Hello, everyone. This is Rokettoman.
This the second chapter of 'The Saga of The Immortal Wanderer'.
I hope all of you readers will like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and other media properties.
Chapter 2: The Princess and The (Ninja) Bodyguard.
Not far from the Moon Colony. A small spaceship moves at a high speed as if being chased by something.
"Lacus-sama, please wait for me..." Inside the spaceship is a girl with long dark-colored hair tied in a low ponytail, probably has Japanese lineage, wearing an outfit that resembles a ninja complete with the mouth cover and red scarf.
*BI-BI-BI-BI!*
Then the warning alarm of the spaceship suddenly sounds.
"I've been followed!?"
Not far from the spaceships, five Batalla-type mobile suits are following the spaceships.
"We found another traitor!"
Today is 17 August 0190 NWC. And also the end of Naruto's halcyon days.
"My name is Lacus Clyne, Earth..., is in great danger."
The solo ship became silent after Lacus Clyne's sudden introductions.
"...What?"
"Stranger danger!" Haro said while jumping randomly.
"Umm... pardon?"
"My name is Lacus Clyne, and-"
"Yeah I know about that," Naruto said while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sigh..., let's talk in the recreation room with some tea."
Naruto, followed by Lacus and Haro, walk through the Solo Ship's hallway and finally found the recreation room. After Naruto let Lacus sit in one of the sofas, he boils water and prepares two tea bags from the tea pack he bought before and two teacups which already available on Solo Ship.
"Lacus Clyne... so she's the daughter of Siegel Clyne, one of the supreme aristocrats of Jupiter Empire."
"And also a popular pop singer, Jupiter Empire's number one idol," Naruto answers with a very low voice. "Never met her once but sometimes I listen to her song."
"Why a daughter of one of the top royals in Jupiter Empire is chased and hunted by a mere soldier?"
"That's what I want to know."
As Lacus patiently waiting for Naruto to prepare the tea, suddenly she saw a green mechanic ball rolling and hit her feet.
"Haro's name is Haro, nice to meet you," Haro said as it jumps at Lacus's lap.
Lacus blinks her eyes several times, and then she laughs a little while patting Haro's top. "Nice to meet you too, Haro."
"Here you go," Naruto put the tea in front of Lacus and then looked at Haro. "Sorry about Haro, he can be annoying sometimes."
"Thank you," Lacus said as she takes the cup and sips the tea. "And I don't mind, he's cute."
After taking a few sips of tea, Naruto is ready to begin the conversation. "I know who you are and your background, miss Clyne. So, what do you mean that Earth is in danger?"
Lacus put the cup at the table. "Right now Earth is..., targeted by someone."
"By who?"
"By the Jupiter Empire itself..."
Naruto paused for a moment, and then he let out small chuckles. "Are you kidding me? Jupiter Empire is just a small colony, with a size of a small country."
"That's what every people would say," Lacus interrupts. "Those people were really careful covering themselves up to avoid attention..., and even supported the Federations whose right now had a conflict with Britannian." Then Lacus stands up and walks to the glass window of Solo Ship, looking at the sea of stars in the deep space. "Jupiter Empire, it appears to be just a colony. But they're preparing undercover. Waiting for a chance to strike."
"...If what you said is true, then they're really good at keeping up an image of the good neighborhood for Federations," Naruto said as his face turns serious.
Lacus answers in a nod. "Jupiter is, for all practical purposes, a small country. Military and economically they are weaker than the Federations and Britannia. That's why..."
"Conquering Goliath requires a one-hit KO strategy for David. That's why they're covering themselves up before the Feds and the Brits, keeping a nice neighbor image to deceive both of them and then strike at their back when they're off their guards..." Naruto added.
"And if someone discovers their plan, they will kill you no matter what!" Lacus said as she clenching her hand into a fist.
Naruto looked at Lacus's sour expression, "And that's what happens to you right?"
"My father was killed after he discovers their hidden agenda," Lacus said as she tries to hold her tears. "But before he died, he tells me everything about this. He entrusts me with this information."
"And what are you gonna do with those pieces of information?" Naruto asks. "Giving it to the feds? Well because of their 'friendship' with Jupiter Empire, they're not going to believe you. giving it to the Brits? Well, they're the Brits, you know what kind of people they are."
Lacus is not answering as Haro jump at the tv remote. "Haro wants to watch TV!" The television is on and showing the breaking news.
"Breaking news. The Jupiter Empire's royal armies are still looking for the whereabouts of murder suspect Lacus Clyne. From the newest report, the last time she is seen is near the moon colony with her mobile suits the Justice Gundam. The idol Lacus Clyne is suspected of having killed her own father who also one of the influential nobles in the Jupiter Empire, Siegel Clyne."
"Great, now we had the most wanted criminal in our ship."
"Shush!"
Then the tv shows a middle-aged man being interviewed. His name also showed as Professor Karas. "We don't know why she's doing this. Mister Siegel is a great man and also a good friend of me and our great leader, Crux Dogatie. We hope we can find her soon."
Lacus shows her anger at the person on the television, "Despicable! How dare you talk like that while you're the one who killed my dear father!"
"And it won't be long before they know that you're hiding in this ship," Naruto said.
"That's why you shouldn't let that two losers go away."
"Sheesh! Just when my life got easier..." Naruto scratches his head as he turned off the tv.
"Ah, Haro want to watch cartoons!"
"Watch it somewhere else!"
With a little grumble mumble Haro quickly rolling and leaves the recreation room
"...I'm sorry for involving you," Lacus bowed at Naruto. "I thought, with your ship and your giant mecha, you can help me convince the people on Earth about this upcoming threat."
"Sorry miss for disappointing you, but I'm just a normal, simple wandering mechanic plus a junk merchant. This ship, I just won it from a lottery." Naruto said while raising his shoulder. "While that robot is a gift from an old best friend that I had many years ago."
"But you can fight well with that giant mecha."
"Everyone can do that if you know the mechanism to move the robot."
"...I see..." Lacus said as she looking down languidly. "...I'm sorry for my selfishness. I will take my leave now. Once again, I'm sorry if I bothered you..." Lacus went out from the recreation room and goes to the hangar.
Naruto paused for a moment, then he scratches his head. "Sigh..., hey you!"
Lacus turns her head.
"I can't let a girl wander alone in the deep space. You can stay here until we arrived on Earth."
Lacus eyes widened. "...Really?"
"Don't make me say it twice."
"I-if that's the case, then thank you very much." Lacus bowed. "Until we arrived on Earth, I'm in your care, mister..."
"Naruto," Naruto answers with a fox-like smile. "Uzumaki Naruto, that's my name."
A little bit far from the Moon Colony, there is a town-sized asteroid with Jupiter Empire's resource base established on its surface.
But unknown to the general public, inside the asteroid is one of Jupiter Empire's secret military bases.
Inside the secret base, the pilot of Tortuga is now having a conversation with Professor Karas via live video communication.
"How, a five trained soldier, lose to just a single robot!?" Professor Karas raises his voice.
"I'm sorry, Lord Karas." The pilot of Tortuga bowed. "But that giant robot isn't just a normal robot or mobile suit. It had a beam attack and also a rocket punch attack."
"Wait, you said giant?"
"Yes, my lord."
"With beam and rocket punch?"
"Yes, lord Karas."
Professor Karas paused for a moment, then he mutters to himself. "Could it be..., a Super Robot? But that's impossible. All of the Super Robots and their datas are eradicated on Moon Wars one hundred years ago."
"Err..., lord Karas?"
"Our new enemy is not a mere normal pilot. You stay there and wait for another reinforcement, understood?"
"Yes, lord Karas!" the pilot of Tortuga gives a salute to Karas.
"Good, is there any new information about the other traitor?"
"Our five pilot has found the princess's bodyguard."
Karas let a devilish smirks come from his mouth, "Good, send her head in front of me quickly. The sin for betraying the Jupiter Empire will torture you to the core! AHAHAHA-"
The call is ended but the pilot of Tortuga still can hear Karas's maniac laugh. "Crazy jackass."
In the Solo Ship, Naruto is now in the ship's bridge with Haro on the ship's control.
"Haro, how long until we reach the Earth's atmosphere?"
"With our normal speed, we'll reach atmosphere at 05:00 AM, tomorrow morning." Haro answers.
"Hmm, let the ship goes at normal speed, I don't want to waste our fuel."
"Okay!"
"And praying to God, hoping we're not having another sudden encounter in our trip."
"That's a bull. I know you love fights and conflicts." Naruto said while grinning.
"Heh, you know me. it's been a hundred years since the last war, and today's short battle is once again pumped my old and tired fighting spirits."
"Naruto talks to Kurama again? Can Haro said hello?"
"Piss off, Pong Ball!"
"He said hello to you too, Haro," Naruto said to Haro. Then he looked at the artificial garden and saw Lacus sit on the grass. She already changes her clothes from a pilot suit to the clothes she brought before she escapes from Jupiter Empire, a black and purple kimono with a white coat covered the kimono. She also tied her hair with a red ribbon. Curious about what Lacus doing, he goes to the artificial garden and hears Lacus humming one of her songs.
Naruto silently gazing at Lacus. in Naruto's mind, he is admitting to himself that he's fascinated with her beautiful face and her beautiful song. "...Beautiful."
Then Lacus become aware of Naruto's presence. "Ah, mister Naruto."
"Don't call me mister, that makes me look old," Naruto said with a small grin.
"But you're old, you old man."
Naruto ignores Kurama's mockery "Just call me Naruto."
"I'm sorry..., Naruto-Kun."
The way Lacus calls Naruto reminds him of his first wife, Naruto fell silent for a moment and then shows a warm smile, "That's better."
The smile of Naruto makes Lacus's cheeks a little bit blushed, she shyly turned her face away for a moment when Naruto sits beside her.
"So, you like this artificial garden?"
Lacus looked at the plants and trees of the artificial garden. "Yes, it reminds me of my room back in Jupiter Empire," Lacus said with a sad smile, knowing that she likely would never come back to her home and room in Jupiter Empire again. "I heard that Earth has more beautiful scenery than this."
"You never went to Earth before?"
Lacus answers with shaking her head. "This is will be my first time entering the Earth's atmosphere. It's a shame that it's not for recreation."
"Yeah, it's a shame," Naruto said. "We will arrive at atmosphere on tomorrow morning. If you want to sleep, you can choose one of the rooms it's already complete with a comfy bed."
"Thank you Naruto-Kun, but I will be here a little bit longer."
"Then I will accompany you here a little bit longer too," Naruto said as he takes the ocarina from his pocket.
Lacus looked at the ocarina. "You can play the ocarina?"
"A little bit, I don't think I'm good at it." Naruto answers.
Then Naruto plays the same beautiful melody he performs at the Moon Wars memorial. Hearing the melancholic melody, Lacus widened her eyes. She's familiar, no, she really knows this song.
As the melody sing solemnly, Lacus also starts to humming the song. Her beautiful voice is mixed well with the melody of the ocarina.
A memory of childhood nostalgia flashed in Lacus's mind like an old video recorder. She does not realize that tears were starting to fall from her beautiful eyes.
Looking at Lacus's condition, Naruto stops his performance. "Lacus? Are you okay?"
"Ah?" Lacus also now aware that she's crying. "I-I'm sorry, Naruto-Kun."
"Was my performance that bad?" Naruto said while scratching his head.
"Worst, it really hurts my eardrums."
Naruto's vein almost popped as he tries to suppress his anger at Kurama.
Lacus shakes her head. "No, in fact, it's beautiful," Lacus said. "But the melody you play, it's the same melody that my late mother sang whenever I'm sad or angry at something. She also sometimes sung the melody when I can't sleep at night."
Hearing what Lacus said makes Naruto feels bad. "...I'm sorry..."
"No, don't be," Lacus said with her beautiful smile. "Thank you for playing that song, it really reminds me of my happy childhood."
Naruto only answers with a nod as he also blushed a bit.
"Alert! Alert!" Haro's loud sound can be heard. A startled Naruto quickly jumps and leaves the artificial garden. Lacus who also curious about what happens follows Naruto from behind.
Naruto and Lacus finally arrived at the bridge. "What is it, Haro?"
"A six unknown object slowly approach Solo Ship," Haro reports.
"Zoom the unknown object," Naruto commands as the main camera of the solo ships zoomed at the approaching object, five Batalla-type mobile suits, and a small spaceship. The small spaceship suffered heavy damage probably from the attack of the five Battalas.
"Just great! Another unwanted encounter!"
"Yeah! Another unwanted encounter!"
"Unwanted encounter!"
Lacus recognizes the small spaceships, "Isn't that..." before she runs to the hangar, Naruto quickly catches her hand.
"What are you doing?"
"Please let me out! I know that ship, and the person inside it!"
Suddenly the Solo Ship receives a voice call, likely from the damaged small spaceship. As Naruto press, the answer button, the sound of a young female can be heard. "Are you the captain of the big ship?"
"Yes." Naruto answers.
"Please quickly leave this area. Soon this area will become a battlefield."
"Ayame!" Lacus suddenly jumps near the communication device.
"La-Lacus-sama!? You're in that ship?"
"Wait for me, Ayame. I'm going to help you."
"No, I can handle this by myself. Please stand aside and wait for me, Lacus-sama." The communication suddenly turned off.
"Ayame!"
"What we're going to do Naruto? Five against one is not fair."
"She said that she can handle all the five Batallas by herself right?" Naruto said with a smirk. "Lacus, who's that person?"
"Her name is Ayame Fujisawa. She's a kunoichi and also my bodyguard."
"Kunoichi, huh..." It's been a while for Naruto to hear the words Kunoichi again.
Inside the small spaceship, Ayame quickly abandon the ship's rudder and went to the small hangar. Inside the hangar, a 14.4 meters mecha with a big head and cartoon-looking eyes stand proudly as the cockpit door opened. With her ninja skill, Ayame jumps high and easily enters the cockpit.
She turns on the system and her robot is ready to launch. "Ayame, RX-Zeromaru, Here I go!"
The hangar's gate opened and the mecha or RX-Zeromaru is immediately take off from the runway.
"Oh..., an SD-type mobile suit?" Naruto said while rubbing his chin. "It has Ninja characteristic on it."
"Makes me wondering why our Compatible Kaiser doesn't have a ninja gimmick."
The five Batallas take up their arms and ready to shot down Zeromaru.
"Fire!"
All of the five Batallas shoot their arms at Zeromaru, but to their shock, Zeromaru able to cut all of the beam shots using its ninjato.
"My turn," Zeromaru throws a kunai that pierce one of the Batalla in the cockpit, killed the pilot immediately.
"Tch! She's just alone with an SD mobile suit! Surround her!" The four Batallas take up their beam saber and charge at Zeromaru.
"Beam Ninjato Mode!" Zeromaru's Ninjato turns its blade into a beam saber. Due to its small body, Zeromaru able to easily evades all of the enemies's beam saber's thrust and stabs.
"Shit! Don't move you midget!"
"Time to end this. Displacement Sword Technique - Ayame Slash!"
"What the-" RX-Zeromaru suddenly splits itself into three copies. Three poor Batallas pilots can't even react as each of Zeromaru's copies strike them simultaneously. "AKKKHHH!" As the three Batallas explodes, three copies of Zeromaru merging back into one.
"S-Shit!" The only Batalla pilot left tries to run away. "GUAKKKH!" But it's too late for him as Zeromaru suddenly appeared from behind him and thrust its ninjato at the cockpit.
As Zeromaru cleans the blood, the last Battala explodes.
From inside the ship, Naruto looked at the scene with a smirk. "Not bad, not bad at all for a new generation of ninjas."
"In the Jupiter Empire, despite her young age she's one of the strongest warriors and also an ace pilot," Lacus explains. "And she always takes her job seriously."
The ships got a voice call from Zeromaru and Naruto immediately touch the answer button. "What is it?"
"To the captain of the ship, I request permission for me and my mobile suit to enter your ship."
"Permission granted."
The Solo Ship's hangar gate opened and Zeromaru enters the hangar. After the hangar gate is closed, Naruto and Lacus entering the hangar to meet Ayame.
As the Zeromaru's cockpit opened, the young kunoichi looked at Lacus who approach her. "Ayame!"
"Lacus-Sama!" Lacus and Ayame hugging at each other.
"I-I'm sorry that I can't protect you and your father, Lacus-Sama," Ayame said as she tries to suppress her tears. "I'm failing you..."
"No, don't be. It's not your fault." Lacus said as she pats Ayame's hair and kisses her forehead. "I'm happy that you're okay, Ayame."
"Lacus-sama..."
They hugged for a few minutes before finally releases themselves. Ayame then looked at Naruto who's just standing awkwardly.
"You must be the captain of this ship, right?" Ayame bowed at Naruto. "Thank you for keeping Lacus-Sama save here."
"Don't worry about that," Naruto said as he scratches the back of his head. "It's been a while for me to meet a fellow ninja. I'm glad that chakra is not fully forgotten in this era."
Lacus and Ayame blink their eyes several times. "Are you a ninja too, Naruto-Kun?" Lacus asks.
"...Used to be," Naruto offers his hand to shake. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you."
"Uzumaki..., I think I've heard that name before..." Ayame shakes Naruto's hand. "Ayame Fujisaki, nice to meet- !"
Ayame suddenly felt something from inside Naruto. A rush of strong and gentle chakra that she believes no one in this world has, a power that might be rivaling even a God. She also felt a demonic presence from inside Naruto's body.
She can feel that the demon presence is smiling at her. "Hello, beautiful."
"!" She quickly released her hand from Naruto.
"Ayame!?" Lacus said, a little bit startled.
"Are you okay?" Naruto asks.
Ayame looked at Naruto for a moment, "Ah n-no, I'm okay. Maybe I'm just a little tired."
"If that's the case then you can rest inside," Naruto said. "Lacus, you already know where is the room right?"
"Yes, let's go Ayame," Lacus said as she takes Ayame's hand and leaves the hangar.
"Ah, yeah," Ayame said as she follows Lacus, but then she took a peek at Naruto once again. "Never in my life that I felt the chakra that strong and gentle, but also ferocious like a wild beast. I need to keep my eyes on him, and hoping he's not going to become our enemy."
As their presence already leaves the hangar Area, Kurama begins the conversation with Naruto.
"She can felt my presence."
"Yeah, she is really a good ninja just like Lacus said."
"She will be watching all of your movements, Naruto."
"I Know."
"So from those two girls, who want you would like to be married with?"
"Shut up."
At the same time in the land formerly known as Mexico, Holy Britannian Empire.
On a suburban street, a cargo truck is speeding along the road. The one who drove the truck is a young female with shoulder-length blonde hair and gold eyes. Besides her is also a young female, probably a little bit younger than the driver, with spiked up short red hair and blue eyes. Bot of them wearing courier uniforms complete with hat.
The red-haired girl looking behind the truck through the window, making sure that no one follows them. "This is your idea, Cagalli!"
"Tch, I know, I know! You don't need to continuously remind me, Kallen!" The one named Cagalli shouts back.
Other than Cagalli and Kallen, there is a small containment inside the back of the cargo. The very same containment with the very same mysterious green-haired girl inside of it.
"What do you think is inside the containment?" Kallen asks.
"I don't know, maybe a poison gas or a new weapon?" Cagalli answers casually. "All we need to know that we need to bring it back to our base. Maybe it will become our advantage in the next battle."
Kallen shrugs her shoulders, "I hope so."
As the truck is speeding in the midst of dark night, the two young female doesn't realize that a small drone is flying a little bit far above the truck.
"We found the culprit, what we're going to do now?"
"...leave them be for a while until we found their secret base."
Ayame and her mobile suit RX-Zeromaru is from Gundam Build Divers.
Solo Ship is based on the ship with the same name in Space Runaway Ideon.
For people whose curious about the song that Naruto always play with his ocarina, it's called 'Orbnica'.
Don't forget to review or giving some critics. Thank you for reading.