Chapter 3
Making New Friends
1 Year Later…
Naruto was walking through a forest near Grado Keep on a mission to kill a large rouge wyvern when he suddenly heard a roar of pain. He drew his Iron Sword and rushed to see what was going on. He arrived to find a small red wyvern losing a fight with his mission target.
Acting on impulse, Naruto quickly jumped in and brought his sword down on his target's right back leg. The wyvern let out a cry and turned to attack.
Naruto was forced on the defensive as he dodged or deflected the wyvern's attacks. While trying to block a swipe of its claws, his sword snapped in half and he was knocked on his back. But before the wyvern could finish him, it roared in pain. The crimson wyvern had sunk its teeth into the other wyvern's leg. Naruto scrambled up, and seizing the opportunity, jumped up and swung himself onto the wyvern's head and sank what was left of his sword into its skull, straight to the brain.
The wyvern let out a last roar before dying. Naruto jumped off and looked at the red wyvern. Should I… Making up his mind, he slowly approached the wyvern, which had collapsed after its opponent was finished. He noticed that the wyvern looked like it was only a few years old at most, relatively young. "Hey…Are you all right?"
"Does it look all right?" came the voice of his father.
"I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" That better?
"Eh. I suppose." Sometimes his father really seemed to like to annoy him.
The wyvern stared into his eyes for a few seconds before seemingly nodding its head. Naruto approached and took stock of the injuries. It's right wing looked broken, the front left leg was covered in blood, and there was a long gash across it's back.
Damn… Naruto quickly created a Shadow Clone (It Henged into a random generic person, he did not need the attention of being able to create clones of himself.) and sent it to Grado Keep, to get someone who knew how to care for a wyvern while he would try to make it comfortable and bandage the wounds to stop the bleeding.
A few hours later, Naruto heard the flapping of wyvern wings and looked up to see two wyverns with riders landing. The humans looked to be twins, both having short blond hair and black eyes.
One wore a red chestplate with shoulder pauldrons over a black long-sleeved shirt, along with white pants. He also wore blue arm bracers and red boots. He had a silver lance on his back.
The other wore a blue-green chestplate with shoulder pauldrons, as well as blue-green side armor on each side of his waist and blue-green armored boots. Under his armor he wore a dark purple short-sleeved shirt and white pants as well as dark purple fingerless gloves. He had a steel lance on his back.
The red armored one jumped off his mount and approached, "My name is Glen and this is my brother Cormag. We came when we got your message."
Naruto's eyes widened. Glen? As in Glen the Sunstone, one of Grado's famous generals? "Thanks for coming. I wasn't expecting one of Grado's famous generals to come help."
Glen laughed, "I am one of the best when it comes to caring for a wyvern, comes with the job of being a Wyvern Rider or Wyvern Knight. Speaking of which… Did you bandage those wounds?"
"Yes…Why? Did I do it wrong?"
"No. You did it right. It's just wild wyverns typically…"
Cormag had dismounted and unloaded some supplies, however, the wyvern suddenly growled at him as he tried to approach.
"Ah. I see." Glen said.
Naruto was confused, "Why did he growl at him, he never growled at me."
"That's because it trusts you. Domesticated wyverns are generally friendly, but wild ones are territorial, the fact that he allowed you to bandage it is quite amazing. Now enough talking, let's help my brother.
XXXXX Naruto Wyvern Ninja XXXXX
With Naruto's help calming the wyvern down, the brothers quickly applied the various medical supplies and such to the wounds. The group of wyverns and humans camped out for a week before the red wyvern finally healed enough to be taken to Grado Keep for treatment for it's broken wing.
The wyvern had begun to trust Glen and Cormag, although not as much as it did Naruto, and Naruto left him in the twin's care while he prepared to head to town to get a new sword and some supplies while musing on a suggestion Cormag had mentioned.
A Wyvern Rider, huh? Sounds pretty cool. But would they teach a mercenary, or would I have to join their army?
"But it is a great opportunity, too good to just dismiss. You can always think about it and decide later." His father mused.
His inner conversation was interrupted by an outbreak of yells coming from below a nearby window. He rushed to the window and looked out to see what appeared to be hostage situation in the courtyard.
Almost directly underneath his window was a man in a black cloak who had a teenage girl with long light blue hair by the neck and was using her as a shield. Facing him was a man with short, graying black hair and beard with black eyes wearing full body red armor with a silver axe in hand and a silver lance on his back. Behind him was a Bishop who was holding two teenage boys back. One boy had short light blue hair, probably the girl's brother, and the other had short pale purple hair. Also present were several Grado Soldiers and Knights with steel spears as well as four more men in black cloaks wielding steel swords.
Naruto recognized the armored man as the Grado general Duessel the Obsidian and the priest as Father McGregor. The situation was currently at a stand off, the girl must be important enough of a hostage for Duessel to not try anything.
The man with the hostage spoke, "Now…If you will just allow us to leave with the Princess, we'll send a ransom note. It may not be Lyon like we originally planned, but Fado can still pay us, and we can return the girl safe and sound, and both parties can be happy."
Duessel kept silent, obviously trying to figure out a plan.
Princess? Fado? I'm guessing that Fado's twins must be visiting Grado. So that means the boys are Lyon and Ephraim and the girl is Eirika. Well, time to see if dad's stealth lessons paid off.
Ignoring the "Of coarse they will!" from his dad,Naruto slowly opened the window and climbed out onto the ledge before jumping down. He landed in a crouch, completely silent, behind the men in cloaks. To his credit, Duessel's eyes widened only a fraction, while Father McGregor's eyes widened immensely and Lyon and Ephraim openly gaped.
Naruto quickly threw several kunai at the sword-wielding kidnappers before grabbing the one with the Princess and slitting his throat before any of them could react. The body fell as Naruto quickly positioned himself between Eirika and the remaining kidnappers.
Without the hostage, the cloaked men found themselves attacked by the Grado troops and quickly taken care of. Father McGregor ushered the three teens away as Naruto found himself face-to-face with Duessel. "I am General Duessel. I would like to thank you for your assistance; we would have had a difficult time rescuing Eirika without your help. What is your name?"
"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."
"Might I ask what you are doing in Grado Keep? I do not recognize you, and you are fairly distinctive."
"I'm a mercenary. And I am fairly certain you heard of the injured wyvern?"
"Ah. You're the one that contacted us about him. So, where do you hail from?"
"I was an orphan, but a mercenary named Gerik found me when I was five and took me in. I left to travel and see more of Magvel while taking jobs as I went."
"Gerik? The Desert Tiger Gerik?"
"Yep, that's him. I wonder how he's doing…"
At that moment a Grado Soldier showed up "General Duessel, Sir!"
"Yes?"
"Vigarde requested to see the one who rescued Princess Eirika."
"All right then. Naruto, if you would follow me."
XXXXX Naruto Wyvern Ninja XXXXX
Naruto left the Blacksmith in a daze. Vigarde had thanked him repeatedly for helping him and asked if there was anything he could do for the young mercenary.
Naruto had decided to ask to learn how to be a Wyvern Rider like Cormag had suggested. Vigarde had agreed wholeheartedly, and then surprised him by insisting to have the Blacksmith craft a special weapon for him. Duessel had then led him to the Blacksmith who began to take measurements and ask questions about how Naruto fought, to better craft the sword. Naruto had been amazed at the generosity shown, but Vigarde insisted.
"Hey mister!"
Naruto turned to see Ephraim running up, with Lyon and Eirika close behind. "You're the guy who saved my sister right? I wanted to thank you."
"Don't mention it. Duessel would have handled it just fine even if I hadn't been there."
"I suppose your right, but still, thanks. I'm Prince Ephraim of Renais, and this is my sister, Eirika, and our friend Lyon."
Naruto nodded his head in respect, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, a Mercenary from Jehanna."
"You're a Mercenary?" Lyon asked curiously.
"The man who took me in was one. I was trained by him and worked with him until a year ago when I decided to head out and see more of Magvel."
"Might I ask how old you are? You don't look much older than us." Interjected a lightly blushing Eirika. For some reason she just couldn't look at him without blushing. I wonder why?
Inside Naruto's mindscape…
Kurama turned to Minato during one of their moments when they talked without insulting each other, "What is it with Namikazes and rescuing a damsels-in-distress with a rare hair color from kidnappers and causing said damsel to end up falling for them?
Minato sweatdropped, "I have no idea."
The Kyuubi suddenly smirked, "HA! That reminds me! You still need to give him the Talk!" Minato's eyes widened in horror as his face paled. Damn it Gerik! Why didn't you do it!?
Real World…
"Well how old are you?" Naruto asked with his signature "Foxy" smile that caused her blush to darken. Of course, the dense boy just thought she was shy or something.
"Fifteen."
"Then I'm a year older. I was born on October 10, 483."
Ephraim smiled, "You think we could have a quick spar? I want to see how skilled you are."
Naruto smirked, "You sure? I was raised and trained by Gerik, the Desert Tiger, and Marisa, the Crimson Flash. I wont go easy. Although I recently broke my sword and haven't been able to gain a new one anyway."
"There's plenty of spare weapons at the training grounds, and the greater the challenge, the better. Let's go."
XXXXX Naruto Wyvern Ninja XXXXX
After saying good night to his new friends, Naruto found himself back where he started, in the wyvern roost the red wyvern was being treated in. It was sleeping, and Naruto approached and sat down, leaning against its side, the day's events having exhausted him.
I wonder what I should name him? Naruto thought for a while before smiling as sleep embraced him. Natsu. That's what I'll call you.
Naruto is making his impact on Magvel. Next chapter is the start of the Sacred Stones storyline.