Naruto - Warlord

AN:

Heeey. Really sorry about the absence, but i did warn that i would probably be gone for quite some time. But here we are, back again with another chapter.

Regarding the reviews for the last chapter, people seem to want this story to be the one to continue it all the way through, so that's how it is going to be. No separate story to continue when this one "ends", so to speak. Gonna bunch it all up here. And yes, i am guilty in drawing some inspiration for this arc from spartacus and roman slavery/gladiatorial, not gonna deny that. I do hope i am able to add some flavor to it though so it feels at home in the world that's portrayed here.

Also, people are worried that the current arc is gonna drag on forever. Put your minds at ease, it will not. While i originally, at the very beginning of the "idea" that i had for the story, had planned for this arc to be a long one, i've started to see the size of the project before me and it is already a bit too big for my comfort as a simple fanfiction. I've currently written the story up to chapter 20, and while im not going to spoil when this arc ends, i can say that it ends way before that chapter.

Someone asked about the Kyuubi and it's silence. To this i will say that at the point i have written now, Kyuubi is silent no longer (wink). If you're worried about the lack of chakra in the fights as well, and there really hasnt been a lot of vanilla fighting in this story, this will equalize later on in the story. Not going to say more on it though.

To finish off, im going to have to apologize to those of you who expected the army to become like the huns eventually. I had some original ideas to use the horses, but now in later chapters as i've written along, i've come to see the use of horses in the world of Naruto as archaic and useless in warfare. There will be a comment regarding this in a later chapter. Sorry to get your hopes up regarding this, but i've started to see that if i'm going to implement the use of chakra in Naruto's army, archaic means like warfare on horseback has to go.

Chapter 15, ENJOY!

Chapter 15

2 weeks had passed in a blur and Naruto had not seen a single shred of sunlight since he was first introduced to their training regime. Every single day, they would wake, train, eat, sleep and repeat. Even for Naruto, who had always had a much better restitution than anyone else he ever knew, had been exhausted by the amount of exercise in the beginning. They were fed well enough, but not enough for their amount of training so Naruto found himself running on empty most of the time.

The pangs of hunger had grown more familiar to him now than what he had ever wished for, exhaustion a brother he conversed with daily and dehydration constantly pounded his head as a reminder of his new life. While he hadn't had any mirror to look at, Naruto could easily tell he'd lost a lot of weight, but there was very little he could do about it.

Naruto grunted in pain upon receiving a hard stab in his gut. While the blunted edge of their training equipment wouldn't kill him, the 'First Instructor' who had taken it upon himself to be his daily sparring partner still had some mean strength in his arms and Naruto could tell he was going to be sore from where he had been hit. Naruto slapped his wooden blade away with the shaft of his halberd and quickly went of the offensive, ignoring his comrades as they all trained and fought upon the sands.

The 'First Instructor', who Naruto had learned was simply named 'En', had quickly realized Naruto's proficiency and paired him off against the other veterans, but as even they were outclassed by Naruto after he'd finally received a wooden halberd, En had begun to pair himself with Naruto and they had met their match in one another.

While En was clearly the more experienced fighter and could often get killing blows on Naruto, Naruto had the strength and stamina of his youth and could easily outlast En in a battle of attrition. Naruto was interested in how they'd do against the other if their chakra were released.

Locking weapons, En shoved Naruto away and called for a break. It was about time for lunch, before they resumed their training again.

En and Naruto bantered lightly as they moved towards the feeding room next to the training area, where tables and chairs were lined for them to rest while they ate. A slavegirl had just finished placing the last of the bowls next to the feeding pot when they entered and the poor girl had to suffer the men's obnoxious catcalls and a few wandering hands as she quickly made her exit. Seeing her make it out alright, Naruto refrained from intercepting, but still took note of the behavior.

Filling his bowl with the...soup, or whatever foul-smelling substance filled the pot, he quickly made his way as far back into the room as he could for some peace and quiet. His hopes for a quiet meal was dashed however, when En seated himself across from him.

"Got some news.", En rasped.

Naruto sighed slightly; he'd hoped for a solitary meal as he'd grown tired of socializing among the men. He didn't have anything against any of the men, especially not the 'First Instructor' En, but some peace and quiet did the soul good every now and then.

"What sort of news?", Naruto murmured, grimacing as he forced the foul food into his mouth. It somewhat helped to hold his breath when he tried to swallow it.

"Master Isamu is holding an exhibition for some of the other local masters in a few days.", En began and Naruto perked up with interest. "Some of those contending will be bringing their own fresh recruits. Blood is going to be on demand."

"Mine and the other new ones, surely.", Naruto snorted with derision. While he'd been wary to display his dislike in the beginning, it had been abundantly clear that his hatred was shared among the fighters, especially En himself. Their dislike, as long as it was kept in private, would not be punished by the instructors.

"Aye.", En chuckled darkly, smirking at him as he scratched his goatee. "Not that I think you're going to have any problems with whichever sorry ass recruit is thrown at you, but some of us is going to die."

Naruto nodded and agreed to this. As he'd come to know most of those he shared the training with, he knew some of them wouldn't live for long considering their lack of talent for battle.

"When?"

"4 days.", En answered, eating his food without any grimacing unlike Naruto. "We're gonna make sure we all have a proper goodbye for those of you who is going to be attending."

"You wont be attending?", Naruto questioned with an arched brow, receiving a shake of denial in response.

"Nah. Only recruits against recruits for this one, but at the very least you wont have to kill each other."

"...Small blessings...", Naruto muttered with a frown. He already hated the fact that he would, in just 4 days time, be forced to kill someone else who was forced to fight, but he did still see the blessing of it at the very least not being one of his comrades that he had trained with for 2 weeks already.

"Only sort of blessings we're gonna get mate.", En snarked and they shared a small chuckle together before they continued to eat in silence. As they were about to finish, En took a deep breath. "Let me ask you something."

"Hm?" Naruto looked up from his food to see En looking at him with a determined expression.

"Why are you here?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but the strange glint in En's suddenly hard expression made him pause for a second.

"I already told you. I was-"

"Funny thing, about the 'Royal Army'.", En interrupted him coolly. Grabbing the top of his vest, which signified his position as an instructor among them, he pulled it down to reveal his chest. Over the chest where his heart was located was a small tattoo, a symbol of an eagle. "You cant be a member without getting one of these, you see." En now smirked at him as Naruto could feel his face become ashen, a pit forming in his stomach. "Considering our state of clothing, its been very obvious since the very first fucking moment that you have not ever been a member of my old profession. Which begs the question, why are you really here?"

Heart pounding in his chest, Naruto's mind was working quickly to try and formulate a plan. Seeing the calculating and expectant expression of En's face made Naruto pause however, as a question formed at the forefront of his thoughts.

"...If you've known that my past was a lie, why didn't you alert anyone?", Naruto whispered sinisterly and looked to see if anyone was listening, readying himself to move if need be. He'd attempted to channel the Kyuubi's chakra a week ago to see if it could bypass the chakra dampeners on his wrist, but they had grown uncomfortably hot in the effort which made him stop. If an emergency demanded it, he could try to overload them and see what happened.

"Why the fuck would I do that?", En scoffed, but his cool scowl still remained on Naruto. "I don't owe any of the fucks here anything, especially not our esteemed 'Master'." Naruto took note of the amount of venom in En's words. "But no, you ain't a member of the 'Royal Army', that much I know. I've been here for years and seen countless slaves come and go. You learn to recognize a lot of funny personalities in my position, but you...", En trailed off and leaned a little across the table, a dangerous glint remaining in his eyes. "...You aren't here on the same premises like the rest of us. You're waiting for something. You WANT to be here..." Naruto refused to answer, but damned himself for what had obviously been poor acting. Seconds passed between them where Naruto was thinking hard on what to do when En suddenly chuckled and leaned back in his seat again, his expression loosing some of its cool. "Relax son, I'm not going to do anything to endanger whatever you're here for."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him.

"...Then why mention this at all...?", Naruto muttered. A smirk was his answer.

"Whatever you're here for, whatever it is, might be of interest to me.", En began as he finally finished his food. "I might want to be a part of it, whatever it is you're here to do. If you ever need help...", En shrugged and let his meaning linger. Standing up to leave and resume their training, En threw him one last parting shot. "Think on it. One cannot have enough 'friends' after all."

Naruto was left to finish his feed in peace, but training resumed quickly. He'd been given much to think about.

The day arrived quicker than what Naruto had hoped for, the day of the exhibition that would be held in the estate in front of the esteemed guests and nobles. They had all been given a proper instruction upon their required conduct by Mari before they were taken, one by one, towards the servant quarters in the estate that was used by the slavegirls who worked in service of the house, in order for them to wash up and be presentable for their betters.

Naruto had an initial instinct of embarrassment as he'd been taken to the baths and ordered to strip by the 3 girls who would be washing him, but he quickly adjusted after reasoning with himself. The girls didn't seem to care the slightest as they had probably done this for a long time already. It felt good to be finally washed and get clean for the first time in what felt like forever. Some longing for intimacy surged in him as the girls laid their hands on him, but he quickly squashed the urge. The girls already got enough shit as it was without him projecting his needs at them.

The appointed hour arrived sometime during the day, when they had all been properly outfitted with their gear. 14 of them would attend the exhibition and they all knew not all of them would return. They all said their goodbyes before Mari came to get them along with a whole bunch of guards to escort them. Chained to make sure they would not try to escape, they were all led in a line up the stairs and into the main room.

As they entered, Naruto being third in the line of his comrades, the guests 'ooh'ed' and 'aah'ed' at them while chattering excitedly. As they were lined up along one of the walls, Naruto spotted the other recruits lined up against the other walls a distance away from them, chained together as they waited like themselves.

Naruto himself, most likely due to his large stature, received some attention that made him want to strangle the silkily clad vermin around him. Their upper bodies was bared for the guests pleasure, their lower bodies covered in loincloths and some rudimentary leg protections that would do very little against a direct cut or stab. As such, there was little Naruto could do when some of the guests began to touch him, except stand there and take it unless he'd want to lose his head.

Doing his best to distract himself, Naruto observed his surroundings. While there were some tables and such filled with foods and beverages around the middle of the room, there was still a wide area left for them to fight each other in. The slave girls were dressed up in silk that barely covered them as they walked about with trays of food and refreshments. Naruto took note that despite that Isamu was obviously and visibly entertaining his guests, Mari was nowhere to be seen among the attendants. Isamu probably hid her away from the public eye, preferring to keep her to himself.

An hour went by and the crowd had begun to grow antsy. Naruto took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was to come when he saw Isamu move into the middle of the room.

"Honored guests! If I could have your attention for just a moment!", Isamu yelled out with an accommodating smile. The many of the slavegirls moved around him and began to move the tables and such out of the way. "'The 'Day of Silence' is soon upon us, and while only a select few will be honored to participate, there is nothing stopping us from enjoying a little friendly competition of our own.", Isamu grinned at the crowd who applauded him, while Naruto silently seethed in the background. He wondered how long Isamu's smile would last if their positions were switched. "Let us have contest!"

The crowd roared in approval as Isamu left the floor, giving room for the fighters to do what they were ordered to.

A guard walked up to Naruto and unlocked his chains. Naruto frowned as he realized he'd be the first to fight.

Rubbing his wrists to alleviate some of the discomfort the chains had wrought, his eyes widened upon seeing another guard come up to him with his weapon.

It was a large, metal halberd. It was an enormous weapon, the shaft thick and purely made out of iron along with its blade. It looked to be around 7 feet long, a bit shorter than his previous halberd. The shaft was simple, with leather grip strung out for his comfort. The blade of the axe was long and curved, forgoing the typical spear tip as the top of the axe curved in such a manner as to replace the spear. A blade, smaller than the primary one, was set to counter its weight, which would allow Naruto to use it for a deadly swing in reverse. While there were no engraving upon the weapon, its design very simple, Naruto could easily see that the weapon had cost a great deal of money to make. He had obviously impressed Isamu if he'd spent such money on him.

Taking the weapon from the guard, Naruto played with its weight for a moment to test its balance. It was heavier than what he was used to, especially since his chakra was dampened, but he would make do with it.

The crowd murmured excitedly as Naruto stepped into the middle of the dimly lit room, the smell of incense and wine filling his nostrils as his senses were heightened in expectation of the coming fight. The other fighter, a young man by the look of it, took his place before him.

Naruto sent a small prayer for the young man before him. The young recruit wore a standard katana, a weapon Naruto was intimately familiar fighting against.

Isamu raised his arm in the air, waiting a moment for the fighters to take their position properly.

"Begin!"

Sinking into a combat-ready crouch, Naruto held the halberd with its point towards his opponent. Seeing his opponent move to take the offensive, Naruto let him come on his own.

As he stepped within range of Naruto's halberd, Naruto cleaved the air horizontally in a feint that was easily dodged. Quickly adjusting and swinging it back in a reverse swipe as the slave lunged, his opponent was surprised as he had believed Naruto to be overextended. Leaning back in a desperate sway to remove his neck from Naruto's cleave, he barely managed to avoid decapitation.

Lunging forward in the middle of his swipe, Naruto kicked the man in his gut as hard as he could. It struck true and sent him sprawling to the floor with a guttural cough.

Putting both arms on the shaft of the halberd, Naruto used the momentum from his previous swipe to heave his weapon above his head, bringing the weapon down with a ferocious roar that made the crowd gasp in excitement.

The other slave barely managed to roll out of the way as the halberd slammed into the ground, embedding itself into the marble tile at their feet. A stray thought in the back of Naruto's mind hoped that Isamu wouldn't be angry with him for ruining the marble tiles of his floor, but he shoved the thoughts away for now.

The slave managed to roll to his feet, calming himself and hacking up air from his previous hit to his midsection. Naruto calmly reset his stance and moved to close the distance between them.

While the other slave used a weapon that was much faster than Naruto's, he was unable to get close enough to use it. Seconds ticked by as the best the other slave was able to do, was to dodge and weave out of the way. He was so focused on escaping Naruto's halberd that he failed to react whenever Naruto released the shaft to strike him with his hand or kick at his legs.

Hit by hit, he began to move slower and slower and Naruto eventually decided that enough was enough.

Spinning into another strike, Naruto delivered a mule kick to his gut. Continuing the swipe, Naruto stepped close and swept the legs away from beneath his opponent, sending him sprawling to the ground. Before he could recover, Naruto kicked his sword out of his hand and placed his boot on the slave's throat.

Swallowing thickly, Naruto turned his gaze towards Isamu as the crowd applauded and roared in approval. Sending Naruto a glance of approval himself, Isamu looked towards the master of the defeated slave as the crowd chanted for blood. The other master merely smiled with amusement, shrugging as he sent a dismissive wave of his hand at Isamu's questioning look. Smirking, Isamu nodded at Naruto as the message was clear.

The slave was to die.

Naruto sucked in a sharp breath and quickly steeled himself. The slave under his foot had begun to plead for his life, but the crowd had decided. For the sake of his cover, Naruto would have to obey.

Tightening his grip on the halberd, Naruto allowed his expression to break into one of sorrow for just a moment as he gazed down at the slave who looked back with a pleading gaze.

"...Forgive me...", Naruto muttered quickly, his expression sinking back into one of iron as quick as he could.

Removing his foot from the slave, Naruto took a step back as he heaved the weapon into the air yet again. A short scream of protest escaped the slave's lungs before the halberd's blade crashed into his chest, cleaving into his flesh and destroying his heart in a second.

The crowd roared in approval as the slave's voice cut off into a wet gurgle, stilling quickly as he died almost immediately.

Naruto gave the broken body a dispassionate stare before he ripped the blade of his halberd out of the corpse, ignoring the splattered blood that followed. His weapon was quickly taken from him as he was chained back among the other slaves by the guards.

Naruto refused to meet the other's eyes, fearful of what he would see. He was ashamed of himself and what he'd done, despite how much he told himself it was necessary. Closing his eyes, he felt the guards release one of his comrades. Their time to shed blood in the name of their master had come as well.

Even with a closed gaze, the memory of the other slave's fearful and pleading gaze looked back at him from beneath his eyelids.

As the day had ended, Naruto had killed 3 other slaves, while the other 4 that he had fought had been allowed to live. 3 of the 14 of their own that had fought had died, but some of them, like Tamaki, had put on such a bad display that Naruto suspected Isamu to find some other use for them.

No words had been spoken between them when they were finally allowed to wash up after the last of the guests had disappeared. The slavegirls seemed a bit more tender in their treatment of them as they helped them wash, but no words had been shared between them. Naruto had curled up on his filthy bed after being locked into his cell and Naruto was thankful for the silence.

The days following the event resumed as normal, but Naruto noticed that one day, some of those who hadn't performed well just suddenly disappeared.

During their sparring, Naruto questioned En on Tamaki and some of the others absence.

"They're gone, mate.", En shook his head coolly. "Mira informed me they were to be taken to one of the many fight pits in the streets, gambled away for money. They are already dead."

Naruto's heart went out for Tamaki and the others, swearing to himself that he would have revenge for them. Isamu had a lot to answer for, along with the rest of his ilk.

Speaking of Isamu, their master had been observed above them several times over the last few days. While Naruto had been a bit nervous about his performance, seeing as his weapon had ruined some of the masters marble tiles, Isamu seemed to be practically glowing with contentment whenever they saw him.

Something was up and Naruto had a creeping suspicion as to what it was.

"The hell is all this!?", one of the other fighters exclaimed as they entered the feeding hall. Wine and food better than what any of them had seen in forever filled the tables, so their shock was more than understandable.

"Woah, is this for us? It cant be!", another exclaimed.

Their excited murmurs were halted as Mira entered the room, regarding them with her usual chilled expression.

"Complements from the Master.", Mira tilted her head, allowing them all to dig in. While most of the slaves threw themselves over the wine and the food in reckless abandon, Naruto remained by En's side. Mira looked towards the 'First Instructor'. "En.", she began and En perked up in response. "The master has ordered the men to relax and celebrate tonight. Tomorrow will bring a big announcement that will explain tonight's festivities."

"As the master commands, Lady Mira.", En confirmed respectfully. Sharing a nod, Mira turned to leave the men to their celebration. Naruto and En shared a look before they quickly moved to secure themselves some of the food and wine.

The evening stretched on and day eventually became night when Naruto and the rest of the fighters finally retreated to their cells. Resigning himself to sleep, Naruto was disturbed again after a short while by a guard opening his cell.

Meeting the guard at the door, Naruto frowned at what greeted him.

Isamu had sent a guard to escort some slavegirls down for them, to bring them pleasure if they wished for it. Naruto could already hear some of the other fighters enjoying themselves with some of the girls in their cells, but Naruto would be damned before he ever did so. While he was tempted, there was no way for him to tell if these girls wanted it or not as he sincerely doubted they'd give an honest response if he asked them.

Just as he was about to deny the offer, one of the girls, a very pretty brunette, got his attention with a smile, winking at him upon eye contact. Giving her a further appraising glance, Naruto noticed what she was doing.

One of the girl's hands were discreetly set in a handsign; she was a 'Kunoichi'!

"I'll have her.", Naruto murmured, pointing at the girl in question while maintaining eye contact with her. As far as he could tell, he didn't recognize her, but she might have been under concealment.

The guard pushed said girl into his cell and locked the door behind them. The girl smirked saucily at him as they were alone in the cell together.

"Charming place.", the girl said, smiling confidently as she placed on of her hands on her hips. Naruto merely snorted at her and shook his head with amusement. "Temari sends her regards."

With a twirl of her fingers, a small wooden tablet appeared in her grip which she held out for him. Frowning as he took it, Naruto noticed a small symbol of the tablet.

"This is...", Naruto murmured, eyes widening as he recognized the artwork.

"Yup! 'Sealing Arts' at its finest.", the girl grinned at him. "Not my field of expertise, but Temari told me enough to know how it works. It's simple enough.", she began with a finger raised to her lips. Naruto's eyes couldn't help but notice their rosy color; she was very attractive. "Push the tablet up and under the bands between the metal and your skin. As you channel chakra, the 'Sealing' will do the rest and unlock them by itself."

Naruto nodded at her words and moved to test them. Doing so quickly, he sighed in relief as the band unlocked with a soft 'click'. He put it on again quickly as he couldn't afford anyone knowing about this just yet. Quickly hiding the tablet upon his body, he looked back at the girl with a smile.

"So? What is your expertise, if you do not mind me asking?"

"Infiltration, sedition and assassination.", the girl smiled, winking at him when he couldn't help but give her a nervous glance. "I'm not here for the latter, do not worry. We're allies in this."

"You have a name?", Naruto questioned, figuring the girl to be some sort of Anbu.

"You don't need my name.", the girl giggled, looking airily around the room when her eyes finally flitted between himself and the bed with a smirk. "So, I'm stuck here for the better part of an hour. What do you wanna do?"

"You don't have to worry about that.", Naruto waved off, having noticed her teasing looks towards the bed. "I'm thankful enough for-"

"We both have a cover, do we not?", the girl interrupted him with a sudden and hard stare. Surprised and confused, Naruto nodded at her. "Then let us act the part. If you're worried about my virtue, then don't." She smiled at him with an expression that didn't touch her eyes. "There is nothing left of it. I normally use my sex to kill my targets, so this is a welcome change of experience. I truly do not mind."

Her words chilled him to the bone, but he found himself unable to resist as she pushed him towards the bed. She was obviously a professional and would get herself out of their situation on her own and it was a long time since he'd been with someone in an intimate manner.

Naruto thought it was a horrible idea to lay with someone who normally killed her partners, but his caution disappeared out the window when her hands grasped him under the rags and demanded his attention to the fullest.

They were late to wake the day after, as the guards didn't appear to open their cells until lunch. Naruto was already seated and eating when En deposited himself heavily in the seat across from him.

"Good night?", Naruto murmured tiredly with a smile, snorting as En threw him a condescending glare. The man was obviously hungover.

They bantered lightly as they ate, eventually ending up in the pits as they prepared for another day of training. A guard emerged on the platform and yelled for their attention before they could begin.

Isamu emerged from the platform, smirking as he always seemed to do when he was pleased with himself.

"I bring news, my warriors.", Isamu began, grinning brightly at them from above. "Word has spread among the local nobility of the prowess of my house's latest recruits!" Naruto noticed how Isamu's eyes flitted over at himself for just a moment. "Word eventually reached one of our esteemed councilors, as his son attended my event. As such, we have been invited to participate in 'The Gauntlet' on 'The Day of Silence'!"

Naruto sucked in a sharp breath. This was good, this had been exactly what he had been looking for!

While Isamu continued to prattle on about the importance of the event and the glory of his name, Naruto ignored him and began to plot. 'The Day of Silence' was only 3 weeks away and he needed solutions. While he could keep things to himself and wing it from whenever he got inside of the palace, he'd rather have En and the others on his side when he did so.

Seeing some slaves begin to fight back would surely spur the rest to follow.

Dinner that day was an excited affair, but Naruto still insisted that he and En eat by themselves and away from the others. Making sure he sat with his back out and into the room so nobody saw his hands, Naruto looked at En as they began to eat their dinner.

"You remember your offer?"

"Hm?", En grunted and glanced at Naruto from his food.

"Your offer of...", Naruto let his words trail off for a moment as he looked at En meaningfully. "...'Friendship'. Is that offer still available?" Outwardly, En continued to eat, but his gaze flitted across the room where a guard kept watch over them by the exit. Receiving a nod, Naruto smiled at him. With a twirl of his fingers, the wooden tablet he'd received a night ago appeared in his hand. Slowly and deliberately, Naruto placed it under one of his bands and unlocked it.

En's eyes widened before his gaze hardened, lips set in a grim expression. Naruto quickly locked the band over his wrist again and hid the tablet back on his body.

"That is interesting.", En murmured in a cool tone, staring Naruto down. "What exactly do you intend to do with such a trick?"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto opened his mouth to explain.

"There is an army right outside of the city walls.", Naruto began, glancing over his shoulder to make sure nobody was listening in. "My job is to work from the inside of this city, preferably cause chaos within the palace on 'The Day of Silence'."

"Is that when the attack will happen?", En questioned thoughtfully. Naruto nodded at him.

"Aye. As most of the guards will gravitate towards the palace on such a grand event, it will be leaving the outer walls with less defenses. I cannot say too much...", Naruto shook his head. "...But people will be in place to sabotage the outer gates, ensuring our access into the city. The city is going to fall quickly as long as we can keep their main force there, in the palace. The more time we can get them, the more slaves they will be able to release inside the city, bolstering our numbers. I would like your help, preferably the others as well."

En rubbed his chin, a wary scowl upon his face as he considered Naruto's words. After a minute, En gave Naruto a nod. Naruto released a tense breath he had not realized he'd been holding.

"I will convince the others.", En began, a troubled expression appearing on his face. "But we need to bring Mari in on this."

"Mari?", Naruto grimaced with confusion. "Why? Isn't she firmly in Isamu's pocket? Are they not lovers?"

"She's his property.", En shook his head. "While we do not speak much, believe me when I say that she hates him probably more than you and me combined. At least we're not forced to share the fucker's bed, you get what I am saying?" Furrowing his nose with disgust, Naruto nodded in understanding. He supposed En was right in that. Even so, it seemed like Mari meant something to Isamu, even trusted her to a certain degree. That would be very useful if they could bring her into their fold. "How the fuck are we supposed to stay alive within the palace though? We're going to be outnumbered like crazy and I am not so keen on dying just yet."

"The slaves will join us when the fighting breaks out.", Naruto began. "Most of those attending will bring with them slaves to service them. They will be a part of the initial confusion which will work to our advantage."

"And if they don't?", En frowned. "You have no guarantees here."

Naruto nodded as he had to concede that.

"How's your abilities with chakra?"

En gave it a moment of thought.

"Rusty, but its not something which is ever forgotten. I can handle myself well enough once I get the bands off."

Naruto nodded at him with a grin.

"Good. I have a plan you see...", Naruto leaned forward to whisper the beginnings of his plan. As En listened and gave his own valuable insight, Naruto felt the weight on his shoulders lift somewhat.

It felt good to have someone on his side again.

And done. Next chapter MIGHT be up in a couple of days. No promises however.

MiNdZeRo here, signing out.

(edit: seems to be some issues with the sites doc manager again. Certain diacritic signs fuck up the matrix.)