Disclaimer : I don't own Kingdom or Naruto

Previously..

Ketsu growled in anger "I will underestimate him no longer, find Shou Bun Kun along with the king, we must not let those two meet, find them and bring me their heads!" before the other officials and soldiers could voice their agreement, a deep voice filled with amusement spoke

"There's no need for any of that."

Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice and gasped

Ketsu was the first to regain his voice "Where on earth have you been, at such an important time?"

"KOKOKO 'Where'I was out playing with the much talked about Shou Bun Kun, so calm down, I made him suffer some, and then i killed him"

Present time…

ROYAL PALACE OF QIN

Ketsu Shi was standing in the balcony, looking down, his thoughts were interrupted by the entry of a man of average build with short shaved hair, the man was dressed in the attire of a court official, and this man was the State officer of Ketsu Shi's army, Shi Shi.

Shi Shi held his fist in a show of respect as he brought the bad news to Ketsu "The king has managed to survive, and slipped through our defenses"

"Dammit, he's resourceful" Shi Shi was surprised by the lack of anger and frustration on Ketsu's part, but he did not have to wait long to know why

"Well, whatever. The real problem, Shou Bun Kun is dead. That man was a real threat to me. Because of him I had nearly lost everything." Ketsu said, angry just by the thought of it

Shi Shi was more than a little surprised at that piece of news and he voiced it "He was a man who was well known on the battlefield, we should have been wary of him… so who on earth was the one who got him?"

Ketsu pointed down the balcony "That man."

Shi Shi looked and let out a gasp, down there was a huge and muscular man, He had long dark hair, flowing on his back, a three pronged goatee and remarkably large lips. He had tribal tattoos on his forearms and numerous scars, he wore a blue set of armor befitting for a general under a crimson cape. He also had a set of unique neck and shoulder guards on his armor, Shi Shi immediately recognized him "T-That's General Ouki"

Ketsu nodded "That Ouki, he knew we were going to mess things up, so he had his men wait outside for an ambush"

Something about all of it was not feeling right to Shi Shi "He had absolutely no interest in the fights up until now, why would he bother now of all times?"

Ketsu replied easily "Land, Shou Bun Kun's land to be precise"

Before Shi Shi could make a comment about the suspiciousness of Ouki's actions to his master, Ketsu spoke "Nevertheless, you have failed in your task, Shi Shi. I hope you are not going to catch a habit of doing it, your vicious scarlet guy was beaten with bare hands I'm hearing"

Shi Shi held his fist and bowed his head as he spoke "Don't worry Ketsu-sama, I am hearing that the man who protected the king is rather skilled, thus I have sent Muta after them"

Ketsu nodded "That guy, huh… I almost feel sorry for the King."

With Ouki

Ouki was patting his horse lightly "Come Ou, it is time to go home" the horse blowed in agreement but before Ouki could mount his horse, another man came along and bowed down while holding his fist as a respectful gesture

"Stand at ease" Ouki ordered and the man did as he was told, he was a strong and well-built man. He had long, brown, flowing hair and a thin mustache, which had swirl patterns on each side. His eyes were wide open and his face was in blank vendetta smile state, this man was the most trusted man of Ouki, his name was Tou

"What is it,Tou? I'm getting quite late you know"Ouki asked

"Sir, it would appear that the king has escaped, the assassin that was sent after him was beaten with bare hands" Tou informed

Ouki narrowed his eyes, never losing his smile for once "It would appear that this is important or you would not have bothered to stop me for this trivial information would you, Tou?" Ouki made it clear with his voice and his words that Tou should have something of worth to say next and it better be important or Tou would be the one to suffer the most in their next drill

Tou nodded "The assassin was on the brink of death, but was able to survive, and give the description of the man who beat him," Ouki saw the smile on his subordinate turn into a smirk

"According to him, it was a man with blond hair and blue eyes, he also had whisker like marks on his face"

Despite not losing its sharpness, Ouki's eyes did widen, as did his smile, he inquired"Have the officials been made aware of this, Tou?"

Tou nodded "Yes, my lord, although they don't seem to react much at all by the mention of his name. my guess is that they are not entirely aware of who he is."

Ouki nodded to that "That is probably the case, Ryo Fui had a meteoric rise, from a mere merchant to a Prime minister, and at the same time, Naruto himself did not just leave the business of warfare all those years ago, he just disappeared, as if he never existed, I was able to follow his movements for a brief time, when he pulled that 'Stunt' all those years ago in the land of Zhao, but I lost his trail once again. Add to that, the fact that he deliberately never rose through the ranks like he could have and you have enough reasons for an official to not bother to know his name"

Ouki looked at the sky as he spoke again "Nfufufu, How interesting. To think I would have a chance to meet that 'pretty boy' again"

Ouki looked at Tou as he spoke "Be vigilant about the king's movements Tou, now I have even more reasons to be on Ketsu's side"

Tou nodded as he watched his lord mount his horse and leave for his castle

For the first time in many years Ouki was excited 'it is nice that you have decided to 'grace' us with your presence, but if you truly intend to help the king reclaim his throne, then you better live up to your moniker of 'The Thousand Man Slayer' or I will send you into a world of pain for coming back in this world with a half-hearted resolve, Nfufufu!'

XXXXXXXX

TWO DAY LATER

With Naruto and group

Shin woke up rather abruptly from the sensation of being jerked, he could not register what was going on at first, but after a few moments he realized that he was in the air and that he was moving, he snapped his head in the air and was greeted with the sight of the back of the head of Naruto

Naruto felt some movement on his back and stopped in his tracks "You awake eh, Shin."

Shin asked the first that came to his mind "I was asleep?"

A panting voice came from behind him "Asleep? More like you were completely out of it."

Shin looked back to see Ten on the ground, panting heavily "What do you mean, out of it?"

Ten pointed a finger at Shin angrily "You lost consciousness and aniki has been giving you a poggy-back ever since, you have been out of it for a whole night and half a day"

Before Ten could rail on Shin some more, Naruto interrupted "Leave it Ten, the guy ran for four hours, got his ass kicked by me and then fought that assassin and not get killed,"

Naruto and Ten ignored Shin's indignant 'hey' as Ten turned her attention and her anger towards Naruto "Well I did the same, except the fighting part, I don't remember getting a piggy-back"

Naruto looked at Ten sternly "That IS on you"

Ten winced at that, but did not lose her bite "You are still on about that? What about the fact that you made us run even in the dark of the night in the middle of a forest" Ten spread her hands wide to demonstrate her point about the forest

Naruto did not lose his stern expression as he responded "That is also your fault, it's a good thing that cave has multiple exits or the whole army would be on our asses, I did not want to take any chances, so we ran. Again, not my fault that you were not sure if you were followed."

Naruto put down Shin off his back as he heard Sei call out his name, he looked ahead to see that the King was already several steps ahead

Shin and Ten followed Naruto as he approached Sei "What is it?"

Sei was still looking at a space between two large rocks as he spoke "We are close"

The space between the two rocks turned out to be a passage. Naruto, Shin and Ten followed Sei as he led them, within ten minutes they reached their destination

Ten was the first to react "Sweet! We made it."

TWO HOURS LATER

Shin was resting on a mattress as he was looking at the Sword that Hyou had given him 'Naruto-bro said that even some random nobles can't get this Sword..Hyou' BeforeShin could think anymore, Ten had called for him, not in the mood to laze around any longer Shin got up and went outside to be greeted by the sight of food…lots of food

Ten who was sitting next to Sei, said excitedly "Dinner is ready."

TWO MINUTES LATER

"THIFF *MMMM!* IF *ARGMMMM!* GOOFF! *NOM! NOM! NOM!*"

Ten had a hard time comprehending how anyone could stuff their mouth as much as Shin was doing, and still be able to talk, she was on the verge of losing it, and she did when Shin asked his question

"Hey! How come you guys are not eating anything?" Shin asked, genuinely puzzled by their behavior, the food was good

Ten took a deep breath, before she exploded "BECAUSE EATING NEXT TO A PIG MAKES ME LOOSE MY APPETITE"

Sei nodded calmly while drinking water "Exactly"

Shin knew this conversation would lead to him being some hood-rat, so he changed the topic "Hey! Where is Naruto-bro?"

Ten would have exploded again at Shin for trying to change the topic, but she was curious herself "You know, I don't know either"

Sei was the one to answer their questions "Naruto-san said that he was going to scout the area around"

Ten was a little angry at that "Man, aniki never told me his name, but the moment some royalty drops by, he gives it up, like it's not even fair."

Shin did not know what was the deal with Ten "What are you on about? Naruto-bro gave me his name the first time he met"

Ten was boderline livid now "WHAT! I take care of him for a whole year, and he does not even tell me his name, but he gives it up to some random hood rat! "

Now it was Shin who got angry "Will you stop with the whole 'Hood rat' thing, and it's not like he just gave it away, he was going on about how since I made him use a sword-" Shin was not allowed to complete his sentence as both Sei and Ten both spoke in unison

"You made him use a sword?" Ten and Sei looked at each other in surprise, but they ignored the strange coincidence and focused their attention back on Shin

Shin was getting a little uncomfortable from their stare "Well, yeah..That and also the fa-" Shin could not complete his sentence as he was interrupted by Ten

"There is no way you could have made him use a punch, much less a sword! I have seen him put grown men down with just a slap across their face, they would literally fall down by taking one of those" Ten would shudder at just the prospect of taking one of those, Ten was not sure if there was anyone who could take one of those

Shin did not like the sound of that "What? You are just making it up aren't you?" '..Come to think of it, he really did not strike me until he did, for most of our fight, he just pushed be back Hard… man those hurt'

Ten did not back down "I'm not making up anything, Aniki was not around much, but he basically said to the scums of the Kokuhi village that they are free to do anything if they can make him draw his sword. To this day I have not seen anyone last for more than ten seconds, he would just slap them and that would be the end of that"

Sei was next to show his skepticism "You could not even beat that assassin, while Naruto-san did it with his bare hands, and you want me to believe that you made him draw his sword"

Now Shin was getting pissed "Okay, first off I could have beaten that guy just fine, if Naruto-bro had not convinced me to leave it to him, then that guy would not have been alive"

Sei would have argued more, but Ten beat him to it "You must have hit your head or something, you should see a doctor"

Now Shin was really pissed "WHY YOUUU!"

THIRTY MINUTES LATER

Naruto was alarmed at the loud sounds of commotion from within the summer house, when he arrived at the source of the commotion, he was not amused, to say the least "…What the fuck are you brats doing?"

In front of Naruto was a dishelved room, in it were Shin, Sei and Ten, Sei was sitting like a royalty, calmly drinking his water, while Shin and Ten were holding each others cheek, trying to rip them off from the looks of it

Sei was the first to reply "Trying to kill each other"

Shin and Ten, both got off of each other's grip as Naruto addressed them "Seriously? That is how you are going to behave? When we have a very real chance of encountering another assassin going after our heads?"

Shin was the first to respond "Like hell, I will just cut them down" Shin boasted

Ten grouched "Yeah, like you did aniki right?"

Before Shin could respond back, Naruto whistled "Oi, Ten"

Ten looked at Naruto as he was holding some sort of strange pipe "Catch!" Naruto threw it towards Ten, who caught it barely

Ten could not even examine the strange thing as Naruto was not done speaking as he approached them, "Take these," he handed them what looked like a small jute made pouch

Ten was looking at the strange thing Naruto had brought while Shin asked the questions that everybody was thinking "What are these things?"

Naruto pointed at the pipe "That is a Blowpipe, it is a weapon used by assassins of mountains" Naruto then pointed at the pouch "That contains needles, and they are coated in tranquilizers powerful enough to knock someone out the moment it makes contact with skin apparently"

Sei already had an idea regarding the answer to his question "How did you get it"

Naruto answered his question easily "He was an assassin from the mountains"

Shin asked eagerly "What happened?"

Naruto looked up "Wellllll"

FLASHBACK

"Man, I knew I should have refused" Naruto said, clearly irritated by his current position

He was sitting atop a tree branch, looking around for any suspicious movement, and he caught one 'good grief'

Muta had been on his feet, running as fast as he could while not losing the track of his enemies; 'There is one more kid, and all of them are either running really fast, or they ran the whole night'

Muta needed to stop to catch his breath, he had been running for four hours straight and he needed a couple of minutes to rest, unfortunately, these two minutes were going to be his last

Muta was about to take out his water pouch to drink, when he saw a man with golden hair come in the view

"You an assassin? friend?" Muta was more than a little surprised at such a casual address, he was getting angry at the actions of the blond that he considered disrespectful

"You are underestimating Muta, aren't you?" Muta said angrily as he took out his trusted blowpipe

Naruto looked at his choice of weapon and nodded "Yep, can't play around with you"

Muta saw the man take a position, as if he was about to sprint but then he looked like he tripped, because he was falling…until he was not and was right in his face

Muta could not react as the man grabbed the top and the bottom of his head and turned his world upside down…rather he had turned his head upside down

'W-wha-' Muta might not have the time to understand what happened to him, but he still understood two things, one was that this was the end for him, and the second was that he understood what made Naruto so terrifying

'T-there was n-no presence in h-his att-ack at all '

Muta took his final breath with his last thought being 'What a terrifying man'

Naruto looked at the now dead man and nodded to himself "Yep, time to look at what we have here"

Flashback end

Naruto nodded "Yep, that's that"

Everyone was looking at Naruto, bewildered by his casual response

Ten was the first to voice their collective opinions "What do you mean that's that!? You can't just say all that so casually, we are talking about killing an assassin here, not discussing whether"

Naruto looked at her strangely before shrugging "I don't know what you are going on about, but I'm tired and need my rest"

Ten perked up at that "Well, I made dinner" Shin was surprised at how easily Ten forgot about everything Naruto said the moment the opportunity of serving food presented itself

There was a huge smile on Naruto's face as well "Wow, there's food here? That's awesome"

Ten was about to serve Naruto but Shin had a question he needed an answer to "Wait, how is food in here?, as well as these mattresses for that matter"

Naruto sat down, ready to dig in as he answered, "Well, maybe Shou Bun Kun made preparations before the shit went down" Naruto would have been more aware of the kind of language he was using around kids, but he knew these kids and what they had seen in their life despite being so young

Ten on in the middle of serving when it hit her "Wait, this place is in top condition, but.."

Ten looked directly looking at Sei now "You said that this place was the summer house of the king from four hundred years ago, and that it is also his burial ground, and that no one even remembers that it exists, if that is the case then why is this place in such a good condition"

Sei took a deep breath and then let out a sign "Qin's king from four hundred years ago, Mu Gong, was one of the rare benevolent lords"

Shin and ten were confused by Sei's choice of words "Rare benevolent lords?" Both Shin and Ten said in unison

Sei nodded and continued to speak "He was a man that loved people from the bottom of his heart. Even if that person happened to be a slave from an enemy country."

Shin was more than a little shocked at hearing that, he was astonished, that kind of behavior was not something he associated with a noble, let alone a king at that "Even a slave from another country?"

Sei nodded "There's also the story of when Mu Gong's war horse was killed and eaten by some savages that lived in the mountains"

Ten cringed at that part of the story "Woah, that's messed up!" Naruto did not feel like mentioning that it was not right to talk about your ancestors in a bad light, because he was enjoying his meal too much to bother doing so

Shin was very interested in the story now "So what happened? Did he wipe them all out?"

Sei shook his head in a negative "No, he gave them liquor that would taste good with horse meat"

Shin was not just puzzled, he was stumped "WHAT THE HELL? What kind of man does that"

Sei answered his question easily "That was the kind of man he was. He loved people, whether it be his citizens or savages from foreign land"

Sei stopped looking at Shin as he spoke "But, his actions would bring great blessing to Qin, for he would open the hearts of Mountain dwellers"

"Mountain dwellers huh" Naruto said while looking at the table, everyone thought that he would add to the conversation, but he didn't

Once realizing that Naruto was not going to say anything, Sei continued "The world of the mountain dwellers was one the other citizens were never to come in contact with . In China, the Qin lies farthest west of all the nations. But even farther west lies the expansive world of the mountain dwellers, the king of the mountain dwellers and Mu Gong met face to face, shaking hands…"

Sei looked straight in the eyes of Shin as he completed his sentence "When the fighting was really bad in china, and the death of a village of a more than ten thousand were wiped out, he went to the west and opened up the way to villages of hundreds of thousands"

Astonishment was visible on Shin's face "Wow"

Ten did not let the beautiful story stop her from asking her question forcefully "But what about now then? I've never heard anything good about the relationship between Qin and us, the mountain dwellers!"

Sei nodded easily "Like I said, Mu Gong was a rare man, in the end, he was the only one who cared about mountain dwellers, once Mu Gong passed away, Qin cut all the ties way with the mountain dwellers, and they returned to their own world"

Sei stood up and gestured around "This was a place for the King of mountain dwellers and Mu Gong to discuss important matters, only a few select nobles knew about it, but once the ties were cut, most have forgotten about this place"

Ten still did not feel satisfied with the answer "But still have not told us about who cleans this place"

Sei answered easily "The Mountain dwellers"

"What!?" Neither Shin nor Ten could believe it, and they didn't shy away from voicing their disbelief, they also could believe that Naruto was still more focused on his food, how could anyone be so unresponsive to such a moving story

Sei nodded "Even after four hundred long years, they still have not forgotten about Mu Gong, they consider this holy land, and come here to make sure that this place stays in good condition, without anyone knowing"

Ten was moved by the story; she was on the verge of tears when Naruto spoke

"King Mu Gong must have really left an impression, for the mountain dwellers to still follow this tradition is surprising"

Sei nodded "Yes, when we think of mountain dwellers, we think of savages-" Ten's indignant 'Hey' was ignored "But they seem to have the lot of respect for tradition in general"

Naruto shook his head "I was not referring to that, my king. You are probably not aware of everything that has been happening in that part of the world, just like the rest of China, which is not surprising considering how much cut off that part of the world is"

Sei was confused but intrigued by Naruto's statement "What do you mean, Naruto-san"

Naruto drank till his glass was empty before he spoke "In the last fourteen years, I have practically travelled the whole of China, which also includes the Mountains, That place has seen the emergence of a lot of ambitious people in the last decade and a half"

Shin leaned in, now even he was interested in what Naruto was saying "What do you mean, Naruto-bro"

Naruto looked at his audience and was little surprised at how interested they seemed "I more or less had decided to settle down in the last three years, but even so m-"

"What do you mean! You were gone half the time" Ten said indignantly, Ten then looked around and received deadpan looks from Naruto and Sei while Shin was openly wearing a face that said 'Shut it', Ten blushed in embarrassment

Naruto looked at Ten with his eyebrow raised, as if he was asking if it was it was over, Ten nodded readily, wanting the embarrassing moment to end "…like I was saying, Mountains were not the place that I frequented, it has been practically a decade since I was there, but still… "

Naruto looked directly at Sei as he spoke "Even though if we are talking in conventional terms, then technically it's not true, you could say that there has been practically a civil war going on within the mountains"

It took a few moments for Sei to understand the meaning behind Naruto's words, and he gasped at that "You mean.."

Naruto nodded, he looked around and saw the the confused looks on the faces of Shin and Ten "Historically, for the most part, the mountain society, if you can even call it that, has been an anarchic society, and I'm using the term 'society' very losely, to say the least"

Naruto looked up at the roof, a contemplative look on his face "For the most part, Two tribes would go to war, one would completely wipe out the other, that was how the whole of mountain tribes operated"

Ten had a slanted eyed look on her face "Woah, What savages!" Shin could not hold back this time "This is YOUR people we are talking about"

Naruto shook his head at Shin "'Your' is too broad a word as far as Mountain dwellers are concerned, there are too many tribes for you to remember, god knows which one Ten belongs to, but really, what I'm trying to get at here, is that the mountain region is too diverse culturally, and that is putting it mildly "

Shin did not get it "Diverse culturally?"

Naruto nodded "You cannot walk fifty kilometers before the dialect changes, double that distance and you will get a completely new language to deal with"

Shin was astonished at that piece of information "Woah! I thought only those southern guys had a different language"

Naruto nodded "While it is true that some parts of China are diverse as well, any of it pales in comparison to the mountains, each tribe has its own culture, most have their own language as well, and each and every one of them are proud of their culture to the point that they are willing to kill for it"

Ten was listening intently and suddenly asked "Wait a minute, you said they are anarchic, and that there are so many tribes that you cannot count them, and then you said that there is a civil war going on? How does that work?" Ten really could not understand, last she checked, there was no single state in the mountains big enough for there to be a civil war, most 'states' were size of a city, if there was no state then how could there be a civil war , 'but then again, I don't even remember being part of a tribe, grandpa brought me out of mountains to protect me, not that it accomplished anything'

Naruto understood Ten's confusion as he nodded in understanding "You would be right if conventional wisdom is to be believed, from what I have gathered as far as mountain dwellers are concerned, there has not been many honest attempts at bringing some 'Coherence' to the 'state' if you can even call it that"

Sei understood what he meant by 'Bringing coherence', in a way you could say that he wanted to do the same thing by becoming the king of whole of china

Unfortunately Shin did not understand one bit of what Naruto was saying, and he told him as much "I don't get it"

Ten could not understand how Naruto was so calm as he tried to explained it to Shin "Basically, for most of its history, mountain tribes would die rather than serve under the victor tribe, and that is what would happen, they would fight until they die, until now that is"

Shin was looking at Naruto with slanted blank eyes, indicating that he still did not get it, until something clicked in his head "Wait a minute, you are saying that Mountain dwellers would rather die than serve under the victor tribe, but yet, according to you that is exactly what is happening… then does that mean that there is someone powerful enough that the tribes are willing to serve"

Naruto nodded, glad that Shin understood "Not just someone, there are many such individuals who have managed to subjugate multiple tribes and not kill them in the process,"

Shin once again wore a black slanted eyed look as he shook his arms violently "I don't get it at all, then who the hell was the guy that Mu Gong had an alliance with? He was a king wasn't he!"

Naruto sighted, fortunately Sei was the one that took the responsibility to make Shin understand "Shin, our understanding of what 'King' and 'Kingdom' means is different than those who live in the mountains"

Shin had a simple response "Eh?"

Sei sighted at Shin's lack of understanding "Just like Naruto-san said, in the territory of 'Mountain Tribes' there are insurmountable amount of tribes, these tribes form alliances and choose a leader, this leader is who we call 'King of the Mountain tribes'"

Naruto signaled for Ten to fill his glass as he spoke "God knows there are probably multiple 'King of the Mountain tribes' in that whole region, it is a boastful term used to feed their own ego, its usually just one tribe and some unfortunate survivors from the other tribe, mostly the merchants and women.."

Naruto had stopped talking for the purpose of drinking before he continued again "But really, whoever is 'The king of the mountain tribes' with whom King Mu Gong had an alliance with was probably someone powerful, ten thousand citizens by the standards of four hundred years ago is a lot "

Ten had a look that openly said 'What the hell' as Naruto asked for more water "I have met much of these individuals who want to bring all of the tribes under one clout, some of them even stood out, their talent for warfare would be apparent to any soldier worth some salt, one of them in particular, though" there was a smile on the face of Naruto as he remembered that person "heh I would go as far as to say that in terms of fierceness alone that person would be a match for General Kyou"

Sei's eyes widened at Naruto's claim 'How is that possible, it is said that of all the members of 'Qin's Six Great Generals' Great General Kyou was the most fierce, you mean to tell me that among the primitive population of mountain dwellers there is someone like that'

"Like I said, apparently for the first time, there has been an emergence of individuals with talent who are ambitious enough , that they are actually trying to create a kingdom in the mountains the way we understand it, most of them want to kill me though"

Sei, Shin and Ten looked at him with deadpan looks as Ten spoke first "Whoh! How could that be? It's not like you have a habit of sticking your nose into trouble" the sarcasm in Ten's statement was so thick that one could cut it with a knife

Naruto looked at them annoyed before drinking from his glass, he finished his glass before he spoke "It's not like I just go looking for trouble, it's hard enough that everyone wants to mess with me because of the way I look, then some fool will raise his hands because they either think they are the hot stuff or I am some weakling that they can beat the crap out of so they can impress the ladies"

Naruto once again raised his glass, asking for more water, at which point Ten lost it "How much water are you going to drink! Enough already" Ten said loudly while shaking her arms animatedly

Naruto took it upon himself to fill his glass as he spoke to Ten dismissively "You should drink a lot of water too, Ten. Not only do you not know if you will get enough of it later, apparently it's good for your skin and stuff, so there is that"

Ten stopped shaking her arms as a look of wonder and astonishment came on her face "Whoah! No wonder you are so pretty!"

Naruto was in the middle of emptying his glass when he heard what Ten said and he spat out all of the water in his mouth and started coughing

Shin and Sei were trying their best to hold back their laughter as Naruto tried to bring his coughing under control

Ten was starting to get what had happened and instead of joining Shin and Sei in their laughter, She felt dread

The laughter within Shin and Sei died once Naruto got his bearing under control, for Naruto was pissed "YOUUU BRATS!"

XX

XXXX NEXT MORNING

XX

Shin woke up abruptly, his sleep had been disturbed by the sounds of commotion outside, Shin rubbed his cheeks due to the pain that he felt from them 'That jerk! It still hurts from all the pulling he did; I thought they would fall off last night'

Shin went outside and his widened at the sight that greeted him, in front of him was Sei, standing like the royalty that he was, but that was not what had grabbed Shin's attention, what had gripped Shin's attention was the many men that were standing in front of him, particularly the one who was kneeling in front of him who was crying his eyes out, he was an old man with long dark hair and big mustache, he wore the standard Qin army armor, Shin recognized that man for he was the one that had taken Hyou to the royal palace 'That's Shou Bun Kun!' Shin was gritting his teeth in anger now, the memory of Hyou dying in front of him was still fresh in his mind, he would have moved, had something else not caught his attention… namely Naruto, who was crouched on one of the tree branches looking at the scene while rubbing his jaw, as if he was contemplating something, his eyes met with Shin's and he put his finger on his lips, instructing him to keep quit

XX

XXX TEN MINUTES LATER

XX

Shin was more than a little peeved at the moment; his anger was rising the more he listened to Shou Bun Kun's explanation regarding the failure of all his plans, how he was ambushed by some general named Ouki and how he and his few men barely survived, Shin wanted some answers, and he wanted them now

"I don't care about all that bullshit, what the hell happened to Hyou after all that?"

Shou Bun Kun glanced sideways to look back at Shin with an impassive look, his thoughts were interrupted by a soldier

"Lord Shou Bun Kun, who is that boy?" The man who asked the question wore standard armor, he had long dark hair and a long goatee and a mustache, this man was Shou Bun Kun's most loyal soldier, his name is Heki

Shou Bun Kun replied stoically "That is Hyou's friend, Shin"

Heki was surprised at that 'That boy is lord Hyou's friend?'

Heki knelt down while holding his fist in a show of respect "My King, I was with lord Hyou throughout the whole ordeal once we were separated, so I will explain from here but will it be okay to bring that boy over here? I believe he has the right what happened to Hyou and the rest of us, who were surrounded by the enemy"

Sei looked at Heki contemplatively, while he had known Shin for no more then three days, he knew that the subject of Hyou was too close to Shin's heart, and he was prone to say outrageous things when riled up, while he was willing to ignore most of it, he was aware that those who are loyal to him would not "Granted, but we should first, all come inside the summer house first, and then talk"

Heki was pleasantly surprised by how indulgent Sei was being "Yes, my king, you are coming right? Shin"

Shin nodded slowly "..Yeah"

Sei nodded to that "Very well then, Shou Bun Kun, Heki, Shin and Na-…" Sei noticed for the first time that Naruto was not around

Shou Bun Kun noticed king looking around as if looking for someone "Is something the matter, my king"

Sei looked around for a few more seconds before he spotted Ten "Ten, Where is Naruto-san?"

Ten was an early riser, so she had gone to look around, so she was surprised to see so many soldiers at the same place for the first time, she was actually surprised by the sudden address "H-He left without saying much, something about checking his setups"

Sei did not understand what that meant, but he let it slide "Fine, see to it that the soldiers are fed, could you?"

Ten nodded easily "Sure"

Heki and Shin went forward all the while noticing that Shou Bun Kun was looking at Sei with his mouth hung open and his eyes wide, it looked like he was sweating too

"My lord?" Heki was getting concerned, that look was not something he saw on the usually calm and stoic captain, not even when he faced general Ouki

Shou Bun Kun shook his head and regained some of his composure back, he had questions that he needed answers to, but he knew that this was not the time, and from the sounds of it, he would get his answers sooner rather than later

"Nothing! Let's move, my king"

Heki was not convinced, but he nodded regardless

XX

XXX THIRTY MINUTES

XX

Ten was busy feeding everyone 'Everybody is so beat up! It's not even funny'

Ten was looking around for if anyone needed her when she spotted Naruto near the entrance of summer house "Aniki! Where have you been? Sei has been looking for you"

Naruto shot her an annoyed look "Be a little quite will you"

Ten would have argued, but she could see that her aniki was worried about something "What's wrong?"

Naruto contemplated whether to speak before he decided to do so "I'm second guessing my decision"

Ten did not understand "What do you mean?"

Naruto grimaced "You know, the whole helping the king get back the throne thing"

Ten could understand that "Yeah, anyone would be scared if such a task was on their head, but you don't have to worry, apparently Ryo Fui has an army of Two hundred thousand under him, and they will be returning soon"

'I highly doubt that' Naruto neither had the intention to sour his mood nor haveany intention to steer the conversation, so he didn't, "I'm not scared, and that is not why I am second guessing my decision"

Now Ten was confused "Then what is it?"

Naruto let out a sign "Like I said before, I left that world with the intention of not returning back, and I got myself in this situation impulsively rather than on my own accord"

Ten narrowed her eyes, she was a smart girl that knew how to read between the lines "Aniki, you keep saying that you left that world, what do you mean by that, who are you exactly "

Naruto sighted "Well… lets just say that I have the misfortune of being around people who are either important or end up being important"

XX

XXX INSIDE THE SUMMER HOUSE, TEN MINUTES EARLIER

XX

To say that Shin was proud of being Hyou's best friend was an understatement, to listen to all these proud soldiers talk about Hyou like a hero felt great to Shin, now that he was entrusted with Hyou's dream as well, his ambition to become a Great General had been amplified, but reality was already trying to put cold water on his burning ambition, apparently a slave like him who did not even have a place to live, could not even enlist in the military

Shin did not let it dishearten him a bit "Oi, Sei, once you get your throne back, get me a place to live in a good village, and make it so I don't have to be a slave a'ight"

Shou Bun Kun was already shaking by Shin addressing Sei by his name, but he kept saying outrageous things, but he was more surprised his king's reaction "Fine"

Shin had a wild grin on his face "Alright! Now don't you forget that"

Sei replied back with some bite "I still don't think I owe you anything"

Shin participated in banter "Hey, is that a way to talk to a guy who saves your life"

Sei did not back down "If my memory serves me right, it was not you who beat the assassin, it was Naruto-san who beat him, so there goes that fantasy of yours"

Shou Bun Kun was pleasantly surprised when he watched the king behave like a normal thirteen year old boy, but when he spoke that last statement, he knew he had to get the answers to his questions

"My king, you keep speaking of this Naruto, who is this man…?" Shou Bun Kun had a good idea of who this man was, but he wanted to confirm it

Sei nodded with his usual cool composure "Yes, it is the same man you are thinking about"

Heki saw Shou Bun Kun go through a myriad of emotions in a matter of moments, he went from shocked, to happy, to angry, to stoic "My King, I was with him when he decided to leave it all behind, the resolve with which he had taken that decision did not seem shakable, while it has been a long time since that day, it is still hard for me to believe that much has changed"

Sei nodded coolly "He was not willing; I asked him what it would take for me to get his help, he asked that I take care of the living situation of that child Ten, and that should he decide not to be involved in any manner after this whole ordeal, that the kingdom of Qin, and a meeting…with her"

Shou Bun Kun did not think how these small terms could convince Naruto to come back, until he heard the last statement, and he was visibly angry "That idiot! He's going to get himself and all of us killed"

Heki was confused, he did not have any idea of what these people were talking about "Forgive me for interrupting but.. who is this 'Naruto' person you are talking"

Shin was curious as well, for a while now it seemed that Sei knew Naruto on a personal level, from the reaction of Shou Bun Kun, that really seem to be the case

Shou bun Kun stopped gritting his teeth as he addressed Heki "Figures, nobles and court officials alike did not really like him, combine that with the fact he himself tried to suppress his name during the last years of his service, no wonder you don't know of him"

Shou Bun Kun took a deep breath before he asked a rhetorical question "Tell me Heki, Are you familiar with 'The Black Lancer Unit'?"

Heki's eyes widened in recognition "Of course sir! It was an independent three hundred man unit that had become famous in all of China at one point"

Shin was more than just curious now "All of China!? Why's that? What was so special about them?"

Heki replied like a teacher would, to a student "Like I said, It was an independent three hundred man unit, which had, on multiple occasions, slain thousand man units down to the last man"

Even Shin knew incredible feats when he heard of them "Woah! Thousand men with just three hundred? Those guys must be strong"

Heki nodded "Yes, apparently they were so strong, that during the era of the warring states it would actually create tensions between all the Great General of Qin over who could use them, if that is true then it is a testament of their strength but.."

Heki looked back at Shou Bun Kun questioningly "But weren't they disbanded because they were getting way over their heads and were not following orders regarding their deployment on a regular basis"

Shou Bun Kun scoffed "That is one way to put it, they simply started picking their battles, and due to their importance they were becoming influential, royal court did not like that, neither the fact that that much influence was being consolidated in the hands of one small unit, unit made entirely of commoners at that"

Heki was shocked at that "What?! Just common folks? How is that even possible"

Shou Bun Kun nodded, his stance was proud "Of course! The policy that Qin adopted, of letting the common villagers enlist in the army and given the opportunity to rake up achievements to climb the ranks was not a well thought out policy, rather it was a whim of King Shou, and obviously nobles did not like it, and everyone was expecting that policy to stop being in action once it did not yield good enough results to justify its existence, the reason that policy is still in place to begin with is because of the Black lancer Unit, it is their legacy "

While he was grateful for that, Shin did not like the fact that his curiosity was not being sated "That is all well and good, but what does any of that have anything to do with Naruto-bro"

Shou Bun Kun replied easily "Naruto was the three hundred man commander of the Black lancer Unit"

Both Shin and Heki wore the same look of astonishment same word "What!?"

Shou Bun Kun was annoyed by how loud they were being, but he ignored it in favor of asking another question "Now then Heki, what do you know about 'The Thousand Man Slayer'"

Heki was confused now "wasn't it just a myth, my lord?"

Shin was confused once again "Okay! Now what the hell is this about?"

Shou Bun Kun did not acknowledge Shin in favor of going in his own pace "Arguably the greatest General in the history of Qin's army was Great General Hakuki, in terms of all major enemy ranks, from one hundred man commanders to even Great Generals, he has the most number of kills in sheer volume in terms of ranked soldiers, in all the major categoriesexceptthousand man units"

The possibility of Heki's eyes falling out of his eyes were very real right now "I-Imposible! How can that be, so you are telling me that The Thousand Man Slayer is not a myth?"

Shin had a much simpler response "Who the hell is this guy"

Shou Bun Kun decided to answer both of those questions "Even after getting his personal unit disbanded, he did not change his targets, he-" Shou Bun Kun was interrupted by the sounds that came from outside "Aniki! Where have you been? Sei has been looking for you"

Sei recognized immediately what that meant "Looks like he has returned…"

XX

XXX OUTSIDE SUMMER HOUSE, PRESENT TIME

XX

Naruto was about to speak to Ten when he saw who was coming outside of the summer house and groaned 'Good job Ten, now I will have to bear all this bullshit'

It was Shou Bun Kun who was standing in front of Naruto "I really want to punch you right now"

Naruto sweatdropped at that statement "Well, good thing you are such a benovolent man, you decided to-" Naruto was not allowed to complete his sentence as Shou Bun Kun raised his hand

Shou Bun Kun still wore a stoic look as he spoke "but apparently you have decided to help us, and in that case, it is no longer an option, it is not a choice, you will have to live up to your moniker.. of The Thousand Man Slayer"

Ten did not understand why everybody seem to know aniki, but at the moment she was more interested in knowing why Shin and Heki had lost the color of their face

XXXXXX

A/N : Just like the previous chapter, a little heavy on the plot side, but like I said before, the first arc is a lot of setup for the future plot points, like I said follow, favorite review, especialy review:D,I appreciate it, you could also recommend me some ideas or sources from which I can draw ideas from, until next time