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Summary:
To save everyone, Marco used his current existence. Never did he imagine that he will be reborn to a new world different from his own. It is a world filled with ninjas and creatures as large as Sea Kings that are made of pure living chakra. What can a pirate like him do to survive especially if he is a freaking bird? Thatch is right; he does look like a chicken. And a certain blue-eyed blonde is thinking of him as her new pet.
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Of Flaming Feathers and Bloodstained Furs
By: Zelga Lim Li
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Part 24
"What are we doing here again?"
Naruto asks for the nth time that morning.
Thankfully the incident that occurred yesterday is long forgotten by the said blonde (perhaps she's ignoring that other 'elephant in the room' or rather the seal in her gut and the accompanying pain whenever she overuse her chakra) as she denies what happened earlier that day to Sakura when the pinkette worriedly came to their house that night.
And so they are here today upon the request of the perverted sannin. He states that he can remove the seal (with a wordless glint in his demeanor to fix the 'other' one too).
A considerable distance away from the village in case the creature's potent chakra leaks. A clearing surrounded by tall trees, a river connecting to a certain valley and a deep ravine littered with portruding rock formations.
Internally, he scoffed in response to the other man's 'reasoning'.
Just the same, he humored his human and responded absentmindedly. "The pervert said last night that he can fix that seal, yoi." Marco did smile when Naruto made faces and grumbled incoherently to herself as she took her journal from their bag (Thatch adamantly insisted to pack their meal that day in preparation for Naruto's training with the legendary Sannin) to study the stupid seal placed on her by that snake bastard. She leans beside the rock he is sitting at.
If it wasn't for Haku's information, he wouldn't let anyone near his blonde kunoichi.
A few minutes later, the exuberant man arrives on top of a giant toad with a matching kabuki pose. Naruto who is unmistakably fond of these amphibians squeal in delight and hugged the said animal as the man clucked despairingly as he was ignored in favor of his summon.
"Alright kid, show me what you can do," Jiraiya began and crosses his arms to observe the blondes before him. He can easily ignore the pirate despite his intimidating presence.
Instructing the girl on top of the shallowest part of the river but still enough to soak her (ignoring the other teen's glare), he made her practice the water walking exercise while creating multiple shadow clones.
And yes, he did saw Orochimaru's poor attempt at sealing and it made him want to stab his old teammate with a kunai.
Ignoring the other set of eyes that follows his every move, he walked towards the girl and prepares a counter seal.
Surprising the blonde as she toppled over with a pained cry, he narrowly avoided a kick directed at his middle when the teen stands in between him and Naruto while growling murderously.
"What the fuck did you do!"
Before Jiraiya can explain himself, Naruto held his arms and worriedly steadied her and looks at the seal that's been hurting his human.
His senses suddenly took a full rush when he felt their bond again. Naruto is already crying and pushes him away from the water as they both fell on the riverbank with her in his arms. His gaze softened knowing how considerate she is with his devil fruit weakness.
He already promised, no… he swore to himself.
He will never let her go.
.
.
"So… how long has it been?" Jiraiya commented as they share the dinner the bulky pirate prepared for that day. Marco who is sitting beside Naruto's slumbering form raises his gaze from the bonfire as he continues to pet her hair.
"What are you talking about, yoi?"
The Sannin gestured everything especially how the girl clutches to his side while asleep. He decided to humor himself and angled his head confusingly at him. Huffing in irritation, the older man rolled his eyes and drank from his canister (smells like alcohol).
"If you are referring to my Naruto…," Giving the girl on his lap a fond look, he added in a cheerful tone. "Well… I do plan to make her mine." The Phoenix chuckled internally when the man chokes on his drink and his face turns a shade darker as if he's having an aneurysm or whatnot.
"What the heck! Are you fuckin' kidding me?!"
Hmm. Thinking about that, it does seem like a pretty good idea. He's sure Haku or Thatch wouldn't mind.
Heh.
.
.
Practicing her leaf exercise is now easier compared to when she still have that blasted seal.
Same goes with standing on top of the river. Despite his weakness, Marco assisted in an acceptable depth not enough to drain his strength. The perverted sannin did look at them weirdly. Naruto did notice a few glares directed to her Phoenix and Marco himself shrugs his shoulders dismissively when she asks about it.
Overall her training went incredibly well. An added bonus when the pervert allowed her to sign his toad summoning contract. Despite the trepidation knowing who the previous summoner is, Naruto feels elated as she got the chance to cuddle these cute creatures.
When they took a break that day, Thatch came by and talked to his friend. With Marco distracted, Jiraiya took the said opportunity and drags her farther away (almost at the edge of the cliff). The Phoenix did eye the sannin suspiciously.
"Alright! I need you to summon a high level toad…"
Staring at him incredulously, the blonde frowns and crosses her arms with a pout. "You do realize that I'm almost out of chakra with all those clones, capeesh?"
"Seriously kid, where are you learning all these weird languages," Ruffling her hair, he did urge her to prepare the necessary hand signs. But before she can bit her finger for the summon to take effect, he added in a neutral tone as he places a hand on her shoulder.
"We will be using your 'other' chakra. But to do that, you must be in great distress and feels like…" Jiraiya added seriously. "Like you'll never see him again."
"Eh, what?!"
Giving her a knowing look, Jiraiya pushes her into the cliff and she accidentally turns towards her Phoenix with that horrified look in her eyes.
And then there was darkness.
.
.
When Naruto opened her eyes, she's back in that disgusting tunnel.
Ugh.
Perhaps changing the scenery is in order.
Taking a deep breath, she willed to destroy the walls of her mindscape and lets it crumble into pieces. Remembering the place Marco is so fond of, she uses it as an inspiration.
Then there's the original seal placed by the Yondaime Hokage. As she is yet to understand its purpose and how it really works with her own chakra coil… ah. She settled for a very large cave with tall bars and the main seal at its center. Spacious and has a 180 degree view of the ocean from Marco's memories. The said cave is inside a rocky mountain surrounded by sand and an endless sea.
"I supposed that pirate really changed everything, hmm…"
"Yes. Yes he did." With a deep breath, Uzumaki Naruto faces the creature that made her life miserable. And yet… she felt no hatred for it.
Blood red eyes stares down at her but she held her own. "We need to talk…"
.
.
"What the fuck did you do?! Answer me, damn it!" Despite his size, the teen was able to manhandle him. The friend did his best to stop the blonde and he do know that anger can do a lot of damage. Just to be safe, he shunshined away from the pirate. Thankfully, Thatch was able to apprehend his friend who's glaring murderously at him.
"Despite my absence in her life, she grew up to be a fine girl," He started calmly ignoring the suffocating killer intent the teen releases towards him. "I am extremely grateful for your presence…"
"So you mean to say that you should be the one shielding her from all this HATRED!" At that Jiraiya winces. "How this pathetic village treat her like a trash - someone worthless, ignoring the sacrifices of her very own father who sealed the creature inside of her. Is that it?!" Alarmingly he looks at the pirate while Thatch blanches in response. "Tell me!"
"H-how did…"
"Do not mock me, boy!" With his friend's surprised reaction, Marco was able to release himself from Thatch's grip. He did held his temper and was about to jump into the ravine to save his kunoichi when he felt something.
He felt her more clearly than before.
Closing his eyes, he finally allowed his worry to ease up. Assuringly, she responded and the pirate took a relieve breath as a gigantic shadow jumps out from the gorge. Thatch did yelp in surprise as the other man paled considerably when he recognizes Naruto's summon.
"Heyya Marco! Missed me?" Grinning widely, his blonde waves on top of the toad's enormous head. The amphibian did frown upon seeing him and turn his glare towards the sannin.
He did catch her automatically when she jumps into his arms. Naruto did not waste their time and started to narrate enthusiastically how she convinced Boss Gamabunta, the current leader of the Toad clan, to help her escape the gorge and allowed her to become their new summoner because she really loves toads (evident of her colored printed pyjamas and her 'Gama-chan').
"Are you hurt, yoi?" She did look at him exasperatingly. Closing her eyes briefly, she patted his cheek fondly as Marco felt her chakra slowly enveloping the two of them and gave a playful nudge through their bond.
Opening her eyes, Naruto did gave him a warm look and a bright smile.
"You worry too much, Marco!" Chuckling, she leaned on his shoulder and heard her mumble softly. "But yeah, I'm all good…"
"…especially now that you're here with me."
The Phoenix laughs heartily at her with Thatch rolling his eyes at them as he approaches in a sedate pace while Jiraiya pacifies the angry toad behind.
.
.
Interlude: Gamabunta
He never expected to be summoned inside a very cramped location. Preparing a litany of curses, he fell a bit short when he saw a pair of cerulean blue staring right back at him.
The same blue the other brat has.
Recognizing the hair color and the whisker marks, he already guessed who she is, but ask he still does.
"Are you the one who summoned me, little one?"
"I did." The girl started to tell him everything even if he attempted to stop her especially when she talks something about perverts, a flaming blue Phoenix, the seas outside the borders and whatnot. How she was pushed to her 'death' just so she can use the kyuubi's chakra.
"Alright," Sighing, he places her back on top of his head. "That is something that man can definitely do. I just cannot believe he will do the same to you…"
"You mean he also tried to kill the Yondaime by throwing him over a mountain or a cliff?"
"The brat is just a genin at the time," He added with a chuckle. "But yeah, Jiraiya did the same 'push him over to his death' thing."
Crossing her arms, she sat with a frown on her face. "A tried and tested method. Unconventional yet highly disturbing." Exclaiming in shock, the little girl requested to be brought back up immediately or her friend might kill the perverted sannin accidentally. But the blonde Uzumaki did confirm repeatedly if she can now summon the members of his clan since she already signed the contract and all. He was about to mention about his test but she showed him her 'Gama-chan' (who unmistakably looks like a miniature version of himself) and how she really love toads accompanied by that puppy eyed gaze.
"Fine! I'll just have to test you in a different way. But I expect you to be ready, understand?" With a cheer, the girl did hugged him happily as if she didn't hear what he just said.
Ah. Looks like she knows how to use her eyes to get what she wants. Or did she have selective hearing?
Oh well.
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Author's note:
Enjoy!
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