Yo, Got chapter two ready to go! Though in hindsight I probably should have just merged this with chapter one, but what's done is done. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer.
(Marshalanime does not own Naruto or Fire Emblem)
The deck aboard Naruto's ship was alive with chatter and footsteps blurring into one another as its crew scurried to and fro preparing for the second wave. It was their go to strategy for dealing with pirate ships spotted off i the distance, three rotating waves of wyvern riders along with their passengers. Every forty-five minutes the next group would take off to relieve the current group and allow them to get some rest and medical care while denying their foes the same luxury. As such the next line up of wyverns were currently being prepared for take off after being brought up from below deck. At the same time a portion of the deck was being set up for immediate medical support should any of the returning fighters require it.
With so many of Naruto's men on deck now something of note could be seen. Watching from the sidelines as everyone moved around handling their assigned tasks one could begin to separate them into two distinctive groups. The first, smaller group was made up of what you'd expect, elite soldiers who've gone through years of military training and carried out their tasks thusly. The second and much larger group seemed to lack such discipline. This can lead to small arguments from time to time.
"What do you think you're doing? Are you planning to get me killed!?" one of the wyvern knights getting ready for take off shouted at the man fastening her mount's saddle. She was busy looking over her weapons to make sure they were battle ready and so she left preparations with her wyvern to the others, like she usually did, but upon returning she found that the usual man who fitted her saddle had been called off for some other task. The man brought in to fill his position wasn't up to her standards.
"Wad' ya mean, lassy? You sayin' somethin' ain't right with me handywork?" the man defensively responded as he sent the woman a stink eye, his hands leaving the strap he was working on.
"And here I thought you were stupid. Guess it's true that looks can be deceiving." the woman sarcastically retorted as she made her way up to the man.
"Wah?! You gotta lot of nerve there la-gha!" the man, being taken back by her words, started as he strode toward her, only to be pushed aside by the wyvern knight.
"This is a complete mess!" the woman snapped as she came up to her saddle and started to unfasten the straps. "This might work for some mule you ride across the mountain but this is a WYVERN! I can't ride out with a saddle like this! I'd be falling out of the sky long before reaching the enemy!" the woman told the man as she focused on correcting the work that had been done. Clearly she was annoyed that she had to waste her time with this.
"Lass, yer startin' to leave a real bitter taste in my mouth" the man slowly breathed out, his sword hand starting to twitch as he glared at this 'unreasonable' woman. Before he could even think of doing something stupid the man felt a hand firmly take hold of his right shoulder. Slowly glancing over his shoulder to see who as stupid enough to butt in here the man's glare quickly morphed into one of terror.
"We're short on blades, head down below with the others and fetch some will ya" a man a head taller than the one previously glaring at the wyvern knight instructed, his one lone eye piercing into the man before him with one clear warning 'Don't be an idiot'.
"Y-Yes sir! On it!" the shorter man immediately sputtered out before taking off to carry out his task, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste.
Watching the man flee the one eyed man had to force down a sigh, "Some things never change." This man had garnered several names in his lifetime but most of them he'd gladly turned his back on months ago, now he preferred his original name just fine, Halstead. Halstead was a somewhat tall man with deep violet hair keep in short with roughly cut edges, mostly likely done quickly with a knife just to get it out of the way. the left side of his face from the eye up was concealed by an old piece of cloth that he had tied around as a makeshift eye-patch, though judging by the multiple scars that one could see running across that side of his face along with his half missing left ear it could be safely assumed that he lacked an eye under that bandanna. Judging by the way the scars looks they were most likely caused by some kind of wild animal at some point in his past. Like most of the others aboard the ship he wore standard Nohrian armor though in his case he had a large axe strapped to his back.
"It would seem I'm relying on you more and more as of late."
"Nah, you're imagining things." Halstead said as he turned at the waist to see Gunter approaching him. "If you know how to crack a few skulls then those lout will listen to every word you say." the man told the veteran great knight.
"Still..." Gunter started as his steps came to a stop a short distance from Halstead. Looking out over the open ocean Gunter continued "With the way the young Lord keeps gathering allies and enemies alike I feel more at ease having someone like you around."
"It was either join up with you guys or die in a hole. The choice wasn't that hard." Halstead said with a far off look in his eye.
"Hmm... Do you miss it...?" Gunter asked. After a moment of silence the older man glanced over to Halstead to see him staring at him. His gaze held no anger, or joy, or thoughtfulness, it was simply a look. "Your old live... do you miss it?" Gunter asked once more.
"Parts of it sure..." Halstead answered as his lone eye turned to the vast sky above, "Just parts..."
For a moment the two of them just stood their with the noise of the deck falling into the background.
"Lord Naruto and the first wave are returning to the ship! I repeat..." the voice of one of the ships watchmen swept over the crew as nearly every head turned to see if they could confirm for themselves that the prince was returning.
"Already?" Gunter voiced his mild surprise as his head turned to look for the closest watchman.
"Finished already? The pirates seem to get weaker every time we find them." Halstead remarked as he followed Gunter over to a young man looking out into the distance with a collapsible telescope.
"We're still fifteen minutes from deploying the second wave. If this is all it took then the quality of fighter among our quarry must be abysmal." Gunter remarked as he got the telescope from the man and looked through it himself. They were still a fair distance from the two ships where the fighting took place but sure enough he could just make out Naruto's form on the back of his wyvern as he lead the others back to their ship.
Handing the telescope back Gunter turned back to the crew. With the prince away leadership fell to him so it was up to him to have everything ready for the prince's return.
"I expect an explanation" a man, clearly trained as a samurai based off the armor he wore and the swords kept at his side, told the man kneeling in front of him. His Right leg had a sizable gash in it so standing wasn't an option and thus he was currently sitting on a crate while a healer tended to his wounds. He was not the only one injured of course, the muffled sounds of pain resonated from below deck as the rest had been rushed to more adequate healing areas after the battle had come to an end. This man however refused to seek proper medical care until his responsibilities were seen too. He was put in charge of this mission despite his growing age, he would prove to those that entrusted this task to him that they were not wrong.
Kaze, unflinching under the intense gazes of his fellow Hoshidians, kept his knelt position as he spoke. "Prince Ryoma is set to meet us at the port, there is something I need to confirm with him."
"Something you wish to confirm...?" the commander repeated, his eyes never leaving Kaze's still form. "What could possibly be so important to confirm that you would ask a Norhian prince to escort us to port without my permission?" the man asked, some of his aggravation leaking into his voice as he did so. "Have you forgotten what Nohr has done? How many they've killed, how many they've left without friends or family. Even our beloved King Sumeragi fell to they treachery along with the kidnapping of prince Corr-"
"That is what I want to confirm" Kaze interrupted, raising his head to look at his commander. The man had been taken off guard by the sudden response but chose this as a good time to reign himself in and with a short nod he implored the ninja to continue. "The man claiming to be a Nohrian prince, I believe he may be prince Corrin." Those who had been waiting for a response from the man were understandably skeptical of such a claim but non-the-less they started to whisper among themselves wondering if it really could be true.
The commander remained silent however, contemplating what they should do next. After a moment he calmly asked "Are you sure?"
"There is no doubt" Kaze told him.
Turning his attention to a soldier close to him the commander beckoned him forth. "I want a message sent to the prince. Inform him that we're willing to resupply his ship as thanks. Do not mention prince Ryoma or anything that's been discussed here. We need to ensure that they dock at the harbor." the old samurai commanded the man.
"What were you thinking my Lord?" Flora sternly questioned the man riding with her. They were approaching the ship now and the entire way back she had been on his case about excepting their request. "Why would you agree to help them after they tried to kill you? I just don't get it!"
"I keep telling you, it's not me they're angry at it's Nohr. So maybe a little kindness on my part will lighten the tension a little." Naruto told the woman sitting behind him.
"You already came to their aid once! What makes this any diffe-!" Flora was arguing when Naruto cut in.
"We'll just be seeing them to port. We don't even have to dock" Naruto told her, attempting to put her worries at ease. It didn't.
"They can't be trusted, not after that!" Flora shot back eliciting a sigh from her prince.
"I've already made my decision!" Naruto firmly told her as he turned to the side and handed the woman the reins. In the moment she took them with a bit of confusion but quickly understood what Naruto was about to too, but by then it was too late for her to object. Slipping off to the side Naruto dropped like a stone and after a few seconds the small stone tied to his waist faintly glowed. From his back sprouted a set of draconic wings, not large enough to sustain flight but more than capable of gliding him the rest of the way to the ship.
"MY LORD! We're not finished with this!" Flora shouted as she watched the young man glide away. "..." after a moment her eyes slowly turned toward the wyvern she was riding. "I don't suppose you'd chase after him, would you?" Flora asked. The silence she got in return was answer enough as the mount continued on its way to the ship.
Shortly there after Naruto was he first to reach the ship, even if just barely. Despite a few last ditch efforts in flapping his comparatively small wings the best Naruto could manage was to wrap his arms around the banister, hearing an uncomfortably loud creek as he did so but grateful that the wood held firm in the end. A few men rushed too his aid, including a young knight clad in black armor and sporting silver hair.
"Easy there Naruto, no need to rush." Silas told his friend with a smile as he helped the young prince climb over the railing.
"I wise man knows when to retreat." Naruto replied as he flopped onto deck, his wings vanishing in a swirl of water.
"Retreat?" Silas questioned with a concerned expression. They did return rather quickly after all, did they have a rough time over there?
"Oh! Nononono! bad choice in words there, my bad." Naruto quickly blurted out from his seat on the ground. "We won pretty easily what with the Hoshidians already handling them when we got there" Naruto told his friend, getting worried looks from not just Silas but the men around him as well.
"Hoshidians? You don't mean to say that's a military vessel ove-" Silas was in the process of asking when the blond hopped up to his feet and took off.
"Sorry Silas! We're making a small detour so I've gotta speak with the captain! Flora can fill you in when she lands!" Naruto called back as he ran off. Truthfully he had plenty of time to explain it to the young man but that would men standing out in the open when Flora gets there and retreating wouldn't work so well a second time.
"That guy just doesn't know how to sit still." Silas remarked as he watched the blond leave.