2 Months Later, the ruins of the Whirlpool
It was morning out and the sun was rising. Naruko wiped the sweat off her face as she finished her training workout. Dressed in a tank top and biker shorts that hugged her figure, she walked to get a bottle of water and a towel. For the past two months, she had been training, especially in her taijutsu, so that she would become stronger. After her experience with the bandits, she had decided to up her training. Even though her physical strength and durability had peaked at high-chunin due to her slim but athletic physique, she decided to focus on agility and speed so that her enemies would be hard-pressed to touch her.
She soon hit the showers, letting the hot water flow over her body. 'I've been training hard non-stop for two months, and my money is running pretty low. I'll need to get a long-term job so that I'll earn enough to buy more food and supplies. I barely have food left, and I'm out of kunai and shuriken. I could also use more sealing materials.' Finishing her shower, she changed in her usual shinobi gear of her purple kimono style blouse, blue obi, and biker shorts along with her armored boots, and started searching through the job requests for ronins, she finally found a job in the Land of Vegetables that would pay 1 million ryo for guarding and assisting the villagers for one month in rebuilding the village, for it was completely ransacked by rogue shinobi and bandits.
She sent a message via carrier pigeon that she accepted the job, and packed her food and camping scrolls as well as her weaponry for the long trip. 'Hopefully, this job will just run smoothly and everything will be fine. It seems easy enough, just guarding and helping the villagers with work,' she thought. With one last look at home she raced towards the Land of Vegetables, hoping to get there before dusk. At some minor villages across the way, she took a detour to stock up on her supplies, filling up her food scrolls and her weaponry with different foods and shuriken and kunai. Though the shuriken and kunai were rough quality, it was all she could afford at this point. She was so low on money that she was on her last set of shinobi clothes, and one could tell her shinobi clothes were worn.
Land of Vegetables
Naruko finally arrived at the entrance of the Land of Vegetables, and was saddened and shocked at how much damage the village had taken. The gates were ruined, and only one civilian was guarding the gate. "I'm here for the job to guard and help the villagers," she stated. The civilian looked her over, and said, "The Golden Blade Mistress? Thank kami, you out of all people responded. You're such a powerful shinobi and we're grateful you're here to help. Please come on in, I'll lead you to the daimyo."
As she followed the civilian, she empathized for the people. Buildings and houses were in shambles, and the people were wearing ragged clothing. The children were helping with the manual labor, struggling to keep up with the adults. Her heart called out to help them, and she felt glad she came here to help. Naruko soon snapped out of her thoughts as she realized she was at the door of the daimyo's office. She took a deep breath, straightened out her clothes, and nodded at the civilian to let her in.
As she walked in, she saw an old man behind the desk. He was well-aged, in his 80s, and had grayish white hair. He wore a worn dark purple kimono, and looked tired. "Thank you for coming," he said. "You can call me Zoro. As you can see, we are in dire need of your services, Golden Blade Mistress. We are in the middle of rebuilding, but every so often, rogue shinobi keep coming in and stealing what little we have. Please, I beg of you, help us, we are desperate for your help."
Naruko's oceanic blue eyes softened, and she smiled sadly and said, "Please, no need for titles. Call me Naruko. I'm happy to help. You're village is definitely in need of help, and I'll be glad to assist you in any way I can." Zoro, then smiled a little, and said, "Thank you so much. I'm afraid we don't really have a place for you to stay at the moment. I apologize for such inconvenience."
She then replied, "It's ok, I always have my camping gear with me, save what houses you have for the women and children." The old man smiled in thanks, but then settled in a frown. "Naruko-dono, I'm afraid I haven't been honest with you. The most we can pay you for this is five hundred thousand ryo. I put the one million ryo payment out there to attract more customers. I understand if you want to leave, the choice is up to you."
Naruko's mouth settled into a tiny frown. The money she planned on getting was just narrowed down to half. While she would get less money than other jobs, she still wanted to help this village out. The look on the villagers' faces was imprinted in her memory. She would help them until they became a stable village again. "While I am a little disappointed, I will still help your village," she said with a smile plastered on her face.
Zoro bowed his head in thanks and said, "Thank you Naruko-dono, we appreciate your help and will be forever grateful. Your job will start tomorrow, where you will help the villagers and be on the lookout for enemy ninja." She nodded her head in understanding, and with one final wave, left the office to find a place where she could set up camp. Luckily, since the village was near a river, she could catch fish for food and not waste her food supplies. She set up her tent, casting more permanent defense seals to block intruders from coming in, as she would be living here temporarily. After catching some fish and eating them, she got into her night clothes and went to sleep.
Next Morning in the Land of Vegetables
Sunlight penetrated through the opening in Naruko's tent, waking her up. She groaned in protest, but got up from her sleeping bag, stretching her arms and legs to get feeling back into them. After a light breakfast, and dressing into her shinobi gear, she exited her tent and started walking toward the villagers, where they would tell her what she needed to do.
As she walked through the village, the children whispered to their mothers and pointed at her in admiration, looking up to her. She smiled and waved at them, and they waved back. She continued on her way until she met the head of the repairs, Leo. "Golden Blade Mistress, it's an honor to work with you. Thank you for helping us," he said, holding out his hand. Naruko smiled and shook it, noting the firm handshake and said, "Just Naruko is fine, since we'll be working together for some time, no honorifics are fine. What do you need me to do?"
Leo smiled and said, "Well, we need a lot more lumber and we can't send that many villagers to get some while the rest of us repair the village. Can I send you with three other villagers to bring back some lumber, Naruko-san?" Naruko nodded and said, "Sure, just have them direct me and I'll make sure you get that lumber." Leo called over, three villagers, Lee, Daichi, and Renji, and said, "Naruko-san over here will help you guys gather lumber. Lead her to the forest and cut some trees down." They nodded in understanding and motioned for her to follow.
A Forest near the Land of Vegetables
When they got to the forest, they stopped and said, "These trees will give a lot of lumber for the village. Let's cut trees for 2 hours and bring them back before heading to lunch." Naruko nodded in understanding and went to work. As she started working, she thought, 'All this labor can be extra training to keep my body in top-notch condition.' As she cut and lifted the lumber into a pile, the three men snuck glances at her without her knowing, for she was focused in her work.
They admired her body even with the sweat pouring down her body. With her purple kimono blouse and obi and her biker shorts, they could see she was well-toned and had a nice body. Her clothes hugged her figure, but with the sweat pouring on her body, her clothes clung to her even more, accentuating her curves. Naruko saw them and inwardly sighed. 'I guess men will always be perverts, but I guess I'm flattered that I have such an attractive body.' After she and the other three gathered enough lumber, they headed back to Leo and he was impressed.
"Everyone, go wash up and then we'll have lunch!" he called out. Everybody started heading their separate ways. Naruko sighed in relief. Physical strength was not one of her strong suits, and she had to use a vast amount of chakra augment her strength to lift all the wood. Her muscles were sore, and she really needed a break. After a quick shower and a light meal, she went to Leo for her next task. Leo then said, "Thanks for your help Naruko. However, with the amount of lumber you've brought in, we'll be fine for the rest of the day. You can just guard us from any attacks now." For the rest of the day, Naruko patrolled the village, and found a couple of ninja trying to sneak in.
"Halt," she said. "This village is now under my protection. Leave now or I will kill you." Her cold eyes gazed emotionlessly at the rogue ninja. They growled in frustration as they realized they were up the Golden Blade Mistress, an S ranked nin. They retreated and said, "Just you wait, Golden Blade Mistress. You may have repelled us today, but we will find a way through the village, even if it means trampling over your dead corpse. They vanished into the shadows, and once they were out of range of Naruko's sensing abilities, she turned and left to catch dinner with the village.
As she walked through the village, she found a dango place, ordered some dango, and started eating, thinking about the recent events. 'Those rogue ninja were awfully serious and confident about their threat. I'll have to be on the look out for them. I can't underestimate them just like last time, or I'll end up in a bad position.' She was soon broken out of her thoughts when a group of children ran up to her saying, "Pretty Lady, can you play with us?" She smiled at their innocence and said, "Sure after I'm done eating. And call me Naruko, ok?" The children screamed yay, and were impatient, tugging at her sleeve, telling her to finish her food faster.
Then, their mothers then ran up, out of breath from chasing them. "I'm sorry Golden Blade Mistress, they can be a little reckless." Naruko laughed and said, "Don't worry, I don't mind them. And call me Naruko, I hate titles and honorifics. I'll play with them until it gets dark, and return them to their houses." The mothers thanked Naruko profusely, bade her goodbye, and returned to their houses.
"Let's play ninja, Naruko-nee," the children said. They pulled her from the stand, and she let them drag her with a smile on her face. After they got to a playground, they said, "Naruko-nee, you can be the bad ninja while we can be the good ninja." She smiled and nodded her head, and started to chase them. Screams of joy and elation were heard as the children had a fun time. She hid in a bush, hiding from them. It took them a little bit, but they found her and shouted, "There's the evil ninja. Attack her!" They started to charge her, and she let them take her down. She let out a small oomph when the weight of 10 children tackled her to the ground.
They started to dogpile on her until she mimed that she was defeated, saying, "Oh no, you've got me! I give up!" They laughed and got off her. While the boys went a little ways to play some more, she sat down with the girls, and they marveled at her luscious golden hair and played with it, and admired her bright blue eyes. The girls said Naruko was pretty, and that they wanted to be just like her. Naruko blushed a little and reassured them they would be just as beautiful or even more beautiful than her.
She then noticed it was getting dark, and called the children over, saying, "Alright kids, it's getting late, and you need your rest." They protested, but Naruko was firm with her words, and led them back to their homes. The mothers thanked her, saying, "Naruko-chan, thank you for playing with them. They haven't had that much fun in ages." She responded and said it was no problem, and with a final wave of goodbye, left to get back to her camp. She washed up, put her night clothes on, and went to sleep, resting for the next day.