To all my fans. I'm sorry for being away for so long. I've started a new story melding Naruto and Rising of the Shield Hero. I own neither. You will notice some differences in Naruto in this story. You will find out more as the story goes along. For those wanting me to work on my other stories… Well good news. I'm working on Seventh Seal and hope to have a chapter out soon.
More at the end of the chapter… Here we go….
Chapter 1 – Welcome to Melmormarc….
Naruto Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox. Genin of Konoha. Student of Jiraiya of the Sanin. Number one unpredictable ninja of the Leaf. Student of Kakashi of the Sharingan. Naruto and Jiraiya were on the training trip and he had just turned 15. The pair had just raided an old temple/library on the Suna/Konoha border. They had claimed many scrolls and books. Naruto had found one that had caught his eye and wanted to read it while they walked to their next destination. Naruto looked at the title of the book and said, "The Record of the Four Holy Weapons. This book starts in another world with an apocalyptic prophecy. It tells about waves of catastrophe."
Jiraiya chuckled and said, "Sounds interesting. Keep reading. You need to keep up your studies and the script looks a little on the old side and this will help with your reading ability."
Naruto shrugs and continues to narrate the book to Jiraiya, "To stave off the waves the people this world will call upon heroes from other worlds."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and said, "Just so long as they don't call upon you. We need you here."
Naruto laughed and said, "It's only a book. It's not like it's really going to happen. Well anyways…
Hmmm… Sword Hero, seems like an annoying guy, but okay. Bow Hero, sort of a hero complex… Spear hero… Man what an idiot… This Princess sounds like a real evil one."
Jiraiya chuckles and says, "The second vice of the shinobi, women. Watch out for them. If they come on too strong be very careful and keep them under constant watch. For they will be nothing but trouble. Sort of like that girl you left in the village."
Naruto looked at his sensei with an annoyed look. Being only fifteen years old and not really understanding girls he shrugged his shoulders and then set down the book. He finished packing up the camp and gathering up the supplies into the packs. Both men then began to set off towards their next destination. He then picked up his book and began to read again. "The last hero… Shield hero? A shield… that isn't even a weapon…"
Jiraiya chuckled and said, "There are some stories of shields being weapons, but they are few and far between."
Naruto then continued, "Hey, wait a minute… why are the pages blank?"
Jiraiya looks at Naruto and quickly grabs him as the boy begins to glow. He then looks into his eyes and says, "You're being summoned." Naruto nodded, as they continued down a lit tunnel. "When we get there, I'm going to disappear. I'll contact you within a day." Naruto nodded, as the tunnel appeared to end.
Naruto appeared on a summoning circle in a crouch. He noticed three others and Jiraiya missing in the circle. He also noticed the others had weapons, specifically a sword, bow, and a spear, while he had a shield on his right arm. He then noticed several acolytes and one exclaimed, "O' Saint Heroes of Old! Please help save our world!"
The boy with dark hair and the sword replied, "Forget it."
The boy with blonde hair and the bow also replied, "I also refuse."
The one with the spear said authoritatively, "You can send us back to our home world, right? Do that and maybe we'll talk."
Naruto watched and kept quiet.
The one possessing the sword pointed at the priests and exclaimed, "You brought the four of us here without our consent. Don't you even feel the least bit guilty about it?"
The bow wielder then continued, "Not to mention if we do all that work to restore peace and you throw us out. We'd have done all that work for nothing."
The spear guy asked, "How willing are you to accommodate our requests? Depending on your answer we may end up as your enemies rather and your allies."
Naruto scowled, but looked between the two groups. He understood the demands of the 'heroes.' As a shinobi he understood about being paid for his work, but also wanted to do the right thing.
The priest smiled and replied, "Good sirs, before I say anymore, I would like you to have an audience with the king of Melmormarc. You can negotiate your rewards with him directly. So please."
The sword hero lowered his sword and replied, "Fine."
The bow hero continued, "I suppose we will consider their offer."
The spear hero continued, "Sure, it doesn't matter who we talk to… our demands won't change."
The three began to leave the room. Naruto did several hand signals and left the room knowing that Jiraiya got the message.
As they continued through the castle the boys commented about it being a different world. Naruto kept quiet, but noticed that the air had changed and touched his shuriken, but felt a shock and saw a warning in his vision saying that the weapon was for bidden for attack purposes and only to use those of his class. He figured that he could only use shields. He thought, 'This sucks. I hope I can use jutsu. Since shuriken and kunai are out of the question. I might be able to use them in traps though.' He continued to follow the group into a chamber filled with guards in unusual armor and clothing that he didn't recognize.
At the end of the chamber was a man sitting in one of two chairs wearing opulent clothing and jewelry. Naruto notice the quick look of anger that flashed across the man's face when he looked at him, but Naruto didn't react. The man began to speak, "So you four young men are the four Cardnal Heroes of Legend? This is the land of Melmormarc, and I am her king, Aultcray Melmormarc the XXXII. Welcome brave heroes. Please identify yourselves."
The sword hero steps forward and says boldly, "Ren Amaki, I'm a high school student and I'm 16 years old."
The spear hero steps forward and says, "I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, college student, 21."
The bow hero sighs and responds, "I suppose I'm up next. Itsuki Kawasumi, still in high school and I'm 17."
Naruto steps forward, but the king speaks, "Good, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki. I'll explain why we brought you here. My beloved country of Melmormarc and the entire world surrounding it are heading down the road to certain ruin." Naruto kept his mouth shut during the explanation, but glared at the king the whole time. He then found out about how this world had an old apocalyptic prophecy about waves of destruction assaulting this world. The first wave had already come, and kingdom had been assaulted by the wave of destruction. The kingdom had barely survived the wave, but through the help of adventurers and the knights of the kingdom they had survived.
After a feast held in their honor. They had retired to what was Naruto's room. The others had regaled him with stories of how this world was like video game worlds from their respective worlds. Naruto had told them that his world really didn't have games like they described, he also notice that someone was listening at the door and he smirked at this. The other three figured that they came from different versions of the same world while Naruto had come from one that was completely different. Naruto shrugged. He asked all he could about gaming systems from them and they gave little in the way of helpful information. They also called him useless since he was a 'Shielder'. He just shrugged and listened to them until they left to their own rooms. The listener had left and Jiraiya had landed on the patio. He asked, "So what do you think?"
Jiraiya shook his head and replied, "I have no clue. I can't understand anything anyone says."
Naruto then says, "How about joining my party?"
Jiraiya looked at the boy in surprise and asked, "What?" He then saw a message appear in front of him ask 'Would you like to join the Shield Hero's party?', 'Yes', 'No' he looked intently at yes and decided to select yes. Suddenly Naruto's name came up and under his name with several lines below his name and his.
Naruto then explained, "I hate reading, but I can listen and read at the same time and the king was rather boring. We're both level 1. The red line is hit points, the blue is mana points, the green one is SP or special points, and the yellow one, CP, is chakra points."
Jiraiya interrupted, "Wait SP? I don't have that one."
Naruto sighed and replied, "Must be special to the heroes. Also touch the gem and then touch your throat." Jiraiya did as told. "You will now understand everyone around you from this world. I've been using the help as much as I can to see what I can do."
Jiraiya chuckled and smiled. He then said, "I knew you were smart in there. Now how do you want to do this?"
Naruto sighed and replied, "With how the king reacted I'm thinking that I'm going to be betrayed. Somehow, someway. I don't know this world, but they don't know that I'm better equipped than any of these clowns for combat. Even without a weapon, but it looks like I'm stuck with just the shield. I can use sharp weapons as tools, but not as weapons. So, take my shuriken and most of my kunai. Hide in the shadows and find out what you can. I know that you can do that normally, but I think that it will be helpful for both of us if you do." He then explained all he knew about this world and gave Jiraiya all the food in the room and most of the equipment in his pack.
The next morning, he was guided by the woman in the yellow dress, but he noticed her gate was not that of a noble woman, but that of a trained woman, either a shinobi or a warrior. He just stored that information for later. Naruto then entered the hall with the other heroes to see a group of warriors in front of the king. The King then said, "We have gathered the greatest warriors in the land. These brave souls will fight the wave alongside you."
Naruto thought to himself, 'Will we choose them, or will they choose us? The redhead is kind of cute.' At that thought the redhead smiled at him.
The King continued, "Our future champions. The time has come to begin your journey."
Naruto watched closely as the group of assembled adventurers walked forward and began to assemble behind the heroes. He looked behind himself and sighed. He knew this would happen. He looked at the redhead and figured watching her and three other girls assemble behind Motoyasu. He then thought, 'Even if someone comes over afterwards. They initially didn't pick me. Guess I have to do it on my own like usual.' Naruto shrugged and didn't say anything, since he figured it would fall on deaf ears.
The King then declared, "I'm loathed to admit it, but even I'm surprised that this was the outcome."
Motoyasu smiled and said, "See, being a shielder is bad luck."
Naruto shook his head and replied, "Nah, I'm guessing there is more to it than that."
The King then said, "It has come to my attention that the Shield Hero has no knowledge of our world, even though the heroes are said to come to our world with innate knowledge of our world. I guess this rumor has spread and is the reason that the Shield hero has no followers."
Naruto shrugs and says, "I'll just have to deal with it."
The redhead in the background raises her hand and says, "Sir hero. Would you kindly allow me to change parties and allow me to join the shield hero?"
Motoyasu asked, "Are you sure?"
She smiled and replied, "I am." Naruto notice a falsehood in the smile, and the tone of her voice but said nothing. He also wasn't sure what she was lying about, but was sure it wasn't good. He also didn't want to show his hand, so wanted to let this play out. Since the King seemed to have it in for him for some reason.
The King then asked, "Are there any others that will join Master…? What is your name hero?"
Naruto turned and smiled like a fox. He then bowed and replied sarcastically, "Ah yes, you skipped me yesterday, didn't you? How rude of me not to interrupt you and introduce myself. I am Naruto Uzumaki, genin shinobi age 15."
The King blushed at the jab and coughed. He then continued, "Yes, Master Uzumaki. Since no others will join your party. We will have to compensate you in other ways. You will have to recruit for your party for yourself. Every month we will supply the heroes the funds that they require, but this month, Master Uzumaki's payment will be higher than the others. Here are your initial war chests. Accept them with our thanks." Naruto got 800 silver coins, and the other heroes got 600 silver. They were ordered to gear up and set forth to 'level up'.
As Naruto left the castle with the girl, Motoyasu said, "Take good care of her Naruto. You hear me?"
Itsuki then said, "We can't help you directly, but at least I can wish you best of luck with your recruiting."
Ren then said, "Until next time. So long."
Naruto smiled and replied, "Good luck."
Myne then said, "I beg your pardon Shield Hero-sama. Let me introduce myself. My name is Myne Sophia. It's an honor to fight with you."
Naruto replied, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, it's nice to meet you, dattebayo." As he scratched the back of his head.
Myne held her hand forward and he took it. She then said happily, "My pleasure."
Naruto noticed the mirth, but the lack of truth to the statement, but hid his reaction with a smile. He thought, 'She is pretty, but why is she lying to me and what is it all about?' He then said, "Guess we should be going and get some equipment?"
She then said, "To start I'll show you around the village."
The tour was on the amazing side since it was bigger than Konoha and it had all the different types of people and animals, like the riding dragons and Filolials. He also noticed the use of magic in the vendors on occasion. He did look around and saw signs and noticed that he couldn't read the language. Myne then asked, "Where do you think we should visit next?"
Naruto replied, "A place that sells weapons and armor."
Myne became excited and exclaimed, "That makes sense. With all that silver I be that you could buy some great stuff. I'll take you to a shop I trust. They should have everything you should need."
Naruto saw no deceit in her this time, so he trusted her. Might as well. He smiled and replied, "Great, lead on."
She then exclaimed, "Follow me!" And then began to run off.
Naruto smiled and looked at her figure as it headed off into the crowd. He then thought, 'Well at least she is a looker.' He then followed her down the streets.
They entered a shop with swords and armor all along the shop walls. She then said enthusiastically, "This place gets my highest recommendation."
Naruto nodded at the weapons and armor as he passed them in the shop. He then said, "They look like very good quality."
A man behind the counter, bald and with a beard, said, "Welcome good sir. Not your first time in a weapons shop is it? At least you've picked the best one."
Naruto shook his head and replied, "No. I've been in weapons shops before, but your weapons are a little different than I'm used to."
The man put his elbow on the counter and asked, "How so?"
Naruto then took a deep breath and pulled out a shuriken and kunai. He then put them back in his pouch. He then explained, "Being the Shield Hero… I can't use them for combat, but I can use them as utilities. Thus, I can show them to you, but not use them. If I were to pick up one of your swords and attempt to use it… it would jump out of my hands and cause a problem. My weapon is the shield. Not a great weapon, but that is what I'm stuck with. Also, she brought me here."
The man looked surprised. He then said, "Really? So, you're the dud? And she looks familiar."
Myne replied, "I've been in here before and your shop is renowned."
Naruto chuckled darkly and replied, "Dud huh? Well… guess I'll have to work on that. So, what type of shields and armor do you have? By the way, I'm Naruto Uzumaki."
The man smiled and said, "Naruto, huh? If you become a regular… I won't give a care what you wield. Alright kid, good to meet you. What is your budget?" Naruto held the shield up the man as he began to look at it with a monocle. He then said, "At a glance it looks like any other small shield. Does it come off?" Naruto shook his head, but moved it around his body. The man continued, "I can sense a great amount of magic here, but my appraisal magic doesn't tell me much more." He tapped the gem on the shield. He then said, "Thanks for showing me something interesting anyway."
Myne replied, "About 250 silver."
Naruto came out in some chain mail with a frown. Myne asked, "How much do you want for it?"
The man replied, "Hero's discount 150 silver."
Myne then asked, "And the buyback price?"
The man looked surprised and replied, "What? Well, let's see. If it's still in mostly new condition, I'll offer you 100 silver."
Naruto nodded, understanding that some merchants would buy back items from his days a shinobi. He then said, "I'll take it."
The man gave the thumps up sign and replied, "Great, I'll throw in some inner wear to show my thanks."
Naruto paid the man and then put the bag of coins in his pack. Myne happily asked, "Where shall we go next Hero-sama? Off to do battle?"
Naruto nodded and replied, "Might as well level up."
They spent the next little bit moving out into the wilds outside of the castle. Myne appeared to hide behind a tree and signal that she was going to support him from there. Naruto inwardly frowned. He smiled at the girl and looked around. He then noticed several red icons appear over the grass, where he could see movement. He stood there to see what type of damage these opponents could do. Suddenly several orange balloon-like animals with mouths flew out of the grass at him and latched onto his limbs. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed a green glow around himself, but notice no drop in his hit points or felt any damage. He then grabbed one and pulled it off and squeezed. It popped and he saw that he gained 1 experience point. He growled and then began to creatively break each of these creatures. He smashed one beneath his shield. Another he used the pointed end of his shield. He even used a little of his Kyuubi chakra to elongate his nails and slash several. He did this for several hours. While this went on. He watched Ren easily kill the same monsters with his sword, much to his annoyance. He did notice Myne kill a couple of the monsters, but she didn't accept his party invite. After this time, he gathered up all the remains of the monsters and fed it to the shield. It took the balloon parts and he saw the shield accept the offering, by adding more to the base of the shield. Finally, it added the Orange small shield to his shield tree. It also gave him a +2 to defense.
She then suggested going to the weapons shop to get some equipment for her, so that they could get further tomorrow. He heard something in her voice that spoke of deception, but truth, but he agreed. He followed her back to the weapon's shop.
He learned the man's name was Erhard. Erhard asked, "Gear for the lady? You'd be much stronger being decked out with much stronger equipment."
She smiled and replied, "Right."
Naruto then stood on the opposite side of the desk to Erhard and asked, "Are you much into haggling or is that going to get me into more trouble than it is worth?"
Erhard began to laugh heartily and replied, "Just don't get too full of yourself and we should be fine."
Naruto then said, "10 percent off with a 70 percent buy back?"
Erhard looked surprised at the boy and replied, "Not much the haggle then… depending on what is bought."
Naruto smiled and put his hand out while Erhard took it. Naruto look soured as Myne approached. Naruto asked, "How much for this?"
Erhard sighed and replied, "480 silver with the discounts I can give you."
Naruto smile in thanks and took a breath. He then pulled the bag of silver out of his pack and paid Erhard. His frog wallet fell on the counter and some of the coins came out. Naruto picked up his wallet and gathered up his old money. He quickly put it back in his pack. He then counted out the coins for Erhard. He then said to Myne, "This will put a crimp in the budget. I hope you don't mind camping in the wilderness."
Myne gasped and replied, "Tonight, Hero-sama?"
Naruto shook his head and replied, "No, not tonight, but even if the balloon fragments fetch a copper per fragment… it will take a while to make up the money we are investing in you. I hope you can make it worth our while."
Myne's smile faltered for a second, but she thought she wasn't caught and replied, "I'm sure we can make it up soon, Hero-sama. The stronger I am the more loot we can collect from monsters. Right?" She then walked up to him and pushed her breasts into his arm.
Naruto acted like this was flustering him. It was, but not in the way that Myne suspected. It caused him to be angry that she was trying to sucker him with sex appeal, and he wasn't having it. He began to babble, but inside he was getting angry. "I have already bought your stuff," Naruto explained. He turned to Erhard and asked, "Where do I sell the fragments from monsters?"
Erhard replied, "There are shops that specialize in monster goods. They'll buy most of those things off of you."
Naruto smiled and replied, "Thanks."
Naruto and Myne left the shop and headed to an Inn.
Naruto looked at the food and then at the utensils. He then asked, "How the heck am I supposed to eat with these? I'm used to using chopsticks."
Myne giggled and demonstrated each of the utensils and Naruto quickly got the gist of how to use them. Just before he took a bite he said, "Thank you for this food." And clapped his hands together. He then took a bite and said, "This is rather good."
Myne replied, "I'm so glad you're enjoying your meal."
Naruto pulled out a map and pointed to a point on the map. He then said, "The meadow we fought in was over here, right?"
Myne replied, "Yep. Tomorrow, we'll be headed to Lafan village. Which lies beyond this map and past Lafan village we'll find a dungeon that's fit for rookie adventurers."
Naruto raised an eyebrow and asked, "A dungeon?"
Myne replied, "We won't make very much money either, but it's an excellent spot to work on leveling up."
Naruto nodded and replied, "I see where you're going with this idea."
Myne then said, "Now that I have new equipment and that I have you defending me. It should be a walk in the park." She then lifted her glass and asked, "We have all this wine, Hero-sama. It would be a shame to let it go to waste."
Naruto shook his head and replied, "I don't drink, sorry and I advise you don't drink too much. It will cause problems tomorrow. Either with a hangover or with dulled reactions."
Myne looked surprised and said, "After the long day we've had and the great vintage of this wine. I would love to share it with you."
Naruto was already up and walking away. He waved his hand and said, "Just take it easy on the wine."
She then said, "You shouldn't turn me down."
Naruto turned and looked at her like she was insane. He then asked, "Why is that?"
Myne replied, "Melmormarc is a matriarchy. No man from here would ever turn down a drink offered by a woman."
Naruto then replied loud enough for the other patrons to hear, "Well I'm not from here and I don't want to dull my senses. I'm sorry if I offended you, but I don't want to indulge in alcohol. It is one of the three sins of the shinobi and they can cause our downfall. Maybe I'll tell you about the others."
Myne sighed and replied, "I look forward to it and I'll see you tomorrow."
Naruto entered his room and then opened his window. He heard Motoyasu and Itsuki arguing, while Jiraiya entered in through the window. Naruto began to take off his armor. He folded in on the table. He then pulled out 100 silver coins and his spare outfit from his backpack. He handed the coins to Jiraiya and said, "I just don't trust that woman. There is something off with her. She just ignored my party invite and I just know she is up to something."
Jiraiya nodded and put Naruto's pack into his pack and left the coin bag with the remaining silver coins on the table. He then said, "You expect her to double cross you?"
Naruto nodded and replied, "I just get that feeling. She out right lied to me on several occasions. Take the orange fragments to a vendor in the market and you should get about a copper for each fragment. I gave you 100 silvers and I'll keep 25 for myself, that I'll put it inside my shield." He began to put the coins under the shield over his arm.
Jiraiya chuckled and said, "I noticed getting experience points while you were out. I also found a way to get more people in your party. Especially if she betrays you. It might not be moral, but there is a slave trading merchant in town, and he has quite a few slaves. I talked with him today. It appears that this kingdom is both a matriarchy and a human dominance kingdom. Meaning that we can get some slaves to fill out your party. I don't think the other heroes will like it, but we can mitigate that later, since it is legal here. We can offer freedom to the slaves after the waves are complete. I can train you and them while we are outside of the castle. I have my eye on a few. There is one that you will have to make the final decision on."
Naruto smiled and asked, "Not giving me a clue on who it is?"
Jiraiya chuckled and replied, "Nope. I just hope that Shield can get us both back to Konoha eventually. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night and good choice of not drinking."
Naruto chuckled and replied, "I've seen you get drunk enough on our trip to know better. Especially with how she was acting. I figure she is going to pull something tonight. I more than likely am going to be robbed and blamed for something."
Jiraiya frowned and said, "Still having problems with how you were treated? I know trust is hard and how Sakura played you wasn't exactly right, but you need to give a girl a chance at some point. I do agree that this isn't the girl that you should."
Naruto laid down in the bed and said, "Good night Erosenin."
Jiraiya smiled and replied, "Goodnight, Godson." He then jumped out the window.
A/N: Yes, it does follow most of the Shield hero story arc and dialogue, but I have a few surprises in the next few chapters. I have finally gotten done with school for the most part, but not gotten back into tech, just yet. I am working… 6 days a week in the medical field… yeah, I know. What happened. I'm taking care of my mother and the relationship is finished with my significant other. She has for a lose of words will not support me in any way, so I need to get out and will help my children from afar, since they are adults. Wish me luck. Might be buying a house in the next year or so. Went through hell and back and survived. The last time I updated was just after I had gallbladder surgery and had to leave the house the family said they 'loved', but would not put any effort into. So, I had to pull the bootstraps up and rebuild the family as best as I could and here I am again. I missed writing. I know I'm going to get flamed. Hey, it is the nature of the beast, but I hope you guys like the story. I have at least 3 chapter written so far. Just have to check grammar and spelling. The usual. Anyone familiar with the story… please don't spoil…
Have a Little Feith: Thanks for the edits. Implemented. Good catches.