Naruto - Warlord

AN:

Alright, so i know i said there'd be some time until next one, but a couple of things happened. First is that i work by contract for contract, and my contract for this week was suddenly cancelled. This meant a lot of sudden free time where i had nothing to do, so i sat my ass down and squeezed this out in one sitting. I have the entire timeline of the story as to how i want things to go down in my head already, so it wasnt too difficult. I only needed to get it down on paper in words.

Happy people seem to like how to story is progressing so far. A recent reviewer raised a couple of very good points that i wanted to address:

- Bashing: I am not a fan of bashing characters myself. If there's at any point in the story hostilities between characters, it will NOT be bashing as i bet most are thinking of, like many of the sakura/sasuke bashing fictions that are out there. You wont see that here. Disagreements and hostilities doesnt equal bashing and you will not see such here.

- The Shinobi World: While the shinobi world wont be a major theme in this story, i'm sure most of you have realized it will eventually be included. The dynamics and politics in the world of the elemental nations makes it impossible to not include them as an eventuality. For now, i hope you agree that it doesnt make sense for the Daimyo to send professional assassins to quell a rebellion. It's not something that's done either from a historical perspective, but shinobi will have a growing importance in the story as the plot progresses.

Mentions, rumors and news from the rest of the world, including the shinobi world, will eventually reach the ears of Naruto, but i dont want to say much more upon it than that. Thanks for all your wonderful thoughts and words so far and i hope you continue to like the story in the direction it is moving.

Enough yammering from me, ENJOY!

Chapter 3

It was late in the evening. Naruto had retreated into Nobu's mansion where he had, in his preparations found a large table with a map in one of the side rooms, a map over the entirety of the 'Elemental Nations'. Leaning onto the table with furrowed brows, Naruto was eerily quiet in both sound and mind as he watched the map with calculation.

What in the world was he doing?

Taking a last, calming, deep breath, he addressed the crowd.

"Now.", Naruto began, showing more confidence than what he felt inside. "Now we prepare to defend our lands."

With a pregnant pause, the crowd erupted into a loud cheer which filled the valley.

A pit of dread filled Naruto's stomach.

His forehead thudded into the table upon his thoughts and memories. He had lost his mind, that could have been the only explanation. Had he had any sense left he'd left like he had said he would.

...But the people trusted him here. He wasn't 'Naruto, the dead last', the failure and the disappointment. He wasn't the demon brat or a monster.

He was their champion. They completely and utterly trusted him to lead them towards a brighter future. His sense of preservation told him to book it, but he couldn't throw away the treasure he'd found in the people of Kisara. He just couldn't.

"Okay...", Naruto muttered as he stood, looking at the map again. He needed to do this, no matter his clouded focus. Rubbing his eyes, he let his gaze fall once again to the map.

In the southernmost region of the 'Land of Earth', near the borders of the smaller countries of 'Land of Stone' and 'Land of Grass', laid their village in the Kisara Valley. 'The Quiet Vein', the mountain pass through the mountain chain which closed them inside, opened the valley with a road towards the south-east. Naruto knew, even if it wasn't marked upon the map, that there was a village a couple of weeks time north-west for their mountains. It was from there the Daimyo's men would come from, but the escaped Samurai of Nobu would likely travel to the south, into the 'Land of Stone' in order to procure horses for travel before riding towards the capital.

This was good news, since it meant they had over a month until the news arrived at the capital. After that, Naruto would assume it would take any men the Daimyo sent for their valley another month to arrive at the edge of the 'Quiet Vein' on the other side of the mountain.

Naruto realized however, that this was only if the escaped samurai did not receive any shinobi help. If they did, which was unlikely, the news would arrive much, much sooner, altering the timetable.

Their options, as far as Naruto could see, were few. They could close the valley, fill it with stone and debris from the surrounding ridges, but it would shut them off from society. They were, as a rapidly growing village, in dire need of trade. Without trade, many would starve and while they had some farmers, they were mostly hunters or craftsmen.

Even so, Naruto kept it in the back of his mind as a viable option.

Another, would be to abandon the village. They could pack up, take with them whatever necessities they needed and escape either further into the 'Land of Earth' or any direction towards the south or the south-east. If one went far enough, the 'Land of Wind' laid to their south and the 'Land of Fire' to their south-east. If they should do this, he was more interested in going towards the south and Land of Wind than towards his former home, but he doubted the people of Kisara would abandon their village just yet. They were proud and foolish, and he doubted he could convince them.

This was a more viable option than the first, the way Naruto saw it, but he already knew the villagers would never agree to it.

The last option he could see, not counting surrendering themselves to the Daimyo's forces, were to fight. It was the option he dreaded the most, but he also knew it was the only option the villagers would accept.

Naruto sighed and rested his forehead on the palm of his hand. He already knew it was the option they would have to take, when all things were considered.

Considering the facts, Naruto knew it could have been much worse. The Daimyo would never send his army, why would he? He'd give the responsibility to a nobleman who would in turn bring his own men, most likely the size of a platoon of a hundred or so fighting men. In size, the villagers of Kisara valley easily outnumbered them, but they would have armor and proper weaponry with the knowledge of how to use it. They would strike hard and fast, as was their way of the blade and give no mercy to whoever resisted.

Naruto grimaced with despair. He really didn't see a positive end in all of this. They couldn't win, not in the long term. Best he could do were to delay them.

Leaving the table with a thoughtful frown on his face, Naruto began to pace back and forth.

He supposed his deduction wouldn't be entirely true. They had a strategically sound location. There were no nearby villages the Daimyo's forces could supply themselves from. They could easily wait them out in a fight for attrition. This could easily be done if they closed the 'Vein', but he was hesitant to remove their one way of escape,trade and communication with the outside world.

Naruto paused, frowning deeply.

What did they have to fight with? They had no armor or proper weapons. All they had were tools and crafts and people too stubborn to know what would be best for them.

An idea dawned on Naruto, a smile growing at the corner of his lips.

They had wood and stone, more than they could ever have a use for. With that idea in mind, a calm finally settled over Naruto's nerves.

Maybe they actually had a fighting chance.

Morning came too soon in Naruto's opinion. He had fallen asleep, exhausted by the planning he'd done over the night and eventually dumped his body on some of the remaining pillows in Nobu's old mansion. For some reason most of the villagers stayed far away from the now empty palace, perhaps a force of habit. Either way, Naruto intended to now use it as a staging ground to organize the defenses of the village. It laid in the village's center and near the town square, so it would be easy to go where he wanted.

As he yawned and neared the doors of the exit, he paused for a moment as he heard the loud argument right outside. Frowning, Naruto opened the doors and was greeted by the scene of nearly 10 grown men, including Shou and Ryu, in a wide and loud argument with one another.

Blinking, irritation quickly filled Naruto as he sunk into a scowl. It was still way too early in the morning for such tomfoolery.

"Shut it!", he barked, his voice piercing the air and silencing everyone present. They jumped in surprise, snapping towards Naruto in response. "Against all of the odds we're facing, you are already squabbling like children among ourselves?" Sending an admonishing glare across the crowd, including at his elders more than double his own age, he was satisfied when each and everyone shamefully looked down in front of them. "Now. What's this about?"

"My Lord.", Shou took a brave step forward, bowing deeply at the hip in deference. "We have been arguing about our next course of action. We are unsure as to what we are to do."

Naruto's jaw fell open in shock, before he regained his composure in shock.

'My Lord'? MY LORD!?

First it was 'Sir', and now 'My Lord'?

Absolute madness.

Naruto nearly corrected Shou, but his eyes traveled across the crowd on the steps below him. All of them, even his elders seemed to agree with Shou's deference, none showed any resistance to the title laid at his feet. While it was true that Naruto had spent the night in the former lord's palace, Naruto hadn't planned for a title such as 'Lord' to stick the day after.

Thinking more deeply on it though, he supposed that in a way of rank, that was what he was now. They had all asked for his words, his guidance, and he was now committed to lead them through the difficulties ahead. By all rights, he was now their acting leader, their Lord in any other situation.

Glancing over at Ryu, Naruto couldn't help but smile and give his friend a small nod. He looked like he was about to have a serious case of conniptions in the shock of seeing everyone defer to Naruto in the way they were. Last thing Naruto wanted was for his friend of nearly 2 years to treat him in the way that Shou was, even if he appreciated the respect.

Taking a deep breath, he looked over the rest of the men present. There were several of the elders across the village, among them the blacksmith, a couple of the owners from the largest shops and farms and some of the construction managers. It was obvious that these were men who had taken it upon them the responsibility of beginning to organize a defense, but they needed a guiding hand to lead them.

He supposed Shou would represent the young, capable fighting men who followed him from the start of their rebellion, but why Ryu was there was beyond him. He supposed his friend simply wanted to talk.

"Please.", Naruto said, nodding to the crowd as he gestured for them to enter. "We have much to talk about it seems."

As the men entered, Naruto gave them all passing smiles until Ryu came up to him.

"So?", Ryu grinned cheekily. "Do i have to call you lord now as well?"

Naruto snorted in amusement, clapping his friend on the shoulder before dragging him inside. His presence would be appreciated, even if it was not necessary.

They eventually filed into the wide room with the map across the table where Naruto had spend most of his prior evening to plan and think. Standing at the head of the table with the full attention of all, Naruto began to relay his thoughts.

All who were capable would begin to chop wood and gather stone. They needed walls and defenses. The carpenters would enlist people to make wooden palisades, spears and javelins, bows and arrows. The work ahead of them were significant and their eyes were wide upon the responsibility. Naruto promised them that they would receive all of the help necessary if they needed it. There were little need for iron to be made into weapons, since they would never be able to properly arm everyone before the Daimyo's men would come, so the rest of the different craftsmen around the table were quickly delegated to assist the carpenters along with the rest of the workforce they could spare. They still had a village to maintain after all, so some would need to continue their day to day routines.

For hours, they continued their meeting, counting resources and drawing plans, discussing the locations of the walls and where the palisades would be raised.

Naruto had been a very well traveled individual when he arrived at Kisara, having traveled long and wide and often through conflicted territories. He'd seen the many different ways people had waged war, how they'd siege'd their cities and moved their armies. Most of the men and women of Kisara wasn't as traveled as he, so Naruto had to spend a frustratingly long amount of time to explain certain ideas to them. Honestly, the idea of digging trenches to stop horses shouldn't be a concept so difficult to understand.

Even so, they all accepted his guidance without much complaint. Quite opposite, after his dispatchment of Nobu and his men, most seemed to treat his every word with a sense of reverence that had formerly belonged to Nobu himself.

His deductions about Shou also proved to be correct. He had led a bunch of young, willing fighting men under the rebellion and gathered quite a following. They would be the integral part of the fight to come, a blade Naruto had every intention of sharpening to a fine edge before it would be used. While Naruto had once been a shinobi, he had no intentions of making that known or teaching them to fight like one; there was no time for that nor would most of them be capable to learn. No, the key to their victory would be to teach those who would fight to use a bow and arrow, the spear and javelin. While it had never been a strength of Naruto, he had still picked up some basic knowledge of how such weapons were used by common soldiers and samurai, or from hunting, and he would teach the people all he knew.

Finally, the time for talk was over and the sun was about to set. They were all starving as they had spent the majority of the day planning and debating. By Naruto's leave, again surprised when they asked him for his permission, everyone except Ryu left with sworn promises to begin what they had agreed upon the next day.

As the last man left the palace, Ryu looked at Naruto with a somber expression.

"I assume you've decided to stay?" Naruto sighed, before nodding. Ryu smiled, relief present upon his expression. "Good." His face suddenly grew a cheeky smirk. "I'm still never going to call you 'Lord' though."

Naruto barked a loud laugh at that, tension already leaving his body as he shook his head.

"I don't expect you to.", Naruto chuckled, shaking his head with a thoughtful expression when he came down from his laughter. "'...Lord'... That was a shocker to hear."

"Yeah, you tell me.", Ryu snorted, leaning onto the wall. "I suppose it shouldn't have come like a surprise to me though."

"How you figure that?", Naruto frowned. Ryu merely shrugged.

"You fought Nobu and his men so easily and so bravely, men our village has feared for years long since before you and me came around these parts." Ryu rubbed his chin, looking at Naruto with an envious expression. "Honestly, i'm a bit jealous."

Naruto furrowed his brows in worry. That didn't sound good.

"I didn't want to do the things i did, Ryu.", Naruto began, shaking his head at his friend. "I didn't want to kill anyone, but it was us or them. I never intended to become 'Lord' or some such nonsense-"

"Not that.", Ryu interrupted him with a wave, halting Naruto's sentence. "I don't envy your position. I'm jealous of your power."

Naruto lifted a brow in surprise.

"My power?"

"Yeah.", Ryu sighed, crossing his arms defensively. He obviously wasn't comfortable talking about it. "You are in the position you are in now, because i put my fool self in danger twice in one day. And you rescued me both of those times. I'm useless.", Ryu murmured in the end self-deprecatingly.

"Ryu.", Naruto muttered but stopped himself to think for a second. He had to chose his words carefully. There was obviously some damage to Ryu's pride and Naruto did not want to harm their friendship. "I can do the things i do, because i was raised to be used as a weapon.", Naruto began silently, ignoring Ryu's shocked expression. "At the time, i didn't mind, hell i cherished it. But now, i wish i never had to learn those things. I wish i didn't have the blood on my hand that i do. That kind of blood...", Naruto muttered silently, but seriously as he met Ryu's gaze. "That kind of blood sticks with you. Doesn't wash off, no matter what. It's not something to be proud of, its something nobody should have to do. You shouldn't envy something like that, you have something infinitely more precious."

Silence grew between them. Ryu shuffled uncomfortably, before looking up at Naruto hopefully.

"I do?"

Ryu was an orphan of war. He came from nothing and had obviously expected to always be nothing. He didn't know how lucky he was though.

"You do.", Naruto muttered sincerely. A thought came into his mind and Naruto smiled cheekily at his friend. "You have Hina now, for one."

His words had its effect as Ryu's face lit up like a bonfire. Sputtering with embarrassment, Naruto couldn't hold it any longer and roared in laughter. Tension broken, the two friends bantered lightly back and forth for awhile before making their way out of the palace. They were both starving and needed to eat.

As they spoke, Hina's father had been true to his word and nearly flogged Ryu when he woke in Hina's embrace after the celebrations. Ryu told him the entire ordeal, including the part when he promised Hiroto to make them both honest about their relationship. Naruto tried to play nice with Ryu throughout the story, but he couldn't help but laugh at his friend as he congratulated him upon the engagement. Even so, despite how Ryu swiped after Naruto's head in embarrassment, he could still see the big grin on his face as he recounted everything that had so far happened between him and Hina.

Naruto was happy for him and hoped it worked out. They deserved some happy moments, before the Daimyo's men came knocking.

"I think you're wrong though.", Ryu eventually muttered as they trudged down the near abandoned street, looking for someplace to eat.

"Oh?", Naruto muttered, glancing at his friend. "Wrong about what exactly?"

"About the shame you feel for the things you can do.", Ryu responded. As Naruto frowned and opened his mouth to reply, Ryu continued. "You can say it as much as you want; that you shouldn't have to, that nobody should have to do the things you can do. In a perfect world, i would have agreed with you.", Ryu sighed. "But this isn't a perfect world. The things you can do, the things the Daimyo's men can do, can be used for good or evil. Nobu and his men used it to exploit the common folk, used it to their own selfish purposes. You used it to save us." Ryu looked at Naruto with a determined expression. "I would give up the life i live now in a heartbeat to be able to fill such a responsibility. At least then, i would know i could protect Hina and her family." Ryu looked away from him then, obviously not keen on hearing Naruto's response.

Naruto himself wanted to deny his friends words, but resigned himself to a despondent sigh. There were rarely such a thing as good and evil, but he would never discuss philosophy with Ryu. He was far to naive, seen far too little of the world to see all the nuances of gray in the debate of good and evil. Things were still black and white for him.

Despite his reluctance, Naruto couldn't help but feel like there was some truth to Ryu's words. He had once dreamed of protecting his people in the Hidden Village of the Leaf, as a Hokage. Being the strongest, in a position of power to do so much great, yet potentially horrible things...

Was it really so bad to be in such a position, when you intended good for those important to you?

Naruto shook his head and trudged along. He was too hungry and tired for this.

The next morning, Naruto had met with Shou very early. The boy had met him outside almost immediately as Naruto had left, eager to begin his assignment.

The borderline worship made Naruto a little uncomfortable, but he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak. He ordered Shou to gather those willing and capable of fighting at the northern edge of the village for instruction. He hoped someone would show themselves capable of learning faster than the others so they could take over the role of instruction, because Naruto couldn't be bogged down himself to teach them everyday.

Since Shou needed some time to get some volunteers together, Naruto decided to check up on the rest of the village to see if things were going according to plan. He had a fleeting idea to use his Shadow Clones to lighten the workload, but he quickly wiped that thought from mind.

He'd barely used any of the shinobi techniques since he left the Leaf Village. It would pull attention towards him, from other shinobi including the nearby villages. Since it was in the nature of shinobi to be naturally twitchy, Naruto really didn't want the attention.

There was also the chance that if the Daimyo got news of someone in their rebellion being capable of using chakra, he would send shinobi to solve the issue. That was a can of problems Naruto was in no way interested of opening just yet. As far as he was concerned, the less anyone knew of his abilities, the better. He didn't want any attention from any shinobi, shinobi villages or any 'Missing Nin' at all, and that included his former village.

Taking a tour through the village, he was pleased to see people working of cutting down the nearby forest, already transporting wood into the workshops where men and women alike were already carving the wood into what they were supposed to be used for.

Seeing the people at work was a good thing that brought relief to his mind. The economy had become a bit problematic in the wake of loss of leadership. Nobu's treasury had of course been raided during the rebellion, all of his hoarded gold gone to the wind throughout the village. People had spent the money in wild abandon and the need for certain wares and resources had increased due to the reckless use. Getting people back in work was good for their society as a whole and Naruto hoped it was a sign things were stabilizing. He didn't want to step in with an iron fist of ruling unless necessary, he had issues regarding himself as their leader to begin with anyway.

Eventually he'd made his tour throughout the village and was satisfied in its progress. They wouldn't have to start digging trenched until at least a week and by then they should have some palisades up at the very least and the makings of a wall. He made his way to the northern edge of the city and found Shou alongside of the young, eager men willing to fight in the near future.

As he walked into the clearing among them, they all stood and watched him expectantly.

They were all so young. A few were older, naturally, but most were his own age. Too young to die, in his mind, but they all had a right to fight for their home, same as he.

To his surprise, he saw Ryu among them, looking at him expectantly with a stoic, determined expression, mirroring that of everyone else present. Naruto supposed he shouldn't have been surprised to see Ryu there, wanting to learn how to fight, but a part of Naruto wanted to send him away. He couldn't, it would be harmful to Ryu's pride and egotistical of Naruto to refuse to teach him just because he didn't want him hurt as a friend.

If Ryu wanted to learn, he had the right, same as everyone else despite their friendship.

"Gather around boys.", Naruto waved them over, observing them as they gathered close. Tense, but eager. While they didn't have any proper weaponry to train with just yet, they could still begin to train with the bare basics, such as hand to hand combat. While fundamentally different than fighting with spears or anything else, some principles carried over, such as foot work and warrior mentality.

While they were eager now, he intended to work them to the bone. They would hate him for it, but the more the sweated now, chances were they would bleed less when the true battle came for them.

They didn't have time for soft treatment.

And thats a wrap. Let me know what you think, it only takes you a moment to write a review and even something as short a just "good" lets me know you think im doing a good enough job. Of course, you can also just write "its shit" to let me know you do NOT like it, but i wont really be able to fix anything unless you tell me what you think is shit about it.

Either way, every review is a metaphorical pat on the back or a correcting finger and both helps me become a better writer.

MiNdZeRo here, signing out.