Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

They couldn't last much longer.

More than 80% of the lower class members of the Hero Faction were already unable to move from sheer starvation and last of rest, collapsed in the forest without being able to so much as muster up the energy to hunt for food anymore. There was no more food to be hunted in the forest for some reason, no matter how much they looked, they couldn't find anything other than some fish in the nearby river.

Sickness was taking to them as well.

The quality of the food they were eating and their last of rest was causing sickness to sap away at their strength as well. Those who were still well enough to eat had the strength to look after the rest of those who had fallen, but that took up hunting time, and there were so many that needed to be looked after.

He couldn't abandon anyone without causing even more infighting than there already was, with the tensions rising every single day that they suffered through the conditions. Unable to go into cities, and unable to maintain their health was causing a massive shift in momentum. The entire Hero Faction was with them, having been removed from all of their bases and forced together.

'We won't last... but I can't tell everyone to abandon their comrades either... that will just making the fighting even worse.' Cao Cao gripped the pole of his False-Sacred Gear tightly. It had all of the same ability, but it was inferior in the output of each ability that could be used. Only being 60% as powerful as his real Sacred Gear had been. It was just inferior, and nearly everyone had their own Sacred Gear.

They were facing a boogeyman who could weaken them if they dared to fight back, and they didn't even know who they were facing in the first place. They couldn't go around attacking randomly, or they would get punished by the gods of the land for it.

Jeanne just collapsed.

"Jeanne, you need to stay up... keep helping." Cao Cao tried to order in a stern voice, but lack of strength in his body showed in his voice as well. He was just as hungry as everyone else now, and he had trouble getting up with any amount of energy.

Cao Cao was slugged across the face.

Heracles collapsed to his knees as he used up most of his remaining energy to punch his leader with a burst of adrenaline, glaring at him hatefully. He pointed a finger at the man.

"It's your fault... you did this to us."

Cao Cao did his best to sit back up, but it took him some time. He glared at Heracles to get him to calm down, but his stare had no effect.

"Yes, it does seem to be... Cao Cao you were called?"

Those able to be alert tried to get into battle stances, but they barely had the strength left to use their Sacred Gears or swords to fight. They watched as a man dropped out of a helicopter using a rope ladder, and landed right in the middle of them. They were used to helicopters going over this area at this point, so they hadn't paid much attention to the sounds.

Iruka looked at Cao Cao.

"... I am the leader of the Hero Brigade."

Iruka looked at him for a moment, before he raised his hand up.

"Heracles, would you be a gentleman and help the employees find your comrades. I would be best if those in dire need of care got to a medical facility quickly." Iruka stated as he turned to face the very large man. Heracles responded by raising his fists up, before Iruka just smiled and gestured to their surroundings.

Namikaze Employees.

They were flooding the area and loading up the sick and starved onto stretchers, carrying them out of the area.

"How... yes... I'll help." Heracles glared at Cao Cao, before he picked up Jeanne and helped the employees load her up onto a stretcher. He then went towards others who were in dire need of help and gestured for the Namikaze to come and help others.

Iruka watched this with a smile.

Cao Cao worked up the strength to stance, and took a battle ready stance as he faced Iruka, who just pressed a button. In response, the spear that he was holding vanished into partacles as the magic inside of it was cancelled.

"Anti-Magic Signal, works for Sacred Gears too. No Sacred Gear, starved, tired, barely able to fight back... human society will continue to reject you. All things considered, has your time as the company's enemy taught you anything?" Iruka asked Cao Cao with a knowing smile.

"Yo-you... you..."

"Ah... you still have some fight left in you. Okay then, your punishment will continue until you realize the error of your ways. I don't see your allies returning to you though." Iruka stated as he saw the looks that were being sent towards Cao Cao by all of the members who had heard what he said. His statement just alerted everyone to the fact that all of their suffering was caused by Cao Cao.

The man was now alone.

Those who could stand and walk still got up and started to storm towards Cao Cao, but Iruka just raised a hand towards them and stopped them.

"Please, no violence."

"This man-"

"As a representative from Namikaze Industries, our boss is offering you all a job with us. Your medical expenses will be covered by him personally, and you will be giving the chance to recieve proper educations while you work for Namikaze Industries, if you so decide to do so... since your current state is a punishment for the actions of your leader, the boss will not allow others to hold personal grudges towards you." Iruka gave a polite bow to them, not even hesitant to turn his back on Cao Cao. The man was weakened by starvation and unable to use his supernatural powers, as it were he was even more powerless than a normal human was.

Cao Cao could only grit his teeth as he saw the light of hope appear in his allies eyes, and he watched as they started to abandon him one after another.

Soon, it was just him and Iruka.

"... I'll never apologize."

"That's too bad, you're now alone and friendless, and you will die if you go on by yourself. A leader takes responsibility for his actions, and looks after his subordinates with love and care. Loyalty is earned, and you didn't earn their loyalty... for somebody who fights for humanity, you don't seem to understand your fellow humans... humans are willing to fight and die for what we believe in, and who we believe in... and we return their loyalty to each other with love. You hurt the bosses beloved workers without caring for the results... you will die alone and pathetically if you don't change your ways." Iruka gave his speech, before he started to walk away.

He had a lot of paperwork to do.

He was going to need to unfreeze the bank accounts of any person that wished to join up with them.

"I'll stay with you Cao Cao."

Iruka glanced back when he saw a single person stay by Cao Cao's side, and he did not at that. Perseus, the boy was called, and it would seem that even suffering wouldn't cause this boy to abandon Cao Cao just yet. Perseus had just left to go help those who needed to be loaded onto stretchers, but the second that was done he came right back to his friend's side.

"You... you'll stay?"

-With Naruto-

"Loyalty is earned, love is given, and bonds are forged or broken by suffering. A weak bond will break, but a strong bond only gets stronger... a leader who only leads with strength and intelligence, but forgets to strengthen his bonds, can't make chains strong enough to hold." Naruto spoke as he looked up at the sky, watching Iruka confront Cao Cao.

2 weeks.

It took 2 weeks for Cao Cao's group to start to utterly hate the man, of course, Naruto didn't help by making sure that the second he figured out their forest location, he made things harder. He had the animals all taken away so that they could be looked after, thus lowering the amount of game that could be hunted. He kept a careful eye on the group, because he wanted to avoid death. The second somebody looked like they were about to die, that was when he knew he was going to send in Iruka to load up the sick and starved.

He wanted to teach a lesson.

So this Hero Faction learned the hard way that if they crossed him, they would face a deadly form of time out.

"That is pretty deep." Koneko sat as she played a handheld while laying across the ground, her head in his lap.

"Just pretty deep... you really should get back to studying." Naruto deadpanned as he took her video game away. The point of a study date was to study after all, and she had some pretty big tests that were coming up.

Koneko groaned.

"Lets just spend this time making out... that will be more fun than studying."

"That was some good sarcasm." Naruto deadpanned as he stood up, letting Koneko's head in the carpet. Koneko watched him go towards the kitchen, before he opened the fridge and stepped aside, just so that she could see what was inside of it. "I guess all of these sweets will go to waste, a shame, they were suppose to be a gift for hard work."

Koneko stared at him.

"... Or... we can still study and have those." Koneko reluctantly sat up and got back to studying. 'Damn, and here I thought he would try to go to second base with me tonight.' Koneko wanted to see when Naruto would try and push his luck. For 2 weeks since their date at Hooters, she had been hinting that she was ready to get a little bit more physical with him. Nothing too serious like sex, but she would be okay if he wanted to grab her boobs a little.

She yelped when she got lost in her thoughts, and Naruto put a cold soda to her cheek.

He grinned.

"A person who thinks all the time, has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusions-"

"What?"

"Overthinking, I'm helping you with your homework. You need to do an essay, and Alan Watts brings a great idea about overthinking. He brings up a great point about people who try and think to much lead themselves down crazy and self-destructive paths, because they find that reality does not fit with what they think it should be. Thinking about the future, thinking about the past, becomes more fun than experiencing it... thinking is great, but you need to live as well. Happiness isn't achieved through overthinking... it's experienced through living your life. Reality isn't just an idea, reality is this..." Naruto leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head.

"What are you..."

Naruto sat down across from her, and he smiled at her.

"You were overthinking something, when you do that you get a blank look on your face. I don't agree with everything the man said, but he was a very smart man... you would get top grades on your homework." Naruto stated to her with a grin, and she looked at him for a moment, and she smiled.

"... I love you."

"I love you so much I could eat you." Naruto told her with a bright and cheerful grin, and Koneko blushed when she heard that. She felt more warmth than if Naruto had just told her he did to, or he loved her.

His words made her feel like he was being honest, and that he was crazy about her. His response was goofy, but it made her feel warm and fuzzy.

"I love you more than cake."

Naruto grinned even wider in response to her declaration.

Chapter End!
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