A/N: Late, late, LATE! I stayed up too late ad FELL ASLEEP! Honestly, I wanted to polish this up, but I'm late for work! Talk to you all later!
Please read this note, would you kindly? It has some important information.
As ever, the Embers rule remains for this story.
If folks don't like this story, POOF! Away it goes. That's no joke.
So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback matters here! Truly, it does! Reading reviews, ideas, hell, even suggestions in the comments helps keep my spirits strong. Without reviews, I can't write. Every bit helps, large or small! So speak up! Your words matter!
Now then, its time for the usual Q&A session:
Q: Can Naruto use THAT seeing as he's basically immortal now? I mean think about it! You've got the perfect excuse, mate! No life force to burn if he can't die!
A: You misunderstand. Naruto has eternal youth, not eternal life. He simply can't die in anything other than battle. But yes, I see where you're going with this line of questioning. To which I say...
Read and see.
Q: ...there are children of Naruto and Salem that you haven't named yet, aren't there.
A: *whistles innocently* Well, I HAVE been playing Genshin...
Q: Naruto and Salem left their kids protected while they went to hunt for the Relics, right? I wouldn't put it past Ozma to try something. He went down WAY too easily...seems suspicious...
A: Rest assured, the kiddos are well protected. Not to mention many of them can fend for themselves.
Go ahead, Ozma. Try. See what happens.
Q:...they're gonna take a vacation, aren't they?
A: Well, one of them WANTS to, but it isn't that simple.
Allllllrighty, then! I've kept you long enough.
As ever I own no references, quotes, themes or memes!
Buckle up, because this chapter...well...I'll let it speak for itself.
"I'd say we're overdue for a vacation, no?"
"We have a task to attend to; the Relics must be found."
"True, but who says we can't enjoy ourselves along the way~?"
~Marital Problems.
Kiss of Vacation (Fragment of Fate)
"Take them!"
As far as adventures went Naruto and Salem's soon proved to be a memorable one; if only because they encountered resistance almost the moment they were out of the kingdom. Really, they'd expected as much. The world was lawless and disorder; outside the bastions of Mistral and Menagerie, law had little meaning. Beyond their territory, the strong thrived and the weak died. This was precisely the sort of thing they were trying to prevent; hence why they wanted to extend their rule to the other lawless provinces.
So really, it wasn't all that surprising when they encountered...
"Bandits?! Really?!" Naruto bit back a laugh as another troupe rushed them from an overturned cart. "When you will you learn?!"
Several things happened at once; he swayed away from a rusty hatchet and drove an elbow into its owner's side; even as he moved Salem flowed around him to slap away a sword that might have taken his head. That heavy blade crashed down into the ground, where he whirled and stomped on, it burying the blade near to the hilt.
His wife scoffed and stepped into the brute's guard, pressing a pale palm unto his chest. A terrible sizzling sound filled the air as the giant toppled back without a heart.
"Don't look at me." She flicked him a bemused smile as she caught an arrow mid-flight and flung it back at an unlucky archer. Her victim fell with a muffled gurgle, clutching at their throat. "You were the one who wanted to walk. Though I must admit, this is rather fun...
"Kill them!" their leader brayed! "The Sword Commands it!"
Husband and Wife exchanged a bemused look.
"Seems we're on the right track."
Naruto whirled back into the fray as someone rushed him with what was really more a long knife than a sword. He snatched them up by the wrist and drove a knee into their torso. They folded over the limb with a cry of pain. Credit where it was due, his victim didn't give up and, rammed their forehead against his.
Pity for them he had such a hard head.
"Really?" he frowned at the unlucky interloper as they cried out and crumpled in pain. "What was that supposed to accomplish?" his frown deepened when he realized he was fighting a girl, rather than a woman. "And aren't you a little young to be using this?" he frowned at her violet hair, bright eyes...and ears in a place where they really shouldn't be. "Wait. You're a faunus. The hell are you doing out here-
THUNK!
His word dissolved into an annoyed grunt as a musclebound woman brought a mighty warhammer crashing down on his skull. It crumbled to dust on contact. The weapon, not his head. His eyes crossed for a moment in blind pain. Then they snapped over is shoulder.
"That was rude."
His hand scythed out, snapping the wooden mallet's haft.
Stranger still, some of these warriors had silver eyes. Thankfully few knew how to use them, but those who did-
"Ow!" Naruto hissed as a particularly potent pulse of white light struck him between the shoulders. "Quit it!"
His fingers crossed and chakra flared, birthing a swarm of clones two dozen strong. At his unspoken command they dove upon the bandits -warriors, really!- and drove them back in a storm of blows. Bones snapped. Flesh tore. Weapons splintered. Really, he was being merciful. Kurama couldn't flattened them with a tailed beast bomb; them and their tribe in the mountains.
But that was just it. He didn't want to kill these people.
They were just trying survive.
"Scram!" He caught a particularly plucky youth by the scruff of their neck and hurled them into a older man. "Go back to you tribe and tell them to buzz off!"
Their ranks quivered, but they had women and children among them, to say nothing of their wounded.
The woman with the maul scowled at him. "This isn't over...!"
"You're right." Salem stepped up, palm bleeding black blood. Even as she spoke the wound sealed. "We'll be paying your leader a visit very soon. Now be a dead and run along before my dear husband changes his mind."
They scarpered.
"Pity." Salem shrugged in their wake. "Mortal will be mortals, I suppose."
Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did you really have to terrify them like that?"
"Yes, I did. I'm surprised you didn't test that new form of yours. You seemed to eager to use it earlier...
Naruto coughed. "You mean Baryon Mode? That's a little overkill, don't you think?"
"Not if you draw upon my life force as you did before." she took her arm in his and let him lead her on after the retreating tribe. "I cannot die, remember."
"But it still hurts you."
A touch of pink hit her pale cheeks. "Pain's an old friend. I'll be fine."
"Salem."
That power drew upon his and Kurama's life force; of which they now possessed a nigh-infinite amount thanks to their dip in the Pool of Darkness. They were already one in mind, if not necessarily body. Eternal life they might well have, but immortality it was not. Lop off their head, cut them to pieces, stab him in the heart and they might well perish. No, death was not an impossibility and it wasn't something he wanted to risk. Who knew what might happen if Salem weren't around to draw upon? She wasn't some glorified battery. She was his wife.
This wasn't something he wanted to abuse. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
"Bah! As if I'd let you go astray now."
Even so, its not something he wanted to use without caution.
"Nah," he said at length. "If using it hurts you, then its something I'll avoid."
"Even if makes you more powerful?"
He clicked his tongue. "I'm powerful enough. I don't need Baryon mode, but I do need you."
"Hmmph!" Her face darkened, gone a lovely shade of red. "Fool of a husband."
He elbowed her. "Would you have it any other way?"
"...no." Her eyes drifted to the ring on her finger. "I suppose not. Life's never boring with you."
"Don't forget the kids."
"How could I?" a rueful smile tugged at her lips. "Let us hope they don't burn down the kingdom while we're gone.?
"Meh, long as Loki doesn't go too crazy...
She scoffed. "Must you tempt fate?"
"Yes," he feigned a royal accent. "We must."
"Such a fool." She batted at his arm. "But I suppose you're my fool."
"And don't you forget it!" Now lets go pay that Tribe a visit. If they really do have a Relic, we can't leave them be...
"That's right!" On a whim he shook his fist at the sky. "You hear that, gods?! We're gonna drag you down!"
He thought he heard a distant rumble in the heavens.
Maybe it was his imagination.
(.0.0.0.)
Ozma opened his eyes with a sigh.
Another death. Another body.
"So it begins again."
(.0.0.0.)
"We should do this more often."
Salem had a point.
Really, she did.
Try as he might Naruto couldn't remember the last time he'd actually stopped to smell the roses.
"This brings back memories." His wife smiled as they walked ide by side. "How long has it been since we traveled like this? Just the two of us?"
"Too long." he agreed.
"It makes me think of other things." her hip brushed his.
"Oi!"
One might thing they were vulnerable out in the open like this, but that simply wasn't true. In truth they were stronger together when it was just the two of them; if only because there was no one to protect.
"Wait." Salem tugged at his arm suddenly, slowing him. "Do you remember this place?"
Naruto looked around, trying to find a landmark. Rolling green hills rose on either side of them; a mountain pass to the east, and a burned forest to the west winding through a river. Nothing particularly memorable about it. His gaze swept back to the forest, regarding the withered oaks anew. They weren't simply burned, they'd been blasted apart, as though someone had simply exploded in a fit of rage. He remembered meeting a rather pale woman in a forest just like this and offering her a meal, utterly unaware of her identity.
Realization dawned. "Is this...?"
"I think so." she pulled him a little closer, "This is where we first met, all those years ago." her brow furrowed a little as she considered the trees. "At least, I think it is. The scent of magic is heavy here, and somehow, I doubt Ozma became a pyromaniac since we last saw him. I don't recall burning down another forest since...
He winced a little. "This was a terrible place for a first date."
She buried a laugh into his shoulder. "We've come a long way, haven't we?"
Yup. He made his decision in that singular moment.. Together forever.
Until that final, bitter end.
A/N: You know what they say; while the adults are away, the kids will play~!
Plots are stirring...!
Right then, as ever, Reviews are love, Reviews are Life. Reviews keep me writing.
That's no joke. Without them, I just can't seem to write these days.
So in the immortal words of Atlas...
...review, Would You Kindly?
Every bit helps out!
As ever:
SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
(Previews)
"Oh, my heavens!" Salem absolutely squealed when she saw their captive. "She's adorable!
Naruto tilted his head nearly ninety degrees.
"Huh. You're right. Cute little thing...
"Keqing." their little hostage whimpered. "My name is Keqing...
"Alright, how the hell did we land?!"
"I believe the question is not where, but where."
Salem took hold of his head and tilted it to the east.
"Huh. Big tower. Wonder who's in there...
"Two relics down! Two to...oh, what the hell?!"
As he and Salem dusted themselves off, they found themselves staring at a terribly familiar face.
Salem blinked. "What madness is this?!"
"Right, if you'd just give us that, we'll be on our way...
A fireball went off inhis face.
"Hard way it is! Time for a spanking!
~Nz.