Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Villages ❯ Flashback! Part 1 ( Chapter 14 )

“Scars, what does it mean to get a scar? I once met a man would hated when he got injured because he said that the scars meant that he wasn’t as good as he thought he was, so he hated them. Then one day I met the man who said that scars are what remain to link us to our past and they should be born with pride because they prove that we survived.” –Makoto Dosukento, Paradiseo Jonin


I remember, that day. Only a year and a half ago, eighteen months have passed since then… It seems like years, so many years. In Paradiseo, more than anywhere else, innocence is quickly lost, torn away from the children as soon as possible. We don't need children in Paradiseo, we need killers. Our world in that place is nothing short of hell, life is pain in Paradiseo. I remember the first time you killed someone, brother; when you killed your father. That's further back in time though, no, what I'm reminiscing on now is that battle; the battle for Oh-Ka pass. Surely you remember it, the scars remind us all of that special place in hell. We'd been ordered to hold the pass, you and Anasake were in charge of the operation; Kuroudo Inutoriki, Anasake Jenkins, Momoko Kentoko, Miho, Kazuko, Yoh Pai, Kitty, Makoto Dosukentoko, Soshi, and the other thirty. We had to hold off the second largest army group the mountain ninja's had ever assembled, we'd held on for three days before the ammunition started to run out and most of us were dead or to injured to continue. Only you; Kuroudo and a few others still stood ready for battle against that massed force. Don't you remember what happened that day?

Kazuko awoke laying on the bloody dirt at the mouth of Oh-Ka Pass; further infront of the pass was a battered low wall that the Regulars were using as cover to fire from and to shield the dead and wounded soldiers. The dirt was soaked in the blood of her comrades; so many had been killed by the enemy’s gunfire and many were wounded. Kazuko looked at a rock to her left and saw Kuroudo sitting on it holding his Luger.

“Hey Kazuko, can you stand?” Kuroudo said to her as he counted the rounds left in his Luger's magazine. Kuroudo had a deep still bleeding bandaged wound from his left shoulder to his belt line from a sword, he had numerous other smaller wounds on his arms and torso, he was covered in dirt and grime from the long battle. “Five shots left, and the Garand is empty.”

Kuroudo slid the magazine back into his pistol and he holstered it. Kuroudo was wearing the standard Paradiseo fatigue pants and the black t-shirt although his was stained a sickly color from all his blood, but he wore no vest or trench coat over it like he usually did. Kazuko tried to stand but found her body protesting, she gave up and looked around at the walls of the steep and narrow pass.

Oh-Ka was the name of a large region in Paradiseo; it is in fact the name of a major river and alongside that river is a large range of mountains which also are called ‘Oh-Ka’, one of the easiest ways through them is a narrow one hundred mile long snaking canyon through the heart of the mountains; known as Oh-Ka Pass and the mountain range was known as Oh-Ka Ridge. The pass was right to the shallowest point of the river and from there it was a nearly straight march right to the Capital of Paradiseo. That pass also led right to the Land of Mountain's outer border and to the low desert range known as `the loneliest place to die' by the locals or `El desierto de arena interminable', the desert of endless sand. There was another much wider and shorter pass fifteen miles down from Oh-Ka pass; the Sandline pass; which was where the main force of Paradiseo's army, was stationed.

Kazuko looked to the sky; it was filled with reddish black clouds, giving it a Hellish appearance. How fitting for such a place, Hell, this is Hell. This cursed pass, where we fight to the death only to delay our foes, knowing we can't actually win the fight. Eternal damnation is training for this place. Oh-Ka Ridge was the mere preview for the Hell of Oh-Ka Pass. At least in the forests of the Ridge we could find cover and stage ambushes against our enemies, the staggering difference in numbers between the sides was evened by the ninjas of Paradiseo's mastery of the harsh terrain and we're used to the radical climate found in the region known as `Paradiseo'. Here though…

Kazuko looked around at the pass itself; at around one hundred and twenty feet wide it wasn't extremely narrow but the steep five hundred foot drop from the mountain side into the pass told a different story. Many people died each year by falling into the pass from the thick forest nearly five hundred feet at some points, however most of the drop offs were up to two thousand feet to a mile at the highest to fall and the cliff face that marked the pass was almost ninety degrees. There was little cover to be found in the narrow corridor of death nicknamed `Oh-Ka Pass' and the pass itself was littered with the bones and rotting corpses of various animals and even some human remains. Kazuko looked to the field in front of Oh-Ka Pass; it was a flat grassy field, no cover. Across it marched the Land of Mountains' legendary heavy assault troops, as far as the eye could see. Aside from the grass the field was littered with corpses, wounded enemy soldiers and severed body parts.

“I can't stand, my body won't move.” Kazuko said weakly as she saw Momoko trying to stop the bleeding on a soldier's gut wound. Momoko had a terrible gash across her back from the same blade that had carved Kuroudo's chest and she was still badly bleeding from that and many other wounds. Momoko was panting heavily with a dull look in her eyes as she tried to tie a bandage with her quivering hands. Momoko was mostly topless, her shirt likely destroyed by the same below that sundered her back, the only thing keeping her decent was the bandages wrapped across her breasts, she also wore her green skirt; although the battle had stained it a sickly red color. Miho was sleeping on the ground unconscious and bleeding from her destroyed arm even though it had been bandaged up; her kimono was torn and stained, her silver hair matted with dried or drying blood, her delicate lips had blood trickling from them.

“How's your ammo?” Kuroudo said as he pointed to Kazuko's revolver tucked into her belt holster. She took it out and checked the cylinder; all rounds fired. Then she checked her dump pouch to find no more rounds for the .45LC, but one .45ACP that she'd likely grabbed by mistake.

“Here,” Kazuko said with a smile as she held the round out to Kuroudo, “it's for your Luger.”

“Thanks,” Kuroudo said gratefully as he took the round and put it in the Luger’s magazine, “go back to sleep, little one.”

“I've got six left for my 357, and one left in the scatter gun*.” Momoko said tiredly as she held up her shotgun and her revolver still panting, “So I'm down to seven shots, and I'm completely out of chakra.”

Momoko struggled to try to get to her feet, she couldn't. She simply slumped back to a sitting position grunting in pain. Momoko is a strong woman, but she had a limit. She wasn't well suited for defensive maneuvers, nor was Kuroudo. Their style was one of fast moving, high speed, damagingly fatal blows; they tore defenses to shreds in record times and easily brought down powerful foes, but that power comes at a taxing price; their moves ate up chakra and fatigued the body quickly. All of which set them at severe disadvantage when forced to hold a line.

“Anyone else?” Kuroudo asked with a sigh as he looked around at the sad state of his men, four had rounds left for their rifles, nothing even into the tens between them. Each soldier wore the black fatigue pants and shirt of Paradiseo's army and the green vest. On the sleeve of the t-shirt was the `Red Sun' of Paradiseo, a simple red circle against a black background; the same as the Paradiseo flag.

“Does this mark the end sir?” A young looking boy said with a panicked voice as he looked at his rifle; a Paradiseo Mauser Kar-98k 8mm bolt action rifle, standard issue; it held five rounds in an internal magazine and could be reloaded with stripper clips or by inserting five rounds manually into the gun until the five round magazine was full. “I've got one round left, what should I use it on; myself, or the enemy!?”

“You'll use it on the enemy, die fighting.” Kuroudo held his Luger to the sky as he spoke to the battered men, all of whom were almost too beaten to stand. Kuroudo spoke like a great old general, or a priest every word was filled with angered passion to saturate the men's hearts with renewed courage, “Every second we fight them, is another second they aren't marching towards our homes. Each man we kill or wound is one less to kill our families and comrades. Every bullet fired at us is one less to be used elsewhere, every kunai too. Each wound we give them is another they need to patch, another gaze used. March toward us and fighting us expends their energy; each one we kill lowers their morale! Our fighting here is to slow them down and cause as much pain as we can. Well boys, you may despair but I do not. You might say we should surrender our positions, that what we toil in is a wasted effort.”

Kuroudo turned to the open field with a grin on his face; he aimed the Luger toward the slowly advancing foes, his speech continued on with renewed vigor and courage.

“But boys, I say we make them pay for every inch in blood and pain. I say we expend our last reserves and fight with the reckless abandon of howling jackals. If your rifle has no bullets then use it as a club, if you have no rifle use your kunai, if you have no weapon use your fists and bash their skulls with your own hands.” Kuroudo howled as he picked up his sword. He held the Luger in his right hand and the katana in his left. His grin became wider as he spoke, “We are the killers; we are soldiers of Paradiseo! We are born into our own deaths from the very start. We feed on chaos and death, violence and pain. We came here to do our fucking jobs, and we will die doing them if we have to! We will punish them so bad they won't be able to march any further!”

Anasake ran up to Kuroudo, Zanbatto resting against his back. Anasake had gone to HQ a day ago to try to get reinforcements and some more ammunition for the line, from the look of him; request was denied.

“Kuroudo, we have to hold for just two more hours,” Anasake said to his friend, loud enough for everyone to hear, “In two hours time we will not be reinforced, but relieved.”

“Thank Amaterasu!” proclaimed the battered men in unison but Kuroudo frowned slightly and kept his gaze even; their battle wasn’t over yet.

“We aren't done yet boys!” Kuroudo said as he looked at Anasake, “Jenkins, did you get any ammo?”

“Just some 8mm's for the Mausers and one belt for the MG42.” Anasake said as he handed Kuroudo a stripper clip.

“Okay, someone find me a rifle.” Kuroudo said as he holstered his Luger and sheathed the katana, “Okay everyone, we need to gather as much as we can. The enemy will be upon us in less than half an hour. Roll the dead, raid them for ammunition and other weapons. When the enemy gets within the two-hundred yard mark I'll set out the markers for the artillery support.”

“This will get ugly; they have to know we can't hold out much longer and they need to take this pass if they want to salvage any hope of winning this war.” Momoko said as she grinned slightly, “But they have to be tired of sending their men here to die.”

“Here you go, sir,” A soldier said with a weak voice as he handed Kuroudo a blood stained Mauser, “It's fully loaded.”

“Okay, we fortify ourselves as best as possible; leave no loaded weapon unattended. Search the fallen enemies for Krag's* or Henry's*, we might need them.” Kuroudo howled out his orders and then he looked at Anasake, “Load up the '42 and wait for them to be within fifty yards, and then cut loose until empty. Get ready man, we're fighting to survive here.”

Kazuko watched as the walking wounded gathered up weapons, everything, even rocks and sticks. They hurriedly formed defensive lines behind little mounds of dirt, laying Henry carbines and Krag rifles along the crests of their little mounds; ready to face the enemy. In total only fourteen of the Regulars could be called ‘ready to fight’ and even then the more accurate term was ‘walking wounded’.

The enemy continued their slow march toward the pass; Kazuko could make out their outlines. Marching towards Oh-Ka Pass was the Pike-men of the Mountains; The Land of Mountains' most elite fighting force and they were nearly four thousand strong going against the battered and bruised fourteen surviving Paradiseo Regulars. Their armor was thick and they wore strong metal helmets that gave them a demonic appearance; they looked like the army of Hell.

“Despairing are you, young Kazuko?” Kazuko looked up at the sound of the voice to see Kitty, Anasake's personal assistant standing over her, cradling a Thompson, “Don't worry, I'm fresh to this fight and I have plenty of ammo for Tommy-Chopper here.”

“SOLDIERS OF PARADISEO!!” The Pike-men commander yelled out across the field, a good two-hundred and fifty yards away, “Do not despair, we will gladly accept your surrender and lend you our medical attention! There is no need for you to fight this suicidal battle, save yourselves! Think of your families!”

“THINK OF YOUR'S!” Kuroudo howled as he raised his Mauser and aimed at the enemy commander; he fired a single round which struck the commander square in his face, obliterating part of it. The soldiers stood in awe at Kuroudo's handiwork as he quickly worked the bolt and chambered a new round, howling to his men, “Mausers: open fire!”

Kuroudo fired another round, dropping another enemy soldier and took out a smoke grenade; he lobbed it to about two hundred yards. As soon as the smoke billowed into the sky, loud booms could be heard in the distance. A terrible roar; the sound of primal dinosaur and then the nightmarish whistle… Those were the sounds of the 88mm howitzers used so skillfully by Paradiseo; they lobbed large explosive shells high into the air and then rammed them down onto the enemy.

The enemy charged toward Paradiseo's line, spears ready and their few gunmen started firing. The Regulars opened fire as well, their rounds carefully aimed and the enemy started to fall as the 88's started to blast the field into moonscape; bodies and dirt were hurled into the sky, the screams of pain lost in the explosions. The Regulars continued to fire at their advancing foes; training telling them to steady their aim and pick their targets carefully as they lay against the ground.

Kuroudo sighted down the Mauser and pulled the trigger; the battle for survival had only just begun for the battered men.

To be continued

-Kazuki Ferret

Scattergun- a short barreled side-by-side shotgun also known as a coach gun, the one that Momoko uses is a Whitney.

Krag- the Krag-Jorgenson rifle, a bolt action rifle it uses the .30-40Krag round. It is the best firearm the Land of Mountains can produce and it's still inferior to the Paradiseo Mauser; it is even until one needs to reload the weapon, then the Mauser shines. In pre-war times the Krag was heavily sought after as a hunting rifle.

Henry- the Henry repeating Carbine, a lever action .30 caliber rifle, it's the Land of Mountains' standard issue rifle. The Henry's they have are mostly surplus from Paradiseo that they dumped when they adopted the Mauser. The Henry is largely outdated and has limited range and the round it uses is weak compared to the 8x57mm used by the Mauser. But it fires fast and holds ten rounds, and its short overall length are an advantage in close combat over the standard Mauser.

Next time: Flashback! Part 2