Naruto: Path of Radiance
Gallia arc
A/N: in case you guys were wondering, I've decided to put up the current poll results for the three pairing polls in this author's note.
Naruto: Lethe: 8, Mia: 8, Mist: 5 and Sakura: 3.
Seems like Naruto will get together with both Lethe and Mia for now while Mist and Sakura are being left in the dust.
Sasuke: Leanne: 4, Ena: 4, Micaiah: 3 and Sakura: 3.
Seems like Sasuke's popular among the Laguz while the Branded and the Beorc are losing for now, but everything can change.
Sakura: Naruto: 2, Sasuke: 1, Sothe: 1 and Rolf: 0.
Naruto's in the lead here, but with this I think we should put Naruto's own poll into consideration, so then Sakura actually has 5 votes, but she would still need more in order to capture Naruto's heart, though in Sasuke's poll it would seem that he might end up in a harem with three girls…lucky jerk.
Also note that I wrote this down before the chapter, so Sasuke's poll might've changed since then.
"Fire emblem." Normal speech
'Fire emblem.' Normal thought
"Fire emblem." Biju and Transformed Laguz speech
'Fire emblem.' Biju and Transformed Laguz thought
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 5: A brief diversion
The continent of Tellius, blessed by the goddess. To the northwest lies the land of Crimea, home of the Greil Mercenaries. Without warning, Crimea's eastern neighbor, the kingdom of Daein, launches an attack on Crimea's capital city of Melior. Ike leads a handful of mercenaries to Melior to confirm Soren's news of the attack. En route, they happen upon a young woman, unconscious but unharmed. Fearing for her safety, they take here to their stronghold. When she awakens, the woman gives her name as Elincia and lays claim to the title of princess of Crimea. She relates the sad tale of her flight from Crimea and of her parents' murder at the hands of Ashnard, king of Daein. The Greil Mercenaries answer princess Elincia's plea for help and agree to escort her to the kingdom of Gallia. Located to the southwest of Crimea, Gallia is home to the Laguz, a race quite unlike Ike and his fellow Beorc. Crimea and Gallia have long struggled to overcome their differences. In recent years, the two kingdoms have done much to ease the prejudice between the Laguz and Beorc factions. Their combined efforts have forged a bond of trust and friendship that may yet overcome years of intolerance. Ike and company escape the Daein army, abandoning their longtime base. From there, they begin the long march towards Gallia. Their task clear and their destination far, they slip into an ocean of trees.
The team of mercenaries was walking through the forest while Elincia was sitting on Titania's horse and said redhead was walking next to the horse, holding the reins.
In the tree-line were an over-confident Daein archer and he readied his bow, aimed at the young brunette and fired.
Naruto heard the arrow approaching and he grabbed Mist-chan and saved her from being hit and Shinon instantly reacted and fired an arrow straight through the Daein's skull.
"T-thank you." Mist said as she got up on her feet and Naruto got up on his feet right after, but he noticed something lying on the ground and he knelt down to pick it up.
"Hey, Mist-chan. You dropped something." Naruto said as he was about to pick up the medallion.
"No, Naruto. Don't." Greil yelled, not wanting someone as powerful as Naruto to go berserk right now. But it was too late and Naruto had already picked up the medallion.
"What?" He asked as he got back up on his feet, not seeing any problems in picking it up.
Greil looked questionably at the young Laguz, he had expected something to happen by now, he himself went berserk instantly after picking it up a longtime ago, but Naruto? No nothing happened, not even as he gave the Medallion back to Mist. Could he somehow be immune like Mist? No, the only reason Mist was immune was because of that song she's always singing. Could it be that the medallion had only an effect on Beorc? No, that can't be it, only the Herons were immune to the medallion and that was only because of their Galdrars. So how is it that Naruto was seemingly immune to it? As far as Greil knew, Naruto couldn't even sing, much less sing a Galdrar.
Naruto's mindscape
Inside the vast sewer that is Naruto's mindscape, there was a certain fox with nine large tails that sensed a familiar chakra coming from the medallion.
"That chakra, if I didn't know any better I'd say that was Yune, the so-called goddess of chaos." The large fox said as he remembered having met her before about 900 years ago.
"This couldn't get any better. As soon as I break through this seal, I can destroy that medallion and then I can finish what I started." The fox said, trying to find a way to break through the seal so that he could kill Yune, and Ashera would go with her. Hopefully they wouldn't split in two like they did last time.
Crimea, forest near the Gallian border
Sakura walked through the forest, she had so far managed to avoid contact with any of the Laguz. And the few that she's seen, she managed to sneak around, using her ninja skills.
Suddenly she heard some voices, and curiously she headed towards where the voices came from, and she spotted a Daein camp.
She didn't realize however that a Tiger Laguz had spotted her and he charged at her and they both went through the bushes and into the camp.
The Daein soldiers were surprised to see a young human girl in the forest of Gallia of all places, but they didn't have time to think as the sub-human charged at the girl, but the sub-human was suddenly stabbed by a blood-red lance that seemed to de coated in fire.
Sakura looked up in fear at the one who was holding the lance, something about her reminded Sakura of Orochimaru.
"Mind telling me what a young girl like yourself is doing all the way out here in Gallia?" The woman asked as she had drawn the lance out of the Tiger.
"I-I'm looking for a friend of mine." Sakura said, not wanting to give away too much. After all, Ha'ar had told her not to reveal that she was looking for a Laguz in front of a Daein soldier until she was sure that the soldier could be trusted.
"And what would that friend of yours be doing out here?" The woman asked, already having figured out that it has to be a sub-human that the girl's looking for.
"This forest is the only place that I haven't searched." Sakura said, hoping that they'd believe her.
The woman was about to say something, but then a girl with pink hair walked over to her and whispered something into her ear.
"You!" The woman said after a little while as she pointed her lance at one of her men "Make sure to get this nice young girl a tent so that she can rest. After all she must be tired from her long journey."
"Y-yes, ma'am." The soldier said, afraid that she'd kill him if he didn't do as she was told and he took Sakura to a tent. Though he had to wonder why the ruthless General Petrine-sama, who has never shown any mercy to anyone would even bother with this girl. Who knows, maybe this was one of her rare good days.
Petrine on the other hand had other plans for the girl, Ena had told her that the headband that the girl had, had the same mark as the one that the sub-human in that mercenary group had, so they must know each other.
Crimea, forest near the Gallian border
The group was walking through the forest.
"blazes, why does it have to be so blamed humid? If we weren't being chased, I'd strip off this armor here and now!" Gatrie complained.
"Then I'm almost glad that we ARE being pursued. I suppose you'll have to grin and bear it, won't you?" Titania said.
"Hm, I suppose I will." Gatrie said.
"Right. So enough with your griping. You're merely wasting energy. Still, this heat is appalling." Titania said.
"Oh, I don't know 'bout you guys, but I feel just at home here." Naruto announced.
"Of course you do, you're a Laguz. But we're humans, dense forests like these aren't made for us." Shinon said.
"Actually, Konoha lies in the middle of a dense forest and it's mostly populated by Beorc, with a few Laguz here and there. Now let's see, there are at least three Laguz clans that I can think of, the Inuzuka clan, the Hyuga clan and the Uchiha clan. With the latter only having two remaining members, due to the Uchiha massacre." Naruto said.
"Was it some humans that decided to get rid of the Laguz?" Shinon asked.
"Nah, it was actually the doing of the clan heir, Uchiha Itachi." Naruto said.
"He killed his own family? That's unthinkable." Titania said.
"And here I thought Ashnard was mad!" Greil said.
"After the massacre, the only other survivor, Itachi's younger brother, Sasuke swore to get revenge." Naruto continued.
"Do the other Laguz in Konoha have fox-like tails like you do?" Ike asked.
"Nah, the Inuzuka have dog-like tails, the Hyuga have cat-like tails and the Uchiha have fiery red wings." Naruto said.
"Sounds like you've got all three types of Laguz in your village." Soren said.
"Huh, really?" Naruto asked and Soren nodded.
"The Inuzuka and Hyuga are beast-type and the Uchiha are bird-type." Soren said before continuing "…A little farther, and we'll be out of these trees."
"Really? That means Gallia proper! Compared to this forest, even a kingdom of half-breads will seem like heaven." Shinon said, not noticing the tick mark that appeared on Naruto's forehead at the word he used to describe Laguz.
Crimea, Daein camp
Petrine was currently in her tent, receiving a report from one of her scouts.
"…And that's when we lost track of them. I assigned a squad to pursue them and returned here so I could give you this report." The scout said.
"Understood. You may step down." Petrine said and the scout left the tent "So princess Elincia is making her way through the forest to Gallia…"
"Ena!" Petrine said and as her tactician came over to her, she continued "It appears your advice was sound. Well done. You have my praise."
"Thank you." Ena said.
"When the king assigned me a tactician, I wondered what I had done to lose his trust. When I saw that it was a young girl, I burned with anger at the king's judgment. Still, it's worked out better than I had expected. Keep up the good work." Petrine said.
"Of course." Ena said before leaving the tent.
"Now then, it's time for the hunt to begin. But first I must go and "talk" to our "guest"!" Petrine said before walking out of the tent herself to interrogate their pink-haired prisoner.
Crimea, forest near the Gallian border
As they approached the end of the forest, Greil suddenly stopped.
"Hold it right there, everyone. We're coming up to the edge of the forest. Form up. Combat positions." Greil said.
"I don't suppose our Daein pursuers were willing to let us just slip away." Titania said.
"There is no doubt they will attack again. Without knowing their numbers, it is difficult to advise a course of action." Soren said.
"Take your best guess, Soren. With the limited information we have, what is the best way to proceed?" Greil said.
"…some of our group cannot fight. If we are caught, we'll have a difficult time defending them and attacking the Daeins. I propose we separate into two groups: a small fighting force to engage the enemy and buy the main group some time, and the rest of us, who will escort the princess to Gallia at full speed." Soren said.
"You want to divide our combat strength? The main force aside, don't you think the risk to the smaller group is too high?" Oscar asked.
"Actually, Oscar-san. I'll have to agree with Soren-teme on this one. But if it'll make you feel any better, I could go with the smaller group. With the Kage Bunshin no jutsu, I can be any number from 1 to 1000." Naruto said.
"No, you'd need to go with the main group Naruto, you're the only Laguz we've got, so with you with us we'd be ensured a safer passage through Gallia. And we'd also need you to sniff out a possible ambush." Soren said.
"I agree with Soren, Naruto. You should stay with the main group." Greil said.
"All right, let's split up. The diversionary team will be Gatrie, Shinon and me. The rest of you guard princess Elincia and proceed to Gallia straightaway. Got it?" Greil said.
"Are you sure you're taking enough men?" Ike asked concerned.
"Idiot pup. Smaller numbers mean better mobility. Your time would be better spent worrying about yourself than about us." Shinon said.
"Listen up! This will probably prove to be the biggest fight this company's faced. Remember, you've got only one life. I don't want any of you dying on me. In times like these, it matters not what blood ties are. We are family. If you don't want to cause your family any grief, then live! Ike will be commanding the main force. Naruto, you're his support. All right, let's move out! See you all in Gallia!" Greil said before he, Shinon and Gatrie headed towards the pursuers.
Ike and the others headed down towards the border into Gallian territory and as they approached the edge of the forest they stopped upon noticing the Daeins.
"So they were waiting for us after all…" Ike said.
"There are…more of them then I imagined there would be. I thought they would have been spread out across the forest border…I didn't expect to see so many in one place." Soren said.
"Do we rethink our strategy?" Ike asked.
"No, we've already split up. It's too late to reconsider now." Soren said.
"Isn't there at least some way we can at least get the princess, Mist-nee-chan and Rolf to the far shore safely?" Ike asked.
"There are to bridges…this thicket extends to the edge of the westernmost bridge. If we can use the trees as cover, we might be able to reach the bridge undetected. From there, we can launch a surprise attack." Soren said.
"We'll be creating a diversion, right?" Ike asked.
"Correct. While we keep the enemy's attention, the princess and the others can cross the bridge to safety." Soren said.
"That plan's great and all, but what if the enemy happens to spot the three of them? I suggest that three of us will form a manji formation around them." Naruto said.
"What's a manji formation?" Ike asked.
"It's where either three or four people form a defensive ring around someone they're protecting." Naruto explained.
"In that case, I suggest that me, Rhys and Boyd will form a manji formation around them." Soren said.
"We've no time for discussion. That's the plan we go with." Ike said.
"My lord Ike-san, I…I will fight with you!" Elincia said.
"…No, you won't." Ike said.
"My lord?" Elincia said.
"I cannot let you expose yourself to danger of any kind. Everyone here is risking their lives to ensure your safety. You understand that, you'll cooperate and do as I ask." Ike said.
"I see…I will do my part." Elincia said.
"It's settled then." Titania said.
"Right, let's break through they're lines!" Ike said before Elincia, Mist, Rolf, Soren, Rhys and Boyd left to hide somewhere else.
"Everyone ready? Let's go!" Ike said before they started sneaking down towards the bridge.
Crimea, Daein camp
Sakura was lying motionless on the floor in the tent, she was in, Petrine had wanted to know about Naruto, but she wouldn't sell out her teammate, will of fire and all that.
"Pity, I had hoped that someone who had managed to befriend one of those beasts would have lasted longer than that, but I have to give the girl credit. She hasn't sold him out at all yet, but I'll change that soon enough." Petrine said before turning to leave, but before she exited the tent, she turned to a soldier and said "You, stay here and make sure that she doesn't try anything when she wakes up!"
"Y-yes ma'am." The soldier said in a frightened tone, showing that just like any other soldier at the camp except for Ena, he was afraid of her.
Crimea/Gallia border
Naruto leapt out of the forest and delivered a hard palm strike to the back of one of the Daeins head, and the Daein fell down onto the bridge.
A nearby archer was about to turn around to see what the sound was, but then as he had turned around, Ike stabbed him with his sword.
A nearby knight then ran towards them, but Titania rode up and cut into him with her axe.
Then Oscar came out of the tree-line and charged at a group of three Daeins that were standing near the eastern bridge and he cut all three down.
"We've spotted the mercenaries!" The captain of the Daein soldiers, Emil said before turning to one of his men "You there. Inform General Petrine-sama at once. Request that she gather the troops."
"Yes, sir." The soldier said before running off back to camp.
Naruto ran towards where the captain was standing as he formed his favorite hand sign.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu." And two Naruto clones appeared before the three Narutos took out the three soldiers that were standing next to Emil.
"What's this? They're not bad! Let's go, men! Hit those mercenary scum with everything you have." Emil said.
A Daein axe knight rode towards Oscar, but he ducked under the poleax that was swung at him before ramming his lance into the enemy's horse, so that the horse fell down and Oscar then stabbed his lance into the enemy's chest.
Soren, Rhys and Boyd walked out from the tree-line, forming a triangle and inside the formation were Elincia, Mist and Rolf.
"I see the princess!" A Daein mage said before he ran towards them while reading something from his tome and winds started blowing up around him.
Soren noticed him and started his own wind spell and the two powerful gusts of wind hit each other as the two mages battled for dominance.
After a few seconds however, Soren got the upper-hand and blew the Daein away.
Ike ran up to Emil and swung his sword at the Daein, but Emil blocked it with his spear.
"I will not allow you to take one step more!" Emil said.
"Then I've no choice but to cut you down and walk over you!" Ike said.
Emil then pushed Ike away, but before he could do anything else, Naruto had gotten up behind him and stuck a kunai into his back and then Ike went in for the kill and chopped the guy's head of.
"Time to get out of here!" Ike said and the others followed him into the beast kingdom of Gallia.
"I don't know how, but we made it…" Ike said once he was sure that they were a good ways away from the border.
"Onii-san." Mist said as she, Rolf-kun, the princess, Boyd-san, Rhys-san and Soren-san came over to them.
"My lord Ike-san." Elincia said.
"Mist-nee-chan, princess, Rolf, Boyd, Soren-san, Rhys…are you all well?" Ike asked.
"Hah, do you even have to ask, they had me with them after all!" Boyd said, causing everyone to sweatdrop, and Naruto was reminded of a certain Inuzuka that he knew.
"Is this Gallia? We made it, didn't we? We're safe now, right? I thought I would feel different, but I don't." Mist said.
"This is all due to your efforts. Thank you…" Elincia said.
"Princess Elincia…" Ike said.
"It's still too early to rest easy. The others haven't rejoined us yet." Soren said.
"We're talking about the commander. I don't think there's anything to worry about." Titania said.
"Tou-san…Shinon-san…Gatrie-san…" Ike said as Naruto sniffed the air.
"Don't worry, they're still around, I can still smell them. Though there are a lot of Daeins in that area and even a scent I don't recognize, but it's clearly not a Daein…and is that…Sakura-chan?" Naruto said as he continued to smell the air "Wait a minute, that's strange!"
"What is?" Titania asked.
"There's someone in the Daein camp that smells like a Laguz, but at the same time she smells like the other Daeins." Naruto said.
"How do you know it's a female?" Soren asked.
"Males and females have slightly different scents, even most Laguz can't tell the difference, but I can strengthen my nose to a thousand times its normal strength with chakra. Hm, and there's another woman that's near Greil-san's location that smells a little like Soren-teme, but she's clearly a Daein and almost as strong as Greil-san himself." Naruto said and no one noticed that Soren looked up in curiosity when Naruto said that there was one who smelled like him.
'Could she be a Branded too?' Soren asked himself.
"…Princess Elincia, I'm afraid we're going to have to part ways here." Ike said.
"But what do you mean?" Elincia asked.
"We're going back to aid our companions. So I want you to continue with Mist-nee-chan to the royal palace of Gallia." Ike said.
"What? No, Ike! I'm going to stay with you!" Mist said.
"Listen to me, Mist-nee-chan. We must do it this way so that everyone gets out of here alive!" Ike said before turning to Naruto "Can you have one of your clones stay with them?"
"No problem!" Naruto said and Ike turned back to Mist.
"Tou-san and I will catch up to you right away! Don't worry. Have tou-san or I ever broken a promise to you?" Ike said.
"Well…no. All right, then. We'll go ahead." Mist said.
"Thank you, Mist. We'll see you soon." Titania said.
"All right. Titania-san…please take care of onii-san. Promise?" Mist said.
"You have my word on it." Titania said as Naruto formed a clone.
"Oscar-onii-san…Boyd-nii-san…don't get killed out there, all right?" Rolf said.
"Rolf-nii-san…" Oscar said.
"Knock it off, both of you! You're acting like a couple of old women. We're gonna be fine. Nothing bad's gonna happen while I'm around!" Boyd said.
"Pardon, Rhys-san…" Elincia said as she walked up to said medic.
"Y-yes?" Rhys said.
"Take this with you, please." Elincia said as she gave Rhys a staff that had a blue orb on the top instead of a red one.
"This is a mend staff, isn't it? Er, are you sure this is all right?" Rhys asked as he took the staff.
"Every one of you is putting yourself in harm's way on my account. I only hope that staff can mitigate your risks even slightly." Elincia said.
"Thank you very much! This will help greatly. I will use it to aid the others in your name." Rhys said.
"…Thank you. Please…be careful." Elincia said.
"If you'll excuse me." Rhys said before he left to follow the others.
"O benevolent Ashera…grant them all your blessings…" Elincia said as she, Mist and Rolf watched the others leave.
"Lead the way Naruto!" Ike said as they entered the forest again.
Crimea, Daein camp
Sakura was lying on the bed in her tent with her back to the entrance, trying to come up with an escape plan, but she knew that the guard would know instantly if she disappeared, well she could use her speed to outrun them, but at her level, she still wasn't fast enough to outrun a horse.
Outside the tent was the guard standing, occasionally looking into the tent to see if the girl was still there. A soldier with dark-blue armor instead of the normal black that was carrying a tray, or upon close inspection it would be possible to see that it's actually his shield with food on it came up.
"General Petrine-sama wanted me to get the prisoner some food." The soldier said.
"I'll give it to her." The guard said as he took the "tray" and turned around to give the food to the girl, but as he turned around, the other soldier hit him in the back of his head so hard that he fell unconscious down on the ground.
Sakura turned around in the bed to see what that sound was and she was surprised to see that one of the Daein soldiers might be trying to help her.
The Daein picked up his shield as well as the guard's lance before turning to Sakura.
"Come with me, I think I know where your Laguz friend is!" The soldier said and Sakura was surprised that he referred to Naruto as a Laguz and not a sub-human.
Chapter preview
Mia "Are you Ike-san?"
Greil "You and I, we've got more power than the average person."
Black Knight "I suggest you leave this to me Petrine-san."
Ranulf "Y-you, what are you?"
Kyubi "You Beorc and Laguz would know me as Kyubi no yoko." (Everyone gasps in surprise)
Petrine "Next time on Naruto: Path of Radiance: Shades of evil."
Character status
Naruto: Class: genin.
Level: 13
Techniques: Henge, Kawarimi, Oroike, Harem, Kage Bunshin, Uzumaki Naruto rendan, Kuchiyose, Rasengan, Futon: Kamikaze.
Weapons: kunai, shuriken.
Race: Fox Laguz.
Ike: class: ranger.
Level: 11
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: regal sword.
Race: Beorc.
Titania: Class: Paladin.
Level: 10
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: steel axe.
Race: Beorc.
Boyd: Class: fighter.
Level: 6
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: iron axe.
Race: Beorc.
Oscar: Class: lance knight.
Level: 9
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: iron lance.
Race: Beorc.
Rhys: Class: priest.
Level: 6
Techniques: Heal.
Weapons: heal staff, mend staff.
Race: Beorc.
Shinon: Class: sniper.
Level: 6
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: steel bow.
Race: Beorc.
Gatrie: Class: Knight.
Level: 12
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: steel lance.
Race: Beorc.
Soren: Class: Mage.
Level: 5
Techniques: Wind, Critical hit.
Weapons: Wind tome.
Race: Branded.
Sakura: Class: genin.
Level: 1
Techniques: Henge, Kawarimi, Bunshin.
Weapons: none (they were taken by the Daeins)
Race: Beorc.
Petrine: Class: paladin.
Level: 18
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: Flame lance.
Race: Branded.
Emil: Class: halberdier.
Level: 2
Techniques: Critical hit.
Weapons: short spear.
Race: Beorc.
A/N: Now you'll unfortunately have to wait for 2 months give or take. In next chapter they also meet Petrine and Mia and Ranulf and even the Black Knight. Also if you're wondering who the guy that saved Sakura is then you can try and figure that out for yourself. I've also decided to add Sanaki to Naruto's poll and Jill to Sasuke's poll.