Seeing Red [Naruto]

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Land of Snow 6.7

"In close-quarters combat inside the palace? I think the Samurai will give us our best chance at finding and dealing with Doto without interruptions. Your ninja will be better suited towards urban warfare any, Yasuhiro," Hisana said, and the Snow ninja nodded.

"Very well, Lady Uchiha. We are agreed, and time is of the essence. Where shall the princess head - we can't leave you unguarded, your highness," Yasuhiro said.

"I will accompany you to the capital - perhaps I will be able to sway the garrison there," Koyuki said, and that was that. Sandayū seemed to begin to speak but thought better of it.

"I will return with either Doto or his head, your highness," Sandayū said stiffly. She nodded gravely, and then put a hand on his shoulder.

"Be safe, my friend. We will need you in peace just as dearly as in war,"

Hisana smiled as she saw Sandayū try not to look overwhelmed, and then they were moving. Sandayū led the three Konoha ninja out of the mansion and into a nearby barracks, where the forces for the palace assault were gathering. Most of his men had followed the ageing general to this part of the plan, and they gave a cheer as they saw him approach.

They were dressed in a motley mix of the well-polished blue-lacquered armour worn by the city's garrison and the rougher, mixed armour of Sandayū's men but all of them looked like they knew what to do with their weapons. To Hisana's surprise, there were a fair number of polearms and bows - made from chakra metal - mixed in with the swords. From what she could feel of their chakra, none of these samurai were outstanding but they were all of a respectable level. Perhaps equal in strength to a seasoned member of genin corps, with a few in the realm of a chunin.

A large craft was hovering behind them, equipped with bizarre wings and made mostly from wood. An airship, Hisana surmised - it seemed that the Land of Snow had much in the way of technology that even the great nations did not. Wind natured chakra seemed to coat the wings, a memory of the jutsu formula used to make it fly. A woman dressed in a Snow ninja's flak jacket and uniform approached Hisana.

"Like my baby do you? She'll take you and all these louts right to the palace right quick, she will," she said.

"I've never seen anything like it," Hisana said, genuinely impressed with the machine. Mary's world could have produced such a thing, of course, - though theirs would require a large ballon or engines in place of the gossamer-like wings.

"Of course you haven't! All you northern continent ninja think technology is are refrigerators and televisions!" She shouted as the wind started to whip up around the airship. "All aboard now, we're lifting off in five!"
Fitting two hundred men and women onto the airship made it very cramped indeed, and it seemed to ascend with great difficulty, but it still flew. Hisana had volunteered to take a shift on watch on the top, seeing as how she was the only one who wouldn't be in deep trouble if something attacked them in the air, and she marvelled at the airship's speed.

It was faster than even most ninja over flat terrain in terms of sustained speed, and it was especially impressive over the mountainous and snow-covered Land of Snow. The wind whipped at Hisana's hair, but she'd gotten sued to that long ago. The wind was her ally, at once her sword and her wings.

Off in the distance, she spotted a storm huge and dark and crackling with lightning. Hisana headed down into the airship's bridge, where a crew of three Snow ninja - including the captain she'd spoken to earlier - manned the airship.

"There's a storm approaching - a big one!" Hisana said, and the captain nodded.

"It's a big bastard alright, but we're nearly there. We'll fly low and get right up to the bastards - close that hatch and hold on tight!" The captain shouted, an almost mad gleam in her eyes. Hisana headed back into the main troop bay - essentially the entire interior of the airship, a large rectangular room packed with people.

"We're nearly there, but it looks like we're gonna be doing some interesting flying to get there," Hisana said to her team. Karin only shook her head, while Hinata looked a little alarmed.

"In-interesting flying?" she asked.

"Hold onto something!" Hisana shouted, as much for the samurai's benefit as Hinata's. The airship started to rock, and a few samurai went flying. Hisana attached herself to the wall with chakra, as did Hinata and Karin. There were no windows in this part of the airship, but Hisana could hear the crack of thunder outside - and then she heard the distinctive whump of an exploding note.

"I believe they've noticed us," Hisana said. Hinata activated her byakugan, and nodded.

"They have some kind of very long-ranged spear thrower, um, but they don't seem to be able to hit us in the storm,"

"That's goo-" Hisana began before something definitely hit the airship. There was a huge bang, and then the sound of snapping wood. The entire airship began to tilt to one side.

"We're about to land, ladies and gentlemen, so hang the fuck onto something!" Came the captain's voice over an intercom, and then Hisana felt the airship started to very rapidly descend. Why, she asked herself, did she get on what was clearly the equivalent to a helicopter? They always crashed whenever they tried something like this in Mary's movies.
The airship landed with the sound of splintering wood, sending more samurai sprawling, and started to decelerate very rapidly in the snow. Then, after a few moments, it was still. The captain and her two genin crew members came out of the bridge, all three covered in snow, and turned to Hisana and Sandayū.

"We're down behind a hill about a kilometre from the palace walls. There's not much in the way of cover between here and the walls, though," she said.

"Such a charge across the open ground... you will be able to shield us from their weapons, shinobi?" Sandayū said as he turned towards Hisana.

"I'll get you to the walls, and punch a hole right through them. After that, you're on your own," Hisana said. Karin grinned, knowing the jutsu Hisana was referring to.

"Soldiers of the Land of Snow, assemble!" Sandayū shouted, and the samurai began an orderly exit of the airship, assembling in squads outside behind the cover of the hill. Hisana and her team followed them out.

It was night outside, and while the moon was relatively full the dark storm clouds let very little light through. A few of the bow carrying samurai were up near the crest of the hill, trading potshots with whoever was manning the walls. Their bows sent their arrows flying at tremendous speed, and the multicoloured lights of their chakra flow were easily visible in the darkness.

The rest of the samurai were lined up in formation, weapons drawn. Sandayū stood with them, his own sword unsheathed and glowing with the soft silver of his chakra.

"Alright, listen up! I am Hisana Uchiha, shinobi of Konoha, and if you stick with me I'll get you into that palace. I can only protect one area from their fire at a time, so don't go wandering off. Now, let's go get that bastards head for Princess Koyuki!" she shouted, walking up the hill as she did so. Hinata and Karin were right behind her, and then the samurai were right behind them.

Hisana's hands blurred through dozens of handseals, her sharingan glowing a soft red in the dark. The wind whipped up around the small army and then began to roar. The storm had become a hurricane.

"WIND RELEASE: ARROW-DEFFYING HURRICANE!" she shouted, and then Hisana charged over the top of the hill. A barrage of kunai met her, fired from launchers atop the walls of the palace. They flew wildly away from her wind jutsu as she charged forwards. The samurai followed her, within the protection of the hurricane.

With their swords drawn and chakra flow active, all that the enemy on the palace walls could see of them was a solid wall of dark wind and hundreds of points of light. Hisana's own crimson sword glowed the brightest as they charged across the open snow. Explosions from exploding notes attached to kunai could barely be heard over the roar of the wind.

They were halfway there, and Hisana began to move her blade in the pseudo-seal the Ravens had taught her. Her sword glowed bright and brighter, extending past the chakra-steel. Then, as she finished the last seal, it grew suddenly into a huge beam of crimson light. She held the blade aloft, gave a wordless battlecry, and swung down.

The crescent beam of crimson light flew out of the wind, disrupting it for a moment, and with frightening speed smashed into outer wall of the palace. The ancient rock fortification blew apart when the A-rank jutsu smashed into it, chunks of rock flying everywhere. Hinata and Karin followed up with a barrage of Hisana's special high-yield explosive notes attached to kunai, and they widened the breach even further.

Hisana rushed even further forwards, hating having to slow down to shield the samurai. They were moving faster than any human from Mary's world could, but even so it took them around thirty seconds to cross the open snow at a flat out sprint.

She was first into the breach, letting her protective wind jutsu fade as she activated her lightning blood seal and moved. A snow ninja wielding a huge two-handed blade the size of a man stood at the breach, confidant in his charka armour. He swung in what looked to Hisana like slow motion, and it took her no effort at all to avoid his blow. She grasped his faceplate, drained his armour's chakra field to the point it burst in a shower of sparks and left behind a touch blast.

A squad of samurai stood behind him, and they were no match for her speed. She cut them down before they could even begin to strike at her, her crimson sword cutting right through their thick armour.

Her seal faded, the world sped up, and the snow ninja's head exploded. Karin and Hinata rushed through the breach. Karin threw a chakra chain through an enemy samurai, and then smashed him into another. Hinata sent out disabling jyuuken strikes from a dozen feet away, dancing through a rain of kunai a snow ninja fired at her.

Then Sandayū's samurai were through the breach, the old general right at the head of the charge. He cut down one challenger and then another. Now that they were within the palace, it would be the sort of brutal hand to hand fighting the samurai were best at. Hisana could lead her team towards the center of the palace, but the samurai would pay a higher price for the breach...

[x] Stay until the breach is secure, likely expending more chakra but also reducing Sandayū's casualties.

[x] Head off to confront Doto now, ensuring you're in the best condition to defeat him and his elite guards but resulting in higher casualties amongst the samurai.

Your chakra is currently at 38/105 [250/250].