3. The Protected
Story Start: Renais, Near Ide
Eirika's group had been making good time. Having a shinobi capable of creating an army of himself meant that they could have a secure corridor to travel down without having to worry about Grado forces ambushing them or their new supply train. Naruto had his clones spread out to cover a quarter mile wide perimeter around the whole group and so was the first to notice when the Princess' group ran into their first hurdle.
Naruto suddenly blinked before he scowled and said "Princess Eirika, there are bandits attacking nearby settlements."
"Bandits?!" Eirika asked in alarm.
Moulder hummed as he said "We have arrived at our first dilemma. We must move quickly and attract as little attention as possible, but…"
Eirika finished that sentence as she said "But I cannot stand by and watch innocents be harmed." Turning to Naruto, she continued "Naruto, how fare the villagers?"
Naruto's scowl grew a bit as he said "My clones have already found ten bodies. There's also a kid rather badly harmed. My clones have already engaged the bandits but it appears that this is quite a large group, and there are two more settlement areas under threat." A hundred more clones appeared around Naruto before blurring out of sight as they shot off to help the other settlements.
Eirika's eyes showed her horror at already being too late to help some of her citizens but they hardened as she turned to Moulder and said "Father Moulder, can your staff help the boy?"
Moulder frowned and said "Well, yes, I can heal his injuries with my staff, but… I cannot do it from here. He's too far away. I must be near him."
Vanessa moved her Pegasus closer, most likely to offer her services but Naruto was way ahead of her as he said "My clones are bringing most of the survivors to the closest untouched settlement, the boy and his father are being brought here though." Glancing at Seth out of the corner of his eye, he continued "My clones can keep the settlements safe your highness. I suggest as soon as the boy is healed we continue on our way dealing with the bandits as we go. If we're lucky, then we can find out where their hideout is and clear that out as well."
Seth's nod was mirrored by Eirika's determined one as she said "I agree to your plan Naruto, I will not allow these bandits to terrorize my people any longer."
Not an instant the words were out of her mouth, every non-shinobi there flinched in surprise as a vortex of leaves appeared in their midst before dying down revealing two clones standing next to an extremely well-built man and a much more normal appearing but still slightly muscular teenager who was obviously his son going by hair and eye color. The boy shook his head and said "Man, that was weird." He let out a short yelp as his head shake made him lose his footing but the clone who had escorted him kept him from falling to the ground earning a weak "Thanks."
The man though took a quick glance around before his eyes zeroed on Moulder and he quickly walked over to him and a gave a brief but no less respectful bow as he said "Father, please heal my boy, he's been badly wounded."
"Axe blow to the left shoulder." One of the clones said helpfully as he pointed at the blood-soaked bandage on said teenagers left side.
Without so much as a twitch at all of the blood, Moulder strode forward with his staff glowing and efficiently removed the bandages before he pressed it to the boy's shoulder. The glow intensified for nearly a full minute before it dimmed and Moulder hummed as he looked at his staff and said to himself "Half a charge left, that was a rather severe injury."
"Thank you Father, I do not know what I would have done if I had lost my son." The man said and Moulder said something in reply that Naruto didn't catch, the blond having stiffened in shock.
Seeing this, Eirika gently touched his shoulder and said "Naruto, is something wrong?" She then hastily added "Besides the bandit problem I mean."
Naruto slowly turned his head towards Eirika and said "One of my clones just got paid a red gem to protect the villagers by a Grado General."
Eirika gasped in surprise while Seth almost fell off his horse in shock as he quickly twisted around to look at him fully and said "It was what?!" His surprise, and rather acute alarm, was understandable, a Grado General, HERE, NOW?! They were lucky whoever it was hadn't seen Eirika yet or they'd have been in for a fight of their lives. And even if they did manage to beat them, but the general managed to escape, then Grado would probably send battalions after them.
"Yeah, that was my thought too. Apparently General Selena was called back to the capital but didn't believe that the villagers should suffer simply because there were no soldiers to protect them."
"That does sound like the Fluorspar." Seth muttered before he drew himself up and said "Regardless of her reasons for being here, the fact remains that she is now gone and we can worry about the much simpler matter of removing the threat of those bandits, we should continue onto the battlefield now that the boy is healed."
Everyone became just that little bit more serious as Eirika nodded and said "You are right of course." Turning to the teen and his father, she said "Please stay here you two, you should be safe."
She didn't wait for a response, instead drawing her sword and charging towards the fight, Naruto quickly taking position in front of her to lead the way with Franz and Seth at his side, the Frelians formed their own formation with Moulder behind Vanessa and Gilliam. Because of their rapid departure, none of the group were aware of the rapid discussion that father and son had before the two began following to help. Well, no one but Naruto's two clones who looked at each other with exasperation before following from above in order to make sure the kid didn't get in over his head.
The group charged down a corridor more of Naruto's clones had shepherded the bandits into. Well, shepherded might not have been the right word, terrified might be a better choice. Eirika did not know what one of the blondes under her command could have done to make these rough and degenerate men have faces of such horror as they saw the original Naruto leading a group of soldiers towards them, but in the end she did not care to ask, more focused on preventing them from attacking anyone else ever again.
The first bandit literally on top of metaphorically lost his head as Naruto sliced through it with a wind sword and the one standing right next to him got a spear in the chest curtesy of Seth and his Silver Lance. Franz for his part started off by lopping off an archer's drawing arm with his Iron Sword and Eirika provided said archer the dubious mercy of a pierce straight through the heart with her Rapier, the princess spinning in order to draw her blade from the body in a way that would allow her to keep up her momentum.
Ten bandits in, Naruto's head twitched and as he sliced a bandit from groin to crown called behind him "One of my clone teams just spotted the man they believe is the leader of this group. He's halfway up the nearby mountains' foothills." He paused just long enough to launch a miniature wind dragon at an archer who was up in a tree trying to line up a shot on Vanessa before he continued "Once this is over we should be able to question him on where their base is."
"Very good, what about the village to the south?" Seth called back as he kicked a man with an armored covered foot hard enough that not only was his jaw broken but he was flung into the tree directly behind him with another cracking sound showing that he would NOT be getting up again anytime soon if ever.
"Five bandits killed, no civilian fatalities although one of the buildings was on fire when the clones got there. My clones managed to reach it fast enough by going by air." Naruto reported as he ducked under a hand ax, grabbing it by the handle so that it wouldn't hit Eirika instead and then was kind enough to return it to the bandit as he poured wind chakra into it before slamming it in an overhead swing down on his crown and going all the way to his chest.
All of the non shinobi wondered what he meant by his going by air comment but put it out of their minds to instead focus on the battle that they were still in. Their combat charge lasted another twenty minutes, the amount of targets dropping rapidly during the second half of said charge before Vanessa got one last axe wielding brigader on a tree branch that was planning on a drop ambush and Naruto said "That's all of them."
The three groups of fighters stopped running and Naruto noted how the boy leaned forward with his hands on his knees panting and Eirika and Moulder began taking in slightly gasping breaths as they leaned against nearby trees. Even Gilliam seemed slightly out of breath though he remained vigilant as he began observing the larger surroundings along with Seth, Franz, and the boy's father, Vanessa heading high above the tree tops for a better vantage point.
Ten seconds later, there was another whirlwind of leaves in their midst causing most of them to jump, Eirika actually putting a hand on her chest where her heart was. As the leaves fluttered to the ground Seth muttered to himself "That's going to take some getting used to." He then focused on the clone that had just arrived, and more importantly, the man bound hand and foot in shinobi wire with a rag stuffed in his mouth. The clone looked at everyone evaluating how they were looking at him and his prize before he shoved him onto the ground none too gently and said "General Seth, would I be correct in assuming you would like to handle the questioning of this piece of scum?"
"Yes you would, my thanks for bringing him." Seth said as he dismounted and idly cracked his knuckles as he stalked over and Naruto had the satisfaction of hearing the man gulp as his eyes widened. Seth grabbed the man by the back of his dirty shirt and dragged him a short distance away. The father took a step after him before he hesitated for a moment, his eyes flicking to his son, then they hardened and he stalked after the red haired general causing most to look after him in confusion.
Naruto waited only until he was sure the two men and their interrogee were out of earshot before he said "So was I the only one to notice that that man had a tattoo on his right shoulder that is the same mark as the one on Seth's right gauntlet?"
Franz did a spit take from where he had been taking a drink from his water skin, the young knight staring at Naruto with wide eyes before shifting his eyes to where said man had gone and Eirika did a full body jerk as her eyes widened in surprise. Even the Freleians present had surprised expressions on their faces. Almost as one, everyone gathered looked over towards the son who seemed slightly startled at being put on the spot but quickly rallied as he straightened with a proud look on his face as he said "My father is a great warrior, a former soldier of the Renaisian Army."
"And he's been teaching you how to fight it seems." Naruto's voice came from a tree top and everyone looked to see the two clones that had been shadowing said son and father pair. The clones hopped down from the tree and walked over as he continued "Kid took down no less than eight bandits by himself." He and his fellow clone dispersed himself, the clone that had brought the bandit leader doing the same and Naruto let out a slight whistle as he went over the memories and said "Not bad kid."
Said kid stared wide eyed and low jawed as he pointed at Naruto and then where his clones had been as he said "But you, and them, and… I thought you were all identical brothers!"
"Nope, I can make copies of myself." Naruto said cheerfully before he turned and the others followed his gaze to see Seth and the father approaching them, the bandit leader noticeably NOT with them.
Seth walked over to Eirika and said "Your highness, we now know where the bandits' headquarters are. They're in the Borgo region of the nearby mountains."
Naruto unsealed a map that had been part of his information package and scanned it, ignoring the looks father and son gave him at the act, he said "Looks like it's not much of a detour on the way to Grado your highness, we'll only loose a day or two if we hard march it."
"Then that is where we are going, but first, there is another matter I wish to attend to." Eirika said before turning towards the father and son and said "You two have fought valiantly, can we impose on you to lend your strength to Renais?"
The kid looked like he was going to agree then and there but the father put his hand on his shoulder stopping him as he considered the group with steeled eyes. Seth stepped forward and said "Master Garcia, we would be honored to have you with us, and our task would be much easier with you and your son by our side."
Garcia sighed and said "I'm sorry. I'm retired now. I'm not a soldier anymore. It's…a decision I made a long time ago." "Master Garcia…" Seth started only to be interrupted as the man held up the hand not on his son's shoulder and continued ""…When I was a soldier, I lived my life fighting for my country's honor. I left no time for my family. I spent my life fighting for faceless, uncaring nobles. When my wife fell ill and died, I met the child she had left behind… At that moment, I finally realized what my duty had cost me." Eirika was silent as she listened, though her face showed compassion to the man's plight as he continued to speak "I stood at my wife's grave and promised her I would be a father to our son. I'm done with armies. I'm done with fighting, except to protect my son. I've no regrets. I'm the boy's father."
Ross had been listening to his father with slowly mounting anger that suddenly peaked at the end and roughly jerked away from Garcia's hand to glare at him as he said ""You…you blasted fool! Father, what's all this nonsense I'm hearing?"
"Ross!" Garcia barked in surprise at his son's words.
Ross narrowed his eyes as he said "If you're not going, then I will! I'm a fighter! I know I can do this!" "Ross, what are you saying? I.." Garcia asked only to be interrupted himself as Ross continued "Dad, please! Listen to me! I respect you more than any other man in the world. I know you gave up being a soldier for me. I know that! But how can you throw away such a big part of yourself? You're a warrior at heart! You can't give that up and be happy! Look at me, Dad! Have you seen me fight? I'm not a child anymore. I'm a warrior, like you. You're free to worry, but I can survive on my own!"
"…Ross." Garcia said an expression on his face that showed he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.
Ross seemed to take that as a challenge as he said "You want to challenge me, Father? I'm a fighter! The best in all of Ide! I'm not gonna lose to you! I'm not gonna lose to anyone!"
There was a moment where nothing was said before Garcia chuckled and said "You're right Ross, you're a good soldier." Turning to Eirika and Seth, the old soldier straightened and said "Princess Eirika, Sir Seth… If these old bones of mine can still serve, I'd like to join you. Looks like my boy grew up while I wasn't looking… He's tougher than I thought. He doesn't need my help. I've raised him as best I could, but he's right. I've nothing to fear. I should fight. I will fight."
Ross grinned and said "You can count me in too!"
Eirika returned his grin with beautiful smile as she said "Of course, we'd love to have both of you with us." Seth gave a nod of his own with a small smile also on his face.
Naruto let out a soft heh sound as the numbers of their small group grew before he stepped forward and said "Now that that has been taken care of, let's hunt some bandits."
Eirika nodded and said "Right, to the Borgo region, it is time to show these bandits that they can no longer get away with harassing Renaisian citizens."
END
Not QUITE how I like it, the previous version of this was a bit more…detailed, but this is pretty good as well.
