Chapter 1 – In the Mountains
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*If coming from original read Author's Notes at the end of the chapter!*
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The Himalayan Mountain Range was usually a peaceful and tranquil part of the world. The residents of the various villages had a simple life and that's the way they liked it. You'd get the odd tourist coming through to visit some of the monasteries the monks live in to meditate and find inner peace or climb Mount Everest.
That was all gone now as the sounds of explosions could be heard echoing through the valleys. The source of them was at the base of Everest with the area looking like a battlefield with craters littering the place and if you were so inclined to sense you'd feel the dense amount of magic hovering in the air. Stood in the middle of all this destruction were two people.
One was a teen about 18, he had short spiky blond hair with blue eyes. He was wearing a long black coat with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a burnt orange top, black jeans with multiple pockets and sneakers.
Across from him, the person was wearing a hooded black cloak that hid everything about their body, even the hood shadowed everything about their face. The only thing you could tell about them was that they were exhausted from the heavy breathing.
"You are stronger than expected, Zepar." The hooded figure spat out in a masculine voice.
The blond smirked, "What do you think I've been doing for the past five years? Sitting on my ass?"
"No, I guess you haven't but can you say the same for your friends?"
The teen's glare intensified towards the man, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. You see we know everything about you Naruto Zepar, or should I say Naruto Uzumaki. We know you faked your death five years ago to try and throw us off." The hooded man explained, "Let's see if young Rias Gremory can stand up to our might."
Naruto lost it at the mention of his oldest friend and took off towards the man shouting, "I'll kill you before you even have the chance Sabaku!"
Sabaku didn't react except for a purple magic circle growing from his feet and lift up. As it did Sabaku disappeared into nothingness.
Naruto reached the spot too late as Sabaku vanished, "Damn it." He growled, punching the floor in frustration.
Thinking quickly his rolled up the sleeve on his left arm to reveal a tattoo near his shoulder. He placed his index and middle fingers on it and watched as it glowed orange for a second before fading back to the black ink.
Within a few seconds, another magic circle appeared next to him, this one was a pale blue, however. Without warning a young woman, about 20, came soaring out. She was wearing a black maid outfit that was accented with red.
She looked around the area, worry etched all over her face. From the moment, she came through the circle she could feel the magic in the air. When her eyes finally landed on Naruto it looked like she was doing everything in her power to hold back the tears.
"Master! What happened?!" She shouted, dropping to her knees to examine the wounds.
Some were serious and he needed medical attention straight away. Going into one of her pockets and proceeded to pull out a small vial that looked to be in shape of a tear and filled with a clear liquid.
Popping the cork out she offered it to Naruto's mouth, "Here drink this."
Naruto gazed into the woman's green eyes and smiled, "Thank you, Etrus."
Immediately he drank the clear liquid and let out a sigh, feeling the pain of his aching muscles and wounds lessen.
He tried to stand but it would seem the liquid only helped the wounds and did nothing for his exhaustion as when he got to his feet his legs couldn't support him and he would have landed back on the charred floor if not for Etrus catching him.
"We have to go. Sabaku, Sabaku was here. He couldn't take me out so he's going after Rias. We have to get to her before something happens." Naruto said.
"Master, you are no fit state to travel. The Phoenix Tear may have accelerated your ability to heal physical wounds, it can do nothing for exhaustion. You need to rest." Etrus pleaded, "Also we have no idea where Lady Rias is. You were specific about not knowing."
Naruto listened to the maid and had to agree with her. He was in no fit state to travel and he cursed himself for not asking where Rias was, "You're right. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't make you my [Queen]."
"You'd be just fine, Master."
"Ok, we need to find her. It would take too long to get in contact with Sirzechs and the next meeting isn't for another three weeks." Naruto thought out loud before deciding, "Etrus, get in contact with Wes and have him find out where Rias is. It shouldn't take him more than a day. Once we know where she is, we're going."
Etrus nodded, "Right away, but first we must get you back to the cabin."
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
Etrus started to walk towards the east, away from Everest, with Naruto leaning against her to walk. They left the charred grounds of the battlefield and continued for about ten minutes before coming to a reasonably sized wooden cabin.
The cabin was a place Naruto came around this time of year to get away from everyone. He liked to come here to meditate and get his inner turmoil under control. He started coming here around this time four years ago to try and cope with his home being destroyed and his parents being killed by the person Sabaku worked for a year before.
Etrus opened the door and went in, having to turn so she could still support Naruto while he makes his way in. After they both crossed the threshold, she lead him to one of the beds and laid him down, trying hard not to strain him any further.
"Are you comfortable, Master?" she asked.
"Yes, thank you Etrus and please stop with the 'Master' thing. I've told you to call me by my name."
"But Master that is not protocol, Lady Grayfia would be extremely upset and disappointed that I did not take her lessons seriously."
"Etrus, when have you ever known me to be one for rules?"
Etrus sighed in defeat, she knew that her Master wasn't going to give up, "As you wish but I will not refer to by just your name. I shall address you with your title, Lord Naruto."
This time it was Naruto's turn to sigh in defeat just by looking into her eyes Naruto knew this was the best he was going to get from her, 'I suppose Lord Naruto is better than Master.' Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Now that is out of the way, I shall contact Wes and tell him of his assignment then we shall eat to regain your strength," Etrus said, standing up and dusting off her uniform.
She walked towards the door before opening it and leaving. Naruto, satisfied that Etrus will complete her job, finally let the exhaustion he tried to keep at bay overtake him and he fell asleep.
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It was a few hours before Naruto was roused awake by the smell of rabbit being cooked. Looking around he found Etrus kneeling beside the open fire in the middle of the room. The warm orange glow bouncing off her and being the only source of light with it being night made one word escape from his lips, "Beautiful."
Etrus must have heard him because as soon as he said it she turned away from the skinned, roasting rabbit on the spit to look around at Naruto, "Thank you, my Lord." She replied, the orange glow hiding the dusting of red on her cheeks, "The rabbit is almost done. You should go and wash up."
"I think a shower sounds great right now," Naruto replied.
He got up from the bed and walked toward the door, grabbing a towel that was on one of the chairs that he washed before all this started. He slung it around the back of his neck and opened the door, "I shouldn't be too long." He called back, closing the door.
Etrus didn't reply, instead, she went over to one of the counters that had a variety of vegetables on it. Using the knowledge she had she prepared them on two plates before going back to the rabbit and taking it off the spit, preparing it with the vegetables.
As if he knew, Naruto walked through the door with his clothes in hand and the towel around his waist, just as Etrus placed the plates on the table.
"Smells delicious as always." He commented as the smell of food entered his nostrils.
"Thank you. Now eat up, I expect Wes will be phoning soon to let us know what he's found." Etrus replied, sitting at the table.
"Hm." Naruto nodded, sitting at the other chair.
The two ate in silence. Naruto had a lot to think about and this was his first opportunity since Sabaku attacked that he's had time to sort his thoughts and try and plan his next move but to do that he needed to know where Rias is and if she and the others are safe.
That silence was ended when a buzzing noise echoed throughout the room. Etrus put down her cutlery before going into one of her pockets and pulling out a smartphone. She knew exactly who it was but looked to the screen to be sure and she was right, "It's Wes." She said, handing Naruto the phone.
Naruto accepted it and tapped the screen where the answer button was before putting it to his ear, "Good to hear from you, Wes." Naruto greeted.
"Yeah same here." A male voice replied in an American accent.
"So, I'm guessing you've found something."
Wes hummed in agreement, "Yeah, took a bit of digging. You Devils really like to keep things under wraps but I was able to find out the town she's living in. I've sent the information to your phone it should get there just… about… now."
And true to his word, the phone Naruto had to his ear buzzed. Pulling it away he looked at the screen and saw that there was one new message. He lifted it back to his ear and said, "Thanks a lot, Wes."
"No problem, now if that's all I have a gala to get back too."
"What are you stealing this time?" Naruto asked in a stern voice, you see his [Knight]'s full name was Wes Carmichael, he was the sole heir to his family's fortune but got bored so became an international thief.
Naruto found him after a job went awry and revived him as his [Knight]. Naruto really doesn't approve of him being a thief but knows he can't change him so told him he is to only steal from people who deserve it and anything he steals goes to the families that are affected.
"A diamond owned by a drug boss. A kid was killed in the crossfire of this guy's gang so I offered my services."
"Ok but I gonna need weekly reports from you for the foreseeable future. I'm guessing Etrus explained the situation to you when she gave you the order earlier."
"Yeah she did and that's cool. I really need to go now my window of opportunity is closing, see ya."
With that Wes hung up the phone and Naruto looked at the screen. He tapped the message and opened it. Inside was a file and he opened that as well.
Inside was a mugshot of Rias as she looked now. She was pretty unique looking, to say the least with her long hair that was scarlet red and piercing turquoise eyes. She had a small smile on her face.
Naruto couldn't help but think that the young teen he left five years ago has grown up to be a beautiful young woman but he always knew she would grow that way if her mother was anything to go by.
He scrolled past the picture and saw the document was a school file for a Kuoh Academy, he skimmed through the contents until he found what he was looking for and sighed, "Why am I not surprised?"
"What is it, my Lord?" Etrus asked, picking up the plates and moving over to a bin.
"She's in Japan, a small town called Kuoh."
"Well from what you've told me about Lady Rias she loves Japan and its culture."
Naruto laughed, "Yeah, true. I still don't have enough strength to travel that far so we'll head out either tomorrow or the day after."
"As you wish."
"I'd also like for you to get in contact with the others and let them know what happened also tell them I want weekly updates from them."
Etrus nodded before grabbing one of the spare towels and leaving, Naruto guessed, to have a shower under the small waterfall not too far from here. Naruto himself moved back to the bed and got comfortable. He closed his eyes but never fully drifted off until he heard Etrus enter back into the room.
After that he drifted back to sleep, preparing himself for the next few days. His life just couldn't be easy, could it…
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End of Chapter 1
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Author's Notes – Hey guys, long time no read. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the new Last Son of Zepar. The old story will be deleted in 24 hours.
As you can read if you've read the last story this is entirely new. Nothing from this chapter was in the original. Also, I have lost all the documentation that I had for this story with it being a year since I last wrote. So, the peerage has changed and Naruto doesn't have a full peerage yet. I won't say with pieces he still has just yet.
If I missed anything out I'll write it in the next Author's Notes. So, until next, see ya. Also, please do leave a review on your thoughts.
