Slave Work[Flashback, Private]

Spoiler:

It was deathly silent at the Gates of Sunagakure despite the amount of bodies gathered here at the fragile hour of two in the morning. The Moon loomed overhead by its lonesome self, no clouds, nor avians giving it company. Twenty-five others were in attendance, yet not a single word was spoken. Perhaps they ere tired? No, such a thing was foolish to even suggest as a possibility. They were shinobi of the sand, they didn't get tired and if they were tired they wouldn't show it. They would use animalistic adrenaline to power through it and never show weakness. They were simply prepared, both physically and mentally for the task ahead of them. In each cranium was the briefing of the Kaze no Kuni Campaign being rewound over and over, to ensure they could perform at 100% for the impending mission. Sachio Yagyū was amongst this twenty-five. Silently like the others he remained motionless squatted down, arms resting on his knees, hands drooping as he thought and inhaled the cool desert air. His visual focus was directed out to the endless grains of numb looking dark sand ahead of him that were faintly illuminated thanks to the moon up above. His fist tightened in anticipation of combat though it would be many hours before he could indulge in such a thing. He had been rather restless lately when it can to sating his hunger for violence, more than likely due to him not having the chance to release the pent up desires due to a busy schedule. Underneath his bandage garbs he licked his lips still as quiet as the next shinobi who probably had their own sick twisted fantasy playing out in their head. Oh how one could never truly know what a person was like, Sachio loved the mystery. Scanning the masses of shinobi to his sides and the ones in front of him, he imagined how demoted they could possibly be or if they were pure and innocent. He didn't believe in such a thing however. He felt if one was a shinobi and they had killed before, such a thing would bleed into their persona and become something they enjoyed.

A single man coughed and Sachio could imagine the cold that he was battling from the lumps of phlegm that seemed to interrupt the cough from sounding clear. Heads turned to this cough and what followed was the sound and sight of a single man walking forward. The would make his nasty sounding cough once more before stopping beyond the gates a fair distance in front of the shinobi furthest from the gates. Turning, he spat the phlegm out his mouth into the sand and cleared his throat. "I'm Shuhei . . . Many of you know me . . . others don't. I'll be leading the Kaze no Kuni Campaign . . . or rather this company . . ." Sachio had to admit the sickly man didn't seem like much, but it was the sickly aura he gave off and the darkened circles engraved underneath his corpse like eyes that made him intimidating. His head didn't move, his eyeballs simply darted from one person's eyes to another's. When his eyes met Sachio the Chunin was just another body in his legion and wasn't given any special attention. "I'm sure you all got the mission briefing when it was sent out . . . and I hope you all read through it and memorized it. We'll be moving out in . . ." He looked up at the moon and spat another lump of phlegm out into the sand. "Two minutes . . . any questions?" Everyone was silent, some stood and stretched and Sachio was amongst these few. "Good . . ." Taking his canteen off his hip, Sachio drank some water and screwed the lid back on. When the two minutes were up, with only a single word the company moved out at a moderate pace. Their destination was a Northern area of Kaze no Kuni to secure a mineral and water rich mountain that was recently discovered.

Sachio found it odd such a distant area was being targeted for control, but if the Council willed it and saw it possible, then it was to be done. How control would be sustained with the village being so far away was beyond the Chunin, but it also wasn't his job to try to figure it out. For now he just needed to focus on the task at hand. This task was first arriving at the Mountain Range, Scouting the Mountain Range, then finally securing it. After it was secured, supposedly the second company would be arriving a day later to relieve Sachio's company. The second company was planned to be much larger than the company Sachio was part of, for they would have shinobi meant to setup a border and keep enemies out, shinobi meant to deal with threats and combat, people to excavate the minerals, seal the water, and a team to escort the minerals and water back to the village safely. Sachio figured it'd leave village defense pretty shabby, but the gain from it could be tremendous. He found himself actually excited to lay eyes on the amounts of water and minerals the mountain had to offer since it was such a point of interest. Other smaller villages had eyes on the area too apparently, that being the reason why Sachio's company was composed of combat units like himself. Shinobi from both he Village Hidden in Mirages and Heat were looking to secure the mountain range as their own and both villages were far closer to the mountains than Sunagakure was, that would surely be an issue. Perhaps they were weaker, but numbers could be given out more leniently as could reinforcements arrive much swifter.

"You must be Sachio Yagyū." Sachio looked over to his right to face the other shinobi. He seemed to be in his early twenties, undoubtedly a Jounin however. "What makes you figure that?" Sachio put his eyes back forward not eh portion of the company that was ahead of him, he was somewhere in the middle of the moving collective. "Rumors of a mummy man taking out a few hooligans int he desert, along with your shenanigans with Hayashi gets around quickly." Sachio nodded, those were valid points though he wasn't sure how word about his bout with the two in the ruins got around. It made him a bit uneasy, but he figured the village had eyes everywhere. "You're not incorrect. Can I ask your name?"  The Jounin took a moment as if thinking of his name or rather a false one, such a thing made Sachio suspicious of him. Why would he want to use an alias. "You can call me Celes." It was an odd name, but Sachio played along. "And how can I help you?" Celes let loose a quick and faint chuckle which drew Sachio's eye to him. "I just wanted to see you in the flesh is all." With that Celes moved elsewhere in the company and Sachio tried to remove the nin from his thoughts, but not completely.

Later that day, about eight in the morning now, the company had setup up camp and Shuhei had assigned Sachio the task of making a scouting team. Returning in a mere three minutes, Shuhei over looked the members of the Scouting Division and sent them off towards the direction of the mountains. They moved through the area fairly fast since they weren't to comfortable yet for their rest was brief but still rejuvenating. No halt in their movements, it wasn't long before the area began to become rocky rather than sandy and in no time they were in a whole new biome. Earth and rocks everywhere, so they now proceeded with caution having slowed their movements from a run to a walk. "That's very odd. I would have thought we would have come across them by now." Sachio said in a low voice and someone else replied agreeing. "I think it'd be smart if we move to an area that's not so out in the open." And with that they moved to a cliff side, where they soon found traces of a battle. "Destroyed metal . . . shrapnel." Sachio picked it up and inspected the piece of the blade. The blade itself was shaped different from standard Sunagakure kunai blades and that gave away the enemy presence. "Watch my back while I try to sense out some bodies of chakra." His four teammates did so and in no time he could feel the presence of seventeen more bodies of chakra. Five of which being Sunagakure nin, given they were alive. If not there were a bunch of enemies a foot, but they were notably split into groups. "There are seventeen bodies of chakra out here, split into three groups. One group of seven, and two groups of five. One of these groups of five is out band of scouts hopefully. The group of seven is a short deal to the east, while the other groups of five are northeast." With that the group of Chunin looked to the Jounin of the group for instruction. "Lets move to approach the group to the east with caution. Be careful and on the look out for traps. We aren't familiar with the area and this is a high point of interest." The group agreed with no arguing, so they did so.

They were silent as they moved out to the east, in about five minutes the group of Sunagakure ninja had a group of seven Mirage Ninja in their sights. "Sachio and Bato, go left and wait for our attack to flank them." With his partner, Sachio proceeded around a crag to a hidden spot off their enemies sides lying in wait. The initiation of battle was made with a massive wall of flames that proceeded towards the foes nearly scorching them all to a crisp. It was met with a blockade of water when it got nearly upon them however and then the water overpowered the wall of flames. "Wait a bit longer." Sachio said as he watched the two groups close in on each other. "Now." With that Bato sank into the earth to approach, while Sachio stayed in his hidden position and summoned a golem out of the earth from behind the foes. The golem's body was large than that of a grown man in both height and width. It was thick and seemingly muscular, styled like a gorilla almost. With a vice grip on one man in one hand the golem slammed him into the ground a multitude of time until he was surely dead and blocked a wave of three kunai with the other arm. Detonation occurring, the golem lost it's arm and it recoiled back, before tossing the corpse at the enemies who threw these kunais. Damage was taken, but it was only an inanimate object controlled by chakra. Sachio's position was yet to be compromised as well. Moving towards them while still part of the earth, it's arrival upon them was in synch with Bato's surfacing who assassinated a Jounin from the Mirage forces with ease. His skill with a katana was something to behold and all he needed was stealth based jutsu to get him in range to begin going to work. Once in range, he would never give his foes chance to use jutsu that needed handseals as he put unrelenting pressure on them. With the assistance from the other nin in the scouting group, the demise of this enemy scout brigade was easily foreseeable. Two Sachio noted in his head, keeping track of his kill count, when the battle ended and they started towards the second group of chakra bodies. This group was composed of Heat ninja, who were dealt with with the same swiftness the Mirage Ninja faced. Sachio played a supportive role and blocked for Bato during this bout letting him attack with ease not having to worry about defense. "Hey!" A familiar voice shouted from many meters away. It was Shuhei and with him was the rest of the company. Sachio had a weary feeling about it, but he'd let the Jounin in his scouting band take the head. "And you are?" The Jounin said, apparently not trusting it either. "Easy, Commander Shuhei of the Kaze no Kuni Campaign as of order of the Council. We departed the village gates at nearly 2 a.m. and set up camp roughly 5 miles back south. Satisfied?" The Jounin nodded and Sachio felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Any luck finding the other scout detachment?" "No, though a group of five ninja are held up in a cave beyond this clearing. We were on our way to check it out, having just dealt with these guys." The Jounin motioned to the dead bodies of the Ninja from the Heat Village and Shuhei nodded. "We came across a few of them ourselves. Seems this place has more of them than the Council assumed. No casualties or injuries are there?" The Jounin shook his head. "No sir." "Ok . . . lets move on to the cave. While we do so, mapmakers get your supplies ready. We should map out these caves while we're in em. Maybe we can find some of this vast amount of water and these rich minerals we're here for while we do it." Sachio had forgotten that's what they were here for with all the actions that had been going on.

In due time, though he was forgotten, Sachio was soon approached by the Chunin from before. "Wait, how many did you get?" Sachio silently held up two fingers and the Chunin grunted. "Damn, well that's only one more than me so I can still catch up." With that the ninja ran on ahead and Sachio found himself chuckling in satisfaction. Upon reaching the mouth of the cave, Shuhei halted the company. "In case of the cave splitting, I'll make groups now." He explained that since their numbers were so little they would only be split in three groups which made since to Sachio and he found himself paired with that Chunin. "This is where the challenge really matters." Sachio ignored him and watched as Shuhei continued splitting the shinobi into their groups and soon enough they were on the move again. So Shinobi lighted the cave as they traversed through it and soon enough they came across the first scout group. Three of which were injured, one pretty badly, but they had to continue on anyways. When the first split came, Shuhei sent on branch off in one direction and continued on with the group now composed of two map makers. Then the next split came and Sachio was separated from Shuhei and with his group of eight other shinobi. They continued on for about ten minutes before a rumble shook the cave. It wasn't natural it was an explosion. This was assessed because echoes of yells and shouts from tunnels behind the group came rushing in. "Shit, they probably got ambushed, we're going to need to be careful." "Too late for careful." The voice came from further up ahead in the darkness were light was void and the Suna Nin hadn't reached yet. After they spoke, suddenly the cave was illuminated and ninja clothed in deep red were visible form nearly all angles including behind. "Oh shit, when did they get behind us?" Sachio hadn't noticed them either, but it was too late now. Surrounded by Heat Ninja, the company would have to either fight or surrender and Sachio knew Shuhei wouldn't approve of them surrendering. Becoming Prisoners of War would mean they would become forgotten for Shuhei wouldn't go out of his way to retrieve ninja who had surrendered. "This is where names are born I guess." With that the Sand Ninja sprang into offense and attack in unison towards all fronts. Sachio made a clone to assist with the offense as well as summoning an Earth Golem. He felt numbers would help to make this feeling of being overwhelmed fade away and it did. Additional clones form Sunagakure Ninja were made to help combat the enemy numbers and in due time the battle seemed fair. With his ninjutsu to help him, not much of a physical fighter Sachio downed many of the heat ninja while sustaining very minor injuries. Only one decent gash had gotten him in the arm, but even that wasn't too bad as he could still lift he arm to make handseals. Foe after foe falling, soon enough the room was cleared and littered with bodies, three of which being Sand Ninja. One was the Chunin who had challenged Sachio. Walking over to the body, Sachio crouched down to inspect it, but the Chunin was still alive. "How many did you get?" His voice was weak, it was apparent he was going to die. "This is why I think challenges like this are foolish. You pushed yourself too hard and now you're paying for it." Sachio'd tone held no sympathy for him, it was more of a scolding tone. "I think this is a fitting fate for someone who acts as if life is a game." The Chunin chuckled, probably in a daze being on the verge of death and Sachio scanned the rest of the survivors. None were injured badly and they could all probably fight a bit more if they needed to. With the map maker dead though, Sachio was sure someone had retrieved the map or what was finished rather. Using this map to find their way back, they saw the numbers in the other groups had diminished as well, it seemed every branch had faced an ambush. "Are there enemy survivors?" Each ninja had said no and Shuhei sighed in weak relief. "I guess that's one good thing. Any tunnels reach a dead end." The group that neither Shuhei or Sachio was in apparently had and Shuhei had the company proceed to the dead end with them leading. Once there Shuhei had the bodies cleared and the Sunagakure numbers counted. Only fifteen left. "Sachio, take two others and secure the entrance. Rig it to kill anybody who leaves or enters I don't care how just do it." Sachio didn't even have to ask, immediately two ninja hopped up sensing the anger in Shuhei's voice and got to it. "I had a feeling this Kaze no Kuni Campaign wouldn't go in our favor. We're too far from home." The other nin nodded and sighed, they were away from the rest in a corridor now. Sachio would overlook and take notes as they laid the trap.

It was simple Fuinjutsu trap, that once it sensed chakra would lead to a chain of explosions from a string of explosive tags. It'd only trigger once a fair ways inside the cave mouth and it would work to not only trap the enemy in, but bury them alive and kill them with the explosion as well. A triple threat. Reporting back, Sachio saw that the camp was already set up and wounds were being tended to, while Shuhei was with a writing out on a piece of parchment. Probably a mission report saying they needed reinforcements or things were going to shit. Either way, Sachio knew he needed some rest and he would do so when it was his turn. For now he had watch duty. When his shift was over and he slept and awoke he saw that he was among the last group who was granted the time to rest. It was probably only three hours later, but nonetheless Sachio felt ready to go. "Drink some water and get ready to move out, we're going back to Sunagakure." Sachio was shocked to hear it, but at the same time he wasn't surprised. This area was too close to both the Village Hidden in Heat and the Village Hidden in Mirages. They could get reinforcements in roughly two hours while it would take roughly half a day from Sunagakure reinforcements to arrive. On top of that, nearly half their company had died in action. It was a lost cause and any further time spent here hoping to accomplish something would just dig them further in a hole. "At least we have these caves mapped out, lets move." Sachio was disappointed to have to return to record a failure on his shinobi info card. It'd be his first and hopefully his last, but could he be blamed? He felt he showed extraordinary efficiency for the duration of the campaign and hopefully it'd position him for greater things. Sighing he stayed int he back with another as the rear guard of the company for their return journey.

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