4 Chapter 4 Bridge

Chapter 4.

Near Tanzaku Bridge.

Out of the forest under the somewhat cloudy sky was a deep ravine with a river running at the bottom and the bridge built on top was the only way to reach the other side of the ravine.

Swish!

Moving a branch of tree away, Orochimaru peeked towards the bridge with his snake like eyes, next to him sat around a total of eight shinobi.

"It seems pretty clear to me Sensei, should we move on?"

Nawaki who was the closest whispered to Orochimaru, his narrowed hazel eyes also on the deserted bridge outside.

"Clear?" Repeated Orochimaru with a smile on his face, tilting his head upward to look towards the dark clouds obstructing the sun.

Nawaki also looked upward and soon he saw the broken cloud giving some way to sun as rays poured down, on the clear bridge the light reflecting a little.

"Strings!"

Murmured Nawaki with a horrified face, the bridge was fully covered with thin sharp wires hard to notice, moreover they could be poisoned as well, just a little contact with them could be lethal.

"He needs to be watched over the whole war" Thought Kazuki looking at Nawaki, a speechless expression on his face.

Crossing the bridge meant entering the land of rain, at this time of war anyone with little war sense can guess, the simple it seems, the more dangerous it can be.

"Keeps your eyes open every moment, I can't watch over you all the time!"

"Now follow me!"

Orochimaru had same thoughts as Kazuki, after warning Nawaki a little he took out a kunai and stepped out, motioning everyone to follow him.

Everyone pulled out their weapons as well, Kazuki sheathing out the sword on his back.

Slowly the squad moved towards the bridge and upon reaching carefully cutting the strings under the lead of Orochimaru.

Halfway through the bridge, Orochimaru who was at the front and cut another string suddenly halted, his ears pricking.

Next his nose twitched a little, his eyes widening as his body moved suddenly, grabbing Nawaki right behind him and chakra from his soles bursting out, shooting towards the sky.

"JUMP!!!!!!!"

BOOM!!!!!!

The loud voice rang throughout the forest followed by a massive explosion, fire soaring towards the dark sky, wooden shards flying everywhere

Thud!! 

With Nawaki in his hands, Orochimaru fell on the other side of the ravine, rolling on the ground a few times before stopping, the wind caused by explosion blowing his long black hair.

"They filled the insides of the bridge with explosive tags, one of those strings was the starting the mechanism, a trap with in a trap!"

Muttered Orochimaru with a solemn face, his eyes towards the bridge with fire all around it.

Thud!

Just as Orochimaru was going through what had happened, three more figures fell from the sky rolling a few times before stopping, two of them donning jonin jacket, the other a genin with silver hair, a sword held in his right hand.

Quickly the three of them got up and walked towards Orochimaru who had let go of Nawaki, both teacher student eyeing the burning bridge.

"These Lunatics! They even destroyed their way to Land of Fire just to stop reinforcements!"

Said Kazuki to Orochimaru in a heavy tone, no one could have expected rain shinobi daring to destroy the bridge.

The importance of a bridge before shinobi who have jutsu may seem low but that is not entirely the case.

Chunin and Jonin may be able to tread down the ravine and then crossing the river to walk up again to other side, but most genin are unable to do that.

Konoha Eleven in the future were all an exception, they were elites among genin and had clan's backing them or extraordinary teachers present to instruct them.

For a genin especially from land of rain which still isn't a great shinobi village, most of them are unable to walk up trees and stand on water.

Most of them are just numbers, just used to put physiological pressure.

"This means that Amegakure has given up invading land of fire, at least for now!"

Orochimaru clearly heard Kazuki, so after a little thought he shared what he could guess.

"I'm afraid they are going to focus fully on sand battlefield, Lord Orochimaru!"

Said one of the jonin while taking deep breaths, escaping the explosion on a short notice wasn't easy.

At his words, everyone near the burning bridge turned silent, they could already imagine the increased pressure at sand battlefield, Amegakure fully supporting Sunagakure now to attack Konoha.

"We need to reach the battlefield quickly; I will notify the platoon to march this way through ninja beasts!"

"Let's keep moving forward and clear the way ahead for them"

Quickly Orochimaru reached a decision, knowing they had to do things quickly.

"But…but what about the rest Sensei?!"

But just when they were about to depart, Nawaki who had been silent this whole time spoke up, inquiring about the rest of the squad.

The squad comprised of nine was now down to five, Nawaki having an anxious face thinking about them.

"You know the answer already! we should be glad that we only lost four shinobi, imagine if most of the platoon would have been on that bridge!"

"This is war! The quicker you get used to losing companions the better Nawaki!"

"Let's go!"

Giving Nawaki another reality check, Orochimaru waved the squad to follow him.

Thud!"

The jonin quickly followed Orochimaru into the forest with tall hills with in, Kazuki after tapping Nawaki on the shoulder to wake him up from sad reality, rushing ahead as well, Nawaki shaking his head catching up to him.