Naruto - Warlord

AN:

And we're back! Thank you all so much for the reception last chapter! As promised, the chapter got out during the weekend; It was fairly short compared to the usual length of these chapters, but i think most of you will be able to deduce why.

In this chapter, some of the things that was both brought to light in former chapters, as well as the events that took place in the previous chapter, will be explored and continued here. You guys had a lot of thoughts and wishes after the previous chapter, but i've currently written all the way up to and working on chapter 30. What's going to happen in the coming chapter was already decided over a month ago, and it would be hard for you guys to change my mind on such a short notice.

I'm fairly sure i answered all profiled reviewers, but lets take the time to answer some reviews for the benefit of all!;

Where is the land of Water/kiri? This question also pressed the fact that they have not once been mentioned on the world's political scene, in any way. This is deliberate, as the Land of Water/Kiri is going to have a... I guess, specific, part to play in the future. For now, that is all i'm willing to say on the matter. But trust me, Kiri will eventually be included. People have asked this question before, either in reviews or PM's, so i thought it was finally time i answered it in front of the whole audience.

Is there a map over the lands in Naruto? It's extremely understandable that it's difficult for the readers to place the narrative in the world of Naruto with nothing but their own mind and memories. Since putting up links on fanfic is a bit finicky, i'll just say that you can google "Naruto map" and you will find several map's that may be of use. Keep in mind, that a lot of locations i've used thus far, has been made up by myself, such as the "Hazel River" and "The Ivory Docks". As such, you guys have to accept a certain amount of ambiguity in regards to the exact location of these areas, but you may still orient yourself with the placements of the Hidden Villages, countries, borders, islands, and so on. These are landmarks that are the same here as in Vanilla.

Will Naruto experience failure at some point? While an argument could be made that Naruto has experienced failure several times already, this is a very good question since Naruto has technically won each and every encounter up until now. The answer to this question is, yes, Naruto will experience failure to an even larger degree than what he has til now. You may all take my answer to this question however you like, as anything more detailed would be bordering on spoiling the plot, which is an offence punished quite severely around here.

If you've got any questions, any at all, don't be afraid to review or send me a PM!

...Just please, don't ask why Jiraya has not reverse summoned Naruto's ass back to Konoha. I feel like i've answered that response both in AN and PM's so much i can recite my response in my sleep. If you can't be arsed to go back reading the previous AN's, sure, ask, but please don't be offended if my answer is quick and short.

ENJOY!

Chapter 24

It was with a hollow look that Naruto looked down on Asuka, his former lover, as she laid dead on the bedroll in his tent. A lamp glowed next to them, casting a soft light over the girl's features. It was a peaceful, warm day and Naruto could hear birds singing outside.

She would have liked being outside. She always loved to feel the wind in her hair.

She looked so peaceful now. A blanket laid over her otherwise naked body, tucked neatly beneath her chin. Naruto had long since moved the hair out of her face to properly look at her in order to burn her image into his mind. The flower of a daylily rested at her ear, plucked and tucked into her hair by Naruto himself.

He never wanted to forget her.

After the battle against Kugimiya, when Shou and his reinforcements charged across the field and sent the Royal Army fleeing to the woods, Naruto had carried Asuka to the medics who waited just outside of the battlezone. They had taken the girl off his hands and assured him that they would do their best to save the girl.

They had spent nearly an entire day trying to save her life. Sometimes, it simply wasn't enough, no matter what one did.

Naruto had no idea what he was feeling. He had been angry during the battle, but no longer. He had been worried sick in the beginning of her treatment, but that had faded when the inevitable had happened. He had been sad the first couple of hours after they informed him that she was gone, but that too had faded. Now, he felt completely hollow. He felt nothing.

And he hated it.

"Warlord.", the familiar voice of En called from outside. His tone was demure and somber, which was unusual for the rough man. Naruto merely grunted a non-committed sound that he was barely aware escaped his lips, but it was enough of a confirmation for En as he slowly entered Naruto's tent. He paused by the entrance for a long moment, before he seated himself on his knees next to Naruto, a couple of feet behind in deference.

The silence stretched on between them for several minutes, but it was anything but awkward. Such was their bond, having suffered through events that would have killed less capable men.

"You know, I always wondered.", Naruto murmured, his voice as flat and dead as the expression on his face. His eyes remained locked on Asuka, even if the words were clearly meant for En. "I always wondered how you picked the candidates for the Iron Guard. You never picked the strongest, the fastest or those with the most proficiency with combat. I found it odd as I was unable to wrap my head around your selections, but I never questioned it." Naruto took a deep breath. "I finally realized what it is that you were looking for, when you made your picks among the potential candidates."

Naruto let the silence fall over them again, feeling no need to clarify whatever he'd resonated. He already knew he was right and En probably did too. The older man merely sighed and shuffled a bit in his position, adjusting his armor uncomfortably; En was still wounded, like most of the Iron Guard after the battle. Only Naruto was healed due to the Kyuubi within.

"Back in 'Wind'...", En began with a heavy sigh, his eyes closed with a grimace. "...The members of the Royal Army is taught the arts of chakra, combat and tactics, but there is one thing that is valued above all others." En paused, glancing over at Naruto before he stood, groaning from his painful injuries. "I knew you and Asuka were intimate, but I couldn't bring myself to confront you about it, despite the implications of it. It wasn't my place to tell you, our leader, who you can or cannot take to your bed. But I knew your relationship was only going to end in tears."

Turning his back to Naruto, En moved towards the exit in order to leave Naruto to mourn in peace.

"I knew it was going to end in tears, because I pick the ones most willing to live and die for something greater than themselves. I pick the ones with the spirit of self-sacrifice."

As En left his tent, Naruto's hands clenched together in his lap.

He wanted to hate En, but it only deepened the disgust he felt for himself.

Seeing as all of his remaining Iron Guard were wounded, the 18 members that was still alive, Shou and En had collaborated to get one of the Spearmen units to fill their role as Naruto's bodyguards. It was only a momentary responsibility until En and his guard got back on their feet.

By the time they had managed to catch up to the rest of their group, they had already crossed over the landmass of 'Fire' that separated the Hanguri Gulf from the Kaizoku Sea, the sea that surrounded Water Country. They were less than a week away from Wave and the rangers had reported from their continuous scouting missions that the Fire's army were still moving towards them, but their speed had slowed so considerably that they would have no trouble making their escape long before they caught up to them.

Naruto threw himself back into training as soon as he was able to, eager to distract himself from the painful memory of those he had lost. He was still weak, too weak to protect those he cared about which had been made apparent in the skirmish against the Royal Army. While the Royal Army soldiers had been a worthy foe for anyone, Naruto had to become even better, he NEEDED to.

As the Medic Corps had finally been established with enough members to form a full unit, Naruto had granted them a seat at his council along with the rest of the officers. Seeing as the medics would often be right beside them on the battlefield, the medical officer in charge of the medic regiment would have to ensure they were able to fulfill their tasks both on and outside of the battlefield. That meant that his medics would have to learn how to fight and defend themselves properly too. They would probably be best equipped with light armor and defensive weapons like a shield and hatchet, in order to quickly move as well as defend properly.

The officer in charge of the medical regiment was the girl that had treated Naruto after the assassination attempt, named Yano Beni. She was a woman of short stature, yet a temper and a spine that instilled discipline and loyalty among those who served under her. Naruto was inclined to say she reminded him a bit of Tsunade, but he supposed most medics developed a sardonic sense of humor as a way of handling their line of work. She was one of those who had been with them since Kisara and Hisao had informed him that she was fiercely loyal to Naruto and his cause, proven to Hisao when he'd observed the woman deck a man twice her height to the ground when he'd made a disparaging remark against Naruto.

Naruto had also pushed the task of teaching their entirety of their army some basic knowledge of first aid as well as some first aid chakra techniques, in order for his soldiers to buy themselves some more time in the case of acute trauma. Many of his Iron Guard that had recently died didn't die during the combat itself, but in the minutes that followed their injuries. Naruto wanted to prevent that and his officers, along with the newly appointed medical officer, were all in agreement that this was a noble effort. It would take them quite some time though, so they would have to keep it basic.

The recent skirmish had also cemented a couple of decisions that Naruto had pondered for some time, one of which was if he should teach his Iron Guard the 'Iron Fist' technique in order to properly defend themselves. As the Iron Guard used naginatas for more versatility and heavy armors, no shields, they needed the extra protection.

Naruto blamed himself for their deaths as he hadn't decided to teach them the technique sooner. As far as he was concerned, Asuka's death was on his hands, but he couldn't think on that without feeling like he wanted to kill someone. He was so angry all of the time.

Another question that had been raised was the matter of Hisao's rangers. They had proven themselves well under Hisao and it was obvious that he had made the rangers into an elite in their own field of expertise, sort of a middle ground between a soldier, a scout and an assassin. They had a lot of utility and autonomy, so they would benefit greatly from the Shadow Clone Technique. They would have to be careful in learning this though, as Naruto remembered the many warnings from his youth; People had died of chakra exhaustion from overcharging the technique. They would have to step carefully when they learned it, but Naruto knew they were up for it. They had proven themselves.

The standard regiments of archers and spearmen however would have more than enough to deal with on their own. Seeing as these regiments had men and women of varying ages and levels of experience, it would be hard for Naruto make a curriculum for them to follow; The officers, captains and whoever carried lesser distinctions and responsibilities, such as the team leaders, would have to figure this out for themselves. They were expected to train in their field of expertise, but other more complex chakra techniques would have to be left to the officers and captains to worry about.

Having sent out rangers to alert the locals of their arrival in Wave, Naruto began to recognize the familiar area, memories long forgotten coming to the forefront of his mind.

Naruto stood at the beginning of the bridge into wave with a confounded expression, his misery regarding the loss of Asuka momentarily forgotten as he looked at the sign that informed any passersby of the name.

'The Great Naruto Bridge.'

"Warlord.", Shou muttered from Naruto side as they stood at the right side of the bridge, before the sign, as their horde of people moved across the bridge next to them. Most of those who passed by whispered excitedly as they pointed and stared between Naruto and the sign, obviously curious as to the origin of the name and if it had any relation to their Warlord or if it was just coincidence. "You mentioned you were here when you were young, right? Got any lights to shed on this?"

Naruto could hear the amused undertone in Shou's voice.

"My first mission, back when I was a shinobi, was here.", Naruto responded neutrally, his poor mood returning as the shock left him. Tazuna had obviously named it in his honor. The old fool. "Short version is that the mission went to shit. My team barely made it out alive of that one."

"How old were you at this time?", Shou said with a raised brow. Naruto rubbed his chin, trying to remember.

"I was 12, if I recall." Naruto shrugged and proceeded to walk along across the bridge with the rest of the people. Shou tagged along quietly. "Old history really. At the time, there was a man here named 'Gato' who-"

"Warlord!", a voice called out from among the throngs of moving people. The people parted and made way for his officer, Hisao, clad in full ranger gear as he approached Naruto and knelt before him. "A moment of your time."

"Certainly. Shou.", Naruto said, glancing over at Shou pointedly. Getting the hint for privacy, Shou nodded and wordlessly continued along with the crowd. "Stand up, Hisao.", Naruto clapped the ranger on his shoulder with a small smile as Hisao rose, guiding him down the bridge. "Walk with me. What is it that you need?"

The rangers, while having suffered no casualties after the last skirmish themselves, had taken the losses of the Iron Guard personally, as if it had been members of their own unit. The mission had formed a closely knit bond between these units, one which Naruto hoped were nurtured for the future.

"Just a moment of your time, Warlord.", Hisao responded dutifully, though his eyes remained on the ground. Naruto frowned at the sight; Hisao obviously didn't expect Naruto to be pleased by whatever he had to say. "It's about Ryu, Lord."

And just like that, his mood worsened.

"Ryu.", Naruto grimaced. Their latest argument was still a sore spot he held close to his heart. He figured Ryu would be disgruntled and angry about his dismissal, but he hadn't tried to find out whatever it was that his former friend was up to after the confrontation. "What's he up to now? Is he causing you grief?"

"No, my Lord, it's-" Hisao paused and shook his head. "It's not that. He's gone."

Hisao's words made Naruto stop in his tracks with a deep frown.

"Gone. He has left?"

"Yes, my Lord.", Hisao confirmed quickly as he too froze on the spot along with Naruto. "His absence made me suspicious and I decided to snoop around for a bit, considering how close you once used to be. His father-in-law confirmed his departure just this morning. Apologies if I-"

"I've already told you, you apologize too much.", Naruto waved him off with some annoyance that was not directed at Hisao. "Did Hiroto mention why?"

It had been a long time since Naruto had spoken to Hiroto, Ryu's father-in-law. His duties had kept him busy and then the split between himself and Ryu happened.

"Sort of, my Lord, though he didn't know exactly why himself.", Hisao responded quickly. "After Ryu's wife, Hina, died, he's apparently been-"

"Wait.", Naruto interrupted. His stomach felt like it dropped through the ground. Did he hear that wrong? "Come again? Did you say Hina's dead?"

"Yes, Warlord.", Hisao nodded, unperturbed by the interruption. "According to Hiroto, Hina struggled with an infection since after 'The Ivory Docks', which the medics were unable to cure due to some complications. She died, right before the assault on 'Tatenai'."

Seeing as Hisao fell quiet, merely looking at Naruto for orders, Naruto nodded slowly. His throat felt strangely dry as his thoughts went a mile a minute.

"Would that be all, Hisao?", Naruto asked somberly, receiving a quick nod in return. "Thank you. Return to your duties."

"Yes, Warlord." Raising a closed fist to his chest, Hisao bowed and stepped away, disappearing into the hundreds of moving people around them.

Naruto remained frozen on the spot, his eyes gazing off into the far distance with cloudy thoughts.

After a moment of shock, Ryu regarded Naruto with a cold and neutral expression, but a tinge of desperation was present in his eyes.

"Naruto.", Ryu started, his voice wavering. "What sort of petty decision is this? Because I speak out against you, you strip me of the responsibility of which I have strived so hard for? It's the only thing I have left, I-"

'...It's the only thing I have left...', Naruto thought, repeating Ryu's last words to him in his head. Ryu had obviously been referring to the fact that he'd lost Hina.

Why had he not said anything? The very reason that Naruto stripped Ryu of his responsibility was because he was shirking his duties as an officer, but had he explained to Naruto the sorrow and loss that he was dealing with he would have helped him.

Why?

Remembering Hina, the sweet girl from Kisara who he'd wed to his best friend, made Naruto's heart ache with pain. Considering Naruto's loss of Asuka, Naruto could say he knew some of what Ryu was going through, although Naruto expected Ryu to have it much, much worse. They had been wedded for months, while Naruto had only been seeing Asuka for a short while. Was not quite the same thing at all.

'Stop brooding.', the Kyuubi grumbled in his mind and shaking him out of his reverie. 'It's unsightly. What is done is done and there is nothing you can do about it for now.'

Kyuubi's words made him smile a little; While the Kyuubi and Naruto's relationship with one another was still a tense one out of nothing but necessity, they had still learned to respect one another, if only a little. Naruto could recognize it's crass attempt at being worried for him.

'Suppose you're right.', Naruto chuckled a bit to himself, pushing the painful memories aside. He began to walk along his people into the land of Wave. 'Thanks, I needed that.'

'Obviously.', the Kyuubi groused, though Naruto could hear it's smirking tone. 'Whatever would you do without me? You'd probably fall over and die in seconds.'

'You flatter yourself.'

Wherever Ryu was and whatever he was up to, Naruto wished him the best of luck. He truly did.

Having made camp in the village surrounding the end-point of the bridge, Naruto was stunned by the sight of the village.

It was nothing like the wooden, downtrodden village from the memories of his youth. The village had flourished and people had obviously moved here with wild abandon, as the village had grown to nearly the size of a city. Houses of bricks and wood painted white, with a few other varying colors, stretched about with paved roads. Trees and bushes rimmed the streets along with electrical lamps. It looked like all of the houses there had electricity, where Naruto could only remember a few of them, like Tazuna's house, had it during his last time there.

The bridge had done exactly as Tazuna said it would. Naruto was happy for them.

After asking around for whoever was responsible for them, Naruto was surprised to learn that Wave did not belong to any of the surrounding Lords or Daimyo, but they did have a civilian governor that he could talk to.

Naruto didn't know why he was surprised, but when they showed them the governor's house, it was nowhere else than Tazuna's old home.

The old codger had made governor of the city.

Chuckling to himself as he walked up to the house, Naruto couldn't help but lose himself in the memories. The house and the surrounding forest was exactly as it had been during his youth, the only exception being the neatly paved path of which connected Tazuna's house to the rest of the surrounding village. Naruto could even see the clearing of which his team had trained for the eventual repeat encounter against Zabusa.

Zabusa and Haku. His heart went out to them both. They had given him perhaps the most important lesson in his life that he had ever been given, showing him that despite Zabusa's insistence that shinobi were nothing more than tools, they still feel.

Shaking his head before he could start brooding again, Naruto stepped up to the front door, flanked by his current bodyguards. Knocking on the door, it took nearly a full minute before it opened, revealing a wary looking Tazuna who peeked through the crack of the door.

"Can I help you?", the gruff, old man grunted at him with a frown, eyeing the armed men around him with clear distrust. Considering his former experiences with the men under Gato's employ, Naruto was honestly surprised he even answered the door.

The fact that Tazuna must have been warned beforehand that Naruto's army consisted of about 3000 soldiers must have had something to do with it.

"Old man.", Naruto chuckled, removing his helmet with a bright smile at his old acquaintance. "Have you already forgotten me?"

Tazuna narrowed his eyes at him for several seconds, until his eyes shot wide open.

"N-Naruto!?"

A rush of joy filled Naruto and he couldn't help but laugh when Tazuna threw open the door and moved to greet him properly. His men bristled their weapons threateningly for a moment when Tazuna burst out from the doorway and embraced Naruto, but neither Naruto or Tazuna paid it any mind.

Tazuna had always been a large man from Naruto's memories, but Naruto was both taller and wider now. The old man looked to be mostly the same, though there were more wrinkles around the eyes than what Naruto could remember. His hairstyle and his clothes were the exact same, despite his elevated position to governor of the city.

After some light and jovial banter, Tazuna invited Naruto inside, much to the chagrin of his bodyguards when Naruto waved them off, denying them access into the house; Naruto had nothing to worry about from Tazuna.

The interior was the exact same as he could remember too, but he wondered where Inari and Tsunami were when Naruto seated himself in the living room at the dining table and neither were seen or heard in the house. When Tazuna finally placed a cup of sake at the table before him, Naruto couldn't help himself any longer.

"Old man, where's Inari and Tsunami?", Naruto asked, still smiling brightly as he raised the cup to his lips, letting the burning alcohol flow down his throat.

"Ah, you wont be seeing them here son, though everything's well with them, rest assured.", Tazuna responded with a wide grin himself. He seated himself and quickly poured a cup to himself. "Tsunami met a good bloke and married some years back. They moved to the capital along with Inari due to his work, but they still visit from time to time. I'll let them know you were here, yeah?"

"Please do.", Naruto nodded. While he was a bit disappointed they weren't here, he was happy for them both. Naruto knew how they had suffered after Kaiza's death, so he was glad they had finally moved on properly.

"So, here you are, eh?", Tazuna joked with a mock-grumble, his lips still drawn in a smile as he glared jokingly at Naruto. "Your messenger scared the crap out of our village, you know? Damn near pissed myself when our villagers came running up to my door, telling me a 'warlord' would be visiting and demanding an audience. How'd that all come to be, huh?"

"I'll tell you the story, don't worry.", Naruto chuckled. "And I apologize for any fear we might have caused you and your people, but I swear we're not here to cause trouble. We're civilians ourselves you know, farmers and craftsmen, just like yourself."

"Last we met, you were a shinobi as I recall.", Tazuna questioned curiously, his mood turning a bit more somber as he understood there was probably a story to it. "What happened?"

"As I said, I'll tell you the story.", Naruto sighed, smiling apologetically at Tazuna. "But before then, I am afraid we'll have to deal with the business of why I am here first. I suspect we'll have more than enough time to talk after."

"Alright.", Tazuna nodded, smirking slightly at Naruto. Naruto realized it must have been an amusing sight to Tazuna, seeing as last time they saw one another, Naruto was a loud, brazen child, and now he was a calm and collected Warlord of a migrating horde. "Why are you here then?"

"We need boats.", Naruto began, a touch of severance in his tone. "And quickly too. Enough to ferry about 4000 men and women, just to the islands to the sea north-east of here."

Tazuna's eyes widened, his mouth falling open for a second before he leaned forward unto the table to look seriously at Naruto.

"You're moving the entire horde of people you have here, by sea, to the uncharted islands? Do I even want to know why?"

"Long story short; We're on the run from the Fire Daimyo's army. They are about a month behind us." Naruto couldn't help but chuckle when Tazuna's incredulous expression turned even more surprised. His face looked like it was about to fall apart. "You're probably going to have to tell them that we took your boats and such by force."

Closing his eyes with annoyance, clearly feeling his age regarding the stress of the situation Naruto had just laid at his feet, Tazuna crossed his arms with pursed lips. He was obviously displeased, which came as no surprise.

"Assuming I'll go along with this, and I damn well better hear the entire story as to why you're being chased by the Fire's army if I do, there is no way, absolutely no way, we'll ever be able to make enough boats for all of your people in less than a month!"

"We can help to provide the labor.", Naruto continued to press. They would make the fucking boats themselves if they had to. "We are not just soldiers; As I said, we're craftsmen too. Teach us and we can help, we-"

"Even with help, there is no way I can guarantee that we'll be able to finish in time.", Tazuna snapped, interrupting Naruto in his speech. Naruto fell silent, letting the older man stew for a moment as he processed the latest piece of information. After a minute or so, Tazuna looked up at him with a glower. "I assume you can pay for this? Both the work and the materials?"

"Naturally.", Naruto nodded, smiling on the inside. Tazuna was going to agree, he knew he would. "Payment is no issue, and I will pay you extra for the trouble we're heaping unto you. The Fire's army will probably question you as to why we were here as well and why you aided us, so it would probably be in your best interest to make it seem like we roughed up the village a little bit so you can tell them we forced you. We will pay you more than enough to recompense whatever damages we cause, of course."

"I will have to inform the village of this.", Tazuna warned with a glare. "I wont lie to them. I will not have them think we've fallen under another Gato who is abusing us."

"Nor would I ever ask it of you.", Naruto quickly denied. "As long as you inform the Army that we forced you to abide to our demands, I doubt they will cause you any issues. But my people have to make it across the ocean and out of Fire Country."

What followed was a tense couple of minutes as Tazuna stewed, grinding his teeth together thoughtfully. Finally, he stuck out his hand for Naruto to clasp.

"...I'm gonna fucking regret this...", Tazuna grumbled, still glaring at Naruto who couldn't help but grin in return as he shook Tazuna's hand in agreement.

"Probably."

"Hadn't it been for you and your team sticking your necks out for us years ago, I'd have told you to fuck off, you know that?"

"I know."

"And I will have you know, I'll-"

Naruto let Tazuna rant on for awhile. He deserved it. Naruto's mood didn't falter in the slightest. For once and just for a moment, Naruto was at peace.

It didn't last.

And done. As i said, a bit shorter than what i've, and surely you guys, have grown used to. Actually makes me a bit uncomfortable, but i suppose i can take that as motivation for pushing the next one out as quickly as i can.

MiNdZeRo here, signing out.