The weather was surprisingly pleasant that day. Especially for summer. The temperature was a few degrees lower than normal and a cool breeze blew through the forest. The perfect weather to return home to after a mission. Naruto couldn't wait to get back to the village.
"Man, I wish we could just get this over with!" He exclaimed, stretching his hands over his head.
"Ya know Naruto, you ain't the only one who wants to get home. Besides, it's just a little ways away. We'll be there in half an hour, tops." Their resident tracker, Kiba, argued while rolling his eyes and then giving a pat to his big dog, Akamaru.
"Whatever! I'm just saying! We could be running our way back." The blond explained and pouted. Stupid Kiba. Naruto kicked at one of the rocks on the road. Who asked for his input anyway.
"Ye-"
The young man accompanying them stopped in the front and sighed heavily. He had been enduring this for 4 whole days. He didn't want to hear more of it.
"I'm not dragging anyone back if either of you faint due to dehydration or heat stress. It's not a race." Shikamaru said as he turned to face them, slouched with hands in his pockets. Kakashi must really hate him, if he decided to make him lead a mission with these two.
The mission was easy enough. Find the group of bandits that had disrupted the trading routes between some small villages and Konoha and terrorized the area. Turns out their leader was a missing-nin with a bone to pick. But he wasn't particularly tough and went down easily.
What wasn't easy was dealing with these two idiots. They went after each other's throats constantly. And with the heat beaming down on them, it made everyone's nerves even worse.
"You're just saying that because you'd lose, you lazy-ass." Kiba grinned and put his hands on his hips.
"What a drag." Shikamaru grunted as he pinched the bridge of his nose. 4 whole days. He was glad this was coming to an end.
"Ne, ne, ne! Do you think we could gather everyone for a hang out tonight? It's been a while!" Naruto moved his arms with excitement, changing the subject. It had been a while.
Kiba pressed his lips together and put his hand on his chin, deep in thought. "Y'know, Shino and Ino must be done with that new colony by now but we'd have to ask-"
He was interrupted by Akamaru coming to a dead stop, pointing his body towards something further inside the forest, with fur standing up. Kiba put a hand up, signaling for the other two to stop and went on his hands and feet, sniffing the air.
"There's someone up ahead. Not Konoha. They're not moving. Orders?" He whispered to the other two, staying in his position.
"It's probably a civilian or something, they might need help-!" Naruto growled and got ready to jump away.
Only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder and a stern look from Shikamaru. He might be one of the strongest in the village but he wasn't considered for leadership positions yet. He still wasn't used to that, especially after the war.
"Approach with caution." Shikamaru ordered. He didn't need Naruto heading straight into things, especially since this could easily be a trap or ambush.
They dashed further inside the forest and away from the main road, chakra and precision quieting their footsteps. They moved from tree to tree, Kiba in front, with Naruto and Shikamaru moving away and spreading out.
As they approached the clearing, they saw what tipped them off. A tall man laying face first on the ground and breathing heavily. His clothes were stained and bruises were visible on the skin that wasn't covered. He was holding a sheathed sword by his side tightly. Obviously the result of a fight.
"Oh my God, we need to-" Naruto started again, worry forming on his face. The guy was pretty beat up and they needed to help!
"Naruto, stay!" Shikamaru exhaled. He really didn't need this right now. He turned to Kiba. "Any way we can check whether they're awake from afar?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't want to approach yet. How Naruto couldn't see the possibility of a setup was beyond him.
"Hm. Judging by the breathing, they seem passed out. And well, if they were waiting to attack, I probably would have been able to smell the adrenaline." Kiba mused.
"What are we waiting for then?! The guy clearly needs help!" Naruto whined, turning his head to look at Shikamaru with determination in his eyes.
"Naruto. We don't know who this person is. They might be a missing-nin for all we know." He responded, chastising the blond man. Shikamaru knew Naruto was a bleeding heart but he really needed to think sometimes.
"Is he?" Kiba asked, approaching the injured man slowly. He would have definitely remembered the nearly 2 meter giant with a funny hat if he ever saw him in a bingo book.
Shikamaru hummed as he approached the lying man and crouched to see his face better. "Certainly not one I know of." And Shikamaru knew, because he kept up with the news from other villages and any outlaws that might make life hard for them.
"It's decided then. We have to help him." Naruto concluded. The guy needed medical attention ASAP. They couldn't leave him like this!
Shikamaru sighed. "Let's just- Be careful, okay? We don't want to aggravate his wounds." He could feel that headache coming. When Naruto was set on something, nothing would change his mind.
Naruto nodded. They all approached the man and were trying to figure out one thing only.
"So. How do we carry him?" Kiba asked, looking at the height of the man and then at his two companions.
Naruto grinned. "Just leave that up to me." He gave them a thumbs up.
As they tried to get him onto Naruto's back, the mysterious man started to grunt and weakly thrash around, as if attempting to escape.
"Hey! Easy there, big guy, we're just trying to help you!" The blond tried to reassure the man. He didn't know if it was working.
The man groaned and fell back into unconsciousness.
Now that Shikamaru could take a better look at the injured man, he only grew more suspicious. If that was even possible. He had a giant Odachi by his side, for Sage's sake.
Naruto struggled to balance the taller man on his back, even with Kiba trying to help. Jeez! What did this guy eat?! He knew he was on the shorter side but this guy was too tall!
"Wait! I've got an idea!" Naruto laughed. He proceeded to summon two golden hands from his back, entirely made out of chakra, and hoisted the man up. This was going to be easy!
Kiba looked deadpan at him. "Glad to help, I guess…" It wasn't fair that Naruto was this strong now.
The guards let them pass without much fuss when they saw the injured man they were carrying. Naruto burst into the hospital, kicking the doors open.
"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! We need help!" He yelled, trying to get his friend's attention.
Sakura, meanwhile, was at her wits end. She had been spending all of her time in the hospital lately, working for hours. They had a few serious operations back to back and she had to cover some of her co-workers' shifts. She knew something like this would happen the moment she sat down for her break. Things were going too smoothly.
She stormed out of the break room with fire in her eyes. She'd give him an earful! "Naruto! What have I told you about yelling-" She berated the blond until he came into view and saw the man he was accompanying.
"What happened?" She asked, softer this time, with a stern look on her face. They hadn't just come to bother her after all.
"Came upon him while coming back from our mission, unconscious. He's pretty beat up." Shikamaru explained while pointing to the stranger.
A younger girl dashed to her side. "Haruno-senpai!" Akemi-chan, she thought. She was an understudy, currently interning under her and a few of the older medic-nins.
"Naruto, Kiba, help me and Akemi get him on one of the beds so we can take a look at him." She demanded, ordering them around as if they were hospital staff. She didn't care who the man was. He needed to be checked and treated as soon as possible.
"So. What do you think?" The silver haired man inquired from behind his office, reading a scroll.
"The financial damage was minimal-" Shikamaru was cut off before he could talk more about his analysis.
"Maa, maa, Shikamaru. I thought you'd know how I think better by now." The Hokage looked at him, propping his head on his hand.
Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag. Honestly, I don't know. I wouldn't trust him. But-" The younger man hesitated.
"But what? Konoha is pretty well known for its hospitality and altruism." Kakashi responded.
"That's the problem. If they wanted to take advantage of that, they would use someone who you'd underestimate. Like a child. Not someone who clearly looks dangerous." Shikamaru retorted.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. He leaned forward, listening more intently now.
"The man is clearly some sort of mercenary, bounty hunter or yakuza member. He has a sword with him. He's heavily tattooed with blank ink. He has the Land of Lightning word for death tattooed on his knuckles. If you look at his medical file, you'll see that he has the physique and chakra development to pull it off too." Shikamaru continues, throwing the envelope that Sakura gave him on the desk. Kakashi takes it and proceeds to skim through it.
"Not a missing-nin?" The Hokage pipes up.
"He doesn't fit any of the profiles that we have. I double checked." The black haired man confirms, crossing his arms and looking dead set at the man across him.
Kakashi sighed. "I guess we can't leave him be then." If Shikamaru of all people double checked, that was a bad sign.
"Personally, I wouldn't want to get us involved in a yakuza or bounty hunter spat." Shikamaru complained.
"It goes the other way too. He might prove to be a good asset if he allied with us." The older man pointed out.
"Guess so." The younger man agreed, looking away and putting his hands back in his pockets.
"Hm. So, we scope him out for now." Kakashi nodded. Their little visitor would have to be monitored from now on. Wouldn't want any trouble now, would they?
There was a fight. That much Law can remember. The who or why, not so much. It didn't help that everything seemed to melt together. His head pounded more as he tried to recall what happened.
There was bright light coming from somewhere. He opened his eyes only to see blurry greens and browns. A forest? When did he end up here? Law can't remember.
He tries to push himself up, despite his body screaming, like it was lit ablaze, just to take a better look at his surroundings. He quickly gave that up though. His whole body felt heavy, down to his very bones.
He could barely keep his eyes open and even when he did, he couldn't focus. So he turned to his Observation Haki. He wasn't the best at it but it was his only option right now. And as he did so, expanding his sixth sense, he couldn't sense anyone around.
Shit.
Would this be it? Him dying alone in some random forest?! No! He wouldn't allow it! So he tries to push himself up again. And fails. Law sighs. And lets his mind drift, just for a bit. He was so tired.
When he comes to again, he could sense 3 other presences. Not ones he recognised and they were coming closer. No, not only closer but were bee lining straight toward him. Fuck, this could get bad. He didn't know their intentions and he couldn't defend himself. But his brain was so foggy. He couldn't pay more attention to them. And he passes out again.
Next thing Law sees, one of the people is trying to get him on someone's back. But his Observation Haki is screaming. While the other two people had pretty strong Haki, the third one- the third one was massive. Not only that but he could sense something in it. It sounded ridiculous but it was pretty terrifying. So he squirmed to get away from his captor's grasp.
The guy then said something. He could feel the vibrations from his back. But between his throbbing head and the ringing between his ears, he couldn't make it out. Something about help? So he gave up moving around and fell back to sleep.
He slowly rose to consciousness, his brain stirring awake. He felt better- lighter almost. His muscles were still a bit sore in some places, of course. But that was to be expected after a tough fight. So he leaned back to the softness of the bed he was on.
Wait. Bed?
Law jolted awake, opening his eyes. He was in a bed, bandaged and an IV hooked on him on the side. On a chair further away from him were his clothes and his sword, stacked gently. There was a bedside table with a glass of water on his left. Further out was a white partition screen, hiding him from view.
So, he was in a hospital. Law sighed. He was thankful that, whoever those people were, hadn't taken advantage of his weakened state. Not that many people would've turned down the chance to say that they killed a Warlord. Especially people with such honed Haki like that.
From the corner of his eye he sees a young girl enter the room, humming. She had brown hair and was wearing some kind of green clothes, with a red metal guard on her forearm. As she struts in she notices him staring.
"Oh, nii-san! You're awake!" The girl exclaims. Nii-san? Odd choice but it made sense, since she was younger. "How are you feeling?"
Must be a nurse or a doctor then despite the weird get up, he notes. "I-" Law tries to talk but his throat stops him.
The girl hands him his glass of water. "You should drink something first, nii-san." She encourages him gently.
He eyes the glass and takes it from her. He shouldn't be this skeptical but he knew better. He tries to smell it. Hm. Just water it seems. He drinks it slowly, just in case it's something else.
"Thank you. I'm feeling better." He answers and the girl goes and notes something on a clip-board, probably his case file.
"Where am I?" he asks her, sitting up, looking at her.
"Oh, you're in the Konoha Hospital." She answers, not looking away from her clip-board.
He raises an eye at that. He'd never heard of Konoha before. Was he supposed to know it?
"You know. Konohagakure. Land of Fire." She explains, like it's the easiest thing in the world.
Law just nods at her. Hi no Kuni. Sounded eerily similar to Wano Kuni. Problem was. He was a pirate. A Warlord at that. And he had never even heard of Land of Fire before. Was it a territory within Wano? Was it a smaller rival territory near Wano? He wasn't sure.
"I'm gonna get Senpai. She wanted to see you when you woke up." The girl says and walks hastily out of the room.
Senpai? Maybe the doctor who was in charge of him. The girl seemed too young to be a doctor herself, but it would make sense if she was interning.
Law heard someone coming down the hallway and activated his Observation Haki. The person's Haki was strong but stable and controlled. Very much unlike Strawhat-ya's or Kidd-ya's. And they were headed towards this room.
He looked at the door as a pink haired woman entered, moving in confident strides. She had bright blue eyes and wore a red dress over black shorts, black open toed boots, black gloves, pink warmers on her elbows and knees, tying it all up with a black sash on her waist and a red cloth band on her head.
"I'm glad to see you awake. You were out all day yesterday. Thankfully, there wasn't anything too serious. You suffered from exhaustion, dehydration and heavy bruising. How are you feeling?" She asks him and brings up her clip-board. She was clearly his doctor.
"I'm good. Thank you for taking care of me Doctor-ya." He said, giving her a small nod. She had done great work to get him back up and running within a day. As a fellow doctor, he could appreciate that.
The woman chuckles at him. "You shouldn't thank me. Some of my friends found you outside and brought you in. I'm just doing my job. Now-" she paused and brought a pen up to her clipboard.
"Akemi-chan told me you didn't know where you were. Do you have trouble remembering anything else?" She asked, looking at him with concern.
"No." He responded.
"What's your name?" The woman required as she noted things down. His name? She didn't know who he was? Or was this a measure to see if he had any lapses in his memory?
He hesitated. "... Trafalgar Law."
"Trafalgar Law." The doctor mouthed, testing the foreign words. "I'm not too good with the language. Like this?" She brought up the clip-board for him to see. He checked the spelling and nodded.
"Age?" She continued.
"24." Now, he was worried. He was a very well known person. But, if the country was like Wano, as he suspected it was because nothing else made sense, of course she wouldn't know.
"Do you remember what happened? How you got injured?" The woman questioned.
"I- There was a fight. I don't remember much else." Law answered honestly. Even if she wanted to dig for details, he couldn't offer anything else. He knew as much as she did.
"Any chances that you may have been inebriated, drugged or under genjutsu?" She inquired. Illusionary techniques? That's not a term he'd heard of before. Maybe it referred to mind control Devil Fruit abilities.
"Hm. Probable." Knowing his luck, it was a very possible explanation. Because he couldn't remember anything about the fight or how he got here.
The pink haired medic sighed. "Well, Trafalgar-san, you answered most of what I wanted to know. Thank you." She said, giving him a small bow.
"If you need anything, Akemi-chan will be around. You will be discharged tomorrow. But before that- The Hokage would like to see you." The woman explained. Hokage? Maybe the local leader? He is an outsider after all.
"It's fine-" He proceeded to whirl around as a Haki signature appeared out of thin air.
"Yo." The strange man waved.
"Kakashi-sensei! Please don't frighten my patient! You can use the door!" She proceeded to scold the man who was apparently her teacher.
The silver haired man was slouched, casual, wearing white robes, a red hat with the word fire written on it and a black neck gaiter that covered his face up to his nose. It clicked then. Hi no Kage.
"Maa, maa, Sakura-chan. It's no fun that way." The man- the Hokage- complained.
Law's eye twitched. This man was the leader of this place?! Seriously?! And apparently his doctor had been trained by him? But he knew not to judge a book by its cover. Given the man's precise Soru and his Haki, he hadn't gotten the title by chance.
"Hokage-ya." He acknowledges the other man.
"Maa, where are my manners? I came here to meet you after all. And you already know me." The Hokage- Kakashi?- waved his hand, making himself look apologetic.
"Trafalgar. Trafalgar Law." He looks the man straight in the eyes. He won't fall for his little act.
"Law-kun, eh? Bit far away from home, aren't you? What's your profession, if I may ask?" The older man asked, trying to seem genuinely interested instead of fishing for information.
"I'm a doctor." That he's a pirate and a Warlord, he doesn't say. Any wrong move and that man would hound him. The pink hair medic looks at Law with surprise.
"Really now? What kind of doctor needs a sword?" Kakashi questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"One that fights." He retorts, glaring at the man. Given how even the leader doesn't know of his reputation, he's more screwed than he thought. The tension in the room gets palpable.
Until someone opens the door. A young man with hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a green vest over a black shirt and black pants, hands in his pockets. He scowls at the Hokage.
"Oh. You're already here. I thought you got lost on the path of life." He crosses his arms and his voice drips with sarcasm. Law liked this one already.
"Maa, Shikamaru, maybe you were the late one this time." The older man smiled and creased his eyes.
The doctor- Sakura?- rolls her eyes and puts her arms on her waist. Like she had seen this a million times before. "Trafalgar-san, this is Nara Shikamaru. He's one of my friends that found you." She introduces the newcomer, pointing at him.
Law nods at him. The black haired man puts his arm up, as an awkward greeting.
"So, uh- Naruto would also like to meet you. For whatever reason. Later I mean. If you want to." Shikamaru stumbled over his words and scratched the back of his head.
"Naruto is the one that carried you here." Sakura explained.
Law wasn't sure what to make of it. Did they want to be thanked? They certainly didn't know of him. So why would this guy want to meet him?
"Sure, I guess." He didn't want to seem too unapproachable or ungrateful. Especially not when being judged.
"Maa, I'm glad we're bonding here. But I have to get going soon. So, Law-kun. What's your plan? Are you going to stay in Konoha?" The Hokage interrupted. So this is what it was leading up to. Who he is and what he wants. Law can't blame them. To them he isn't a Warlord, he's some guy with nothing to his name and strong Haki.
"Stay till I can stand on my own feet, I suppose." He answers. He had to go back to his crew as soon as possible. They needed him.
Kakashi hums and then nods at him. He brings up his hands, clasping them together, holding 2 fingers up in each hand. And in a flash of Haki the robed man disappears.
Shikamaru lets out a pained groan and rubs his temple. "What a drag. I swear, I might turn to smoking because of him." He complains and exits the room.