Chapter 5: Retrieval and an Unwelcome Guest

A/N: And another update for the Lazy Assassin! Hope you enjoy this update too!

Information on the Story: For those of you complaining that Naruto is super weak, that's he is a comic relief, and that nothing has changed in the story, I want to add one word. "Yet". He is not strong "yet" and that nothing has changed "yet". Some people will live because of his presence. Things will change.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. At all. A shame, really.

Chapter 5 START

'The best thing to have? Obviously sleep.' – Naruto

"Akame, I understand that you're annoyed, but – woah – you have to calm down!" Naruto shouted, barely dodged a lethal strike to his temple by leaning backward enough by just a few inches. They had been training for only an hour, and Naruto was already buckling, a strange occurrence since he usually gained the symptoms of tiredness after about two hours.

The blond cursed mentally as he dodged another horizontal strike which he ducked under before jumping back to create some distance from his teacher. This was all Najenda's fault, forcing Akame to train him instead of letting her search for Tatsumi. First of all, that decision obviously was messing with Akame's emotional psyche. Secondly, that ruined all his possibilities to sleep extra and get some rest from Akame's relentless assaults day after day.

In a way, it did make sense, even to him. Leone was better with her Teigu to search for Tatsumi, but that didn't change the fact Akame was very skilled in her own right in searching.

"For Kami's sake!" the blond yelled, bending backwards until he was in a bridge. He immediately pushed off his legs and flipped over back onto his feet, only to receive a powerful kick to his chest. He slid backwards, but he didn't let up on his stance; the moment he faltered in his guard, he would receive another hit, from either the sword or from a kick or punch. Every one of them would hurt.

"Time out, time out!" he yelled, dropping his bokuto and bringing up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. Akame stopped at the last second, her cold eyes literally burning into him.

"What?" she paused to ask, her sword still raised in a striking position. The blond gulped in fear. He didn't need any more bandages around his body. He had enough bandages, thank you very much: nearly a quarter of his body was covered with gauze and tape.

"Can we take a break?"

"No." She was about to continue her strike, but Naruto raised one hand to stop her. She paused again before sighing and completely dropping her stance. "What is it, Naruto?" The blond thought about what he was about to say.

'It wouldn't be good to say anything like she's on her period, so how should I word this?' He looked her in the eyes, noticing no emotion in them. That wasn't really a good sign.

"Um…how should I say this?" He let out an awkward chuckle and scratched the back of his head with his sword hand, his hand still holding onto the weapon just in case. "I get that you're worried about Tatsumi-" Akame flinched. "-but you can't let your worries about him make you to kill me," Naruto reasoned. The red-eyed girl tilted her head.

"You wouldn't die. You won't let yourself to die."

"No, I'm pretty sure that you would kill me on accident. Based on how you are attacking me, I would call this a life-or-death situation rather than training. You're aiming at lethal spots!" he nearly shouted, his annoyance starting to break through. She narrowed her eyes.

"An assassin should be wary of all of his lethal spots. Besides, I've been aiming at them since day one," she countered. Naruto nodded to confirm her statement.

"True. However, you were hitting hard enough to leave me on the ground unconscious. But today, there are multiple occasions when – if I didn't dodge – you struck that would have left a corpse and a dead Night Raid member." He suddenly dropped to his knees and then fell backwards, breathing heavily as he kicked his legs into the air. "I'm worried too, you know? And…" he grit his teeth as he raised his right hand into the air towards the sun in its zenith, before he closed his hand into an iron fist. "…if I had the strength, I would never let this happen to me, or to anyone else close to me. However…I don't have the strength currently." His eyes shifted to Akame, who was strangely subdued. "You know what I'm saying, right?"

"…" He sighed, closing his eyes, dropping both arms so that he made a kind of starfish from an eagle-eye's point of view.

"You should lay down with me, Akame. Someone always working like you wouldn't understand the merits of being lazy, right? Sometimes, just laying down and doing nothing helps a lot to ease the nerves." Naruto grinned, a wide smile taking over his face, but he still didn't open his eyes. "Trust me, I would know."

"…" Again, there was no response, but Naruto didn't care; he was taking this chance to catch his breath and hopefully randomly fall asleep. Hopefully, he would lose consciousness before she kicked him awake. To his surprise, however, he heard some shuffling of feet before the sound of someone sitting on the ground reached his ears. Then, he heard Akame lie down on the ground beside him.

'That was unexpected. To think she would actually listen to me, that is.' Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, his eyes still closed. 'Damn you, Tatsumi, getting caught by the leader of the Imperial Army and making Akame worried like this. If it was me…no, I would've probably gotten caught as well, even if I used my Chi. But who is this General Esdeath in the first place? I've never heard about her. Maybe if I see her, I'll know who she is.' He breathed out slowly, exhaling all the air inside of his lungs as he began a slow breathing exercise to relax his whole body.

In a few minutes, he was asleep. However, he heard Akame fall asleep before he fell into a blissful unconsciousness.

'Idiot, getting too worked up and nervous and ruining your sleep. Even I know how to deal with that.'

XShuyaX

(Time Skip: Two Hours)

Naruto cracked an eye open only to shut it immediately afterward. The sun was still quite bright and high…and also very rotating. He turned to his right and creaked open both a margin and noticed that Akae was still resting. He stayed like that for a few minutes, just staring at her as she slept. She seemed…calm. At peace would be a better way to word it. How to describe it? There was real emotion on her face, but it wasn't indifference. It was like hse was just completely relaxed, and that she was a normal girl in a beautiful Capitol…the Capitol of her dreams.

Slowly, he turned away from her and stood up, making as little sound as he could so he wouldn't wake her up. He wasn't sure if it worked, but when he looked over at her, eyes were still closed. He took this as a sign that he had passed in his objective and tip-toed away from the area. When he was certain he was at least a few minutes way so that no sound would reach her and suddenly wake her, he began his hand-to-hand training.

Najenda had stated that he would specialize in a kind to fighting style that was most distinguishable as a counter. If that was the case, it was best if he had at least some kind of knowledge on some real hand-to-hand styles. The first one he would begin to practice would be Akame's.

The longer Naruto ran through the katas of her style, the more he realized that it was an extremely lethal way of fighting. Every single strike and kick was meant to kill the opponent or at least harm them enough to prevent them from fighting back, which then meant that the enemy was defenseless.

Naruto continued to flow through the motions, carefully going through each stance. He wasn't motivated, but there was one single thought running through his mind: he wouldn't let Akame die. Sheele had died because of his weakness. He would be damned if Akame died for the same reason.

A few meters away, Akame watched the blond from a tall tree branch, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips. For whatever reason, Naruto was finally beginning to train by himself, even with the weights. Maybe she would turn him over to Leone for a while, but that would be after thanking him.

The small nap helped.

XShuyaX

(Time Skip: Next Day, Morning)

"Ah, finally! I get to train the other newbie~!" Leone chirped, a friendly arm slung over her fellow blond's shoulders. Naruto just grunted and shrugged.

"Yeah, apparently. So what's going on?" he asked. He had donned his indifferent mask the moment he stepped out of his room (Tatsumi's) and had kept it almost religiously so far. Akame had told him the night before that he was to report to Leone the next day to train more extensively on hand-to-hand. The blond had tried to refuse her command, stating that even Najenda said that Leone wouldn't be the best teacher, but Akame stated that she knew what she was doing. In the end, Naruto begrudgingly gave up and went to sleep.

"Nothing much. You're just going to go with me and search for Tatsumi today. Try and keep up!" Leone said encouragingly as her body began to change because of her Teigu, Lionelle. Her hair extended down to her lower back, and her hands became more bestial. When her transformation was complete, she grinned down at Naruto before disappearing.

The blond just stood there for a moment, silent as he looked around for the girl that had disappeared from view. He looked up and found Leone grinning down at him…on a tree branch nearly twenty meters above him. Instead of saying anything, he simply stared at her. However, his mind was not so quiet.

'She expects me to keep up with her when I can't even see her?' Naruto thought irritably. 'Questionable thought process.' He quickly began to remove his weights. When he had removed all the straps and connectors, the whole body of metal crashed to the ground. Naruto sighed in relief; his whole body felt lighter, as if a hundred pounds had been taken off his body…literally.

"Ready to go?" Leone asked from above loudly enough for Naruto to hear. He gave a slow nod, dropping to the ground the moment she took off, jumping from branch to branch. She ended up having to carry the lazy blond, who experienced what traveling above ground felt like. It was great…other than the fact he was feeling very under the weather.

"Aw, come on, Naruto! It isn't that bad!" Leone chirped happily. The blonde girl was now standing directly above Naruto, whose expression only darkened after Leone's statement. He was lying on his back on the ground, watching the clouds pass slowly across the sky. When he felt the feeling in his stomach slowly wane and disappear, he raised his eyes so that they met Leone's.

"So…we were supposed to look for Tatsumi, right?" The girl gave a cheerful nod and a sound of approval. He sighed.

"I don't exactly see or understand how I am supposed to help." Naruto closed his eyes and raised his hands so that the back of his head was resting on his palms. "You have the advantage of smell, sight, and even height, meaning you have a much larger search radius. What exactly am I here for?"

"Training!"

"…I don't see the connection…"

"Well, here's what happens," Leone began. She coughed into her closed hand and then donned on a teaching expression. Naruto cracked open an eye and raised his eyebrows at her posture. "You would chas – follow me while I search for Tatsumi at full speed. Understand?"

Naruto just gave her a blank look. His dull, azure eyes met her bright, yellow ones. Then –

"…No." She never lost her happy expression. Suddenly, she activated her Teigu and jumped to one of the highest branches in the area.

"If you don't follow, you'll get lost!" she shouted from above, her voice echoing up and down the long valley. Naruto took that statement to be true…but disregarded it.

"And I'll stay right here, so you'll remember where I am. Not like she's going to actually leave me here. Now excuse me, I'm going to take a quick nap."

And with that, the teen closed his eyes once more and began to snore half a minute after.

XShuyaX

(Time Skip: Night Time)

"She actually ditched me."

The blond sat up and looked around. He was in the same area of the forest he had fell asleep in, but he knew that he had just been ditched. He had known the moment he opened his eyes and heard the crickets making their sounds and the full moon shining down on him through the forest canopy.

He scratched the back of his head with no small amount of irritation and sighed.

"I really got myself in a sticky situation today, didn't I?"

Naruto stood up and once more checked his surroundings. He was told that there were a few Danger Beasts prowling the area, but they weren't really much to worry about. Although the blond didn't trust that statement completely, he was almost certain that he would not encounter any high class Danger Beasts.

Looking up to the night blanket fill with stars above, he figured that it was nearing nine, meaning that if he jogged, he would be back at base around midnight. Meaning that he would have time to make himself a snack: ramen.

If there was one thing he appreciated during the jog, it was the fact that he had time to himself. Which also meant that he was allowed time to think, but it was nice to have at least a moment alone without anyone bothering him to train, to come to the table to eat, and other nonessential duties in life.

'But it's still hard for me to imagine moving as quickly as Akame or Leone. How they ever learned to move through the trees like that, I want to know. According to Leone today, she told me that even Lubbock knows to, and Mine partially.'

Naruto continued running as he went through inconsequential details in his mind until his ears picked up the sound of water crashing down somewhere a few hundred feet from his location. He slowed his jog until he came to a stop, slightly panting and sweating. It had been about an hour since he began his run, so it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to take a short breather and get some water. Akame always told him to constantly intake fluids, so this would be a good time to follow up on her advice.

Walking to his right for about two minutes, he stumbled upon an even larger waterfall than the one he had trained at with Sheele and Akame. It soared above him nearly two hundred feet above the ground. He whistled in appreciation of the landmark and walked closer to the edge of the water before stopping suddenly.

Footsteps.

There were people here. His eyes zoned in on the tracks left behind, and although there wasn't much to take in, it seemed that there were two different people from what his inexperienced eyes could tell. To him, it seemed that they had the same kind of shoes or something like that, but just different sizes.

Taking his time now, Naruto carefully examined the area around him, drinking water every once every few seconds. It was very refreshing. The cool liquid soothed his patched throat and went all the way down to his stomach, remaining a fresh, icy coolness that refreshed his very being. That, and the large mist and slow wind that resulted from the waterfall cooled his warmed body. As a whole, he was in perfect condition to be thinking and examining; he excelled in the thinking department in slight colder temperatures.

After about five minutes of simply perusing the area, Naruto concluded that there was a kind of scuffle in the area. The large indent in the earth near the waterfall area also gave some evidence: it was a fresh indent and looked as if someone had slammed on his back.

Taking another mouthful of water, Naruto concluded another thing: that this was none of his business and he honestly did not give a single care about the whole issue. Maybe taking a slightly longer break and just relaxing on his back (which would most likely mean falling asleep) was a good idea.

'No…Tatsumi's bed is much better. I need to go back to the base and return to the bed.'

So the blond reluctantly got up and turned away from the waterfall with one goal in mind.' Mission: Return to bed' had now commenced.

XShuyaX

(Location: Night Raid's Base)

"Tatsumi, it's good that you are back," Akame stated honestly. Said boy awkwardly nodded while scratching the back of his head.

"Thanks." He took a moment to look around the dinner room where everyone was situated around the boy. "Um…where's Naruto?"

"He's with Leone right now," Mine explained. "Now, explain where you have been for the past few days." Suddenly, Tatsumi's expression darkened as he gulped down nervously.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Leone and Lubbock told you that I was captured by the leader of the Imperial Army." Nods all around the room. "It seems that…she fell in love with me."

"…" No words were needed; the expressions on everyone's face made the shock quite clear.

"Yeah…"

Lubbock growled.

"Don't just 'yeah' me! What the hell, man? Why is it that you get all the girls?" he complained, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. "It's totally unfair!"

Tatsumi just gave the other boy a blank look and sweatdropped.

"It's not like it's really my fault though." His serious expression returned. "We're getting sidetracked. She's extraordinary strong, which I saw firsthand. But that's something already known and assumed since she is the leader of the Imperial Army. But what she also has now is-"

"I'm back! I couldn't find Tatsumi anywhere today either so – Oh, Tatsumi!" The boy felt her large breasts press against the back of his head as her arms wrapped around his neck snuggly, like a scarf. He blushed, but that disappeared quite quickly when he saw the glare Lubbock was giving him.

"Ah, where is Naruto?" he asked, slightly irritated he was interrupted, but happy nonetheless to see his 'older sister'. That question made her pause in shock.

"Oh." That was all she said. Everyone just gave her a disbelieving stare. Even Akame seemed to have lost her composure and gave the girl a raised eyebrow with slightly widened eyes.

"Where is he?" Again going beyond everyone's expectations, it was Akame who was the first to speak, and her tone was beyond cold. Leone turned to girl and met her eyes for only a moment before nervously looking down to the ground, slightly shifting it to the right.

"Well…that's…" she paused. Akame's red eyes narrowed even further.

"You don't know," she simply stated. It didn't sound like a statement to the occupants; it sounded like the red-eyed girl was accusing the blonde. The way she spoke her words, it was as if there were a trial at this moment, she wouldn't have waited for the result and would've killed the girl immediately. "You don't know." This time, the tone was undeniable. It was accusing. The girl suddenly stood up, grabbing her deadly weapon as she stood. Before she could take even three steps towards the direction of the door – and in turn, the exit – she was stopped by Lubbock.

"Akame, you need to stay and listen to Tatsumi until he finishes with his report." The girl remained standing, her back to her comrades.

"What about after?"

"…Then you can go." That was enough to convince, albeit barely. It was almost imperceptible, but they noticed the clenching of her right hand, the hand that wielded her weapon.

"If he isn't alive," she began, but was quickly interrupted by Leone.

"Then he was never fit for the life of an assassin. You know that any of us would survive a night in the wild with ease." It was then that Akame turned; only to reveal her eyes even colder than before, if that was even possible.

"If he isn't alive…" she said simply, leaving an unsaid threat lingering in the air. She sat down, the center of attention as all watched her fall into a comfortable position. Nevertheless, the way she constantly shifted showed nothing but comfort. When she finally had stopped moving, the members of the assassin group preferred her to constantly shift, because then they at least at an idea of how anxious and upset she was. When she was still and with no emotions present on her face…that was when she was most dangerous.

"Right…" Tatsumi croaked out, taken aback by the anger shown by Akame, which was completely out of character for her. "She has a group that follows her command specifically and every one of them hasa Teigu. There are six members."

"Woah," Leone whistled in appreciation. "That's very hard to come by," she said in an impressed tone, already losing the affect that Akame had on her moments before. That didn't mean that the unsaid threat had disappeared from her mind just as quickly; that was a threat she would just rather not think about.

"Yeah. One of them was the girl that killed Sheele," he growled out, and he saw Mine, who had her hands closed together on her lap, squeeze in recognition. "There was a weird guy that uses a flame Teigu. A guy who said that his Teigu was an upgraded version of mine." He paused, waiting for input. He wasn't disappointed.

"Whoever this may be, his statement isn't all that false. However, that doesn't mean he is completely correct either. His Teigu may have come after yours, but your Incursio constantly upgrades based on a person's emotions." Tatsumi nodded at Mine's explanation and continued his numbering off.

"Let's see…there was this really interesting doctor who was able to heal any wound and had his own personal army." A nervous sweat began to pick up on the boy's forehead from just thinking about the man. "Yeah…he was really weird. Sorry about that. There was another named Ran, who could fly and used projectiles. And finally, a girl that used a sword and she kind of reminded me of…" his eyes turned to Akame.

"Kurome…" she whispered out. Her eyes hardened. "Her blade lets her control over people she killed with her sword. Actually, let me rephrase that: she can control anyone and anything she killed with her sword."

Lubbock chuckled nervously.

"That's a worse fate than death. Just let me die in peace."

"You don't get peace; you're an assassin. It's going to be a long time until we have this thing called 'peace'.

"Don't ruin my hopes, Leone."

"Hey, I'm just here to ruin people."

"Like Naruto?" Akame pointed out.

"…It's just training…"

"Training implies that a person would survive and improve. Which way did you go and how far?"

"To the east and about I think about eighteen miles is where I left him so that he could search." Leone paused, and then her eyes lit up. "Oh."

"…" Now Akame was visibly shaking. "You…let him in a place where Danger Beasts are especially high in numbers?"

"They weren't there in the morning?" Leone threw out, more as a question than anything else.

"Because they aren't visible in the morning in that area." Akame gave each person in the room in turn a look. Without even asking, Akame stood, gripping her sword, and walked to the door to leave the room. When the last of her went through the door, Lubbock immediately turned to Leone.

"That has to be one of the stupidest things that you have ever done."

"I know," she mumbled.

"I mean, the stupidest!" he said, facepalming as he leaned back even further in his couch.

"I know!" The blond turned her eyes up to meet Lubbock's. "Don't think I don't feel guilty for doing that. But I'm still being honest when I say that any of us could be in that region and survive with ease. Even Tatsumi here."

"It's not so much whether he can survive or not," Mine huffed. She didn't exactly like Naruto, but she had finally accepted that, at the very least, he was a member of Night Raid. "It's the fact that Najenda had placed him under Akame's care. Today she asked you to take care of him so that he would learn and train, but you completely forget him?" Leone was beginning to feel the guilt burning her and eating at her raw. "I'm not sure exactly why Akame is so protective over someone that's as useless as Naruto, but if someone forgot…Sheele…I would probably give that person a few bullets in their leg before searching for her," Mine said, nearly choking when she brought up the name of her now deceased friend.

"I guess I'm lucky that Akame doesn't have a weapon that she could exactly cut me without causing a fatality."

"…I wouldn't say that," Lubbock said. "She'll hold an even larger grudge."

XShuyaX

(Location: East of Night Raid's Base)

"God, I'm so tired. I want a bed so badly," Naruto panted. He was beginning to recognize the forest and foliage around him, although he wasn't exactly sure how far he was from the base. Or maybe he was just going crazy, since it was nighttime and the forest looked completely different during the night than during the day.

But he kept running, a sheen of sweat covering his face and drips went down his nose and chin, rolling down his chest and body despite the night chill. He was glad that he had brought a jacket with him in the morning, giving him the necessary warmth to run without too much discomfort.

No…he was certain he was near the base. He definitely recognized that river that he had trained with Sheele…meaning that he was almost there. Maybe another quarter hour of running would get him to base. That's a quarter hour he would much rather spend sleeping. Time well spent, if you asked him.

"I hate you so much right now, Leone," he seethed. Part of it had to do with forgetting him in an area quite far from base, but the main reason was because she forced him to run. She forced him to exercise. How dare she? In fact, he was so upset just thinking about running he stopped and immediately shut down, sitting with crossed legs on the forest floor. It didn't matter that he was only ten minutes away from the base. He was making a statement! It didn't matter no one was there to hear his statement or would understand it either since no one would actually be able to follow his eccentricities.

"Hmm, why is there a person here?" a voice asked not so far from Naruto's position. The blond turned his head in the direction of the sound. Narrowing his eyes and focusing on his hearing, he heard four pairs of footfalls against the leaves and dirt on the ground. A few moments later, he spotted the four people. "It appears we have a night owl in our midst."

Strike the previous statement; there was someone just as eccentric as Naruto was.

Naruto screwed up his face into a contorted expression, highly confused and also amused.

"I'm sorry. What?" he focused on the four people who stopped before him, about a good ten feet away. Although it was dark, it was light enough from the moonlight to garner some details. For example, the man in the middle and in front of the other three in the group was wearing a fancy, white suit with stripes down the shirt. His glasses were made of highly expensive material, and the way he walked just spoke of riches and strange tastes. Seriously, who walks around in the night in the forest with dress shoes? No one. No one.

"He means that you are a late sleeper, human," one of the other three said. Naruto turned his gaze from the suited man to the new speaker, who had a long nose that reminded him of a parrot. As for clothing…there wasn't much of it.

"Thank you. You remind me more of an owl yourself, anyhow." The blond shrugged his shoulders and looked at the other two in the group. "Who are you guys anyway?"

That seemed to be the question that the man was waiting for as he struck a dramatic pose, pulling his hair back in a comb-like fashion with his right hand and arcing his back. His side was to Naruto so that the blond could see the man bend his right knee slightly.

"I *pose* am Dr. Stylish."

Awkward pause.

"Sorry, come again?"

"I am *more flamboyant pose* Dr. Sty-a-lish!" he said, singing out the phrase and elongating his name. Naruto just stared…and stared…and stared.

"But…there's not much...style about you," Naruto pointed out. He looked at the girl with the large ears. "If anything, that girl has style. Those big ears are pretty cool to me."

"Ah, but she is one of my creations, and therefore, I gain the benefit of the style points!"

"No. She gets the points because she looks good in them. I don't think you would look half as good with those ears as she does," Naruto said, making the girl get a healthy blush from the compliment. "And what do you mean by your creation? If she's your daughter, then just say she's your daughter."

"Ah~, you do not understand. She is my creation, something I have created. Something genuine and made of life, and it came about without originating from the womb of a woman and the help of a man."

Naruto tilted his head.

"I don't get it." Dr. Stylish grinned the kind of smile that made shivers run down the blond's spine for some strange reason.

"That is what I was waiting for! You see, I am a doctor. Not any kind of doctor, but a special doctor!" Naruto's expression lost all emotion until he became almost indifferent and emotionless. "I can cure any disease, heal any wound, and even…bring back the dead." The blond's expression lit up, but it dampened just as quickly.

"You can bring back the dead," he said slowly, incredulousness deeply intertwined with his tone. Bulat had stated that Teigus weren't made for that purpose and it should be impossible.

"Yes~. I can bring back the dead." The doctor's eyes seemed to glint when Naruto's expression lost its lack of emotions. "It's truly an interesting art form. They become my little children, and I take care of them." The blond stared at the four in front of him, suddenly wary.

"I see. Well…can any of you tell me where the Capital is? I was trying to go east because some merchant told me to go that way, but I can't find it anywhere. He even told me I was near," Naruto lied, using as calm and as indifferent a tone as possible.

"Oh my, the pains of having a lack of direction. My boy, you have overshot your travels and have gone too far east. If you go about ten miles to the west, you should find the Capital." Naruto nodded.

"Alright, thanks. And goodbye and enjoy your studies, doctor. Learn from that girl right there; she still has much more style than you," the blond said as he left the area they had conversed. The moment he was out of earshot, the doctor turned to his underlings with a curious gaze.

"So, how was he?"

"He didn't seem to be lying. I couldn't hear his heartbeat increase in pace," the girl said.

"I didn't see any change in inflection of his expression," the man with the enhanced eyes concluded.

"No chemicals really given off. And his story of searching for the capital may be true: all I smelled on him was the forest. There was a slight smell of…ramen…actually, it was nauseating to me because it was in such excess, but it's understandable if he enjoys that terrible food so much."

"Ah, but what about his luggage. If he liked ramen so much, he would need a stash, correct?" Dr. Stylish began to rub the stubs of hair on his chin. "And what about his clothing; although it may smell of the forest, it definitely was clothing that you would find from the Capital."

"You're reasoning sounds greater than Buddha himself," the girl complimented. Dr. Stylish snarled.

"I said enough brown-nosing."

XShuyaX

(Location: Ten Minutes From Base)

Naruto dropped to the ground, aching and tired as fu – extremely tired. He was sore from the very beginning, and just talking and taking a break with that interesting did not help him in any way. In fact, it just made him realize just sore he really was from the beginning.

"I'm pretty sure that talking to that man took out way more out of me than it should have," Naruto assented. He crossed his arms and legs, his back against a tree trunk. "You know what? Screw it; I'm going to sleep right now. Screw the bed. It's too damn far away. One mile is too much."

So, Naruto closed his eyes and lulled his head from side to side. A few seconds later, he was deep inside his own mind, sleeping deeply. The frown and deep breaths he was taking just showed how tired he was.

It's not like it was that strange…really. He had been up for over twelve hours (impressive for the blond), exercised for nearly four hours (extremely impressive), and was arguably sentient (impressive beyond measure; whose sentience told him to sleep ten minutes from base).

XShuyaX

(Time Skip: Two Hours)

Akame was in bed, but she wasn't sleeping. She had searched until an hour ago, but her instincts were telling her to stay somewhere near the base, so she returned quickly. For the next hour, she stayed near the entrance, sitting in the kitchen and keeping watch. When she didn't see any mop of blond hair, she left and went to her room, but that didn't mean she gave up on the blond coming back tonight. In fact, even though it was almost two in the morning, she was almost certain he was nearby. It wasn't some kind of fake hope, but she felt that there was some kind of feeling.

Suddenly, she was broken out of thought as she felt bloodlust. It was saturating the air. Akame rushed out of the comfort of her bed and unlatched her door, only for it to push back against her the moment it was opened.

"Eliminate," she murmured, slashing the intruding target through the neck swiftly and easily as she slid by the attacker. As the body fell forward, she walked under the arm and stepped into the hallway. Turning her eyes, Akame noticed that it was filled with men and women.

"Oh nice! Akame in her sleepwear!" she heard Lubbock yell over the noise of battle. She never really understood why Lubbock was so interesting in clothing or their 'breasts and butts'. And honestly, she didn't really care. However, that strange expression he made with that drool coming down his mouth made her cringe, even if slightly. Was it what Mine called 'leering'? It was quite a disgusting expression. Honestly, all she was wearing were short shorts made of comfortable material that let her move freely, and her upper body was covered just fine, although it may have revealed a bit more of her upper body than her usual uniform.

"What's the situation?" she asked, slashing through one of the mob's arms and cleaving it in half with one sweep of her blade. Lubbock dropped his disgusting expression and opened his fingers for a moment before doing his little dance with it.

"Intruders are all around the base. However, the majority of them are undead, as you can see. I'm not sure who the leader is though…probably outside of the base." That sent a small shiver down the girl's spine. Naruto was out there…

XShuyaX

(Location: Ten Minutes from Base)

A certain blond opened one eye and promptly closed it. It wasn't afternoon yet, so there was still some time to sleep. Maybe a good twelve hours? Fifteen? Not bad.

However, his eyes shot open when a heard the sound of people walking nearby. He didn't move, but he remained alert, his nerves on edge.

"How is the operation going, Master?" a girl's voice asked.

"Very well. It seems my cannon fodder is doing their job just as expected. It won't be soon before the main event begins." A pause. "Ah~, to see the lovely general's expression when I tell her of my success." Naruto heard a sound akin to moaning. "It will be so satisfying to tell her of how Night Raid fell, one piece of the puzzle at a time."

The blond was completely awake now, despite how tired he actually was. For some reason, however, adrenaline wasn't letting him fall asleep, no matter how much he told himself that he did not care. And then he realized…he maybe, just a little, became attached to the group of misfits. People like to be with kind similar to their own.

Night Raid.

Night…Raid…

"Night…Raid…huh?" Naruto's eyes were closed, the upper portion of his face shadowed as he struggled to stand up on his sleeping legs. He swayed from left to right as he rose, his arms dangling as his back straightened. When he had reached the apex, he raised his face so that his eyes glinted in the moonlight.

They were glowing azure.

"I won't let them touch Akame."

He began to run in the direction of the sound, rushing out of the clearing. When he had left the large area in which he slept, he was exposed to the sight of Leone fighting multiple men and her comrades struggling to stand. He looked and saw an armored teen, Tatsumi.

'So he's back. Now…' Naruto turned his eyes slowly over his surroundings, his eyesight strangely enhanced greatly.

"Where the hell are the intruders?"

The boy's eyes shot upwards when his ears registered a kind of 'woosh' above him. As he craned his neck, he watched a large flying object sail across the sky. His eyes barely caught something dropping from that height…at least a few hundred feet. He watched it come down right where Leone and Tatsumi were fending off the enemies to protect their fellow assassins.

"Take care of them, Susanoo!" a shout came from above, which everyone heard. Najenda was back.

Naruto turned his cold eyes from the battlefield and shifted his gaze to his left. He smirked; apparently, he was much closer than he had expected. Time to move. After just a few seconds, however, he heard the sound of a crash. He begun to run; only then did his vision catch up to what was happening. The unexpected ally had already taken out all of the intruders and was now catching up to the leader who was…

"Dr…Sty-a-lish?" Naruto murmured. He watched attentively as the doctor pulled out a syringe bottle filled with liquid and stabbed his own arm, becoming a 'danger beast' himself.

First, the right side of the man convulsed before expanding with muscle. Then, it spread through the rest of his body as he quickly exploded in growth, towering over everyone. Naruto's eyes drifted upwards, following the speed of growth. When it seemed like he finally stopped growing, he saw the man's mouth move, but only registered the last few words.

"-and you are my nutrient!" the blond heard the mad scientist scream. Then, the insane doctor grabbed two of his subordinates that Naruto had met: the weird peacock dude and the guy with binoculars in his eyes (Naruto's descriptions). The blond shivered when he saw the man eat the two with his incomplete form (this isn't even his final form).

'Nutrients…' Naruto's widened eyes caught on to the girl he had met with the large ears, the one he had called stylish alone. She was about one hundred yards away, a distance that he could cover in about ten seconds, which would take too long. He cursed. 'No choice, Chi it is.' Naruto bent his knees and leaned over as his eyes began to evolve into an even colder blue; it became almost mirror like in how it reflected light.

Then, hen he blurred.

Disappeared, more like, but essentially the same thing.

Right when Dr. Stylish was about to grab the last of his free nutrients, the girl disappeared from his awaiting grasp, in which she would have been completely covered and gone from the world. The last thing she would has seen was the moonlight washing her over, bathing her in a calm, eerie kind of soothing light. And then complete darkness.

But that was a different world.

Here, she would be alive, saved by a blond who had expended nearly all of his energy just to save a girl that he had met only a few hours before.

"You alright?" he asked quietly. The girl was in his arms in a princess hold, his arms supporting her back and the back of her legs. The large-eared girl hesitantly opened her eyes and noticed that her savior was the blond she met just a few hours before. He was looking straight at Dr. Stylish, who was looking back at the blond was a clearly irritated expression.

"You!" He shouted in irritation, recognizing the blond in an instant. The doctor knew that something was off about the blond, but that speed was unnatural, even for a Teigu wielder. Most Teigu users didn't even focus on speed, so this was completely unexpected. Especially when someone grabbed his last important source of growth (unimportant subordinate that girl was).

"Yes…me." Naruto stated sarcastically back. He tilted his head. "Anything you would want from me?" he panted out. The girl immediately left her gaze from the doctor that was about to eat her – she was never going back to him – and saw that the boy was showing signs of extreme weariness. Whatever he had done was taking a huge toll of his body, as his arms began to shiver and his legs started to buckle.

"Put me down." She had noticed.

"Gladly." He still didn't look at the girl, continuing to face the doctor. "So, Doctor Sty-a-lish," Naruto called out, making three poses, albeit weakly, "think you're strong enough?"

"Why you-!" One large, meaty hand reached out for the pair. Right when it was about to reach them –

"Sorry." Naruto apologized, sweeping the girl off her feet with surprising ease. "Don't throw up on me, would you?"

The hand made a grasping motion and closed tightly. When the doctor brought his hand back to him and inspected the open hand, he snarled when he noticed the empty capture. His eyes darted across the field in front of him, and the pair of eyes narrowed once he caught onto the blond and that traitorous girl beside what he had ascertained was an Organism Teigu.

Now that Naruto actually got to take a break and was able to see the ally up close, he noted the features. First and foremost, the guy had horns. Horns. Literally, they were sprouting the side of the guy's head and pointed upwards, making a sort of 'L' shape. That, and the black haired adult was large and was wearing a white, traditional clothing and a black underlayer. On his arms were long, flapping sheets of clothing that extended far behind his elbow.

"You can handle the rest, right?" Naruto breathed out, wheezing. He dropped to his knees, completely exhausted. The girl he had saved immediately bent over and tried to give him a hand, but he shook his head. "I need to rest. If anything, do you think you can carry me to an area of safety?"

The girl, still shaking and timid, nodded quickly and threw Naruto over her shoulders as she ran away from the area of battle.

The doctor Jaeger watched angrily as that measly insect ran with that interesting boy in tow, who was now limp with his eyes closed. He narrowed his eyes; if he had tried to grasp the kid and is creation one more time, he would have captured the. An ugly sneer took over his lips. Damn it all!

Well, it was no matter. He would still be able to handle Night Raid. He was standing nearly fifteen stories tall, and his body was full of muscle, so there was no way he would be defeated.

At least, that was what he thought when he reached out for the Organism Teigu named Susanoo. When his hand was pushed back with so much force that the hand not only rebounded towards him but past his body with enough momentum to almost throw his enlarged body, a different note began to play in his mind. He knew if he had eaten the escaped girl, he would be multiple times stronger. However, he had not eaten the girl, and that was the problem.

A large beam of energy struck close to his real body…too close for his comfort. He turned to the origin of the blast and saw two people riding the Manta Ray. Too far away; nothing he could do about them. However, the little girl that was taking a piggyback ride from the armored teen that he had followed, he could do something about.

"How cute, you two. You can barely stand, and you're giving the girl a piggyback? And you little girl, you think you can kill me? Me?" His taunting did not deter Akame nor Tatsumi a single bit.

Tatsumi jumped into the air and used the incoming hand as a stepping stone to jump closer to his target, Akame still on his back.

"It won't be that easy!" the doctor hissed as tens of syringe like tubes released around his body and shot towards Akame and Tatsumi, much like homing projectiles.

"Go, Akame!" he roared, flipping once to gain momentum. Then, he threw Akame right before getting struck by the syringes. Not like it would matter anyway; the only thing he would actually take pain from was the blunt force.

"Eliminate," Akame said she neared Doctor Stylish. When she passed him, she continued to say, "And yes, I do believe I can kill you."

And that was it. Dr. Stylish and his enlarged body fell to the ground, limp and already disintegrating. She turned once she landed, facing the disappearing body.

"And be thankful that you died a swift death."

"Akame!" Someone shouted from behind her. The girl slowly turned, and caught sight of the whole crew walking up to her. On their way up to join the girl and Tatsumi, Najenda and the mysterious other ally jumped off their lift and landed smoothly next to the girl.

"Well done, Night Raid," Najenda stated the moment she landed. She took a look around, lighting a smoke as she did so. "So, where's Naruto?"

All eyes went straight to Leone.

"Hehehe…is it enough to say that I'm sorry for the twenty-fifth time?" Akame continued to stare at the girl, as did the rest of the group sans Tatsumi; the boy had no idea what had happened to his blond companion. But that also warranted some worry from the boy, so he, too, was staring at the blonde, but with a confused expression instead of a blank one or a glare.

"Is he a blond?" Susanoo suddenly asked, his deep, baritone voice penetrating the silence. Akame quickly turned her head to the Teigu. The man had judged the girls physical response as a 'yes' and continued. "He saved one of the doctor's minions and she carried him away from the conflict. One moment…" he closed his eyes, sensing the very air and nature about him. "The two are only a few hundred feet away to the east."

"I see." Najenda nodded. "Susanno, I want you to find the doctor's Teigu while we go find Naruto." The tall man nodded before jumping away. The leader of the group then turned to Leone. "So, care to explain as we walk?"

They began walking – more like strolling based on their pace – towards where Susanoo had indicated.

"Well, I um…well…may have forg – no, I left him about an hour away-"

"An hour away at your fastest pace of tree hopping," Akame interrupted. "And he was sleeping, too."

Najenda turned to Leone, whose face had turned a healthy shade of red. And stared.

"The thought of picking Naruto up never entered your mind?"

"Um…it's good training?" she weakly argued. Najenda just turned away, not even deigning a reply as she looked forward. Suddenly, she saw Akame run past her and the group as she must have spotted her partner.

"Naruto!" she exclaimed when she saw him, although he was on the ground with his head on the lap of a girl with rather large…ears? Some kind of enhancement for hearing, she was certain, but otherwise, she was uncertain. "Who are you?" she asked, a blank tone and facial expression taking over.

"…I'm…" The girl was about to say that her name was 'Mimi', but that was the name given to her by Dr. Stylish, who she had considered as her savior before and greatly respected…until he had tried to devour her, that is.

Akame seemed to pick up on the lack of response as the girl having a reason for not stating her name rather than withholding information. But she needed to press on to receive the bare minimum.

"Are you hostile or a friend?" the red-eyed girl asked. The now nameless girl looked up and stared at Akame and the approaching group of Night Raid.

"Is he…" she started, looking down at the sleeping blond, "affiliated with you all?" Akame nodded. "I'm…a friend, then," she said, right when Najenda and the rest of the group stopped walking and were close enough to hear. And see.

"Wait…that Naruto?" the other ally asked. The person could now be determined as female, as her voice had a very feminine aspect to it. Taking off her hood, she exposed her very pretty face with red eyes and auburn hair. Her mouth was set in a line, something Najenda noted, as the girl almost always had a half-smirk or some kind of teasing aura to it. She was still eating her lollipop.

"You know him?" the white-haired ex-general asked, slightly curious.

"Yeah…" the auburn haired girl replied slowly. "But I thought he died when he was five."

Silence.

"Alright, we'll talk about this in the base and you'll get to talk to him and see if he is the Naruto that you know," Najenda said, trying to break the stillness. It worked, but it didn't stop the interested stares that the newcomer was receiving.

'Why would Naruto die at the age of five?' was the thought pretty much going through every person's mind.

Akame leaned down and picked up Naruto, carrying him in her arms, much like how he held the girl he had saved just minutes before.

"Okay, let's go."

When they entered the base, each person immediately went to their rooms to pack up their belongings, an action that confused Tatsumi until it was explained to him that it was possible that their base had been reported already to the Imperial Army. Therefore, it was necessary to leave as quickly as possible.

That was fine for the large eared girl: she had nothing to pack other than the clothes on her at the moment. So she spent the majority of the time helping out and keeping a watch on Naruto, who was still sleeping.

And that wasn't so fine for Tatsumi, because there was one tiny, tiny thing missing in his room.

"Where the hell is my bed?"

A few seconds later, he saw Akame lugging his orange bed behind her out of Naruto's room. She gave him a curt nod as she passed before continuing on her way as he just stared at her. When he saw the last of her back turn, he then shifted his eyes to his bed slowly trailing the girl, screeching on the floor.

*Screech…Screech…Screech*

And when that finally disappeared from view, he turned back to his room.

"…Okay?"

Chapter End.

Author's Notes: So, how was this chapter? I hope it was to your liking.

Oh yeah, does anyone else think that Susanoo is Lambo? Hehehe…

See you guys soon!

KenzoXShuyita, peacing out!