24 Assault on Kamino Stronghold

[Year 52, Suna Base, Amegakure]

Chiyo Matsuri stood calmly in the middle of the sea of chaos that was normal for the pseudo-hospital tasked to cater the injured shinobi from the front lines of the war.

The improvised hospital itself was nothing more than a basic building that was erected by a quick use of Earth ninjutsu. Ideally, she would prefer a much more sanitary and comfortable workspace. But she's experienced enough to know facilities like these are adequate enough considering the state of war.

Her eyes wandered as she scanned everything around her, the medical ninja tasked giving their all as they bustled around, tending to the wounded and injured.

When she first arrived and met with the Third Kazekage, things weren't looking well for the Suna forces. The combined threat that Konoha, Iwa, and Ame posed were too much for Ryushi to handle alone. Their ninja were getting slaughtered and that coot Hanzo's poisons were a danger to all that met him.

That was until she arrived.

It took a bit of trial and error, but she quickly designed a working antidote against Hanzo's poisons. She's even heard rumors of the Slug Princess of Konoha enacting a similar strategy and getting equal results. This one act resulted in the entire world knowing Tsunade Senju's name as a prodigious and a once-in-a-lifetime genius medical ninja, and people started comparing them both to see who was better.

Bah, only fools would think that way. She had neither the time nor the willingness to participate in a pointless rivalry.

Her thoughts were then cut short as a sudden increase in noise got her attention. More injured were brought in in a severe hurry. "Shinra's losing blood fast!" One of the men shouted desperately. "He's going to die soon!"

Several of the medics looked at one another, frowns on their faces. Chiyo knew what they were thinking, just from looking at the injured man, anyone would see that he had lost a lot of blood. From the looks of his wounds, his heart had been damaged, no doubt to a lightning jutsu.

For most ninja in the medical profession, the man was as good as dead.

However, she was not most.

"Bring him to an operating room." Chiyo announced calmly. She then stepped forward, her hands snatching up a pair of surgical gloves from the nearby counter. "You and you," she pointed to two doctors. "Keep him alive while I'm prepping and find me a pig's heart. I'll be in the room shortly."

Knowing just who it was that addressed them, they all immediately stood up straight and went to do their tasks. "Yes ma'am!"

Chiyo then moved to a sink to wash her arms and sanitize them before entering the operating room.

"Sitrep." She commanded the gathered medical ninja.

"He is on death's door, Chiyo-sama." The medic Chiyo assigned to keep the man alive informed as he cleaned the spot of the injury. "His heart had been heavily damaged and is still bleeding a large amount. He can't be-"

"He can." Chiyo announced in a calm tone, cutting off the doctor. "Just follow my instructions as best you can." She said as she placed a glowing hand to the patient's head.

The rest of the gathered medics simply waited until she finished her diagnosis.

"Do you know the blood circulation technique?" Chiyo questioned, with the man nodding in answer. "Good, make sure to circulate the blood as best you can and focus on his brain to keep it active. Don't do too much or you'll risk giving him brain damage."

"Yes, Chiyo-sama." The medic nodded as he immediately went to work.

That was when the other doctor entered the operating room in surgery garb, carrying a pig's heart with him.

"Start making some skin grafts while I clear away the damaged skin. The rest of you, get me B- blood as quickly as you can."

Her orders were immediately heeded to as the gathered doctors and medics scrambled to do their assigned tasks.

'The wound was inflicted by Lightning Chakra, looks like I'm going to have to remove some parts for transplanting.'

Chiyo redirected the flow of the blood of the damaged areas as she then waited. The man had lost nearly 4 liters of blood. Another 10 seconds had passed and Chiyo frowned as she slowly got frustrated. Were the medical ninja of Suna always this incompetent?! "Where is the blood?!"

"Here, Chiyo-sama!" One of the assistants announced as she ran in the room carrying several sacs of blood.

"The heart is ready!" The doctor called out.

"The graft is finished, Chiyo-sama."

"Good. Start prepping the blood for transfer." She instructed as a cart with the heart on it was rolled to her. Chiyo then plunged her hand onto the opening in the man's chest while simultaneously cutting the pig's heart with a Chakra Scalpel. "Do not start the blood transfer until I have repaired the heart.

"Understood." The medics chorused obediently.

Chiyo blinked as a dry towel wiped away the sweat from her brow. She spared a brief glance to see a young assistant that had joined the group. She refocused on the operation as she finished cutting the hearts into the needed parts. "The heart is ready for transplant, removing damaged sections now." She announced as she cut out the damaged valve and skin, another doctor taking the damaged parts for disposal immediately as Chiyo started to graft the new parts onto the man's heart.

It was certainly close, but once the parts were in place, Chiyo instructed someone to have the blood circulate normally again as they slowly did the blood transfusion. The man's pale complexion slowly returning to a more healthy hue.

"He is out of danger now," She announced. Several cheers could be heard from outside the operating room who heard the announcement. She then began to close up his chest and healing the rest of the wounds.

The doctors and medics in the operating all had in awe faces from watching the legendary Chiyo Matsuri at work.

"Chiyo-sama, please allow me to finish this." The medic that Chiyo initially commandeered informed. "If you can…there are others who might need your help."

"Very well." Chiyo allowed as she took a step back and let the man take over. She then looked towards her assistant and addressed her. "Take me to the critically wounded."

"Of course, Chiyo-sama. Right this way."

She then continued doing what she knew best, Chiyo was in her element, and from today, plenty of people would find themselves surviving what was later to be known as the bloodiest war in ages. All due to the efforts of one Chiyo Matsuri.

.

.

[Year 52, Suna/Iwa Border]

While they had managed to break the Iwa defense line at the bridge, it was another thing entirely to assault the base, named the Kamino Stronghold. Since the base's defenses were near impossible to take down in a straight attack, Ishito opted for a stealth approach.

They would conceal their chakra by suppressing it to ridiculous degrees as they ran through the forested section that would take them close to the walls of the base. Souei and Rukia were the only ones actively using chakra to act as lookouts. Their respective sensory techniques are crucial in locating any traps or ambushes.

It was only because of that reason that they avoided something that would have otherwise been catastrophic. The small assault team with Ishito on the lead stopped before a large clearing in the forest just a few miles away from the base.

Rukia closed her eyes in concentration before she gave the go ahead, sensing nobody in the area.

Ishito nodded and stepped forward alongside Souei, and as soon as his foot touched the ground, he sensed it. White ripples traveled through the earth as everything around him was painted in Souei's mind. His eyes widened as shapes that he could recognize as people could be felt everywhere underneath him, spread out across the entire clearing.

"Beneath us!"

His warning came just in time as about 40 Iwa Shinobi burst out of the ground around them and unleashed a torrent of weapons and jutsu. Thankfully, Ishito managed to intercept them in time and allowed most of the assault team to escape unscathed.

"Disperse! Head to the base!"

Souei heard his sensei shout as the man ran in to engage in the bulk of Iwa ambushers. His puppet already uncoiling from his body to join its master in the fight.

Souei quickly heeded the order as he took to the air and unsealed his golden spider legs. He sent two careening forwards as they impaled a shinobi each before he jumped in and broke the spine of another by kicking her right in the back.

He continued on forwards as everything around him spiraled into chaos.

He kept on pushing through the forests and enemy lines and before long managed to reach onto the walls of the base itself. A decent amount of Sand ninja were there with him, and they quickly started the process of breaching in.

They pulled out the explosion tags prepared just for this occasion and threw them. This resulted in a large explosion that caused a massive shockwave and thick dark smoke to cover the entire area.

By the time the smoke dispersed, a massive hole now exists on the outer walls of the Iwa base. He and the sand ninja with him immediately utilized the opening created to pour into the base.

The Kamino Stronghold wasn't too large of a base all things considered. It had an outer rock wall with battlements and a few towers serving as its main defenses. Right in the center, Souei could see 3 buildings with tents surrounding it that no doubt served as the sleeping quarters for their shinobi. Their target for today was located in the armory which, according to their scout reports, was the building on the right.

"Souei!"

He heard Rukia's voice as his teammate made her appearance at his side. Looks like the both of them managed to enter the base itself. Now however, was the next part of their mission.

"Let's go!"

Souei rallied the few Suna shinobi around him as he and Rukia led the charge towards the armory. A few Iwa Shinobi stood in their way and it didn't take long for fights to happen all over the courtyard.

He and Rukia stood side by side as they engaged a squadron of Iwa ninja. They were all clad in their traditional red attire and each had weapons at the ready.

No words were exchanged by the two groups as the Iwa Ninja charged at them, their weapons clashing against Rukia's wind enhanced kunai as Souei took to the air and aimed all 10 fingers against the coming enemies.

'Ten Point Bullet String.'

Bullets of string, so thin that some would struggle to even see them, were released from Souei's fingers. Some of the more skilled ninja of the Iwa squadron managed to dodge the attack. However, the more unlucky ones found themselves in various states of injury as the strings pierced their bodies.

Rukia followed up with Souei's attack by unleashing an explosion of air in front of her, scattering the remaining ninja before she rushed towards them, the wind currents increasing her speed to the point that she was a blur to everyone in the courtyard.

The scattered stone ninja quickly divided themselves into two groups as half went for Souei and the other half to Rukia. Souei watched as one of the Iwa shinobi, a burly looking guy, quickly went through some handseals before slamming his hands into the ground. The earth around him slowly formed into a large earth creature, three times the size of a normal man.

'Heh, I remember the first time we went against this Jutsu back in our first mission.'

Smirking at the small glimpse down memory lane, Souei immediately created string clones to even out the playing field. The clones went against the other Iwa Ninja as his original body went towards the rock golem and its summoner.

The burly ninja sent his golem forwards, which lifted one of its hands before slamming them down towards the charging Souei.

Souei simply jumped up to avoid the large fist before he sent all four of his spider legs against the rock creature, each leg spinning on its axis akin to a drill.

The 4 legs punctured through the torso of the golem, completely obliterating it as they suddenly turned a 90 degree angle and changed their flight path towards the summoner. The man could do nothing as he got completely eviscerated by the spider legs.

'Creating a homing attack with the spider legs by manually directing their movement and direction. Classic.'

Souei mentally pat himself on the back at the job well done.

Ahead of him he could also see Rukia utterly destroying her enemies. She wasn't as strong as either him or Rasa, as she focused more on a supporting role. But the sole maiden of Team 11 proved that she was more than capable of taking care of herself as she beheaded an Iwa ninja with a Tempest Kick before slashing the tendons of another and digging her kunai deep into the skull of the shinobi.

They continued the fight, and before long the courtyard was empty with only Suna Shinobi left standing.

"Come on, we have to secure the payload." Souei announced as they all started to coalesce outside of the armory. They were about to enter only for the western wall to suddenly implode. The resulting shockwave sent nearly everyone to the ground.

As the smoke cleared, Souei could only stare in shock and slight fear at the visage of Ishito-sensei. And that's because standing on the opposite were none other than Han the Steam Bull.

The Gobi Jinchuriki has now joined the fight.

___________________________________________________

I hadn't planned a Grey's Anatomy type of chapter when I started writing this but eh, that's what came out of my writing spiel so I'm keeping it.

More fights and the conflict reaches another degree. With Han entering the battlefield, the danger level rises even more.

The fight for the Kamino Stronghold should conclude next chapter. Hopefully. No promises.

Advanced chapters on my pat_reon page! You get some chapters ahead with a few other benefits as well.

P_atr_eon_com/TeemVizzle

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Cheers!