Naruto : Saga of Tanya the Kunoichi

"They are coming! Prepare to fire!"

Kumo Shinobi armed with explosive and projectiles already prepared on high terrain at the mountain side, defending the base on the lower ground.

Tsuyu leading her squad approached one of the supply depot filled with close to a hundred Kumo Shinobi at the moment.

Byakugan! 

"Reporting sight. Eastside from the target, Around 20 presence on the hillsides. Suspected enemy preparing for attack."

"What a bunch of fools. Change target. Neutralize the hillside first!" 

Did they think 'preparing' beforehand and suppressing their chakra signature helps? In front of Byakugan, they were wearing red hats on top of their heads.

"Yes Captain!"

The 4 man squad in the air swoosh down with a roll, changing their flight trajectory to circle the hillside.

The field commander leading the ambush saw them changing their flight path to approach them.

"Huh? They have a sensor with them! Our position is exposed!" He shouted.

"Ready to fire! Bring them down with you! We cannot escape!"

The 4 man squad in the air ready their guns filled with explosive ammunition.

"Destroy them!" Tsuyu pointed her chakra gun, chakra flowed into and through the seals engraved in Asura Mk 1. The nozzle flashed with concentrated chakra constantly vibrating with power.

As they face the ambusher, Hinata and Ino point their guns and rain down projectiles with a seal of explosive in each of them. Meanwhile Tenten unrolled an arm thick scroll from her waist, unleashing hundreds of kunai from above.

Explosion destroyed the little covers they had, the hundreds of kunai injure and killed the exposed Shinobi.

Screams of fear, anger, and pain almost reached them from the ground.

The field commander of Kumo stayed inside the bunker, gritting his teeth as he heard his own people outside being put to death. Feeling those people are finally close, he gave his command.

"Now!" On his command, the tens of Shinobi hiding inside the bunker come out of their shelter and launch everything they could. But their existence was already exposed by Hinata's eyes from earlier.

The 4-man squad flies through the sky like a dancer, the roll and maneuvers in a symphony making them hard to track, explosions surrounding them like fireworks, yet none come close to them.

Tsuyu's lips carved with a devilish smile - her wings spread, the nozzles on her wings blasted massive amounts of chakra as she dived straight towards them downward.

"A unit is approaching!"

"Shoot it down!"

As the projectiles and different kinds of ninjutsu approached her, she changed her trajectory to front and upward abruptly pointing her straight up to the sky leaving the explosions below her.

She turned her body and pointed Ashura down, her body still for a second, the target fixed in her gaze.

"Die!"

Chakra beam blasted from the nozzle of Ashura, like a thunder of judgement from heaven, it fell on the bunker on the hill. A moment of silence, and in the next instance, bright light blinded everyone. Even Hinata, Ino and Tenten had to squint their eyes.

As the light dissipates in the next second, what's left was nothing but the destroyed building and charred corpses.

"Hinata." Tsuyu called. Hinata finally woke up from her shock, before using her Byakugan to check.

"3 survivors. Barely living."

Tsuyu made a hand seal, a shadow clone created in the sky and dived straight down to the ruins of the bunker, gliding through the air. The clone spread her arms and feet, revealing flaps on its clothes. The shadow clone landed with a roll and finished up their work and captured the survivors.

The trio landed, seeing 3 heavily injured Kumogakure Shinobi had their hands chained with black abyssal earth.

"Kill the two, we will take the captain for interrogation." Tsuyu gave her command, expecting her squadmates to finish the job.

She wanted them to get used to killing. Killing them from above wasn't the same as killing upfront.

"Yes, Captain!" The trio replied.

Hinata and Ino went to each of the injured Shinobi, their movements stiff.

As the dark cloud moved its way to let moonlight shine on them, Hinata gasped inwardly.

She's… young like me…

The girl, just 12 years old, looked at Hinata with tears in her eyes. Her body was shaking and trembling. It's as if she never wanted to fight like this in the first place. Oh, right, it was never a fight. It was almost a one sided massacre.

Tsuyu noticed Hinata was trembling, the hand holding the Kunai seemed to be unable to move.

Tsuyu went close, holding Hinata's hand gently from behind.

"You are shaking, Hinata…"

"... I am sorry… Captain… I…" 

"We don't kill because we like it. We kill because we choose who survives this war. If you hesitate now, ask yourself, what happens when it's one of ours lying on the floor instead?"

"... Do it." Tsuyu whispered softly to her ears, her own hand guiding Hinata's, stabbing into the girl's heart.

Seeing it's shallow, Tsuyu helped Hinata to push it deeper.

"Ack…" Blood spurted out from the wound, staining Hinata's delicate hand. The young girl's trembling body stopped shaking, her eyes turned dull as her head dropped down. Losing her life.

"Good job, Hinata." Tsuyu let go of Hinata's hand, patting her shoulder.

"... Yes… captain…" Hinata replied shakily… she looked at her Kunai as she pulled it out. Her hand and the blade, bathed in the blood of a girl like her.

Her bright eyes turned a little duller. As if she finally understood what being a Shinobi meant.

Her body stopped trembling, as if accepting reality. The Hinata that was once shy and timid, already disappeared at this moment.

Ino on the other hand had a stiff expression. She killed that one swiftly, but the hand holding the Kunai was shaking slightly.

Tsuyu appreciated these two. Tenten would be next if there's a chance. 

I do wonder if that brat could do it.

Tsuyu thought randomly went to her brother. He had always been naive, even if he was a strong person mentally. If there was a chance she did have some idea to make him cross the line.

"Ino."

"Yes, Captain." Ino stepped forward to the supposed commander, since his chakra was a Jonin level.

She placed her hand on his head and with a jutsu of her clan, she rendered him unconscious.

Tenten stepped forward and took out a big sealing scroll from a storage seal on her arm, unrolling it on the floor.

"Seal." With a hand sign, the big man sunk into the sheet, sealed inside.

"Now, let's clear out their supply depot. Kill any survivor around 1 kilometer radius, leave one as usual. Then we can send the captives to the nearest military base and rest for a while."

"Yes Captain!" The trio replied.

The 4 man squad launched themselves toward the sky, and rained down explosives and projectiles destroying and burning the set up supply depot. With Hinata's Byakugan, the few remaining survivors and those who fell were caught up quickly, with Tsuyu sending shadow clones down on land to finish off the remains.

One of them managed to escape Hinata's vision due to him running away the moment their ambush failed. 

This… this is unreasonable… everyone… we can't do anything…

The older Kumogakure Shinobi flickered quickly, heading to Kumogakure's nearest intelligence relay base.

***

"Captain, he's running in the northeast direction." Hinata's Byakugan had locked onto him really, but as per Tsuyu's instruction, 'let one escape to lead the way'.

"Raise altitude, we will follow close."

The 4 man squad flew higher, out of sight except for good sensors. Hinata locked her eyes on the fleeing Shinobi, leading their way to a Kumo Intel relay node.

"There's 34 people stationed inside… 3 Jonin." Hinata counted quickly.

"We will infiltrate and extract as much as we can. Clear the perimeter." Tsuyu ordered.

With Hinata leading the way and pointing out enemy's positions, they swooshed in together, projectiles and explosions rain down outside of the infrastructure, killing the scouts and the guards.

No…! I… I lead them here…! The escaped Shinobi from earlier realised the horror and his mistake. Before he could regret it, he was already dead.

After a round of open fire, Tsuyu sent a few shadow clones to the land to clear out the remainder, while she landed the last to hunt the three Jonin hiding inside the building.

Her shadow clones entered first, causing a battle to break out. Multiple jutsu, explosions, flash of lighting and fire were seen.

Tsuyu calmly stepped inside the building after all her shadow clones were dead, seeing the 3 tired and battered Jonin that actually managed to kill 3 of her shadow clones.

But even a tiger used all its claws to pounce on a rabbit.

Collapse Release: Abyssal Ground!

With a slap of her palm, the ground beneath turned pitch black and spread fast towards them.

"What is this…!" One of them shouted as heavy gravity descended on them, making the three kneel and slam their bodies unwillingly to the floor.

They couldn't even move their hands to cast a jutsu.

"Don't let her get anything…!" One of them shouted.

Szz…!

Tsuyu's ears twitched. The familiar sound of explosives came from the 3 bodies.

Crazies… Tsuyu had a slight grin as a pitch black wall erected with a palm of her hand, blocking the exploding Kumo shinobi.

Boom! 

Blood and flesh splattered on the surrounding.

Tsuyu wiped the dust off her clothes and released her technique. With help of another few shadow clones, she searched for whatever was left. Few scrolls of instructions were obtained. But they were encrypted so she just kept them to pass to relevant people later.

Tsuyu turned on her radio, asking Ino for confirmation.

"All cleared." Ino passed Hinata's observation.

"We will have some rest then. Good job everyone." She spoke through the radio before taking off the ground, regrouping with them.

***

Hah… Hinata rested her head against the walls of the hot spring.

As a reward for their first kills, Tsuyu teleported them back to Konoha to enjoy a good rest.

She's such a good boss. Who could have such privilege during wartime?

"You three did very well." Tsuyu said with a relaxed expression, also enjoying the bath.

The three didn't know how to respond. The blood in their hands were almost secondary for Ino and Tenten, as these were what Shinobi signed up for. Only Hinata was affected most by the killing.

But what's true was all of them were only realising the cruelty of war.

Tsuyu understood their expressions and let them digest them. Soldiers were born on the battlefield, not before. It's a natural process to adapt.

"What do you all want for dinner? My treat." Tsuyu said in a relaxed manner.

"... Anything is fine." Ino replied with a heavy tone.

"Same." Ino said.

"Nn." Hinata can only make a sound of agreement.

Tsuyu thought Hinata was the most affected and decided to call Naruto for her.

"Then let's go to Ichiraku."

"Huh? I might gain weight…" Ino muttered.

Tsuyu let out a soft chuckle.

"You still care for that Ino? In the future I might not be able to take you back to Konoha like this. Only food pills. Don't miss out."

"Ah. Right… I guess I can cheat for now… hihi…" Ino laughed a little, lightening the atmosphere.

The squad went to Ichiraku, and Naruto was already waiting.

"Tsu-chan…! Hinata, Ino, Tenten. Let's eat!"

"Yes, Naruto-kun…" Hinata replied with a soft smile.

Naruto frowned slightly seeing the trio seemingly in a bad mood.

"How was everything you guys? I heard you went to fight already."

He looked at the three eating their ramen slowly, then at Tsuyu.

"... It's a little shocking at first… but, it's what we had been training for…" Ino replied.

Tenten nodded in agreement.

"Being a Shinobi is far harder than I originally thought. But… knowing I am out there, to fight for Konoha, I feel strong." Tenten replied.

"..." Hinata remained silent.

"Hinata…?" Naruto noticed her downed expression.

"Ah? Sorry Naruto-kun… I was a little out of it today…"

"It's okay Hinata." Naruto gave her his sunny smile.

Hinata felt her heart warmed a little, and it felt better instantly, washing the heaviness off her body a lot.

"Don't want to ask me?" Tsuyu asked with a teasing tone.

Naruto huffed. "Why would I ask you? You look like it's nothing at all." He look at her up and down, looking no different than usual.

"But it was still tiring, you know." Tsuyu let out a soft chuckle. It seemed her brother knew her well enough.

The 5 people finish their dinner.

"You three, we have 1 hour and 15 minutes left. Gather in front of Hokage building in time."

The trio nodded before dispersing. Each of them wanted to go back to their home, to be near their family. Hinata and Ino as daughters of the patriarch would want to report on their missions so far.

But before Hinata could enter the Hyuga clan compound, a loud voice shouted behind her.

"Hinata! Wait!" It's Naruto.

"Hu…hu… hey, want to talk?" Naruto took some heavy breaths from chasing her. He felt concerned for Hinata. He didn't know why, but he felt Hinata was hiding something.

"Naruto-kun… sure…" Hinata felt a little at ease with Naruto.

"Uh… how about we go to the park nearby?"

"Okay…"

The two walked side by side, and found a spot on a bench under a tall lamp.

"Hinata, something's going on with ya? You can tell me anything." Naruto offered his presence.

"... I…" Hinata looked down on the ground, fidgeting with her hands.

It wasn't about her first kill or anything. It's…

"... It was… our mission…"

"Hm? What about it?"

Hinata thought whether it's confidential or not. Technically it's not, they even sent down flyers to let thousands of people know what they were about to do in 2 more days. She just wanted someone's opinion. Or someone that can listen. Her heart felt… It was so wrong.

"Naruto-kun… it's…"

"Yeah, go on Hinata. Don't make me frustrated." Naruto huffed.

"... We were ordered to… take out an important base… we sent flyers… to let the civilians escape… They have 3 days…"

"Huh? Why… Why were civilians involved?"

Naruto felt so confused. Because based on what he learnt in the academy, Shinobi shouldn't involve civilians in the first place.

"... Naruto-kun… it wasn't like what they taught us in the academy. Maybe, Konoha, our own Shinobi would do how we were taught. But… not all Shinobi, not all hidden villages would follow what was right…"

"Kumogakure takes over a neutral town, filled with thousands of civilians as their base…"

"That was why we sent down flyers to the whole town, we gave them 3 days to evacuate…"

Naruto felt his heart easing a little. In his opinion, although it's sad and unfair for the civilians, at least they could avoid bloodshed. He thought too naively.

"And…?" Seeing Hinata stopped talking, Naruto urged her more to talk about her problem.

"They… they take the civilians hostage… they… use public buildings as… their bases… so we couldn't do it."

Hinata said with a heavy tone, her voice almost shaky.

"They… they can't do that…!" Naruto stood almost in disbelief.

"That's so wrong! Dammit! What kind of Shinobi are they!"

Naruto's voice raised a little higher.

"... We were ordered to… continue…"

"What… What did you say?" Naruto felt her ears buzzing.

"... We have to… continue our mission… it's… it's on them, for taking hostages… not….not on… ours…"

Hinata bit her lips as she said that. Repeating the words and reasoning Tsuyu gave to justify it.

Naruto went silent, it felt too cruel to be true.

"If… if we stop, if we back away… they would use the same tactic over and over again… now they do it to the people of the Land of Frost… but later… it's the Land of Fire's own people…" Hinata added another logical reason Tsuyu gave.

"More towns… and villages would become victims if… if we dont… if… if we…"

Naruto had his hands shaky, he held Hinata's shaky hand, seeing her shedding tears.

"There… there must be another way… I… I will talk to Tsuyu. She must have another way… she should… wait… did… did she…"

Hinata shook her head quickly, stopping his thoughts.

"The order came from the Highest Commander… don't blame her, Naruto…" Hinata didn't want this to create a rift between them. She still hid the fact that they could retreat and give up the objective. She felt it would be too wrong for Naruto to know.

"I… she is strong. Those people will listen to her opinion. I will talk to her, I promise! You won't have to do it Hinata."

Naruto smiled at her, and firmed his hands on Hinata.

"I… I hope so…" Hinata said softly.

"I will have to meet with my father, Naruto-kun. See you later…"

"Gotcha. Later then, Hinata."

Seeing Hinata leaving, Naruto turned serious, heading back to his home. Tsuyu must convince them to stop…

***