AK: Yo everyone! Sorry for the late delay my computer was off and my muse was gone…oh well better late than never huh!? Q & A time!
Emilbootanimefreak: Kushina's POV is in this chapter! What can I say…I love making my readers on their toes! Lol
Lu Bane aka 'Adm. ThunderCock: As Gundam Tanaka would say 'HAHA, no mortal can guess what I'm thinking!' Naruto making weapons will start soon…very…soon…
Soundion: No note really would you really let someone get of scott free who just tried to rape your most beloved member of the family? I think the pushiment was actually the opposite of harsh.
REVANOFSITHLORD: Sorry no spoilers but I hope you still review!
RokuAnsatsu: Maybe~! Hehehe
RandomPudding: While that idea is good I can't. Type Moon makes get Naruto instantly OP. But trust me there will be a power were Naruto would think what you wrote. Trust me and read on!
Jarjaxle: Suri has a split personality disorder which means her mind has two or more different personalities in one body. Sadly I once knew a friend who had the condition but died at a very young age… Suri is human but with two minds her sweet self and Rusi the darker version of her mind…and maybe more…kuhohoho
Volos: In this chapter! You think I wouldn't add her?
killer-4-a-reason: Then why are you even here if you're not into harems? But yes some girls will not fall for him.
Daedric X: It is not. Quantum Scicene just shows how Naruto is really smart and I'm just been a crazy fan of Gundam's lately but they won't have anything to do with the story.
Dregus: Do not worry, her POV is this chapter. Hey. Some love Naruto that they depended his presence 24/7 like Suri.
Hope you enjoy this!
Kushina was sitting on a bench at the park that she and her beloved wife often took the whole family for picnic.
"It's been a year since..." she trailed off. Indeed, a full year has passed since Naruto's escape from the village. It was a really rough year for her family but things are slowly starting to get better. It's only sad that her family will never be the same again. Naruto's departure brought changes to her daughters. To some a lot, to some a little.
When Suri was let out of her timeout room, everyone was surprised to see her hair color being snow white instead of red and instead of her usual violet eyes, they now were crimson red. She also became shyer. While she doesn't stutter like a certain Hyūga heiress, she often avoids talking to people, even her family and when she does talk, it's in a very low voice that is barely above whisper. But just because her personality has changed, doesn't mean she is any less dangerous. Some Konoha's male civilians learned that the brutal way when they tried to take advantage of her new shy personality. Whenever Suri is in battle or is simply in a very uncomfortable situation, she lets her split personality, Rusi, take over and deal with the violence. Some kunoichi were worried that the Rusi personality might go into rampage someday, but they were relieved of their worries when Rusi herself said that as long as no one gets in the way of her "fun", there will be no friendly casualties.
Shiki came out of her sorrow four months ago and decided that instead wasting her time crying, she will train hard and dedicate all of her efforts in finding Naruto. The downside is that Shiki hasn't been able to smile anymore, nor look happy like she used to. She now always wears a mask of boredom and indifference. During meals she eats her food quietly and when spoken to, she talks in bored, monotone voice. For some reason, she also started wearing all of Kushina's old kimonos. When asked why she wears them, she refuses to give an answer. She also refuses to train with her mothers, but it is not because she hates them or anything, no, she still loves her family dearly, but she simply wants grown in strength on her own instead of relying on others.
Minako at first was hesitant to agree but in the end, she decided to let her do her own training. It turned to be a good decision as Shiki's independent training revealed that she has perfect chakra control. In fact, her control is so perfect that she can drastically lengthen her range of attacks, channel chakra through weapons much better than others her age and walk on water with only bare minimum of the effort.
Shiki's twin sister Miyuki was able to let go a big portion of her rage for Naruto but it's still there. Honestly speaking, no one knows how she will react if she ever sees Naruto again. She hasn't gotten warmer to her family or of any of her friends, showing nothing but cold attitude, but again, it's not out of anger for her family but for reasons only she herself knows.
Miyuki, like her sister, has also started doing her own independent training. She in particularly trains her mind, often reading books about tactics and chakra theories. She started an early training in her elemental affinities, water and wind. Her goal for that is to find out if it is possible for her to combine two elements into a sub-element without help of a bloodline but so far her efforts haven't produced any results.
Tsuki has focused most of her time on tracking down Naruto. She swore not to take a single drop of alcohol until she finds him. She has taken training in swordsmanship with much more vigor then before and it won't be long till she surpasses Kushina herself. Thou she still retains her brutal way of fighting. It's just something deeply enrooted in her nature. Also being seventeen now, she started receiving a lot of male attention but she made it clear that until she finds Naruto, she will not get into any type of relationships…. nor will she ever will when she does find him. No one knows why.
Kaede was normal as ever when she finally was able to stop spacing out. She spends most of her time training or taking long term missions. Only Minako has lately seen what the claymore user looks like. She has grown her hair long and started to wear armor from the first shinobi war period with some of her own personal modifications to it. When asked why she simply answers that she likes it.
And finally, Ruka. She was allowed to continue her kunoichi duties by Minako after crying for forgiveness and pleaded to allow her look for Naruto. Minako knew that her daughter truly regretted her actions and allowed her back on the field, but she will not be allowed to rise in kunoichi ranks for quite some time. But to Ruka that didn't matter. The girl has been taking missions all over the elemental nations in hopes to find her missing brother. One thing is clear; she will never stop looking until Naruto is returned safely to Konoha… and to her arms.
Kushina looks at the blue sky as a lone tear runs down her cheek...will she ever see her baby again…. she doesn't know. She can only hope that wherever her son is, he is safe and sound.
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A blonde haired twelve-year old was walking through a forest with a smile. "Ahh…what a beautiful day! Really wish there was a river or a lake nearby, would love to do some fishing." This boy was Naruto Uzumaki. It has been two months since he started living on the road and he officially loves every second of it. Unlike the time he left Konoha, he is now more physically prepared and mentally ready.
"Hmm... while I enjoy traveling like I do now I need to consider getting myself a safe haven. Can't always be on the road or will get myself caught eventually, but where to start looking? Hmmm…" Naruto frowns in concentration for a few minutes but then sights and relaxes. "Best not to think about it now, this isn't the time or place for that. What was it that Ribbons's used to say….- 'answers always come to those who are patient'- or something like that. Guess I'm gonna follow his philosophy for now." Naruto muttered to himself.
Over the months that he's been staying with the grandchildren of Aeolia Schenberg, Naruto has become quite strong. Anew's lessons in speech, lying, persuasiveness and intimidation had won him more fights then actual physical ones. Thanks to her cooking lessons he has been eating healthy and can maintain a strong body. Although… at times he does miss sleeping next to Anew, she was warm and sweet… and she was also the only person able to prevent Hiling from taking advantage of Naruto at nights.
Revive's hand-to-hand training was very rough at first but Naruto was gradually getting better and better. If he had stayed and continued his training past basics, he might have matched Revive in speed in a couple of years. Naruto was trained in the basics of two different martial arts, Tai Chi and Kenpo. Tai Chi allowed him to redirect the flow of his movement's energy and keep his head calm during battle.
Chinese Kenpo was deadly as it was powerful and if practiced properly, can deal some serious damage to his opponents in places where he/she expects the least.
Naruto was also thought another fighting style called boxing...he never uses it since Ribbons told him it was a more honorable sport. However, thanks to it, he was able to guess faints during combat and make his opponents double guess themselves when fighting him.
Learning marksmanship under Hiling was his most favorite part of training. Aiming at the target and shooting it down with ease were the basics of marksmanship, but when he went to the advanced level of training…. it was hard.
Shooting at constantly moving targets along with Naruto moving as well was tough. While his mind and eyes can keep up with the target's movement patterns and speed, his reflexes and aiming speed still need a lot of improving, not to mention he constantly has to think of the wind resistance, sudden obstacles and many other variables that can disturb the perfect shot. But among the skills he learned this was his ace as for now, he prefers to keep his enemies at a distance. Though reloading the crossbows is becoming quite a hassle and a bow is neither as accurate nor damaging as a crossbow. Perhaps he can find solutions for those problems in the near future.
Ribbons's training has been the most important and hardest one. During his training, Naruto had to throw away his sense of honor in order to achieve victory. As much as Naruto prefers fighting fair, kunoichi prefer otherwise. Though he will not attack defenseless opponents since Anew's lessons in reading people helps him in telling when his opponents are harmless. But he still has a lot to learn in that department as there people out there who are masters when it comes to masking their emotions.
With his current overall abilities, Naruto is confident that he can defeat a genin level kunoichi, but anything above that level is still out of his skill range.
Naruto now remembers his lessons with Aeolia. He taught the blond everything about marketing, business, percentage, and many other things related to economy in order for the blond to able to keep up with today's world.
As Naruto continues walking down the road, his face suddenly becomes sad. He misses his sisters and mothers. He looks at his pocket-watch that Hiling gave him as a parting gift. His younger sisters should be at the academy by now while Ruka would be making food for him. He chuckles; he never realized how much he actually paid attention to his sisters lives.
"GET OFF ME!" An angry shout can be heard not far from his location.
Naruto decides to investigate the reason behind such an angry shout. He quietly sneaks through the bushes and trees of the forest and reaches an open grassy field. He was surprised at the sight that greeted him.
He saw a girl, around his age, fighting against six other women. Judging from the six women clothing, they are most likely bandits or some type of criminals. He snarls at this as Ribbons always told him that just because you don't have any honor in battle doesn't mean you can't help those in need.
Acting quickly, he takes out some sleeping gas bombs that Aeolia made him just in case Naruto found himself in a dire situation against an enemy he couldn't take head on. He takes out a respirator as well out of his bag so he wouldn't breathe in any of the gas himself. Then he watches the ongoing battle intently and waits for the moment when he can interfere.
The girl was kicked in the stomach and was forced down to her knees. She knew these women were slavers patrolling in this area for any possible people to capture. She begs to Izanami and any other deities out there to bring someone to help her. She doesn't want end up becoming someone's slave.
Seeing the six attackers letting down their guard, Naruto throws seven gas bombs…. success! The six women didn't notice the gas bombs until they landed right their feet and by then it was too late. The bombs exploded into a big white cloud that covered the whole field.
After waiting for a couple of seconds for the gas to take effect, Naruto rushes in into the center of the cloud and quickly picks up the girl who was unconscious due to the sleeping effect. He runs to the nearest bushes and hides her there. He then runs back into the gas cloud again.
He checks the six downed women for anything that he could use to tie them up with and it was in his luck that they had plenty of rope. Most likely for the many victims they capture.
He ties up the six sleeping women tightly to ensure that they couldn't move in case they woke up too early from their sleep. After checking the ropes Naruto starts picking through their pockets for any weapons and…. money….. Hey, their criminals, all Naruto is doing is "liberating" the stolen money!
After finishing his pickpocket-…. I mean stolen goods "liberation", Naruto runs back to the girl he had hidden in the bushes. After seeing that she is still unconscious, Naruto decides that's he will be carrying her till she wakes up or till he reaches the nearest village.
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After carrying the girl for a whole day, Naruto decided to stop and set up a camp to rest. Carrying extra baggage tired him much more quickly than he expected.
He begins by starting a small camp fire then sets up a small tent. He places the still sleeping girl in the tent so she wouldn't get cold while he cooks something to eat.
He prepares a simple but tasty wild vegetable soup. Before he can begin eating he hears some stirring coming from inside the tent…. the girl has most likely awakened.
After a few moments pass the girl slowly crawls out of the tent. Her head frantically looks around from one place to another until her eyes settle on him.
No longer in rush to get away from the six criminals, Naruto can properly analyze the girl's features.
She has green eyes and neck-length black hair in a hime-style cut tied in a high ponytail with short bangs and chin-length strands framing her face. Body wise, Naruto can honestly say that she has almost the same figure as his younger twin sisters although her breasts are a bit bigger and hips were a bit curvier. She's also wearing a light-green kimono with some simple green sandals.
The girl gives him a suspicious look. Trying to avoid a misunderstanding he gives her a friendly smile. "Hey there! How are you feeling? Would like to-" he is cut off when the girl suddenly pounces and knocks him over.
Naruto groans a little from the impact but quickly becomes stiff when he feels something heavy sit on his belly and places the pointy edge of a knife at his bare neck.
He opens his eyes and sees the girl glaring at him. This is not good.
"Who are you!?" she asks harshly while cutting his neck a little.
"My name is Naruto and is this any way to thank your savior?" Naruto answers.
"How do I know that you're not working for those slavers, huh!?" she asks suspiciously.
"If I was working for them, do you really think you would be allowed to move around so freely as you are now or the fact that you're not drugged in some way to keep you sedated." Naruto answers calmly.
After thinking over Naruto's words, the girl slowly removes the knife from his neck and gets off him but still has a tight grip on the weapon handle.
Naruto sits back near the fire, picks up a new bowl and pours some soup in it. He then offers it to the girls. "Eat up. The whole ordeal from before must have left you hungry." He says gently.
Still eyeing the boy with suspicion, she takes the bowl from his hands and stares at it for a full minute, probably contemplating if there is any poison in it. Her stomach then starts grumbling and she decides to take the risk and eat the offered food. After taking just one sip, the girl's eyes widen, she digs in with gusto and devourers the soup in second's time.
She then burps a little and while blushing lightly from her less then graceful manners, gives Naruto her bowl. "Can I have seconds, please?"
Naruto gives her a gentle smile and refills the bowl with more soup.
After finishing eating, the small camp fell into an awkward silence with nothing but flickers of fire being heard.
They both stare at fire until the girl finally says, "Thank you… for saving me… and sorry with how I reacted."
Naruto answers her with the same gentle smile. "It's ok, would have reacted almost the same way if I was in your situation."
The girl nods at his answer. "So what's your name? I gave you mine so it's only fair that you gave me yours." Naruto asks.
"It's Shizuka." she gives a short answer.
"It's a pretty name, really fitting for someone as pretty as you." Naruto commented.
Shizuka blushes a little at hearing this but gives no reply to it.
After few more minutes pass Naruto decides that it's best that they went to sleep and they will talk things over in the morning.
Despite Shizuka's protest, he convinces her to sleep in the small tent while he takes the sleeping bag outside. With great reluctance the girl crawls into the tent after wishing him a good night.
Naruto himself didn't waste any more time and lay down on the sleeping bag. It didn't take long for sleep to take him as he was really exhausted from today's events and just really wants to rest.
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Naruto was standing in middle of a wasteland, "W-w-where am I? What the-?!" he yells as he looks at his body. He was older, somewhere between nineteen or twenty. He wears a black robe with embroidered crosses and white gloves. He also has two black belts around his hips under the coat and finally he has a weird contraption on his right arm and a sword in his left hand.
"This is the end...Naruto." He unconsciously lifts his left hand that had the sword and points it in front of him. His eyes widen when he sees ten figures. Nine in the back and one in the front. He couldn't identify any of them or tell what they looked like as their visages were blurry, as if he was looking at them through a thick fog. The only thing that he could make out from their blurry body shapes is that they were all females.
The blurry woman in the front take a step closer and says "Naruto...join me..." she raises her hand to extend the offer, her voice was soft and if one listened in very, VERY carefully, passion and love would also be detected in it.
Naruto glares at her, "You hurt my friends...my family, both blood and my honorary ones! I'll take you down no matter what!" Naruto's rushes in with his sword poised to strike.
Just as he is about to be upon her, everything burst into intense sky high, grey flames. Naruto screams in pain and agony as he feels his entire flesh burning. Then the flames intensify even more and his flesh is instantly burned off into ashes, leaving almost nothing behind but charred skeleton. The woman's loud evil laughter could be heard in the air.
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Naruto woke up frightened and sweating. He checks all over his body for any form burn wound but sighs in relief when he finds nothing, "What a horrible dream. Why did I have such a nightmare? It felt as if it was real…" Naruto tries to ponder on it but puts it off for later.
He takes a peek inside the small tent and sees that Shizuka is still asleep. Taking a closer look inside, he saw how cute she looked while sleeping. He then starts wondering why he used that particular word to describe Shizuka. Sure, Anew Returner, Hiling Care, and even Tieria were beautiful (though was Tieria was one hell of fucking contradiction), but describing her like that, for some reason, felt right.
He shook his head and went to make some breakfast. Perhaps he can think more on his current situation and where should he go next.
He was sitting right in front of the fire as he cooked some fried eggs with potatoes, tomatoes, peas, paprika, and a little garlic. There is also some dry meat on the side. He made sure to add some spices to make the meal more tasteful since his guest could use a good morning meal after experiencing yesterday's harsh events.
While cooking Naruto starts wondering, from where does Shizuka come from. Her kimono was well made and clearly wasn't cheap. It's very hard to get that kind of expensive and rare clothing. You definitely won't find them in any minor villages so she must be from a big and well known village. He takes out a map that Tieria's twin sister, Regina Regatta, gave him and looks at it.
THERE! Nadeshiko village. Naruto often heard from his mother's how her old teacher, Jiyuna, got into trouble while visiting that particular village. Naruto remembers how Ruka and Kaede laughed at Minako's predicament. Apparently, she was supposed to marry that village's Kage because Jiyuna had done some sort of crime against the village leader or fell under some law. Minako went to the village to correct her stupid old teacher's mistakes. He heard how there was a week long debate but the matter was somehow resolved. But no one ever knew how. He often wonders how his mother managed to avert such crises.
After finishing putting some final touches on cooked food, he places it whole on a big plate and takes to the tent. He really hopes that a simple breakfast like this will be enough to satisfy the royalty. He crawls inside the tent sees that Shizuka is till deep in sleep. Her gentle snores really make her look cute, "Hmhm..." Naruto hums as he gently shakes her awake. "Shizuka...c'mon it's time to wake up."
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SHIZUKA'S POV
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I woke up grudgingly...I was never a morning type of girl. But when I awoke to the new day I saw...the same boy who saved me yesterday. My word... he looks so handsome! He was smiling sweetly at me as he gently shakes me by my shoulder. Being so close to him and feeling his warm hand on my skin really made want to just go back to sleep. I'm sure my dreams would be very sweet. But then I smelled something delicious in the air so when I opened my eyes again, I saw Naruto place a big plate filled with some fried eggs, assortment of cooked vegetables and some dry meat on the side. He then also places a big cup filled orange juice. "Hey, I made you some breakfast. When you're ready, eat up and afterwards we'll discuss on what we should do next."
I gingerly nodded and grabbed the offered plate. The prepared meal was simple but the taste was incredible and that's all I needed to know so I could wolf it down without restrain. Oooh, this is such delicious breakfast. I look at Naruto through the opened flaps of the tent. He...he is such a strange male. Kind, smart and most likely strong if he managed to carry me for whole day yesterday before exhausting himself. So far, this was the weirdest experience in my life.
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NORMAL POV
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Naruto is currently cleaning his pan and other cooking utensils, "Hmm...She seemed happy." he looks at his pocket watch. "If I'm right about her being a resident of Nadeshiko village then we can make it there by the afternoon."
He sees Shizuka come out with a small, almost unnoticeable blush on her face, "Uh, I am finished with the food. Thank you for making it."
"Oh it's no problem; just place the plate and the cup beside me. I'll be done with cleaning the dishes soon." the beautiful girl nods and does as she was asked. As Naruto continues cleaning the dishes he looks at Shizuka who was fixing the tent. "Umm… hey, if it's not too much trouble, can I ask on where do you come from? Judging by how you are used to camping and that detailed kimono...are you from Nadeshiko village?"
Shizuka after making the tent into a cylinder form nods, "Yes, you are quite correct. I am surprised that you were able to make such connection with only so little to go by in regards of Intel."
Naruto smiles, "Well, I'm just a bit more intelligent than most people. So why are you out here in the wilderness?"
Shizuka frowns deeply as she sat on the ground, "I… I simply had some serious matters to think about and decided to take a long stroll to help me clear my head."
Naruto couldn't help but wonder, "Really? It must have been something really important, if you risked going alone through the wilderness."
"Well, local animals and few rare bandits don't really pose too much trouble, but the six women from yesterday had some skill. From their stances I could easily tell that they were at genin level. They were most likely academy drop outs from some village." she sighs.
Naruto raises an eyebrow as he starts drying the dishes, "They caught you off guard didn't they?"
"Usually I could take care of myself easily in such situations. My mother has personally trained me in the ways of kunoichi since I was four years old. I'm quite proud to say that I can take on low chunin level kunoichi." she spoke with pride but then her voice became sour. "But I was so preoccupied with my own thoughts that I didn't notice how quickly they surrounded me and reacted only when I felt one of them kick me in the back."
Naruto gain a confused look, "Huh… that's kinda of a stupid move… I mean, it would have been much more effective to go for the head and knockout the victim or place the person into a chokehold to cut off air supply which would again lead to knocking out the victim."
Shizuka couldn't help but laugh lightly in amusement, "Why do you think they became academy dropouts in the first place?"
Naruto himself laughs at hearing this, "Yeah, I guess they didn't make the cut when it came to the brain department."
"And judging from how sloppy their combat stances were yesterday, they didn't make the cut in the combat department either" laughs Shizuka a little bit more. She then sighs happily. So far this morning proved to be wonderful. She had a good night's sleep, was woken up by a handsome boy who cooked her a delicious breakfast and now shared a light and warm conversation with him. She glances at Naruto who is putting the dried dishes into his back. Yeah, she can definitely say that they will become good friends. "So when are we going?"
Naruto picks up his bag and smiles, "We can go now if you're ready. "
Shizuka took a quick scan around what used to be camp area to make sure nothing was left behind and nods at him. "I'm ready."
Naruto nods back, "Let's go then and if we're lucky, we might make it to the village within the next two hours if we push it."
Shizuka smiles and nods, "Alright then, lead the way!"
Naruto then gains an amused smile, "You know, I should be saying that to you since you live in this area."
Shizuka for her part blushes from embarrassment but a mischievous smile quickly adorns her face as she turns around and starts walking. "Yeah, keep laughing smart guy and I just might "accidently" lead you into a bear cave."
Naruto pales at hearing this and decides that it's best to keep his mouth shut for now and follows after Shizuka's retreating back. The said girl had a smile on her face with her tongue sticking out comically in the middle. That will show him for making fun of her.
About few hundred meters away from the kid duo, a woman with midnight black hair, red eyes and dressed in blue dress was standing on thick branch of a tall tree. "How interesting." she says with a smirk and then fades away into the shadows.
Chapter end
AK: Good huh!? Next chapter will show where Naruto will finally be staying could it be Nadeshiko or another village?! Stay tune to find out next time…hehehe!