Naruto The Warlord

Chapter 23

The Fire's army set camp at dusk, but Naruto and his rangers were already there and waiting at a safe distance. Teams had been placed to observe their guards routines and get a feel for their perimeter, while Naruto, Hisao and his captains along with the entirety of the Iron Guard waited for the teams to finish their grim task that Naruto had given them.

How well they handled the job Naruto had given them tonight would forever mark their unit, good or bad.

The army had laid camp in the middle of the forest, without any elevated position to keep watch from, though the river next to them would limit Naruto and his men's options of approach. The forest would provide more than adequate cover for what Naruto had in mind however.

Crouched upon a tree branch, Hisao mirrored his stance next to him. While Naruto was clad in his full steel armor, Hisao was dressed in the rangers iconic outfit of dark cloth and leather, a hood drawn over his head with a dark bandanna to cover the lower part of his face. They were rendered nearly invisible in the night and in the dark of the forest, only a glint of his eyes revealed whenever the light from the stars or the moon caught the right angle.

Glancing up at the night sky, pitch black and covered in varying amounts of clouds, Hisao took a quick look at the position of the moon before he muttered to Naruto.

"It's almost time."

How Hisao could tell the time during the night from the position of the moon, Naruto had no idea; It was not a skill he'd taught his rangers, that was for sure.

"We will wait as long as we need to.", Naruto responded without reprisal. "The teams know what to do and my clones will send their memories back to me. We will know when it's our time to shine."

At the same time, somewhere completely different, at the south-western edge of the enemy encampment, one of Naruto's clones crouched upon a tree branch next to the side of a small, recently made path through the grass. The lights from the large nearby camp, which snaked down along the river, could still be seen through the vegetation.

From his position, he heard the loud, raucous banter and jovial laughter from the samurai in the camp, but his eyes remained fixed on something much, much closer to his position; A pair of patrolling samurai, making their rounds around the camp. They had already mapped out their routines hours ago, without the enemies knowledge.

They were calm and comfortable, unknowing of the impending danger as they marched closer to Naruto's position. Closer and closer, the men followed the little path they'd made through constant patrolling during the evening, but Naruto remained calm and collected, merely observing the men on the approach.

As they finally entered a particularly dark area beneath a large tree, a pair of shadows emerged from behind the patrol. Naruto coolly observed the dark silhouettes soundlessly approach the men from behind.

Iron wire, procured from Shou earlier that day, was held in their hands. The wire was knotted into a hangman's noose and even if the wire was meant for construction, lacking the quality of the wires Naruto remembered from his time as a shinobi, it would be more than adequate for what he had in mind.

Quick as lightning and without a sliver of hesitation, the rangers wrapped the wires over the samurais heads and over their throats, brutally tightening the wires around their flesh before they could react or yell out.

The samurai only managed to wheeze for air as they clawed at their throats in a panic, but the rangers quickly hacked into their legs with their hatchets, sending the men to the ground with wounded limbs.

The rangers then proceeded to jump up into a branch above them, crossing over and letting their weight pull the bodies of the samurai up and into the air. As the rangers touched down, they quickly tied the wires around the tree to keep the samurai hanging from their necks, still alive and flailing from the branch.