Exodus12345: Believe me, I was thinking of the same thing, but, Shizune is 28 in part 1 which will make her 31 in part 2. I am quite hesitant to ship them because of their age difference.
X-X
Things had fallen into pace. Naruto had started taking individual missions apart from the regular team missions for some extra cash. And, Tsunade and him had hit it off pretty quickly. Turns out, Naruto did not get drunk easily. And, well, he had sort of gotten into drinking with Tsunade.
"Come on, you can do the mission later. It is my last free day, brat." Tsunade said.
Did I mention that Tsunade was going to become the Hokage the next day? I hope I did.
"I have already been assigned the mission. And, well, I will only be back after you become the Hokage." Naruto replied.
"I can overrule the decision, can't I?" Tsunade asked to no one.
"You can, but not before tomorrow. And, I will be gone by then." Naruto said.
"Come on, Tsunade-sama, you have already had enough. You have to wake up early tomorrow." Shizune said.
Currently, Naruto, Tsunade and Shizune were in a bar. Naruto had to depart on a solo B-rank escort mission to the land of demons. Ideally, it would be a three days journey, but escorting a civilian would make it unnecessarily long. He had offered to carry her through out. But, well, she had denied.
"lemme enjoy my last free day, Shizune." Tsunade slurred out.
"Well, I will take my leave. Can't keep the client waiting, you know?" Naruto said.
"Be safe." Shizune said.
Tsunade did murmur something, but it was not understandable. So, he let it go.
"Sure." He said, and disappeared in a flicker.
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Flickering outside of the bar and walking towards the hokage office, Naruto could feel the difference in behavior of people around him. Following his fight with Shukaku, people's distain towards him was reduced to the point that he was almost never glared at since then. He had never fought for anyone's attention, but, his life had definitely taken a turn for the better. In fact, a few people had started to wish him passing greetings too.
Reaching at the hokage office, his client, a young girl around his age, was waiting for him.
"How gracious of you to arrive here." She said, mocking him.
"Reporting for the escort mission, Hokage-sama." Naruto said, not paying any attention to the jab.
"Very well. You know of the mission, yes?" The hokage asked.
"Land of demons. B-rank escort mission." Naruto replied, telling what he knew of the mission.
"Indeed. This is Arai Sora, the daughter of the lord of land of demons." Hiruzen said, introducing the girl.
Now taking a proper look at her, she had long, black hair, blue eyes and wore a black kimono with blue floral designs all over it to compliment her looks. She was about a head shorter than he was. All in all, she was a typical 'Ara Ara' girl.
"Arai." She said, offering her hand for a shake.
"Uzumaki Naruto." He replied, accepting the handshake.
"Very well. Since the courtesies are done, you can proceed with your mission."Hiruzen said.
"yes." He said. Suppressing his urge to flicker out of there, he took the door with his client.
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"I am still offering to carry you on my back." Naruto said.
"I am still denying your offer." Arai huffed.
"Why is that?" Naruto questioned.
"It is not suitable for someone of my stature." She said, her nose pointing towards the sky.
"You understand that your father is paying me quadruple the original amount for your demand, right?" He questioned.
"We have plenty money to spare." She said.
"Well, whatever you say." Naruto said, shrugging. A few extra days of travelling were a worthy trade off for the money he was offered.
Falling into silence, he summoned his scout owl for extra safety measures. The owl, after being summoned, tilted its head curiously. Seeing the surroundings, it understood what he was asked to do. So, it proceeded to settle itself on Naruto's shoulder and sleep.
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Walking for a while more, they had not met any danger. Since, it was already evening, Naruto decided to set camps in the forest they were in. Well, not 'camps', only a 'camp'. Since, he was the only guarding shinobi, he had to say good bye to his sleep for the time they were travelling.
The night was uneventful, in between the forest, there were no bandits lying around and the fire he had set would scare any animals away. So, once Arai woke up, they decided to move forward.
"So, where are we going next?" Arai asked.
A sigh escaped Naruto's lips. "Land of rivers." He said. That place was seriously dangerous. The only reason why this mission was a B-rank was because they had to travel through the land of rivers.
"I see." She said, falling into silence.
X-X
Walking into the land of rivers was an easy task. Well, since there were no guards. The scenario inside the village was a disaster though. At least for Arai, who had never seen poverty in her life, it was the most horrendous thing she had seen. All the houses were made of brass, there were people walking around, as thin as a stick. Poor people, old and young, were carrying rock and walking towards a cave in line. Keeping them in line were shinobi. Bandits, more likely. Hitting people right and left, uncaring of their agony.
Naruto was perfectly happy to ignore everything and be on their way, but when one of the bandits was about to hit a fallen old man, Arai had to become the epitome of all things good.
"Stop it, can't you see? He is hurt." Arai shouted.
"Mind your own business, girl." The bandit said.
That had to be it, right? They were given a chance, so they should've left, right? NO.
"Oh yeah, why don't you show me what my business is?" She said.
A sigh left Naruto's mouth.
"Arai, we are in the middle of enemy territory with me as the only one capable of fighting, and you are challenging them?" Naruto questioned.
Now realizing what she had done, she quickly hid behind Naruto.
"You know how civilians are, she won't speak again. We just have to walk off of here, and we can avoid any conflicts." Naruto said.
That's not how things work, lil boy. I was generous enough to give you a chance, was I not?" The bandit said, walking towards them.
"Fine." Naruto sighed out as a chain passed through the heart of the aforementioned bandit.
Apparently looking at his vest for the first time, the bandits realized that he was a Shinobi.
"Call Raiga-sama, we will hold him off till then." One of the bandits said.
"Yes." One of theother bandits said and ran away.
Ah, that was a problem now. The one who ran away was probably going to call a big shot. Regardless, he had some immediate problems which needed some attention. Till now, half a dozen bandits had surrounded him. He could kill them easily enough. But, there were people around him and he also had a client to protect. Arai was still hiding behind him after all.
"Take this!" bandit number one shouted, as he ran towards Naruto with a sickle in hand.
Turning around and enveloping Arai in his arms, he jumped back to dodge the attack. Willing his chains to do his bidding, he launched it towards the aforementioned bandit. Not being fast enough to dodge it, he was swiftly taken care of. Now hesitating after seeing a one sided slaughter of their partner, the others were hesitant in charging. Regardless, Naruto had to get this over with as soon as possible.
In search of a large scale attack, Naruto leaped into the air and from the top view, released a barrage of kunai.
"Wind Style: Gale Palm." He said, to accelerate the kunai. True to their stature of an untrained civilian, they could do nothing but get slaughtered.
"We have to leave quickly." He told to Arai, who was holding him like her life depended on him. Well, it actually did.
But, before Naruto could take a step further, a bolt of lighting fell in front of him. Flipping back while keeping the girl safe, Naruto summoned 4 chains to protect him from any unexpected attacks.
"I heard you were harassing the mercenaries I had hired. Do you, perhaps, want to have a funeral early in your life?" A deep voice asked.
he wore a grey hooded mantle with three red stripes, a nest-strapped to his back. Under his mantle, he wore a dark-brown sleeveless vest falling to his knees where the inside was purple, light brown belt, a light grey pants and, he had bandages covering most of his body, his neck down to his chest, including his arms and his shinbones.
"Who might you be?" Naruto questioned.
"You come to my land and ask me this? I am Raiga Kurosuki, wielder of the Kiba blades. And I shall give you your funeral." He said.
"Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu." Raiga said, as a layer of mist started to surround them. Then unleashing his Kiba blades, he summoned lightning on them.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Fall." He said and launched a thunder summoned from the skies, towards them.
"Dodging the attacks by sensing them, Naruto Looked around for a place to keep Arai safe. Looking around, he found a large, solid rock, behind which she could be safe. Leaping towards it, he asked her to leave him and stay there for a while. Initially, she was unwilling to leave the safety of his arms, but from a bit of prompting from Naruto, she agreed to hide there.
Now not having to worry about anyone else, Naruto was ready to fight at his fullest.
"Lightning Funeral." Raiga shouted, now standing at the top of the nearby mountain.
"Wind Style: Wind Gust." Naruto said, removing the mist and getting his sight back. Seeing the lightning strike coming towards him, he dodged it, and rushed towards his target.
"Lightning Style: Lightning Ball." Raiga said, releasing several balls of lightning towards Naruto.
Dodging, leaping, sliding and jumping, Naruto avoided all the attacks. Now quite close to him, Naruto released a Kunai towards him. To his shock, the kunai was cut in half through his sword. Realizing that his swords could channel chakra, a plan formed in his mind.
"Earth Style: Earth bullets." He said and released mud made bullets to counter the lightning balls coming towards him. One of the bullets, hit Raiga straight in the chest and knocked him back. Standing up, and now angry, Raiga shouted, "I will be hosting your funeral, and it won't be pretty." With that said, he rose his sword towards the sky and started to gather lightning around it.
Seeing the opportunity, and grabbing it, Naruto wrapped his chains around the raised sword. This was something he wanted to try. He began flooding the sword with Nature chakra. And , slowly but eventually, the lightning gathered around it started to disperse and the sword turned into stone.
"W-what did you-." Before Raiga could complete his sentence, a purple ball of chakra connected to his stomach, and he fell down of the cliff, with the Kiba sword in his hands and his nest still strapped to his back, never to be seen again.
Before Naruto could exhale a sigh of relief, a black blur tackled him in a hug.
"N-Naruto, I am sorry." Arai said.
"Now now, everything is fine." he said, awkwardly consoling her.
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The people of the land of rivers had thanked him and the rest of his journey remained normal. He had dropped Arai to the land of demons, had stayed their for dinner and was now wishing his good byes before leaving.
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AN: thoughts? Do share your opinions or suggestions in the reviews. Until next time!
P.S: Ranmaru is also dead.