Chapter 4 – Training and a new slave…

Jiraiya sat the trio down and said, "I know that you should know this Naruto, but in case you didn't. I'm going to go over it again, so that you have the basics down. The abilities that Naruto and I use are chakra based, not mana based. There will be three basic techniques or jutsu that you will learn. You will also learn the escape jutsu, so that you can get out of bindings and if you're captured. Also, Naruto take the shackles off the girls. They will make noise and make it easier to bind them later." Naruto got up and formed a clone. He then formed a ball of energy in his and touched the shackles on the girl. Each shackled broke quickly under the jutsu. Jiraiya scowled and said, "You are going to learn to do that without a clone. Now for the first lesson. The energy that Naruto pushed into you started and enlarged your own chakra. Naruto show them the position to start with moving their chakra around."

Naruto nodded and sat down in a senza position. He clasped his hands together and then said, "Reach down into yourself. Into your core. Where I pushed the chakra into you and then when you can feel it. Give it a light tug."

Raphtalia concentrated and felt the energy in her core and then felt something warm move within her. She exclaimed, "I think I did it!"

Sylvie did the same thing, but was awash in energy and it was apparent with a slightly yellow glow around her body. She then became lightheaded and everything went black.

Naruto was quick to catch her from hitting the ground and looked to Jiraiya. Jiraiya sighed and said, "Looks like we have another over achiever. She should be fine. She is also still healing from an injury. The bandages may have taken some of her chakra and added to the healing. Which could be a good thing." Naruto gently laid Sylvie's head on his lap. Jiraiya then pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Naruto. He then explained, "This is chakra paper. The girls are not advanced enough for this yet, but you are. Push some chakra into it and we will see what chakra type you are."

Naruto pushed chakra into the paper and it split in half and half became wet to the point of it dripping. The other half crinkled and then ignited and burned to ash. Naruto looked surprised and asked, "What does it mean?"

Jiraiya replied, "It means that sensei was an idiot and that you're a protégé. Looks like you have Wind and Water in equal proportion. You also have Lightning and Fire in equal, but lesser proportions. Hmm… To do this right I think we will need to use clones, but also be careful not to disturb your tenant. Let's start with water and fire." He then created two clones and then said, "Create a clone for each and they will work over there."

Naruto nodded and complied. The clones went towards the stream and began to train. Sylvie woke up with her head on Naruto's lap. He then said, "Morning sleepy head."

She blushed and looked up at Naruto, but felt weird. She reached up to the collar around her neck and found it missing. "Where is my collar?"

Naruto replied, "Did you forget I took it off earlier? While you may be a slave. I removed the signatures of that awful practice. Also, we will leave the seals for now since it will keep people from abducting you. I've set the seals to only stop you from attacking me. So, no more orders. I will give you orders, but you will have to do as I say, because you know it is the right thing to do. Remember hesitation in battle can mean death for you or your comrades. We are a team now. Our job is to protect each other. You are to obey either Jiraiya sensei or myself. We will push you hard, but you will also have time to relax and recover. Sylvie will not have to use her left arm in most or the training… at least until it heals. I will also develop a business to acquire more slaves and companions. This training will go both ways. Since sensei doesn't know the language. We will have you train him in it and if you can read. We will buy books to lean the language's written language. The schedule will be chakra training, breakfast, fighting some monsters, lunch, shinobi training, that includes strength, stealth, and endurance, dinner, more chakra training, or book learning and then bed. We will also move from day to day. I will send out some clones to learn some things that we need to know." Naruto created a clone and it changed into a peasant and then jumped off.

Jiraiya clapped and said, "You might have what it takes to be a chuunin. Now have a clone work on breakfast and you get to work on the Rasengan."

Naruto pouted, "Ah!" Both girls giggled at his antics. Jiraiya then began to instruct the girls on basic chakra theory. An hour later the group had breakfast. Jiraiya and Raphtalia became a force to be reckoned with, as they tore through the basic monsters in the area. Naruto collected the parts that merchants would buy, since his shield had enough of those components at the moment. Naruto and Sylvie would hold back, with Naruto blocking and Sylvie attacking with her good arm. The children gained several levels and were now level four and Jiraiya was level seven, while Naruto was only level six. He watched as he continued to get the short end of the stick in experience. He did clear level seven when he felt his clones burst and he got the memories. He looked at Jiraiya and the man nodded. Naruto knew now that Shadow Clones had held a secret that he had not known and was now going to exploit. Lunch was a quiet affair. After lunch, the girls went off with Jiraiya to do the physical aspects of their training. Naruto sent off two clones, one to practice water and one for fire. While he continued work on the Rasengan. Naruto laughed as Jiraiya had to carry both the girls back to dinner. The girls had a hard time studying more about chakra that evening and quickly fell asleep. It was another night of terrors for Raphtalia and snuggles for Sylvie.

One of Naruto's clone that went into town earlier that day and had found out that he could get information from the dragon hourglass in the church. He explained it to Jiraiya after the girls had fallen asleep. Jiraiya had told him it might be better if he snuck in and did his business.

The next morning was a repeat of chakra theory and training and then breakfast. Naruto left two clones to protect Sylvie while the others went hunting. He on the other hand went into town. He pushed his shield onto his back and transformed into a cloaked woman. He snuck into the church and listened into the conversations. He found the hourglass, but didn't approach until the area was empty. Both the shield and hourglass reacted and gave him a timer of over three weeks. He continued to sneak around the church and heard the nuns and a father talk about giving dragon sand to the heroes when they gained some levels. He also discovered where they hid it. Well, where they stored it. It was a storeroom in unorganized piles of bags on shelves. So, he snuck a bag of the sand and poured it into the shield. It told him that he could use a teleport ability, but only after he had achieved level 60. He sighed and left the church and met up with Erhard. The pair discussed things like the other kingdoms and relations to Melmormarc. Where the kingdoms were located and such. His discoveries led him to decide to make a trip after the next wave to an adjoining country. He didn't like the idea of Faubrey or Siltvelt, but did like Shieldfreeden. He noted that it was might be too far to go to Shieldfreeden one go, but Faubrey or Siltvelt would be a good choice for getting some other dragon hourglasses with his shield. This would help him spread out and help other countries. He also asked where he could make money outside of Castle city and Erhard suggested Lute village not too far away to the southwest.

He also had one more thing to do just after nightfall. He found the knight who lied against him. Naruto had transformed into a pretty woman and spiked the knight's drink with a sleeping potion. The knight was groggy and talked about a special prisoner that the king was hiding from the heroes, especially the Shield hero. A pretty face will loosen lips, but the drug seemed to do more. The man thought he was going to have night with a beautiful woman, but woke up the next morning hanging, like an ornament, on the wall above the barracks, stark naked, tied with a note reading that he is a liar and couldn't be trusted. This note was hung around his neck in public display. It took the knights over two hours to get the man down when they eventually found him. The person who found him was a woman going to the market and reported a naked man to the castle guard. The knight was arrested for indecency.

Naruto entered the camp late that night and found two very tired girls waiting on him. He smiled and told them that they were going to go to Lute village and use that as a base of operations. On the way the group ran into several groups of the local rabbits or Usapil. While Raphtalia had problems with killing these animals. Naruto and Jiraiya didn't. They worked with Raphtalia to get over her fear of blood by helping prepare the animals. After about four she finally got over her fear of blood and killed one herself. Naruto and Jiraiya that night cleaned the weapons and tools. Sylvie accidentally dropped a whetstone on the shield and it had an interesting result. Creating the Sharpening Shield. They also fed the shield the Usapil fur and meat, garnering him another two shields. The second day they ran into a warren of Usapil and had to deal with two dozen of them. The party, except for Jiraiya were covered in blood. After taking care of the animals, Naruto took the girls to the river.

Naruto exclaimed, "Clean your clothes off and then clean yourselves off."

The girls replied, happily, "Okay!" and began to strip in front of him at the riverbank.

Naruto exclaimed, "What are you doing?"

Sylvie replied, "Doing as our master ordered." As she shed the last of her clothes and moved off into the water, without a care in the world.

Naruto watched stunned as the girls moved off. He had noticed that they had seemed to have grown in the last couple days. It appeared that they had aged a couple years. He blushed at what he saw and shook his head, as he watched the naked backsides of the girls. He then turned and took his clothes off. He began to wash his shirt and jerkin first. He had not used his cloak or backpack and had left them in camp with Jiraiya. He had taken three towels with him for the trio to use. He was pleasantly surprised that the medicine had done wonders for Raphtalia's cough. Sylvie seemed to not be in much pain from the 'surgery' that had fixed her arm. He had set out his tops on the beach to dry and was working on his pants and boxers now. He finished with them and worked on his body next. He sensed a presence near him and turned to find two blushing, naked girls looking directly at him. He sighed and walked over and grabbed towels. He handed them out. He kept on thinking, 'They are only ten and eleven, not around fourteen. Keep your mind on the job.' He did notice their developing bodies, but said nothing.

Sylvie wrapped the towel around herself and asked, "Did you like what you saw, Naruto-SAMA?"

Naruto sighed and replied, "You're eleven. Yes, I know that you demi-humans age differently as you level, but we should keep this professional. Liking or not liking isn't the point."

Raphtalia had turned and wrapped herself in a towel. She then said, "If It's you… I don't mind. You've been kind to me and helped me."

Naruto was facing away from the girls and had just wrapped his towel around himself. He then said, "This is part of what Sensei warned us about. You both are pretty, and I can tell that you're both going to become beautiful… but I don't know if I'm ready to open my heart again. Besides, I'm older than you guys by four and five years, respectively. I don't want to take advantage of you. Both Jiraiya and Baa-chan would kill me." He stood up.

He felt two arms wrap around him and one was in a splint. He gulped as he felt her chest through the towel push against his back. She then said, "You just proved that you wouldn't take advantage of us. We will follow you to the end of these waves and back to your world if necessary. We care deeply for you. We've only known you a week or so, but you've done so much for us that we want to do something for you. If only a little. Eventually we will become older than you and we know that aging will slow when we hit about eighteen or so. We're level ten or so as a group… with you lagging behind, but if you use clones you can catch up somewhat."

Naruto touched the arms wrapped around him gently and tears welled up in his eyes. He then felt another set of arms wrap around him. Both the girls were just shorter than him, with Raphtalia slightly shorter than Sylvie. He turned within the group hug and hugged the girls tightly. He quietly said, "Thank you."

After a few minutes the hug broke, and the girls walked away to collect their clothes. Naruto was teary eyed and heard Jiraiya say, "Looks like you've done it. They love you. There is no way around it. Not sure what level Raphtalia is at, but Sylvie's is definitely a romantic love. You've gotten lucky, my boy. The food is ready and let's keep them safe for you."

Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes and collected his clothes.

Naruto dressed behind a bush while the girls dressed behind another bush at camp. Jiraiya seemed content to keep an eye on the fire and the food. The trio sat around the fire with the girls sitting on either side of Naruto. Sylvie tasted the food and said, "This tasted good, Sensei."

Jiraiya smiled and replied, "It should, Naruto worked on the herbs for the seasoning. Even though he hasn't been able to taste since that incident with Sakura. He says it has only been a while, but time is relative in some things."

Naruto had just taken a bite and was surprised that he could taste the food and it did taste good. He felt Sylvie lean into him and her ear brush against his. He smiled and ate another bite. He then thought, 'I might have actually found some people to trust other than Baa-chan and Sensei.' He then said, "Yes, this does taste good."

Jiraiya looked at the boy in astonishment and said, "Really?! You've opened your heart again?"

Naruto nodded and suddenly he got four updates for shields. He then exclaimed, "I just got four new shields."

Raphtalia exclaimed, "That's great!"

Sylvie smiled and blushed. She then said, "I hope they will help all of us. Especially you, master." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

That night was busy with both Jiraiya, Raphtalia and Naruto learning the alphabet of this world and some basic words. Raphtalia knew some words, but only the words, not necessarily the alphabet. Naruto also took off the brace and checked Sylvie's arm. He gently cleaned it and rewrapped it.

He then said, "It is healing well. The improvement in my chakra control and your improvement in chakra control and capacity is helping in the healing. I can run a basic diagnostic jutsu now. I can see that the bone is setting, but there are still too many micro fractures in the bone. Also, with you growing. The bone is healing better than expected. You should be fully healed in about four or five days. The arm will be weak, but we can fix that with some intense work, but nothing too much. We don't want to reinjure it."

Jiraiya chuckled and said, "Bravo. You sound like a medical shinobi. I'm impressed. Keep up the studies and can you do the Rasengan with one hand?"

Naruto raised his right hand and blue sphere began to form. He appeared to concentrate, but it wobbled for a second and then became stable. He then lifted his left hand. He repeated the same maneuver, but a little slower. He was sweating from the exertion. He then asked, "Is this good enough?"

Jiraiya clapped and replied, "Much improved, but you need to make it combat ready. Keep up the good work, though. We have a couple weeks left. So, keep at it and you should also keep at the elemental work. From what the crone told me we can learn magic too, but it is expensive."

Sylvie turned to Jiraiya and said, "Sensei, you've reverted to your native tongue. I'm getting the hang of it and can understand somewhat."

Jiraiya sighed and replied as he reverted to the girl's native language, "Sorry, I will keep on trying to use your language."

Sylvie shook her head and said, "No, it is fine. I would like to learn Naruto-sama's language. We will keep working on both being able to learn both languages. We can keep enemies guessing what we are talking about."

During the next day's chakra training. Sylvie walked over to a tree and began to walk up the tree. She made it up two meters and then had to jump back to land on her feet. Naruto smiled and said, "I had problems with that one too. Just keep at it. I would run at it, but taking your time and making sure you have your footing is a good idea. Raphtalia already has this down and is ready for water walking, but we also need to get her capacity up."

Jiraiya smiled and shook his head. He then said, "You may surpass Kakashi as a sensei."

Naruto then asked, "So what happened with him talking about me beating Sasuke?"

Jiraiya chuckled and replied, "I asked Hime about that and she told me that the report said nothing other than you had beaten him at the valley and Kakashi picked him up from you. He had then rushed him back to the village. When she asked him about Sakura…? He gave her the short story and apparently, she jumped to conclusions. You were cleared by the investigation. Sasuke lost is license for several years and is just getting out of prison. Here's the funny part. Sakura asked for Hime to train her about six months after we left. Well, Hime remembered having to go back and fix you after the work she did from your mission. She wasn't happy. She told her flat out no and she would have to get someone who had more time to help her to become stronger. She also told her that she was still on probation for attacking a fellow shinobi. Sakura was smart enough not to try and come up with some excuse of why she did it and just accepted punishment, since she had been on 'D' rank missions for the last six months without being told a reason. She was given another six months' probation for a total of a year. She has asked several jounin to train her, but only Kakashi has done so and he isn't giving her much other than some genjutsu. Most of your class have made chuunin though other than Sasuke and Sakura. Given what you're doing here I might be able to get you a field promotion here. Now let me see that seal."

Naruto nodded and sat down in front of Jiraiya. He lifted his shirt and made his chakra begin to flow. The seal showed on his stomach. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. Naruto noticed and asked, "What?"

Jiraiya replied, "There should have been some deterioration, but it seems to have been repaired somewhat for some reason. Might be the shield. Let's hope so. Just hope you don't get too emotional or you might get too angry and release that beast upon this world."

Naruto wore a worried look and said, "Let's hope not."

Naruto rolled out two sleeping bags and laid down. Raphtalia took his left side and Sylvie took his right. Each girl took one side of his chest and quickly fell asleep. Naruto sighed and smiled warmly. Jiraiya rolled his eyes at the children's antics.

The group spent the next few days going towards Lute. Along the way they found several PikyuPikyu, a bird monster. They collected the feathers and the meat of the monsters. Two days out from Lute Naruto made one last trip to the castle town and Erhard. He took all of the loot in a sealing scroll and left several clones. After getting to Castle Town and selling his wares at the shops under a henge. He went to Erhard's and purchased a short sword and shield for each of the girls along with a couple of leather breast plates. He also discussed a special purchase that Erhard said would be available later that day. He met with Beloukas and purchased a fox girl.

Naruto entered the tent and Beloukas exclaimed, "Welcome back! My most favorite client! What are we looking for today?"

Naruto replied, "I'm looking for a low-level mage."

Beloukas smiled his usual greedy smile and replied, "I have just what you need. She's a little on the lean side, but she is a mage."

Naruto looked at the girl in the cage. She was a fox, but her fur was a dull silver. Her level showed to be six. He could see her ribs through her skin, and she looked to be near death. Her health bar was a sickly-green color and it was at about two-thirds. He commented, "She looks sick and malnourished."

"Yes, but she is the only mage that I have period. I've fed her, but she hasn't responded too well. I'm guessing since you've helped those girls you have. I'm betting that you can help her too. I'll make you a deal. One gold, since she is a fox demi-human," Beloukas asked.

Naruto shook his head and replied, "No, I'll give you seventy-five with a five silver as the processing fee." Her eyes looked hopeful at the prospect of getting out of the cage.

Beloukas laughed and replied, "That is why you're my best customer. You can give me a good deal. Deal. Let's get the paperwork finished and her transferred to you." He opened the cage.

Naruto bent down and entered the cage. He picked her up bridal style and removed her from the cage. She felt light to him and barely there. They entered the inner tent for the seal for transferring the slave seal. Naruto held her while Beloukas did the transfer process. Naruto sat her down on a chair and paid the man. He broke the shackles and took the girl out of the tent. He gave her a pill and a potion. She had a problem swallowing the pill, but just after it went down with the potion, she began to glow. Her Health bar turned to the regular color, and moved to about three-quarters. He went to a clothier and bought a dress and some undergarments that should fit her. He then went to a bath house. He took off his clothes and then took off her clothes. She didn't fight him. He washed her and noticed that she didn't fight him, but he didn't say anything. He rinsed her off and then cleaned himself off and then took her into the bath. She was stiff while she lay against him in the bath. After about ten minutes in the bath, she fell asleep. After another five minutes he lifted her out of the bath and dried her off. He dressed her in the new clothes and himself. He then carried her to a tavern and she woke to the smell of food. He had already ordered food for the two of them. He smiled at her and said, "Good afternoon sleepyhead. Did the bath feel good?"

She asked, "Did I please you, master?"

Naruto replied, "Nothing happened. Other than you getting some sleep. You need some food and then we can discuss your job."

The food was put on the table and the waiter said, "Here you go."

Naruto replied, "Thank you." He turned to the girl and said, "Go ahead and eat. I would also like to know your name."

She took a couple bites and replied, "Milly. Am I to be a concubine?"

Naruto shook his head and replied, "No, you are a mage and are going to help me and my party. I will fill you in more when we reach the rest of the party. My name is Naruto. That is all I can say for now. Now eat. We are going to get you some books for learning magic and whatever you need."

She looked up at him in confusion and asked, "Why?"

Naruto smiled warmly and replied, "Because we… I need you. Also, my team needs you, but I need you."

She then looked down at what she was wearing and said, "You bought me new clothes."

Naruto smiled and replied, "Yep, and Ino told me how to buy clothes for girls. I hope she was right. Do you not remember going into the store to buy them?"

She smiled weakly and replied, "They are nice. I'm sorry master I don't remember." She then continued to eat. She then asked, "Why the bath?"

Naruto replied, "You needed it. Sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable, but it was easier to take one with you than to just get wet and bathe you."

She shook her head and said, "You are my master and thus you own me. You can do what you want with my body."

Naruto scowled and lifted her chin to look at her and said, "I may be your master, but that doesn't mean that I can have my way with you. We will talk about this later. Eat some more, but not too fast, since your body isn't used to eating and is malnourished. We'll go to the magic shop next and get the books. After that we will get you some battle accessories or armor."

She nodded as she finished the food and replied, "As you wish master."

Naruto left the money for the meals on the table and helped Milly up and out of the tavern. They entered the magic shop and the old lady there was amiable. She asked, "What can I do for you?"

Milly replied, "Can you test my master's affinity?"

She smiled and replied, "Why yes. Just touch this crystal ball." Naruto touched the ball and continued, "You have rare affinity for Healing and Support magic. Your turn young lady." Milly touched the crystal ball and she explained, "You have the affinity for fire and illusion, not surprising, since you're a half fox. Now you wanted to buy some books?"

Naruto nodded his head and replied, "Yes how much would a grimoire be?"

The lady smiled and replied, "Basic books with be about one to two gold pieces depending on the type of magic. For the higher levels if can cost up to fifteen or more gold. A crystal ball can be up to fifty gold."

Naruto grimaced and replied, "I would like a fire and a healing grimoire please."

The woman smiled and replied, "That will be two gold."

Naruto sighed and pulled out two gold coins. The woman placed the books on the counter. He then said, "Thank you." He then put them into his pack. He and Milly then went to Erhard's shop and go her a battle dress especially for her being a mage.

Erhard teased, "Are you creating a harem of young girls?"

Naruto shook his head and replied, "No, just happened to be only girls that I've had the choices to get. Yes, they are slaves, but better to get slaves and make their lives easier then to have them die, because they are neglected."

Erhard smiled and said, "You've got a good heart. She's looking on the light side, isn't she?"

Naruto nodded and replied, "Yeah, she was sick and malnourished when I got her. She isn't sick anymore, but I figure we can fix the malnourishment by the time the wave gets here."

Erhard smiles and says, "You've got a lot of cuties on your hands."

Naruto blushed and replied, "They are all dear to me. I'm hoping that Milly will become dear to me too."

Milly came out of the dressing room wearing her battle dress and staff. She also had a dagger at her side. Erhard smiled and said, "Looking great little miss."

Naruto then turned to Erhard and asked, "You got those special orders?"

Erhard nodded and replied "Glad your clone cleared up that letter. I can't read your native language." He pulled out a box and opened it. He then explained, "Fifty of those kunai things and one-hundred of those shuriken things that you and Jiraiya use. Per you're request. Full order thirty-five silver. I'm working on more for you guys for when the wave arrives."

Naruto smiled and replied, "Worth every silver. Thanks for making more." He pulled out a bag of silver and placed it down on the counter. He then said, "Only about one gold and ninety silver left. Got to get some more to get ready for the wave, since we have a little over two weeks left. Knowing the girls, they will want me to upgrade my armor when I return."

Erhard then explained, "You understand how to adjust the breastplates for the girls?"

Naruto nodded and replied, "Yes, and thanks again."

Erhard chuckled and replied, "No problem, be careful and comeback."

Naruto nodded and sealed the box away. He then bent down and bade Milly to mount his back. She tentatively got on his back and they left the town. As soon as they left the town the speed increased massively. Naruto had to use chakra to stick Milly to himself.

Milly seemed quiet during the trip back. The piggyback ride back to the camp at a speed that was both exhilarating and scarry.

Naruto arrived in the late afternoon with Milly. He showed her a place for her in camp. He explained, "Milly, you can sleep anywhere you like within the camp. I will not use the slave crest to order you. I'm not that type, but please do not run off since you're not strong enough to defend yourself right now. I may be your owner, but that doesn't mean I'm going to abuse that privilege. You're a valuable member of my team. Your level is lower than the others right now and we need to rise to meet the level of the others. We also have some different training that we do other than the standard training. Now that we have a mage. We will be using you to help train us in magic. If you notice the extra bar that you lack from the others." She nodded and he continued, "That is chakra. We use it in ways that will help us in the waves. I will now explain. I'm the Shield Hero." Her eyes went wide, and he saw admiration and the fear that was in them disappeared. He went on, "As the Shield Hero. I can only defend… well sort of. I have a trick up my sleave and it is clones that are solid and can do damage. That is the reason I have a weapon on my side. With your help we will learn magic and be more diverse and stronger than before. As you can see. We are sitting at about level ten. We've worked hard for those levels and you will too. We work as a team and will help you along. I will make sure that you're fed and we will work through any fear that you have. Do you have any questions?"

She nodded meekly and asked, "Are you going to take me as a… concubine?"

Naruto sighed and replied, "I'm not worried about sex right now. While you are pretty and will become even more beautiful. We have more to worry about that whether I get… lucky with you or the other girls. I didn't buy you for that purpose. You have skills that I need. I will eventually set you free. If you want to be with me later on that is up to you. Work hard and I'll protect you. I promise."

She smiled and said, "Thank you Naruto-sama. I will serve you to the best of my abilities." She bowed deeply.

A deep voice caused her to turn and run behind Naruto. It exclaimed, "Got another girl?"

Naruto sighed and replied, "Yeah, she is a mage and has some skills. We start her on the initial stages of Chakra training tomorrow. Oh, by the way I will need to see your stomach to get your chakra started."

She sighed and replied, "As my master. If you need me to strip naked than that is what I will do. Since you've already seen me naked."

Sylvie giggled and said, "You can, but he gets embarrassed when you do that. He likes it, but gets embarrassed."

Naruto blushed and exclaimed, "Sylvie-chan!"

Jiraiya took a thinking pose and said, "This one looks a little bit skimpy to me."

Naruto replied, "She was sick and is malnourished. I've already took care of the sickness and the malnourishment will take time. So tomorrow we will be working on chakra and spells. Alright Milly we will get to starting your chakra."

Sylvie helped Milly out of her battledress and helped her lay down on the sleeping bags. She moved the under garments away from Milly's navel. Naruto's hand became engulfed in a blue flame. He touched her stomach and she bucked at the touch. She screamed in pleasure and pain. After she passed out a minute later, Naruto did switched shields and did several hand signs. He ran his hand over the girl and smiled warmly. He looked at his status screen and saw that Milly now had a slowly filling chakra bar.

The next morning was the usual training schedule with a clone of Jiraiya giving Milly instruction on chakra. Breakfast was a interesting affair for Milly, since she watched Naruto fix the food and Sylvie and Raphtalia swoon over the food. Jiraiya laughed at the girls' antics. Milly got an actual smile at what was going on. The group went hunting and found several monsters to hunt. This helped all of them to level especially Milly, who got a better boost from Naruto's slave shield than then the other girls, since the monsters were becoming under leveled and giving lower experience. After dinner the group worked on learning written language and spoken for Jiraiya. Naruto did a diagnostic on both Sylvie and Milly before bed. Both girls were improving. The sleeping arrangements were similar to before, with Milly sleeping close to the trio, but in another sleeping bag.

The next day the group entered Lute and Jiraiya moved off from the group. He was given a book and more instructions before he departed. Naruto and the girls entered the village and entered the market. The found a couple vendors and sold their wares for about twenty silver. Naruto then asked one vendor, "Is there a way to make more money fairly quickly?"

The vendor replied, while looking at the mountain, "The mine has some valuable ore in it, but it is infested with monsters. I don't know what our glorious heroes are doing, but until the mines are cleared out, mining can't continue. I'm sure, if you clear out the mines that the mayor and the lord of the town will pay handsomely for anything that you bring out."

Naruto smiled and said, "Thanks for the information."

The man waved and replied, "No problem. Have a good day kid."

Naruto and the girls came upon the mining camp and scoured the area. He found some abandoned pipes and the shield glowed. Shrugging his shoulders and fed them to the shield and got the 'Pipe Shield' with a skill of 'Shield Prison'. He smiled in glee for finding a new shield. He then found a shed with more supplies. He picked up a pickaxe and the shield again glowed. He chuckled darkly and again fed the shield. This time he acquired the 'Pickaxe Shield' with the skill 'Mining skill +1'. He picked up some rope and again the shield glowed. He began to laugh and fed the shield the rope. He acquired the 'Rope Shield' with the skill 'Air Strike Shield'.

The girls came to the shed and Sylvie asked, "Is everything alright Naruto-sama?"

Naruto changed shields and pointed his arm. He then put his arm up and exclaimed, "Air strike shield!" A green translucent shield appeared before him. He then exclaimed, "Never better! Never better." He grabbed a couple pickaxes and handed one to Raphtalia and held the other himself. He then crossed then made a familiar hand sign and exclaimed, "Shadow clone jutsu!" Three Narutos appeared in the shack. The original handed Sylvie a torch.

Milly exclaimed, "Soo cool!"

Raphtalia replied, 'I know! Right! I want to do that, too."

Naruto then said, "Alright, the clones are guards! Raphtalia and I are to be the miners. Sylvie and Millie are to be support."

The group replied, "Yes sir!"

The group then entered the mine. Naruto changed his shield to the Pickaxe shield. After a while of walking, they entered a magnificent cave with lots of crystals. Naruto and Raphtalia began to mine the ore. Naruto put the first ore into his shield and got another new shield. The 'Light Metal Shield' with a skill of 'Defense +1'. He found some other ores and was able to get some chunks of them too. Thus getting shields for them too. The ores were iron, copper, silver, and lead. Lead was a defense up, copper and iron were smelting, while silver was a damage reduction from demons. He thought to himself, 'I'm getting too lucky. There has to be a catch.'

He then heard Raphtalia drop her pickaxe and silently exclaim, "Dog monster." Over and over. The Two-headed dog was level fifteen while the group minus Milly were level eleven. It would be a fairly even fight if they were a regular party.

Naruto changed shields to the rope shield and tow of his clones disappeared. The dog monster charged at Raphtalia. She screamed and Naruto exclaimed, "Air strike shield." A transparent green shield appeared before Raphtalia and blocked the dog's path. Sylvie charged the dog and hit with her sword just below the ribcage and backed off.

Milly then exclaimed, "As source of thy power, decipher the laws of nature and burn my target. First fire arrow." An arrow made of fire appeared and shot at the dog, hitting it.

The dog yelps in pain at the attacks. Raphtalia is still in shock from seeing the dog. Naruto is now wrapping an arm around the girl and the clones that disappeared suddenly appear just below the necks of each dog head and thrust upwards. Each kunai finds its mark and the dog whimpers for a second and then collapses. Raphtalia is still frightened of the dog, but the clones begin to butcher it. Naruto asks, "Was it the one that attacked your village?"

Raphtalia shook her head into his chest and replied, "No. It had three heads, but I'm still scared."

Naruto rubbed her back and slowly walked her over to the dead monster. He then said, "As the shield hero and as Naruto Uzumaki, I will protect you. You and Sylvie will be my swords and Milly will be my mage. We will also try to make sure that other children don't see a wave cause this type of fear happen to them. When you're ready let me know what happened and we'll talk about it." He then smiled and said, "Take your sword out and stab it. I know it is dead, but at least it will be symbolic. Where am I getting these words?"

Raphtalia smiled and wiped away the tears. She pulled out her sword and wearily approached the monster. She then stabbed the monster. Tears again began to flow and she began to stab the dead creature again and again and again, while screaming and crying. Naruto quickly wrapped her with a hug and she dropped the sword. She weakly said, "I'm sorry."

He smiled and said, "There is no need to be sorry. There is a lot of pent-up anger, fear, and other emotions. We will work on those as best as we can. Now let me feed this monster to my shield and we can move on to harvesting some more ore."

Raphtalia squeeze tighter and shook her head. She pleaded and asked, "A little longer, please?"

Naruto smiled and replied, "Of course."

Milly looked at Sylvie and asked, "Is master so caring about his slaves?"

Sylvie replied, "He loves his slaves. Not in a perverted way, but in a familial way. I want to be his mate, but he is also hurting and wants to have us grow before we or he can work on that part of our lives. Also, we have Waves of Catastrophe to deal with. If you come to love Naruto the way I do then that is fine, but if you find another. I'm sure that he will let you go to them when we are done."

Milly became contemplative. She then looked at Naruto hugging Raphtalia warmly and comforting the girl, as she looked at the monster. His clones continued to butcher the monster. After a little bit, the Raphtalia let Naruto go and he began to feed the monster to his shield. He smiled and changed his shield to a iron shield with two dog heads on it. He then changed it back to the mining shield and finished feeding the monster to his shield. The group continued to mine for several hours more.

The group was now at the inn and had a large amount of food in front of them. Naruto then exclaimed, "Good job everyone! With the clearing of the dog monster and the ore that we recovered we got a good amount of money. So, eat up and we'll go hunting in the morning."

A/N: Sorry for having to wait so long for this chapter, but I wanted to do this my way. As you can see. I am slowly pealing away from canon. I might still do some of the Savior of the Heavenly Fowl arc, but in a different order and in a different way, but that is for future chapters. Possibly three or so down the line. I am still toying with the idea of a cross back to Naruto's home world, but am not sure how to implement and how I will work this. Might do the save Fu, Yugito, and Gaara arcs, but it still is an idea. Could you imagine Akatsuki against Naruto as the Shield hero? Along with the other heroes? Well Spear guy would be in trouble.

Darkimortal – I'm going to address one of my flamers specifically. Sure, I could have written the scene better, but calling me a noob? Interesting for someone who hasn't even written even one story and has less favorite stories than I've written. I'm calling you out specifically, because you called me a noob. While it has been a while since I've written or updated a story. I will call you out as less than a noob. I do give you the fact that you have the guts to say that my writing could be better, but that is, as outside observer and not as a fellow writer. While I know I've gotten several flames and I DO NOT want my readers to go after this person. I point out that calling a writer a noob is infantile… yes, my calling him less than a noob is also infantile, but hey I want to be that way for once, I'm the author muhahahahaha… I will let the person know with a PM myself about this issue, but please don't contact this person please. It is up to me to deal with flamers how I want. Thank you.

Have a Little Feith: Thanks for the pointers in the previous chapters.

goku90504: Thanks for the find and fixing in chapter...

And another nice typo catch by my son.