Author's Note: For those of you who don't know, the story is currently following the Naruto Movie 2: Stone of Gelel arc. This following chapter briefly points out the slowly budding/improving relationship between Naruto and Tayuya, and how they're slowly and unknowingly growing attached to one another. Furthermore, it also covers the group's rescue, and shows where Naruto and Temujin stand as opponents.
Also, to any who are still curious, the primary weapon Naruto uses, the bayonet, isn't some WWI, WWII or Vietnam War relic. It's the exact same type of blade used by Father Anderson from the Hellsing series. For better illustrative reference to what it looks like, you can look him up.
Okay, enjoy the next chapter.
NARUTO
Melody of the Wanderers
The Convoy
Some time later…
"Death never felt so… inadequate…"
Naruto's world slowly, but surely, returned to him in blinks and blurs, and within moments, the young blonde soon found himself staring up at a vinyl ceiling with wooden support beams, and an old oil lamp hanging high above, emitting a warm orange glow and filling the room in a gentle light. It was a pretty plain sight, despite what his earlier thoughts on what heaven was like, and instead that the afterlife provided simple comforts rather then the glamour those preachers on the street promised. Oh well. Apparently the next life wasn't as different as the previous one?
But then again, there was the alternative.
Blinking away the haziness, Naruto became aware of the sound of voices, and glanced over to his right. The clamor was caused by a crowd of what looked to be traveling nomads, whole families sitting outside around camp fires, and mingling in common folk manner. From one corner to the next, he could identify old people, children husbands and wives, and amongst their ranks were musicians, chefs, fortune tellers and alike. The atmosphere was lively, though he was quite distant from the commotions, and could only watch from afar.
However, the sight of the travelers and happy campers wasn't the only thing that caught the young man's eye.
Sitting right next to his futon, he saw his backpack sitting atop of his folded up ninja attire, the same ones he had been wearing. It was tipped over, with all of its contents, including other articles of clothing, weapons and scrolls, scattered across the carpeted floor.
Memory slowly returning to him, Naruto suddenly remembered he had put Luka in his bag, and she was nowhere to be seen. The boy reacted instantly and sat up sharply, only to earn a very sharp pain in his side and back.
"GAAaaarrggghhh…" the boy cried out, body twitching and arms stiffening as the bolts of pain went shooting through him. Expecting to feel deep open wounds and see huge-ass blotches of bruises and tell-tale signs of broken bones patterned all over his body from his crash-landing, he received quite a surprise when he found his arms and waist bandaged up.
He took a moment to analyze the gauze.
Conclusion.
It was pretty superb work.
Naruto then noticed that someone was lying right next to him and using his stomach as a pillow. Blinking in surprise, the blonde craned his head a bit to see who it was and wasn't too surprised when he saw Tayuya, alive and well with her head rested against him, and sleeping soundly. Her breathing was set at a steady pace and judging from her condition, she was fighting fit, despite her lack of consciousness.
He was relieved, even more so when he saw Luka curled up beside his companion, the young fox also fast asleep.
"Oh ho… I see that you're finally up," a raspy, slightly pitched voice spoke up, alerting Naruto to the presence of yet another individual in the room.
The blonde looked ahead to see the silhouette of a lone individual kneeling before a small number of items laid out behind a canvas sheet. Based on his movements, he was deeply engrossed in his activity, hard at work on something behind drawn curtains. Judging from the outline as well as the sound of the voice, the young Genin deduced that it was some old man who had been treating him, a fact which was revealed to be true moments later when the silhouette rose and brushed its way passed the curtain and into the room, the details of the figure becoming ninety-percent more prominent.
The old geezer with the bulbous nose, white hair, and adorned in unique peasant garments, beamed at the boy on his appearance.
"Try not to move around too much," the man piped, carefully and quietly moving around the sleeping girl and fox, and coming to kneel beside the blonde. "You were out of it for quite a while, my boy. It's rather miraculous that you are conscious right now. I didn't expect you to be up in at least two weeks."
Naruto blinked and watched as the geezer set the pot of herbal mixture he had been tending to down on the ground and turn towards him with his hands on his lap. That bright expression never left the man's face, yet that wasn't the troubling aspect.
"So who are you, gramps?"
The addressed individual chuckled at the manner of his question. "Me? Why, I'm the elder of this traveling caravan; the name is Kahiko." He emphasized his earlier reference to the procession by gesturing outside of the tent towards the people outside, with Naruto quickly catching onto the fact that he was referring to the entire populace surrounding him. That meant he wasn't in a village, but a moving settlement, whose caring embrace he had found himself unexpectedly yet gratefully thrust into.
His questions about where he was, was made perfectly clear; he could have been anywhere from several miles from where he had landed or nowhere near it at all.
"The villages of these lands refer to us as the nomadic tribe. We travel from place to place as the seasons dictate and have been doing so for centuries," Kahiko explained, gesturing for Naruto to turn slightly. "Right now, we're returning to our old village and rest stop, to sit through this coming winter."
The boy complied and allowed the old man to apply the ointment to his back and shoulder area. The tribe elder pulled out an applicator brush and immediately after dipping it into the cream, began to gently lather it over the gauze and onto his skin. It tickled and stung a bit when it reached open scars, but Naruto wasn't too affected by it at all. He simply sat and took it, all the while listening to what his savior and caregiver had to say.
However, curiosity continued to creep to the surface, even in this time of reflection.
"So… how long have I been out?"
"Oh… I'd say just shy of a full day," Kahiko replied happily with a shrug, removing the brush and dipping it through the cream again. "I must say, fortune was smiling upon you and your friends. If we hadn't been passing by the moment we did, the river would have washed the lot of you away."
"Thanks for that by the way, gramps," Naruto smiled over his shoulder at the elder. "I am indebted to you."
"Think nothing of it, my boy. After all, we humans are instinctively compelled to help others when they are in dire stress. It wouldn't be right to just leave them to an unwanted fate when there is the strong possibility that they can be saved," the old man exclaimed. He then nodded down to the girl still dozing peacefully on the Genin's lap, holding in a chuckle when he saw her nuzzle her companion and groan lightly in her sleep. "She was barely conscious when we got you three out; huddled up against you as if you were her only lifeline and, even after we rescued you kids, she still refused to let you go. Even when I started working on your injuries, she was very insistent on staying by your side throughout the procedure. Ah, to be young and in love…"
"Oh… she's not, I mean, well… we're not really… me and her," Naruto jabbered, making small, decisive points between himself and the girl on top of him. Kahiko laughed lightly and waved a hand.
"That's okay lad. If she's not, she's not," he replied, lowering his herbal tools. The smile he wore was warm and friendly, and seemed to make Naruto smile as well. "But I must say; you two make an adorable couple…"
"I've been hearing that a lot, lately," Naruto sighed and shook his head with a grin. "What a strange universe…"
"The world works in mysterious ways, my boy," Kahiko stated, once again applying more cream to his back. "Sometimes, it takes things away from you that are the most precious to you, and at other times it brings down a heavy burden upon your shoulders. However, though people often mistake these events as simple actions compelled by their fate or through the mysterious influence of the universe; I believe it is the actions of the individual that shape the world around them and that it is the cause of how it reflects upon them in kind. Them and them alone." Kahiko smiled brightly at this. "I believe you must have made an incredibly right choice that brought you here today, my boy, and kept you alive as a result."
"Heh… maybe it's also due to my body's incredible durability," Naruto grinned and held up a fist. "I can withstand cannon fire if I wanted to, old man."
"I'm sure you can," Kahiko replied, unexpectedly slapping the boy on the back. This act resulted in a tidal wave of pain to suddenly go surging throughout Naruto's body, causing him to cry out in sheer agony. In a highly animated and comical fashion, he slumped over, twitching, shaking, groveling and crying, while his caregiver grinned widely. "Let's just concentrate on fixing you up for now. You can withstand cannon fire on a later date."
"Yeah… sure… whatever…" Naruto groaned.
By this time, Luka had woken up from the shockingly loud commotion. Her ears perked and her head looked up sharply, eyes blinking wildly in surprise. Accompanying the furry animal, Tayuya also slowly regained consciousness.
Yawning and sighing upon her stirring from her pleasant dreams, the girl rubbed her eyes out and looked up from where she was resting, where she saw Naruto sitting up, looking quite distressed and uncomfortable in his position yet still very much alive. Her previous fears and worries about him soon washed away at the confirmation that he was still in this plain of reality of the living world. This realization caused the kunoichi to smile and push herself fully off of her 'pillow', sitting back comfortably and smirking at the blonde, who quickly registered to her awakening.
"Good to see you're still alive… Uzumaki…"
"Oh, so it's Uzumaki now? Have I been moved up the chalkboard?"
"No… you're still shithead to me," the redhead grinned, then thumped him in the arm. This earned a visible and audible wince from the boy, who was nearly thrown over at her affectionate gesture. Kahiko simply smiled at their antics and gave them some room to reacquaint themselves with each other after their painful and obviously wild ordeal from beforehand.
"Well… good to know you're safe and sound, Tay-chan," the jinchuriki replied with a grin, rubbing his aching arm. The kunoichi shrugged and stretched out.
"All thanks to you. Man… you really took a beating from that landing. I'm surprised you two survived…"
"Yeah, Luka and I were really lucky," Naruto exclaimed, reaching out and petting the fox as she crawled up to him. The mammal returned his caring gesture with a light bark, which earned smiles from the two shinobi. "It's hard to kill foxes after all."
"Apparently, it's also pretty hard to kill your other friend too," Kahiko piped, drawing the attentive gazes from the young teens. The old man rested the cream down on the floor away from him before pointing in between the pair towards the futon next to them. When the jinchuriki and kunoichi glanced in the direction their caregiver was gesturing in, they received quite a surprise when they saw another blonde haired teen with red piercing eyes looking over at them.
Naruto blinked when he stared at the boy lying draped in sheets for a moment or so, both of them exchanging curious and bewildered glares. However, all of that changed in an instant when the Genin spotted the armor and memory flashes of those same eyes from the warrior before, framed the mysterious, nameless teen perfectly. The boy also came to this realization too, recognizing Naruto's eyes to belong to the masked ninja he had been fighting.
"YOU!"
The jinchuriki acted instinctively, reaching back and blindly slipping his hand into Kahiko's medical pouch. His fingers expertly curling around a scalpel handle, as if he knew the weapon was there all along, Naruto leapt from his bed and lunged. At the same time, the warrior reached for his sword and sat up just in time to counter. In the blink of an eye, the weapons held by both fighters were pressed up against each other's throats, dangerously close to killing their intended targets.
Kahiko was bewildered by their actions, whereas Tayuya was sort of in the same boat with Naruto, but concerned for his safety more then anything else.
"W-What is going on?" Kahiko asked.
"Oh, you know, this was the bastard that tried to kill us earlier today and ended up throwing all three of us down a fucking chasm," Tayuya replied. The old man, ignoring her unnecessary use of the f-word, nodded his head in understanding.
"I see…"
Naruto and the warrior glared at one another while sweating bullets, their movements exerting too much effort due to their injuries. The pain they felt was excruciating, but will power and sense of survival alone compelled them to act on their instincts and the two strong fighters immediately found themselves unflinchingly glaring the other warrior down without any hints of fear or obedience to back down.
They started that fight back there and inside their baser instincts commanded them to finish it.
However, looking each other over, the pair considered their state of dress, physical conditions, and their opponents overall.
When they were not battle ready, neither of them looked all that intimidating.
In fact they looked pretty much normal.
After a few moments of deliberation Naruto spoke.
"Truce?" the Genin asked almost suggestively.
The knight nodded a reply. "Truce."
At the exact same time, they moved their weapons away from each other. While the injured warrior slipped his sword back into its scabbard Naruto handed Kahiko back his scalpel. The old man took it with great care and was still weary of any conflict that could suddenly start up between the two teens during this white flag situation.
Naruto once again got comfortable and the young warrior adjacent to him, resumed his previous position by lying back down onto his bed, yet still kept an eye on the two shinobi right beside him, on the look out for treachery. The two wanderers also shared this sentiment with their other 'companion', but since neither one of them belonged to any known village imposing any authority or policies over them regarding enemy ninja, and for a fact they had no idea where this guy came from, sort of dampened the killing mood somewhat.
"You kids play nice now," Kahiko piped up, returning to his duties of cleaning up the place in the wake of Naruto's treatment. "When traveling together our differences are set aside… so there will be no fighting on this trip? Agreed?"
"Hmph… whatever," Tayuya murmured, whereas her companion's glare simply hardened on the teen also glaring daggers at them.
Though the climax had died down, the atmosphere was still incredibly tense.
Shortly following the incident…
"I'm surprised at the rate you're healing, my boy," Kahiko pointed, watching as Naruto undid the bandages around him.
One after the other, the blonde unraveled them from around him and rolled them back up for his caregivers to wash and use for another time. Despite his seemingly improved state, it was still astonishing to the old timer and those who were watching that the blonde was as spry as ever, as it had only been a couple of hours since he had regained consciousness. Usually, a person's muscles would have been seized up to an immovable point, but the youngster was shaking it off as if it were a usual thing. "You must have some rare powers to be able to recover at the rate you do."
"Yeah, I do. However, its genesis is a trade secret, gramps. Really, it's all just a bunch of gimmicks and stuff, you know," the boy replied casually, clipping the bandages together with the clasps provided. Afterwards, he picked them all up and handed them back over to the man across the small fire in between them. Kahiko took them with great care and after depositing them with his other materials, went on to continue making the stew sitting over the grate before him.
The concoction bubbled and hissed, and with every new ingredient he put in, a puff of smoke flew into the air. Naruto jumped at a particular juncture when the old man threw in a handful of seeds and a greenish, atomic-like mushroom cloud rose sharply out of the steaming pot. Kahiko then went on to stir, while keeping the conversation going at a comfortable pace.
"Your other friend also has a surprisingly fast recovery rate too," Kahiko pointed, gesturing over to the warrior being tended to by one of the other travelers. Naruto looked over, and saw a young woman tending to his opponent's wrappings.
She took extra care in removing the boy's bandages, since he had taken the most damage out of both of them. However, his body's response to tending to the various inflictions was shockingly rapid. "He's healing almost as quickly as you. It's really quite remarkable."
"No kidding," Naruto murmured, furrowing his brow over at the other blonde, who also glared back when he felt a pair of eyes on him. After a brief exchange of conflicting stares, the young Genin decided to look away and turned towards the other campfires lit in the middle of the temporary settlement.
Over by the band he saw Tayuya was spending her own free time playing her flute for the people. The orchestra of strings and woodwind players enjoyed her company and tuned their music in with hers, creating a peaceful melody to fall over the people. It then changed to a more upbeat melody and children began dancing around the campfire to the new sounds being played.
Naruto had to admit the kunoichi looked good in her light and smiled serenely at the sight.
"So, where are you and your friends headed to?" Kahiko asked, looking curiously up at his patient. "It certainly was pure luck that we found you when we did, however… your presence in this area begs the question."
"Oh, we were heading towards the Land of Wind. However we were unexpectedly side-tracked by that guy and his goons," Naruto replied, returning the subject towards the mysterious foreigner. Strangely, things always seemed to lead back to the guy and personally, it was annoying the jinchuriki. Nevertheless, the blonde quickly switched topics and looked back at the old man. "Actually, our plans changed half-way across the highlands when we bumped into a ferret. We figured he belonged to somebody up at the next village and went in that general direction to inquire about some lodgings."
"Oh, you mean Nerugui," Kahiko chuckled, letting the ingredient he had just dropped into the pot to simmer for a bit as he smiled up at his guest.
"Who?"
"That village you were referring to was one of our stops on our travels where we planned to stay for the winter. I believe I mentioned this already," the old geezer nodded affirmatively. At that point, the ferret that Tayuya had been carrying and the two of them were talking about, suddenly appeared on the old man's shoulder, and gently curled up and over. Kahiko beamed at the furry 'menace' and held up some crumbs for the little animal to munch on. "Poor old Nerugui got separated from us when we were traveling across the valleys towards the West. I figured he would have turned up somewhere down the road, but ended up in the company of you two."
"A bit of a troublemaker, huh?" Naruto smiled.
"Oh, he gets up to some mischief, but he is normally good. I'm actually surprised he took to you and your girlfriend over there so well. He's actually really shy most of the time," the elder stated, earning a raised eyebrow from the boy. "It's perplexing though… I wonder why he wandered off so suddenly."
"Yeah…" Naruto murmured back.
At that moment, the little animal hopped off of Kahiko's shoulder and scampered over to where the undressed knight sat and was being nursed. After a few moments of staring up at the youngster, the energetic ferret leapt up onto the boy's lap, and finding a comfortable spot, curled up and went to sleep. The sight bewildered the elder of the caravan, yet drew an amused grin from Naruto.
"So much for being shy…"
"Well… how do yah like that?" Kahiko sighed.
Turning back to his fire pit, the old man continued tending to his mixtures, though with a solemn look on his face. Naruto suspected his weathered down look to be from losing the attention of his most beloved friend, but didn't voice these opinions for fear of upsetting the gentleman who has been taking care of him all this time. However, to make up for the absence of one animal, Luka came up to Naruto and after cuddling up to his leg like a cat normally would, hopped up onto his lap and took a nap. The young ninja scratched her head affectionately, while smiling down at her at the same time.
"Boy, you sure are lazy, Luka," Naruto laughed.
"That is one well trained fox," Kahiko commented, finally giving the shinobi's smallest and most unnoticeable traveling companion some recognition. He pointed his mixing spoon in her direction. "Fox's aren't normally so comfortable around humans. How did you manage to make her so tame, my boy?"
"She sort of latched onto us at the beginning of our trip for some odd reason," Naruto replied with a grin as he petted his sleeping friend. "She's been traveling with us for about three months now and in that time has become quite a cohort."
"I see," Kahiko smiled. "It's always nice to have some extra company with you on long journeys, especially when it's just you and your musical friend over there." The elder nodded in the direction of Tayuya, who was still playing a jolly tune in the light of the fire. Comically enough, she was tapping her foot as she played and her audience clapped their hands to her enchanting beat. "She is certainly a pretty young lady. Where did you two meet?"
"Umm…" Naruto considered his response carefully. Not wanting to reveal anything that would upset the delicate balance between himself, his companion, and the happy travelers, he settled with a more simple, yet convincing story. "We… met at a village ramen eating contest a couple of months ago where we competed and have been traveling together ever since. She makes a great friend and rival; a person really worth fighting and working hard for, dattebayo."
"As long as you two are happy together then there shouldn't be any problems," Kahiko chuckled. "But despite your outlook on her my boy, I must admit, she's really attached to you even though she is just a friend. She hasn't stopped looking in your direction or has left your shadow since we pulled you lot out of that river."
Blinking curiously, Naruto glanced over at Tayuya, to see her playing a gentle tune and at the same time, looking intently in his direction. However, upon seeing him look over at her, she hastily turned away and concentrated on playing. Because of the glow of the fire, he missed the telltale signs of a blush and the brief smile that tugged on her lips.
Taking it as just mere concern for his well-being, Naruto dispensed his thoughts on the matter and went on to talking with Kahiko. After all, he had a whole night to burn, not to mention a whole lot of questions he still wanted to ask…
TO BE CONTINUED…
