Disclaimer: Yeah, same old stuff… I don’t own Naruto or any of his little friends…so sad…ho hum

AN: Set during the early years of the Anti-Japanese War in China, or as is more familiar to us Westerners, World War II. As such, this story will be angsty, but it will have its moments of cheer. This story will grow into a SasuNaru pairing…that’s M/M action…

Additional Warning: This fic contains graphic violence, rape, gore, death, and course language. If any of these things make you uncomfortable, please don’t read.

Prologue: Kill All, Loot All, Burn All

China.

The ground smelled like ash and blood, stinging his nostrils and causing his comrades to flinch unnoticed in the dark. They trudged on silently, watching the glow of dying fires with glazed and uncaring eyes. The night was dark and silent, with only the flames to dance beside the make-shift road and send crackling sounds into the still air.

The soldiers passed through the ruins like ghosts. Their uniforms were tattered and their faces were drawn, but most importantly their food canisters were empty. Sasuke wiped his face with the back of his hand in a familiar gesture and found his gaze sliding towards the three cart horses behind him. He licked his lips. He remembered that horses were made of meat, and thoughts that would have never raced through his head back in Japan bombarded his mind now.

Horses were edible, right?

He didn’t really know. He had never tried one before. They should taste fine when cooked…couldn’t eat them raw. That was unhygienic…unclean. Thank the gods that wasn’t a problem, he thought with a tight smile, there was enough fire to cook as many meat-filled animals as they could find.

“Fuck this shit,” Inuzuka Kiba growled beside him, cocking his assault rifle and heading towards a half-way burnt down shack with a lone lantern dangling off the torn roof.

Sasuke stopped to watch and felt someone brush by him before stopping as well.

“What the hell is he doing?” The soldier whispered in irritation, letting Sasuke recognize the voice as Nara Shikamaru’s.

Kiba was pulling at the shack’s door now, flinging bits of wood aside so that he could climb through. Obviously disgruntled when no one answered his question, Shikamaru ‘che’d’ softly, “Bastard,” before rolling his shoulders as though he could not be bothered and continuing to walk with the rest of the group, leaving Sasuke to watch and wait.

Moments later, Kiba reemerged from the bowels of the house, coughing up soot and cursing. “Damned chinks,” he spat. “They burned all their rice too.”

Sasuke finally turned and walked, the ray of hope dying within his sore and empty stomach. He watched the road ahead sullenly, yet with blank eyes, noting the way the soldier’s boots scuffled against the parched earth and their helmets clanked against their backpacks in a strange rhythm. The path was lit for as far as his eyes could see. Specks of bright orange and white dotted the horizon, mocking them. Telling them they would have to starve and walk longer. There would be no food and certainly no water in the near future.

And the fires would always be dancing, celebrating their fate, their suffering in this strange land. This place he was to take for Japan, make better for Japan. In this gods-forsaken place where he had already suffered for two months. He could not complain, he could only move and fight and if he was lucky…die. No one would want to live after what he’d seen, after what he’d done. And he was sure they had all lost a part of their minds because of it.

Someone coughed and another laughed, cutting through the rancid air. And Sasuke could only glance back, staring at the horses and licking his lips.

……………………………………………………

AN: I didn’t mean for the prologue to be this short, but I felt that was a good place to end. Just enough angst and depression to leave you all with.

Naruto will be introduced in the next chapter, whenever I get around to writing it. And don’t worry…I’ve got a pretty good idea about where this story is going. You guys can all try to guess who Naruto will be. If you guys know anything about the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) that might help. I’ll give y’all a hint: He’s not Japanese.

So review, you know you want to make me happy.