enter the building, and receive his prosthetic.

The surgery was successful, and the prosthetic was bolted onto the synthetic joint. Genkai was wheeled into the resting room, and against the nurse's orders, he tested the new limb out.

It was heavy, and bulky. The chakra condensive steel plates slid past each other smoothly, but the range of motion was slightly off compared to his flesh and bone arm, and the chakra battery powering it was large and uncomfortably close to his body, where he could feel its warmth. But the important thing was, it moved when he wanted it to. The motors inside the small cavities of the arm pulled and pushed the limb to allow him a somewhat limited range of motion similar to his other arm.

That was more than he had without.

He reached over to the glass of water the nurses had left him, experimentally clutching to lift. A sharp crack snapped through the room, and the glass shattered.

Genkai frowned. The strength had clutched harder than he had ordered it to.

He was interrupted when the door burst open, and a figure barreled into his non-prosthetic side. His Nurse and wife followed after, the nurse shouting demands and his wife apologies.

He shooed the nurse away after a moment, telling her it was fine and he was ready for visitors anyway. His wife followed the nurse out after a second, having offered to find her and their daughter something to eat. Meanwhile, he was left with his precious child, and he knew it was time for them to talk.

"What's the matter chibi-chan?"

His eight year old daughter mumbled into his chest, and a soft smile lit his face. "Sorry honey, can't understand faceplant"

She lifted her head, teary eyes locking to his. "Why do you have to go?"

Genkai sighed, gathering his daughter up so she could sit in his lap. He was careful not to be too trusting on the new arm. Crushing a glass was one thing, his daughter…. "It's my duty to the village. Us shinobi have to protect the village from things that seek to hurt us, and right now, that means The Leaf and its allies."

"But why you?! You've already done everything asked of you! Why do they have to pull you away from us again?!"

"Because if it wasn't me, then someone else would be forced to. Someone else who didn't have the training or experience, someone else who would die, and leave behind loved ones. If Tsuchikage-sama didn't choose us veterans, much more rookies would die in our place."

He stroked her hair in a calming manner, brushing stray strands of hair away from her face. "I chose this chibi-chan. I want to take an active part in protecting you guys."

"You can protect us here!" Shoko shook her head. "You don't need to abandon us to protect us!"

Genkai's heart sank at that. "I'm not abandoning you, I promise. I won't be partaking in any dangerous battles, and even if I was, I'll make my way back to you no matter how long it takes."

His daughter looked up and met his eyes, taking a moment to wipe her tears. "Promise?"

"I swear it." he crossed his fingers over his heart, making an x. "And what do I always say if I break a promise?"

"I don't care about getting all the treats in the world. I want you." she collided into his chest in a hug.

He rubbed her back comfortingly. "Well, you won't need to worry about that anyway, because this is a promise I'm keeping, no matter what." they stayed like that for a while, just hugging the other and basking in their presence.

An idea popped into Genkai's head, and he lifted his daughter's head. "In fact, I'm so serious about this promise, I'm going to give you something that shows how serious about this promise I am!"

"What?" Shoko's face twisted in puzzlement.

Genkai answered by reaching into his shirt, pulling a chain out until a ring popped out. Genkai reached around his head, unlatching the necklace. He handed it to his daughter, smiling sadly.

Shoko took the necklace, looking over the golden ring with interest. "What is it?"

"That's my father's wedding ring. Its all I've ever had of him. And I want you to hold onto it until I get back Ok?"

She nodded her head, carefully putting the necklace on. It was a bit too big for her, reaching all the way to her stomach and nearly laying in her lap.

Shoko pouted at her father. "I still don't want you to leave."

Genkai chuckled. "I know sweetheart. But I don't have to leave right away. I still have to do a few weeks of physical therapy, and then a month or so to get myself into fighting shape. I won't be leaving for a while."

The two of them sat there for an hour, father comforting daughter, until Genkai's wife and Shoko's mother came with food. The three sat together, comfortably eating and laughing.

A month later, they would be split apart for the war effort.

But for now, they relished in each other's company.

November 12th,

3rd year of the First True World War,

Thursday afternoon.

Naruto sat along the edge of the trench, carefully peering over the snowy edge. She had been assigned to a team of foot soldiers, along with a couple of chunin, as sentries. Their job for now was to keep an eye on No Man's Land and sound the alarm at any hint of enemy activity. So far, there had been no such need.

Just like the last few months.

Among the regular troops, rumors spread of the war's approaching end. Hopes and fears spread from one end of the trench to the other.

But to the Shinobi, they met the lack of activity with suspicion. The only reason they could think for the lack of activity was that the enemy was regrouping, planning a large scale assault or a flanking maneuver.

Unfortunately, they had no way to tell. The last few reconnaissance teams came back empty handed, with a few not coming back at all.

They were in the dark, and it was bothering them all to the point of restlessness.

Naruto switched out with one of the other shinobi, allowing him to keep watch over No Man's land. The young Anbu moved out and into the actual trench, where the rest of the sentry team sat huddled along the bottom of the trench and staging off boredom by telling jokes and stories. Those who weren't on duty shoveled snow out of the trenches in an effort to keep dry.

Naruto opted to sit a foot away from them. She wasn't sure how to begin a conversation with strangers, and she wasn't comfortable being so far away from her fam… Anbu team.

Two of the other soldiers scooted towards her, ignoring her attempts to not socialize. She recognized one of them, the boy she fought next to months ago during a trench run. Edu...Idun? She wasn't sure, they never actually introduced themselves to each other.

The other soldier was not anyone she ever met before. His red hair was too unique for her to have forgotten him. They both came to a stop near her.

"Hello again." The one she had met before (Eren? No, it didn't have an r sound to it. Maybe da? Idan?), greeted cheerfully.

Naruto nodded her head to him. "Hello." Her facial expressions were blocked from view due to her Anbu mask. She considered taking it off to make conversation less awkward, but she was on duty. Also, she was already feeling awkward as it was. Growing up in an environment where the only people she could safely socialize with were people her pseudo grandfather personally vetted, with consequences of stepping out of those carefully selected groups ranging from bullying to bodily harm made trusting strangers a hard endeavor. But if it was one thing she learned, her allies from out of the Leaf Village were trustworthy.

Even so, Ten years dealing with bad people was hard to let go of, even if the last few of them were spent with people she cared about.

She settled with relaxing her muscles, allowing her body to slump into the wall. Even if they could not read her face, they could read her body language, and so she settled for portraying calm.

It seemed to work, as the other two stopped relaxed slightly.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure if you wanted to talk or not, but you and Spencer are the only two people I really know and I get really nervous whenever I'm with strangers so..."

She tilted her head at them curiously. "Spencar?" She tested the name out. The consonants and vowels twisting her tongue in strange ways.

"Spencer." The redhead (Spencer apparently) repeated helpfully. "It has more of an elongated e sound."

Naruto tried again. "Spenceeeer...Spenceerr... Spencer…"

"There you go, you've got it." (Edenn?) cheered helpfully.

Naruto turned to him. "How do you say your name?"

"My name? You pronounce it A-den. Aidan"

Naruto tried the name again, tilting her head curiously until the two of them were satisfied.

"That's better." Aiden nodded. "Your pronunciation is almost perfect." he gestured to her. "What about you? you haven't really introduced yourself."

"Ocelot…"Naruto answered absentmindedly, face scrunched up in confusion. The two soldiers didn't see this, again, due to her mask. She never heard names like theirs. She lost herself in her thoughts while Aiden semi-explained semi-complained about Anbu customs to a confused Spencer.

Actually, she has heard such names, during her first ever mission. The one to Kodaina no Tochi.

She turned to Spencer, who was still trying to make sense of the information bestowed to him by Aiden. (although the information was probably flawed, which meant Naruto or another Anbu would have to correct that sooner or later). "Do you come from Kodaina-no-Tochi?"

Spencer nodded. "Yes and no. I mean, I was born there, and my family lived there, but we've mostly been moving around since my sister was born. My parents haven't decided on settling down anywhere just yet, but they really seemed to like their newest home so far. Well, they did at least until they were ordered to evacuate for their safety."

"You did mention they sent you a letter earlier. Weren't they going back to pick up some things today?" Aiden asked.

"They did mention their intention to stop by the house. They want to save some things in case the war gets too close, and they haven't felt confident about going before. Considering the state of the war now, I think they don't really have to worry about the war for too much longer."

Aiden nodded as if it made all the sense in the world, and Naruto turned to him. "Where do you come from?"

Her fellow blond chuckled, rubbing his neck nervously. "No, though the country I'm from is near there. I'm from Hashi-no-Kuni before it was… occupied." his smile turned into a frown, and his gaze sunk to the floor. "You know, many of my countrymen hate what's happened to it. That's why we fled to Kodaina. Most of us joined the war effort because we want to free our fellow countryman from Taiga-no-Kuni's Influence."

Naruto's feelings of awkwardness grew, and her gaze shifted. She didn't really know how to answer that, and judging from Spencer's body language, neither did he.

Seemingly sensing their awkwardness, Aiden shook himself from his melancholy thoughts. "Well, that's enough of downer talks. How about we change the subject? Spencer, any special girl back home?"

Spencer flushed bright red, nearly matching the shade of his hair. "W-What a-are you talking about man!?" he stammered.

Aiden wiggled his eyebrows. "You know what I mean! A special lady, A Girlfriend!"

Spencer shook his head. "No, it's just me, my sister and my parents. Haven't really had the chance to look for a girlfriend."

Aiden frowned disappointedly, before shaking it off and turning to Naruto. "What about you?"

Naruto pointed to herself, her brows twitching with how confused she was. "I'm ten… and Anbu."

Aiden sbalked. "Well, I knew you were young,well, younger than me, but ten? And they let you in the army? This seems more serious than a crush! What are you doing in the army?"

Naruto shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm in the Anbu because of special circumstances." her voice came out oddly flatter than she had gone for.

"Special Circumstances, what, like one of those shinobi bloodlines or something?" he asked curiously."

"Something like that." she wasn't sure if that was a truthful answer or not, but considering what happened to put her in anbu, she wasn't sure if that answer was more socially acceptable or not.

"But still, ten?"

"What are you, like eighteen? Lay off dude. It doesn't seem like she had much choice in the matter." Spencer shook his head.

Aiden immediately backed off, giving a distracted shrug. "Well, I'm sure you'll find someone when you're older, there's no need to look at all for at least six years. What about family or friends?"

Naruto shook her head again. "Just my team." She thinks her team's kind of like a family, but then she doesn't know if she really has the experience to tell.

"Oh, thats too bad then." his tone of voice was genuinely remorseful for her, and she wasn't sure if she should be offended or not.

A few seconds of silence passed.

Naruto watched Aiden's body language, it was obvious he was waiting for someone to ask him about his own love life. "Whaaat about you?" her question came out slowly, and questioned more than his love life.

"I'm glad you asked!" his face split into a megawatt grin, and he went off onto a tangent, talking about a girl named Maria (Maah-reeeaah)who followed him and his family to escape the occupation of his country.

Naruto listened intently, curious about what life was like outside the village (outside of the war, outside of being hated by villagers for undescernable reasons, outside Anbu)

Aiden kept talking until he spotted one of the other men pulling out bottles of booze, and he went over to try and pilfer one.

Spencer turned to Naruto. "Sorry about him, he's… social?"

Naruto tilted her head again. It was one of the only ways to show confusion without removing her mask. "Have you known him a long time?"

"Not a couple of weeks."

Naruto's face scrunched up behind her mask. "Are you supposed to apologize for people you met only a week ago?"

Spencer chuckled. "Not really. I just figured I would because he kind of put you on the spot for your age."

She wasn't sure about his answer, but she decided to leave it alone. Social interaction with strangers was weird.

Her ears twitched, and Naruto jolted upright, listening intently. Something was off, and she couldn't tell what it was. A quiet sound, just barely below a whisper in the wind. What she picked up was sharp, like a whistle, but faint.

Spencer went to speak up, likely to comment on her tensing up, but she shushed him and got up to her feet.

She needed to listen, and conversation would block out the noise.

Shinobi typically had sharper hearing than civilians, and could protect themselves from loud noises with a coat of chakra around the eardrum. This allowed them to protect their hearing during loud fights, to conserve it so they could hear the subtle whispers on the wind when performing stealthy missions. It also had the benefit of protecting their hearing with the loud Booms of the new "gun" technology.

Naruto's hearing was sharper than most shinobi, for reasons she didn't understand (even if she had only recently begun learning about it, and utilizing it as a shinobi). So she wasn't surprised that no one seemed to hear what she was hearing now.

The sound steadily grew louder, and soon she could pinpoint its direction. Up?

Her head jolted up in panic. There was no way, everyone would have heard the booming of the artillery.

It wasn't artillery.

It was something new.

"Are those birds? In this weather?" Spencer seemed to have caught on somewhat, turning to look up like she had.

Naruto turned to him, eyes wide, and tackled him to the ground screaming "Take cover!"

The soldiers around her froze for half a second, before scurrying to duck for cover. And then everything erupted into chaos.

Above them, from the heavens, rained exploding tags wrapped around bricks of metal. None of them seemed very accurate, but occasionally a few of them landed in the trenches, detonating among the soldiers there. Luckily for Naruto, none of them landed near her, although she could still feel the debris they knocked up landing around her.

Finally, the explosions stopped, and Naruto took a moment to stand up. Her gaze darted to her surroundings.

The recon bunker she had been in earlier was sunken in, having taken a direct hit by one of the exploding tag bombs. The chunin and foot soldier inside the tiny bunker never stood a chance against the explosion, and she was just thankful that the bunker was higher than the rest of the trench, which allowed the walls to take most of the shrapnel.

Most of the shrapnel didn't mean all of the shrapnel. Spencer lay next to her, leg bloody and wounded. She produced bandages from her kunai pouch, quickly wrapping the wound. There was no time to try and pluck the shrapnel from his leg.

Especially because most of her attention was in listening.

There was no way that was the last of it. It seemed too little damage to have the enemy be satisfied, especially when she saw the distant flying machines in the air swerve around and back to behind their own lines.

Sure enough, faint booming alerted the whole trenchline of incoming artillery. And where artillery came crashing down, enemy foot soldiers came rushing after.

"Artillery!" someone yelled out.

"They're rushing No Man's Land!" someone else cried.

Naruto's world erupted in the cracking of weapons as her allies rushed to defend the trenches, firing their guns out into no man's land. A few shells from the artillery landed around their position, but no explosions followed. She was tempted to ignore them as duds.

Except thick yellow gas began pouring out of the craters they caused, pouring into parts of the trenches. The soldiers exposed to the gas began coughing violently, clawing at their eyes and exposed skin releasing wet, gurgling screams.

Naruto cursed inwardly, unsheathing her Tanto. She had to make sure not to run into any of that gas, and hope that none of it came her way. She looked down to Spencer. "Can you still fight?"

"I can shoot, but running isn't going to be possible with my leg like this." He grimaced, one eye closed in pain.

Naruto nodded, lifting him up and setting him against the wall of the trench. She created a clone, who crouched low and hid itself. "This clone will protect you, but know that it only takes one hit to dispel. If it comes down to it, the clone will take you as far to safety as it can."

She turned and dashed down the trenchline. She had to fulfill her duty, and that was to take care of any enemy Shinobi so the regular troops can fight.

As Naruto ran, she listened to her surroundings. Screams of the dying, both ally and enemy, crashed into her ear. The enemy had yet to actually breach the trenches, but the Gas spilling into the trenches seemed to have a fatal effect on those exposed to it too long. Meanwhile, those who could jumped to the edge of the trench and began unloading their ammunition into the rushing enemy.

Dozens upon dozens of soldiers in the enemy lines fell, but for every one that fell, three more took his place. They also made sure to spread apart, leading to large gaps in enemy formations and less chances for multiple casualties on the enemies part.

They were getting too close, even with the artillery fire thinning out bits of their numbers.

Naruto ignored the hollowing pit in her stomach, the sting of tears in her eyes. The… fear.

Because she was afraid ok? She was terrified. She was in the middle of a war zone, with uncountable enemies surrounding her, and her team was nowhere in sight. But she gritted her teeth and tightened her hold of her weapon. She would get through this.

She had to.

And so she breathed, and tried to remember what her therapist once said.

"Ninja are tools of their village, we must be willing to lay down our lives for the good of konoha. Ninja are tools of their village, we must be willing to lay down our lives for the good of konoha"

She tried the breathing exercises she had showed her, as well as the emotional blocks. And soon, she had her emotions under control.

And then she moved.

She charged through the trenches, slicing any enemy trying to jump their way in. she ignored her feelings, trying desperately to lock them away for the duration of this mission. Meanwhile, her legs carried her through chaos, dashing back and forth along her designated stretch of trench line. Her sword sung as it slashed through enemies. Drawing blood.

There were too many of them, and too little of her allies.

Something flashed in her peripheral vision, and she threw herself back. Dozens of shuriken lodged themselves into the wall next to her head, and Naruto swiveled her head to glare at the direction they came from.

Sure enough, an enemy shinobi was there.

It was not an Iwa shinobi.

Naruto couldn't see much of what the shinobi was wearing due to the cloak, but what she did she mentally categorized.

Tight shirt and pants with bandages, unconfirmed chance of wound? Closed toe boots, non steel toe. More bandages spilling from cloak sleeves, possible wrapped arms. Loose, thick cloak, suitable to protect against airborne poisons capable of harming the skin, most likely the yellow gas. A vest made the cloak bulge outward from the chest, and based on the shape was possibly a chunin vest. Wrappings around the neck leading up to a tight hood pulled closely around the head. Gas mask with extended mouthpiece wrapping off to the sides of the head, with some sort of protective face covering sown to the edges.

Four diagonal squiggly lines grouped like a square in the center of a metal forehead protector. No mark of abandonment.

Kirigakure has allied itself with Iwa, and now they were here, joining in on the attack. It was safe to assume that Kirigakure's Daimyo had pledged their allegiance to Iwa's cause as well, which brought the Land of Water and all its allies under Iwa's fold.

Konoha was once again outnumbered.

Naruto shook her thoughts to pay attention to the Shinobi's movements, who began circling her. Let the Hokage and his war cabinet worry about the state of the enemies alliships. For now, Naruto had to focus on not dying.

There was one good thing to be considered with the Mist shinobi's arrival, and that was one simple fact.

The shinobi came decked out in protective gear, which meant that there were measurements that could be made to protect oneself from the yellow gas. Steps Anbu had considered long ago and implemented into the Anbu gear.

Anbu masks filtered air with the use of seals, protecting Anbu members from inhaling any Poisons. Based on the Mist shinobi's clothing choice, as long as something was covering the skin, one should be fine in case of exposure to the gas.

Naruto made all these observations in seconds while she circled the Mist shinobi, who seemed to have been monologuing during her observations.

It didn't matter, she hadn't been listening to any of it. She charged, brandishing her Tanto, and swung at the shinobi.

The Mist shinobi cursed in shock, his deep voice muffled through his mask. He lifted his arm to protect herself, and Naruto prepared herself for the moment her Tanto would slice through.

Only, it bounced off with the loud clink of metal striking metal, and Naruto was left confused as she jumped away from the man's retaliatory swipe.

"What the hell Bitch?! That was fucking rude! You don't just cut someone off when they're talking! Who taught you your manners treehugger?!"

Naruto ignored his curses, eying the man's arm suspiciously. "Why didn't that cut you?"

She couldn't see past the man's mask, but she could tell he was smirking from the superior huff oozing into his voice. "Oh, this old thing? Well, It's not really any of your business, but I guess I can show you. It's not like it'll be much of a secret after today, and you won't really live to tell the tale anyway. Bitch." the last insult was tacked on late, and as if he realized he hadn't insulted her enough to meet some sort of inner quota.

He pulled back his sleeve, revealing a metal arm. "This little prosthetic is a gift to us from Iwa, a reward for joining in on their crusade to rid the trash that is Konoha from the face of the earth. Trash like you wouldn't understand the scientific genius that went into making this, neither would you recognize how superior we are to you, for unlocking the medical miracle of regaining lost limbs.

Except she did recognize it. She recognized the bulky, heavy joints, to the thick metal plates welded to them. She recognized the thick, stick-like fingers, and the joints that allowed only a fraction of a limbs true flexibility. She even recognized the large chakra battery attached to it, although it was moved closer to the inside of the arm. The only other difference was the chakra condensive steel it was made from.

She knew it well, after all, Bashord-San was the one who showed her in the first place. He was the one to invent it.

She felt a rush of anger at the man, and at Iwa, for daring to claim a hand in its creation. All they did was steal it! And kill 130 civilians in the process, innocent people, Innocent children!

Naruto froze, forcing calm. It would not help her to get angry. It would only make her sloppy.

She forced calm onto herself, following her therapists guidelines on shinobi mental states. She needed to survive, and she didn't have her team to back her up. She needed all the calm, calculating mentality she could get.

She rushed the Kiri Chunin again, ignoring his continued monologuing. She wasn't interested in the man's propaganda poisoned words.

The man cursed again, blocking Naruto's tanto with his metal arm. He threw a kunai at her, making naruto dodge back, only for her to rush right back in and continue attacking.

She nearly landed a killing blow when he kicked her away while cursing violently. "That's it you little fucker! I can't believe there's someone as rude as you who exists. Even for Konoha trash!"

He performed hand signs, though they were much slower than she was used to. Naruto privately wondered if this man had been promoted to chunin before he was ready, and then she thought it was likely because Kiri was bolstering their forces for the war effort.

"Take this Bitch! Kirigakure no Jutsu!" he yelled, throwing glass canisters at his feet. They burst open, yellow gas spilling into the air.

The liquid gas dispersed into the air, creating a thick cloud of poisonous gas.

Naruto had heard of this technique from Taicho, it was originally supposed to create a thick mist, allowing for Kiri shinobi to perform its counterpart move, the Silent Killing.

She supposed this variant created a poisonous cloud of gas the user could control, along with using the silent killing technique.

She could feel the slightest amount of pain from the gas, gaps where gas seeped past her clothes and began slowly burning her skin. She withdrew her bandages and quickly sealed the breaches, keeping her ears trained for any signs of movement.

They were still in the trenches, and above her Naruto could hear the sounds of bullets flying through the air, so she felt safe enough to rule that out as a possible approach point for her enemy. If the enemy were more skilled, she'd be worried, but assuming from his overall skill level, he was not chunin material, she would be fine.

That left only the direction the Shinobi was coming from as a possible threat, and even if the shinobi tried using the walls, she still knew his general direction.

She was proven right when she heard his feet scuffle just slightly, and the slight woosh of his arm traveling towards her.

She dodged the attempted bashing of her head, as well as the follow up kunai. She tripped him when he went for a stab, and he nearly fell.

The shinobi growled at her, catching himself. "How can you tell where I am?!"

"I can hear you." Naruto deadpanned, although it came out sounding stiff.

"Can you hear me?" an feminine voice sounded behind her, and Naruto threw herself forward.

She barely dodged the katana to her back, but the blade sliced through her cloak, allowing the yellow gas to meet her skin. She ignored the burning sensation, focusing on deflecting the next two katana blows with her own Tanto.

Naruto jumped away from the clear Jonin level shinobi, dodging past the chunin, who tried to clumsily swipe at her.

She could have taken the chunin hostage, but she didn't trust what a reckless shinobi could do.

"You shouldn't rush off like that choco-chan. What would mom say if she knew you were being so reckless?"

"She's dead bitch! Don't try to tell me how to live my life!"

Naruto stared at the two shinobi, discreetly making shadow clones and sending them off into the poisonous mist. Some of them were immediately destroyed by the overhead firefight, but a few made it through.

The jonin looked at Naruto, body language clearly unimpressed to make up for the lack of facial language. "That wasn't very smart."

Naruto ignored the woman's dig, instead jumping out of the yellow gas. Her fingers sped through handsigns, and she breathed in. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"

Two of her clones, who were much closer to the edge of the cloud of gas, performed their own jutsu. With a cry of 'Kaatsu-fū no bōru no Jutsu', they released their jutsu.

The two balls of wind met the ball of fire, feeding it and causing it to grow into a massive, bright white hot ball of fire. The fire wall flew through the cloud of gas, parting it as it went further in. eventually, the ball of fire exploded, raining hot dirt and debris and melting snow.

Naruto glared at the smokey crater left behind, eyes roaming the area where the two shinobi had stood. She took half a second to be glad none of her living allies had been in the blast radius, although she could hear them fighting all around her.

A figure burst out of the smoke, cursing obscenities and swiping at his smoking clothing angrily. Naruto frowned. The chunin didn't seem skilled enough to escape on his own, which meant the jonin was still alive.

Naruto watched as the jonin walked calmly out of the smoke, completely untouched.

"I commend you for that brilliant display. Unfortunately, that flame was much to weak to stand up to the might of my water based Jutsu." the woman's sultry voice called out. Naruto's brow twitched with annoyance.

"That's right. Nii-san wouldn't fall to the likes of you!"

Naruto considered the idea of fleeing. The only problem with that was that her orders were to defend the trench lines, and until there was a call for retreat, she was to remain there. That meant she had to deal with these two on her own, even if it was far riskier to do so alone.

She could have taken the chunin by herself, but the Jonin was complicating things. Already Naruto knew the woman was a superior opponent, and she had faced such odds alone, but never had it been when her team was so far away. Her nearest teammate was miles down the trenchline, and Kenta was likely dealing with his own enemies to think about finding her.

Curse the idiot who decided to split the Anbu team's effectiveness by splitting the team.

She had no more time to mope, however, as the Jonin sent a ball of water flying at her. Naruto didn't like how the oblong disk of water was rapidly spinning.

She jumped to the side, watching as it cut through two random Land of Fire gunman before losing its power and splashing against the wall.

"Like my spinning bullet? Thought it up myself."

Naruto frowned harder, throwing an angry look to the woman. She needed to go down.

Which is why she was glad she made clones earlier.

A set of hands burst from the floor beneath the jonin, holding her in place. From the walls, two more clones burst out, kunai aimed to strike the jonin down.

As a final measure, Naruto herself sprinted forward, tanto poised for a stab.

The Jonin freaked out, caught off guard. She blocked the two clone's stabs with her arm guards, eyes widely watching as Naruto sprinted at her.

The woman's brother yelled out, throwing himself in front of his sister. He blocked the blade of her tanto with his arm, clumsily swiping at Naruto with a Kunai.

Naruto stepped back, nearly growling with frustration. She should have really with this prick faster.

The chunin threw down another glass vial, resulting in more yellow liquid pooling at his feet. He let out a familiar string of hand signs. "Kirigakure no Jutsu!"

"Fuck!" naruto cursed when the yellow gas blocked her vision once more, and again when she heard the sharp pop of her clones. Her clone's memory told her the jonin had freed herself.

Naruto raised her tanto, creating clones to watch her back.

A sharp pop and curse let her know to duck, dodging the blade of the jonin's katana. Naruto had to immediately dodge again when the woman's other hand came at her holding a kunai.

From there, Naruto had to deflect and dodge what she could, careful to make sure the blade didn't cut her clothes too badly. Despite the stinging of the gas, her skin seemed not to be too damaged, so she wasn't sure how damaging the gas actually was. Even so, it still stung whenever her skin came into contact with it, which led to her losing more of her concentration in the fight.

The onslaught of blades stopped, and naruto tried catching her breath.

"Die Bitch!" the chunin shouted out behind turned, dodging his two handed downward stab. She grabbed a hold of the chunin's facemask, pulling it off.

The chunin choked loudly, wide eyes bugging outward. Naruto could see the exposed skin reddening, slowly blistering. She grimaced.

"Choco!" the jonin yelled, panicked. She stabbed Naruto from behind, grabbing the gas mask and rushing to her brother.

"Choko, I'm right here, hold on!" she rushed to her brother, dragging him to her lap. She fumbled with the straps, pausing in confusion when Naruto popped out of existence.

Here eyes widened when she heard the hiss, and she flipped the mask over.

On the inside of the mask, an exploding tag was lit.

And it just went off.

Naruto winced as the explosion rained debris over her cover, carrying dirt, rocks and blood making heavy impacts with the dirt around her. Lucky for her, the yellow gas wasn't very flammable, which meant she wasn't killed when the ignited gas made the explosion bigger.

She sighed, with that mess over with, she could get back to her mission.

Protect the foot soldiers, so they could protect the Trench line.

She took a minute to listen, frowning at the sounds of dismay and alarm spread through her allies forces. She looked toward the enemy line/.

In the air, floating over the enemy lines and creeping steadily towards them, giant steel balloons came. She could see from here that multiple turret installments litters the bottoms of the balloons. Rotating fins pushed the fortress forward, though she could not tell what made them float so.

It was not the sight that was the most terrifying thing about it.

It was the sound.

A deep thrumming, like the wings of thousands of bees, bellowed out from the closest flying war balloon. Its sound alone shaking her eardrums and the air around her.

A horn sounded from it, deep, louder than the buzz, and spirit shockingly hollow.

And the dozen machines crept steadily forward like the hands of the Shinigami itself. Ready to begin delivering death from above.

These things were made for one thing and one thing only. War.

And the allies were sorely under-prepared to counter it.

A great roar arose from the enemy who, spirits soaring, began invading even more fervently. Hundreds, no, thousands of them.

All along the trenches, Naruto could hear the call for retreat begin spreading, and the allies of Konoha began to retreat.

Naruto turned, running back to where she was before the attack.

If she was going to retreat, she was going to make sure everyone she was teamed with for recon duty made it back as well, those who were still alive at least.

Naruto walked in front of her group of survivors hours later. She had rounded up as many survivors as she could, the wounded helping the blind and vice versa, while the healthy focused on protecting them,

They crept silently through the night foliage, snow crunching softly under their feet. This whole side of the countryside at least twenty miles inside the trench-line protection zone was under enemy occupation. That was, assuming the next line of trenches held up against the enemy assault.

Behind Naruto, Aiden held his rifle, gently supporting Spencer as they walked. Spencer refused to be useless, holding a small officer pistol in his hand. Behind them, eight other survivors walked, five of which were either blind or too injured to help of them were Shinobi.

The light of a large fire drew their attention, and Naruto held a hand up to stop their tiny procession. She held a hand sign for 'wait here' quietly sneaking towards the light to investigate.

She reached the edge of the treeline, the warmth of the fire nearly scalding even from here. She peered through the wilting tree branches.

She blanched at what her peering was met with.

Bodies piled! fire! flames! Destruction! Death!

She turned away from the burning village. There was no screaming, no sounds, nothing other than the crackling of flames and the collapsing of houses. There was no one to save.

No one is alive there.

She made her way back to the group silently, taking extra care to avoid twigs. There was no telling if the enemy set up recon stations to monitor possible movement from Konoha's forces. There was a high chance that anyone trying to save possible survivors of the town would be shot.

She made it to the group, who had taken the chance to sit down and rest. She almost stumbled right past them actually, because they were so quite. It was only the sounds of their breathing, and quiet moaning, that gave them away. She was nearly impressed, until she remembered none of them wanted to be found by the enemy behind their lines.

The group (those who could see anyway) looked to her for a report when she announced her presence. She shook her head.

"The town that used to be just past the edge of these woods was torched. There's nothing left except burning buildings."

Next to Aiden, Spencer tensed, hissing as he strained his leg. Aiden fixed him with a curious look. "What's up?"

"My parents were in that town!" he hissed out, trying to push himself to stand. Aiden shook his head, raising to stop him.

"How do you know it was that town? There are hundreds of tiny towns between here and the Land of Fire"

"You don't think I don't recognize these woods? I used to live here before my parents were ordered to evacuate! This is my town!" he hissed, taking a step towards the source of the light.

"He can't go! Someone stop him, we'll be discovered!' someone else hissed. A few of the men got up, likely to do so.

"Everybody hold up!" Aiden glowered. "There's no reason to resort to violence, fighting will get us caught for sure, even if checking the Village doesn't!" he turned to Spencer. "Look, buddy…"

"Don't buddy me! We aren't friends! We don't know each other!"

Aiden looked hurt, but he grit his teeth and carried on. "It doesn't matter whether we're friends or not Spencer. What matters is that we can't get caught."

"But my parents…"

"I get it man, I really do. If my parents were anywhere near here, I'd be freaking out right now. But you've got to think through that man. Do your parents have common sense?"

"What?"

"Do they?"

"Yes!"

"Are they deaf?"

"No.. wh-what does this have to do with anything?"

Aiden gave Spencer a smirk, although anyone who could see him saw it was shaky. {then they probably left when the fighting started. The battle wasn't exactly quiet, and the moment the artillery started raining down on us anyone with common sense would have got the hell away."

"Ye-yeah… you're right."

"Come on man, we can check for them when we get back to friendly forces, but rushing off into enemy territory is going to do nothing but get yourself killed. How would your parents feel if you died doing something sop reckless?"

"Angry…. You're right." Spencer sighed. "But what about my neighbors, My friends? That's my home town! I can't just leave without checking to see if there were survivors."

Naruto approached Spencer, tugging on his arm for attention. When he looked at her she shook her head. "I was there Spencer. There's nothing living there. Nothing but the fire and ruins."

Everyone knew how strong the senses of shinobi were. If they said there was no chance of anyone living, there was no one living.

"Ok." Spencer let out weakly. He did not miss how she said no one living, and not no one. People he knew, civilians, had died tonight. And it was because he had written home, telling them all how slow the war on their front was. He could only hope his parents were still alive, And his sister was not left an orphan because of him.

Hours later, with the sun just coming up, the group made it back to the lines of friendly forces. They were received at gunpoint until they were revealed to be friendly.

Naruto was crushed into a deadly hug by a teary Noda, while the rest of her team watched in fascination. She would not be reported missing in action after all.

News was shared, spread. Families were reunited, others torn apart. Tears shed, laughs had. But the important thing…

The war was not over, and Konoha was outnumbered.

Onoki smiled with satisfaction as he read the reports. The war seemed to be going well for them. They just breached through three lines of trenches, and had occupied a smaller, neutral country.

Things were looking up for Iwagakure, after a year of stalemate.

He frowned, looking at his desk.

There were many scrolls, nations clamoring to join his side of the war, and after what his nation, his village, had shown the world their might, he was not surprised.

There was a scroll missing, however, and it caused him to frown.

It seemed as though Kumogakure had yet to decide on whether they would join their cause.

If the Raikage didn't make his decision soon, Onoki would make it for him.

And trust me, A would not like his decision.

A shinobi who serves with their desires, from their heart, is a fickle shinobi. Because the heart is fickle, and changes what it wants. A shinobi of the heart will have a weak will.

The true will of fire is a shinobi who's will never changes. Because they are not shinobi of the heart.

They serve not with passion, but with strength and skill. They know from the start, their skills and strength are Konoha's skill and strength.

But who will direct that will, that strength? Who has the will to stand up to konoha's, the strength to match this great village?

Me of course.

There is no one worthier.

I hope you all enjoyed that chapter.

I tried to show a bit more of how messed up Naruto's mentality is at this moment. I hope I showed it well. I'm trying to go for Naruto's mentality slowly worsening while shes faced with the horrors of war.

of course, there will be a breaking point, but that isn't until much later.

but there it was, Chapter 16! I'm so happy i wish i could figure out how to type a little smug face with its fists tucked into its waist.

If you've noticed, this chapter is a turning point. Next chapter will be the start of the fourth year of the war, and it will finally become the World War. people's sides will be chosen, and from then on it will be a fast, bumpy ride.

From now on, fasten your seat belts, because this trains picking up speed and you don't wanna fall out.

stay healthy, wash your hands, careful of riots, and have a good week everyone.

Ja-ne