Born for the Battlefield

by Yashblue

He had left the battlefield years ago, convinced that it was not for him, but the world around him was not convinced it would seem, because he was dragged back right in center of it all, but the strangest thing was that nobody except him was surprised, because they were convinced that he was born for the battlefield

4. the bloody history of the warring states

Disclaimer : I don't own Kingdom or Naruto

PREVIOUSLY

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 benevolent 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

FOUR HOURS LATER

PRESENT TIME

Western China

245 B.C

Chouga Turf

There was a reason why, despite having no alliance with the mountain dwellers for the past four hundred years, not even King Sho tried anything when it came to the western mountains of China, part of the reason was their reputation as absolute savages who were not afraid to use their teeth in a sword fight, but it was also due to the fact that from a point of view of a general from the plains, the mountains as a region was a tactical nightmare, not only could you be blindsided due to the dense forest, but your movements could be easily read and predicted due to the various distant high cliffs hidden by the forest

One of these cliffs was being used by a group of men for the exact same purpose; this group was full of well built and tall men with long dark hair arranged in the back. They wore nothing but a cloth around their waist, all of them held different kinds of weapons, from knives to short sword to giant rock mace, and all of them wore masks with different patterns which hid their entire faces

One of the men was kneeling down as he looked at the group that had decided to leave a good chunk of its tired members behind, just like the rest of the group, he was a well built and tall man with long dark hair arranged in the back, just like the rest of them he wore nothing but a cloth around his waist with his two big knives tacked on the back of his belt. His face was hidden by a mask that had a circle around the right eye and on the left five marks in circular patterns and five spikes coming from the top, this man was Bajio "வாட் டிடி இ தெள்ள யு தஜிபிக்கு, அபௌட் யூஸிஷனிங் ஓவர் கிங்ஸ் ஜுட்க்மென்ட் (What did I tell you Tajifu? About questioning our king's judgement)"

A massive well built man was standing next to the kneeled man, he too only wore clothes around his waist and had a mask like all of the Mountain people, this man was Tajifu "எஸ் எஸ் யு டோன்ட் நீட் டு ரூபி இட் இந்த (Yeah yeah, you don't need to rub it in)"

Bajio chuckled and was about to get up when his eyes caught the sight of a man who was sticking out like a sore thumb due to the color of his hair "…வெள், ஐசன்ட் தா இன்டெரெஸ்ட்டிங், சோ யு ஹவ் டிசிடேட் டு ஷோ உப்பு ஹஹ்?(Well, isn't that interesting, so you have finally decided to show up huh?)"

Tajifu was confused by the sudden shift in Bajio's behavior, one could feel the tension in the air around him "வ்தத்ஸ் ஐஸ் தி மேட்டர் பஜ்ஜியோ? (is something the matter, Bajio?)"

Bajio did not reply for a few minutes as he just observed the group on the ground, more importantly the blond in the group, but he finally decided to reply "லேடீஸ் கோ (Lets go.)"

XX

XXX ROYAL CAPITAL KANKYO, ROYAL PALACE

XX

Qin was the second biggest state in all of China, it controlled nearly a third of all of china, it was considered a major player in all of China, in perspective of history this was a recent development, the date of the beginning of the Era of the Warring States was disputed, but what is not disputed is that it truly began only after the Division of Jin, the state of Jin which was in the peak of its power when it experienced a break in its aristocratic structure, andin the year of 453 B.C experienced one of the biggest civil wars in Chinese history, in the year of 403 B.C, the state of Jin was divided into three successor states, Zhao, Han and Wei, immediately after which all of the eleven states throughout the whole of China entered a period of non-stop diplomatic, political and military conflict, this period was considered the most brutal and yet the most dynamic part of Chinese history.

At the beginning of the Era of the Warring States, there were a total of eleven states but only seven states were considered to be big enough and wealthy enough to have any major impact, these were called The Seven Major Warring States, these major states were, Qin in the far west of China, in the northeast of Qin were The Three Jins, namely Han, along the yellow river controlling the eastern approaches to Qin, Wei, in the middle of the three Jins, and Zhao, the northern most of the three, in the east was Qi, Chu in the south of China and Yan in the northeast

These were the seven states which were the major contenders of victory in the never ending battles for supremacy, but of all the major states Qin was never taken seriously as a major contender and for good reason

Qin's diplomatic esteem was not anywhere close to that of other state because of Qin's policy of compromise with the barbaric tribes of the western mountains, worse even after subduing twenty of the barbaric tribes they actually integrated them and their practices which caused the central states to despise Qin, some even went as far as not recognizing them as fully Chinese, Qin's lands were not as fertile as those of their counterparts, Qin was in the far west , with its core in the Wei River Valley, This position did offer protection from the states of central plains but it also limited Qin's ability to spread their influence on other states, not to mention they were constantly forced to deal with multiple barbarian tribes or the other, so they were always unprepared or underprepared to truly get involved or participate in the affairs of other states, having multiple disadvantages at economic, diplomatic and military front, it was understandable why nobody thought of Qin as a major player rather they were thought of as a backwater Kingdome, semi-barbarians locked away in the far west mountains, but then He showed up.

King Sho was a through and through radical, but he had a good reason to be so, he had a floundering economy in his hands, in the back of his Kingdome were the barbaric mountain tribes which were less then cooperative, in front of him were the States of Central plains, which despised Qin's existence due toKing Mu Gong's revolutionary actions of Cooperating with the mountain tribes which helped Qin avoid Clan based Skirmishes, all in all he understood that either Qin had to prosper or it had to die, so he took action

His first course of action was to eliminate the feudal overtones that had been waning for the past four hundred years but still clung on to the daily life, and made himself, The king of Qin, an absolute authority figure, he also redefined the concept of law inside the state of Qin, before his rule the people understood the law as a grossly unfair tool used by the rulers to profit themselves at the expense of the commoners; King Sho made his citizens realize that the Law was equally applicable to anyone and everyone

He also permitted peasants to own the land they clear, another policy that was revolutionary as previously, peasants would be assigned a plot of land and farm it until the end of time; every now and then they would be rewarded for their labour, but whatever they produce belonged to the nobles. By reverting the profits to the peasants, they felt greatly encouraged to produce so they could increase their profits even if they had to pay taxes, this led to a stronger economy and more revenue, revenue that King Sho used entirely for strengthening the military

He also introduced a merit-based system in the military; soldiers would be entitled to privileges only if they achieved certain goals, what royal family you belonged to did not matter, what caste you belonged to did not matter, so long as you got the results you were rewarded, many noble families were against this and were happy when it not yield results but then The Black Lancer Unit emerged and proved the merits of the concept

King Sho standardized Agriculture and War industries and logistics, the merit-based system in military and the ability to enjoy the profits of your agricultural produce led to tremendous social mobility like never before, on the surface one would think is that King Sho had incentivized Qin's population to work hard to create a better life for themselves and create a strong economy in the process

But once you look underneath the underneath, you would realize that, King Sho made himself an absolute authority figure of a state whose entire population was willing to completely cooperate with the government, but what he had also done was essentially turn his entire population into either a farmer or soldier, and then you realize why he gained his moniker of The God Of War, he made sure that Qin prospered by converting an entire country into a total war footing.

But what King Sho was doing was more than just creating a prosperous country, he was laying the foundations for the conquest of all of China, the thought of a united Chinese kingdom was something that no one dreamed of, but King Sho was a dreamer, under king Sho's rule Qin's size grew tree times its size by annexing multiple kingdoms and became the second largest state in all of china it is today, unfortunately King Sho died before he could realize his dream, his successors could not make use of the foundations that he had laid down, but these foundations still held strong

You would think that the capital of a country that had undergone such a drastic cultural, political and economic reform would be brimming with activity…

You would be wrong.

Despite the rumor of the Coup by the younger brother already circulating, Ketsu Shi was still trying to keep it all under wraps, so he trying to keep a tight lid on the capital by policing it heavily and restricting activity.

You would think that the royal palace where such radical policies were cast out would be restless as it experienced a political turmoil on such scale…

Again, you would be wrong.

Having a centralized structure of power, any rumor could only pick steam if it had enough momentum in the palace, so Ketsu was heavily monitoring the palace as well.

You would think that anyone who wanted to become the next King of Qin and inherit King Sho's legacy would constantly think inheriting King Sho's will and his dreams..

Again, you would be wrong…

Prince Sei Kyou was busy enjoying one of his favourite passtimes..

"NONON-GYAH-"

Watching his pet play with his toys

Deep within the palace was a dimly lit room, in the center of it was a traumatizing sight

'slrup' That sound came from an ape, a huge ape, you could easily make the mistake of thinking that it was a human because it was wearing a blue hanfu with a black and red belt but it was actually a gorilla like ape, he had a hunched back and large feet with huge toes, he had a dispropotianate body structure which were the reasons for his huge arms which almost reached the ground, right now both his hands were holding one half of a fully grown human body, this creature was Rankai, Prince Sei Kyou's pet who just tore a man in half with his bare hands and was now feasting on his flesh.

Above the stairs was a royal seat, behind which many officials stood with sweaty faces, quivering by the brutal sight in front of them, but.."S-Such a magnificent sight… uhh t-truly that was amazing Seikyou-sama." All officials had learned by now that disagreeing with prince Seikyou was not in their best interest to say the least

The man that Rankai just tore apart was part of Shou Bun Kun's faction that were captured and made prisoners just like two men who were standing in front of Rankai, with their arms bound by the ropes around their body

Realizing that his fate was set in stone, he let it out "Curse you Seikyou! You are a traitor to the throne"

Finding his voice after his friend's outburst, he spoke his mind too "Our Lord Shou Bun King will have your head for these crimes!"

Knowing that you were safe was an empowering feeling and one of the officials was definitely feeling it "SILENCE! YOU CURS! YOUR PRECIOUS LORD IS ALREADY DEAD!"

"Wha-" before he could complete his sentence he was grabbed by his feet, it lifted in the air, and slammed hard on the ground and just like that Shou Bun Kun and Sei lost another important comrade of their already weak faction

Tears were streaming down his face as he watched his friend's life come to an end, but he could not voice his pain, for the person who was responsible for all of this spoke for the first time

"Oi, listen carefully, you dogs of Shou Bun Kun.."

On the royal seat lay a young boy, he wore dark blue robes and a headdress befitting of a royalty, he had his head resting in his hand as he spoke with a vicious sneer on his face

"I'm not betraying the country at all, i am just restoring things back to the way they were five years ago"

Unlike what a lot of people thought, Seikyou had actually studied his great grandfather and all his actions, how he used rewards and punishment to turn his population into functioning human beings, after studying all of it extensively Seikyou came to his own conclusion

Common People were disgusting greedy pigs that could not tame their own lust for power and that it was the responsibility of the royalty to tame its population and dictate their actions so as to create a better functioning society, only the blood of royalty was capable of doing such a tremendous task, his great grandfather was proof of that; that is why the royalty deserved all the privileges and all the wealth in the world, they were the reason people were able to prosper, they were the reason why there was such a thing as a country

Seikyou always thought that he was meant to do great things, everybody around him said that all the time, and it had to be true since they were willing to do everything he asked of them, from commoners to officials, at one point he made the officials that were his followers form a bridge by standing in the water and bowing forward, despite there being a bridge less than twenty meters away, he did that because he could and because he wanted to show them that he could, he did not quite understand what happened, but something in their eyes bothered him ever since, but then He appeared

Seikyou was not aware that he had an elder brother but apparently he did, because his father had been smitten by some dancer girl whose identity was kept secret due to her status as it should have been, but then she was officially recognized as a queen and with that Ei Sei became a legitimate heir to the throne

Ei Sei, son of a dancer girl was a legitimate heir to the throne and he, Sei kyou, the one who had the pure blood of royalty running throuh his veins and yet he was taking a backseat to a son of a dancing girl..

Sei kyou's sneer became a lot more cold 'I will not accept that'

XX

XXX HALF AN HOUR LATER, WITH NARUTO AND GROUP

XX

"Tch"

Shou Bun Kun was panting heavily as we walked along side Naruto, he was realizing what old age does the hard way as he tried to keep up with the pace of the young king and youngster Shin and Ten, Sei had decided that he did not want to wait and wanted to reclaim the throne as soon as possible, his reson being that the war that was about to break between Pm Ryo and Pm Ketsu could bring the kingdom of Qin to its knees and Sei would not allow that, Shou Bun Kun tried to deter the young king by reminding him that they barely had any men left, at which point the king suggested to meet with the mountain dwellers

Shou Bun Kun would have vehemently refused to take such actions, but after listening to everything that Naruto had to say about the happening in the western mountains, Shou Bun Kun agreed that it was well worth a try

"Damn it"

Now Shou Bun Kun was getting irritated, for the past twenty minutes the blond next to him would click his tongue or use profanities

"What is it?" Shou Bun Kun asked, clearly irritated

Naruto looked at Shou Bun Kun with a look that said 'You can't be serious?' before a look of understanding came on his face "Ahh! Figures, you have gotten old, you really are not built for this as you are now, old man"

A tick mark appeared on the Shou Bun Kun's forehead "What does that have to do with anything?!"

A serious look came on Naruto's face as he looked ahead while answering the question "We are being surrounded"

Loud warning bells rang inside the old man's head as he visibly reacted to that piece of information, he was about to react verbally as well before Naruto grabbed his forearm rather harshly to the point that it hurt

"Don't lose your shit old man, you will make things worse" Shou Bun Kun grunted as quietly as he could before he calmed down as Naruto loosened his grip on his forearm

"So what now?" Shou Bun Kun had accepted the fact that him and Naruto were not cut from the same cloth, Naruto had proven to him a long time ago that when it came to the battlefield, he could be relied upon

But Naruto crashed his expectations spectacularly "Now nothing"

Before Shou Bun Kun could pop a vein Naruto raised his hand to stop him "Don't give me that, I will be short on my fingers if I start counting the number of possible blindspots that these Mountain dwellers can exploit, while my single hand would be enough to count the number of soldiers we have right now"

Shou Bun Kun grit his teeth and was about to try refute his claims, but Naruto did not let him "Not to mention, your soldiers are beaten and broken and their main source of morale, their captain is having a crisis of his identity as a soldier"

'of course, this brat is going to pick up on that' Shou Bun Kun thought in grim amusement as he shook is head

Naruto ran his hand through his hair as he spoke "For the past twenty minutes I have been noticing movements and I have been thinking of some way to get an upper hand as far as this situation is concerned but I can't find any openings, not with these numbers"

Now Shou Bun Kun was bewildered "How can you think of upper hand in a situation like this, we should be thinking of getting out"

Naruto did not stop running his hand through his hair as he shook his head in disagreement "I doubt we can out run Mountain dwellers in Mountains of all places, not to mention if they wanted us dead, they really did not need to be as subtle as they are being right now, they are trying to corner us and put us in a situation where we won't have a choice in the matter if we want our heads on our shoulder, we would have to follow all the conditions that they set on us, and now old man, right now there is only one person in our group who is worth all that effort"

Shou Bun Kun was having a hard time breathing when the implication of Naruto's words became clear to him "H-His Majesty" Shou Bun Kun

Naruto nodded as he finally got his hand out of his hair "Best case scenario, they are trying to isolate the king, so they can get some ridiculous terms for this alliance, worst case… Yeah"

Shou Bun Kun was very well aware of the worst possible case, but one thing still did not add up "How are they even aware of our predicament, let alone our presence?"

Naruto glanced at Shou Bun Kun briefly as he answered the question "You better start taking these guys seriously, I told you they are more ambitious than ever before"

Before Naruto could say anything, in front of him, a masked head pops out of a bush in some short distance, and then he saw several masked heads do the same

Naruto and Shou Bun Kun wore wide eyed expression as Naruto spoke "Well… atleast the jig is up I guess"

A full tense minute or two passed as the mountain dwellers started closing the distance as did Naruto as he stood next to Sei

"one minute we were moving and the next we are surrounded by these savages, just what..." Heki was panting heavily with gritted teeth, fear and worry etched on his face

"My king, they more than likely have come for you, so..." Naruto's words alarmed everyone, but only one decided to take action

Bajio was stepping forward to tell the group in front of him, the situation they were in, but he stopped moving as his path was blocked by a young boy who was standing on his tip toes as he attempted to make a scary face as he spoke through gritted teeth "Who you looking at huuuuh?"

If it was possible for jaws to hit the floor, they would have, for Ten, Heki and Naruto stood back gaping with their jaws open, Heki was the first to get his wits back as he moved quick on his feet and grabbed Shin by his hair and started to drag him back

Shin did not know what the deal was, he thought he did well, as he glared at Heki while rubbing at the sore spot on his head, Shin wanted to flip Heki off, but he was not allowed to do that as the man he had planned to confront was once again heading towards them

Heki had an image of Mountain dwellers, he had always thought of them as a pack of savages, wolves in human skin, so it would be an understatement to say that he was feeling the most uncomfortable, it was about to be turned into astonishment though

"You are intruding on our lands" Never in his wildest dreams did Heki imagined that he would meet a Mountain Dweller, much less a talking one, not in his own mother tongue at least, unfortunately for Heki, his astonishment was about to be turned into dread however, as the talking Mountain Dweller spoke

"We kill the plain dwellers by digging their eyes out and throwing them down a waterfall..."

Heki was no longer uncomfortable, he was downright petrified, Ten was whimpering and Shin was having a hard time getting words out of his mouth

"... However, since you have journeyed all the way here to meet our leader, we will decide what to do with you after hearing your reason for coming"

Heki had finally got some nerve back in him "H-How do you know that we came to meet your leader"

Bajio had a simple answer, "Our leader knows everything"

Bajio looked straight at the boy dressed in royal red robes as he spoke "Young king of Qin, Our leader awaits you, we will escort you to our city"

Shou Bun Kun first regarded Naruto ahead of him before looking back at Bajio, 'So Naruto was right about the Mountain Dwellers' Shou Bun Kun had taken an official position for a reason, he was well versed in reading between the lines, he could pick out the thinly veiled threats that were made to them, unfortunately Shin did not possess such talent

Shin walked past Bajio with his hands behind his head "Why did you not say that in the first place, we got worked up fo-" Shin could not complete his sentence as he was grabbed by his hair as thrown back, he would have hit his head against a stone on the ground if it wasn't for Naruto who caught him

Bajio folded his arms as he spoke again "Our interest is in the King, none of you interest us, leave the mountains immediately"

Shou Bun Kun gritted his teeth, even if Naruto had made him aware of something like this happening, knowing about a situation and being in a situation were two different things

Shin was rubbing the sore spot on his head as he asked the question that was on everyone's mind "..What if we refuse?"

Bajio did not hesitate to give the answer that he gave "Then all of you will die"

"We will not allow any plain dweller that does not interest us in our lands, leave these lands at once or we will slaughter all of you without mercy"

Shou Bun Kun was about to explode with fury, but Naruto rose his hands all the while looking straight ahead 'What are you playing at, Naruto'

Naruto glanced at Sei for a few moments before he looked ahead "While it is good to know tha-" "You will be coming with us as well"

Naruto thought he heard something wrong and he said as much "I am sorry, i did not get that, what were you saying"

Bajio pointed straight at him as he said "You! The man with the blond hair, is going to come with us as well"

Naruto did not like this "Ah! You must be mistaken, i'm just a peasant soldier, the one you are looking for is captain Shou Bun Kun" Naruto pointed at the old man who nodded eagerly when addressed

Bajio shook his head "No, i am not mistaken, the king of Qin and You will come with us, the rest of you, leave"

Shou Bun Kun felt like pulling his hair off, he was having a hard time comprehending this situation, and from the look that Naruto had on his face, it looked like he was in a similar predicament

'This is bad' Naruto thought to himself, the worst case scenario was that 'The King of The Mountains' wanted a piece of him 'But they should have been anticipating the king and not me, how exactly do i fit in all of this' Naruto decided to take a gamble

Naruto pointed uncertainly at the masked man in front of him "uh.. Do i know you?" Naruto asked, hoping that he won't make a tit of himself or make the situation worse than it already was, but of all the reaction he was expecting, laughter was not one of them, it did not sound like a laugh because there was barely any, but his rapidly moving shoulder did indicate that he was laughing, but he stopped sudenely

"Heh, no you don't know me, and no wonder you don't, you don't exactly 'look' at the people you are facing after all" you would have missed it if you were not looking keenly for it, but if you did, you could listen some semblance of bitterness in his voice

Shou Bun Kun was angry, and he became even more angry when he saw the confused look on Naruto's face 'Damn you, and your habits, the fact that you are unaware of it still just makes me mad all the more'

"Uhh.. I don't know what is going on he-" Naruto stopped mid sentence as he raised his twisted right hand to catch the sword that was coming for his head, his left hand was holding the forearm of the the attacker which had come from the side to cleave him in half, the sharpness in Naruto's eyes had risen as he saw the state of his hand that was holding the blade before he regarded his attacker 'This guy is strong' Naruto did not have time to dwell on his bleeding hand as the other mountain dwellers took Bajio's attack as a command to attack as they let out a battle cry

"T-This is bad isn't it?" Ten stuttered, Ten knew she was more than just out of depth here

Shin took a stance as he readied himself, call him crazy but he was excited, despite the situation he found himself happy on some level, he knew that his fight with Naruto had changed him, it became even more clear when he fought the assassin in Kokuhi village, he was not stronger or faster than before, and yet Shin felt that there was more weight behind his swings, there was less hesitation in his swings, Shin was feeling a burning sensation inside him as the mountain dweller closed the distance…

And Sei poured cold water on Shin's sensation "STOP!"

Nobody thought that the voice of a mere boy could have so much authority in it, enough that it stopped virtually everyone stopped for a moment, and the few overzealous mountain dwellers were stopped by Bajio's silent command

Sei addressed everyone on his side while still regarding Bajio "Put away your weapons, I will do as these people have asked and meet their leader alone"

Shou Bun Kun was the first to respond "Your majesty you must not, we will carve a path of blood out of here if we need to, please think this through"

Sei shook his head "It is impossible to avoid the mountain folks, not to mention we need the help of mountain folks, if we are to reclaim the throne before it is too late"

Sei turned back to address his group "All soldiers are to descend and await my return at the shrine! That is an order!"

Shou Bun Kun looked at the king helplessly "..your majesty.."

Bajio had withdrawn his blades and took a few steps back as he folded his arms "hurry up, King of Qin and you too, the pretty man"

Naruto's face was blank as his long bangs casted a shadow on his face as he shook silently

'uh oh' was the collective thought of Shin,Sei,Ten and Shou Bun Kun, they held their breath in anticipation, watinng for Naruto's next move

Fortunately for them, all Naruto did was take a deep breath and put on a smile that screamed 'you got lucky this time' but all Naruto said was "sure"

Sei let out a sign of relief before he nodded at Bajio "We will proceed now"

XX

XXX TWENTY MINUTES LATER

XX

"Damn it! The King had to do that for our sake, what a disgrace!" Heki said what was on everyone's mind

Ten tried to be the optimist "B-But atleast he was invited by their leader… they wouldn't harm him right?"

Shou Bun Kun growled in annoyance as he massaged one his sore legs"What I don't understand is why did they take Naruto with them? That was no invitation, that was kiddnaping"

Shin looked at Shou Bun Kun as if he said something crazy, before he slapped his forehead "Oh Shit!"

Ten nearly jumped at Shin's loud outburst "What the Hell! What's wrong with you?"

Shin ignored Ten's comment as he grabbed Ten by the shoulders "Didn't Naruto-bro said that most of the mountain dwellers want him dead"

Ten was a little too busy trying to get out of Shin's grip "No, he said most of the "King of Mountain tribes" that were worth mentioning wanted him dead… oh crap…" Now Ten had the same look of horror that Shin had, the look was shared by Shou Bun Kun and Heki

"What the hell are you talking about" Shou Bun Kun wanted to be certain about what was going on because their next course of action was going to be crucial

Shin and Ten told them everything that Naruto had told them and by the end of it Shou Bun Kun ended up massaging his temple "Of all the things holy…" he continued to do so before he looked at Shin in sudden interest

Shin was close to losing it at this point "Oh man this guy-" for some reason Shin felt like ducking was in his best interest and he did, that was the right decision as it saved his head from getting separated from his body, he looked at Shou Bun Kun in anger "Hey! What's the id-" he could not complete that sentence as he had to dodge another swing because the alternative was getting cleaved in half

"Enough of this Bullshit!" what happened next surprised everyone, including Shin, when he saw Shou Bun Kun with both his arms raised for performing a downward slash with his head as a the target, he did not draw his sword, he did not even use it with its sheath on, what he did was wait for the right moment as he twisted both his arms and grabbed Shou Bun Kun's right forearm with his left twisted arm and grabbed his left forearm with his right

'How did he/I do that?' Those were the collective thought that ran through the heads of Shin, Heki and Ten

Ten was especially surprised 'I normally can't follow Aniki's moves, but that definitely looked a lot similar, granted, he generally grabs the swords and is relentless after doing so'

Unlike them Shou Bun Kun despite the situation he was in had a small smirk on his face "Heh no wonder he took interest in you and has taken a liking to you, your resolve is not half bad," he took a step back but stumbled and had to go down on his one knee to avoid falling on his back "Dammit"

Shin was uncertain about how to react, wheather to help the old man or be on his guard but he did not have to be in that predicament for long as Shou Bun Kun addressed him himself "If I understand this correctly then you have decided to be his majesty's sword in return of the promises you have gotten out of him, so go after him"

Shin was confused and he expressed as much "Say what now?"

Shou Bun Kun gritted his teeth in pain as he spoke "It pains me to say this, but right now you are more useful to him than me as far as his protection is concerned, so go and chase after them, people may not realize it now, but his majesty has everything it takes to surpass every king in the history of Qin and that includes God Of War King Sho, he needs to be protected at all costs"

Everyone gasped at that declaration, the resolve with which he said it, that would have been an outlandish claim if it wasn't for the man who was making it and how he made it

Shou bun Kun was being helped by two of his soldiers on his feet "I.. I want to apologise for Hyou…it was not meant to happen like that.. I am sorry"

Shin looked down at the ground clenching his fist before he looked up at Shou Bun Kun "You didn't have to tell me old man, I was going after them anyway"

Shou Bun Kun nodded at that "Then what are you waiting for, go after them you fool, and take Heki with you"

Ten was on her feet as well "I will go as well"

Shin looked at Heki straight in the eyes, "I know Ten can pick his weight just fine, but I am not sure about you, but I will tell you right now that if you are not able to keep up then I will leave you behind, I plan to catch up with them in no time"

XX

XXX TWO DAYS LATER

XX

"If this was your plan to catch up with Aniki and Sei then I will tell you now it worked and it still sucks" Ten had difficulty in saying all of that, for her head and arms, just like Shin and Heki were trapped by pillory, a few moments ago they were wheeled in inside a Freaking palace of mountain people, they were placed right in front of Sei and Naruto

Naruto gave a sideways glance with a look that screamed 'You idiots' before looking ahead, more importantly at the king of the mountain tribes

'I know this situation is dangerous and yet I don't know why I am not feeling threatened, rather I am feeling really uncomfortable'

if nothing else Naruto was sure that the Next hour was going to be interesting to say the least

xxxxxxx

To be continued

xxxxxxx

A.N :- Hey guys, hope you liked the chapter, favorite,follow and review, especially review because I like reading them, but I needed some advice, but before I do that think it would be better if I gave a preface

So I am a big Naruto fan, and became a big kingdom fan recently, pretty much binged the whole series, I always wanted to write Naruto fanfic, particularly crossovers, the entire reason I am writing this is because I want to write the coalition arc, in my opinion that is one of the greatest arcs in manga history, now whether we reach that far is an entirely different story because I learned the hard way that writing a fanfiction that is not a complete waste of time is difficult lol

So what I needed the advice for is this, I plan to entrench Naruto completely into the Kingdom lore, to the point that you would not be able to imagine the Kingdom without him, a few weeks ago, it got me thinking about I should go about doing that, I have two options I could either make him the captain and Shin his subordinate or I could make them both completely independent of each other

Now I see the merits and demerits of both of those approaches, it would be interesting to the mentor-student relationship of Naruto and Shin, it would be nice to write a badass Shin who does not make a fool of himself just to explain a plot point and it would also help to illustrate how much he know his stuff and how badass he really is, but on the other hand, Shin throughout the series has this wiered role which is insignificant enough that nobody in the series notices it but significant enough that the series would not go in the direction that it does if Shin did not do what he does, if i make Naruto his mentor then what I can do with the story becomes limited because if Shin does not do what he does in canon then the series would lose structure

Now on the other hand, if I make Naruto a completely independent entity, then I can play around a lot with the arcs without disturbing history too much or even canon for that matter, the Sanyou arc and the coalition arc would be much more interesting to write, but at the same time it would require a lot of work establishing the original characters for Naruto's unit and I would have to spend less time on Shin and his unit, which would suck because I do want to write Shin

So tell me what you think, which approach I should choose, give me a reason why, and if possible give me some ideas for plotpoints too if you can, if I like them I would use them,

Again, thank you for reading, favorite,follow and review, especially review because I like reading them