I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters of the Manga or Anime. If I did I wouldn't have so many damn fillers.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 23: Need to Improve
Cho's home was as run down as the rest of the village. There was nothing that would really distinguish the small single level building as anything special, nor as a place someone would particularly want to live if given the choice. Regardless Cho had done what he could to make the small two bedroom building seem homely. There was a small fireplace to keep warm in the winter and some rather comfortable looking chairs, but the only thing that looked even remotely expensive was a large bookcase filled with a large variety of different types of books.
"Mercenaries see no value in books, so any bit of extra money I make, I spend on learning. That way I can teach others." Cho explained as he noticed Karin marvel at the bookcase.
"I would love to read some of them." Karin replied, her scientific curiosity peaked by the extensive library.
"Of course, feel free to help yourself to any of the reading material. Now please give me a moment to set up the spare room I should have a couple of spare Futon's lying around here somewhere." Cho remarked before leaving the two shinobi alone.
"You really want to stay here? With the money we took it could easily get us to a nicer area and lay low." Karin questioned.
"Still on about that huh? I can make a difference here, so I want to help." Naruto replied.
Karin sighed and nodded. "I figured you would say that, and I can't really blame you. I just thought that it would be for the best to check one last time, just in case you changed your mind."
"As long as this is the last time." Naruto chuckled seeing the lighter side. "So any of those books interesting?" Naruto wasn't really much of a reader, but still found Karin's interest in them rather interesting.
"A few, but most of these look like fiction though. Still if I'm lucky there might be some good stories here. I can't hope to get a copy of any of the Icha Icha series here, so maybe I can find a replacement." She replied, her finger skimming across a line of books waiting for one to catch her eye.
"I thought you would be looking for some sort of information on this place, you know like History or something. Not smut." Naruto replied with a slight deadpan.
"They're not smut, Icha Icha is a fantastic series. I am interested interested in information on this world, very much so. I have seen a few books that have caught my eye, but they can wait for another day. Besides in the end, history is always written by the winners and contains a good deal amount of propaganda. The winners will tell their version of history while oppressing anything that could cast them in a bad light." Karin explained.
"Huh what do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"Well think about it like this. If you have just overthrown a country, and installed a new form of government by war. It is easier to bend the truths to your point of view, expose any crimes the past occupation may have committed while keeping their own atrocities quiet. It's basic social engineering. If you make the people think that your side is the right one, then there is far less of a chance that you will be opposed." Karin suggested.
"So the History in those books is a lie?" Naruto guessed.
"No I am sure there are mostly facts. It's just not going to be the whole truth. They write what they want to write, while leaving out several key facts. Thus making one side seem to be predominantly good, while the other side is seen as bad. Truth is that most of the people that many consider to be 'bad', just have had an opposing ideology with an equally strong will to fight for what they believe in. That doesn't sound evil to me. At the moment, that sounds like you." Karin lectured.
"You certainly are a clever one Karin. It would do us all good to to keep you around my dear." Cho said from the doorway, he had heard the majority of their conversation from the other room. "Those books are exactly as you said, mostly empirical propaganda, but they do accurately catalogue much of our history." He added, indicating a set of three books on the top shelf.
"I expect that should we be allowed to stay here in this village, then I will read each of them in time, but for now I am just looking for a novel to keep myself busy for tonight." Karin replied honestly.
"Well, Then I would recommend this one. It's short enough to complete in one night or two." Cho said grabbing a small blue covered book from the bottom shelf. "It's about a group of friends that go on a journey to slay a dragon. It's a personal favourite of mine" He added handing the book over to Karin.
The kunoichi examined the book for a minute before nodding to herself. "Thanks, it sounds great." She replied.
"Good, now you better go put your things in the room, we still have to go see the rest of the village, I am sure Komaki has been busy telling them of your adventures, they will no doubt agree to your request to live here now." Cho said happily.
"Is that why we didn't just go straight there?" Naruto asked.
"Well, letting everyone hear a story as unbelievable as this will take time, also they may put it down to a young boys overactive imagination. When I confirm his story however they will surely have to accept you both as new members of the village." The afro haired man said with some confidence.
"I guess if your not used to seeing people use chakra, then it would sound like a really odd story. Sounds like you made the right decision. Come on Naruto-kun, let's do as he says and go check out our room." Karin replied.
The pair picked up their bags and followed Cho to the far end of the house. "I'm sorry it's not much, but it will have to do until you can find somewhere to live. Most of the houses are full but I'm sure given time that we will find a decent place, far more comfortable than this for you to stay." The afro'ed man said opening a sliding door to a small room, only just wide enough to hold the two futons that were lain out on the floor.
A small lamp lit the room but only seemed to exaggerate just how small the area was, it was even smaller than the tent they had shared but was far more comfortable. "This will do for now, and don't worry about a thing we have all this extra money from those thugs, I'll use a bit of it to build a house, and the rest to help fix this village up." Naruto replied.
"You don't need to go that far, our people have been working for a long time, you don't need to spend that money on us. Besides you don't have jobs, so that money will have to last until you can find some work." Cho reasoned.
"Don't worry about that, I am sure you have noticed I can be in many places at the same time." The blonde said with a foxlike grin.
Cho chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Well I guess that is true. A one man army in every sense of the word." He said and turned to leave. "I'll let you both settle in, and meet you outside when you're ready." And with that Cho left the room.
"It's kinda small, but it's all that we need." Karin sighed.
"So which side of the room do you want?" Naruto asked holding their bags.
"The side with the better futon of course." She answered lazily and flopped onto the closest bedding and began inspecting the quality.
Naruto waited for a moment, holding the bags. "Well?"
"Give me a second, I haven't checked out the other one yet." The red head replied before rolling seamlessly onto the second futon. "Okay, this one is mine." She declared almost instantly.
"That much better huh?" Naruto asked handing her bag over.
"Yep." She simply replied grabbing her bag and placing it at the head of her bed.
Naruto tossed his own bag down, he really didn't care about the quality of his bedding, he had slept on far worse in his almost seventeen years of life. "Alright let's go, we shouldn't keep Cho waiting any longer than we need too."
Karin sighed and hopped to her feet. 'Best to get this over with, if my suspicions are accurate they might agree to let us stay but I don't see them trusting us any time soon.' She thought as they exited the small house.
From there the small group walked briskly to the centre of the village. A large bonfire was burning, and large groups of people were sat around the sides, Naruto recognised most of them from the incident in the village earlier that day but there were a few new faces that were not there at the time. Mostly younger men and women that must have been out of the village working.
Like the rest of the villagers, their clothes were plain and well worn but everyone seemed in high spirits. "Cho, you're back!" A young man about two years older than Naruto and Karin called, waving the new arrivals over. The older teen had sandy blonde hair that was slighly messy and looked to be in good shape. "Komaki here has been telling us a very interesting story. I would be surprised if even half of it is true." He said grabbing the young boy and pulling him over to join them.
"I didn't lie, Naruto saved me and defeated those Baka mercenaries." Komaki replied defensively.
The elder teen chuckled and rubbed the kids hair. "Alright kiddo, whatever you say, but I would still like to hear a report from Cho."
"I think you will find that Komaki's tall tale is actually rather accurate Mikka." Cho said with a serious tone.
The newly named Mikka almost froze dead. "You're kidding right? That shouldn't be possible."
"It happened, I saw it with my own eyes. This young man Naruto here, took on every single member of the raiding party that came to our village and defeated them, with ease I might add." Cho replied.
Mikka instantly pulled Cho close. "This could be a trap, where are they from? They could be spies from the the empire." he whispered. Regardless for Naruto and Karin both trained to be ninja, it was harder to not hear what he was saying.
"We're not spies. We are just travellers looking to find a new home." Naruto said firmly.
Mikka flinched when he discovered that he had been overheard. "Where are you from?"
"They claim to come from beyond the cursed mountains." Cho answered for the pair.
Mikka paused for a moment looking for any sign of deception. "Alright, say I believe you? What do you want from us?"
"We want to live here, in this village, and make this a nice place to live." Karin said making herself known for the first time.
Mikka turned to the new voice and blushed, he had never seen someone with such exotic deep red hair and scarlet eyes before. "You, you want to stay here? Well maybe we could let someone such as yourself stay here, I could not call myself a man if I allowed someone as beautiful as yourself to fend for herself in such a dangerous part of the country."
"She's not alone. Karin is with me." Naruto replied with a slight frown.
Mikka had seemingly lost all interest in Naruto. "Naruto-kun is right, we're a team." Karin said despite the light blush from the compliment.
"Hm, I don't know if we need someone like him, it could cause problems for us. But it may be possible to guarantee your acceptance into the village... Karin-chan was it?" Mikka asked taking her hand in his.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Naruto asked angrily.
'This is rather interesting, I wonder how she will respond.' Kurama added lazily.
Karin slowly removed her hand before the older teen could plant a light kiss on it. "I'm sorry, but I think I would rather stay with Naruto-kun. We have been together for quite awhile now, it would feel... weird to leave him."
Mikka went rigid at the rejection but attempted to sort himself out quite quickly. "Yes of course how rude of me, it would not be proper to separate lovers"
"We're not lovers." Karin said going bright red at the suggestion.
"Yeah, I don't think I am Karin-chan's type." Naruto said flatly. Karin turned to the younger blonde and was about to deny the accusation but found her words lost.
"Really is that so?" Mikka mused. "Well I am sure we can work out some sort of arrangement for you both. You have done a great thing for us by returning Komaki and our money to us, the least we can do is offer you a place to stay." He added, making a show out of how the decision.
"Thank you, that would be great." Karin said happily.
"Oh please, do not mention it, it is my pleasure to help the two of you." The older blonde said, his attention only focused on the kunoichi.
'Didn't seem that way too me. Sounded like he only wanted to help Karin-chan.' Naruto thought slightly bitterly.
'Who cares? That boy is concerned with nothing but claiming the girl as a mate. You humans are really pathetic at times.' Kurama scoffed.
'You serious? Maybe I should warn her?' Naruto replied.
'Don't be a fool, it will just make you look like you are jealous. If she is so easily won over by such fake pleasantries, then that's her business. You can also think of the positives of her finding a mate. You will not have to share that small bedroom for one.'
'But what if he just want's to use her?'
'Now you are sounding like you really are jealous. She can think for herself, if she chooses that man then so be it, besides it's not like their foxes who mate for life... Granted sometimes your species do, your parents for one. But more often than not you have more than one partner in a lifetime.'
'Ah it's always confusing talking to you.'
'That's because you're an idiot.' The fox finished.
Meanwhile Naruto and Karin had been introduced to many sections of the village who had each accepted to allow them to stay upon returning their portion of the money stolen from the village. After they had met everyone and been officially accepted to live there, they sat down around the large fire and were handed a small bowl of rice with vegetables and a small amount of meat.
"Sorry the potion is small. The village hunters are not due back for a another day, so we are short on meat at the moment." Cho said taking a seat next to Naruto while Mikka sat to the other side of Karin.
"You should have told me, I killed a deer yesterday, I still have most of the meat sealed away. I'll let you use it to feed the village tomorrow." Naruto said.
"Normally we eat in our homes and feed ourselves, but after we pay our 'taxes' we usually have a meal as a community to help keep moral up. It's an extra festive day today because of you." Cho replied.
"Oh, I guess I am still getting used to things here." Naruto admitted.
"I am sure it will take awhile. But that's not a bad thing, I do hope our days will improve from now on." Cho replied.
"So do I." Naruto replied ignoring the continued flirting from the sandy haired blonde that was occurring at his opposite side. "Well I'm turning in, I have a lot of planned for tomorrow."
"But its still so early?" Karin questioned.
"I know, I just want to get up early. Make the most of the daylight. I also haven't done any training in awhile my body felt stiff while I was fighting today. You should stay though, get to know everyone better, it will be good for us both." Naruto answered and slowly began walking back towards Cho's home.
"Is he upset about something?" Karin wondered out loud.
Karin knew that couldn't possibly be true, she had never seen Naruto upset in all the months they had been traveling together. She wanted to go talk to him to make sure he was alright, but at the same time she was having fun meeting all the new and unique villagers. "Yeah I'm sure he's fine." she eventually said to herself
It wasn't until the bonfire had reseeded back to nothing but embers that Karin eventually called it a night. 'Too late to read any of the book that Cho gave me tonight. Oh well I can save it for tomorrow, it's not like it's going anywhere.' The red head yawned as she opened the door to find Naruto sleeping peacefully, sprawled out in full attire. 'He must be hot in those thermal clothes. Come to think of it, he didn't bring anything except winter gear with him.' She thought, slowly getting changed into some more comfortable night wear. Once she was comfortable she crawled onto her futon resisting the sudden temptation to curl up beside the blonde.
True to his word Naruto woke early, the sun hadn't yet risen in the sky and the only sign that dawn was near was the sound of the birds in the trees waking to greet the coming day. Having already being dressed the blonde silently slipped out of the room, careful not to wake Karin and soon found himself a short distance from the village in the middle of the forest. "Alright, time to get to work." He said with a real sense of enthusiasm.
'Do you know where you're going to start?' Kurama questioned.
'Well I want to do some training now that I can.' Naruto responded instantly.
'Very well, but I would recommend not using my chakra, and restrict the usage of your sage mode.'
"Why?" The blonde asked out loud.
'Because while you are incredibly powerful when using those two upgrades, improving your abilities without needing to rely on either power up will be far more effective for you. Think of both the Natural chakra and my cloak as working as a multiplier of your strength, if you raise your base level strength then your power will improve exponentially while affected by either mode of chakra.'
'Well I guess you're right, I don't want to be forced to rely on you for my strength, I want to be able to stand up against anyone without needing to use the fox cloak.' Naruto proceeded to then create a small army of clones. "Alright guys, groups of three. One group work on my Fuuton manipulation, another can focus on Taijutsu kata, the last group will come at me for a spar."
The three groups broke off each heading to find a secluded area for them to train. The real Naruto was soon wishing he had made his particular group smaller. When he was more of a brawler fighting large numbers of himself had not really been that much of a problem. But having received a proper Taijutsu style from the Toads made his clones that much more difficult to land a hit. With that said having to almost constantly avoid the constant barrage of the clones was removing his rustiness.
Slowly Naruto started getting on top, eating away at their numbers by striking on the counter attack, hiding and attacking from the shadows when he can. He quietly bemoaned the lack of long distance jutsu he had at his disposal. He only had the Rasenshuriken, and that was no good in this situation for many reasons, the most prominent of which being that he needed to be in Sage Mode of Bijuu Mode to use it properly. 'I really need to learn some more jutsu.' He thought while avoiding a powerful drop kick from one of his clones.
'Yes for someone with an almost infinite well of chakra you are lacking in variety. Not that there is anything wrong with the Rasengan, but unless you are physically close enough to hit them, it is not really effective.'
'I have to work on creating my own jutsu from now on, I don't have Kakashi-sensei to help me anymore.' Naruto sighed, he missed his friends from Konoha and the guidance of his sensei. 'Kakashi-sensei would know exactly what I need to do to get stronger.'
'You may not be able to talk to the scarecrow, but there are others that can help you.' Kurama reasoned.
'Others huh? I don't suppose you know any Fuuton jutsu that you could teach me?' Naruto mused.
'Do I look like I can use hand seals? I am talking about the toads you fool. The midget toad that taught you your Sage Mode, he is a Fuuton user, and powerful one at that. He also taught that perverted sensei of yours several toad style jutsu.'
"That's brilliant! I had completely forgotten about Fukusaku-sensei." Naruto said aloud while dispelling two more clones.
'Once you have finished toiling with these clones I suggest you summon him. If not after this, then during your next training session for sure.'
Meanwhile it seems the absence of Naruto had disturbed Karin's sleep. He had only been gone for about half an hour when she subconsciously reached out searching for him. She awoke soon after that having had a bad dream and instantly looked over for the blonde. The fact that he wasn't there made her panic slightly and instantly began searching for his chakra signature. 'What is he doing with all those clones' she wondered, quickly getting changed to go see him.
Haphazardly tying her hair back into a ponytail she shot out of the room in the direction of the closest group of clones. When she arrived the sight was one of amused bewilderment, a large group of clones standing around a decent sized boulder concentrating rather hard. "What are you lot doing?" she asked.
The group looked up as one and let out a sigh. "Oh hey, we were training our Fuuton manipulation." The closest clone answered enthusiastically.
"It looked like you were all standing around accomplishing nothing to me." Karin replied with a deadpan.
The clones all face vaulted. "Well, truth is we don't really know how to improve past the point we are at. Boss completed the two steps to allow him to use Fuuton manipulation effectively and create the Rasenshuriken. But we know it can get better." The clone answered.
"So you decided to stand around a large rock?" Karin questioned skeptically.
"Not exactly, we're trying to cut it in half. First step is to cut a leaf, next is to cut the flow of a waterfall with a sustained burst of chakra, so we figured that the same principles should apply to tougher objects like this boulder." The clone reasoned.
Karin couldn't really fault the logic. "Any luck?"
The clone nodded and pointed to a small area a few feet away that had been rather effectively deforested. "Yeah we can cut trees in an instant now, when we started it took ages. But we haven't been able to get through boulders with nothing but chakra, that's our next goal."
Karin had to admit that it was impressive to be able to cut down a tree with nothing but his own chakra. But she did wonder as to the purpose of the exercise, he could already use Fuuton manipulation quite effectively. It seemed to be a waste of time to go any further, as fas as she was concerned. "Well I should probably get back to work. Uh where is the real you?" She asked.
"The boss is about half a mile north, he's just finishing off his spar." The clones answered before turning their attention back to the boulder, there were deep cuts in the stone but nothing that had gone deep enough to cause a fracture yet.
Karin quickly scanned to find the exact location of the blonde and took off. "Thanks." She yelled back as she ran away.
Naruto meanwhile was down to his final two clones. He would have liked to have said that he had come out of the spar unscathed and as the winner, unfortunately that was not the case, he felt like he had been though hell. If it wasn't for Kurama and his rapid healing he would have been heavily bruised and cut.
The fatigue that occurred when a clone dispelled didn't help either. Each time one of his clones would dispel from their training he would gain the exhaustion. At this point he felt another wave of information as one of his clones working on Fuuton manipulation expelled itself. "Huh, looks like we better end this, Karin is heading this way." He said earning agreeing nods from the clones.
The two copies shot forward, one clearly going for a strike while the other seemed more concerned with protecting the other from any counter Naruto may attempt. Having extensive knowledge of his own Taijutsu style though, he could tell when they were throwing a feint his way. He waited until they were close enough before squatting down, using a small burst of Fuuton to kick up a large cloud of dust and jumping high into the air.
He spun in mid air so that he landed upside down on a high tree branch. While his clones began searching for him in the dust the real Naruto waited, and on cue one of the two clones appeared jumping out of the smoke to get a better view. Naruto acted instantly, kicking off the tree using his bodies speed as a projectile, crashing fist first into the clone. His momentum did not lend itself to a graceful landing however. He had to use his arms to stop one hell of a face plant, and rolled into a nearby tree.
Grunting in discomfort, the blonde didn't have any time to recover, the remaining clone having identified the target. Naruto was just pulling himself to his feet when he found himself on the ground once more, being propelled by a strong kick.
Once more Naruto found himself being stopped by a tree, he also knew that the clone wouldn't stop the barrage with one decent hit. Acting on instinct alone Naruto rolled back onto his arms, using them to support his body while spinning into a kick that caught the clone in the chest as it had come in to deliver another powerful strike.
Naruto let out a sigh and fell onto his back breathing heavily. 'That was insane, since when did they get so good.'
'They are you, so your fighting style and abilities transfer to your clones. Because you no longer try to simply swarm your opponent with superior numbers, it has become far harder to defeat even small numbers of them.'
'Well I won't be doing that again. I'm exhausted. I know I can still improve, I want to get stronger. No I need to get stronger, I want to be strong enough so that I can protect Karin-chan and this village from anything that might threaten them.' The blonde sighed while struggling to find the will power to sit up.
This was the scene Karin walked in on. Naruto was in a sorry state, battered and broken in the middle of the forest floor. "Naruto-kun!" she called out in worry quickly running to his side and picking his back up so his head rested in her lap while she examined him for any major injuries.
"Oh hey Karin-chan, what's up?" Naruto said weakly with a small smile.
"Don't give me that, what have you done to yourself? You're hurt!" She lectured.
Naruto smiled, but that smile turned into a wince as the kunoichi ran her hands over what appeared to be a broken rib. "Just some training, I'll be fine."
"This is training? Are you trying to kill yourself!?" She asked worriedly. "Here bite my arm." she ordered placing her forearm by his mouth.
"I told you not to use that ability, I'll be fine." Naruto declined stiffly.
The red head scoffed in denial. She didn't care about the consequences at this point. "You're in pain, and I can help. Just bite me already. I don't mind if it's for you."
Naruto shook his head defiantly. "I won't hurt you to heal myself. All I need to do is enter sage mode." reasoned the blonde.
He closed his eyes and began to channel the natural energy into his body. Moments later all his wounds began to heal right before Karin's eyes. "Amazing." she gasped, she had no idea he could do something like that.
"Well I already have rapid healing, Sage Mode makes my healing another four times faster, wounds like this are nothing, besides I wouldn't want to mark your skin again, especially not now that those old bite marks have finally disappeared." He said slowly moving her arm away from his face.
"Are you sure you're alright?" She asked, her scarlet eyes filled with concern.
"I'm fine, but thanks for the concern. So why are you out here anyway? I thought you would want more sleep." Naruto asked.
"I uh, had a bad dream and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to come see what you were doing. I guess I have just become more comfortable when you're around." She replied a small blush appearing on her cheeks. She unconsciously began playing with the locks of his hair as his head still rested in her lap.
Naruto closed his eyes content with the feeling of Karin running her fingers through his hair and how soft yet at the same time firm her thighs were, like the perfect pillow for his head. He knew that he was now almost completely healed but decided that he would enjoy being in this position for a little longer, milking the small showing of affection. 'If she knew is was healed she would probably kill me.' he thought closing his eyes while he felt the last of his aches fade.
'Somehow I don't think she would.' Kurama laughed, mostly to himself.
After a few more minutes Naruto slowly began to get to his feet, allowing the nature chakra to flow out of his body. Karin reluctantly let him go. "Right, the day is still young, and there's lots for us to do." Naruto said reenergised completely.
"Like what?" Karin asked.
"Well for a start we need to build a home." Naruto declared.
Karin looked somewhat shocked. "Do you know how to build a house?" She asked.
"Yeah, when Konoha was destroyed by Nagato we all had to learn to help the rebuilding. A friend Tazuna, from the Land of Waves taught me heaps about building. We will need to go to another town and buy some of the materials we need later, but with the help of my clones we can have the shell of a house up in no time. I could even make you your own if you don't want to share." Naruto replied.
"No." She replied rather quickly.
"Huh, don't you even want to consider it?" Naruto asked.
"Uh.. I.." She paused a trying to think up a viable reason for her objection. "I meant to say that for now one house is enough for the both of us. If I want, we can make another one later." She replied eventually, still silently scolding herself for being so opposed from being separated even if by a short distance from the blonde for any extended length or time.
"Alright well then let's get back to the village and start work." Naruto declared enthusiastically, a warm smile spreading across his face. Karin couldn't help but smile back and quickly got to her feet. "Come on I'll race you back to the village." He said before taking off, not waiting for Karin's response.
"Hey wait that's cheating!" Karin called out unmoving. She paused for a moment half expecting Naruto to return, but when he didn't she began racing after him. "Dammit, wait up!"
End Chapter!
Sorry the chapter is late, I have been preoccupied with work and to be honest I am kinda addicted to GTA V at the moment. Still building the world and introducing characters which makes this story seem a little slow at the moment. It's a tough balancing act, keeping the story moving forward and maintaining a believable depth and interest in the world which is much easier when working with the cannon.
Manga has actually been interesting, but still moving overly slowly. If Obito becomes a good guy and doesn't die I will be pissed, you can't do all the shit he has done and killed thousands of people with his army and get off scott free, just like Sasuke they both need to die. I can see this happening with them all fighting against Madara who will enact his plan to switch with Obito, horrible plot hole riddled development but I can just see it happening.