Child Of Hate

Chapter 20

The boy exuded power and authority. So much so that she could hear the chattering reduce and the soldiers around her standing onto their feet to salute him. Hamato, head of Intelligence and Interrogation and Satoshi, head of Rescue and Support, both of whom were the only Soldier division heads to stay back, led the salute.

The power the king wielded… the authority he held, willingly given to him by his people…it was…terrifying.

The rinnegan king reached the front and the division heads, proud platinum ranked soldiers of the Sukai kingdom, dropped onto their right knees and bowed their head slightly.

"At ease."

His order was low but carried over to the massive assembly and to the soldiers in the kingdom.

There was a general shuffle of legs as they placed their hands behind their backs and opened their legs slightly. The division heads got up and copied the motion. Naruko and Junior stood behind their king-brother, also at ease. Naruto regarded the division heads for a few seconds before he nodded. "Well done."

"It's our pleasure, sir." Indra answered humbly, acknowledging the two worded praise his king had given him for arranging the bronze, silver and gold ranks according to their different divisions and according to the strict procedure for when they were expected to face a full-frontal attack. The Frontliners stood at the front with the Fuinjutsu specialists, the Inventors stood at the sides also with Fuinjutsu specialists, the Intelligence soldiers and Hunters were nestled in the middle with the medics, with the Hunters tasked to provide protection for the other two. Rescue, Support, Scout, Spies and Retrievers were situated at the back; their specialties were not full on combat but rather support. No soldier stood out of place. Naruto briefly looked at them and pursed his lips, nodding slowly. He removed the Gunbai, Madara's weapon, strapped onto his back and idly tossed it to Nirvana, adding her to the three man team that would carefully analyse the weapon, comprising of Indra and Hamato. Admittedly, he had the memories of the Uchiha that used to wield the weapon, but the memories on recorded the man discovering the Gunbai in Hidden Darkness. His eyes slowly moved over the thousands standing in neat rows, waiting for his order.

"Very impressive."

"Thank you, sir." Yu responded.

Naruto breathed out and turned around, steadily walking down the rigidly standing soldiers. Naruko and Junior trooped behind him and Indra and Karin followed as well. "How many soldiers do we have here?"

"Five thousand, sir, as per your orders."

"And in Fire country."

"Ten thousand, sir."

"Any news?"

"Yes, sir." Naruto stopped and turned to the man, standing before the weapons specialists of the Frontline division. Naruto patiently waited for Indra to continue. "It was a success. Division heads Mora and Nora have reported that the capital has been overrun and the daimyo willingly surrendered."

"Konoha?"

"There was a slight hiccup in the invasion; the clan heads had smuggled their children and a large number of their clan mates in hidden underground railway leading to an island roughly fifty miles offshore, but the rest of the invasion was a success."

"Have the clan heirs been captured?" The man was almost hesitant to reply and Naruto cocked his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows in question. "Yes?"

"…Your Hunters and Scouts are still pursuing, sir."

Naruto scoffed and turned around; sweeping his rinnegan eyes over the section of soldiers he was standing in front of. "Never mind. There is nowhere on this planet that we cannot get to. Their fate is already sealed. Tell them to follow at their own pace and be wary for traps."