Naruto: True Peace
When even the greatest of shinobi can't achieve peace, and we can.. that's how you know we have evolved.
„It smells like piss here,” a voice said. The voice echoed slightly through the dark corridors, only lit slightly by flickering lights above the tunnel. Two silhouettes bobbed up and down as they traversed the tunnel systems, approaching a yellow-black striped blast door. „Shut up.” a deeper voice snidely said to the other voice. It was followed by a sniffing sound, as if someone was sniffing the air. A laugh followed swiftly, perhaps because the other voice agreed that it smelled like piss, despite the snide remark it had made. „You know we're only here to meet lady commander Tametomo. The upcoming move will be grand. Can't wait. Finally get back at those confederate bastards. So who cares that it smells like piss.” The two were now standing exactly in front of the yellow-black striped door, which was approximately the size of two humans in height, and about a battalion wide. One of the figures raised a hand at the camera, which swayed side to side eerily, and for a moment nothing seemed to happen.
After about five seconds the doors started to make screeching sounds before parting in the middle, leaving an entry way into a much better lit hallway. There were people standing around doing nothing, while others were working hard. Two shinobi were pushing carts with boxes on them to another hallway, and another was guiding some younger shinobi into a room which was set up for training. They seemed excited to do some work - though who knew how long that would last. The two figures from earlier continued on their way into the facility, perhaps to meet with their captain or superior, or perhaps to get a briefing. Maybe they did none of that, and went to the canteen to get some lunch. Who knows?
Despite the high-tech lighting and materials used, the actual rooms were outfitted rather crudely. From time to time the lights went out, emergency power kicked in for a few moments lighting the hallways in a red emergency light, before the power returned and the normal lights came back on. It was clear the base, while ultimately high-tech, was not that well maintained and likely not used much at all. The number of people inside, while large for such a small base, were not impressive comparing it to the amount of shinobi at any given confederate forward operating base.
But this was all the Red Sages had - long forgotten, largely defunct and small bases scattered all over the Confederation, where they'd take refuge and hide from the confederation, as well as plan potential operations to move against the Confederation. And this is where most of the Red Sages were a week ago, planning their move after the death of Tarara Tametomo, former lord commander of the Red Sages. Not to be confused with lady commander Seijo Tametomo, his younger sister and current lady commander of the Red Sages.
Three days later, preparations for the harvesting feast that occurred every two years at the border of Konoha, Suna, and the Amegakure Capital, had begun. Farmers from all over the Confederation traveled there to attend, possibly speak on some interesting things related to farming, as well as partake in competitions such as who grew the biggest pumpkin and ox-pulling. While the feast, to shinobi, often sounded like a strange feast meant just for farmers, it was quite the contrary. It drew in lots of civilians from all walks of life - politicians attended because it was good for their image, families visited for a day to enjoy a fun day out with the family, and low-life's visited because, well, there were a lot of visitors and that meant easy pick-pocketing, even with confederate shinobi around.
Furthermore, there were also important political discussions going on in the compound that was host to these feasts. An important shinobi commander was discussing with a local group of shinobi the possible production of a new type of explosive tag. The specifics were unclear, but what was clear were the political implications of these dealings. There were many that were in favor of this new program, and there were some that opposed it for fear of disrupting the economy with new types of explosive tags. What if this type succeeded, how many shinobi would buy those, and not the ones currently being produced?
These were just concerns from politicians, people who weren't shinobi in and of their own, as there weren't many shinobi in the council of the Hamajō Confederation. Most shinobi found little interest in the whole ordeal as every time new items got introduced, the entire thing failed and they'd end up switching back to the older more trustworthy weaponry.
One might wonder why this was all supposed to be interesting, and one would be right to wonder that. This information isn't particularly valuable to anyone who isn't a politician, or has a family and wants to visit the farmers feast. However there is one particular subset of people who might find interest in a largely attended festival, which subsequently also houses an important special ops shinobi commander, who very well could be responsible for the death of Tarara Tametomo, infamous criminal, rebel, low-life and known throughout the Hamajō Confederation as „Tarara the Troublesome” and many other much less flattering nicknames. The commander, Sasegawa Oji of the 11th corps, was hailed as a Hero of the Confederation upon completing the mission, specifically for taking down a criminal who had committed many crimes against the Hamajō Confederation and it's people. His presence at the festival was broadcasted far and wide to attract more people, further testifying that this man was a true hero in the eyes of many civilians too.
And while Tarara, though a criminal, was above terrorizing the people to win the secret war they were fighting, who was to say what Seijo was and wasn't above?
With the festival in full swing and the appearance of Sasegawa Oji having happened, the festival seemed to be drawing to an end. The pumpkin competition had just ended, the prize going to a Konoha pumpkin farmer (as always, some of the Iwa and Suna farmers mumbled), and the farmers market slowly emptying out of stock, it seemed like the festival had gone off without a hitch. All that remained was the ox-pulling, which drew the largest crowd of all activities, and then the discussions between the shinobi's and the commander.
A large part of the Confederate forces stationed in the area were sent out to this festival to guard it, as well as a large shinobi crowd being drawn to the festival simply for the fun of it. All in all, it wasn't an impressive force that was stationed there, surely not fit to defend the capital, but this was only a large compound meant for festivals and political discussions, surely the forces were enough?
It seemed like the festival was going to end without anything bad happening, unless you count the ending of the festival as a bad thing. However, unknown to the confederate forces in the compound and on the outside of it, over watching the farmers market, there was another force in the area. In the bushes on a hill nearby the compound laid some shinobi in wait, looking over the compound. They were obviously Red Sages, as could be seen from the red armbands they had on their left arm. The numbers were similar to the confederate numbers, although it's possible that the Red Sages had more people laying somewhere else, waiting for a signal as well.
In the crowd on the farmers market and near the ox-pulling, there were several figures as well, not necessarily behaving suspiciously, but not participating in the activities or looking at them. They seemed stuck on the same place, one of the three sitting on a box with hay, another standing in front overlooking the crowd and the last seemingly staring at the sky for no reason.
Meanwhile, the confederate forces in the area were just going about their patrols - some in the farmers market, some in the compound itself where the discussions were taking place. It seemed that nobody realized that there were Red Sages in the area, and even in the crowd. Those shinobi that weren't stationed here, but were attending the festival were of course free to do as they pleased.
At the moment that the first game of ox-pulling was about to commence, a red light suddenly appeared in the sky. It flashed brightly once before slowly drifting down - it was a flare, signalling.. something? There were a few seconds where nothing happened, perhaps causing some to think the flare signaled the game of ox-pulling. That thought would soon be destroyed. The three Red Sages waiting near the boxes suddenly got up, and took their jackets off, revealing the red armband hidden under their jackets. „Yo, that's our signal.” the leader said, before taking up a defensive stance. The other two formed the tiger hand seal and spoke in unison. „KAI!”
Several loud bangs erupted, immediately sending the crowd into a wild escape attempt. Some people got trampled under the masses, escaping whatever it was that created these bangs. Looking further at the crowd, it became apparent that several hidden explosive tags had gone off, killing civilians and shinobi alike, their corpses laying in the small, but numerous, black blast areas.
The Confederate shinobi barely had any moment to take in what was happening as shinobi with red armbands and non-matching uniforms started pouring in from the hills. „It's the Red Sages! Sound the alarm! Protect the commander! Quick, get ins- GLURHG!” yelled one man, supposedly a captain, before he got cut down by a Red Sage running past him with his sword out. Heavy fighting erupted, with some shinobi attempting to kill all Red Sages, while others retreated inside to protect the commander. Some were busy trying to evacuate the civilians, although to many shinobi that wasn't the main concern at this moment. Whatever they were doing, one thing was for sure - death was a very realistic possibility now.
It seems that our entire cast would be present at this festival. The Hamajō Confederates on their own free time, or because they were stationed there. The Red Sages because they would take part in the attack. There are many in the Hamajō Confederation who still haven't made up their mind about whom of the two factions they should support - while they are present at the festival too, they're free to act however they want to. Just keep in mind - both the Hamajō Confederation and the Red Sages are watching, and making a wrong move might ultimately end you up on a side you might not want to be on.
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