Rune Soldier Naruto
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Naruto or Rune Solider Louie, they belong to their respective creators. Masashi Kishimoto and Ryo Mizuno.
Chapter 2
Unfriendly Reunion
( ): Thoughts/Conversation with the Kyuubi
(( )): Kyuubi's voice
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In the bar…
Genie and Merrill were quick to grab their weapons and both of them were more than ready to fight Naruto who was remaining calm, the other mages in the bar were quick to take notice of the situation and they were quick to get away, many of them were former classmates of the blonde Shinobi/mage of Konoha and they had a feeling that whoever these people were, things were going to get very ugly in the next few minutes.
Ila looked rather surprised by all this and seeing that Melissa and company were eying Naruto as if he was a target they wanted to beat into submission, she made a very accurate guess.
"I take it you've met them before Naruto?"
"Oh yeah, and not in the best of circumstances…"
Merrill spoke first.
"You perverted goat! Don't think we've forgotten how you touched Melissa in public!!!"
Naruto slapped his forehead and glared at Merrill.
"I said it before and I'll say it again, what happened before was a damn accident!"
Genie growled once more and began to draw out her sword, that was enough to get things even more distressful and then Melissa spoke to the others.
"Genie, Merrill, let's settle this without incident all right? I don't think a stand off with the City Watch is a good idea tonight."
Both of the two members of Melissa's group began to relax a bit and both were still glaring at Naruto and Ila then turned to Naruto and spoke to her long time friend, while Naruto was something of a mystery to her at times, she knew for a fact that her friend was not the kind of person to just grab someone intentionally though she made sure not to say that she wanted him to do that to her..
"Naruto, they were asking to hire mage to help them with a ruin that appears to be sealed by magic, so I suggested that they…"
"No way are we letting some pervert join our group!"
Merrill snarled and genie glared and Melissa spoke with a slightly hard look at Naruto.
"I'm sorry Miss, but I am afraid that your friend Naruto can't be part of our group due to his actions the night before when he first came to our attention."
Ila wondered just why they were hostile towards Naruto and decided to figure it out at a much later date. However she decided to stand up for her friend, long after he had left, she had gathered a greater deal of self confidence in herself as she had learned a lot from being with her friend in the Guild.
"I don't know how this all happened, but I have to stress out that Naruto is the only magician who can be able to help you, while there are already graduate, many of them have not been in adventures as Naruto has and Naruto is the most seasoned one when it comes to being out of the Guild."
The three looked Naruto over and Melissa decided to think it all over at a much better time, however Genie and Merrill were not having any of it and they were still recalling how Naruto had defeated the two of them when they first met, Genie's thoughts on how he had knocked her out still made her angry, while Merrill was itching for a chance to pay Naruto back for knocking to her butt the last night.
Naruto however was calmer than the others, all he had been through had taught him to at least have a good level of self control and he relaxed himself once more and spoke directly to Melissa.
"I made it quite clear last night that I had no ill will towards you when that happened, and that it was an accident, do I look like the kind of guy to go wandering about groping a woman at random?"
Naruto was correct about that, after knowing that Hinata loved him and she was alive and safe after he had gone ballistic when she had been wounded by Pain, he had been more open with her and eventually the two of them had gotten very close, and Sakura was very supportive of it and eventually the two Kunoichi had been very important to him, which was why despite being tempted by other attractive women, especially Ila, he did his best to resist the urge to do something untoward her despite his male side egging him on to do it already and the perverted Kyuubi was not helping matters either.
Melissa thought it over and replied.
"Very well, however I must still stress that I cannot have you as a member of this party at the moment, we'll find another way to open the sealed doors."
Naruto quickly expressed some interest at the mention of sealed doors and turned to Ila.
"Sealed door huh? Was there any tell tale signs of who left the seal on it?"
"Well, they haven't given me any details on what sort of door they were talking about."
Naruto then turned to the three and asked them a question.
"What were the markings on the door? Any particular symbol on the doors that you can tell me?"
The three looked at one another and Melissa spoke for the others.
"I am afraid not, the door is covered a large stone slab that restricted us to see just what sort of symbols the door had."
Naruto gave a sigh and thought it over.
While Naruto was interested in money like most people and he actually was very good in keeping money as well as getting it, he was not in it just for the wealth, he needed the money to locate the magical artifacts that he needed to find a way home back to Konoha, the money would help in a great deal in getting all the information he needed such as buying maps, paying sources and doing the usual 'greasing the wheels of commerce' as the Pervy Sage used to put it in.
Besides that, he had already found a few ways to get money when he was not adventuring and visiting ruins and gathering treasure, and those was very lucrative and it attracted the right kind of attention and not the wrong kind, he could have hired off his services as a ninja for espionage and assassination as he had gotten somewhat accustomed to those aspects of being a ninja, but chose not to, it would have been asking for trouble if they found out that he was from Ohfun, that could have resulted in some serious problems or even wars.
After hearing Pain's side of the story when he attacked Konoha, he was not in the mood to have wars happen on his world, it was hard task to find peace, but he would find it, as both Jiraiya and his father The Fourth Hokage believed in him, and he was NOT going to be the instigator of a war here on this world. Wars had a way of creating monsters, and not the mystical kind, Pain was a good example of man turning into a monster because of war and the hatred it breeds in the end of it. That was why when the option of taking up the role of an assassin came up, he refused it outright. There WERE guys in this world he would love to get rid of, but he knew doing that was asking for trouble.
And since the week was getting a bit dull, some excitement was in order and considering the fact that this was a chance to find more things that could help him get home or at least see home, he was more than willing to go at it, besides, he more than enough money for the next few months so this adventure would prove a good distraction until he got a chance to check out the Guild's archives for some more information.
"All right, here's a deal, if you let me take a look at the door and let me find a way to open the sealed door, then whatever ordinary treasure you can find , keep it, the only thing I want is to have any magical items or objects there that I can use."
Merrill looked at Naruto with some level of confusion, she had a feeling that there was something odd about his request for them to give him any magical items. Most mages would have wanted treasure but this guy wanted none of that and only wanted the magical artifact? Something was not right about that, and she decided to think that idea over.
Melissa then spoke.
"You…do know how to open the sealed door?"
"Let me take a look at what sort of magical seal that door's got and I'll see to opening it up."
Genie was not entirely convinced and decided to dig up as much as she could on this Naruto that could prove to be helpful in figuring out if he was a good mage or not.
Melissa wished that there was more to go on, but seeing as they had no other options at the moment, she decided to chance it for the time being, it would still be a number of days before she had to meet up with Jenny for an important announcement. She knew that her group needed the money badly, Genie needed to pay off the tax collectors, and so did Merrill and that was something that they all had to work on.
"All right then, we'll meet you a few days from now."
As the three left, the atmosphere seemed to calm down and then Ila turned to Naruto and asked.
"What exactly happened between you and the three of them to be so hostile to you?"
Naruto gave a sigh and told Ila the whole thing and by the end of it, Ila had to admit that she could see why the three were not very happy with the idea of him coming along, but she was not very happy with the way the others looked at him, in all the time she known the blonde shinobi/mage he was not the kind to just pick fights unless he was attacked first.
"Well, I can understand their reactions, but you did say it was an accident and you were defending yourself."
"I know, I could have said no to the whole thing and walked off, but when I got insulted, well, things kind of go a different way. Besides, it's going to be all right since some exercise is in order and I have a feeling this just might be what I need to get some fun. Besides, I have been meaning to brush up on some techniques and spells anyway and this is good practice before I hit the books in the Guild again. I've been busy keeping to looking for answers to some questions that I think I've gotten rusty, so some good exercise is in order."
Ila didn't suppress the smile on her face, while she could never understand why he always preferred to be outside of the classroom, she couldn't deny the results, he might not have graduated from the Guild officially but in her mind, Naruto's uncanny abilities were more than adequate plus she knew that his other abilities were more than adequate in a fight, after all she had seen them first hand.
Naruto himself was not kidding about his ability to open the sealed door that Melissa and company had to deal with, having been familiar with the rune language due to his use of Kage Bushin when in the libraries in the Guild, he had gained a good degree of understanding of magic as well as one how to deal with sealed doors, there were elemental binding spells that he had heard of, along with locking spells. He might not know all of the forms of magic, but he was ever practical now that he was older, he still kept a number of reserve techniques and abilities, as well as spells in combat. He still had his Sexy No Jutsu and truth be told, he had not gotten rid of it, still using on more than one occasion, and it could be helpful as well.
As the two of them relaxed a bit more, the blonde shinobi/mage had a feeling that things were going to be interesting soon enough.
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In a hut outside of Ohfun…
Melissa and the others were having a discussion on their latest situation with a certain blonde shinobi/mage.
"I can't believe we have to be saddled with him! Are you sure about what you are doing Melissa?"
Melissa sighed and replied.
"It's not like we have much choice, Master Carwess is not going to let his students leave their studies behind and considering that Miss Ila's words appear to be correct, we have no choice in the matter, what about you Genie? What do you think?"
"I don't think it's a good idea to have that lout with us honestly, I checked it out and it seems he's something of a truant and trouble maker in the school, he's never officially graduated from the Guild, so I have a good deal of doubt on his abilities, though it's said he performs very well enough to not be expelled as well as have good grades."
Melissa placed some thought into that and recalled that Ila said that Naruto was personally handpicked by Carwess and the fact that the head Mage of the Magic Guild had sponsored Naruto himself was still there in her mind, so there must be truth to Ila's statements about Naruto being very talented.
"I guess you have a point, still, Miss Ila was not lying as far as I can sense about his abilities as a mage so it does raise the question about how he can be a truant and still be handpicked by Master Carwess himself, as I understand it, getting handpicked by Carwess is considered a very rare honor, so he must have a degree of talent."
Genie couldn't dispute that and then Ila had an idea.
"Why don't we test him when we go out to the ruins then? That way we can see if he's got the magic to back up his words."
The others looked at Merrill and she outlined her plans and when the young thief was done, Genie and Melissa thought about it even more and then Genie replied.
"Are you sure about that Merrill? You realize that we're already low on funds as it is?"
"I know, but this is a good way to see if this guy is as good as his friend says, plus if he proves to be a liability, we can just dump him and find a better mage to help us if we ever go on other adventures later on while we're here."
"Still, this plan is going to be expensive and we're going to need a lot of our savings."
Melissa then recalled something important.
"By the way, I hope to plan to take the day off for now since the Ritual of Revealing is coming up tomorrow."
"What?"
"The Ritual of Revealing, it's one of the most revered rituals in the Church of Mylee, we spend some time in the presence of Mylee and then the War God will reveal to us who is the Valiant Champion we shall serve to better his name."
"I've heard that it's very serious."
"Oh yes, I plan to pray to Mylee for a valiant, brave, gentlemanly champion who might prove to be a lot better than all the others."
Merrill recognized the sight before her and groaned.
"Oh no, not this again."
Genie nodded and while Melissa was in lala land in her dreams of meeting her valiant champion, they talked about this particular quirk that Melissa had, she was their friend and a good priestess of Mylee and was a great healer as well, but due to the fact that she was very naïve and also dreamed a lot, she had this desire to find the perfect man and both Genie and Merrill know that there was no such thing as a perfect man from previous experience, but they could never convince Melissa of that and as much as they disliked it, they did nothing to change that.
However, if Melissa did get the right hero to help them in the rest of their adventures, then all the better as they could get someone to complete their group and if they got lucky and found a female mage, then all the better for them all.
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In the Guild dormitory…
Naruto was currently in his room and was busy running his hands on his set of kunai and was busy thinking about what he was agreeing to for the next few days, this new adventure might be the thing to get rid of the boredom, and give him some time to think on the next journey to find a way back to Konoha, he had no doubts in his mind that his friends and family were worried sick ever since he had disappeared and landed into this world. Hinata was worried no doubt and so was Sakura, along with his other friends and allies…That was why he was willing to go on this adventure, to get one step closer to finding the chance to get home. Of course it would take time and he would have to tell Ila at some point.
(How the heck am I going to tell her that I have to leave and never come back? She'd be heartbroken if I leave…)
((Take her with us then Kit.))
(What?! Are you out of your mind you perverted fox?! I will not kidnap Ila from her own world!! Her parents would kill me!)
((Come on kit, think of it this way, once you find out how to create the portal, you can take with you and send her back whenever you like.))
(You crazy fox, you have any idea what kind of trouble you are asking for?! Ila's no ninja….)
((Then you can train her, think about it, with her brains and her magical knowledge, she'd make a good ninja in only a few years time, not to mention the fact that's….well, you know what I mean by that.))
(You pervert….)
((Oh right, and you're not guilty of having fantasies of her?))
(You've been peeking into my dreams again?!)
((I don't need to peek kit, you radiate them so much I've have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to feel and see them, thankfully I am neither of the three and I am happy for it, at least there's something to view when not in combat.))
(You know….you've been doing this to me ever since we got here, can't you find anything else to busy your time?!)
((Like what?! There's no one here in this world worthy of me even giving you my chakra kit, this world is so boring I'd even gladly welcome all the formerly dead and rotting members of Akatsuki to come back to life and cause some discord here so we can some DECENT enemies to fight!!! The two dunderheads Garret and his brother Hayden are so pathetic they made even a rookie Genin team look interesting, fighting those two pests is like watching snow fall on the ground!!! I want a REAL LIFE OR DEATH FIGHT!!!! AND I WANT IT SOON BEFORE I DIE OF BOREDOM!!!))
Naruto was quite surprised at the words that erupted from his resident that he was unaware that Ila was in his room and she was looking at him with considerable scrutiny and she decided to shake him a bit.
"Naruto? Are you…..eeeep!"
Ila gulped as Naruto reflexively grabbed her arm and threw her to the bed and was now on top of her, poised to strike, relying on his battle trained reflexes, so absorbed was he with the his discussion with the Kyuubi that he didn't register her presence. It was only after a second or three that he recognized the fact that he was on top of Ila, in only his shirt and pants minus his sandals and she was in her dress with her breasts touching his chest and her pressing on her slender, feminine and supple form.
"Naruto…."
Ila was not expecting this to happen at this moment, part of her rational mind told her to knock him off and free herself and stop him from going any further, but her deep feelings towards Naruto were telling her not to fight it, it felt nice to feel him on top of her and in such a very compromising and suggestive position as well.
Naruto quickly realized what was going on and got off and spoke to Ila in a very shocked tone of voice.
"I'm sorry! I was distracted and reacted reflexively Ila!"
Ila sighed and spoke to Naruto.
"It's all right Naruto, I guess I should have tried to get your attention in a different way, you were so deep in thought I thought you were having a hard time again with something that you needed to catch up on."
Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head and replied.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about some things, namely that journey I am going on in the company of those females, the only one I recognize by their clothes at first was the Priestess of Mylee, I am kind of curious as to why I've never met her before. I am planning to drop by Miss Jenny's place and say hi and maybe even ask her if she knows this Melissa."
"You want to know more about this woman you're working with?"
"I guess Ila, since she's a Priestess of Mylee, Jenny would know more about her, better I get all the details of who I'm working with or else I might get lost in the dark on who my partners are, isn't the first time that happened to me."
That was true indeed, when Sai was in their team their meeting wasn't on very good terms either. There was no doubt that Genie and Merrill were not going to be happy working with him considering how they met the first time and if they met again, there was a chance that the two would attack him the moment they got a chance.
He however placed that aside and planned to meet up with Jenny the following day at night.
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In the temple of Mylee…
In the main meeting hall, Melissa had just finished with her speech about heroes and the duties of the Priestesses to their chosen champions and when they would meet again, she would tell them what it means to be a hero. As she finished, she met a trio of younger Priestesses. The three were Ann, Gannet, and Joan, the three of them were very much happy that she was going to be taking her Ritual and they wished her the best as she was giddy at the prospect of finding her Champion.
Meanwhile, back in Genie's home, the muscular woman was training with her sword and after she was done, she was greeted by Merrill who was working as an apple gatherer at one of her part time jobs. The two had a discussion on Naruto and the young thief spoke.
"You know, I wonder if this guy we're hiring can really be a good mage."
"I doubt it, he hasn't even graduated yet from the Guild and he certainly is no hit with the students, I heard a number of them got on his bad side more than once."
"True, but at least he's no wimp, I still think we should make him pay for what he did to us and we can see if he can actually fight without any trouble."
"Right, by the way Merrill, any word from Melissa yet?"
"No, she should be undergoing to ritual right now, say, why don't we go and pay her a visit? I managed to get enough money to buy the supplies we need so we're good to go soon enough."
"Right, I just hope that Mylee gives us someone we can count on."
Later…
Naruto was on his way to the temple and wondered if the time was right for him, he knew that Jeny was working with one of her favored disciples at the moment, and while it was still only mid afternoon, he had a feeling that things would get interesting, it was when he arrived at the door that he knocked.
The slit of the door opened and someone spoke to him.
"Yes? What are you doing here?"
"Hello, I am looking for Head Priestess Jenny, is she around?"
"No, I'm afraid that Head Priestess Jenny is currently overseeing the Ritual of Revealing to Priestess Melissa at the moment."
That got Naruto's attention right off the bat, so the one he wanted to talk to was here as well and undergoing to the ritual no less, he had heard of the ritual of course while training under Jenny in the art of sword play and what he recalled back in his younger days back in his world though he never took up the sword then.
"I see….well, can I see her and Melissa later? I have some business to discuss with both of them."
"No, sorry, this is not the time."
With that the slot closed and Naruto shook his head and wondered how long it will be before he could see Jenny, it was then however that his honed shinobi instincts told him that company was right behind him and he turned to see none other than Genie and Merrill.
"You two? Let me guess, you both are here to see your friend Melissa right?"
Genie nodded and replied.
"That's right and I take it you're here for a reason?"
"That I am…."
"Maybe to spy on Melissa and the other Priestesses as well you pervert?"
Naruto looked at Merrill with incredulous eyes, sure he was a bit of a pervert in real life, but he was nowhere near the level of his godfather Jiraiya and he was not in the mood to be told that he was a pervert since he was here on other matters.
"How many times do Ii have to say it? What happened two nights ago was an accident?!"
Merrill snorted a bit and Genie replied.
"Accident or not, you embarrassed Melissa with what happened and of course I have every intention of paying you back for your attacks on me back at that tavern."
The swordswoman took out her sword and then stopped when she saw the katana on Naruto's back, he had left behind his wand and his Toad Summoning contract scroll back in his room, under Ila's stewardship at the moment. It was then that Genie decided to see if this mage was good with a sword, she wanted to see how this mage can fight without the wand.
"You're carrying a sword huh? Why don't we find out how good you are with it?"
Naruto did not like this and while he knew Mylee was a God of War he doubted anyone found it tasteful for a fight to break out in front of a temple of all things.
"Hey, I didn't come here looking for a fight, I came here to speak to the Head Priestess."
Genie however was focused on testing Naruto as well as paying him back for the injuries that he had given her and now was a good a time as any.
"Let's deal with the now, you owe me a chance to pay you back for those attacks you gave me two nights before, and if there is one thing I dislike it's unpaid debts, I want to be able to pay you back, every time I recall the night you and I fought, my jaw aches a bit and that is annoying."
"If I were to recall, I was trying to avoid a fight, but you wanted one, and I take it you want one now?"
"Less talking mage, either fight and draw your sword or leave before I get angry."
Naruto could tell that this was getting out of hand and it wasn't helping matters when Merrill also made her move and got her daggers ready. Naruto quickly decided to sneak into the temple and avoid a confrontation with these two and here in front of the temple of Mylee no less, he was not in the mood for a fight and quickly took out some of his left over flash bomb pellets. And it was a good move as both Genie and Merrill moved closer, and were about to attack him, this told Naruto that the kid gloves were off, it was time to get serious!
Genie and Merrill were blinded by the sound of the pellet going off and Naruto quickly moved out of the way but not before using a spare summoning scroll to summon a large amount of cable and quickly wrapped it around the two and restrained them and quickly moved out of the way. Genie and Merrill recovered from the flash and thought the mage had used a light spell to blind them and then tied them up.
The swordswoman glared at this and managed to reach for her sword and lifted it up and began to cut the cable while Merrill did the same, the rope was very strong and it took a while for them to cut the first few strands and they shouted.
"WE'RE GOING TO GET YOU!!!"
Naruto quickly moved away from the area and was soon on top of the temple and recalled that he would have to be cautions here, the Temple did undergo maintenance every month as much as he recalled in the activities of the Priestesses, but still, loose tiles and stuff were about. He then quickly flipped out of the way when Merrill fired her daggers at him and he fired back with a kunai of his own.
Merrill ducked barely being hit by the kunai, she had not expected the mage to be THAT agile, that was enough for Naruto to quickly throw another kunai at her and that was enough to force her back, unaware of the fact that she was near the edge and fell back, grabbing the edge in time, Naruto knew she would be fine, thieves were nimble ones. But if she was free, then that meant…
"NOW I GOT YOU!!!"
Naruto rolled out of the way as he turned and then charged and lashed out with an elbow and jammed it into Genie's stomach and that forced her back and he followed through with a quick push to force her back and he spoke.
"Now cool off lady!"
Genie glared at that and Merrill got ready to fight as she got up, and the young thief was very irate.
"First you make me fall flat on my rear, and then you tried to make me fall off the roof of this temple?! You are so dead buddy, scratch having you on the trip to the ruins, I'll deal with you now!!!"
"I agree, you stand still and take your deserved beating."
"You two think I'm just going to let the two of you hit me, out of the question, the very second you came to attack me, the kid gloves are off. You want a fight, then bring it!"
The two got ready for a fight and so was Naruto, he might not have started this fight, but he was going to finish it one way or the other, as much as he was not in the mood to start a fight on top of the Temple of Mylee, he had no choice but to fight here and now.
Both Genie and Merrill attacked and Merrill fired her daggers, but Naruto quickly leaped over them and quickly borrowed a move from Lee.
"LEAF HURRICANE!!!"
Naruto lashed out with a spinning kick that surprised Merrill as she was barely able to block and was sent back and then genie took over and Naruto quickly grabbed a roof tile and slapped the sword away. And then as Genie raised her sword, he kicked the flat of the blade, forcing Genie to lose her balance and that allowed him to land a knee to her stomach to force her back..
(Man….for a mage that kick of his packs a heck of a hit…)
Merrill said as she shook her hands to get rid of the shaking feeling after being hit by that kick of Naruto's and she got up and fired several daggers, aiming for Naruto's backside, but Naruto spotted that and quickly used the replacement Jutsu, the same one Kakashi used on him back when they first met and he used Kage Bushin to attack his now deceased Jonin sensei.
Needless to say a shout was heard.
"OOOOOUUUUCCCCCHHHHH!!!"
Genie turned and pulled the daggers that had struck her right in the body which she used to sit down on and she glared at her partner.
"WATCH WHERE YOU THROW THOSE MERRILL!!"
"Sorry!!!"
Merrill was flabbergasted at this as where Naruto had been was now where Genie was.
(How the heck did he do that?!)
Genie growled and ignored the pain on her back side and focused on Naruto and Naruto was about to get ready for another battle and quickly dodged the attack and Merrill moved in with her daggers at the ready as well as her knives to attack Naruto as he got up.
Genie then used the flat of her sword to slam into Naruto, but Naruto saw through that and quickly made the same move as before….only this time with a different victim.
WHACK!!!"
"OOOOOWWWWW!!!"
Merrill screamed as she dropped her daggers and rubbed her own backside as she just got slapped hard by the flat of Genie's sword while Naruto was grinning like a happy monkey on the other side of the roof, he pulled the same Jutsu again only this time it was Merrill who got replaced.
The thief was shouting in pain and turned to genie who was shocked by that as well as she was.
"WHY THE HECK DID YOU HIT ME?!"
"Sorry about that…"
"Look you two, we can keep this up all night and you still won't get me, why don't you two stop this and give it up before hurt yourselves even more?'
Both glared and replied.
"NEVER!!!!"
Naruto got ready and moved back, only to hear something that he didn't like….apparently there was some weakened and cracking stone there due to the weather as well as the usual wear and tear, as well as the recent fighting on the roof between him and Melissa's friends and since it couldn't hold for long, he was very sure that he was going to…
(Great! Just my luck….this is going to hurt.)
CRASH!!!!
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In the private chamber…
"Is it human?"
Melissa looked at the water before her where the massive splash had been, she had been in the water in the nude when the ceremony began and was officiated by Jenny and two attendants. She had just been told by Mylee in a sending that the next person she saw would be her champion, though she was happy, it confused her as Head Priestess Jenny was going to be the first person she would see after this, that was when the stone roof cracked and fell down.
Amazingly enough, she had been unharmed but then heard a shout and then saw something fall in the water before her, Melissa moved forward, and then the water moved up to reveal a blonde head, wearing a red robe with some strange symbol on the back and then there were black sleeves and then she heard the voice.
"Damn! I think Miss Jenny is going to need to have the roof repaired!"
(No! It's can't be!!)
Melissa was shocked and prayed for it to be a dream, but she was wrong as she found herself staring at Naruto who looked and he also blushed as he realized that he was looking at none other than Melissa….in the nude…
"Uhhhh…This is not what you think…"
Melissa's answer?
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! PERVERT!!!!!!"
WHACK!!!!
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In Jenny's private chambers…
"Well now, this was unexpected…"
Jenny said as she looked at the two before her at the moment. Naruto had a slap mark on his face while Melissa was wearing her garb and giving Naruto a very dirty look. The young Priestess then spoke to Jenny.
"Miss Jenny! I must insist that this is against my will!"
Naruto glared at Melissa and replied.
"You think I wanted this to happen?!"
Melissa turned and spoke with a fierce blush on her face and replied.
"You were enjoying it weren't you?!"
"I'd be an idiot to say I didn't enjoy it you know."
"YOU….YOU….PERVERTED MALE!!!"
Naruto glared.
"Well excuse me for being human!"
Jenny looked at the two of them and couldn't help but feel a bit of humor in her mind. The two were going at it like she and Carwess did when they were younger and naïve as well when they started out as adventurers, this felt very interesting and since Mylee had done this deed of revealing to Melissa, Naruto was her champion, but she knew that she needed to talk to Naruto about this matter.
"Melissa, I need to speak to Naruto for the time being, please leave the room."
Melissa relaxed as best as she could manage and left the room and then as soon as she was gone, Jenny made a move to her war hammer and chanted a spell.
Naruto looked at Jenny and knew that there was something she wanted from him. Otherwise she would have never placed the Privacy spell on the room he was currently occupying with her at the moment.
"All right Miss Jenny what exactly is it that you want from me?"
"I want you to accept the need to be Melissa's champion."
Naruto gave a shocked look at Jenny and replied.
"You want me to be her Champion? No offense meant or anything, but I have a greater degree of priorities than baby sit her of all things, besides she's got her allies."
"I am well aware of that, but there is a reason as to why I want you to be her Champion Naruto as well as the fact that Mylee has decreed it, you have a number of traits that I think will rub off well and influence Melissa for the better."
"Really now? What sort of traits are you referring to Miss Jenny?"
"You have the desire to succeed which I know has seen you through many trials in your own world and all you have experienced have no doubt taught you much about the outside world as well. You have also shown the willingness to learn and accept things, I recall the time you told me about your life being…"
"A Jinchuuriki right?"
"Yes, you have endured something that I doubt anyone in the Church of Mylee has ever endured and instead of denying it or giving into despair, you have learned work with it and overcome all the hardship, and look at you now, you have grown into a fine young man and a skilled fighter as well as mage, I doubt that I could pull through if I had to lead the life you had."
"Hey, don't sell yourself short Miss Jenny…you are a strong woman, heck you'd make a great Medic Nin back in my world."
Jenny smiled at that and replied.
"Regardless, you have something that I believe Melissa needs, and that is the ability to understand one another. Now don't get me wrong about Melissa, she is the brightest of my students here in the Church of Mylee, a skilled healer in her own right and a good priestess, but she has flaws."
"Who in the world doesn't have them?"
"Correct, the flaws she has is she is too set in her ways of seeing things in a narrow mindset, while there is no doubt about the existence of good and evil in the world, not everything is as simple or as clear cut as you might think, you know this very well Naruto, considering all you have been through, but Melissa doesn't. She grew up reading story books and fairy tales and believes that those are real, you have to prove to her that those are just stories and are not real, she has to live in the real world and see both the beauty and the ugliness of it. You need to be there to show her how to not just understand it, but to deal with it in the way befitting a Priestess of Mylee and also how to grow stronger for it. And I can think of no better teacher than you."
Naruto could tell that Jenny meant every word she said and there was no denying the fact that it was the truth, still it was something he was not agreeing to, he was trying to find a way home and not be a baby sitter, but then he thought about it even more and then recalled many of the people who he knew long ago, people who meant a lot in his life and were good people….though they were never that way when he first met them. It a way that surprised him, he was doing the things he had done before and that was to teach others, he was starting to feel just how it was like when Kakashi used to teach him.
He looked at Jenny and replied.
"Are you sure you want me to do this, you know that I am not exactly from your world and I don't know how Melissa will react if she finds out about….well, you know what I mean by that."
Jenny nodded at that, she had been shocked to know what a ninja was in Naruto's world and to think that there were others just like him who were ninjas as well. But she had faith in her young student's abilities and the fact that he was not an evil being despite the fact that such an evil being resided inside of him.
"I know that Naruto, Melissa will be shocked and worse, but she has to learn either way that heroes are not the kind found in her story books and in her dreams, heroes are people who are brought in to do things because it is the right thing to do. You have done many things that I know to be truly worthy of praise and I have no doubt you will do well here also."
"All you sure about all this?"
"Yes, will you do this for me and for Melissa's sake before you return to your world?"
Naruto thought it over and figured why not, at least this was going to be interesting.
"All right, I might not think this is a good idea, but I'll do as you ask."
"Good, and make sure to teach Melissa about the truth of the world, but do it well and make sure that you do it in a way that she can accept."
Naruto shook his head and spoke to Jenny.
"All right, I am not sure why I got picked for this and I still think it's a bad idea, but I'll do it."
"All right, now then….tell me everything that has happened between you and Melissa, I have a feeling since she speaks to you in such a way, you have met her before."
"You don't know the half of it.".
--------
Outisde…
Melissa was pacing back and forth while wringing her hands and saying to herself.
(THIS IS AGINST MY WILL!!! THIS IS AGAINST MY WILL!!!!)
Naruto then walked out of the room and spoke to her.
"Hey Melissa! Miss Jenny wants a word with you…by the way it looks like you are going to be stuck with me for a while."
Naruto then decided to tease Melissa by giving her a very strong smile and that made Melissa shiver a bit as he walked away.
As Melissa walked in, she spoke to her superior in the Church.
"Missy Jenny, this is against my will! I can't have him as my champion!"
"Oh? Why do you say that Melissa?"
"Because he is unprincipled, ill mannered, and more, he struck one of my friends twice even if Genie was a woman! And he….did something perverted to me before what happened in the sacred area! No gentleman should ever do that to a woman in public!"
Jenny however was well aware of what Melissa was talking about, Naruto had filled her in on the details of his first meeting with Melissa and her friends Genie and Merrill and explained that it was an accident and while he admitted that he did like it to a point, he was not the kind of person to do that to a woman at random and he had tried to reason with them before he was forced to fight to defend himself against Genie's attack as well as Merrill's kick. Jenny knew that while it is considered proper manners not to hit a woman, she kept in mind that Naruto was from a world where that was not something men listened to and there were female ninja after all, many of them were even more deadly than the men as well. Thus Naruto is not above hitting a woman in combat to defend himself and considering his life and the dangers in his world, she couldn't fault Naruto for it.
"I see….however you have to follow the rules of our Church Melissa, Mylee did state that the next person you will see shall be your champion and the first person whom you saw was Naruto….personally, I think he is a good choice despite what most would think."
"You KNOW him?!"
"Yes, he and I have known each other since he started being a student in the Guild under Carwess' personal sponsorship, and he is a gifted mage, despite what others may say, plus…let's just say he is full of surprises."
"But still….he doesn't exactly strike me as a worthy champion Miss Jenny! And he smiled at me in a very ungentlemanly manner!"
"True, but I recall an old saying in my youth when I first started adventuring with Carwess when we were your age and Naruto's, it was….'Do not judge a book by its cover' I am very sure you are familiar with the saying after all. Naruto is a very interesting young man with considerable talents, otherwise Carwess would have never allowed him to be in the Guild. Not to mention other traits and secrets."
"Secrets?"
"Yes Melissa, you have to learn more about Naruto to truly understand WHY he is your champion, and you have to do what you can to learn all that you can about him, even sleep with him if it comes to that."
That was meant as a joke and a figure of speech….but that was more than enough to make Melissa turn as white as her own robes.
(S-S-S-SLEEP WITH HIM?!?! I MUST EVEN BE IN BED WITH THAT MAN?!?!?!!?!?! PRIESTESS JENNY HAS LOST HER MIND!!!)
Jenny could tell that Melissa was having very unhealthy thoughts and replied.
"That was a figure of speech Melissa, calm down, anyway, it still stands, he is your champion and you must serve him to the best of your abilities. Do you understand me Melissa?"
Melissa recovered and nodded despite her wish this was not the case.
"Yes Priestess Jenny."
As she left she tried to remain calm, though in truth, her mind was in a mess.
(THIS IS AGAINST MY WILL!!!!!)
--------
In the Guild dorm…
Naruto slapped his forehead as he walked back into his room and sat down on his bed, he had no idea how he got into this mess and why the God had him targeted for this job, but he had given his word and as a future Hokage, he had to keep his promise to someone.
He however had no doubt that Melissa was throwing a hissy fit with her friends in two, as much as he was not looking forward to this as he had other priorities, he had no choice at the moment and had to deal with it.
--------
The next day…
Genie and Merrill were not happy with the news they got from Melissa, not only was Naruto going to be Melissa's hero, but they were now stuck with him for the rest of their lives. The two had spent the early part of the morning listening to Melissa bemoan the fact she had the arrogant blonde mage as a hero, this was something they had not expected, they had hoped to get the mage to open the ruins and then get the treasure and then leave him to continue after giving him his part as they did make a deal on the matter. But now they were stuck with him for good.
Genie had asked if Melissa could take the Ritual again as maybe Mylee made a mistake, and Melissa shook her head, saying that the ritual could only be taken once and there was no way Mylee was making a mistake as he was the War God and couldn't be wrong in his judgment.
Both Genie and Merrill were not happy with this, but seeing as they had no choice, they gathered up the gear and waited as Naruto finally arrived after being given directions to the former soldier and Knight of Ohfun' home. The blonde shinobi/ mage carried his Toad Summoning Contract scroll and his katana on his back as well as his wand.
Naruto glared deeply at the massive amount of things that were before him and he looked at Merrill, Melissa and Genie with a completely annoyed look, of all the things he was expecting from them, THIS was not one of them. They were expecting him to carry all their equipment into battle and that made him even more annoyed.
He was supposed to be a mage for Kami's sake, not a damn mule!
"You want me to carry all THIS?! What do I look like, a pack mule?!"
There were a number of clothes, weapons, tools, books, other provisions and even a whole tea set, along with a number of plates and cutlery made from silver, much to Naruto's chagrin, who the heck brought a whole tea set, cutlery, and plates to an adventure?! It made no sense to him and of course the fact that those were the kinds he knew nobility used on occasion made him even more curious as to why they were included.
Genie and the others looked on and Genie replied.
"These are out gear and equipment; you want to help us with e ruin we needed to get to? So here's your chance, but you'll have to start somewhere and besides a bit of manual labor won't kill you."
"Yeah, or are you sacred of a little manual labor?"
Merrill sneered a bit while Genie looked on, this made Naruto very annoyed.
Naruto however was not budging on the matter, in his missions both when he was in Konoha and with the Pervy Sage, he had traveled light, carrying only the bare essentials, which was money, food, spare clothes, weapons and scrolls for anything he might need as well as some basic medical gear. He learned the hard way that packing too much was a bad idea and being an adventurer meant bringing the needed things, if these three were supposed to be adventurers, they were the worst bunch he had ever seen, either that or they were doing this to intentionally test him.
"You said you needed a mage to help you with your search in the ruin for any treasure, you mentioned nothing about me carrying all these. If you wanted a pack mule why didn't you hire one to carry all this? Besides that, why bring all THIS, whoever heard of an adventuring party carrying a tea set and plates?! That's just wrong!"
Merrill replied.
"You want to complain so much? Fine, we'll find another mage to help us."
Naruto snorted and replied with crossed arms.
"And I suppose it's escaped your attention that there are no other mages willing to go out on adventures and if you're going to ask Ila to help then forget it, she's got her studies to work on. I'm the only mage here at the moment, so unless you have s summoning contract with any of the other mages, I 'm the only one you've got….and the longer we stay here arguing, the bigger chance of some other party looking for this ruin you guys are going to."
The three knew he was right, the longer they argued here with him the bigger the chance was that there would be other parties out. As much as it pained them to admit that, they were not keen on letting this argument go to him, both Merrill and Genie wanted to pay him back for what he had done two nights before and since this was a good a chance as any, then they would do what they could to really test him.
Genie then replied.
"If you won't haul that for us, then you are not coming to the ruins…"
Naruto however snorted.
"Fine, if I don't go with you, the magical seal door stays there in place and you don't get your treasure."
The three found that they were once again in an impasse as Naruto was adamant on his stance. It was not long before someone had to cave in and it wasn't Naruto. Genie could see that the mage was not budging and had to admit that the fact that he was not going to be intimidated was a bit admirable.
(At least this one's got some back bone.)
Had she and the others been aware of how hard Naruto trained to be at the level he was right now, they would have figured out that carrying luggage was not something that Naruto viewed as helpful. Learning the Water and Tree walking techniques took time and he had failed three times on the Graduation exams in the Academy before learning the Kage Bushin technique, the training for the Rasengan nearly cost him his life more than once and drove him to exhaustion, as well as learning how to summon Gamabunta and the other toads, then of course calling on the Kyuubi was also tiring as hell, then there was the training on Nature Manipulation as well as using his Kage Bushin to learn the Rasen Shuriken and then to learn the Sage Arts. To be reduced to carrying these things which were not very practical in his mind set was a very serious insult to Naruto.
Melissa could see that Naruto was dead serious about this and spoke.
"All right then, but you do realize that we still need these supplies Naruto?"
"Explain to me first why you need a set of plates, cutlery, and a tea set on an adventure? You plan on setting a picnic for the monsters if they show up?"
Melissa frowned a bit at that and replied.
"That is not your business to know, I have brought those with me for a long time since I took up the robes to be a Priestess."
"You're former nobility aren't you? Only they had the money and influence to buy and use stuff like this. I am not hauling that stuff with me, and that is final."
Genie was getting more annoyed then drew her broad sword and replied.
"This is getting tedious Naruto, either haul it or we get to doing what I should have finished back at the bar."
Naruto gave a slight smile.
"That again? All right then…if you can cut me just a bit then I'll haul this, but if I get to place a weapon on you, you allow me to have my say on this matter, deal?"
Genie grinned at idea, this was something she had been waiting for.
"All right, if I win, you stop complaining and haul everything, and if you DO win somehow, you can say what you want on the whole hauling the items deal. Understand that mage?"
"Fine, take your best shot."
Genie nodded and readied her sword and since Naruto merely stood there and readied his wand, she could attack him, she knew for a fact that mages needed time to cast a spell so a warrior needed to get close to attack Naruto, she saw Naruto move his hands and she attacked quickly. Melissa wished that this wouldn't happen, but Genie would not kill Naruto, just try and even the odds while Merrill looked on, eager to see the outcome.
They got a surprise as Naruto seemingly vanished…..only to appear behind Genie a moment later….with a large diamond shaped blade in his left hand and his wand at the ready and glowing, with the blade next to Genie's neck and throat…much to the surprise of both Melissa and Merrill.
"What the?!"
"How did he move that fast?"
Genie's eyes widened as she felt the cold flat edge of the kunai under her chin and near her neck while feeling Naruto's wand on her back and Naruto grinned. Having taken lessons from Lee and Gai, his physical speed was a lot better than before, though nowhere near that of his friend and his Jonin sensei. However, he was much faster than normal people in the sense that he used his chakra and training to increase his speed to a degree that he evaded Genie's attack easily.
He smirked and replied.
"How about that now? If this had been a real battle, then I could use my kunai, and with that, I could cut your throat open in a moment or I could fire a bolt of lightning point blank in your back, the charge might not be harmful at a certain distance but at this range, let's just say you'd be flash fried in a minute."
Genie was surprised at this and wondered if he had used magic.
(He must have used some magic! Maybe a spell that doesn't rely on incantations or something, there are some rumors of that being possible after all.)
Naruto however was getting tired of this and finally spoke to them all.
"Now that I've won this little wager, I suggest you relax and put that sword away, and then I'll have my say on this matter."
Genie growled a bit at being defeated by magic, but she knew that she had made a deal and she had to honor the wager. She placed her sword aside and Naruto could see that at this moment, they woman with the sword was being reasonable at least, though he was sure that she was going to challenge him again soon enough. Genie might a great swordswoman in this world, wielding two swords of two different sizes, but in his mind she was still going to need more training.
He recalled Raiga, Kisame, and Zabuza as well as Suigetsu , all of them were part once of the Mist Seven Swordsmen of the Village of the Hidden Mist and they had the toughest and most deadly ninja force in terms of brutality in combat. Those guys were deadlier swordsmen then Genie and considering the kinds of weapons they used, they were nasty, and of course, there was that Jinchuuriki known as Kirabi who could use seven swords at once, he had even heard that even without assistance from his bijuu, Kirabi had nearly killed Suigetsu, Jugo AND Sasuke in combat. Those guys were much deadlier warriors in his mind and would have made Genie look like a rookie with a sword.
"All right, what do you want to say?"
"First off, we are NOT bringing any cutlery, plates and the tea set because it is not needed in the forest, second, I am a mage, not a pack mule, if you want someone to carry the supplies, then divide it equally with one another so no one gets weighed down. The next is that you keep in mind that I need to be able to move if I need to cast magic to fight with, and hauling all this is only going to make that part of the job of mage even harder. Are we clear on that? Because if we're not, I am not going to help you with the ruins even if you three decide to attack me all at once."
The three looked at one another and Melissa sighed and removed the tea set, plate set, and the cutlery, once those were out of sight, she turned to Naruto and spoke to him with a slightly sullen tone.
"All right, the tea set, cutlery and the plates are gone, can we go now?"
Naruto smiled at that and then replied.
"Good, now just for today since you three decided to LISTEN to me for once instead of trying to cut me down like a reed, I'll carry these items, but only for today so don't expect me to be your pack mule the next time we work together."
Merrill snorted at that.
"Don't get any ideas, this is a onetime deal."
"I rather doubt that, since despite my dislike on the matter. Now then, allow me to handle this part so we can get on our merry way."
Naruto placed aside the kunai and his wand and then took out a trio of scrolls and unwrapped them, these were summoning/storage scrolls that he had on hand when he got sent here in this word and he would always keep these handy, Melissa Genie, and Merrill looked at the scrolls with some degree of confusion as the language was unknown to them, they looked like chicken scratches compared to the runes that they were familiar with.
Naruto took all the food, medicine and provisions into one scroll and placed them all there and then used the hand seals and the food, and medicine all disappeared and there in the middle of the scroll was the word for supplies. Naruto then rolled up the scroll and retired it and placed it away, he did the same for the spare weapons and other gear and then repeated the procedure and the items disappeared. He then placed the other items, namely the clothes and spare items
Genie touched the scrolls and opened them but couldn't make heads or tails of the words and the same could be said for Melissa and the Priestess turned and spoke.
"What are these?"
"Storage/Summoning scrolls, they are a necessity for me since they allow me to carry large numbers of items without being weighed down and no they aren't magic after all."
Genie snorted.
"Not magic huh?"
"Nope, magic uses runes and mediums such as wands, medallions and the like, these scrolls don't use runes and I'm, the only one who understands the language and it works only with the right hand seals, plus it needs another method to be used, and that is blood."
"Blood?"
"Yep, but that's for another time."
He took the scroll and retied it and did the same to the two other scrolls.
The three looked at the blonde and wondered what he meant, but he was not saying anything else at the moment and took the scrolls and placed them into his back pouch.
"If I was to carry them the old fashioned way, that would inhibit my ability to cast magic as I would be weighed down and nothing is more annoying for a mage than to be weighed down." Now let's go shall we?"
--------
At the ruin…
Naruto and the others arrived at the sight and the first thing they needed to do was move some of the debris out of the way. And he turned to the others and spoke.
"So this is the ruin you three are so hot to have me open?"
"Yes, this place was no doubt left behind by some noble family, we had to fight with a band of goblins when we came here before."
Naruto thought it over and then recalled something on his way back to Ohfun previously.
"So you guys were the ones making that entire racket when I went through the forest a few days ago. It figures, so where the door is you guys are having problems with?"
"Underneath there."
Melissa pointed to a large pile of stones there and Naruto gave the Priestess a look of annoyance.
"Let me guess, you want me to move the debris right?"
Melissa nodded and replied.
"You can use magic for that after all."
Naruto snorted and replied.
"Bad idea, I use battle magic remember? If I tried using battle magic on the rubble, there's a big chance I'd just make it worse, the last thing we need is the whole tower falling on our heads you know."
"So how do you plan to do it, lift them all by hand?"
Genie and Merrill looked on as Naruto placed down his massive scroll that was on his back and then made some of those odd hand signs and then spoke.
"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!!!!"
In a large poof of smoke, the blonde mage was surrounded by a large number of exact duplicates of himself, surprising the others as he was not using his wand to cast the spell, just those weird hand gestures and then those copies of him just showed up and were ready to get their orders from the blonde mage. Three of the copies moved to the forest and while the others quickly moved to the rubble and Naruto turned and spoke.
"Those three will be the sentries, anything they see, they will tell me, now then, time to get to work."
Genie was surprised at this, she had heard of spells that were able to make illusions so real to the eye that it would be difficult to tell the difference from the real thing, but this was done before her without the use of a wand, and as far as she could see, the man only had his wand but had not used it.
(He must be using a medium that I can't see at the moment, never mind, as long as that door is open I don't care what else he can do at the moment. But let's see if annoying him can be done.)
(Hmmm….neat trick, but I don't need magic for that.)
Merrill thought as she looked one.
Meanwhile Melissa was thinking even more about how to deal with the fact that Naruto was her champion and wondered what could happen once Naruto got down there in the ruins. She paled at the memories and what Jenny had said to her the night before. She was surprised at the fact that Naruto could do his Kage Bushin, and then, much to her horror, her imagination got the better of her as she began to wonder just what he would do to her if he decides to ask her to…sleep….with him, and he would use that on her…
(THIS IS AGAINST MY WILL!!! THIS IS AGAINST MY WILL!!!)
"Hey Melissa, are you all right? You look REALLY pale."
Melissa realized that her imagination was going wild again and quickly managed to calm herself and spoke to Merrill's question.
With that, the blonde shinobi/mage got to work on removing the rocks and then focused on the heaviest one of the bunch, and it was then that Genie decided to help. That surprised the others and Naruto also.
"I was under the impression you were not planning on helping."
"Hey, you made it this far and you've got SOME backbone. Might as well do something to help you out a bit, besides, you won't be a good mage if you break your back and become useless."
Naruto snorted as he and his Kage Bushin as well as Genie lifted the slab and then it hit the ground. Naruto then walked over to others and reached into his back pouch to get the scroll that had the food in it, unwrapped it, bit his hand to draw blood, much to the surprise of the others and then traced the blood on the scroll, placed it on the ground and spoke.
"Release!!"
The food appeared and Naruto grabbed some food and ate his share while the others got their food. Melissa had to admit to some degree that Naruto was not too bad, though she still had her doubts of his worthiness as a hero.
As soon as he was done, the Kage Bushin poofed away and he sat down to rest a bit, it was always draining to have the information to come back, but Naruto, ever the ninja sucked it up and got to work on his next task.
Naruto looked over the large double door that was there before him and decided to exam it further to make sure there wasn't anything else in the area that could prove a danger to him and the others, if there was one thing he knew for a fact, ruins don't always have to be trapped with magic, plus his experiences in his world taught him even more. As soon as he was done, he got to work and took out another of his scrolls and checked on the record of seals to be sure he had the right one, there were variants after all of a certain seal.
He ran his wand over the stone and saw the lines of magic that held the stone slab in place…
It was then that the rather impatient Merrill spoke.
"So? How long does it take for you to open this thing up?"
"Keep your pants on, this isn't as easy as it looks, whoever sealed this place up went through a lot of trouble to lock it down in the first place. This might take a while so let me do my work."
"Maybe you need to read your books again then, considering that you've only studied in the Guild for a short time and no doubt skipping classes made it harder for you since you didn't graduate from what I've heard."
Genie said, rubbing in the fact that she found out that Naruto had a bad habit of skipping classes by using some cloning spell to annoy his instructors, this told her that he was not a good mage since he had not attended graduation. Genie however was unaware of the fact that his Kage Bushin had been gathering information and not just covering for him as well.
Naruto turned and gave his tormentor a very simple look and replied.
"And I suppose you know the difference between White and Black Magic? Do you know how to cast a cantrip or how to cast a fireball? Do you know how to create a wall of water or create a massive gale with a wave of a wand? Because if you do, by all means do it right now so we can stop yapping and get this treasure you three seem to be after. If you can't do any of that stuff, then let ME worry about how to get this darn thing loose, all right?"
With that done, Naruto went back to looking the thing over while Genie stewed a bit as despite being angry with him, she knew he was right, magic was not her strong point.
Melissa was not happy with how this was going and then spoke to Naruto.
"Naruto, you don't have to be so abrasive…"
"It's the truth after all Melissa, I doubt she could break through this door with her sword, because if breaking this sealed door was so simple then she could have done this. Now I need to work on this, take a break but be ready, if what you told me is any indication, those goblins might come back and the last thing we all need is them behind us."
Melissa could see that Naruto was serious as he studied the door and she decided to leave him be though she still felt somewhat curious about this mage they hired, he was certainly not what she expected of a spell caster.
Naruto managed to determine that it was a Earth bonding spell and it was the reinforcing variant, it made sense at the very least, this door was made from gathered earth and then ritually bonded to the stone in the entrance and if it was hit hard or pried the spell would just gather energy from the surroundings and reinforce itself, somewhat similar to the chakra circulatory system in a ninja. He then recalled witnessing the Byakugan in action when he saw Neji and Hinata fight and his battle with Neji and for a brief moment, he wondered how they were doing and spoke his thoughts out loud.
"I wonder how Neji and Hinata are doing back home?"
Merrill, who was eating a bun spoke.
"Who are Neji and Hinata anyway? Friends of your in the Guild?"
Naruto shook his head.
"No, old friends of mine….back in my land, I'm hoping to see them again since it's….been some time since I've seen them. Anyway, this seal is almost dealt with so hold on."
That was enough to get the attention of the group and then Naruto chanted the right spell and worked his magic and as the door vanished back into earth and dust, the female trio moved forward with genie in the lead with a lit magical torch and went in and then Naruto moved on in as well, and Merrill replied.
"Take the back Mage."
"Hey, this mage has a name and that is Naruto, so use it Shorty."
"What was that?!"
Merrill glared and spoke as she readied her daggers and the others looked at Naruto who was far from intimidated and he spoke.
"You heard me Shorty, use my name the next time you speak in my direction, do that and I use your real name and I won't call you Shorty."
"Don't you call me with that name you arrogant jerk!"
" Arrogant Jerk am I? All right then, how about I call you Squirt, or Tiny?"
"YOU…"
"Say my name Pipsqueak…it won't kill you and its proper after all."
Merrill gritted her teeth and then walked away in a huff.
"You're not worth it!!"
"All right then you Human Flea, but I'll still call you by other names, How about Ant Queen? Or how about I call you a Skinny Female Gnome? Or maybe I can call you a Pint Sized Scarecrow?"
Merrill was fuming, one issue she had was the fact that she was short, while that was an advantage in her profession as a thief, it still galled her and Naruto was not making things any better when he called her a scarecrow and she was tempted, oh she WAS tempted to fire her daggers but had enough and spoke.
"Fine! Naruto… will you take the rear position?"
"Now that didn't hurt did it? Thanks for using my real name this time Merrill."
Merrill gritted her teeth and replied.
"You're welcome…Naruto"
Melissa then spoke to Naruto.
"That was uncalled for Naruto! Merrill is very sensitive about her…"
"Height? Listen Melissa, I have a name, and it's not Mage or any of the sort it's Naruto, it's considered a sign of courtesy to say a person's name went addressing someone right?"
"Yes it is…"
"See? I don't call you names since you use my name properly but she didn't…so who's at fault here?"
"But to speak of Merrill in such terms….it's…"
"Ungentlemanly? Maybe, but it worked didn't it? Now let's go."
In truth , calling Merrill by those names was a bit much in his mind, back then he used to be the short one in the class, next to Hinata when she was a student and his height was always a bone of contention for him, and while the insults were effective on Merrill, it reminded him about how he himself used to be picked on by his height as well when he was a kid.
The group moved down while Merrill gritted her teeth and was imaging how to make Naruto pay for those names he called her. However as they moved deeper into the ruins, Naruto was getting a sinking feeling and since the Kyuubi had enhanced the sense of smell that he had on him, it was able to tell him to be wary.
((There's creatures down here kit, I can smell them….possibly goblins.))
Naruto nodded and he was wary, if there were goblins in the forest, then were would no doubt be others in the place below and he spoke.
"I got a bad feeling about this place…something stinks of trouble in the air."
"Or it could be just you smelling your sweat."
Genie replied as a snide remark and Naruto replied.
"If it was, then you smell too."
"What?!"
"You were sweating too if I were to recall, maybe your smelling yourself?"
Genie turned and spoke as she reached for her sword.
"Be careful what you say Naruto, you are getting into more trouble than you think."
"Genie, Naruto, please calm down, we have to find the treasure here first."
Genie nodded and moved on and Melissa reproached Naruto.
"It's not proper to say that to a woman Naruto!"
"It's the truth to an extent, If you don't want to be said that you smell, don't start by saying it yourself to another person, though at this moment the scent of a woman is a lot better than the smell I'm getting….we're not alone in here Melissa, get that weapon of yours ready."
Melissa wondered what Naruto meant by that as they arrived in the main chamber and spotted a large tomb and then Genie opened it and they saw that there was nothing inside, Merrill was not happy but that was when Naruto turned around and shouted.
"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!!!!!"
In the moment they were surrounded by a ring of Naruto's Kage Bushin, and sure enough, the reason for the blonde' actions was seen as a massive army of goblins came at them.
Merrill put tow and two together and spoke.
"This place must have been raided already and the goblins must have made this place into a nest….damn it, this ruin's already worthless."
Genie readied her sword and replied as Melissa also got ready with her war hammer.
"We can worry about that later Merrill, we need to fight our way out for now! If this is a nest then the ones we fought with the days before must have been out hunting! Let's fight our way out before we become their dinner!"
The goblins closed in and Naruto got ready to fight and so did Merrill, Melissa, and Genie, the three of them were getting ready to fight for their lives, the three had expected the blonde mage to use magic, but Naruto however had another idea, the fact that there were hordes of the goblins meant that using magic was not a good idea until he could deal with the numbers.
Thus magic was out and the art of the ninja is in, it was time for Naruto to stop being the mage and become the ninja!!!
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To be continued…
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Author's Notes:
There, that should be all right for now, this is just the second chapter and I have to study the anime all over again so to make sure that I get this right the first time and not get accused of stealing another person's work, it is a lot closer to the anime and a bit close to the manga so I hope that this mixture will be enough to make a good storyline for this series.
Anyway, I hope you readers like this. I had to make some changes as well to the orignal story, I was in a hurry so this happened.