Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Naruto, SoulsBorne or Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.
*This chapter mainly belong's to Jebest the original writer, I simply did some tweaking to it to make sure it all fit together*
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Writing/Singing
"Foreign Language/Flashback"
Jutsu
"Dragon/Tailed Beast Speech"
Chapter 2: You've got to hate fucking Meereen.
A mixture of singing, yells and work were heard in the open channels of Slaver's Bay. The wind and current were quite good as it carried a pair of ships towards their destination. One carried the colors of Dorne, with the ever present sigil of House Martell flapping in the wind. The other, which was much larger, didn't have such colors. Though it's former pirate flag was replaced with its smaller, neighboring ship.
The Dornishman's wife was as fair as the sun,
and her kisses were warmer than spring.
But the Dornishman's blade was made of black steel,
and its kiss was a terrible thing.
The Dornishman's wife would sing as she bathed,
in a voice that was sweet as a peach.
But the Dornishman's blade had a song of its own,
and a bite sharp and cold as a leech.
As he lay on the ground with the darkness around,
and the taste of his blood on his tongue.
His brothers knelt by him and prayed him a prayer,
and he smiled and he laughed and he sung:
"Brothers, oh brothers, my days here are done,
The Dornishman's taken my life.
But what does it matter, for all men must die,
and I've tasted the Dornishman's wife!"
This is one of many songs Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha has heard throughout his boat ride with the Martell crew and it's two owners: Oberyn and Ellaria. Even though it took a bit for him to realize the meaning of the song, much to his slight displeasure, it was pretty catchy once getting used to it. Then again he didn't have much form of entertainment outside of his lessons for the past few days.
"Come on Naruto, you need to keep up with your feet if you want to 'dance' on the battlefield."
"I know that Oby-san, but do you two have to keep trying to whip or stab my feet if I'm not doing it right?"
"Well where's the fun if you're not doing it right." Came the cheeky remark from the Sand Snake with her whip on hand. "Though it would be such a shame to see such a hot blooded child like yourself die so early on."
"I swear to Kami Ella-san, if you cut me and lick my blood then we're gonna have a long chat while I'm kicking your ass!"
"Oh?~ So you've dealt with someone like her before huh?" Oberyn stated as he spun his lance around with a mild-curiosity. "I've never seen you react that way before with her so far into our lessons."
Letting out mocked gasp, his paramour spoke out as she placed a hand over her heart. "How can you be so rude to Naruto after all I've done for you so far?" Nothing but the mad twitching of the blonde's eye caused her to laugh while her 'husband' chuckled in response.
After the pirate attack off the coast of one of the Old Valyrian islands a few days ago, Naruto became quite interesting and relieved the couple's boredom. Sure they would've had sex to relieve themselves of it and doing so for so long can become quite stale. Either one would've read their books or helped the crew out on the ship duties on this extensive trip, which they've done for the past weeks. But with Naruto here, the 'married' couple found something to preoccupy themselves.
Things started out once things calmed down after the failed raid on their original ship. The pirates were offered two choices by the Martell's for what they've done in the attack: bend the knee to them and live or would be left on the Old Valyrian island and try their luck there. The more stubborn ones chose the latter in hopes of riches while the rest stayed and now served the Prince. Didn't matter on either choice as all of the pirate's gave the Uzumaki their best stink eyes since he was the wildcard causing them to be in the situation.
Anyways… After things calmed down and repairs were fully taken care of, Oberyn and Ellaria dragged Naruto into their cabin so information could be explained and shared accordingly. Once the couple thanked the blonde for helping them out on the recent attack, Naruto was given the go ahead in explaining who and what he was… even as he thought it was odd the two should've known what he was to begin with: a shinobi.
Learning that in his profession, he can be tasked with varying missions that can include: doing manual labor, acting as escorts, gathering secret information, retrieving stolen items, carrying out assassinations, etc. It was quite the surprise when learning that a child his age has such a profession, but they remembered that certain groups in the world would bring in children into their hold. Molding them to become whatever the group wants them to be.
Naruto did explain a bit further that where he came from, being Konohagakure in the Land of Fire, it was a common practice with shinobi/kunoichi as they lived among the civilian population. In fact it is quite the common practice with all of the shinobi villages in the Elemental Nations with the daimyo's, lords, merchants, etc. hiring them to do what needs to be done. Sensing no lie in this matter, the couple swallowed hard on the information given to them.
Of course this was brought up further when Naruto explained what chakra was, in which Oberyn and Ellaria mistook it as magic. Given the fact that Naruto jumped outside, landed on the water and walked alongside the boat made the Sand Snake freak out a little. Even more so when the Uzumaki performed the kawarimi/replacement jutsu with a log (on how that happened you can thank the Log Gods above for the odd miracle) and the henge/transformation jutsu to make him appear like several people that they've never come across to even forming into the 'married' couple themselves.
The only problem Naruto came across was when he tried to summon the Toads. The couple expected to see a talking toad, which was supposedly odd despite what they previously saw from the blonde, only to see nothing but smoke. The young shinobi was curious about what was going on and swore he'll figure the problem on a later day.
Going over this handful of information, the couple questioned how Naruto came onto the Old Valyrian island in the first place. Knowing they weren't bad people and were helping him out in the present time, he told them the war he had gotten pulled into, the battle against the primordial creature of destruction the Ten Tails, Madara Uchiha's resurrection and subsequent sealing of the beast inside himself and his own near death before gaining power to rival him and then the battle against the pompous ass bitch of an ancestor of his Kaguya and her defeat to the final fight against his now deceased teammate. It seemed to be an odd whimsical murmur's tale on what he described; but with the stuff he performed earlier left the two were still iffy on accepting such a thing.
Once that was done, the two eventually revealed they really never heard of the Elemental Nations before as they showed the Uzumaki of their world's map and atlas. Even describing what caused Oberyn to get onto the island in the first place as they saw him as a fallen star and landing on the Old Valyrian territory earlier that day. It was hard for Naruto to swallow as the feeling in his chest confirmed things: he wasn't in his home existence anymore.
The blonde requested to be left alone to think and digest things over, which the couple understood and gave the shinobi some privacy. After an hour of self loathing, denial, and meditation; Naruto came into a form of acceptance of where he currently resides. He tried and tried several times on finding out the truth as he scoured the cabin's library and the crew for any information on his homelands, but none were found. Nothing could've been done as he cried and yelled into a pillow for a while that there was no way he could go back home now.
With a heavy heart, Naruto had to find a new purpose in life with his dreams back home now attained (for the most part at least) and unknown in his current one. He could find something similar, but would only go so far with what limitations there could be here. As Ellaria checked up on him, with Oberyn outside of the door listening, they learned what had him so troubled. It was understandable, given the blonde's situation, but they told Naruto that he's young and has a lot to gain throughout his life. He doesn't have to figure out his life's purpose now, it would come to him later as he explores his new horizons.
And with that, Naruto asked the two to teach him everything there is about these new lands he's now living in. It wouldn't be right for him to go out there blind without proper knowledge of things. Like going out into the wilderness and not having the right equipment to complete his missions. It would end up really hard to effectively survive out there without his right mind and ready for almost anything.
"So how much longer till we reach this 'Free City' you keep mentioning?" Asked the whiskered blonde as he kept moving and avoiding the couple's attacks for his 'dancing' training.
During yesterday's session of 'dancing' lessons, Naruto was told where the Martell ship(s) was originally heading off to before he met the crew. He wasn't particularly happy when learning about the main slave cities of Essos yesterday during his geography lesson. Neither the Uzumaki and the Martells' liked the concept of slavery to begin with, but Essos has their own set of rules/traditions that contradict Westeros' system as a whole. And nothing much could be done about it.
"We'll be making a port in Meereen in roughly a few hours, Naruto." Replied the Viper as he thrusted his spear, which was parried by Naruto's kunai as he ducked away from the lady snake's leathery weapon. "So be sure you have that scroll of yours with you when we try to find that one blacksmith."
Nodding at this, Naruto kept up with his footwork and movements as he briefly caught glances of his clones either helping around the two ships or learning from the documents and tomes in each respective ship.
One of the first things Naruto had to learn during the trip to Meereen was having to know how to read and write the basic language. Several clones were taught by one of the recovering Martell crew members on how to do so and some good hours later, with the clone's dispelling, Naruto was considered a decent novice on the trait. But the Uzumaki is still practicing how to write in the basic language as it was still a bit slow, along with reading documents out loud.
Though to test himself out, he summoned several clones and had them translate the Icha Icha works and the Gutsy Ninja book. It was a rough process, due to how long they had to write, and by yesterday night the translations were done as said clones stayed up all night and day to complete their task.
Of course once Ellaria and Oberyn got their hands on the translated Icha Icha books… Well let's just say they thanked the blonde, and the original writer, for giving them loads of ideas in terms of sex… Yeah Naruto wasn't particularly happy on hearing that since it was even more awkward with his clones' memories having to read the entire kami-damn set.
*Sigh* 'Why did I translate that smut?' The Uzumaki thought as he backflipped several times from the series of strikes from the lance and whip wielders. 'I should've just translated Gutsy Ninja and be done with it… Oh wait, it's because I wanted to just sell those to someone. But no~ I had to fucking read the entire thing for the damn translations.'
It wouldn't take several more minutes for today's 'dancing' lesson to finally end, leaving the blonde teenager in a slightly panting mess. He wanted things to go well here as he didn't rely on his chakra to improve his footwork. It will do wonders during confrontations later on whether he fights with a weapon or barehanded. Though it's still quite a ways away for him to do honestly well if he so happens to be low on chakra.
All that Naruto can do now after this grueling training session is get himself cleaned up and change into a clean pair of clothing he had in one of his storage scrolls. After all he can't be running around with his shredded up outfit now does he. Once that's done, Naruto will need to see either of the 'married' couple to see what other lessons they have in store for him before making port.
-Few Hours Later, Meereen Port -08/296 AC-
Standing on the deck of the smaller Martell ship, Naruto was now clad in a spare jumpsuit with the jacket unzipped to show a black t-shirt with an orange leaf symbol. Tsunade's necklace was tucked underneath his shirt with the mesh layer underneath for protection. His wild, spiky blonde hair flowed unkempt as his forehead protector was still off since it's in Oberyn's possession in terms of their agreement. He'll get it back once they make it back to Dorne so Naruto can empty the one 'tomes' scroll so Oberyn can do whatever with them.
The shinobi helped the main Martell ship get docked as he jumped down, with a rope on hand, to help secure the ship down. As he did so, the blonde gazed off to the side to see some of the merchants selling their wares for the day. Gazing further away into the distance, Naruto saw the city's landmarks as he remembered details on this place from what the 'married' couple taught him.
Being the northernmost and greatest of the three great city-states Slaver's Bay, as it was north of Yunkai and Astapor, Meereen was considered the 'pinnacle' of the middle of the Essos continent. The Skahazadhan River flowed through the city with its origins coming from the mountains to help separate the territory from the Red Waste. This also included the Dothraki Sea, with it located beyond the river in the north.
Like with it's Slaver's Bay siblings, Meereen was originally a colony of the old Ghiscari Empire, which was later conquered by the Valyrian Freehold/Empire when it destroyed the Ghiscari Empire some 5,000 years ago. Quite similar to the rest of the 'Free Cities' across Essos, once the Doom of Valyria occurred, the slaving cities slowly went back into their old practices as they reasserted their independence.
From what else the blonde was told, Meereen is by far the largest of the independent city states, supposedly much bigger than Astapor and Yunkai combined. Gazing at the pyramids, Naruto saw where the city's wealthiest reside while not looking down to know the poorest live in rundown communities. Even though the place looked beautiful, it was just to hide the horrid things the slave city kept behind their walls.
His little musings ended once he heard the ship's plank hit the ground near him, getting a handful of each of the ship's passengers onto the dock.
"Well… We're finally here my love."
"That we are my Viper." Ellaria said with a small smile as the couple stepped foot onto the wooden pathway. "Just wondering, but do you remember where the pleasure house is?"
"Hmm… Maybe~"
"Oh Kami. Is sex what you two keep thinking about?!" Naruto yelled out as he drew attention from some of the crew members (who quickly went back to work) and the couple themselves. "I mean seriously! Whenever not teaching me or occasionally helping around the ship, you two keep going at it like a couple of rabbits in heat!"
*Chuckles* "Well it's one of the small things that we show each other our greatest affection." Oberyn answered, getting a mad eye twitch from the teen. "That and we've been trying to do some of the things shown in those books of yours."
"They're not mine! They were written by Ero-Sennin!"
"True, but you did translate them from their native language… And by that record, you technically wrote them."
*Growl* "Stop trying to twist things around Ero-Hebi no baka!"
"But where's the fun in that?" Laughing at the boy's reaction, he calmed down slightly before speaking to the young companion once more. "Sorry Naruto, but consider that a little lesson for you."
"...For what exactly?"
"Try and unravel what was spoken." The Sand Snake answered, getting the blonde to look at her slightly. "No matter where you are in this world, people twist words around quite often… Manipulating people to their will."
"She's right, Naruto. Many people play this little 'game' to gain more power and control. Turning anything around and coil themselves around someone to snare them by their throats so their assets won't turn against them quite easily."
"...That doesn't sound great." Was the Uzumaki's response. A slight, uneasy feeling came down his spine as he got what the two meant before looking back at them. "And what about now?" His question made them quite confused on what he just said, getting him to expand his question. "Are you two manipulating me now?"
"Why would you think such things?"
Turning over to the Sand Snake, seeing her confused look, Naruto answered back. "You two have been nice to me ever since a few days ago and I've done a lot on the ships. Training and teaching me to better myself so far in this new world I'm in."
"That we have Naruto… You're implying that we want to manipulate you, aren't you?" Said the Dornish prince, getting a nod from the younger man. Letting out a sigh, he let go of his paramour and walked up to Naruto and looked him in the eye. "I get what you mean Naruto, but… *Sigh* But I don't want to do that to you."
"And why's that?"
"Because that's not something I'd want to do to you." Was the man's answer, getting him to elaborate further as he saw Naruto's curious look. "We've fought alongside each other in Old Valyria and you've helped save my life when we fought Tommen II himself… I've said before that you've slightly left an impression on me back on the island, but after these past days you've gotten a better at it.
I admit that you being quite extraordinary would be quite the asset towards my House. Possibly rising our standing among the other main Houses of Westeros… But I've been raised slightly better that I should not manipulate and harm a child. Especially one that I can tell that if provoked, will kick all of our asses and be on your way."
"I'm not a child, I'm Seventeen about to be eighteen in a couple months for crying out loud!"
"...With your height I might've said otherwise." The Viper jokingly said as he eyed Naruto's slightly shorter form, "Don't worry, but you'll hit a growth spurt in a year or so… But getting back on things, I see you as a good friend Naruto. One that I honestly want to help you out with."
Nothing much was said as Naruto heard the sincere words spoken from the prince, and didn't even sense any ill intent coming from the Red Viper. Letting things sink in resulted in giving Oberyn a subtle nod from the blonde. With not much else, the shinobi walked past the two so he could help the ships out a little before heading out to explore.
"That is very nice of you to say beloved." Ellaria said as she wrapped her arm around her 'husband's'.
"Well it's the truth my dear. And admit it, you've probably felt the same way with him these past few days… Or at least close to it."
The Sand Snake didn't respond right away as she reflected back so far since passing through Old Valyria. She can admit that she was quite skeptical and worried about the Uzumaki traveling with them. His sudden appearance and abilities would make one question such things and they have the right to do so.
But on Naruto's first night with the couple, he and Oberyn told Ellaria of what exactly happened on the island. Battles were described with much of her imagination to help on how some things were possible. The Valyrian steel scraps, halberd, armor, dagger and crown were shown; making the paramour speechless on seeing so much all in one place. And even talking about the Valyrian smithing journal, the secured tomes and the sealed up corpse of Garin Lannister with Brightroar made an interesting impact.
By the end of all of this, she couldn't help but think of how big of a boom the shinobi will be towards House Martell as a whole. Varying houses throughout Westeros have their own famous assets that makes them well known, one way or another, or some great form of reputation at the current time. With the Baratheon's there's Robert sitting on the throne with the Lannister's allied by marriage. Speaking of Lannister's; they have the Kingslayer, the Hound and… him. The Dayne's have their legendary 'Sword of the Morning' Dawn.
Those were just examples at the top of her head in what made most people first think of said houses at the current time.
House Martell used to have a well known reputation, being their allied relationship with the Targaryen's by marriage of Prince Rhaegar and Elia Martell. But that badly ended with Rhaegar's death at the Trident and both Elia and her children's death by the Mountain himself. To add more insult to injury were being clear signs of rape on Elia's corpse when presented to the barely crowned Robert Baratheon. It was absolutely humiliating towards House Martell and it would take years to repair that dark part of their history.
Things might change for the better with Naruto Uzumaki and what he currently has in his possession. If he were to join their House in any way shape or form, then their standing might as well soar into the sky. But that's too soon to tell what potential he might have.
Though that road of thought came to a halt when the Sand Snake remembered checking up on the young blonde earlier that day. Hearing some of his cries in the one cabin made her remember that Naruto was technically a child, despite him already being a teenager. He is quite capable on his own, given what she's seen so far and heard on their tale on the island. Ellaria saw the pain and sorrow surfacing in his eyes.
And after training and teaching the Uzumaki these past few days, everything about him so far caused her to question if she could care about some stranger they just met. But something about him made the paramour want to trust him. Made the Sand Snake want to help Naruto and in return something grand might happen down the road.
Ellaria soon shook her head of her thoughts before responding back. "You're probably right. But it's still too early to tell right now."
"I agree and we'll see what will happen later on."
"...What do you think would've happened if Naruto first met any of the other main Houses back in Westeros?"
Humming in thought, the Viper responded back to his lover. "Thinking the Stark's would've treated and raised him like a family member, well a naive one I think. Hell, they're pretty much the most honorable house in the Seven Kingdoms that they'd rather gut themselves than use the poor lad… As for the Tyrell's and Arryn's, they'd be in the same boat in one way or another. With the Tully's and Greyjoy's, I'm actually at a loss with them. But with the Lannisters, I think they would've manipulated the hell out of him in my honest opinion."
With that spoken, the two called Naruto out so the three could head into Meereen for some sight seeing and hopefully find that Valyrian steel reforger that's supposed to be here.
-On the Streets-
"You know… You two didn't tell me why you both wanted to come to Meereen in the first place." Stated the blonde with his hands behind his head as he looked around the stands.
"Ah yes, that's right." The prince said in remembrance. "With everything that happened the past few days, I almost forgot to mention why we came here in the first place."
"And don't tell me it's just to be at those places." Stated the blonde as he heard from some of the Martell crew members on what the couple do on most trips out of Dorne. Spending many hours at the pleasure houses and not much on anything else.
Ellaria giggled at the young companion's expense before elaborating to him. "Well either of us would say that Naruto, but aside from finding the reforger, we came here for the pits."
"The pits?"
"The fighting pits actually." Replied the Viper as the two kept navigating through the streets. "Used in the Slaver's Bay cities, they provide the city's citizens and visitors with entertainment. And said entertainment mostly consisted of gladiators against gladiators, beasts pitted against beasts, and gladiators against beasts."
Hearing this, Naruto thought it was quite odd and decided to voice it. "Why would they do such things Oby-san?"
"Like I said before Naruto, for entertainment. Years ago, before the Valyrians took over their cities, they used the fighting pits as tribute to the Ghislain gods with blood sacrifices. And during the time of being controlled by the Valyrians, the pits replaced the slaves with both volunteers and the condemned.
Though years later after the Doom, traits of both eras in the pits were brought together to make things much more interesting. Hells, when I came here years ago I took part in the fighting pits so I could become stronger and more skilled. Even got a good amount of money because of it before I returned back to Dorne."
"...And you said slaves were used in the pits right?"
*Sigh* "Yes I did say that, didn't I?" Oberyn muttered with a shake of his head. "I'm not going to lie to you, Naruto. It's not pretty on what was done in those pits. One of the things that makes me want to vomit if I ever hear the sounds of those other forms of entertainment."
"Would you like me to tell him darling?" Questioned his paramour as she knows it's a bit of a tough subject to talk about. "I'm fine with telling him."
"Tell me what?"
"I'll tell him my dear." The prince said as he patted his lover's hand before looking at the shinobi. "With slaves, they would earn fame and glory… and money for their masters as you would clearly understand." Seeing Naruto hesitantly nod in understanding of that implication, Oberyn continued. "What most people don't hear quite often, if you don't live in Essos in general, is that the worst form of entertainment used often would send unarmed slave children, old women, or dwarfs up against wild animals, so they will be torn apart… for it's blood that the crowd came to see."
Hearing this moment stopped Naruto in his tracks, with a surprised look on his face, as anger started to boil inside of him. The Dornish couple saw this happen and tried to calm him down, but hesitated as they saw something unusual happen in the blonde's appearance. His blue eyes started to turn into reddened slits, his whisker marks became more pronounced and his canines started to sharpen. They suddenly didn't know what to do at this moment, before he bursted out like a damn.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THEM?!" The Uzumaki yelled out as the actions in the marketplace seemed to come to a complete halt. "DOING THAT FOR SOME STUPID FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT?!"
Shaking out of his shock, Oberyn came up to the shinobi and tried to calm him down, but it wasn't working all that well. Yelling out on his displeasure of what's going on made varying people in the surrounding people feel unsettled. Even the unseen pressure that seemed to slowly grow didn't help all that well.
'This is getting out of hand.' Thought the Viper as he felt the pressure building up in the surrounding area. 'I need to snap him out of this or else things might go horribly wrong.' Not having any other option, Oberyn decided to do something quick and somewhat drastic.
*SLAP*
"Will you calm the hell down Naruto?!" Yelled out the Dornish prince, leaving the stricken Uzumaki speechless on the recent action. Blinking in surprise, Naruto turned his head towards Martell with widened red slitted eyes.
"What'd you do that for?!"
"Because you were causing a scene and were doing something that I can't quite explain." Martell gestured to the varying people in the area. Seeing them shivering with fright and on the verge of passing out made Naruto lower his head in shame. *Sigh* "Let's get away from here and keep moving."
Grabbing Naruto's arm, Oberyn motioned Ellaria to follow as they went through several alleyways for any chance to hide away. Given what just happened, the 'married' couple wondered what Naruto did; that the moment people start coming to their senses, they might hunt Naruto down and do something drastic.
After moving around for several minutes, the group decided to stop as Ellaria stood off by the alley entrance to keep an eye out on things. "Okay Naruto... Now that we're clear, for the time being, mind telling me what that was about?" Not getting any response from the blonde, the prince sighed before speaking again. "I would obviously be asking about what you did back there, but I have a feeling this isn't the time nor place to discuss something like that. What I do want to get from you is why you yelled out like that?"
"...Because it's wrong." The Uzumaki muttered loud enough for the couple to hear.
"...I know it's wrong on what the slavers do with most of the people at the pits and it sickens us Naruto. But there isn't anything we can do about it. This is much higher than any of us can do to change this sickening habit the masters of Slaver's Bay have had for generations."
Looking up at them, showing his now blue eyes, regular birthmarks and shortened teeth, Naruto questioned this. "Then why hasn't anyone done anything about it?"
"The Valyrians died years before Naruto, after they took over the lands. But after the Doom, things slowly came back into play for these people… It takes time for proper changes to happen, yet there are those that keep that from happening for their own benefits." Once again, not much was spoken from the blonde as he looked away. *Sigh* "We shouldn't be wandering around too much now from what happened earlier… Unless we change your attire."
This got Naruto snap out of his little thoughts and questionably looked at Oberyn. "What do you mean exactly?"
Ellaria soon answered as she walked back with everything seeming clear for the time being. "What he meant, Naruto , is that your unusual attire stands out way too much. Not that I mind since orange is a favored color to House Martell."
"Really?"
*Chuckles* "Yes really." Was her response as she saw the slightly brightened look on his face. "I take it you really love the color."
"Yeah I do. Orange is the color of the gods after all."
"Oh if that were true… Anyways going back to your attire, it's way too unique and you'd be spotted if people here are trying to look for you." Ellaria explained, getting Naruto to nod in understanding. "Don't you have any other attire with you, Naruto?"
"Sorry, but I don't… I only have a few outfits sealed up, but like you said they'll end up standing out."
This didn't sit well from the couple as Oberyn rubbed his head slightly. *Sigh* "This complicates things."
"I agree, beloved." Thinking something quickly, she looked around and saw a little shop and moved Naruto towards the door. "How about you stay here until we get back with some clothes for you? And no buts on anything. We don't want you running around and end up causing trouble."
"But I-" "I hate to say it Naruto, but she's right." The Viper interrupted Naruto in slight agreement. "Besides, you need something else other than your current set of attire and we were planning to get you some clothes while we were in Meereen. So just stay here and we'll be back until you know it."
With that said, the couple made their way out of the alleyway and went to find the marketplace again to get Naruto some clothes to change into. But as they left him at the shop's entrance, Naruto had a slight twitch to his eye. He tried to say something to them, but didn't get the chance to speak his mind.
*Sigh* "I was going to suggest I henge myself so it could've been easier to move around better." He muttered to no one in particular before his eyes soon caught onto something interesting. Turning around more, he saw several other objects in the room that made him quite curious about the find: weapons. Not only weapons, but armor as well as his eyes scanned the area. "Hello… What do we have here?"
Walking up to some of the varied weapons on display, his eyes were taking in their details to see they were of great craftsmanship and smithing. From the axes, swords, hammers, lances and spears, but Naruto didn't see much in terms of throwing weapons. Sure there were knives and daggers, but nothing in the conventional sense of being used as proper throwing weapons like kunai or shuriken.
Going over to some of the armor displayed, his eyes inspected the plating for each of the body parts. Similar to the weapons, the armor pieces were excellently crafted and he didn't have to touch them to see that they were quite durable on the high quality work. Naruto was going to check some of the other forms of armor on display when he heard someone walking into the room.
*Sigh* "Well that was a good order done and over with." The man muttered as he went past the clothed doorway. The man was going to say something else when his eyes landed on the potential customer. "Oh. Hello there lad."
"...Hello." Naruto weakly said as he eyed the man and there was one thing to really describe his appearance as a whole: he was fucking tall and intimidating looking. Hell the man's imposing figure could scare just about anyone if provoked.
The Uzumaki can already tell that the larger man was a blacksmith, possibly the owner of the shop, with an aura that radiated years of smithing experience in waves. He was a large, bearded old man, at least two heads taller than the norm and well-muscled. His tanned skin was littered with burn scars mostly seen across his bare chest, and some on his arms. His disheveled, white hair was in a ponytail for safety's sake, which gave the impression of a shaggy old alpha-lion. The only things he wore in terms of clothing was a smith's apron, dirty gray pants due to the soot and grime, and heat-insulated boots and gloves.
"Welcome to my humble shop youngster." The man's calming voice was loud, yet deep with age. His ember like eyes scanned the unusual looking teenager as he wondered if he wanted to purchase anything. "So… Need anything forged? Would you like some of my finished wares? Or possibly sell some arms and armor if you so like?"
"Actually, yeah I do." Naruto said as he got out of his stupor. "I'd like a few things done actually, but I would want to possibly sell some items I got a few days ago."
"Ah. Okay then lad. Let's see them." The forger soon walked towards the other side of the counter and waited for the blonde to do his thing. "Though I don't mean to offend, but I don't know if you have much on you."
"It's alright jiji. I have it in my pack."
"Jiji?"
"It means old man where I come from."
The blacksmith nodded as he saw the jumpsuit wearing teen reach into his pack and pulled out a scroll of all things. He didn't know what the child was doing exactly as he unfurled it on the counter to reveal the intricate artwork. It was even odd as the blonde bit his finger and wiped some blood on it. But before the older man knew it, a resounding *poof* soon followed with a plume of smoke. As it dissipated, there laid a variety of knives, daggers and a short sword that each looked worse for wear.
"...Asides from the items in front of me lad… BUT WHAT IN BLUE BLAZES WAS THAT?!"
"...Oh yeah… Right." Naruto actually forgot that he shouldn't use his chakra all that much in front of public eyes or else he'd be accused of witchcraft from what most people in this world say from what they can't understand. Chakra, unfortunately, can be considered in that category. Since Naruto didn't have an excuse ready, he decided to tell the truth. "See… Uh… What's your name? Sorry but we didn't introduce ourselves yet if we want to do business. Right?"
"Ah yes, introductions are in order." The intimidating smith nodded before he stood up a little straighter with a smile on his face. "I am Andre and Smithing is my young traveler. And what would your name be?"
"My name's Naruto Uzumaki Andre-jiji and believe it or not, but I'm also a smither as well."
This earned a curious look from Andre before he inspected Naruto a little more with a keener eye. Coming around the counter, he looked all over Naruto to get a little assessment. The shinobi was a little nervous about what the man was doing, but this seemed to settle once the man smiled down on the blonde.
"Ah~ You've got a fine spark inside of you. Don't you lad?"
"...What do you mean Andre-jiji?"
*Chuckles* "A spark of a smither if you ask me boy." The older man started with a grin. "Now that I've got a good look at you boy, I can tell the Smith of the Seven blessed you quite well."
When Andre mentioned the 'Smith', Naruto remembered the little lecture on the boat on what the seven gods were primarily worshiped over in Westeros at this time: the Father, the Mother, the Crone, the Maiden, the Warrior, the Stranger, and the Smith. There were more mentioned, but they were called the Old and Drowned Gods before the Seven took over as the main form of religion. And with the Smith, he was prayed more often by blacksmiths all over the known world to hopefully make great weapons, armor and crafts.
"Then I'll take that as a compliment."
"Compliments aside… What was that little trick you pulled?"
"...Well… Would you believe me that I had those items sealed in that scroll of mine?"
"...I do." Andre hesitantly said, but not as much as Naruto was left to believe. "You seem like an honest boy and I've seen stranger things throughout my long life."
"...Okay."
Going back around the counter, he went back into business. "So you want to sell these right?"
"Well I was considering selling them, but I don't think I have much in terms of throwing weapons."
"Throwing weapons?" Pulling out some kunai and shuriken from his pack, Naruto presented them to the older blacksmith so he could inspect them. "Hmm… Interesting craftsmanship."
"Thanks. Made those myself… Anyways I was somewhat hoping I could maybe use your forge so I could use these weapons and smelt them down into my items. I could show you even how it's done."
Andre thought for a moment before giving the blonde teen a shrug. "Why not. I've got no other orders to make today and I need some entertainment."
Nodding in acceptance, Naruto followed Andre towards the back with his scroll and spare weapons to see a larger than normal smithing room. It was well-ventilated with all of the traditional blacksmithing equipment spread throughout the room. "If you're wondering about the size of Naruto, this place used to be a pleasure house a good number of years back." Andre stated, getting Naruto to look around the spacious area for the man's workshop. "It was abandoned as the owner moved his business a good number of streets away from here and I think that one got moved as well. Hard to remember most of those things with how changeable this city can be if you ask me."
"If you were pretty busy, then you could fill this place up more with workers. Though a lot of your equipment is really spread out."
"Somewhat the way I like it if you ask me. Wouldn't like things all too cramped and end up making an accidental fire… Though it does get pretty quiet and lonesome in this empty place. *Sigh* Hell… For as long as I've been here, it's been flush with a mad and wicked feel to it."
"Then why haven't you moved away from here if it's unsettling you too much?"
"Because, I honestly don't know where else to go to set up shop." Was the older man's answer. "Been to a lot of places in Essos, yet all those other areas weren't feeling right for me. But here, I just grew tired of traveling around after my teacher passed away and left me his things. So I decided to stay here and perform my skills since with them fighting pits, people are always wanting weapons and armor."
"Do what you can, I suppose. Though haven't you considered moving to Westeros?" Questioned the Uzumaki before he elaborated a little more. "You can say I'm new here and the people I'm traveling with want to take me to Dorne. Heard it's a really nice place and quite respected."
"Maybe, but I've been in Essos my whole life and it'll be an odd change of pace for me this late in my life."
"Can't knock it till you try it."
Shaking his head, Andre let out a low chuckle before ushering Naruto to some of the tools. "So how are you going to start this process out boy?"
Looking around, Naruto grabbed a sturdy hammer and held it up slightly with a smile. "Before we get started, do you know the tiling technique?"
-One Hour Later-
"I wonder if Naruto will like these."
"He probably will Ellaria so stop fussing around on what you think is perfect for him or not."
The 'married' couple were on their way back from the clothing section of the market place with several outfits for their young companion. During this time, the two were on their guard if any people were talking about what happened earlier, but it was quite hard with neither of them not knowing how to properly speak or know Valyrian all that well. All that either can do was pray Naruto would be alright and this little plan turns out well.
Once they made it back to the one alleyway where they last saw Naruto, they tried looking for him. "Are you sure we left him here beloved?"
"Yes we did Ellaria. If I was wrong then I would've been wrong on several other things."
"Then how can you be so sure?"
"I distinctly remember that we left Naruto off at a former pleasure house that was running its business." The Viper said as he checked each of the doors.
Giving her 'husband' a smirk, she responded back as she helped out on the search. "Of course you might remember that place."
"Why wouldn't I? I've spent many nights there and spent my winnings from the fighting pits. So why wouldn't I remember it's location."
She could only roll her eyes and shook her head in amusement as they eventually got to the one shop. "This is probably it. I just hope Naruto didn't wait too long for us." Going through the entrance, they saw the store's front and looked at the many weapons and armor. The couple momentarily forgot what they wanted to do exactly as they slowly inspected each of the merchandise displayed.
"In all my years, I've never seen such craftsmanship before." Muttered the Viper as he carefully lifted up the spear out of it's placement on the wall. Ellaria stepped back to give Oberyn some room as he slowly moved the weapon around before he sped up his swings. "It feels heavy, but definitely helps out on the swings and thrusts for striking power."
"Indeed it is lad." A loudly, deep voice spoke out, causing Oberyn to stop his actions and look towards the intimidating looking blacksmith. "Welcome to my humble shop youngster. So… Need anything forged? Would you like some of my finished wares? Or possibly sell some arms and armor if you so like?"
"Uh… Well…" Putting the weapon back in place, Oberyn went to address the shop's owner. *Cough* "We were wondering if you've seen a blonde of seventeen summers here or not."
"Oh? You mean Naruto?" The blacksmith questioned, getting nods from the couple. "He's actually in the back. I'll take you to him."
Following the older blacksmith, the group walked around the counter and past a wooden door that led towards the workshop. As soon as Andre opened the door, the sounds of work and chatter could be heard, accompanied by the sweltering heat of the forge and smelter. Stepping closer, the couple were greeted with the site of Naruto's shadow clones toiling away on several weapons neither of them have seen before.
"He seemed… to preoccupy himself quite well." Ellaria stated as she briefly glanced at the blonde's copies working the shop.
"Verily I might say." Andre stated as he smirked at the site before him. "Never seen such a finer smith. Heh, reminds me of myself in my apprentice years." Wanting to get the boy's attention, he called him out. "Naruto! I believe your friends are here!"
This grabbed the original's attention as he looked up from his spot by the anvil, working on a hot piece of metal. "Oh hey guys!" Naruto yelled out as he briefly waved to them. "Give me a moment. I've gotta put this thing back in the fire." With that said, the shinobi smith grabbed his work by the tang and shoved it into the forge to keep it hot before making his way towards the entrance.
"You seemed to be having fun."
"You can say that Oby-san." Naruto wiped his hands off in a spare rag, but still had some soot on his face. "After all, you two did leave me behind."
"Well sorry Naruto, but we couldn't hide you all that well."
"And yet you forgot what I could do exactly… I could've been on the rooftops and followed both of you or I could've used my henge technique to change my appearance."
"...Okay you've got a point there, but we forgot in the heat of the moment." The prince said, only getting the blonde to wave his hand a little.
"It's alright and I don't mind it now. *Chuckles* After all, if it wasn't for that then I wouldn't be doing this now. Now wouldn't I?"
"Been quite the entertaining guest he is." Spoke the elder smith, walking towards a stand where the eight kunai and a dozen shuriken made from the ruined weapons Naruto collected from the island. There were even a few interesting looking weapons made from materials Andre had around the forge like a pair of sais and a tanto. "Naruto's been showing me different techniques and weapon's that I have never seen before. Some of them are still being made right now and we've even been trading notes as it were for comparison's sake. Like telling me a good idea on how to fix broken blades with this 'tile stacking' so I won't be wasting material."
"Really? Then I can't wait to see what weapons you've helped make Naruto."
"Will do Ella-san."
"Pleasantries aside," Oberyn started out, gaining the other two males' attention, "we're wondering if you possibly know where the other blacksmiths are in this city."
Feeling slightly offended by what the Dornishman's implying, Andre folded his arms and narrowed his gaze at him. "And why would you want to know that? Aren't I good enough for ye?"
"He doesn't mean to insult you at all Andre-jiji." The Uzumaki tried to calm the little tension down as he got between the two older men. "It's just that we're trying to find someone that can help us out on this little problem of ours and he's supposed to be in this city."
"And what would that be boy?"
Scratching his head and nervously chuckling, Naruto answered the elder smith's question. "We recently acquired Valyrian steel and wanted to reforge the material."
"...And where did you happen to come across the ancient steel?"
"Valyria." Was the response Oberyn and Naruto shared. Wanting to back up their claim, Naruto pulled out the scrolls that contained the metals they found before walking towards the store's lobby to properly present them. Once everyone was in there, Naruto drew his blood and smeared it onto the seals to bring them out into the world.
"Well I'll be damned." Andre said in slight awe as he gazed at the unsealed halberd, armor and scrap metals. "So much Valyrian steel… And you want me to reforge some of it?"
"Wait… You can work with this?"
"Why yes I can Naruto." The smith responded as he chuckled at the group's surprised looks. "It's been a while but I can definitely work with them."
Shaking out of his stupor, the Uzumaki spoke up to the elder smither. "Just the halberd Andre-jiji. When Oby-san and I got this, it was too damn big for either of us to use properly."
"Ah~ So you want to have this smelted down and properly used I wager."
"Yup. Oby-san tends to use lances or spears as his weapon of choice and since this whole thing is all Valyrian steel, you could use the leftovers to create a sword for Ella-san."
Hearing this, Ellaria was shocked and tried to turn down the offer, but Oberyn placed a hand on her shoulder. "We insist on my love. I wanted it to be my gift to you after Naruto and I were discussing things over yesterday." At this, the paramour smiled before capturing her 'husband's' lips to show much she really appreciates it now.
"Hmm… Yes I see what you mean." The giant smither said as he inspected the weapon in question while ignoring the bit of affection going on by the couple. "And do you have any ideas in mind for designs? I could think of a good number of them since I've longed to reforge Valyrian steel again, but with this fine metal procured I would like the commissioner to choose."
"And how long ago was Andre-jiji?"
Adopting a thinking pose, the smith racked his mind for how long it's been for him. "If I were to guess, it's been roughly a decade. It was quite the unusual order on reforging some Valyrian steel he procured and wanted it to become an arakh." Naruto looked at the older blacksmith on what an arakh was. Seeing this, Andre pointed towards the side to let Naruto see a curved blade with a two handed grip. "The man said he was trained to fight like a dothraki in the fighting pits and he wanted his weapon to be quite unique."
Nodding in understanding, Naruto pulled out his sketchbook and flipped through the pages to show what he and Oberyn had in mind. At the desired pages, Naruto handed the sketchbook towards the elder blacksmith and inspected it with a critical eye. Andre gave out pleasant hums with what he was seeing and understanding.
"I think these are pretty good there lad, though some adjustments might be needed."
Nodding in understanding, Naruto soon asked the obvious question that snapped the couple's attention towards each other. "How much do we owe you for the reforging then?"
"Hmm… Normally if you resided here in Essos; then I'd charge you in the Meereenese, Volantis or Braavosi currency. But since you belong with these two, who are from Westeros, then I'll charge with their currency in their highest coin being gold dragons." The elder smith stated, getting an odd look from the blonde.
"Uh… Mind showing me what a gold dragon looks like?" Hearing the unusual request, Andre went into his little safe and opened it up before placing a gold dragon coin on the counter. Picking it up, Naruto inspected the coin in detail while the others watched the teenager. Before either of them could speak, Naruto spoke once again. "So I'll ask again: How much do we owe you for the reforging?"
"I'd be charging you 80 thousand gold dragons for reforging the halberd into the desired weapons." This caused the couple to wince on how steep the price was. If the Martell's were to purchase the reforging, then it'll hurt their financials to some degree. "Though since you've been a fine company for me today, then I'd give you a discount and lower the price to 60 thousand if you could help me out on this little project. Hell I'll even teach you how to reforge the steel to help sweeten the pot."
"Really? You'd actually do that Andre-jiji?" Naruto questioned as he thought the idea to possibly reforge the metal on his own could be pretty good if needed. Oberyn did say that the Valyrian reforgers can be hard to convince to teach others the proper way of doing so. But if Naruto can learn it, he could try and experiment on his own to make his unique take with the metal he currently has.
*Chuckles* "Like I said boy, you've been in fine company for the past hour. Besides, I need to teach the knowledge of the craft before I pass on like my teacher before me. Heh, haven't had any apprentices to begin with but you seem quite knowledgeable enough to possibly make things interesting."
"Even though we've only interacted for the past hour?"
"Pretty much… So how will you pay for the order boy? You don't seem to have the money on you and the same goes with your two friends." Andre spoke as he eyed the Martell couple. "Unless you have the amount on your ship… or possibly one of them scrolls with that odd magic trick of yours."
Naruto nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head before replying. "Now that you mention it..."
-Evening, Oberyn's and Ellaria's Lodging-
"I've got to say, but today has been quite interesting to say the least." Muttered the Viper as he laid down with his love lying on top of him, naked as the day they were born in one of the bedrooms with sheets covering themselves.
"Obviously and it hasn't even ended quite yet." Said the paramour as she drew circles on her beloved's chest with her fingers while grinding against his leg in a slow, sensuous manner.
During their stay at Meereen, most of the Martell crew and the couple were staying in the same building so neither of them would lose themselves when trying to find each other if spread out too far. The current lodge's interior ranged from the silkened curtains to the decorative furniture with the Meereenese style did what the lodge could do to distract the attendants from what takes place outside. Most of these lodges are made like so for wealthy travelers for a little extravagance with how beautiful in appearance it was, which is quite typical for any major city.
On their current thoughts, the couple were thinking of what happened earlier at Andre's shop with several revelations brought up. They were quite lucky in finding the Valyrian reforger in this city and had quite the feeling that the finished products of smelting down the halberd will look and work wonderfully. Though when it came to the pricing, Oberyn was going to ask the elderly smither for a down payment with additional ones later on. The Red Viper was a man of his word and would pay back over a consecutive time.
But to the couple's surprise, Naruto actually had the amount on him… and then some. The Uzumaki forgot to mention this during the boat ride over to Meereen. So he unsealed the rotted chest and opened it up to reveal the trunk full of golden dragons. From what Naruto explained, before he and Oberyn met, he fought some stone men along the way and they guarded this chest. After taking care of them, he took the gold as his own. The blonde figured that it was collected by many stone men across Valyria for quite some time and hoarded the gold like a greedy dragon.
'But to have that much?' Thought the Viper as he had to steady himself when hearing Naruto that he used clones to count the chest's amount that it was roughly the original reforging price. The blonde paid the whole order in full and kept the rest for himself for a rainy day.
Once leaving the shop, Naruto hung out with someone from where he came from. With the scar running across his nose, the dark tanned skin and the high ponytail with the odd looking attire that made the couple think it was for military purposes. It took them a while to find the building they were supposed to be staying at. And once passing through their lodge's door, the three went on their own forms of rest and freshen up for whatever else will occur for tonight's entertainment.
For Oberyn and Ellaria, it was obvious of them having pleasurable sex in their room while Naruto took a nap in his room…. On the other side of the rented out lodge. He did not want to hear the two going at it with their translated copy of Icha Icha works by the nightstand for inspiration. The blonde just wanted to properly rest and that wouldn't happen if he heard the couple's moans and groans.
"Remind me again, but when will the weapons be ready?"
Humming in thought, Oberyn pondered in remembrance of the conversation with Andre. "It's going to be roughly a day and a half, I suppose, to get everything done."
"Really?"
"Yes… Then again you would've remembered. *Chuckles* But I think I might've fucked that piece of memory out of your beautiful head earlier." Was his response before he groped her firm ass, causing her to moan as she claimed his lips once more.
From what Andre explained, what will occur next would need the help of Naruto's clones to speed up the work process. From carving out the necessary molds on each of the pieces on the commissioned build first to some other gibberish only fellow blacksmiths would know about. But after the necessary molding, the actual smelting process will begin and it would require the rest of the estimated time for the weapons to properly harden before cleaning up and assembling.
*Knock Knock*
"Yes?! Who is it?!" Spoke out the paramour.
"It's me Ella-san!" Called out the young companion from the other side of the door. "I'm wondering if either of the two love birds are 'decent'!"
The lovers rolled their eyes before getting up from the bed to eventually wrap themselves in robes. "We're coming, Naruto." Once at the door, they opened it up to see the freshly cleaned Uzumaki in one of the new sets of clothing the couple gave him before Ellaria spoke. "So what do you need?"
"Just playing messenger apparently." The teen responded in a dull tone. *Sigh* "Some of the crew said that dinner will be ready soon downstairs and they wanted me to inform you two on that. So both of you should probably freshen up… and not go at it like rabbits in heat in terms of freshening up, before heading on down."
*Chuckles* "Of course." Inspecting the blonde before them, the Sand Snake gave off a pleasant hum. "And I've gotta say Naruto, but you look quite handsome now."
Naruto's current attire seemed to be a drastic change from Naruto's orange/blue jumpsuit to something a little bit darker. From the brown, long-sleeved tunic top with orange stitching and sewn-in designs. The sleeves ended halfway past his elbows to show off wraps around his arms and ending at the wrist, a pair of black pants that ended at the ankles and a pair of boots that were odd for Naruto to wear. The add-ons to the attire were the wraps around his right leg to have his one little pouch tied there and the second pouch attached to his belt.
"Thanks, I guess." Was the blonde's response. "It's gonna be a while for me to get used to it though. Especially with the boots since I'm more used to open toe footwear."
"True… But you've got to be ready for anything, even for casual wear. And what if someone were trying to stab your feet with them not protected properly." Stated the Viper, getting an eye roll from the younger man.
"Uh-huh. Though once over at Dorne, or at least heading over there, I'll need to make better footwear to suit my tastes."
"Everyone has their own style of clothing, that's for sure."
"So while you two finish getting ready, I'm heading on down and possibly snagging a light snack before the main 'event'." And with that, Naruto walked away from the two as they closed the door to quickly clean themselves up and head down for dinner.
It was a simple affair with most of the crew present while the rest stayed on the boats to properly protect them. Not that it mattered anyways since those people prefer eating that way. Regardless, everyone present were enjoying themselves as they feasted on the cooked lamb and pork with varying fruits.
"...So of course she says that I'm not the best client she ever had, even though I supposedly fucked her long and hard for a few hours." One of the newer crewmember's said, which got a few chuckles out of the others.
"Maybe it's because you have a small cock between your legs and it only took that long to pleasure her."
"Oh shut the fuck up Marcus!"
"Maybe he's right." Naruto said, gaining several people to look at him from the table as he took a bite out of the meat. "I used to live near a 'pleasure house' and some of the workers were decent neighbors of mine. They sometimes say the same thing that they have to act: that they're enjoying themselves in front of clients. Even faking having an orgasm or two, though they aren't satisfied at all with such small dicks… Either that or they take too damn long to actually make the girl's climax."
"Naruto's probably right, you know." Ellaria said with a growing smirk as she eyed the one crewmember. "Many times I've heard of this throughout all of the pleasure houses Oberyn and I have visited and it tends to give us some laughs… and some sympathies to those that have to deal with that shit."
This got more chuckles from the other crew members as the one started to fume more before going back into his food.
"Lord Oberyn… Are you still planning on fighting in the pits tomorrow?"
Turning towards one of the crewmember's, Oberyn nodded before speaking. "It's pretty much the main reason why we've come here. I've wanted a good fight in the arena once more and Meereen supplies the best one out of all of Essos."
"Then we'd be placing bets towards you my lord."
*Chuckles* "I would be insulted if you didn't." Turning over towards the blonde shinobi, the Viper spoke up. "And what of you, Naruto? Will you join me in the pits?"
"...Are you sure about that Oby-san?" Was Naruto's unassured answer. "After what I learned earlier today, with the slaves forcibly participating in this." Clicking his tongue, the shinobi shook his head for his answer. "I'm sorry but I'm going to sit this one out."
"But you could possibly have an enjoyable fight down there… Hells we fought well together back in Valyria against those two beings and I'd like to fight the same way again."
"True; but these are slaves we are talking about Oby-san, not actual, willing participants. If they were willing, then I could join since I dealt with similar fights in the past." He said as he personally referenced his time in the Chunin Exams. "But if the slaves aren't doing this out of their free will then I'm not going to do a thing."
"Even though many of those fighters are convicts, rapists, thieves?"
"I understand that, but most don't even want to do it because their 'masters' are forcing them to do so." Naruto said in a raised voice.
"I know that Naruto, but you need to face that reality isn't perfect." The Dornish prince said as he rubbed his temples. Thinking things over for several moments while the crewmember's murmured amongst themselves before the Dornish lord spoke back. *Sigh* "I… respect your decision Naruto and I was merely suggesting the offer. Though it would be a shame if you weren't down there with me."
"Yeah… Shame."
The rest of the evening went well as conversations went onto other topics while enjoying their meals. Ellaria though kept looking at both her beloved and the blonde Uzumaki as she wanted to do something… say something. Especially since she had this feeling in her stomach that her beloved will need Naruto's help for what's to possibly come.
-Next Day, Great Pit of Daznak -08/296 AC-
Out of all of the fighting pits in Meereen, Daznak was considered the grandest out of all of them all. The stands were packed to the brim as slaves, masters, free people and visitors alike attended the entertainment for today. Though in one particular stand, which is reserved for high esteemed guests of honor or royalty, only a few guests appeared seated in there. One can consider this a grand spectacle, even before things started.
'This place isn't that impressive.' Were Naruto's thoughts as he eyed the large form of architecture. 'I think the Konoha stadium's bigger than this place, even has better seating.'
The weather seemed to be a bit better as of late with there being an overcast today to cool off the heated air and not having it be so bright. Many prefered this while others didn't but it couldn't fully matter at this point. The crowd was cheering with anticipation as some Meereenese riders came out onto the field to do a little show before heading inside to get things started.
Soon enough, a man walked onto the field, causing many spectators to rise from their seats and give him a round of applause as he waved back to him. Naruto figured he was the announcer for today's events. From what he was told, whatever happens in the main stadium is roughly planned at the last minute so no one can know what exactly will happen with the fighters. Would it just be fighter against fighter, fighter against beast or beast against beast. Who knows for sure, but it's to at least make everyone curious on what the event holder has in store for everyone's thrill and excitement.
Before long, the announcer raised up his hands to quiet everyone down before speaking in Meereenese Valyrian… which Naruto was left in the dark on what he was saying. What… He didn't expect to hear this language just yet and no one on the Martell crew knew Valyrian all that well, even it's supposed branch language for this city.
"Do you know what he's saying Ella-san?" Naruto said to the paramour.
"Somewhat. My Valyrian is a little rusty, but he's saying that it's great for everyone here for today's games." The Sand Snake started before the two saw a pair of fighters walk onto the field. One appeared to be a large man while the other was of average height. "And now he's saying something among the lines of who is better: strength or speed."
"My money would be on strength." One of the crewmember's stated as he got several grunts and nods from some of his colleagues and friends.
"Hell no. Speed's so much better asshole."
"The fuck you say Terrick."
"You heard what I said."
"Things could go either way." Naruto stated as he saw the two combatants fight it out while the crew members did their own conversations with bets. His statement caused Ellaria to look at him quizzically, to which he noticed and decided to elaborate. "Strength and speed can go either way, but it depends on how it's used exactly. Mostly depends on smarts if you want to add that into the problem."
"How so?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer but she wanted to hear Naruto's opinion on the matter.
"If you're dealing with strength, it depends on how much you exert yourself when dealing swings and blows onto your opponent. Said person would need to try and not tire him/herself out that will eventually leave yourself open to attacks. Overwhelming the opponent with strength alone won't end well if the person just relies on that." The shinobi said as the two saw the strong fighter swinging his sword around while the speeder was jumping or sliding out of the way. "With speed, one needs to be quick witted to come up with things on a moment's notice while quickly evading attacks and defenses. Having to move around quickly to get a layout of the battlefield/opponent to hopefully find a good spot to strike and time things perfectly." This was said just as the two saw the speeder swipe several strikes on the strong man's back before evading a swinging blow.
"Hmm… Seems you favor speed more than strength Naruto." The Sand Snake said as she seemed to catch onto a different tone when getting onto that part of explanations.
*Chuckles* "You can say that… Back home, the 4th Hokage, our village leader, had a technique that made him go all over the battlefield and overwhelm many of his enemies. He was so fast that he was referred to as the Yellow Flash. Even helped back up the title as all anyone could see was a yellow streak of lightning as he slew hundreds of enemies all at once."
"Really?" She was skeptical of such a technique. But after meeting Naruto, Ellaria decided to slowly approach things with an open mind on such odd fantasies.
"Yup… He was my idol when growing up and I wanted to be just like him. Course it wasn't til I had gone a bit out of control I guess you could say that I had learned he was my father, did punch the shit out him when I saw him." he said with a sad sigh.
"...He's gone, isn't he?"
The answer wasn't immediate as the two saw the speeder pierce the strong man's throat with his short sword, resulting with a round of applause. Taking a small breath, Naruto looked up into the sky as he replied to her. "Yeah… He's gone. Died on the very night I was born… Not a great way to celebrate the day of my birth… And the one after that and ones that followed."
"I'm sorry to hear of that."
*Sigh* "It's alright and thanks."
As the two saw the announcer walk back onto the field, with several men to carry the dead body off the field, the paramour asked the obvious question to hopefully help the young shinobi. "You want to talk about it more?" Shaking his head no, Ellaria wanted to help a little more. "You can talk to either Oberyn or I when you feel ready. Even what happened yesterday in the marketplace."
"Will do… Well it seems Oby-san is going to have his fun now."
Putting their attention onto the battlefield, Oberyn and five other men were walking into place with their respective weapons on hand as the crowd cheered for excitement once more. The Red Viper had his trusty spear by his side, a few knives and a short sword on his hip while wearing his signature leather armor that he wore on the island, with some fixes and add ons like some metal plating underneath for protection. The other fighters varied in terms of appearance, causing Naruto to ask the Sand Snake to identify some of them.
Ellaria helped translate the best she could when each of the fighters were introduced. The first was apparently a Dothraki bloodrider for one Khal Drogo, who came by the city for rest and wanted to see some entertainment before passing by. Who, by the way, was in the special stand with the blue tattoos on his body and the varying braids on his head. Once explaining a bit of info that Dothraki don't believe in money, they do believe in glory. Hence why one of the Khal's fighters was attending this match.
Following the bloodrider was Meereenese champion as he wore a black suit of armor with a lance and shield. The third fighter was a dark skinned ax wielder. The fourth was apparently a convicted thief with dual knives while the last was a fighter from Volantis with his broadsword and shield.
Soon an announcement was made once introductions were finished. The announcer stated that once three warriors remained, the next portion of entertainment would begin, causing many to wonder what the event holders were planning. And once the man left the battle area, all of the fighters spreaded out and started off their fights.
Oberyn ran towards the Meereenese champion and soon clashed as both fighters wanted to prove that one of them was the better spear/lance wielder than the other. Both seemed evenly matched as they parried and dodged each of the thrusts and swings their opponent delivered. From what Naruto and Ellaria could tell from their seating, Oberyn was enjoying himself quite well in this fight of his.
The Volantis fighter was up against the Dothraki bloodrider as both were keeping up with each other. The swordsman kept blocking his opponent's arakh while attempting to slash at the horse rider's bare skin. Though one bad move proved to be the swordsman's undoing as the bloodrider got behind him and sliced the Volantis fighter's head right off of his shoulders.
With the last pair of fighters, it seemed to be a repeat of the strong man vs the speeder. The convict kept moving out of the strong man's axe swings as he threw one of his daggers. This was easily deflected before the ax wielder ran at the thief. The convict ended up tripping, which gave the strong man his chance of swinging his bladed weapon down and cleave the thief's head in half with a gory mess in the end.
Back with the lance/spear wielders, the two were still at their fight. Blocking and evading as much as they can, the Viper was merely playing with his prey. Taking his chance, the prince threw his spear at his opponent, who moved out of the way with how fast the projectile was. This was merely a distraction as Oberyn pulled out his knives and lunged at the Meereenese champion. Said fighter jumped in the air and thrusted his spear, but the Dornish man slid on the ground so he could get under his opponent. And with precision, Oberyn shot his armed hands and jabbed the blades into the man's sides before pulling them out to stab the man's throat.
"This is turning out well." Naruto said as he applauded alongside the paramour and the Martell crewmembers in seeing the Red Viper win his victory.
"That it is."
"Though I do wonder what this next event might be exactly." He said as they saw the announcer walk into the field and spoke again.
"My thoughts exactly… That's odd."
"What?"
"The announcer just said that they're bringing in special beasts now." Stated the Sand Snake as she tried to listen with so many people cheering out at this point. "Something about… crow people?"
Once that was said, they both saw the fighters having similar looks of confusion on their faces while the large gates opened up. Not long after, what appeared to be thinly people came stumbling out as they moved in an odd fashion. Craning their necks towards the side, which soon revealed their bird-like heads and features, they soon saw the fighters in the arena before screeching out a sound that seemed to shake everyone's very hearts.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
And with that, the new arrivals lunged at the three fighters with hands extended to show blade-like claws. They were surprisingly fast as they swiped their claws like talons at the fighters. Each held their own as they evaded the strikes upon them before killing several along the way. Many of the crow people kept screeching out while attacking the combatants before receiving great pain against themselves.
With the ones now on the ground, they started to convulse until wings sprouted out of their backs. The numbers varied, but it didn't matter as they lunged at the fighters once more. The ax wielder sliced a good number of them before he was overwhelmed and his neck was sliced open by one of the razor sharp talons. Falling down to the ground, now dead, most of the humanoid crows lunged at the corpse and feasted on the man's flesh, which quickly disturbed not only the remaining fighters but the audience as well.
Not wanting to see any more disgrace towards the dead, Oberyn and the bloodrider rushed towards the horde of crow men with their weapons on hand. Picking some of them off at a time before having to retreat when the bird men retaliated. The Dothraki warrior grabbed the Volantis sword and used it alongside his arakh to fend off the monsters while Oberyn used his short sword and one of the shields. Both fighters held their own from the onslaught, but as things were nearing its end, the bloodrider got overwhelmed and was slaughtered.
By the end of this conflict, Oberyn was met with only a handful of crows before they lunged towards the Dornish prince. Acting quickly, he rolled out of the way and ran towards the ax and used it to fend off the hungry predators. Lopping off one of their heads before cutting deep into another's chest made Oberyn let go before using his sword to block several strikes. Though a few landed on him, he never gave up the fight as he rolled to the side, grabbed the lance and thrusted it into the last remaining crow's chest, ending it's life right then and there.
"Thank the gods that's over."
"Yeah I know." One of the crewmembers said in agreement with his friend. "It was getting fucking intense if you ask me."
"Same here… and probably the rest of us mate."
Over with Ellaria, she had finally released the built up breath in her chest as she was relieved that the fight was finally over. Not just her, but Naruto as well since he wanted to rush in there and help the Dornish prince. He had a feeling Oberyn could handle himself, but if something were to happen he wouldn't hesitate in jumping in and didn't care for the consequences.
Everyone soon saw the announcer enter the field, possibly one last time, as he spoke the answer to mostly everyone's mind during the fight. It was hard for Ellaria to translate with people having varying reactions towards this. By the time the paramour understood, she stood still in shock.
"Did… Did that announcer say that… Oh gods."
"What Ella-san. What's wrong?" Naruto asked as he saw the Dornish woman's widened eyes.
"The announcer just said where they acquired those beasts… They were from Old Valyria."
"...Are you serious?" He questioned with a similar reaction as herself.
"Very."
Before anything else could be done, with the announcer about to declare Oberyn the winner, deafening screams filled some of the stadium, causing many to look towards the source once quieting down. The screams continued as they appeared louder and louder. Soon enough, the source was revealed when a few people ran out of one of the gate entrances with panic across their very beings. Yelling out things in their native tongues before a massive, furred hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed the one closest to the gate before pulling him back in. The scream was heard before it was silenced with a resounding *Crunch*.
'...What the fuck was that?' Was unknowingly the same thought everyone had in the stadium before a deafening, agonizing sound was heard. Many shivered at the sound while others had to cover their ears from the shrilling cry. It wasn't long after when the being walked out of the darkness to reveal it's massive form and caused many to panic once landing their eyes upon the beast.
-Insert Bloodborne OST: Cleric Beast-
The creature was quite massive with hideous horns upon it's dog-like face, whose shrieks sounded like cries of agony. Although at first glance, it appeared malnourished with its barely skeletal body with bloodied fur covering sections of its very being. Upon a better eye, Naruto had a truly bad feeling this monster has a form of high agility on top of it's obvious supernatural strength. With how it's built and how long it's body and appendages are.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"
The beast slammed it's massive hand onto the ground as it stalked its way further into the stadium. People were in panic now and many were rushing to find an exit at this point. Though there were still people seated in either watching the incoming slaughter unfold or wanted to keep their religious practice in seeing the prince's death to appease their gods.
As the Valyrian beast stalked closer, Oberyn rushed towards the side so he could possibly escape. But it would not happen as the horned beast rushed in that general direction, cutting the Viper's escape attempt. Not having much of a choice anymore, Oberyn jumped back as the beast slammed it's massive arm down at his previous spot. With the present opening, the Viper swung his spear several times to draw out agonizing screeching from the beast. This soon stopped as the monster swung its massive hand to smack Oberyn several feet away from his previous position on the ground.
Back with the spectators, the Martell entourage were shocked in what they saw and were worried for the prince's condition. Not wanting to see anymore happen, Naruto rose from his seat and started to make his way down when a feminine hand grasped his wrist. Turning back, the Uzumaki saw the pleading look on Ellaria's face as it seemed to give off a mixed message of either 'help save my beloved' or 'stay or else you'll get killed'.
"Don't worry Ella-san. I'm going to save him and bring him back to you." With that said, Naruto pulled his arm free before he ran down the steps to get closer to the arena.
With the Viper, he landed on the ground hard moments ago and had to quickly get back up so he could get out of the way of the monster's incoming path. Once out of the way, he saw the beast slam into the wall before pulling back to lunge at the Dornish prince. Not wanting that to happen, the Viper threw his spear at the beast, which soon embedded itself into its body, letting out a massive roar of pain.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Yes! How about you feel that bastard!" Growled out the fighter as he soon ran away to possibly snag another fallen weapon to combat against the Valyrian beast.
The horned monster pulled out the spear and broke the staff in half before stomping its way towards it's prey. With its speed, it'll reach the fighter soon enough to feast upon his flesh. And with an outreached hand, the monster was about to claim its prize when something slammed into itself, sending it back several feet.
"Get away from him, asshole!" Naruto yelled out as he landed on the ground with wisps of chakra around his hand as his last attack on the monster worked to some degree. The Rasengan was only charged up to some degree when it slammed against the beast, but it was only enough to send it back with Naruto not wanting to overexert himself too soon right now. "You're fight's with me now, you poor excuse for a dog!"
Quickly unfurling the wraps around his left arm, he placed his fingers onto the first seal and channeled chakra into it to bring out his Kubikiribōchō. With a resounding *poof* the weapon was on hand just in time to block the massive strike from the beast. Channeling chakra into his arms, Naruto shoved the limb away before swinging his massive sword on the hand several times.
While he was freshening up and resting yesterday, Naruto decided to make seals on his forearms to seal certain weapons inside of them and bring them out on a moment's notice. He didn't want to hassle himself anymore by pulling out his scrolls in the middle of fighting since it'll cost him time needed to effectively fight his opponents. The ones on him were temporary right now since he didn't know when he'll acquire more weaponry and didn't know proper placements for them later on when trying to search for a specified seal if he wore armor.
The beast roared out in pain as the assault continued before it smacked the blonde away with it's mighty hand. Soon more pain came to him as it turned around to see it's original prey slashing and cleaving it's very legs with an ax it acquired. Blood started to seep through the wounds as both combatants went back on their assault. Slamming both hands on the ground, it did a sweeping motion to knock it's two opponents away.
"GAH!" Naruto and Oberyn cried out as they were sent away and tumbled on the ground. Naruto quickly recovered as he pulled out several exploding kunai from his pack, ignited them, and threw them at the beast. Once impacted, they exploded and caused the monster to stumble back with it's agonizing scream.
"Well Oby-san… It seems you got your wish after all."
"True, but I didn't imagine it being in this situation again." The Viper voiced out before they moved out of the way as the Valyrian beast lunged at them with fury in it's dark eyes. The beast kept slamming it's hands onto the battlefield as both combatants were attacking it from both sides of its body. Having enough, the monster spun around in a fast motion and smacked them away. In the process, this caused Naruto to loosen his grip on his Kubikiribōchō and sent it flying across the battlefield.
"Well that's going to fucking suck." Muttered the blonde as he saw how far away his main sword was. Unfurling the wraps on his right arm, he channeled chakra into his hand and placed it onto the now visible seal. "At least I have this one now."
Oberyn tumbled onto the ground and saw Naruto's weapon landing far away from their position. He cursed out that his young friend didn't have a good weapon on him now, even though Naruto could use a clone to quickly snag it like in previous fights. The Viper cursed more as the monster spotted him and leaped towards him. This caused Oberyn to roll out of the way once more as he got back up and dashed towards the beast to deliver several hits onto the monster's legs.
The Valyrian beast was about to strike its prey down with it's massive paw-like hand when a painful sensation emanated from it's back. Wildly shaking, the beast moved about to hopefully rid itself of the 'insect' clinging onto itself. It seemed to be worse as it soon felt a sense of burning across it's spine when the second combatant yelled out.
"Hope you like the burn since there's more where that came from!" Channeling chakra into his Valyrian greatsword, Naruto caused it to go up in flames. The fire traveled through the beast as a fiery pillar shot through its chest before it consumed the horned monstrosity entirely.
Pulling out his weapon from its back, Naruto kicked away from the burning beast as it fell onto the ground with a mighty *thud* for many to see the burning spectacle on cloudy days. The stadium's remaining spectators were speechless in what they just saw, even Oberyn was surprised as he saw this. Heading towards Naruto to congratulate him on the win, the Viper saw the sword in the blonde's hand and gained an uneasy feeling as he glanced at it.
"Uh, Naruto…"
"Yeah?"
"Isn't that sword…?"
"From the Tommen II fight? Why yes it is." Replied the blonde as he held the powered down greatsword in his right hand with it's crude dagger tucked into his belt.
"Why do you have that?" Questioned the Viper with a narrowed glance. "You saw what it did in our fight against him. Hell, I think it's even cursed."
"Not anymore apparently." Replied the shinobi, getting a questioned look in return. "I don't know how to explain it, Oby-san, but it feels calming. Warm even. Not like the harshness Tommen II wielded back on the island. Whatever curse the sword and dagger had, I don't feel any of it's malice."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yeah I'm pretty sure." Holding up his great sword a little, with the dagger now in his left hand, Naruto tilted his head and scrunched his face before it went back to normal. "I think I'm going to call you Amaterasu."
"Ama-da-what?"
"Ah-Ma-Ter-Ah-Su, Oby-san. She's the sun goddess where I come from and like the sun, it's flames are warm."
"...Okay?"
If either of them would've noticed from the burning corpse of the Valyrian beast, they would've noticed the slight twitching of one of it's pawed hands. Fingers moving ever so slightly before they tightly snapped into a fist while the other hand barely started to move. Slamming it's opened paw to the ground caused the two combatants to pause their actions and slowly turned towards the fallen beast with widened eyes.
Mustering a lot of it's strength, the burning beast lifted itself up from the ground with creaking and splintering sounds coming from it's bones as the fire seemingly mended it's very wounds. The fire reignited it's fury once more as burning eyes moved from the Dornish prince towards the one that previously killed him. Bellowing out an agonizing roar, the two combatants (mostly Naruto) were assaulted with the hottest gust of air either of them could ever experience. And with the darkened sky, it helped add onto it's haunting appearance for possibly no one to ever forget.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"
-Insert Bloodborne The Old Hunters OST: Lawrence the First Vicar-
"You said that sword wasn't cursed!"
"It isn't!"
Pointing his finger in an accusing fashion, Oberyn yelled out in a frightened tone. "Then explain how that fucking corpse is still moving for gods' sakes!"
Without warning, the charred beast lashed out against the two combatants with a swipe of it's burning claws. Oberyn was able to roll out of the way, but not without having some slash marks across his armored back. The burning sensation alone made him grit his teeth in pain as he tried to endure it. As for Naruto, he received the most damage as he was sent back several feet away with his tunic top quickly burnt away. Left with just his mesh shirt and wraps to cover his upper half, Naruto groaned out in pain as he tried to get back up. The beast stomped towards him and swiped at him again with a fiery trial, causing the shinobi to quickly perform the replacement technique so a log can take his place.
Off to the side, Naruto panted out as he saw the beast quickly destroy the piece of lumber before gaining a confused expression on where the fighter went off to. Looking towards his second sword, Naruto quickly created several clones so they'll distract the beast while the original can retrieve his Kubikiribōchō. The clones were good at distracting the beast, but as each of them disbursed, the Uzumaki still felt the painful burning sensations from each of their 'deaths'. Either from being flattened or skewered by its enlarged claws.
Just when he got to his Kubikiribōchō, Oberyn was there to greet him with a pained expression on his face. He had a lance on his back and a shield strapped to his arm (no doubt liberated from the Meereenese corpse) with the one ax held in his free hand. The Viper seemed worse for wear as he was sweating from the heat now and panting from the pain he got from earlier.
"Do you still have those food pills on you?" The prince asked with his hand held out. "I could use one right about now."
Not wanting to reply, Naruto quickly pulled out a pill and tossed it towards the prince before retrieving his Kiri sword. Once biting down on the pill, Naruto summoned a clone and handed the Kubikiribōchō to it so things could be somewhat evened out in the confrontation. Just in time too as the last of those clones dispelled, causing the beast to look around for its prey. Landing it's fiery eyes on the group, it roared out as it made its way towards them before leaping into the air. The 'three' scattered once it came close to landing and the moment it landed in a loud impact on the stadium's ground, the fighters laid their assault on the beast.
Oberyn would've preferred using his spear (or a lance in this case) to fight the beast like before, but the ax seemed the more effective weapon at this time. His eyes caught sight of the burning monstrosity rearing it's fists back before jumping towards the side so he wouldn't get hit. Once he was clear, he continued his slashes across its legs.
Same could be said on both Naruto's as both used their respective swords to keep slashing at the beast. Though they had to jump into the air at different points in time so they could assault it's upper back and head. At one point, the charred beast swatted it's hand at the cloned Naruto and caused it to disperse. The Kubikiribōchō fell down onto the ground with a clatter before the original grabbed ahold of it and sealed it back up into his arm. The original channeled chakra into his greatsword to possibly add in more damage with the fiery coating. Much to his disappointment, the added element wasn't doing much in terms of attack power as the beast's flames and the sword's were just canceling each other out.
It was when Naruto realized that the beast was primarily putting its attention towards him as it's horned head kept shifting around for any sign of him as it seemingly ignored Oberyn's onslaught to some degree. Getting tired of the prince's onslaught, the beast stomped and slammed onto the ground several times to make both fighters lose their balance to some degree. And without warning, the Valyrian beast expanded its chest as it took in a lot of air into its lungs, before the unthinkable happened...
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING/SHITTING ME?!" The combatants yelled out with widened eyes as they saw the fiery lava spew from it's mouth in various directions. It was hard to believe it was lava, until most of the liquid landed on the dead corpses across the field, causing them to melt.
Needing a bit of a distraction, Oberyn pulled off the lance on his back before he threw it at the beast. It lodged into its neck, causing the monster to let out an agonizing wail so he and Naruto could get in close. As Oberyn had to go through the long way of walking around and jumping over the lava pools, Naruto just leapt into the air and started slashing at the charred beast's upper body once getting onto it's back. Once the prince got close, he swung mighty swings at the monster's lower half before it's blood came into contact with his shield and ax, causing them to quickly burn away.
"Shit!" The Dornish man cursed out as some of the liquid landed onto armor, causing him to try and remove it before he was swatted away. Getting back up from his rough landing, Oberyn tried to get back into the fight when he was held back by something. Turning towards the source, he saw one of Naruto's clones latching onto his arm. "What the hell are you doing Naruto?! Let go!"
"You need to get the hell away from the boss!" Cried out the cloned Uzumaki and kept a firm grip on the prince's arm. "It's me he wants Oby-san! Not you!"
"Like hell I'm leaving 'you' behind Naruto!"
"I wasn't asking!" Pouring chakra into his arms and legs, the clone picked up Oberyn and ran towards the stadium's wall and tossed him over so he could be safe from harm before disbursing.
*Groan* "Miserable little shit… He's going to get himself killed!"
"Oberyn!" Ellaria called out as she latched onto her lover and held him close. He tried to break free from her hold, but she wasn't letting go.
"Ellaria, you need to let go of me!" He yelled out as he tried to pry her off. "I need to help Naruto!"
"You can't Oberyn!" She yelled out as she just held him tighter. "He's the only one that can stop that beast and if he fails then possibly everyone in this city is dead!"
The Viper tried to speak as his eyes landed on the current confrontation between shinobi vs beast. Naruto seemed to have the upper hand with the continuous onslaught from both his greatsword and exploding kunai. As much as Oberyn hates to admit it, his paramour was right. All that he could do was silently pray to the gods, both old and new, to give Naruto the strength needed to end the fiery beast.
Back with the fight, Naruto had finally had enough. His eye snow glowed with golden energy and his eyes had turned to that of a toad, he wouldn't need anything else for this monster. Healing, senses, strength, speed; all of this was enhanced by nearly five times its normal capabilities. Sage Mode was the one thing that would save these people, anything more would just be overkill-that and he was still recovering from the war and his chakra was acting hectic at the moment. The beast roared as it charged the Uzumaki, but the blond stood still and waited til it was only feet away before spinning around and delivering a powerful backhanded punch that sent the beast flying away where it crashed into the wall with a roar of pain.
The beast rose with a snarl and charged, and this time Naruto too took the time to rush forward to meet the beast head on. With a chakra enhanced leap, Naruto brought a fist up over his head and smashed it down as he hit the floor of the arena, the beast coming to an immediate halt as its head slammed down. Dazed from the blow, Naruto was unhindered as he raised his fist and smashed it into the beast's head, only to rear back his other hand where he repeated this action. Blow after blow Naruto rained down a heavy beating until the beast gave a roar and spun around and knocked him away with its tail.
Hitting the ground the blond grunted in annoyance as he stood back up and cracked his neck. Flicking his wrist a set of kunai were in his hands, spinning rapidly before he gripped them in a reverse handed hold. Man and beast charged, but it was Naruto who drew first blood as he swiped his chakra enhanced knife across the beast's chest once-twice thrice before the beast roared and captured Naruto's hand in its own. Spinning the knife in his hand, Naruto went to stab the beast's eye out, only for the beast to grip that hand as well. Snorting in amusement, Naruto surged an incredible amount of chakra through his feet, using the knowledge that too much chakra would push him away, ripping the ground apart as he allowed the chakra to fling him into the air.
Now suspended in the air using the beasts body as his perch, Naruto grunted in exertion as he moved enough to plant his feet behind the beast, his chakra allowing him to gain the upper hand as he gave a yell and hurled the beast overhead and down the arena where it crashed with a yell of pain. As the beast rose up, it went to look over where its prey was, only to see that Naruto was already upon it as the blonde yelled out and rammed his elbow down on its neck in an attempt to break it, only it merely stunned the animal and leaving him no choice but to grab it in a headlock. With this done, Naruto used his free arm to bash his fist into the beast's face.
With a grunt, Naruto rams his fist back into the monster's eye before releasing it as he spun around and elbowed it in the other side of its jaw. Raising a fist up, he rammed it down and punched the Valyrian beast causing it to stumble back a step before repeating the same maneuver as he smashes another fist into its face. With a roar the beast swipes its hand and smacks Naruto away the blonde who lands in a roll but manages to end up sliding a couple feet and back onto his feet, "Is that all you can do?!" Naruto bellows out as he rams his fists together creating a set of powerful shockwaves that rattle the fighting pit all the way up to the upper seating areas.
With simultaneous bellows man and beast charge one another and meet in the middle. Raising his fist once again, Naruto slams it down with enough force to make the beast eat stone. The beast doesn't stay down long and lunges at Naruto, only to be gripped by apart of its burning face where Naruto proceeds to rain down blow after blow before performing a brutal uppercut that rips the beast up off the floor and into the air with a squeal of pain and surprise as Naruto lands a final strike to its face that buries its head into the dirt with an explosion of stone. Without waiting, Naruto reaches down and proceeds to grab it by the nape of the neck and base of the tail and with a yell of exertion that shocked all of those watching, he raised the eight foot tall three hundred pound monster up off the ground and over his head before he hurls it away, the beast twisting and turning through the air to try and get some form of balance back before it crashed.
As the beast landed with a crash that tore the stone flooring apart, Naruto swung his arms down and from a pair of seals, he had unleashed two hidden blades on his wrists. The two blades are a dull silver blue in color and are technically four blades rather than two, with one blade being longer by three inches on both sets, and have the ability to conduct heated energy produced chakra seals that are attached to the guards which allow the blades to heat up to roughly 300 degree's Fahrenheit.
"Come on ya bastard!" the blond yelled. With a roar, the Valyrian Beast accepted the challenge. With a rush of speed that took him by surprise, the monster suddenly appeared in front of Naruto in a burst of speed that shocked even the Sage Mode enhanced teenager, and it struck out with a single hit from a powerful right swipe that launched Naruto back through the air where he collided with a wall and slid down to the ground, blood spewing out of his mouth from the sheer force of the brutal strike.
"Naruto!" Oberyn cried out in shock.
"Oh gods Naruto!" Ellaria cried out in shock.
Naruto growled as he rose back up, "Leave me, get outta here!" he bellowed, "This thing isn't gonna stop t-" Naruto stopped as he turned with a gasp as he was unable to finish as the beast once more charged at him, but this time he was ready and when the Valyrian beast hit, it was a tackle to the middle of Naruto's gut and the two were soon soaring through the air, breaking through a wall of stone and then falling to the ground. The two combatants were now engaged in a fight to the death, and only one would come out on top of it.
As the two fighters crashed down, Naruto was embedded deep into the stone itself, and shoveled through the rocks and dirt as the beast impacted the ground face (in its case, teeth) first before their momentum forced them into a roll, the monstrosities neck rolling back to the point one would have thought it to be broken before the creature was rolled over onto its back while Naruto himself was coming out of the roll from over the Valyrian creature, feet first where he landed on his feet just in time for the animal to roll its head back down to look at him and swipe a clawed hand at his face. Their feet were kicking up large amounts of rock-stone and dirt as the two spun around in a dance of death, and while it had struck fast, Naruto was still faster than most enemies the beast had encountered.
Despite being three times larger than Naruto himself, the monster is still met with considerable resistance, and as the creature struck him with its claws, Naruto swiped the throat of his adversary with a brutal cut that ripped open the monster's throat with a spray of lava-like blood. However, if the animal had been put off by this counterattack it sure didn't show it, and it grabbed Naruto's wrist and restrained it before biting down onto his left forearm, only for Naruto to swipe his arm backwards and rip the mouth of the beast wide open with yet another spray of blood from the blonds forearm which forced the beast to release him as its jaw was sliced open in the process, and allowed Naruto to set a brace for himself as he adjusted his stance and thrust both his arms forward.
What happened next was a shocking move to all who dared to watch this battle of beasts.
Naruto's twin blades had embedded themselves into the shoulders of his adversary, the Valyrian beast now crying out in pain as it tried to do something that would dislodge its body from the blades, but Naruto wouldn't have it, and so he twisted his wrists, a growl escaping his jaws as he proceeded to lift the animal up off the ground with sheer force. However, the beast was anything if not determined to survive, and so it used its feet to kick off the teen instead and fell to the ground ten feet away, and it glared in raw fury at the one who had harmed it so much in such a short matter of time using only a single set of blades.
As Naruto looked at his blades he growled as they were beyond repair,nearly all molten slag, and he simply grabbed the belts holding them to his hands and ripped them off and threw them to the ground before unsealing Amaterasu from its seal.
Rushing towards the beast, Naruto landed in a slide as the beast tried to cut him down with a swipe of its claws, and he sliced into the back of the beast's legs before he stabbed one of the blades in the ground and spun around and hacked into the other. Spinning and sliding around underneath the beast, it didn't take long for his onslaught to succeed. With its legs destroyed, the beast fell onto the ground as it bellowed out it's signature roar. Especially with what was coming out of it's lower half for a more agonizing pain onto itself.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"
"I've heard that shitting yourself real badly leaves a bad burning pain from the ass, but that beast takes the cake." Oberyn muttered as it saw the fiery liquid spew from the beast's bottom half. It continued to flow outwards as the fiery monstrosity was crawling across the stadium in hopes of catching Naruto in its clutches.
The shinobi had to jump back several times as the monster kept slamming and swiping its fiery hands onto the ground. Even the fiery liquid it spewed out wouldn't reach Naruto as he threw several exploding shuriken onto the beast to damage itself more. And before long with the varying attacks onto the beast, it was getting more desperate in hopes of killing the blonde teenager.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Oh will you shut the fuck up already?!" Naruto called out as he jumped into the air and carefully aimed his greatsword. Exerting his arms, he threw the sword at the beast's neck before falling onto it with a powerful slam against the pommel. Digging deeper, the blade went right through and separated it's charred head from its body. And once separated, the entire body combust into flames before turning into ash with the clattering of Naruto's Valyrian greatsword falling onto the dirt.
*Panting* "Damn… That was intense." Muttered the shinobi as he placed his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath. It wasn't long as he was caught off guard as many of the remaining observers cheered at the spectacle they just witnessed. Falling onto his ass, Naruto owlishly blinked in confusion as he momentarily forgot that other people were present in the stadium. All that he could do now was rest for a moment or two before trying to meet up with the Martell entourage without anyone seeing him.
Unbeknownst to anyone in the stadium, the beast's ashes were slowly drawn towards the Valyrian greatsword as it's embers were slowly consumed by the blade itself. A faint glow emanated from the exotic metal as it ate the tainted ember before releasing a pleasant feeling if one were to hold onto it. A warm, purified feeling to be exact.
-Next Day, Meereen Port -08/296 AC-
"...It's still a pity that you're not staying in this city more than you have to." Andre the blacksmith said in a disappointed tone with several boxes right beside his feet. "It would've been nice to have worked with you more."
After what happened at the stadium yesterday, things were a tad hectic for the Martell entourage. First was collecting the winnings that the total the entire group accumulated was enough to buy 2-3 ships total due to the combined betting pool and the original prize winning Oberyn had throughout his fight. To be fair with the blonde shinobi, Oberyn gave him a pretty good cut of the winnings since he helped save his life once again and fought valiantly against the rampaging Valyrian beast.
Afterwards, it was hard for either Oberyn or Naruto to walk around the city after exiting the fighting pits as the Meereenese tried to interact with them. At first the two were somewhat enjoying it, despite them trying to deal with their respective injuries. But it got too annoying with so many people getting in their faces, primarily Naruto's.
For instance, some masters wanted to 'purchase' Naruto so they could earn more profits and earnings in upcoming games. Women tried to get into his pants so they could breed strong children for the future, which got some good laughs from the Martell group as a whole. But it got a little crazy when they heard that some of the Dothraki sought the shinobi out so they could see who was the better fighter.
After that last one, Naruto decided to hightail it out of there and hide out at the lodge where Oberyn, Ellaria and the crew were staying at for the rest of the day.
Back to the present time, the Dornish prince decided it was time to head back home once everyone was fully rested and ready to go. Though the 'married' couple and Uzumaki actually forgot to pick up their commision from Andre, it didn't matter as he met them in front of the building they were staying at on the trip. Wanting to see them out, the blacksmith traveled with the crew so he could say his goodbyes before handing over their order.
"Same here Andre-jiji." Naruto responded back with a small smile. "It was good to have my clone's memories of us working together on the weapons in your shop."
"Indeed. Hells, we were barely finishing things up when I heard of what happened at Daznak's fighting pit." The blacksmith said with a small pout. "I wish I could've seen that action since it's been all abuzz in this city as of late."
"No kidding." Muttered the Sand Snake with a shake of her head. "It was a complete nightmare trying to move about with people blocking our way."
"Well what do you expect when they see possibly one of the best fights they'll ever see." Stated the Viper as several crewmembers nearby nodded in response while loading up the ships with goods. "So Andre… Do you have the weapons ready for us?"
*Chuckles* "Trust me. You won't be disappointed in what Naruto and I made from that halberd you both acquired." Andre said as he grabbed one of the first containers. "Now for the Dornish Viper, I present to you your spear."
Hoisting the box to waist level, Andre opened up the elongated box to reveal a spear made entirely out of Valyrian steel. Taking it out of its container, Oberyn inspected the weapon as it was a little heavier than he expected it to be as he saw that it was roughly a head taller than him in total length. Along the staff portion of the weapon, a faint wrapping of a metallic snake was shown as it coiled around the weapon. It wasn't too big so it wouldn't bother Oberyn's handling of the weapon when using it.
For the main portion of the weapon, it had a spiked bottom (which was the snake's tail) while having a slightly wavy 18 inch bladed snake tongue sticking out of the metallic reptile's opened mouth with a fuller down the middle. In terms of additional decoration added on, there were amber gems embedded for the snake's eyes. While it did have some leather bindings around certain sections of the pole, it still looked magnificent in terms of design.
"Magnificent." The Red Viper said with awe in his voice while his paramour inspected it as well. Swinging it around in a built up pace, the couple could hear a faint hum of the Valyrian metal singing in the air to quickly tell it was legit. "Both of you have done well on this, that's for sure… So thank you both."
"You're quite welcome Prince Oberyn. Though you should name your weapon when it seems appropriate." Andre said before he nudged Naruto to grab the next container to show off.
"And this one's for you Ella-san.'' Uzumaki said as he opened up the box to reveal the paramour's sword. It was a 2 ft. long katana with desert snakes skin covering the majority of it's sheaf with some cloth tied to it so it could hang off of one's hip. Looking at the handle, it had a yellow wrapping with the minuki underneath it showing the Martell sigil of the spear piercing the sun. With the tsuba/guard, it contained a pair of snakes trying to eat the other while the pommel was simple with a small snake outline carved into it.
Pulling the sword from it's sheaf, Ellaria also heard the faint hum of the blade as she saw the interesting blade before her of seeing the typical outlook for Valyrian steel with some additions to it, like the darkened portion on the spine (the hamon line). Looking towards the handle, Ellaria saw that on one side had a carved out symbol of a hammer while the other had a spiral symbol on it, indicating that it was both Andre and Naruto who made the weapon.
"It's beautiful." The Sand Snake muttered as she kept inspecting the weapon in her hand. "It's an interesting weapon, that's for sure but I think I can handle using it."
"Understandable Ella-san and if you're wondering what it is, it's a katana."
"A katana? Huh… And does it have a name or do I need to think of one like Oberyn?"
"It does have a name actually."
"Which is what exactly?"
"Kusanagi." Blinking in confusion, Naruto elaborated on the name, "Before it was known as the Kusanagi, the sacred sword carried a different name—Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, which translates to Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven. The sword's origin is one that extends to an equally legendary battle that went down between the Storm God Susanoo and the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi. So I'll go a bit in depth here for you." he said before clearing his throat, "Once in time, according to ancient lore, there existed a fearsome eight-headed serpent named Yamata-no-Orochi. For the longest time, the monster-serpent wreaked havoc on the people, while it terrorized a unknown province's ruling family. The ruling family had nine daughters, and the serpent, having devoured eight of them, was coming for the last daughter. Not wanting to lose another daughter, the head of the family sought the help of the then exiled Storm God Susanoo."
"Upon hearing the story, the Storm God Susanoo wasted no time and tracked down and attacked the eight-headed beast. His valiant efforts, however, were in vain. Orochi proved to be a formidable beast, and the Storm God was ultimately forced to retreat. Although defeated at the moment, Susanoo wasted no time as he started to devise his next plan of attack against the serpent Orochi. Susanoo's plan was as cunning as it was simple. The Storm God planned on getting each of Orochi's eight heads drunk. And so, the Storm God Susanoo went on with the preparations. He had arranged eight giant bowls of wine to lure out the eight-headed serpent. And like any animal, Orochi took the bait and fell for the trap."
"Intoxicated and asleep, the beast was defenseless when Susanoo attacked, ferociously decapitating each of Orochi's eight heads. To make certain that Orochi was unable to regenerate and return, Susanoo with his sword chopped off the serpent's tails. Older stories have it that it is in one of the Orochi's tails that Susanoo recovered a second sword, the legendary sword which at the moment he named Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, or Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven."
And thus he finished the grand tale of how the sword's name was created.
"Not bad." Ellaria said as she nodded her head once enjoying the story. "Not bad at all."
"And what's in the last container, Naruto?"
Turning towards the prince, Naruto spoke up that it was a gift for Oberyn's brother, Prince Doran, and the shinobi wanted to present it to the Dornish leader once making it to Oberyn's home. Naruto explained that the halberd had extra material to make one additional weapon and after hearing about the Viper's older brother, the Uzumaki wanted to make something nice for him with the leftover material. Oberyn understood the idea since Naruto might be staying with them for the unseeable future, it would be best to present a gift to the main family member.
Though this left the couple wondering what the gift was exactly as it was sealed away into one of Naruto's scrolls.
"I've gotta tell you two that these works are superb and possibly the best we've ever seen."
"Heh that's nothing." Andre said with conviction in his voice towards Ellaria's response. "I'm practically the best Valyrian steel reforger there ever is."
"But I heard the one blacksmith over in Volantis was the best."
This caused Andre to hock a loogie onto the deck with slight disgust in his voice. "That has been? Please… That man sure is good and all, but he pales in comparison to my work. He's only well known since he advertises too often and well enough while the real smither doesn't do as such."
Naruto rolled his eyes at this since he knows the rivalry between most blacksmiths, whether by reputation or skill. It's hard to tell at times, but it's an odd force that drives other people in the craft to push forward and do better in later projects. Naruto had this happen quite often when he tried to catch up to Tenten in terms of crafting better weapons and armor around her family's shop.
"Well I think this is goodbye Andre the blacksmith. And thank you again for this." Oberyn stated as he placed his weapon back into its case before bowing at the intimidating looking smither with his lover following the same actions before heading towards the ship.
"Well I'll be seeing you later boy."
"Same here Andre-jiji… You know, if you wanted to like I said before, you could maybe come with us to Dorne."
"And why's that?"
Giving the older smither a shrug, Naruto gave his best response. "I don't know. I mean after working with you, I think it would be great to possibly learn more from you than just 'exchanging notes' and learning how to reforge Valyrian steel from you entirely… It's just that I think it would be right to finish teaching me everything you know to fully pass on your craft onto me instead of just a handful of things Andre-jiji."
"That's quite understandable since I was thinking the same thing. And as much as the offer sounds tempting, I just can't leave right away boy. I've still got a business to run here and I can't just suddenly stop all of a sudden. It takes time for me to slowly transfer my business to somewhere else."
Nodding in understanding, Naruto was about to turn away when Andre handed him an object wrapped in cloth. The blonde didn't see this before with the containers Andre brought over. Possibly had it behind his back the entire time so he could really hide it well. Unwrapping the cloth, Naruto saw an unusual charred looking double-edged sword with it's twisted blade. It had a cruciform guard attached to a two-handed grip with a ring pommel that gave off the impression of an overly designed fire poker.
"What's this for?"
"Something that I thought I'd want to give you Naruto." Andre started out before explaining in detail. "My teacher's teacher's teacher traveled through Old Valyria in his youth and stumbled across this odd sword in this one temple. It was the only thing worth of value at the time, along with acquiring the knowledge on reforging the secretive metal. Once leaving that place, he studied the blade and tried to see if it was of Valyrian steel… which it's not. Just regular steel, but said that it had an odd feeling about it."
"...And why are you giving it to me?"
"For one, it's cluttering up space and I have no use for it… Okay it's not just that boy, but it's a bit of a tradition in the teacher/student line of mine. Passing this relic down through blacksmith to blacksmith to keep the line rolling. Hells maybe you could find it's functionality that neither I nor my predecessors could figure out, aside from it being a glorified centerpiece."
Naruto smiled when hearing this and nodded in thanks before he sealed the odd poker sword into his arm before waving the elder blacksmith goodbye. The shinobi was touched on Andre doing this for him and he promised he'll do what he can to figure out the purpose of the sword. Once boarding the smaller Martell ship, Naruto was about to help out the crew members on the tasks when Andre called out to him.
"Be careful out there Naruto! Don't get yourself killed! It'll be a shame if you did too soon!"
"Don't worry Andre-jiji!" The blonde started with a confident grin. "I won't be dying that easily!"
It wasn't long before the two Martell ships left port and slowly made their way around Slaver's Bay so they could head towards the home of House Martell: Sunspear, capital of Dorne.
-End Chapter-
And that is a wrap for this chapter. Please don't forget to LIKE/FAVORITE/FOLLOW the story to show it some love and please write a nice long COMMENT/REVIEW to tell me what you think of this and I will see you all later.
Double-edged sword: A sword that has been passed down through blacksmith to blacksmith to keep the line rolling. It takes the appearance of a double-edged sword with a twisted blade. It has a cruciform guard attached to a two-handed grip with a ring pommel that gave off the impression of an overly designed fire poker. It's ability and functions are currently unknown.
