"Edition Four - Konoha Victory in Baron War"

Yesterday saw another grand victory for Konoha in Baron Country,
which has tipped the odds in the Leaf’s favour. After the successful prevention of an important camp being built by the Sunagakure troops last week, the Wind’s strategy was halted as the location of that camp would have provided much
needed access to the South Sea. Yesterday saw Konoha Forces intercepting yet
another high priority target of the enemy. Intelligence had warned for some
time of the impending  arrival of a shipment
from a Kaguya Outpost in Earth Country to Suna’s biggest camp on the border of
Wind Country and Baron Country but the arrival kept being moved, until yesterday, when
Konoha scouts spotted a large group of Kaguya clansmen and Suna Shinobi moving
through Desert Country, the intelligence had not told Konoha what was in the shipment
but they did know it was Suna’s last hope at holding onto their stronghold in Baron.

Word was given to Councilwoman Uchiha Moshi who represents Lord
Fifth in Baron, a plan was devised amongst Konoha’s top generals and the Uchiha
rushed to Konoha to bring the news to the Hokage. Lord Fifth was eager to enact
the plan, quickly pulling together our remaining Shinobi in the village who set
off with haste on horseback towards the border of Baron and Fire Country. The
brave men and women, which also included Councillors Itsuki, Hei and Heiri,
responded to the call for action without hesitation and with enthusiasm. At the
border, more details of the brief were explained. The existing Konoha forces in
Baron were ready in wait at each of Sunagakure’s smaller outposts and camps
around the Country, they were not in hiding and this was to make Suna believe
that the main camp was not the focus of Konoha’s efforts that day, sending the
shipment directly there. It was the job of the newly arrived Shinobi to intercept
the shipment at the camp, and quickly the smaller camps and outposts would be
blocked from coming to the aid of ambushed Suna Forces.

Lord Fifth led his shinobi towards the main camp, with the
group splitting into three teams, a councillor as the team leader of each.

Councilwoman Itsuki led Team One consisting of Uchiha Natsu,
Senju Jinsaaki, Uchiha Ganshou, Uchiha Ryoichi and Kaguya Massa.

Councilman Hei led Team Two consisting of Uchiha Katsuo,
Hyuuga Akashi, Nara Kiyoshi, Hyuuga Zaruza, Yuki Sayaka

Councilwoman Heiri, and the group’s healer, led Team Three
consisting of Zakai, Uzumaki Sen, Uchiha Ulquiorra, Hyuuga Raito, Kazaki Shion,
Uchiha Toyozo.

As the teams approached the main camp it became clear that
their arrival was a little late, suna forces were in formation outside the main
camp, 5 rows deeps and spanning a tleast 30 men across, the Konoha teams were
surely outnumbered. Surprisingly though, Suna did not attack in unison, instead
they sent out group at a time, starting with their weakest fighters. Lord Fifth
ordered the Konoha teams to attack in waves, starting with Team One, who took
on two teams of Suna Shinobi, who were defeated with ease. Then Team Two would
attack the next groups that were sent out from Suna’s formation, which would
tighten in shape around a central man, a large Kaguya. Team Three took on a
large formation of strong Suna Shinobi and by this point that the main
formation was dwindling. Two Suna Jounin stepped forward, recognisable to
Uchiha Moshi as Sunagakure’s lead Generals, these men were Suna’s most seasoned
fighters; S-rank Shinobi who carried themselves easily in a fight against all
three teams, however Konoha had some tricks up their sleeves. Councilwoman Itsuki
produced her legendary sword, the sentient Samehada, Heiri unsheathed her Tsumi
No Gunsen, and Lord Fifth stood shoulder to shoulder with Genin and Jounin
alike, together the Konoha forces defeated Suna’s biggest assets in the War.

The large Kaguya was surrounded now by but a few Suna fighters
who were dwarfed in size compared to him, he pushed them aside and walked out
onto the battlefield littered with the bodies of this comrades, his arrogance seeping
from him as he laughed at the Konoha Forces who quickly tried to recover from
their strenuous fight against the generals. Uchiha Moshi stepped forward and
demanded the man reveal himself, but instead he jeered and threw threats at the
shinobi. It was not long before he attacked, to the surprise of all of the
shinobi the Kaguya was able to manipulate the bloodied sand, a technique not
seen before, and began to send it towards the Shinobi like a tsunami. Uchiha
Moshi and Senju Itsuki used an Earth Wall and Wood Dome respectively to protect
Team One, Team Three, The Hokage and some of the genin that were being healed by
Arumaze Heiri. This allowed Team Two, led by Uzumaki Hei to attack the man, who
finally presented himself as Kaguya Sadatake.

Uzumaki Hei and his team worked hard to subdue Sadatake, but
many of their attacks failed as the sand around the Kaguya seemily chose to protect
him from incoming attacks, the man was irate, attacking the team back. Soon after
Uchiha Moshi and Senju Itsuki dropped their defences and using her Sharingan
Moshi was able to detect a strange chakra from within the man, something she
hadn’t seen before, this was also apparent to the Hyuuga in the group Akashi
and Zaruza. Lord Fifth urged Moshi to look deeper, but the Uchiha was exhausted
and by the time the penny dropped for both her and Lord Fifth, it was too late,
Katsuo’s sword had stopped Sadatake’s heart.

Immediately Lord Fifth sprung into action, ordering the
wounded and the genin to the height of the mountains, and forcing his Shinobi
back, away from the body of the Kaguya, much to the confusion of Team Hei, who
were relieved to have killed the crazed man, but only someone in a position of
Hokage, or a long standing councilmember like Uchiha Moshi had understood what
they had just killed, and what they had unleashed.

As a swell of chakra began to leak from the body, Uchiha Moshi
ordered Arumaze Heiri to heal her chakra pool sufficiently so she could run to
the border, and once she had left, Lord Fifth coordinated those able to fight
to get into formation. The swell of chakra began to form into a silhouette, and
then a solid form, as tall as the mountains to the east and west, Sadatake was
not what the sand was protecting, but the beast within him, the one-tailed biju,
Shukaku.

Uchiha Moshi did not return, she collapsed at the Border
after sending for siblings Satako and Tezka, two Uzumaki S-rank sealers that had
been fighting in Baron Country on loan from Whirlpool for 3 years. When the siblings
arrived at the shinobi’s location the fight against the Biju were well underway,
with all those involved fighting a biju for the first time. This was the first known
sighting of Shukaku in 600 years, since the birth of the Kaguya clan and so
there was no rule book on how to defeat it. Satako and her brother presented
themselves to Lord Fifth and quietly but quickly discussed their plan of
action. Whilst the higher-ranking shinobi aimed to control and weaken the
beast, Satako approached some of the genin who had fallen back to the safety of
the mountains, from this group emerged one brave volunteer, Uzumaki Sen. The Uzumaki
was sedated by Satako and her and her brother got to work preparing the boy.
Uzumaki Hei had been able to wrap Shukaku in his Adamantine Chains and was
aided by Nara Kiyoshi who tried to steady the beast with Shadow Techniques. The
rest of the chunin, special jounin and jounin assisted Hei to keep his chains
attached, as they did Satako and Tezka unsealed a ceremonial altar from a
scroll and placed the boy upon it, and then began to weave the hand seals for
the Eight Trigrams Seal, one of the most difficult and secretive techniques of
the Uzumaki Clan. A seal appeared on Sen’s stomach once they placed their hands
upon it and Shukaku’s chakra was drawn into it. Once the seal was complete the
boy was immediately taken by a personal guard of Lord Fifth to a secret
location to be treated, this was done to protect the boy but also protect the
village. Uzumaki Setako and her brother remained with the boy, and many of Konoha’s
top medical team were being seen escorted out of the hospital by anbu operatives.
The boy has not been seen since. What does this mean for Konoha, its been over
100 years since the first time a Biju was sealed with a person, the seals are quite
volatile as still in their infancy... could this be a huge asset for Konoha, a
weapon for them to use? Or could this spell disaster in the village, should the
Biju escape and wreak havoc on Konoha. Only time will tell.

Arumaze Heiri, Uzumaki Hei, Uchiha Moshi, Uchiha Katsuo, Nara
Kiyoshi, Uchiha Ulquiorra and Hyuuga Akashi were all taken to Konoha Hospital
to be treated for chakra exhaustion and other injuries.

Reports suggest that this loss for Sunagakure has sent them
packing, with the smaller camps being evacuated of survivors of the coordinated
attacks by the rest of the Konoha forces, with just a small amount of troops
remaining on the Wind/Baron border, it is expected that the Kazekage will make
an announcement in the next few days withdrawing Suna from Baron Country and conceding
to the war. Rumours are flying that the Kazekage paid a large sum to the Kaguya
for Sadatake and now the village faces years of crippling debt, despite the Kaguya
being their closest ally, the clan is not known to be charitable.