Naruto: Path of Radiance
Mercenary arc
"Fire emblem." Normal speech
'Fire emblem.' Normal thought
"Fire emblem." Biju and transformed Laguz speech
'Fire emblem.' Biju and transformed Laguz thought
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING.
Chapter 2: Pirates aground
When Naruto came to he was lying on a bed in some kind of fort and sitting next to the bed was Mist who smiled when she saw that Naruto was awake and she ran towards the door and opened it.
"Tou-san, he's awake." She yelled and shortly after came a man with brown hair, a dark green tunic, a shoulder guard on his left shoulder and a yellow cape came through the door.
"I'm glad to see that you're awake. Mist you can go now." The man said and Mist left the room before the closed the door behind him.
"I'm Greil, the Commander of the Greil mercenaries." The man said as he walked towards the bed that Naruto was on and he sat down where Mist had been sitting earlier "So, I heard that you saved my daughter and her friend."
"I guess you could say that." Naruto said as he got up in a sitting position "Name's Naruto by the way, Uzumaki Naruto. Shinobi of Konohagakure no sato."
"What's a shinobi?" Greil asked.
"It's another word for ninja." Naruto said.
"Titania told me that you took out several bandits on your own and you even used weapons. That's pretty unusual for any Laguz." Greil said.
"Laguz?" Naruto asked, not getting the term.
"You're a Laguz and you don't even know it?" Greil asked shocked.
"Well no, I've never even heard that word before." Naruto said.
"Well Laguz are people like you, some of them have tails and others have wings and they usually fights in their transformed state." Greil explained.
"Transformed state?" Naruto asked.
"You don't even know that?" Greil asked before sighing heavily.
Phoenicis, royal palace
In the throne room of the royal palace in Phoenicis, the country of Hawks was Tibarn talking to a man with blond hair, white robes and large, majestic wings. This was Reyson, the Heron prince of Serenes forest. As they were talking, the doors suddenly burst open and a Hawk came running in.
"Tibarn-sama, the boy is awake!" The Hawk yelled and Tibarn and Reyson immediately headed to the infirmary to find out how it was possible for a Phoenix to be alive after all this time.
When they got there, they saw that the boy was sitting in his hospital bed and his pouch which oddly enough had weapons in it were on a table next to the bed.
"So, you're finally awake. You had us worried there for a second." Tibarn said as he approached the boy.
"Where am I? How did I get here? And who the heck are you?" The boy outright demanded as he stood up to his feet.
"Hey watch your tongue kid, you're in the presence of Tibarn-sama, king of Phoenicis." The captain of the soldiers that had been assigned to guard the kid said.
"Stand down." Tibarn ordered and the captain as well as all of his men took a step back as the captain ushered a "Yes, sir:"
"As for your questions kid, I'm the king of this island country of ours, name's Tibarn and this here is Reyson, prince of the Herons." Tibarn said as he gestured to Reyson at the last part "You're in Phoenicis, the country of Hawks and as for how you got here. I don't really know, but what I do know is that me and two of my men found you in the middle of the ocean. Now what's your name?"
"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke stated bluntly.
"Alright then Sasuke, I would like to know how it is that you Phoenix's are still alive." Tibarn said.
"Phoenix?" Sasuke asked.
"You don't know what you are? Have you heard the term Laguz then?" Tibarn asked.
"No." Sasuke stated bluntly "I'm from the other side of the desert of death."
Tibarn and Reyson were surprised by this and they then proceeded to explain everything about Laguz to Sasuke.
Crimea, Greil's retreat
Greil had told Naruto all he could about Laguz or rather as much as he could explain, being a Beorc, though Naruto found it weird that Greil would know the proper term for Beorcs considering that almost all Beorcs has forgotten that term and are calling themselves humans, which Naruto learned was originally an insult that many Laguz still used.
Naruto had also agreed that at least until he found his friends, he'd join the Greil mercenaries, it wasn't that much of a job change anyway. Mercenaries and ninja are practically the same, ninja are only stronger.
Naruto walked out of the fort and Mist and Rolf ran over to him.
"Hey, Naruto-san. Could you teach us those techniques you used when fighting the bandits?" Rolf asked enthusiastically.
"Sure, I guess, but you'll have to learn how to use chakra first." Naruto replied.
"Chakra?" The two kids asked in complete unison.
"It's the energy that shinobi uses." Naruto said.
"Could you teach us to use it?" Mist asked, but before Naruto could reply…
"Unfortunately, that'll have to wait." The three turned around to see Titania coming out of the fort "Naruto-san will be coming with me, Ike-san, Shinon-san and Gatrie-san on a mission."
"Hold it, I'm not going on a mission with that…that thing." Shinon said as he pointed at Naruto who frowned.
"You're going on a mission with him whether you like it or not!" Titania said.
"What's the mission?" Naruto asked.
"A port town named Talma has asked us to take care of some pirates that's hanging around there." Titania said.
"So we're supposed to stop the pirates before they do anymore harm?" Naruto asked and Titania nodded. Naruto then turned to Mist and Rolf.
"Sorry, but I promise that I'll teach you as soon as we get back, Dattebayo." Naruto said before walking after the others.
Crimea, Port Talma
Titania, Ike, Naruto, Shinon and Gatrie walked in through Talma's gates and they could easily see the pirate ship that was docked.
Gatrie had blond-almost brown hair, he had heavy blue armor and was using a lance.
"That's the pirate ship in question, isn't it?" Titania asked an old man.
"Aye. They sailed into port a few days ago and have been causing trouble ever since. I pray that you and your companions can drive them away." The old man said.
"I understand. We'll do all we can." Titania said.
"Feathering sea scum is like shooting apples off a tree. Let's do the job and get out of here." Shinon said.
"Ho, Deputy Commander! You want standard thunder and lightning maneuvers here?" Gatrie asked.
"Eh…Thunder and lightning?" Ike asked.
"Yeah! I crash into them like thunder and Shinon-san rains arrows down on 'em like lightning!" Gatrie explained.
"Yeah, that sounds like a stupid plan." Naruto said.
"And what do you suggest we do, sub-human?" Shinon asked.
"Me? Oh, nothing, that plan just seems pretty straight forward." Naruto said.
"Naruto-san since you're a ninja, I would like to know if you have any special techniques." Titania asked.
"Oh, well, There's Kage Bunshin no jutsu, where I creates several exact copies of myself and I also have a jutsu called Rasengan, where I form a ball of spiraling chakra in my palm." Naruto said.
"Don't you mean your paw?" Shinon asked though Naruto simply ignored him.
"And I can also do the Kuchiyose no jutsu, where I summon an animal that I have a contract with. In my case, toads." Naruto said.
"How would toads be of any help?" Ike asked.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you met chief toad, he's even taller than the trees and he's got a huge sword." Naruto said.
"Okay, Shinon-san and Gatrie-san will go in first and soften up the enemy first, and then I and Naruto-san will head for the ship to finish off the captain." Titania said and everyone but Ike nodded.
"What should I do?" Ike asked.
"You could come with us." Naruto suggested and Titania nodded in agreement.
They then moved a little further into the town as the old man walked back to his house and Titania turned to the others.
"Are you all ready?" She asked and the other four nodded "Greil Mercenaries, move out."
Everyone got their weapons ready and Shinon raised an eyebrow at Naruto who took out a kunai.
"I've never seen nor heard of a sub-human that uses weapons before." Shinon said.
"Well, there's gotta be a first for everything." Naruto said.
Gatrie and Shinon then headed towards some off the pirates and Gatrie rammed straight into them and Shinon fired several arrows at them.
Up on the ship's deck was several prates and suddenly came a pink haired girl in red armor riding in on a horse with wings, making it able to fly.
"Hey! You! Boat monkey! You tricked me, didn't you?" The girl said.
"Tricked ye? What a vile and nasty thing that is to be sayin'. Don't ye agree, matey?" "The pirate captain, Havetti said.
"Yar, that I do! There be nothing but honest pirates aboard this ship, missy." One of the other pirates said.
"You said you knew the whereabouts of my older brother. That's why I came all the way to your ship." The girl said.
"Aye, and we do know! He was onboard for a while, and then…do ye recall where he went, matey?" Havetti said.
"Yar, that I do. He was a penniless oaf, so we tossed his worthless carcass into the rolling waves. Yar har ho." The other pirate said.
"My…my brother? That's horrid!" the girl said
"Horrid? Did ye say horrid? Yer scurvy brother was the horrid one! He lost a game o' chance, he did. If ye lose, ye must pay… and the scallywag tried to cheat me! By Shanty Pete he did!" the pirate said.
"Arr, calm yerself, me hearty!" Havetti said before continuing "After all, his darling sister's come to pay us a visit. What say ye work off yer brother's debt?"
"What say I run you through with my lance and call it a day?" The girl said.
"Yo ho har. It matters not that ye be a pegasus knight, lassie." The other pirate said.
"A wee minnow like yerself is no match for us sea dogs! Prepare yourself, ye flying wench." Havetti said.
"Pfff. I'm not afraid of you, clambake! If your axe is as dull as your wit, this will be over in no time!" The girl said before flying towards the other side of the deck.
Naruto noticed an open door and went inside to see if there were any pirates there, but there didn't seem to be though there was a man there with blue hair, a small red mark on his forehead, pointy ears, brown clothes and a white cape.
"This town seems quite unruly, wouldn't you say? Is it always this dangerous?" The man said.
"No, I don't think so, it's because of the pirates, but don't worry we were hired to take them out." Naruto said.
"Oh…so it's plagued by pirates, is it? I see. That would explain why the people here seem so anxious." The man said before looking over Naruto "You seem so very…young. And you claim you were hired to rid the town of these pesky pirates?" He then took some kind of bottle with a blue liquid in it and gave it to Naruto as he continued "Here, perhaps you should take this. It might help you if you run into trouble with the pirates. But do hurry. I came all this way here to see the world famous fish market, and I'll never be able to do that with those ruffians around. Best of luck to you."
The man then walked out and Naruto noticed something.
'That guy didn't smell like a Beorc.' Naruto thought as he also left and closed the door behind him.
Titania rode up to a group of pirates and cut through them with her axe and in no time at all the pirates were lying there, dead on the ground.
Ike ran towards another pirate and tried to kill him, but the pirate parried his sword and pushed him back so that he fell down on the ground, however just as the pirate was about to kill him, an arrow hit him just between the eyes.
After killing the pirate that had almost managed to do away with Ike, Shinon fired several arrows at the pirates that were guarding the walkway up to the ship's deck.
Gatrie thrusted his lance through one of the pirates before pulling it back out and swinging it into another one hard enough to break several bones.
Naruto jumped over a pirate and as he landed behind the guy, he thrusted his kunai into the guy's back, killing him. Naruto then dodged the axe of another pirate and threw the kunai into the pirate's forehead, killing him.
When Shinon had killed the last of the pirates that were around the walkway up to the ship's deck, Titania, Naruto and Ike ran up while Shinon and Gatrie staid down to take care of any other prates that were in the town.
After getting up on the deck Naruto saw the girl that was riding on the flying horse and she was currently fighting off several pirates and she seemed to have a lot of problems doing it.
Naruto ran towards the pirates that had the girl surrounded and he easily killed all of them.
"I didn't expect to see a Laguz here." The girl said, surprising Naruto that she referred to Laguz as Laguz and not sub-humans "I'm Marcia by the way, Marcia of the pegasus knights in service of the Apostle of Begnion, and who might you be?"
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, shinobi of Konohagakure no sato, though I'm currently with the Greil Mercenaries." Naruto introduced himself before continuing "You should get out of here, I'll hold 'em off."
"Thanks, I'm in your debt." Marcia said, having realized that there was no way she could've taken on all of those pesky pirates so she had to flee for now.
'That mark on his headband, where have I seen it before?' Marcia asked herself before she remembered, not long before she left to search for her brother, she saw Prime Minister Sephiran-sama with a man that had that same mark on his headband, she looked back to get one last glance at the blond Laguz 'Maybe they know each other.'
Titania rode up some stairs and swung her axe at one of the pirates, killing him.
Ike ran up the stairs after Titania and sliced his sword through a pirate before running up some more stairs to where Havetti was standing.
"Give back what you've stolen from the good folk here and set sail." Ike said when he had gotten up the stairs.
"Yahar har harrrr. Now I know yer tetched in the head, lassie. We show 'em our axes 'an say "arrrr," and the gold and grub come rainin' down. We'll not be givin' this up." Havetti said.
"I see…looks like we'll have to rely on force of arms, then." Ike said before charging at the pirate.
Havetti blocked Ike's sword and pushed him towards the edge of the deck trying to force Ike over board, but then Naruto suddenly came up behind Havetti, killed the other two pirates that were up there and thrusted his wind chakra enhanced kunai through Havetti's back and through his heart.
"Are you alright?" Naruto asked as Havetti fell down on the deck.
"Yeah, thanks." Ike replied.
"Ya know, you shouldn't go overboard like that, it's not a very good idea. Take it from someone with experience." Naruto said as he still remembered his first C turned A-ranked mission where he tried to take on Zabuza, the demon of the hidden mist.
After the pirates had finally been defeated, Titania, Ike, Naruto, Shinon and Gatrie walked to the gates of the town and there they saw the people of the town waiting for them.
"We've driven of all the pirates. Your people will suffer no more indignities at their hands." Titania said.
"Oh, that is joyful news. Here is your pay as promised." The old man from earlier said.
"Thank you very much. And if you find yourself in need again, do not hesitate to send word." Titania said.
"Of course, of course. All of you put on a most marvelous show, such combat skill. To be honest, I was expecting Commander Greil to be here today. When I saw just you, nothing more than, no offence, a band of children, even though one of you is a Laguz…well, I will admit to being a tad nervous." The old man said and Naruto was surprised that the guy didn't refer to him as a sub-human.
"I apologize for troubling you. Unfortunately Commander Greil had other pressing matters to attend to." Titania said.
"Oh, no. don't apologize. There's no need. After all, you got rid of those brigands, and you did it impeccably well." The old man said.
"It's a fine compliment you pay, sir, but it was our pleasure." Titania said.
"As a matter of fact, you're more than good enough to be in the royal army if you so desired. Especially your Commander Greil. He's far and away better than most any general I've seen hereabouts." The old man said and he paused a little before continuing "Er…what I mean to say is…don't you think running off pirates is a bit…beneath you?"
"That's not…" Titania started, but the old man cut her off.
"Don't get me wrong, now. You certainly helped all of us simple folk out. Even so, it seems to me the proper place for you and your Commander Greil is in the service of the Crimean throne. Well, that's what this old man thinks." The old man said.
"We and Commander Greil are quite satisfied with the work we do now." Titania said.
"You've nary a selfish bone among you. Well then, rest assured we'll speak again if any problems arise. Thank you again." The old man said before walking off and Ike noticed that Titania seemed to be thinking about something.
"Titania-taichou? Is something amiss?" He asked and Titania was knocked out of her train of thoughts.
"No, of course not. Our mission is complete, and that's all that matters. You did well today, every one of you." Titania said.
"Pah. Jobs like this barely makes a dent in my incurable boredom. It's like that old buzzard said, there's better work out there. Something with a challenge." Shinon said.
"Shinon-san." Titania said.
"I'm joking. J-O-K-ing."
"Come, Titania-taichou. Be honest. Don't you find the work we do to be a bit…disheartening? Unglamorous?" Gatrie said.
"What? You too, Gatrie-san? What's gotten into you?" Titania asked.
"Please. Look, we're not a band of money hungry recruits. We're professionals, and we're very good at what we do. Shinon-san and I have discussed this at length. All of this mundane mercenary work is unworthy of us. We're wasting our talents." "Gatrie said.
"I see. You're telling me that you think Commander Greil is mismanaging us. Do I have that right?" Titania said.
"Whoa, hold it right there. That's not what I'm saying at all." Gatrie said.
While this little conversation was going on Naruto walked over to the old man to ask him something.
"Hey, jiji. Why'd you refer to me as a Laguz and not a sub-human?" He asked.
"Oh, when you get to my age, you stop worrying about such silly things as the hatred between our two species." The old man started before continuing after a small pause "Besides, you're not like most of the other Laguz. I could see that at first glance."
"Naruto-san, we're gonna leave you behind if you don't hurry." Titania yelled.
"Coming taichou." Naruto yelled back as he started running back to the others and he waved goodbye to the old man "Bye jiji."
"What a nice young lad." The old man said to himself before getting back to whatever he was doing before.
Naruto caught up with the others at the gate and they headed back towards Greil's retreat.
"Hey Shinon-san, Gatrie-san, if you two want a challenge, you could always come to Konoha and become shinobi." Naruto said, having heard enough of their earlier conversation with Titania.
Suddenly Shinon imagined himself, dressed in the exact same clothes as Naruto, jumping from tree to tree as he was chasing an enemy ninja and he threw a kunai at his opponent and hit him in the neck.
Gatrie on the other hand imagined himself in Naruto's outfit, being surrounded by beautiful half-naked women.
But Naruto smiled as he imagined them in their normal attire, being chased by a pissed of Tsunade through the streets of Konoha, Shinon for insulting her and Gatrie from hitting on her.
Chapter preview
Naruto "Good Mist-chan, you've got the Henge no jutsu down. Now it's your turn Rolf." (Rolf turns into a fat version of Shinon)
Sakura "I'm finally out of the desert."
Soren "A few days ago Dain launched an attack on the Crimean capital of Melior."
Sakura "Excuse me sir, but could you tell me where I am."
Ha'ar "You're in Talrega, south in Daein."
Greil "Next time on Naruto: Path of Radiance: Roadside battle."
Character status
Naruto: Class: genin.
Level: 8
Techniques: Henge, Kawarimi, Oroike, Harem, Kage Bunshin, Uzumaki Naruto rendan, Kuchiyose, Rasengan.
Weapons: kunai, shuriken.
Race: Fox Laguz.
Ike: class: ranger.
Level: 6
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: iron sword.
Race: Beorc.
Titania: Class: Paladin.
Level: 3
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: steel axe.
Race: Beorc.
Boyd: Class: fighter.
Level: 4
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: iron axe.
Race: Beorc.
Oscar: Class: lance knight.
Level: 5
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: iron lance.
Race: Beorc.
Rhys: Class: priest.
Level: 4
Techniques: Heal.
Weapons: heal staff.
Race: Beorc.
Shinon: Class: sniper.
Level: 3
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: steel bow.
Race: Beorc.
Gatrie: Class: Knight.
Level: 9
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: steel lance.
Race: Beorc.
A/N: And that's it, next chapter we'll see what's happened to Sakura and the war will finally begin. Also it seems that Naruto'll teach Mist and Rolf how to use chakra as well as some basic jutsus. Now until next time.