Back to the Beginning (Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 22

"Captain Asahi." Naruto spoke up as they arrived at their platoon.

"Ah, you must be Naruto and Rin. Minato told us you would be coming." Captain Asahi spoke up from the crowd. He was wearing the usual jonin outfit and had short black hair and green eyes.

Naruto smiled as he shook hands with the Captain. "Yeah, we're here to help. What's the plan?"

Captain Asahi brought out the map they had of the area around Kannabi Bridge. He directed Naruto to a certain point on the map as he spoke. "We found this area here where we can make our way down to the river and cross there without any chance of being seen."

Naruto stopped Asahi before he could say anything else. "Hold on. The area you marked would be way too hard for everyone to cross and would take too long. We can cross here where the gap in land is more narrow. It will let us cross quicker."

"Well we thought about that, but it's too easy to be seen there."

"Captain Asahi, this is a battle. One that could bring an end to this stupid war. The main fighting from the other platoon will draw the attention of the enemy which allows us to take a more direct approach. If you have any genjutsu type ninja, they can cast a genjutsu to help us cross. If we don't act quickly enough we could lose."

Captain Asahi was staring at Naruto in amazement. He never would have expected such a thing coming from someone so young. "Then we will follow your command, Naruto."

With the approval from Captain Asahi, Naruto began relaying new information to everyone in their platoon. Once the fighting started, their genjutsu shinobi would cast a genjutsu that would enable them to cross the gap without being noticed. They would then make their way to the rear of the enemy forces.

"Sir! The first platoon has started their advance!"

Naruto and Captain Asahi turned around as one of the shinobi came running up to them. "Then let's get going." They both looked at each other and nodded as they began to lead their platoon to the ravine.

They could hear the fighting when they got to the ravine. The water flowing endlessly below them. "Alright, let's begin." At Captain Asahi's order the whole group began to make their way across to the other side of the valley.

When they had all made their way across, Naruto spared a glance over to the bridge. I still have that bad feeling. Please be okay, you guys. He kept that silent hope in his mind as he made his way through the forest with the rest of his group. It wasn't until they had reached their destination that he decided to speak up. "Captain Asahi. What is the number of the enemy forces that we are dealing with?"

"We have been able to deduce that there are at least two-thousand enemy shinobi on the battlefield."

Naruto's eyes went wide as he heard the number of enemies. What?! "Kurama, that's way more than there was supposed to be!"

"I know Kit." Kurama's voice was laced with worry, which was unusual for him. "This is more than half of what was originally supposed to be here."

"Now I know why I had such a bad feeling about this." Naruto was mentally slapping himself.

"Kit..." Kurama's voice was grave. "I am not sure we can win this fight with the numbers we have."

"Tch. We have to, Kurama." Naruto looked around him, at all of his comrades who were ready to fight. "I am not going to lose anyone else."

"Naruto, what are you going to do?" Kurama asked Naruto, intrigued.

"The only thing I can do. I've been hiding my power since I got here, but it's time to use it."