Rune Soldier Naruto
Disclaimer: I don't own either Rune Soldier Louie or Naruto, so let's leave it at that all right?
Chapter 5
Zombie Hunt
( ): Thoughts
((" ")): Kyuubi
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In the Magic Guild's grounds…
The whistling sound of something flying in the air was heard and the source of the sound was revealed as a nearby target dummy was now hit hard with a kunai in the chest. Naruto got up and took out another pair of kunai and began to practice with his throwing skills to make sure he had not gotten rusty all over again and as he got his hits in, he relaxed and moved to get the kinks out of his neck and he felt a bit better.
He had gotten up early to get some much needed training in and to also blow off some steam from the things that happened at least several days ago and while that had been some time, he still felt very annoyed by what had happened, at the moment Master Carwess was currently working on making his new wand for him. He didn't want to bother the head master while he did so and that was why he was here.
As soon as he removed the stiffness from his neck and also his shoulders, he decided to remove the scroll on his back as well as his sword and began to do some stretching exercises and he then began to wonder just what was going to happen for the duration of this day, there was no doubt in his mind that sooner or later, there would be something that crops up and he would be stuck with the bunch yet again.
Speaking of whom, he wondered if the three of them decided to go and check out their collectors to verify if his words were true.
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In the collector's office…
Merrill, Genie, and Melissa were still stunned at the news from the collections agent that was currently handling the debts they owed. The three of them had trooped into the office to see if Naruto's words of paying half of their debts with the agents was true and sure enough….it was.
"Half has been paid?!"
The weedy man nodded as he adjusted his spectacles and replied.
"No less than a week ago, this young man dressed in orange and black along with a scroll on his back, a sword on his back as well and wearing a long coat of red with black flames as well as a headband with a metal plate walked in here and said that he was here to pay half your debts. I was surprised and asked him his name."
"What was his name?"
"Naruto Uzumaki I think, anyway I was curious just how he intended to pay off the debts you each have and he said he was going to pay half, considering the running tab you three have with the office I thought he lost his mind, but at that moment, he pulled out a large bag from what seemed to be a magic pouch of some sort. The bag had over three thousand gold coins and all of them were very real, not fake nor were the coins magical illusions. I asked him why he would pay for half your debts and he said he was doing this to be nice and get you three to trust him since you were his team mates."
The three girls then recalled what Naruto said about him paying half their debts and when they asked to see the gold, they tested it and found the golden coins to be very much real and not fake, this made them realize that the three of them owed Naruto a very big apology for what they had said to him several days before, a fact further reinforced by the words of the collections agent.
"Now I don't know much about this guy Naruto, but if he did a nice thing for you three such as this, I suggest you thank him, I was worrying that this debt would reach the point I'd have to send you three to the prisons."
As they left the collector's offices, the three of them wondered just how they were going to approach Naruto today, they knew for a fact that he was going to be in his favorite tavern, it slightly galled Merrill that they owed Naruto yet again, but she was very curious just where Naruto had gotten that much money to pay half of their debts the way he did. The guy certainly didn't look rich and he was not from a noble family either, so where did he get that kind of funding?
Genie thought under the same lines, the swordswoman had to admit that maybe, just maybe she was wrong about Naruto's abilities, she however was very interested in seeing just what else would the blonde use, if he was telling the truth about not using magic, those tricks of his might be interesting to see. She did wonder just where he had gotten this much wealth, considering how high in the red they were, must have had a LOT of money, but where did he get his hands on that much? They had been adventuring for over three years now ever since they formed their group and even then they were not that well off.
As for Merrill she had to give the young man credit, considering how high they all were in debt, he must have gotten a lot of money, no doubt from being the favored student of the Head Master of the Magic Guild…but even she had some doubts, as far as she knew, the Magic Guild was tight on money and pinched their gold until the coins cried for mercy, or so she heard. Either way, she was curious about this whole thing involving Naruto, this might turn out to be rather interesting.
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In a tavern…
Ila laughed as Naruto ate away like mad on his food.
"Easy Naruto, you are going to choke if you keep that up."
Naruto smiled and replied as he was finally able to swallow the large helping of hot roasted beef down his mouth.
"I can't help it Ila-chan, this stuff tastes great, I wish I had ramen though, but still…"
"Ramen huh? Just what sort of food is that?"
Naruto smiled and thought back on his favorite food, ramen had always been something that he enjoyed deeply ever since he was a kid, while he did eat other food items, and he enjoyed them greatly, he still had his heart set on having ramen. He recalled the first day he dropped by the Ichiraku Ramen Bar so long ago and tasted the ramen there, he fell in love with the food item from day one. That and the fact that the owner Teuchi and also his daughter Ayame were among the few people so long ago who were like family to him. They cared for him and treated him kindly, for that he would always come there to eat his lunch and dinner.
He thought of them and hoped that they were all in good health and were having a thriving business. He then decided to tell Ila a bit about his love for ramen. And since he had eaten ramen for almost his whole life, Naruto was quite an expert on ramen
"Ramen is a special meat or fish based broth dish with noodles as well as plenty of toppings, soy or miso soup and the toppings can be meat or fish as well as vegetables. I loved eating ramen ever since I was a kid back home there in my land. There are at least four kinds of soups, one is the salt soup, it's pretty light, pale yellow in color and has salt with mixtures of chicken, vegetables, fish, and sea weed. Sometimes you use pork bones…"
"Wait a moment, pork bones?"
"Yeah, the bones are boiled so the stock taste is mixed into the soup though not for long so the soup remains clear. The ramen made from that soup stock is pretty good for you, not much fat, vegetables such as cabbages, leeks onions, and bamboo shoots, with chicken meat balls, fish flakes, and pickled plums as toppings too. The other is the pork bone soup, this has the pork bones and fat of the pigs boiled in the broth for hours in high heat until it's thick and white, this makes the broth have a great pork taste as well as have a thick and creamy consistency that rivals melted butter as well as milk or gravy. Sometimes they add either soy sauce or chicken stock to the ramen as well as a special black aromatic oil that is edible and made from charred garlic or Sesame seeds."
"The other soup stock type is soy sauce broth, this uses either chicken or vegetable stock along with fish and beef with a good mix of soy sauce to give the soup a brown color as well as a tangy, salty, and savory taste but it is still good to the taste buds, the noodles there are curly than straight like the salt and pork bone soups, though not always, it has marinated bamboo shoots, green onions, fish cakes, bean sprouts, seaweed, boiled eggs, and black pepper along with other spices as well as sliced beef. And the last is the miso soup type, this one is blended with oily fish and chicken broth or lard. That makes the soup have a thick, nutty, slightly sweet and hearty taste. Miso soup ramen is very robust and has a number of good toppings, spicy bean paste, butter, corn, leeks, onions, bean sprouts, ground pork, cabbage, sesame seeds, white pepper, and chopped garlic. The noodles there are thick and curly as well as chewy and topped also with sweet corn and butter."
Ila was impressed at that, she had never heard of this kind of food before and the way Naruto had described it she could almost taste it, she then spoke to her long time friend.
"You sound like an expert on this Naruto-kun."
"Heh, not really, Old Man Teuchi and his daughter-Ayame-neechan are the real experts, I've eaten ramen in their place longer than anyone, I miss their food and they are really nice to me ever since I was a kid back home."
"I see…by the way, I have to ask you something Naruto."
"What is it Ila-chan?"
Ila thought her plans over and decided to speak.
"You have anything to do today?"
Naruto thought it over and decided to check the small book he had on hand that was actually his schedule, in order to avoid looking too much like a lost kid, in the words of Yamato-sensei he decided to carry a schedule booklet to be sure, Ila never understood the words written therein since it was in Naruto's home language but she knew that Naruto knew the words himself. The blonde Chuunin sighed as he read the schedule.
"I've got to do some delivery runs for the taverns today."
Ila sighed but perked up immediately as she decided it would still be a chance for her to join Naruto around the city for the time being.
"All right, you mind if I join you Naruto?"
"Not really, but this might bore you Ila-chan, after all I'm just doing some of my usual delivery rounds."
Ila shook her head and replied.
"Nonsense! Besides, It's not often I get to visit new taverns and all, I usually hang out only here so a new place would be nice."
Naruto decided not to argue with Ila as he got down to work, the job of ferrying supplies from the market to the taverns was something he did on his free time, not only was he paid a small but good sum of money for his efforts, but also he would be able to get some new rumors on the latest happenings around the world, it was a very good thing in his mind as he would get the latest information on what was going on as tavern owners were good in the gossip line.
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In the Temple of Mylee…
Jenny looked over at the students who were currently training with their battle staves in the courtyard, many of them were young apprentices, but there were also a scattering of senior apprentices there, it was time for a number of the young priestesses to go out and experience the world and serve the people as Priestesses of Mylee, three of them were close supporters of Melissa, they were also nearing the point that they would be needed to handle missions for the outside world. And she had just the mission for them.
There had been reports of zombies infesting some nearby ruins a week of two worth of travel from Ohfun and many of the people of the villages that were near the ruins had petitioned for the Temple to send some Priestesses to cleanse the place. She decided to send the group on the mission with Melissa leading the team, for now however, she had to wait for Melissa to arrive and talk to her about the soon to come mission to the temple ruins.
It was not long before the priestess in question arrived and the head priestess turned to speak to her apprentice.
"Melissa, it's good to see you here, I have some important tasks for you."
Melissa nodded and spoke to her superior.
"Yes Priestess Jenny?"
"There is a temple ruin that has a zombie infestation in it, the location was originally considered clean, but now it seems that something foul has taken residence in the ruins, it would be a good place for a number of our apprentices to get as much experience in dealing with the undead as well as learning how to live in the outside world. You will be taking a number of apprentice Priestesses to this ruin, and bring your champion along as well all right."
Melissa flinched a bit at that and Jenny was quick to notice that and spoke to her student.
"I take it something happened in your mission there to the Tarsuis Forest?"
Melissa nodded and told Jenny about all that had happened and the discoveries of what Naruto was able to do in battle as well as what happened when they were going back to Ohfun, Jenny sighed a bit and while it did make her unhappy that Melissa and Naruto were still not in good straits, but she had to admit that Naruto was doing exactly what she hoped he would do in order to help Melissa get used to the real world. The blonde ninja was doing his best to work with Melissa and despite their gripes with one another; Melissa could see that the idea of having Naruto as Melissa's champion was going to work fine.
As Melissa was done she wondered just how Jenny would react to the news of the latest row between her and Naruto, she knew for a fact that Jenny had high regard for Naruto though why she would never know at this moment.
"Melissa…"
"I apologize Mistress Jenny, it's just not easy dealing with…Naruto being my champion."
"I see, however, it is by learning the truth about others that we can really put our lessons to the test Melissa….anyway, we have to do our duties for now, though I hope that you would at least take the time needed to see the truth of things before making a full judgment on someone's actions Melissa, it would not be good for a Priestess of Mylee to be making accusations without proper proof after all."
"I understand."
"Good, I suggest you bring your group into this mission as they will no doubt be given payment, and Melissa, show Naruto some courtesy by thanking him for helping in making the financial debts you have easier to pay, after all, Naruto gave up a good amount of his own hard earned money to help you.."
Melissa gave a sigh at this as she knew this was not going to look well to her but Jenny was right, she did owe Naruto both an apology as well as thanks for doing that for her and the others. It was the least she could do, for now she knew that Genie as well as Merrill were there in the tavern that they normally frequent when they were not at work. It was then that she met the three Priestesses who were going with her in this mission. One was an orange haired girl, the other had reddish brown hair, and the last had deep raven black hair, she knew them well enough.
"We're happy to be traveling with you Miss Melissa!"
"Yeah! We'll do our very best!"
"This is such an honor!"
Later, she and the other priestesses arrived in the tavern and there were naturally Genie and Merrill, as soon as she had informed the two of the coming mission, Merrill agreed with the idea of going there to begin with as they were getting paid on this mission while Genie was also interested to see how things would go in this trip. Melissa sighed a bit as she sat down and wondered just what to do if ever Naruto showed up.
While she was not going to make a scene like before, it still made her uncomfortable with the idea of anyone finding out her chosen champion was an assassin. She kept in mind that Naruto had never killed anyone before but it still took some getting used to, after all, she had dreamed of getting a valiant knight in shining armor but instead got him. However, he had done something which was rather gentlemanly, which was paying off half their debts and while she was not as money savvy as Merrill, she knew that they had a lot of debt and to know that he had paid half of it was surprising.
"So when to do we set off to do this mission Melissa?"
"Tomorrow would be a good time, the sooner we can remove the threat in the temple then all the better for the townspeople."
It was then that Ila showed up and that was where Merrill saw her and she was curious as to why Ila was here of all places..
"Hey Ila."
Ila turned and the red haired sorceress arrived at the table.
"Hi there, I came here with Naruto today since he's going some supply runs for the taverns, what seems to be going on here?"
"Melissa's going on another mission and we're going to bring the priestess along as well."
"So I guess that means that Naruto would be coming along then."
The three nodded though with some reluctance and that was when Anna spoke out.
"Who is this Naruto person?"
"That would be me."
The three girls turned to see Naruto who was dressed in his full attire with the scroll on his back as well as his sword. The blonde Chuunin had spotted the group as soon as they were in the tavern and managed to silently work his way to them, in line with keeping his ninja training as sharp as possible. Besides that, he wanted to see if Genie, Melissa and Merrill could see him coming, and apparently they didn't.
The three priestesses were surprised since they had no idea that someone was behind them at that very second; both Genie and Merrill were somewhat surprised that Naruto had managed to avoid them from seeing him. They were unaware that after all the hardships he had to deal with back home, Naruto had taken his training a lot more seriously in the ninja arts to prove he had what it took be a ninja worthy of not just being the future Hokage but as the son of the Fourth and more besides. That was why before he got sucked into this dimension, Naruto had pushed himself to succeed in it all to make his godfather Jiraiya, his Jonin sensei Kakashi and all the people he was close to proud of him.
(How the heck did he manage to do that?!)
Merrill was surprised as she considered herself to be very skilled in sensing danger yet Naruto was able to avoid her senses until he spoke. How could she had missed him since only he dressed in orange, red, and black?
(This is just like the time he had that kunai to my throat….not bad, it fits if he was trained to be an assassin.)
Genie had to admit that while she still had an axe to grind with the blonde Shinobi,/Mage, she had to admire his ability to avoid being heard or seen, such a style was considered rather deadly.
Naruto looked the three women over and spoke.
"Judging from your clothes you three are apprentice priestesses from the Temple of Mylee…which means that they are supposed to be on some sort of a training mission and Melissa is the supervising Priestess, am I right Melissa?"
Melissa looked at Naruto still gave her a slightly hard look, no doubt he was still unhappy with the accusation she threw at him when he told them that he had seen their debt collectors and she accused him of murdering them as he had been trained as an assassin. She sighed mentally and nodded at Naruto's question.
"Yes, there's a ruin that's already been checked out but the villagers have sent a request to have the ruin checked out again since there seems to be something taking residence there."
Naruto knew he would have to come along again as Melissa's champion and he sighed as he had not gotten the apology from her as well as from Merrill and genie, but at least he would be able to put some more of his skills to better use.
"All right then, I'll see you all tomorrow."
As Naruto left with Ila, the three young priestesses looked at him and wondered just who he was, they had seen the hard look that he had given Melissa and while they had no idea as to why Melissa was getting that kind of look from Naruto of all people, they were not in the mood to have anyone hurt their idol.
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The next day…
Naruto arrived there to see Melissa, Merrill, and Genie ready to move out while the three priestesses were there as well, he had already packed up a good number of supplies, using some of the funds he had collected from his works as well as the recent payments for some of his other activities. He bought plenty of supplies that could be of good use and had them in several large packs. As soon as he arrived he looked at the three and wondered just where their supplies were.
"Aren't you three traveling a little too light or something?"
Janet replied.
"We're fine, we're with Miss Melissa so we'll be all right."
Joan and Anna nodded as well, and Naruto could tell that the three of them had some sort of hero worship thing going on with Melissa, no doubt they considered her their idol and wanted to emulate her. Naruto could help but shake his head as this was beginning to remind of his younger days when many girls would flock to a certain Uchiha survivor when he was still back in the Academy. He recalled that so well that he could have sworn that Melissa was the female version of the younger Sasuke in the hero worship department, considering the looks the three gave to Melissa.
(Geez…this is like seeing the Sasuke fan club all over again….)
Of course, Sakura had shed her love for Sasuke considering how far he had fallen and many of the people in the village of Konoha now consider Sasuke as an exile. He might not have wished that was the case, but there was nothing he could done now as Sasuke brought himself to ruin in his hatred. Besides that, he learned that his girl-friend Hinata carried to torch for him even then so it wasn't a total loss. And he was with the two of them now so there was no need for him to dwell on such things.
He placed those thoughts aside and replied.
"Anyway, I got some new supplies for everyone, spare food, tools, some medical salves, potions and all the other tidbits, plus some trail rations for the trip. Anyway, do the three of you still have those scrolls?"
The three nodded as they handed him the scrolls that had their gear in them. The three watched as Naruto had the scrolls and then made some gestures with the scrolls opened, in a puff of smoke the three were surprised to see several piles of items appear on the scrolls. They watched as Naruto divided the supplies he just bought, placing them with the current piles, he then made a different set of hand signs and the piles vanished once more.
"Wow…."
"What kind of magic was that?"
"What kind of scrolls are those?"
Naruto grinned a bit and replied.
"Those are storage scrolls, where I come from we store all needed gear in them for easier transport and less hassle. Anyhow, I made some extra scrolls so you can have them."
The blonde Chuunin took what's left of the supplies he had bought and took out the other scrolls he had worked on before. He developed this world's version of his world's scrolls and they worked fine, he decided to test them out on the three priestesses since they were different though still similar to the ones his world used. As soon as the supplies were on the scrolls he spoke to the priestesses.
"Now then, all we need to seal the stuff away if a drop of blood from each of you."
That got a reaction from Joan, Anna, and Janet as they recoiled from Naruto.
"What?! You want a drop of blood?!"
Naruto shook his head in exasperation and gave them a look of annoyance.
"Yes a drop of blood from each of you, it's not like I'm asking for a whole tankard full here, besides, there is a reason for it, the drop of blood is your blood contract with the scroll, once you place the blood there the scroll will then obey only your commands. Think of it as your personal storage scroll."
The three looked at one another and then to Melissa who gave a nod and they sighed as they cut their fingers and let a drop of blood fall to the scroll. Naruto had made the scrolls in a way that they used the runes of this world as their language to make it less of a hassle for him, but the gestures had to be the same as the ones used back in his dimension. The three watched as the blood began to move and form into their names in Runes, much to their surprise and that of Melissa and the others.
Naruto nodded at that as he finished it off.
"Now, unlike using wands, if you want to store away those items on the scrolls you have to follow some hand signs, now follow me and when you are done then mold your inner energy into the gestures."
Joan, Anna, and Janet began to follow Naruto's example as he did his hand signs, it took some effort as well as a good amount of trial and error but they got it and the blonde could see that while they were not aware of it, the three had just tapped into their bodies' reserve of chakra, as soon as he could see that they were ready, it was then that Naruto finished it off.
"Now then, say the word seal and the scroll will do the rest."
The three nodded and spoke the word.
"Seal!"
They watched as the supplies on their scrolls disappeared and there was the word for full in runes there was none before. Naruto nodded in approval, looks like things won't be so bad on this trip after all. He then finished it off with the last instructions.
"If you want to get the supplies from the scroll, do the same gestures and say the word unseal."
The three did so and they were surprised that in that same puff of smoke, the supplies that vanished were back in sight on top of the scroll. Naruto smiled as they sealed it away and he rolled the scrolls up and gave them to the three.
"Not bad, you three are quick studies; now don't lose those all right? It's hard making new ones like them."
Joan, Janet and Anna nodded, still marveling at the scrolls before them as they had never seen this kind of magic before in their lives. They began to think that maybe this guy would be a good asset to the group as well. Melissa and her friends then turned to Naruto and spoke to him, no doubt somewhat surprised that the three priestesses had such scrolls, the ones they had were totally different and relied on him to open them.
"How come their scrolls are different than the ones we have?"
"Yeah, our scrolls rely on you being the one to open them. So why don't we have scrolls like them?"
"I have to agree with Merrill and Genie Naruto, this is not exactly wise to give us scrolls that need you to open them when we need the supplies and you are not around."
Naruto sighed and replied to the questions.
"You'll get your own scrolls soon enough, besides the reason is that the scrolls you have were ones I had with me and were bound to me by contract. As soon as I get back I'll see if I have enough supplies to make more of them so don't ask me again, besides, the reason I never gave you three your own personal scrolls is that you three didn't trust me, not to mention that fact that two of you have tried to attack me more than once, and the other has considered me as an evil person even after only knowing me for only a few weeks."
Naruto glared at them to dare them to say otherwise and they were silent as they had to admit that he did have a point in his words. The blonde Chuunin however was far from done with what he wanted to say and decided to finish things before they headed out to do this duty handed to Melissa by Jenny.
"Until you three learn to trust me, I am not handing you your own scrolls and that is that. Now let's get going."
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Later…
As the group kept on traveling, Naruto was deep in thought at the moment on how he could find a way to get back home, he hoped that there was some way he could be able to see the people he cared about back in Konoha and elsewhere back home, he thought about how much trouble he must be in back home at the moment. He wished that he had some way to even just send a message back, but he doubted writing a letter was going to cut it, while he had developed considerable magical talent already, he still needed t find out just how he had arrived in this world so he would have a much bigger picture on how he got there.
As the group moved on Genie noted that Naruto seemed so deep in thought that she couldn't help but try to figure just what made the blonde ninja/mage so silent.
"Is it just me or is Naruto dead silent?"
Merrill shrugged and replied.
"Just as long as he's not getting on anyone's nerves is fine with me."
Melissa looked at Naruto as he seemed to be deep in thought and she couldn't help but wonder just what was going through Naruto's head at this moment. She placed that aside for the time being until Joan ventured a question to her.
"Miss Melissa, just who is Naruto anyway?"
Melissa wondered what she should say, should she tell Joan and the others that Naruto was her champion? No, it was still too difficult for her to say it as she still needed time to think about how to break the news to the three that he was her champion, she had no idea just how Joan, Janet and Anna would react if they found out that Naruto was a ninja as well as a mage. She then decided to ask Joan why was it she wanted to know more about Naruto.
"Why do you want to know Joan?"
"Well….he uses magic like a mage but he never seems to act like it, he managed to sneak up on us without anyone noticing, and the magic he used on those scrolls he gave is something I have never seen before."
Anna then joined in.
"Yeah….not to mention I have seen him in the Temple before, always talking to Head Priestess Jenny, they seem to be on friendly terms too."
Melissa decided to tell things as best she could, she was not going to mention that Naruto was trained as an assassin to the three just yet, or maybe never. It was up to her after all.
"Well, I learned that he is a good friend of the head Priestess and is a student in the Magic Guild, hand picked by Master Carwess himself. His full name is Naruto Uzumaki if I recall."
The two young apprentice priestesses nodded and it was then that Anna spoke out.
"Wait….I've heard of him before!"
"Really?"
Anna nodded vigorously as she told the others of what she found out..
"I heard that he was the one who foiled some sort of robbery attempt in the Magic Guild's storehouse for magical ingredients a few months back, they caught the man but he was literally begging to be locked away for life and he looked like he got beaten by a hundred people at once! It was then that Naruto showed up and the man panicked even more until Naruto hit him to keep him quiet."
Joan thought about that and she nodded as she began to recall Naruto. Apparently Naruto's escapades in Ohfun were not unheard of.
"Yeah….now that I think about it, he was also rumored to be the one who helped the guards in Ohfun at one time find a smuggler who dabbled in forbidden weapons, I don't know how but Naruto apparently found out the man's location and had helped the guards in capturing the man without incident, he was well paid for his efforts too."
This surprised everyone in the group of the three female adventurers; apparently Naruto had been doing a lot of things in Ohfun that seemed to actually be beneficial to all involved though there was no doubt he was not acting as a mage, but a ninja as he said himself to be. The three of them looked at their brooding companion and wondered just what other rumors were on with him. Janet then walked over to the blonde Chuunin and spoke to him.
"Mr. Naruto?"
That got Naruto out of his thoughts and looked at the young priestess.
"Yeah, is there something wrong? And don't call me Mr. Naruto, Naruto is fine by me since I'm not that old."
"Oh, okay, I was wondering about that massive scroll on your back there, what is it?"
Naruto grinned at that and hefted the scroll to his shoulder.
"This is a Summoning Contract Scroll,"
"Summoning Contract?"
"Yeah, it kind of having a familiar with you wherever you go but instead of the creature being with you, you give a blood offering to the creature and use your body's inner energy to bring the creature to you, the larger the creature, the more energy is needed to bring the creature her I have my name on it as well in blood so I can use it, only the ones who have their names on such a contract can summon the animal."
Janet was surprised as she looked at the massive scroll….just what sort of creature could this person summon that required him to offer his blood? It must be a very powerful creature in order to require such a scroll to summon it.
As the group made camp, Melissa and the other priestess decided to focus on seeing the beauty of the place before them while Naruto helped in gathering what he could to get the fire going. He managed to unseal the other supplies and soon a camp fire was ready. Since they had plenty of food with them, there was no need for them to go out hunting and gathering what they could at this moment. As the girls began to get used to the situation, it seemed that there would be no problem tonight… Naruto however was deep in thought.
The priestess's question had made him realize something that he had forgotten for months due to the thought that Summoning his Toad allies would be impossible, but now that he thought about it, then there was a chance that he could summon his Toad Summons and have them Reverse Summon him back to Konoha.
(It's a wild chance….but I can try it out.)
However, it was not long before he was feeling the emergence of his demon resident in his stomach. The Kyuubi was not the least bit amused by what Naruto had in mind and the demon fox made that fact very clear to his container.
(("You WANT to use the Summoning Scroll?"))
(Yeah, if this works, it might be helpful enough to get me home…)
(("There's one problem with that idea kit, as you might have known already, the summoning jutsu requires you to have enough chakra to summon a creature that is able to be in the size needed for the amount of chakra you can use, normally you can summon those two brothers with your already present chakra, but if you needed to summon that mammoth Boss of a Toad Summon named Gamabunta, then you use a combination of my chakra and yours….follow me so far?"))
(Yeah…)
(("Good….now then on with why doing this Summoning thing is a bad idea, in order for you to summon one of those Toads from your world to this one; you have to use the same level of chakra that you used to summon Gamabunta, and that is just for the two Toads you trained with in order to learn Combination Jutsu. In simple terms, you use up enough chakra to make three Jonin drop from exhaustion. If you tried to summon Gamabunta of all things…you would need to be using your Sage Mode AND my chakra at the very same time and that can be very exhausting….in simpler terms…you run the risk of killing yourself. Plus if the Toad Summons have to go back home…then they would have to burn up a lot of their own chakra just to head back….that is why you cannot use the Toad Summoning Scroll to get home right off the bat."))
Naruto frowned at that and spoke to the Kyuubi.
(What about Senjutsu chakra combined with your won chakra?)
(("That can work too, but keep in mind you would have to study how to manipulate space and time, and you don't have that training, only that bastard Madara Uchiha had that ability as you recall, he's the only ninja I know of who could manipulate space and time in a way that naturally made him extremely difficult to kill. You recall how hard it was to even land a glancing blow on him when you first met him as that goofball Tobi?"))
Naruto nodded at that as he recalled just how hard it had been to even lay a blow on Madara, he had used a Rasengan on the ancient Uchiha Clan head before when they first met and he just phased right through him without a single impact, it had taken all of his abilities, his use of the Senjutsu chakra as well as the Kyuubi's own chakra to finally end Madara once and for all. He then spoke to the Kyuubi to finally be sure about things.
(So there's no way back to Konoha through the Reverse Summoning Jutsu?)
(("I didn't say that….but you would need a mammoth amount of chakra to do that, and apart from the use of the Senjutsu chakra, the only way for that to happen is if you use my full power, and you vowed not to use it too much remember? Besides that, you know the results of that right?"))
Naruto didn't need to be reminded at how much chaos he could be capable of when he allowed the Kyuubi to take over his body, while he now had a higher and stronger level of control over his tailed States, even to the dreaded Eight Tailed State, he was not in the mood to unleash to that level of power in this world of all places. However knowing that he could summon his Toad allies was enough, if he could tell them everything on where he was at the moment, then he would at least assure the others back in Konoha that he would be fine.
(All right….I'll just summon Gamatatsu and Gamakichi, do we have enough chakra for that?)
The Kyuubi growled positively and that was enough for Naruto to know. The blonde Chuunin decided to try it out as he removed the scroll from his back and as soon as he was able to ready the scroll, he relaxed himself and began to summon the chakra of the Kyuubi, as soon as he felt the chakra flow into him, he began to make the hand signs, making the others look at him with some level of confusion, namely the three apprentice Priestesses, and Joan spoke.
"What is he doing?"
"I don't know, those gestures are not like anything I know of."
Genie, Melissa, and Merrill looked on, trying to figure out just what Naruto was up to now, but it was not long for them to figure it out as Naruto bit his finger to take some blood from his finger, he then focused the chakra and shouted out the jutsu as he placed his hands on the ground.
"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!!!"
The group were surprised that there was a sudden explosion of smoke in the field before them, in a moment, the blonde ninja/mage stood up and as Merrill was about to ask what was going on, they spotted two massive forms in the smoke, Genie instinctually reached for her sword while Melissa was ready to use her war hammer and Merrill was armed with her daggers. It was then that the smoke cleared and the two forms were revealed.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
The three apprentice priestesses shouted as the cloud of smoke revealed two frogs….but these were not the regular type of frogs….they were about the sizes of large horses or small houses, one had deep orange skin, had a vest on it with several streaks of black color as well as gloves and a sash on the place where the waist would be for a human, the other creature had a similar setup of clothes but no gloves, it had deep yellow skin with orange streaks on it's body as well as several gourds on it's sash.
If the sight of the two massive creatures was not surprising enough for the group of women, they were getting yet another shock as the one with orange skin spoke to Naruto in the human tongue as it raised it's front limb..
"Yo! Naruto-san, good to see you here!"
Naruto smiled at his old buddy Gamakichi who was accompanied by his younger but no less large brother Gamatatsu, the red skinned Frog Summon was still wearing the sash, vest and the gloves he wore when he joined Naruto all those years after the training with Jiraiya, since then if Naruto' didn't need the heavy muscles but something a bit more precise he would call on both Gamakichi and Gamatatsu. The two toad brothers were good friends of his and while it had been some time since he had seen them, he was happy that they had grown a lot more powerful than he had last seen them, he had taken a hell of a great risk to use the Toad Summoning Scroll, but it seemed that since the Animal Summoning Jutsu crosses locations, it could very well cross dimensions, however it had taken a lot of chakra from him to the point he nearly felt like he was going to pass out, he knew that if he ever ran out of his own chakra, he would die, the loss of Kakashi was enough to tell him that. He missed his sensei but knew that he was not forgotten and he would never forget how much Kakashi meant to him.
He smiled a bit as he felt his body recover and responded to Gamakichi's greeting.
"Nice to see you too Gamakichi, and it's great to see you too Gamatatsu."
Naruto began to feel exhausted and fell a bit forward but that was when Gamatatsu sprang into action and caught him as the yellow skinned toad summon and brother of Gamakichi moved forward and spoke to their summoner.
"Easy there Naruto-san…you look pale, maybe you haven't been eating enough…"
That was when the others in the group reacted.
"THOSE…THOSE…THOSE FROGS ARE TALKING!!!!!!"
Gamakichi looked at the direction of the three young priestesses and snorted a bit.
"Hey! We're Toads! Not Frogs!"
Melissa wondered just what was going on here, of all the things she expected from her champion, summoning massive toads that could actually talk was utterly not what she had in mind. Genie was looking on with wide eyes at this as she saw the creatures, while Merrill was still trying to digest the fact that the Toads were talking to them. Gamakichi looked about and made a comment to his summoner and sometime friend.
"Hey Naruto-san, where are we? This place sure as heck isn't Konoha or anywhere I know of."
Naruto sighed and replied to Gamakichi's question.
"Believe me, we have a lot to talk about, by the way….how's Gamabunta-san doing?'
Gamakichi grinned and replied.
"Dad's fine, he's still in good health and doing a lot of work for the moment, he was actually wondering when you were going to summon him for the chance to finally share a drink with him. Anyhow, Shima and Fukasaku are still arguing as usual though Fukasaku is a little bit more relaxed about it. The others are also in good health as well, so you don't have to worry about us back there on Mount Myobokuzan."
Naruto grinned at that, at least his Summons were in good health, he had been worried when he had not been able to see them for some time. he then decided that he should fill them in on what was the current situation before him. But he decided to enlist the support of the two Toad Summon siblings for the mission.
"I'll tell you some important things later you guys, but do you mind helping me out in a mission?"
Gamakichi nodded with a wide grin.
"Sure thing Naruto-san, I'll be more than ready to help out, it's been getting kind of dull without some action to do."
Gamatatsu smiled and replied.
"Sure thing, I just hope that a very good snack is waiting at the end of it."
Naruto chuckled a bit, despite maturing physically, Gamatatsu still had a thing for snack foods and he knew that was not going to go away anytime soon. It was then that Melissa stepped forward and spoke to Naruto.
"Naruto…. Just what ARE they?"
Before Naruto could answer Melissa's question, Gamakichi directed his attention to the blonde priestess, the Toad Summon looked the senior priestess over, and then directed his attention to Merrill as well as Genie, this made the three women in question somewhat nervous as to why the Toad being was looking them over. They got their answer when Gamakichi looked at Naruto and spoke.
"Hey Naruto-san, just who are these three?"
"Oh yeah, Gamakichi, Gamatatsu, this is Melissa, Genie, and Merrill."
"Oh…hey Naruto-san, are you going to forget about Sakura and Hinata or something? I thought they were your girlfriends?"
That was enough to make Melissa and the others look at Naruto in surprise while the blonde ninja/mage slapped his forehead, he should have known this was going to happen with Gamakichi and he replied.
"No I'm not doing such a thing, besides, there's a lot of things going on here that I need to tell you about. Let's just focus on the mission at hand okay?"
Gamakichi knew that he was making Naruto uncomfortable to say the least and decided to hold his tongue and it seemed that Gamatatsu did the very same thing and it was then that genie decided to speak out, while she was still trying to figure out what to think of the two massive talking toads that had just appeared before them, she wanted to know just what they were capable of in combat.
"While I admit that this….was surprising, these Toads would have to be able to carry their own weight if they intend to help us on the mission, so what are they capable of?"
Naruto grinned and spoke to his two Toad Summons as there were some things that they could show to the group.
"You're up Gamatatsu."
The yellow skinned Toad grinned and nodded at that. He then directed himself to a nearby tree and began to focus his chakra and as soon as he felt his inner supply be properly molded and fueled, he unleashed the jutsu.
"SUITON!!! MIZU NO KENJU!!!!"
The yellow skinned Toad unleashed a high speed bullet of water that hit the tree and literally broke it into smaller pieces as if they were cut by a powerful blade like they were merely kindling. This surprised the group immediately as Naruto grinned as Gamatatsu gave a happy grin at his brother and Naruto, apparently Gamatatsu had been training again to be better in helping out due to his slowly growing maturity to equal Gamakiri with the technique.
"How'd I do brother, Naruto-san?"
Gamakichi grinned and gave his little brother the thumbs up.
"Nicely done brother, I guess the training paid off."
Naruto agreed.
"Yeah! That was cool, I'd love to see the combination jutsu we make this time, I think is's your turn Gamakichi."
The orange skinned toad nodded at that and picked his own target tree, the Toad then made several hand signs and then as he felt his chakra grow as well as the oil in his body be in the right mix and amount, he unleashed his own technique.
"KATON!! ENDAN!!!!"
The group watched as the orange skinned Toad unleashed a massive tongue of fire right before the startled group of women and reduced the tree to ash.
All the while Naruto was relaxed at the sight before him, he had seen Gamakichi do this before when they fought with the Three Tails as well as working with Yukimaru… he then thought of the young kid and hoped that he and Guren were all right. He then looked at Melissa and the others as their eyes were wide with shock, Merrill then spoke out.
"Did…Did I just see that?! That massive Toad breathed fire?!"
Gamakichi grinned and replied.
"Yep, your eyes didn't fool you at all human, I'm a Fire Chakra type, while my brother here is a Water Chakra Type."
The Priestesses as well as Genie and Merrill were still looking on with shock as Naruto then joined into the conversation.
"Gamakichi and Gamatatsu are among those I summon if I need support with certain jutsu that can only be done with an animal summoning. Now with that out of the way, I guess we can keep moving to those ruins you Priestesses were so hot on going to once we break camp tomorrow….anyway, just what sort of threat are we dealing with this time?"
Janet was the first to speak at that point while still looking at both Gamakichi and Gamatatsu with a rather wary eye.
"We're supposed to be clearing out the ruined temple of zombies."
Naruto blanched at that, he had some fairly high dislike for anything that dealt with the undead, he was spooked out of his wits more than once when he was on a mission in the Land of Birds with Neji, Lee, and Tenten along with Kakashi to help deal with some sort of ghost haunting the country, while they finally brought the rightful ruler to power, they had found out that there was a real ghost who helped them, not to mention the fact that at one point in his life, he was visited by the spirits of both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Gekko Hayate, the very second he realized he had been visited by actual ghosts, he was not able to sleep for a week despite how much he viewed the former Third Hokage as a grandfather.
Melissa noticed that and spoke to Naruto.
"Naruto, you all right?"
Gamakichi noted that and spoke to Melissa.
"No worries about that, Naruto just has a dislike for anything dealing with undead and spirits."
"Really? So Naruto's got a dislike for the undead huh?"
Naruto looked at Merrill and replied.
"Yeah I don't have a liking for the undead, is there a problem with that?"
"Not really, I'm just surprised, that you dislike the undead, I recall the time you tore apart that hellhound back in the forest with that spell you used, so I thought you'd have no problems dealing with the walking dead."
Naruto sighed, he was not going to go into details just yet and seeing as they were not going to get much out of the blonde ninja/mage they decided to let it be for the time being. The women then decided to go take a long bath, but all of them giving Naruto warning glares not to do something outrageous that was going to get him into a beating. However, as they left, the blonde had OTHER ideas.
Of course, the group never found out just what Naruto had in mind as the blonde ninja/mage had been able to find as he observed them while they were bathing.
--------
A day later…
Naruto whistled at the sight before him, the ruined temple was certainly on heck of a mess, there also pieces of the ruin everywhere on the ground.
"Now this one wrecked place."
Melissa then spoke to the three Priestesses.
"This ruin was already checked out and deemed to be safe, so there is no danger of traps or monsters, but it seems that evil took root here again. We're here to go and clean things up, are you ready for this."
"Yes Miss Melissa!"
As the four moved out, Naruto decided to hang back for a while, prompting Gamatatsu to speak to him.
"You sure we should let them go alone Naruto-san?'
"Yeah, this is supposed to be a training exercise for those three and we're here to support them if things get too rowdy. There is no sense not letting them learn the dangers they have to face when they became Priestesses of Mylee in the first place."
Genie and Merrill heard that and decided to hang back as well, they knew that as Priestesses, Melissa and the others could handle using their divine magic to destroy the undead through purifying their corrupt souls and sending to the afterlife. It was not long before the first wave of undead came on the scene.
Naruto gave a look of disgust as he looked at the shambling undead and pinched his nose at the stench coming from them, Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, being toads didn't smell things the way humans did, but they could tell from Naruto's expression of disgust that those odd looking humans smelled.
"Do they really smell that bad?"
Naruto replied to Gamakichi's question with a nod.
"Let me put it this way. You two are lucky you don't smell things the way humans do."
The four priestesses were doing all right but that was when a much larger wave of zombies came out of the ground, and seeing this, made Melissa realize that there must quite a lot down there in the ruins, and that was showing that the risk of going into the ruin was very high at this point. Genie and Merrill saw the mess and moved in to support Melissa but this time Naruto decided to get involved and so did Gamatatsu and Gamakichi.
The three got together as Naruto began to focus his wind chakra as he was behind both Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, while Gamatatsu gathered the oil in his body and added some more to boost the attack as he molded his Water Chakra, and Gamakichi readied his Fire Chakra. In that moment the massive zombie horde was before them, making the others wonder just what the three were doing. They got their answer as Naruto shouted out the combination jutsu.
"FUTON!!! GAMAYU ENDAN!!!!"
The two Toads unleashed their stored chakra as it was supported by Naruto's Wind Element chakra as a fine oil mist flowed before the horde of undead, which was rapidly followed by a massive blast of flames that quickly covered the zombie horde before them, the end result was one massive blast that incinerated the zombies instantly, turning the massive horde into pure ash in a heart beat. That was to the surprise of the women who were there to see the move. Melissa had never thought that she would ever see such a move before, and the same could be said to be in the thoughts of both Genie and Merrill.
Naruto moved away from both Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, as soon as the smoke came to his direction, the blonde Shinobi/Mage covered his mouth and nose with his coat as the stench hit him.
"Oh man….now that REALLY stinks…."
The others couldn't agree more, but at least the zombies were now dealt with. Joan, Janet and Anna made sure to avoid ever annoying the two Toad Summons. The group then moved on to the top of the ruins, but Naruto asked both Gamakichi and Gamatatsu to stay behind for the time being since their weight might make the ruin fall in on itself. The two Toads agreed while Naruto sent a pair of his Kage Bushin to scout ahead to be sure that they were not suddenly ambushed, as soon as his Kage Bushin poofed away, Naruto and the others moved into the ruin to see what else was going to be waiting for them.
As soon as they entered the ruin, Naruto knew that while this place was now cleared of traps, the time and weather that his this place would make this place a death trap then most, as he looked at the floor with his wand creating light, he ran his hands on the ground and felt the thick dirt there.
"Nobody's been here all right, that rules out the chance this whole zombie mess is the work of some mage with a twisted sense of humor or megalomania."
Merrill looked at the map and as she laid it on the ground, Naruto used his wand to light up the map while the others gathered around.
"This place has no traps since it was cleared already, but time and weather might have damaged the structure of the ruin, so we can't just go wandering about in here."
Genie grunted as she got her sword out, she had dealt with some areas filled with undead before and she knew that the very second they entered this place, the zombies would know where they are.
"That might be true, but we still have to clear out the rooms one by one of the zombies. It's best we move from room to room together, we'll need to protect Melissa and the other Priestess with our weapons. You're going to have to be the magical support on this one Naruto."
Naruto shrugged but he had a feeling that this ruin was going to be a problem, the Kyuubi was more than willing to lend a hand or rather a paw to keep his Jinchuuriki alive and breathing. The blonde then spoke mentally to his Bijuu.
(Any sign of trouble?)
(("Not at the moment kit, but the undead are a big time annoying bunch, they're not the full threat though, this entire ruin is one big death trap, the floor might be having weak areas and so could the roof so watch it."))
Naruto agreed as he looked through the room carefully. However as he moved through, Naruto felt the stones below his feet began to creak, he was confused at first at the sound but quickly realized what the danger was, he recalled that kind of trap in one of Orochimaru's hideouts that he, Jiraiya, and Sakura visited in Rice Country when they sought out Sasuke after his defection, with that in mind he stopped and turned to warn the others.
"Don't go…"
The warning came too late as Melissa moved forward and stepped on the same spot as he did and the stone finally gave way below them. Naruto had enough time to swear in his native tongue.
"Here we go again…."
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Both Naruto and Melissa fell through the massive hole that had formed below them as the others looked on and cried out.
"MELISSA!!! NARUTO!!!!"
--------
In the lowest part of the ruin.
"AAAAUUUGGGGHHH!!!"
The pile of rubble was blown apart as Naruto stood up and looked about, as soon as he got his senses back, the blonde Chuunin shouted in pain. In order to shield Melissa from injury, he dropped his wand in the same areas they were, he moved to quickly catch her in flight and use his own body to shield her from harm, he knew the stones falling below them would damage and destroy the floors below them, but the landing was going to hurt like hell, and he was right.
"OOOOWWWW! Now that hurt…."
He however pushed that aside, he spotted his wand which was not destroyed and picked it up to cast light once more and looked about to see just where he was as the Kyuubi began to heal his injuries, but then recalled the Melissa was with him and he looked to see that she too was already on the road to full recovery, though he needed to be sure she was all right.
"Melissa, you okay?"
The blonde priestess shook her head as she got up slowly on her hands.
"I, I think I'm fine, though I think I got some cuts."
"Let me see…"
Naruto looked at Melissa's hands as he jammed the end of his wand on a crack in the floor to stabilize it and look at the cuts, they were not too bad and didn't need treatment. He looked them over a bit more as he felt his body already healing on it's own and spoke to Melissa.
"You don't have any serious wounds, we'd better find a way out of here fast."
Melissa nodded at that, she needed to make sure that the young priestesses would be all right, she could never forgive herself if they were lost in battle.
"You're right….I'm ready, let's go Naruto."
Naruto shook his head to make sure that he was fully awake from the pain and managed to get his bearings. The two of them were getting ready to move on to find a way out but then the sounds of shambling feet came at them as well as a familiar stench, Naruto heightened the light and they spotted more zombies heading their way.
"Not these guys again!"
Melissa used her magic to destroy the zombies, but he spotted even more zombies coming into their direction, they apparently had landed in a massive zombie nest.
Melissa looked about and realized that things were getting bad.
Naruto looked about as more zombies were coming in, he then realized that unless they got some movement room, they were going to be surrounded, besides, the stench of the place meant that the chambers might be filled by strong gases that could be bad news if they were flammable. With that in mind he quickly placed his magic wand aside to his belt and turned to Melissa.
"Melissa! How much do you weigh?"
"What?! That's the worst question you can ask a woman Naruto!"
"I'm not asking it to make you angry here! How much do you weigh?"
"I don't know for sure, but I think I'm mid weight."
"Good enough! Whatever you do, try to hang on, we're going to need to move quick!"
Naruto quickly took Melissa into his hands, he then moved through the zombies, heading towards the wall, much to Melissa's surprise and before she could tell Naruto to stop, Naruto began to literally run up the walls of the ruin, heading for the roof, she looked and saw that Naruto's feet were covered with some sort of blue energy. Somehow this energy was helping Naruto stay on the wall. She had seen him use it before but she had thought that it was normally used only for combat purposes. Now it seemed that it was used for other purposes, as soon as the two were near the roof, Naruto spoke to Melissa.
"Now hold on real tight Melissa, and here's hoping you don't weigh as much!"
Melissa barely had time to react as she followed Naruto's command as he began to walk on the roof of the corridor! She hugged on tightly the blonde ninja /mage in fright, to the point that her hug in Naruto's mind would have given even Sakura a run for her money. He put that out of his mind as he ran on the roof, hoping that the rest of the roof was not as easy to collapse like this one, as soon as he reached the hole, he quickly summoned more of his chakra and leaped off the roof, grabbing the rim and hauling himself up and landing on his back, thankfully since he had left the Toad Summoning Contract with Gamatatsu and Gamakichi and it was therefore not lost.
"Oof!"
Melissa was still hugging Naruto tightly still shocked as she recalled that only moments before, she had seen her champion walk on walls and then on the roof of the ruin, she couldn't believe her eyes at those moments, by all rights what Naruto did would have been impossible, and she knew there and now that there was no magic involved, he used no magical incantations or words, and no way could he have used his wand when he lifted her….just what sort of person was her champion, could all ninjas do those things he had just.
Naruto opened his eyes and was granted the sight of Melissa hugging him tightly as well as feeling her form on his own, and while she was fully dressed and certainly in the same state as before when they met again in that ritual she was in at the Temple, he couldn't help but feel his body react to her presence, it was then Melissa looked right at him at that moment.
Melissa looked to see her face merely inches from Naruto's own face, this allowed her to see his eyes, as well as the rest of his features, she noted the whisker marks on his cheeks, and couldn't help but become curious at them when she first saw them, she was curious if they were tribal markings of some sort, but they were not paint at all. Not only that, she couldn't help but notice how well formed Naruto's features were when she was this close to him. In that moment, the blonde priestess began to feel something warm hit her body…
Naruto was getting a bit uncomfortable with the situation but not in a bad way, if they were not in the middle of a massive ruin filled with undead, this would have been something right out of the Pervy Sage's own novels. He shook that thought aside as he fought off the desire to blush at the feeling of Melissa on top of him as well feeling a certain pair of…
(Augh! Not now!)
"Uh….Melissa, not that I mind the situation or anything….but this is hardly the place for this kind of thing."
Melissa gasped and quickly got off Naruto and she placed her arms on her chest and replied in indignation.
"What are you implying?! I am NOT that kind of woman!"
Naruto knew that he had struck a bad chord on her and decided to get up and fix the situation before things got out of hand again between the two of them. As soon as he got up he spoke to Melissa in the best tone he could manage, though he had to admit that the prissy priestess had a very well toned form. Not to mention…
(Okay….best to avoid those thoughts for now!)
"Sorry about that, but I have to be honest about something, if we were not in this kind of place and in this kind of situation, then I would have enjoyed it."
Melissa blushed at that and Naruto decided to take out his wand and they found themselves in a much bigger room than before. He knew that this was not going to be an easy thing, there were a number of tunnels and passages and there was no telling how long they would be trapped here. It was then that he had an idea. He could use his Kage Bushin to scout out the area and find a way out of the mess they were currently in.
He then checked on Melissa to see if she had any new injuries. He knew that until he was sure that Melissa was all right they would have to fight their way through the zombies that infested the whole area.
"You all right Melissa? Do you have any new injuries?"
Melissa checked herself to be sure and nodded, apart from a few small smudges of dirt and some scratches on her clothes as well as her robe, she was fine.
"I'm all right."
"Good, I'm going to send my Kage Bushin ahead so they can find us a way out of here as well as avoid any more those pit falls, not to mention slow down any of those walking undead."
With that Naruto placed his wand on the ground and shouted out the command.
"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!!!!"
In a moment, Naruto was surrounded by a large number of his kage Bushin and he quickly told his Kage Bushin to find the way out as well as locate the others to see if they were safe. The kage Bushin were then given several packs of glowing powder of different hues they were to make patterns in the stone walls with their kunai and rub those patterns with the powder they each had to mark the way out.
As soon as that was done, the Kage Bushin were dispatched through the tunnels as Naruto picked up his wand and turned to Melissa.
"We'd better get a move on to find the exit soon, or find out how many zombies or whatnot are in there."
Melissa agreed and off the two went with her hoping that the others were having better luck than they were at the moment.
--------
Genie and Merrill were able to fend off the next batch of zombies as the three Priestesses dealt with them using holy magic while the two massive toads Naruto summoned were able to easily bash them away with bullets of water as well as tongues of fire, the swordswoman had to admit that these, Toad Summons as Naruto called them were rather handy not just for their ability to use fire and water for attacks but their sheer physical strength as well. Merrill agreed at that assessment as well as she spoke to Genie as the next batch was soon dealt with. They had to leave since there was a chance that more would be in the area before them.
"Got to give these Toads credit, they certainly are good fighters."
Genie nodded at that as both Gamakichi and Gamatatsu looked on at the now defeated zombie horde.
"Yeah, so that scroll Naruto has been carrying all this time summons them huh? Makes me wonder why he never used them in all the times we've seen him carrying it."
Genie thought it over and gave her opinion.
"Maybe that technique or spell that uses that scroll must drain him of large amounts of his magic, so he reserves it for important situations. I've heard of some spells that require extreme caution to use when in battle after all, and some wizards or sorcerers use those spells as something of a last resort."
Merrill nodded at that.
Joan and her friends wished they could find Melissa but the zombies were too many for them to fight alone so they hoped that Melissa would be all right and that Naruto would keep her alive.
--------
Back in the ruins…
As they made their way to through the darkness with his wand lighting the way, Naruto was silent as he kept his senses on the alert, he knew for a fact that there was a chance the zombies would come out from the dark and attack them. As they moved on, Naruto turned to see how Melissa was doing, the priestess seemed to be all right at the moment but deep in thought, he then decided to speak to her, for now his Kage Bushin have reported nothing back to him through the mental link, meaning that they were not yet dispersed. He then decided to try to get to know her a bit more.
"So….how did you get involved with the Church of Mylee Melissa?"
Melissa sighed and replied.
"That's my business Naruto."
"Really? I remember that china set you brought with you before when we first started out, that set was only possible to acquire if you were nobility, from what I understand, nobles have all the advantages they could ask for since they were entitled to it by birth, so why would you decide to be a Priestess of Mylee?"
"You're not going to let this go?"
"If you don't want to answer my question then that's all right by me, I was just curious what there is to know about you if you and I are to help each other."
Melissa could tell that there was no malice in Naruto's question so she should at least answer him, after all, he wasn't insulting her or anything and wanted to know her a bit more. Besides, she just might find out more about her champion as Jenny suggested.
"I left my family behind because I didn't agree with something they planned for me, I knew that the only way to avoid the plan they had for me was to join the Church of Mylee, and besides, I always wanted to be a Priestess, to go see the world, go on adventures, be famous, and of course, be able to have a hero to be proud of, instead…"
"Instead of the knight in shining armor you dreamed of, you got me instead, am I right?
Melissa decided to be truthful at that.
"Yes, but I….I have to say thank you."
Naruto turned and gave Melissa a wide grin and an amused look, that naturally made Melissa even more curious as to why the blonde ninja/mage was giving her that kind of look.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing bad mind you, I'm just surprised you said thank you to me, what was it for anyway?"
"For….for paying the debts we had with the collectors, and we did find out that you paid them with your own money even if you really didn't need to do it, you made it a bit easier for us at the very least.."
"Oh that huh? You're welcome, I might not be a knight in shining armor Melissa, but at least my heart is in the right place."
Melissa had to agree with that to some degree but she decided to ask Naruto her own question, she vowed not to tell anyone her reasons and she still hadn't told Naruto just what that plan was that she disagreed to, but somehow Naruto managed to get a good deal out of her
"But what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Why are you a ninja? Surely your parents would have objected to you being a ninja. I know that you're not from my land but still…"
Naruto sighed and as he turned to look at Melissa, he had a pained look on his face.
"If you must know, I've always wanted to be a ninja since I was a kid as it was a good chance to really be able to be someone in my land. And besides that, both my parents were ninja too and they were the best in their time until my mother was pregnant with me, but they both died when I was born so I grew up an orphan for most of my life. In that regard you're lucky, you might not have agreed with your parents but at least you have them around."
Melissa was surprised by this and realized that while she wanted to avoid her family and the plans they had for her, they were still around at the very least. It was surprised her a great deal, Naruto usually seemed calm, relaxed, quick to laugh or do other things, but this was something that she never saw. He seemed different in this case, and for good reason as the death of his parents must have been hard for him.
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"I know….I got to know who my parents were in the end and I'm happy to have been able to learn about them, maybe when this is over I'll show you a picture of them, but until we get out of here that's going to…."
Naruto stopped at that moment and his face became deadly serious, this was enough to make Melissa also wary as they heard the shambling moans that told them that company was heading this way. The blonde knew that using high level spells in such an enclosed location with a pretty unstable structure was out of the question, but at the moment he could use his normal spells as well as his sword. He knew that the best chance for them to fight their way out was for him to give Melissa the room needed to cast her spells.
He drew his sword and got ready to fight as he held his wand in one hand and his sword on the other as he spoke to Melissa.
"Get behind me Melissa, I'll give you time to use your magic so focus on that!"
Melissa nodded as she could see the there was logic in Naruto's actions as they began to fight their way through the zombies that came at them, Naruto used a number of low level fire spells, showing that he knew that fire was a good alternative if one didn't use divine magic when dealing with the undead, and his skill with the sword was not so bad either. All the while, Melissa was able to use her magic well in sending the zombies back to their eternal rest. Naruto then guided them through the area as they reached another chamber, it was then that Naruto stopped as he looked to see several paths with various patterns with glowing hues on them, he decided to rest for a moment as he felt the Kyuubi's chakra flow into him once more to make him recover. He waited and it was not long before he smiled and headed into a different direction where one tunnel had deep silver patterns.
"We're going this way Melissa, this is the best way out."
"How do you know?"
"My Kage Bushin mapped out the route before he poofed away so we can take this route as he found his way out to the sunlight. The others were not so lucky as they ran into either dead ends or had to disappear before they were overwhelmed."
Melissa was surprised, she had thought that the clones Naruto were able to make were just used for combat and distractions, she had no idea that they were used in such a fashion, as they moved through the corridor that was mapped out by the kage Bushin that found the way out, the blonde Priestess was getting tired as she had used up a good amount of her magic while Naruto seemed to be fine, as she panted, he decided to stop for the moment.
He moved to Melissa and saw that she was tired and needed a break.
"You all right?"
"I-I'm fine….just tired."
"Take your time, just a few more flights of stairs and a good dash through a pair of tunnels to the right and then straight ahead and we're out of here."
"How do you know that much from your…?"
"In the ninja lore, the Kage Bushin is used for recon work, since it's a real clone and not just a regular clone that doesn't move anywhere, it can move ahead of the real ninja and gather information as well as find weak spots in the defenses of a location, along with any traps. This allows the ninja to avoid being discovered and injured, as soon as the Kage Bushin disappears the knowledge it gains is then passed on to the real ninja. You understand it now Melissa?"
"I guess so…"
Melissa was impressed, she had no idea that it was actually used in that fashion, no wonder he had sent them ahead before they left the area. Maybe there was more to Naruto than she first thought. As soon as she got her energy back, they carried on with trying to find their way out by following the path made by Naruto's Kage Bushin, all the while destroying as many zombies as they possibly could.
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Later…
The two made it back out again without any more encounters with the undead, it seemed that Merrill, Genie, and the three priestesses were able to clear the area as well. It was a good reunion for all as the group had been waiting for hours for them to arrive, the ruin had a much lower number of zombies now and Melissa decided to advise Head Priestess Jenny to send in a group of her fellow priestesses to clear out the rest.
After he had told Gamakichi and Gamatatsu the whole situation, the two Toads were surprised that they were in a totally different world and there was no way for Naruto to get home just yet until he mastered the use of magic and found a way to open a portal for him to go back to Konoha. He asked the two to deliver a message to Konoha as well as the others who were no doubt looking for him, he wanted them to know that he was fine and was already working on trying to find a way back home.
As soon as that was out of the way, the Toads agreed to send the message to Konoha and then Naruto used his Senjutsu chakra to send them back to Mount Myobokuzan. As soon as he did so, he fell to the ground exhausted as he looked up into the sky.
"Man I am beat….using up all that chakra."
Melissa then walked over to Naruto and made the prayer to heal Naruto, much to the blonde's surprise, it seemed that maybe Melissa was not so bad after all. As soon as he felt fully healed he gave the blonde priestess a smile.
"Thanks."
Melissa nodded at that as she finished her healing, she had used up a lot of magic to deal with the zombies and she should have saved some more energy, but she decided to heal Naruto. While in truth that was not needed as the Kyuubi would heal Naruto the next day, the blonde Chuunin decided to not tell her about it for now. Maybe this partnership might work out after all.
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To be continued...
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Author's notes:
Well now, that should wrap this up well enough. Naruto and Melissa got some quality time alone no matter how brief to get to know one another a bit more, and that could help to make the relationship between them a bit easier to deal with. But as you can bet, this will not be easy for anyone just yet. The relationship between the three priestesses and Naruto is a bit different than before, but that certainly won't mean that it will be friendship right off the bat.
On the next chapter, we're going to meet a certain you know who and we'll see how Naruto deals with this pompous ass. Get ready for a very interesting bout in the arena!!