Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 55 Casualties

Daro looked around the canyon with somewhat of fear in his eyes. All around him shinobi were fighting. One had fallen at his feet not along ago, dead. This wasn’t exactly how he had pictured the coming fight. Serious yes. But not this. Not this chaos.
He dodged a knife that was thrown in his direction and turned to his attacker. He had no idea who the shinobi was. He didn’t know any of them. Most had died long before he had been born and he hadn’t encountered many missing nin either. The shinobi he had fought on previous missions were now his allies. And his friends weren’t here. They were fighting in the same war, but he had no idea if they were still alive. He was on his own now.
His thoughts drifted towards his sensei, trying to recall all the things she had taught him. His feelings for her had long since changed from infatuation to deep respect. She had told him to always learn as much as possible about your opponents, but he hadn’t had much time for a read through here.
Daro shrugged his shoulder. It felt much better since that training accident. At least he had learned something from that. He could fight left-handed now.
Taryn had always said he relied on his ninjutsu too much, so he had worked on his weaponry skills. And also… this was the perfect time to use his new jutsu. He had worked on it for a long time and it wasn’t perfect yet, but it was strong. He had wanted to ask Taryn to help him perfect it. He had been waiting to show her. Now it seemed he would have to figure it out on his own.
He made a few signs and focused his chakra to his feet. “Earth Style, Rock Stampede!” He shifted his right foot and stamped the ground. The earth rumbled and piled up until it formed a giant ox that charged forward, trampling any opponent it found on its path.
Daro panted as he broke off the jutsu. It took a lot of energy and he couldn’t perform it multiple times. He had taken down five enemies though.
“You alright kid?” one of his allies asked.
Daro nodded as he tried to catch his breath.
“Don’t overexert yourself,” the shinobi told him, “that was an impressive jutsu, but you should only use that kind of jutsu as a last resort. It took up a lot of stamina and chakra, right?”
Daro nodded. He felt a bit embarrassed that he hadn’t thought about that before. He would be of no use if he was drained of all his energy. Who knew how long this war was going to last?

***

“So Madara has unchained a war,” Suigetsu said, “I knew he had a double agenda. Still… what does that have to do with us?”
“You were Sasuke’s teammates, isn’t that right?” Taryn said, “Madara is using him and he’ll eventually kill him. He must be stopped.”
Suigetsu snorted. “You don’t get it, do you? Why should I care about Sasuke? He left us here to rot. He made it very clear that we don’t mean anything to him. Let him be used as a  pawn. It has nothing to do with me.”
Taryn looked at Juugo who had a thoughtful expression. “It’s not just about Sasuke,” she said, “Madara is insane. He’ll destroy the world with is actions. No one can wield the power of the ten tailed beast.” She sighed. “Juugo, he’ll bring Kimimaro’s body back. I know what he meant to you. Do you really want him to become a walking corpse, bound by someone else’s will?”
Juugo didn’t answer her.
“Come on Juugo,” Suigetsu said, “We can take her down. Maybe then she’ll stop yapping.”
“What if I offer you something in return?” Taryn said, “something you cant resist?”
“There’s nothing you can give me that I want,” Suigetsu spat disgusted.
“No?” Taryn asked, “how about seven things?”
Slowly Suigetsu turned his head in her direction. “Seven…”

“That’s right,” Taryn nodded, “the seven swords of Mist. Yours for the taking. The Seven have been resurrected by Kabuto. That means their swords have been summoned too. Here’s your opportunity to get a hold of them all at once. What do you say?”
Suigetsu smirked. “I’m saying you have my attention now.”

***

Back at Headquarters, the generals were quietly conversing with each other. The reports that came back from the field weren’t very promising. Word had just arrived about an army of White Zetsu, marching their way. The problem was not only the numbers, but also that these Zetsu could shape shift. They could be anyone. And that wasn’t even the worst of their problems.
“Akatsuki, the Seven Swordsmen of Mist, former Kages and some of the strongest shinobi in our history… who else have they brought back?!” the Raikage growled as he glared round the table.
“That’s not the only thing,” Shikaku said, “they can bring back whatever casualties we have on our side too. Any loses we suffer will only strengthen their troops.”