Child Of Hate

Chapter 17

Before sunrise

05:00AM

Stone-Earth country border

Stone country

A Retrieval vehicle dropped down a mile before the main entrance to Earth country, Stone country. The large back door dropped down and black metal boots stomped down the ramp. The owner of the boots stopped at the bottom and looked around at the row of gold ranked Frontliners that lined the right side and medics the left, going down several feet. At the bottom there were hundreds of other silver ranks standing at attention, with gold ranks standing behind them, bronze and copper to the sides.

Indra, head of Frontline soldiers, marched up to Naruto and stopped ten feet away. He stamped his right foot on the ground and sharply saluted the king. Karin marched to Naruto, stopped beside Indra, stamped on the ground with her right foot and saluted the leader of the kingdom.

"Welcome to Stone country, sir." She said politely and Naruto smirked a little. He breathed in deeply and released it, savouring the careful organisation of his soldiers that stood rigidly outside the Retrieval vehicles. He spied roughly a hundred and fifty more vehicles several yards away, in a neat row and gleaming cleanly. Naruto tucked his hands into his pockets and nodded to his division heads.

"It's good to be here, thank you."

"Permission to speak, sir." Indra requested and Naruto waved for his soldiers to be at ease; each soldier, from platinum rank to copper rank, dropped their hands to their sides, tucked their hands behind them and opened their legs about two feet apart. Normally for grounder forces, a military leader was never to be openly saluted, especially by roughly five thousand soldiers and two commanders (division heads), this was because it would notify enemy snipers on who the 'head of the snake' was, making the leader a target. In the kingdom, according to the SFPC Act written by the division heads and assented by Naruto only the king, the overall Commander-in-Chief and those directly appointed by him were allowed the honour of being openly acknowledged by such a large force of fully capable soldiers. To prevent enemy snipers from taking pot shots at the commander there were Support soldiers and Hunter ninjas stationed in particular posts to keep watch. The king nodded and Indra spoke. "Stone country has been fully suppressed and their daimyo has been killed, her aunt has been reinstated as the new daimyo."

"Any dissenting voices?"

"All silenced." Indra replied without hesitation.

Naruto laughed under his breathe. "That is excellent. Well done." Indra bowed appreciatively. "Karin, any casualties?"

"A silver rank ninjutsu Frontliners stepped on mine in the country's diamond cave and the tunnels came down. The Rescue soldiers were able to dig out twenty of them but one among them is still in critical condition."

"Wasn't a scout sent in before they followed?" Naruto asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"…No sir." Karin replied cautiously. "They were chasing a Stone team and they were led into the tunnel."

"That isn't a good enough excuse." Naruto said with narrowed eyes. "Make sure they are well treated." Karin nodded and Naruto looked at Indra, his jaw tight and his hands clenched into fists in his black overcoat pockets. "Make sure this doesn't happen again. There is a code…a procedure…and I want it is followed. It is why we are superior and any casualty is only because the code isn't followed to the letter."

Indra bowed deeply. "I am sincerely sorry, my lord."

"Good." If an enemy ninja or ninjas ran into an unknown subterranean tunnel then the procedure was to have a scouting team lead the way and make sure there weren't any hidden traps before a Frontline team followed. If the scouting team was attacked by the enemy forces the code also encompassed what would happen; the scouts were all taught fighting styles that would hold back the enemy until reinforcements came. "What is the current status in Earth country?"