Naruto : Saga of Tanya the Kunoichi

***

Two weeks passed, and Naruto didn't know how many people he had killed. Each time he felt his emotions begin to dull. He tried to justify his killings, but each of his kills, and each death of his comrades haunt them in his sleep. 

Some of his enemies only had a murderous gaze. But some… it was anger. He too, fought through anger and hate, seeing the injuries and death of his comrades.

But after he finished his fight, after he got to rest… he started to question himself. 

What's the point of killing each other like this? Thinking about it, it's so stupid…everyone fought to protect each other.

But why fight at all to begin with? For stupid reasons… Unironically, Tsuyu would agree with Naruto's sentiment that it was stupid. 

In Tsuyu's own words, it's a senseless waste of resources. 

For each blood staining his hand, he questions when this will end.

Sakura, too, never had a break. Even though she was out of chakra, she did what she could physically to treat others. Her expression had grown heavy and solemn. It wasn't the tiredness or exhaustion. She had gone through that kind of thing. It was the heavy feeling of seeing so many hurt. She shed tears at times, seeing them in pain. Their supply lines were broken from Suna's overwhelming number, and they could only endure the pain without enough anesthetics, analgesics, not even enough sanitiser even if she could take most of the poison out.

Sasuke on the other hand seemingly thrived on the battlefield. His skill constantly improved with each swing of his tanto, each chidori he landed. Sasuke had become one of the most well known combatants in the entire Mobile Respond Troop, with his exquisite and skillful swordmanship, coupled with his unimaginable speed. The battlefield was like a grindstone, constantly sharpening his edge. And each of his improvements gave him motivation to keep fighting. Finally having respite, Sasuke wiped the tanto Kakashi passed onto him with a cloth, feeling the responsibility to uphold the Uchiha clan, bring honor to them, and to protect Naruto and Sakura. He wondered if father and mother would feel proud. 

They were pushed back and now camped at the edge of Land of River, bordering Land of Fire directly. The war was hopeless after all. In mere 2 weeks, Konoha lost its footing in the Land of River.

Yamato entered the tent with seriousness in his face.

"Everyone… Suna sent 1000 men this time to the main front. They had to give up other nearby areas to reinforce troops here. But don't worry. We finally had reinforcement coming. Our supply lines will be restored shortly."

Sakura had hope in her eyes, but then the light dimmed a little.

"Reinforcement… but how much could it do…"

Sakura has the highest IQ among them, and she knew how bleak the situation was. It was 500 against 1000. And Suna already managed to reach the Land of Fire's border on other fronts. The border was really wide, and Suna could invade at any point along the border between Land of River and Land of Fire. Konoha didn't have enough manpower to protect all of it. Tsunade was already sent to defend another major front in another area.

Currently, the front they stood on was to protect one of the more developed lands of the nation, a trade region between Land of Rain, Land of River, and Land of Fire. It's a very rich area. If they failed to stop them here, Suna would really gain a foothold inside the Land of Fire and really would devour the lands quickly from then onward. The other areas were not as developed and only had sparse populations and didn't have much going on.

But even then, Suna would gladly take it as it still had fertile land and a source of food. While nothing much for Land of Fire, for Land of Wind, even the land filled with nothing but wild forest were a treasure. In Tsuyu's words, the problem was unequal distribution. While Land of Wind had nothing to eat, Land of Fire could waste such a good fertile land underdeveloped because they simply don't need it.

Yamato, despite his serious expression, patted Sakura's shoulder.

"Sakura, SORA units would be coming to support. They would help restore our supply lines and push them back."

Hearing the name, Naruto and Sasuke's ears perked.

"Tsuyu coming?" Naruto felt a little at ease hearing she would come. He felt tired, exhausted, mostly mentally. But hearing his little sister coming made him feel relieved. Maybe it was because he knew how strong she was, how reliable she was, and that he could trust her when it comes to fighting. 

After killing many, and seeing many of Konoha shinobi falling… he felt he could understand why Tsuyu did what she did. It must have been more difficult for her to kill innocent people. All to protect Konoha.

At least, Naruto only killed those who hurt his allies.

Maybe… it was hard for her too…

Tsuyu never showed her emotions. He wondered if she had been hiding them all this time, carrying all that burden alone. And if she had… how much pain did she carry? Naruto felt his heart hurting for her.

I should ask Tsu-chan if she's really okay… Naruto still held some assumption that Tsuyu cared in one way or another. After all, even in her coldness, she had shown her warmth to him at times, in her own way… he wouldn't believe she was heartless.

Naruto's wandering thoughts returned to Yamato.

"Be confident. Her units had made a ruckus outside. You would see it once they arrive." 

Yamato said seriously. As an ANBU and a Field Commander, he had access to read the reports and status of other battlefields. 

***

In hours, Yamato called out to Naruto and Sasuke in the tent.

"Prepare for battle! We are engaging!"

Naruto took a deep breath, wearing his shinobi headband and his vest. 

For Konoha… for everyone at home, for Sasuke, Sakura, Tsu-chan…

Naruto said the mantra to himself, before her expression turned colder and detached to what he was about to do. The mantra he told himself and the memory of his injured comrades kept him going.

Yamato, Naruto and Sasuke defended the ground with 300 units, facing 600 of Suna shinobi. While the rest were responsible to guard against their flanks.

The vanguard of puppet masters from Suna made its appearance once more. The hundreds of puppets made it seem hopeless.

However, at this moment, all of Suna's shinobi look upward towards the sky behind them.

Naruto felt confused and had to turn around to look. Reflected in his eyes, a group of tiny objects in V shaped formation were flying across the sky at fast speed.

Yamato pressed onto his radio, feeling a little hopeful.

"SORA-1, this is Tenzo. Requesting immediate aerial strikes in the west north direction. Target marked with red chakra flare. We are engaged with close to 600 Suna Shinobi, prioritize puppeteers at the front. Friendlies will be cleared in 30 seconds."

"Roger." Tsuyu's voice was heard from the radio. Immediately, Yamato shot a red flare toward the sky above Suna's shinobi. It was just to make it easier to notice.

"Everyone, fall back quickly! Aerial support incoming!" Yamato shouted. Earth wall, water wave, wood walls, they were used to block the coming Suna's puppets and slow their advances.

Naruto looked up above, and Tsuyu's figure along with Hinata, Tenten and Ino could be vaguely seen as they swooped down at lower altitude.

A barrage of explosives rained down from above, targeting Suna's puppeteers first. Yamato, Naruto and Sasuke watched in awe as explosions rang on the ground, killing and injuring tens Suna's shinobi in a wave of aerial fire, even taking down most of the vanguard puppeteers.

They launched counterattacks, trying to use projectiles to land a hit towards them in the sky. But it was a useless endeavour. SORA's aerial supremacy can only be challenged by Kazekage at the moment but he wasn't here.

"Disperse and retreat!" Suna's commander shouted in panic. Dispersing would increase survival chances against their airstrikes.

Tsuyu and others weren't going to let it go. "Ino, 10. Hinata. 12. Tenten, 2. I would block their escape routes." She gave directions to the three on where they would attack.

While the three take their respective direction to commit mass slaughter from the above, she inputted more chakra into her Wing Unit, boosting her speed to outspeed the running Suna's shinobi and arrive at their retreat. 

"Reibi, block the left side. Nue, my right side! Try to capture alive!"

The two creatures came out of Tsuyu's body as black and purple chakra respectively, landing on the ground with a loud roar.

Nue at this moment was even bigger than Reibi, his entire body could be seen by everyone in the battlefield. He had grown a lot over the past weeks feeding on so much chakra. His roar caused all of Suna's shinobi to shiver in fear.

Konoha shinobi shouted in frenzy seeing the large beast wreaking havoc on retreating Suna's shinobi.

"They are doing it!"

"Run you sand rats! RUN!"

"Gahaha! Kill them!"

Meanwhile Tsuyu sent shadow clones to the ground and landed herself. 

Earth Release: Earth Clones!

Earth Release: Earth Armament!

Tens of Earth clones created from the ground, attacking the puppets head on. The earth clones could ignore any damage done to them except explosives. Meanwhile, her shadow clones followed up to reach the puppeteer and delivered a palm towards their body.

Marking them with the Flying Raijin seal. A slap of their palm caused sizzling pain on their skin that disappeared in mere seconds.

Tsuyu's real body was protected with an infusion of Earth chakra into her body tissue. Also tapping and marking any enemy she found and had the chance to mark them with.

The enemies were confused at the blatant way Tsuyu let them escape after causing some burns on their skins. Even Konoha's own shinobi that started to chase from behind saw Tsuyu's method and was very confused. Tsuyu never spoke a word to explain anything.

Yamato caught up to her as the battle was over. More than two third of them managed to escape as they dispersed in multiple directions… that and along with Tsuyu intentionally let them live and run away.

"Tsuyu… why did you let them escape?"

Naruto and Sasuke also reached her after taking down some retreating Suna shinobi.

Tsuyu looked at Naruto, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes seeing the blood on his clothes and the look in his eyes. Appreciation and even a feeling of pride swell up in her heart. She could tell Naruto had grown up, that he had become a proper shinobi with blood in his hands. A smile carved on her lips slightly.

"I have my own plan Yamato-san."

Reibi and Nue came over to Tsuyu. Bundled up like dumplings around Nue's tails were still living Suna's shinobi. Reibi also spat out still Suna shinobi he caught. 18 of them were caught alive. She created a tall mount with earth release, and used it to create pillory to encase their whole hands in hard earth to prevent them from using their weapons and jutsu.

Yamato frowned slightly, but waited for her to finish her work before. Reibi with nothing left to do turned into a mass of dark chakra and entered Tsuyu's body.

No one asked about the two beasts, even if most of them saw it for the first time. Everyone had their own secrets and it wasn't the right time to ask. Even Naruto saw the two beasts for the first time. He had a lot to ask really, but keep it for later.

"Tsuyu, we tried exchanging for Konoha's prisoners with the ones we captured but they refused. It's useless to keep them."

Yamato said seriously seeing Tsuyu intended to keep them.

"I have other uses for them, Yamato-san. I need them here. Where did you guys put other prisoners?"

"It was a hundred metres east of camp. We made temporary holding cells underground… there's only 8 of them."

"Got it. Nue, go and carry them there."

Nue that was as tall as 10 meters height let out a low roar and bundled the guys up with Wood Release, creating vines from the ground. He used his teeth to pull on one end of the vine, dragging the 18 Suna's prisoners like he's taking out a trash bag. The large steel amulet of Konoha symbol on his neck let people know the beast was in fact Konoha's ally. Many looked at the beast in awe as he dragged the trash away.

Tsuyu suddenly dazed a little, and she muttered 'roger' all of a sudden. It was Ino sending a message passed from Hinata. That most of the targets had found its way back to their military camp.

"Stay back. I need to prepare for a jutsu…"

"Um… sure, Tsuyu." Yamato complied and quickly pulled Naruto and Sasuke to create distance.

"Ha…" Kyubi chakra ran through her body, curse marks spread all over her skin, and Reibi's chakra combined creating a mixture of purple and red chakra emanating from her.

Her eyes turned demonic, the pressure emanating from her made the trio take more steps back.

What is she going to do…?

***