Chp 01
Rain fell onto the final battlefield; this was the battle that would decide the fate of the entire continent. On one side stood the Demon of the North: Oda Nobunaga and his armed forces. While on the other side stood cloaked in a black hooded cloak, it was The Black Mercenary along with his Empress and her armed forces.
Nobunaga fought for his own empire while The Black Mercenary fought for the rightful Empress of the entire continent both sides were unwilling to back down, this was to be their final battle the battle that would decide the true ruler of the continent. The Empress had already taken out the Tiger of the South and the Devil of the west now all that stood in her way of fully uniting the country under one flag was the Demon of the north and she was determined to stop him so as to bring peace to this war-torn land.
Rain started to fall as the two sides stared down each other, with the fall of their hands the two enormous armies charged at each other hooves of horses pounding and feet of the regular soldiers charging forward, but Nobunaga only had one target and that was The Black Mercenary, cutting through all the Imperial soldiers Nobunaga clashed blades with The Black Mercenary making a huge explosion that blew back all of the forces around them. The Black Mercenary held his own before pushing Nobunaga back and preparing himself for the next slash that would come.
"This is it, this will be the place of our final battle! Now let us come at each other Black Mercenary!" Gathering energy around him Nobunaga formed his demonic visage and gathered all the energy on his blade.
"Very well then Nobunaga let me show you my power!" Gathering his energy a giant lion appeared around and he gathered the energy on his own blade.
With both of their final attacks charged up, they charged at each other, only one would walk away from this fight and this person would ultimately determine victory.
"Demon Crusher!"
"Leo Breaker!"
Both attacks connected and in a white burst of light everyone on the battlefield was blinded.
[Flashforward]
"And that students was how the canyon at the Valley was created." the teacher said as students nodded their heads. "Now is there any questions?"
One child raised her hand. "Sensei, do you know what was Nobunaga's final words?"
"His final words were spoken to the Black Mercenary but the Black Mercenary announced it to everyone on the battlefield, Nobunaga's last words were. . . "
[Flashback]
Nobunaga now laid with his blade on his chest propped against the body of The Black Mercenary. "Looks like this is my end. . . but hear my final words cough! This war was caused by the grudges held by the previous generation, you have given me the greatest challenge that I could ever ask for, but understand my words- huff-huff the next generation must grow up with their own hatred and rivals. For them to carry their own hatred and rivals as well as our own will only spell disaster for our world, with my death the world will finally know the peace that it has sought so long for, but protect the peace that you have fought so hard to achieve for this is something worth fighting for. . ." with that said Nobunaga died with a smile on his face.
[End flashback]
"And those were Nobunaga's final words to the victors of the war." their teacher said as the children in the room took a moment to take that in while the teacher looked out the window to see people of the various races walking among each other as though they had known each other for a long time. Elves walked alongside Neocolom and humans shopping for morning groceries, most of the effects of the war had almost been eliminated due to the efforts of the Empress and the armed forces under her command, the Empress was a kind and just one and held no prejudice against the other races now living in the Empire's capital.
[Elsewhere]
A silver haired man wearing a pair of steel toed combat boots, a long white overcoat, black pants, black shirt, black fingerless gloves and in some situations he also wore a black mask covering the bottom half of his face. This man was commonly called Leon among his peers and friends among the army, but to the common public he had a much more feared name of the Black Mercenary the man to defeat Oda Nobunaga and most loyal supporter of the Empress.
But among the more inner circles of the council and army he was also known to have been in a relationship with the Empress, though Leon has denied it the Empress of the other hand couldn't help but blush whenever she was asked this one simple question. So now there was a betting pool set up among the higher officers and council men as to when Leon and their Empress would finally come out and acknowledge their relationship.
Right now however Servants and soldiers of various races were scrambling around the palace as Leon walked into the Palace.
"Where is she!"
"Guards Guards! Find Empress-sama at once!"
Before the guards could be sent out along with the rest of the army, Leon raised his arm to stop them. "Leon Taisa/Colonel!"
Leon rubbed his head in frustration as he felt a headache come from this event, recently due to the coming festival the Empress had gone missing quite a few times just to train and get herself back to fighting standard so as to be presentable to the other people in the nation.
"Don't worry all of you I'll go and get Empress-sama back, I know where she's gone." Leon replied as he took off on a horse that a guard was about to ride. 'Empress-sama. . . why are you doing this? Is it because . . . No I can't think like that she is going to run a country having me by her side will only complicate things.'
[A lake with a training ground at the side]
A girl with pink hair and a symbol on her forehead was training with her sword, performing strikes that seemed alright to the untrained eye but to the trained eye, the strikes being performed were not being done very well and some of the strikes also left the sword user open to enemy strikes.
"It seems you're getting better Empress-sama." Turning around she saw Leon clapping his hands together while a horse was tied next to a tree branch.
"Leon. . . you were here? What did you see?" she shyly asked.
"Long enough to see that you've made quite a few mistakes in your stance and execution." Leon replied as he took a step forward and helped adjust her stance before copying the stance she stood in and finished the execution, she tried her best to follow it bringing a smile to Leon's face as well as a blush to hers.
"That was pretty good Empress-sama, now are you ready to go back?" Leon said as he turned back to his horse only for the Empress to grab onto his hand. "Leon, please call me Renfa when we're alone, I want it be just like it was back then when we could spend more time together. . . Naruto." Right after the fight with Nobunaga the Black Mercenary had unmasked himself to Renfa, and it was here that Naruto told her all about himself, where he came from, why he was here and most importantly his own situation.
But even with his situation Renfa didn't care she loved Naruto with all of her heart and nothing could ever change that.
"Renfa. . ." Leon said as he brought her to a tree and set her next to it. "No Naruto, I don't want to hear it. I love you, why can't you accept it." Renfa pressed her head into Leon's figure knocking both of them to the ground. "I-I'm sorry Renfa but my past. . . I don't want to put the Empire in danger not after what we've been through."
"Naruto please! That village of yours will never find you if you stay here, I love you. Please Naruto." both of them inched closer to each other until their lips finally touched in their first kiss since that day. Renfa's kiss was forceful as she forced herself onto Naruto, Naruto in the end gave in and gave her the kiss that she wanted.
[Minutes later]
Renfa now sat against Naruto her head resting against his chest as both of them took in the sights of the old lake where they first met. "Naruto?"
"Yeah Renfa?"
"I was wondering if you could make one of you pies for me again?" she asked getting a raised eyebrow from Naruto but he decided to go along with it.
"Of course Renfa, I'll make one just for you." Naruto promised, "I'd like that Naruto. . ." Renfa slowly fell asleep as her fatigue caught up to her.
With Renfa asleep Naruto carried her in his arms and unhooked his horse from the tree and rode back to the palace.
Along the way Naruto was lost in his own thoughts, thoughts that he would have loved to forget.
[Flashback in third person format]
It all began when he was 12 years old, in the course of that year he had a neglectful sensei, a self proclaimed prodigy and a rabid fangirl, all of which made his life a living hell, his sensei always being late and blowing him off to train the self proclaimed prodigy, the rabid fangirl always hitting him for no good reason and finally that self proclaimed prodigy always puffing his chest out like it meant something.
When it came time for his promotion exam he thought he had finally gotten a better teacher in the form of the 'great' toad sage, strongest of the three legendary ninja's that fought against Hanzo the salamander. Of course this teacher sucked as much as the last one did only teaching him how to summon toads and then not allow him to use it in the promotion exam.
And all the shit finally culminated in a mission where he had to retrieve his team-mate from falling into enemy hands even though they had all the right to kill him where he stood, but nonetheless he went on the mission and fought that prick at the Valley of the End. Bringing him back he was hoping that this would finally give him the recognition that he wanted, but like everything before his life went to complete shit after that.
The villagers attacked him for bringing his teammate back in such a condition; his 1st teacher berated him and called him trash for harming his teammate to such a degree, the pink haired girl he had a crush on hit him for bringing her love back in such a horrible condition, while the lavender eyed girl that he fought for during the promotion exam called him a monster for harming his teammate.
The lady Hokage was just like everyone else, berating him and then she the civilian council and even the fire daimyo banished him for harming his teammate to such a degree, it was at this moment that he finally had an Epiphany (Sudden realization), if he wanted recognition what was he doing in a village where his fame would only be known among the populace that would never have recognized it wouldn't he rather have his name spread all over the world.
So taking his banishment in stride he left the village and traveled to the western country where he could cultivated his skills as well as his fame, along the way to the western country he was able to contact the fox and due to its guilt for ruining his life, the Kyuubi sacrificed himself to become a sword and not just any sword, the blade was a nice golden color, with his sacrifice he also gained the skills to control his inner energy.
Before the Kyuubi sacrificed itself, Naruto asked that he remove his whisker marks as well as change his natural hair color.
With the Kyuubi's sacrifice he also gained it's memories, he learned of his parents, the promises made to them from the various clan heads, but that proved inconsequential Naruto Uzumaki the ninja was gone and so he adopted the name Leon or his more well known name the Black Mercenary and traveled the western country dressed in a long black cloak with a hood that covered his head (Organization XIII outfit) and he made a name for himself by fighting in the many wars that took place in the western country before coming under the flag of Renfa but you know all about that.
[End flashback]
After riding for a while Leon finally arrived at the Palace entrance where he silenced all of the servants as well as the guards showing them the sleeping Renfa sleeping in his arms, the servants had to keep their sigh in so as not to have Leon's glare directed at them. Walking upstairs Leon placed her on her bed and tucked her in and walked away but not before he placed a small kiss on her forehead, this made Renfa's body curl up.
Leon left the room with a small smile on his face and headed towards the market to buy the ingredients that he would need to prepare the pie, after buying the ingredients he spent the entire night inside the kitchen carefully making the pie and watching over the flame to ensure that it would turn out the way that Renfa wanted.
[The next day]
Renfa woke up to the smell of something that smelled just heavenly, grabbing a robe that laid on a chair she put it on and proceeded downstairs where she found Leon setting a table with a pie just for her. "Leon is this pie for me?"
"Of course Renfa you asked for it didn't you." Renfa nodded as she took a seat at the head of the table and Leon placed a piece of the pie on a plate for her, taking a fork Renfa cut off a section of the pie and ate it, her face growing more red as she chewed before she finally let out a sigh of pleasure. "Wow, it's just like it was all that time ago."
Leon gave her a smile. "Well I'm glad that it's still up to your expectations Renfa. Now if you'll excuse me I'll let you have your breakfast." Leon clapped his hand as servants came in and served Renfa her breakfast while Leon headed towards the officers lounge to give them the other pie that he made.
[Officers lounge]
Leon stepped in only to be alerted to the presence of one of his long time friends. "Yo L-Taisa! Wow is that pie for us?"
"Sigh Eugene. . ." Leon walked over to the center table and placed it down and allowed everyone to grab a piece.
"Wow Leon-Taisa's pie is the best!"
"Mm-hm, Leon-Taisa tell us your secret." a soldier asked.
"What's there to tell, the secret ingredient. . . is love." all of the soldiers in the room fell to the ground with a sweat drop at that.
"Taisa!"
Eugene came around and draped his arm around Leon's shoulder. "Relax everyone! What L-Taisa means is simple, there is no secret ingredient that he uses all you have to do is cook with love that comes from your heart and you'll make a good dish, right L?" Leon nodded his head as all of the officers in the room thought about it and nodded their head in return.
"And we can all also thank Empress-sama for the pie, since L-Taisa only cooks it for her." This made Leon blush up a little. "Eu-Eugene!"
"Just joking, just joking." Eugene replied. 'It's not like it's some kind of big secret, everyone in the room knows this. . .'
"Yeah to the Empress!" one officer shouted out and raised his glass to the air which the other officers followed.
It was at this moment Leon raised his own glass into the air. "In commemoration of the festival that will be coming soon I would like to raise a glass to those who died in the war."
"To the fallen!"
"To those who will never be forgotten!"
"To all those who gave their lives for this peace!"
"Their sacrifice will always be remembered!" All of the officers in the room downed their drinks and gave a moment of silence for the fallen before they cleaned up after themselves and went about their duties.
Eugene went off to supervise the Palace guards while Leon reported to the council room where Renfa was.
Leon walked out into the council room and took his spot next to Renfa, where she greeted him with a smile and he did the same making her blush and whispered into her ear. "Don't worry I'm here for you."
"Thank you Leon."
"Now presenting to her Royal highness, and envoy from the Fire Capital!" both Renfa and Leon's eyes widened when they heard that, Leon leaned down to her ear. "Don't worry just play it like any visit from a foreign visitor they don't know anything."
Renfa nodded and the envoy walked into the room and bowed before the Empress. "Great Empress of the Western Empire I come to you with a request from my lord the Fire Daimyo as well as the Wind Daimyo." the envoy held out a scroll which Leon proceeded to take it and passed it over to Renfa.
"Dear, Empress-sama
I the Fire Daimyo of the fire country would like to formally invite you to an alliance meeting alongside me and the Wind Daimyo, here we would like to possibly make an alliance with your country for trade.
Yours sincerely
The Fire Daimyo."
Renfa finished the letter and passed it over to the other councilors while the envoy was escorted out of the room so that they could decide if they would go along with it, while Leon also left the room so as to give them the privacy that they needed.
[Minutes later]
The Envoy and Leon walked back into the room as the council has already made their decision. "Very well then we of the council along with the Empress have decided to visit the Fire capital so as to discuss a possible treaty between our countries."
"Thank you, if I may take my leave so as to tell my Daimyo the news." the councilors allowed the envoy to go off and send whatever letter he need while Renfa looked at Leon and he saw the spark that she wanted to talk to him later on.
[With the Fire Daimyo]
He had just received a letter via bird that the Empress had accepted his invitation so he turned to face his own councilors. "The supposed Empress of the west has accepted our invitation, so we must ensure that her arrival here will be the best we can offer before we drain her 'Empire' of all that it has."
"That is true Daimyo-sama, such a country inhabited by half-humans should not be allowed to live, shall I send the message off to the Hokage now?"
"Of course make sure that the Shinobi that she sends are her best, both male and female for the party that we will hold after we get the alliance signed."
"Very well Daimyo-sama." the messenger left to deliver the message while the Fire Daimyo turned to his military generals. "Lei-san where does our army currently stand?"
"Well Daimyo-sama with all of Konoha's Shinobi by our side we number at approximately 690,000 soldiers without the Shinobi, our samurai army numbers at 600,000."
"Good, good have all of them ready for combat if our alliance does not come to pass than we shall take what we want from the Western Empire when they least suspect it."
"By your will Daimyo-sama."
[With the Hokage]
She had just received the letter from the Daimyo and so she called in the Konoha 11.
"Alright now that all of you are here, I just received a letter from the Fire Daimyo and he has just assigned all of you a SS-class mission."
"And what is that Hokage-sama?"
"In about a weeks time the Empress of the Western Empire will be visiting the Fire Daimyo's palace to discuss terms for a possible alliance between our country, Wind country and the Empire itself. The Fire Daimyo wants the male Shinobi to try and court the Empress so that we can lull this supposed Empire into a false sense of security before we take it for our own."
"That'll be a real simple mission." Kiba said. "But why are the girls here Tsunade-sama?"
"Well you'll need dates for the party that will happen afterwards, so the girls will be joining you there as well."
"Very well then Hokage-sama." The Konoha 11 replied as they left the room.
"Tsunade I've got news for you." A voice from behind her said, turning around she saw Jiraiya squatting by the window.
"What is it Jiraiya? Do you have news on the demon brat?"
"Yes I do, one of my contacts in the west said that they spotted him at a hotel but he never left it, and that was all I got at the moment."
"Alright then Jiraiya I'll just send a little something over to the Fire Daimyo telling him to ask that Empress to surrender Naruto to us as one of the conditions for this alliance."
"That would be a good idea, he's got to pay for what he's done." Tsunade nodded and turned back to her Sake.
[With the Empire]
The convoy was all ready to set off to the Fire capital with Leon and Eugene leading at the front with soldiers at the back, side and front, Leon slowed his horse down and flipped open the cloth cover to the Empress's carriage. "Don't worry Renfa, nothing will happen to you as long as I'm here." he assured her.
"Thank you Leon and nothing will happen to you while I am Empress." Leon gave her a thank you smile.
"Alright everyone forward march and watch out for any trouble."
"Hai Taisa!" the soldiers shouted as they rode off towards the Fire Capital.
And we're done, with the Redux chapter 1 of Captain of the guard, So I honestly don't have much to say, except like before Naruto is now Leon and looks like Leonhardt from Record of agarest war while Eugene is the same Eugene from Zero because I like his character and the Empress is Renfa from Koihime musou. So yeah leave a review if you like it. Remember more reviews = faster updates.