Pack matters
I own nothing save for Ocs: all other content goes
Several weeks later, early in the morning
Naruto was in his office early to get rid of the paperwork pile up. He just finished finalizing a request for the council for the authorization of a new type of shields for the light infantry. They were complaining about the casualty rates among there ranks. As he finished drawing the design for them at the bottom by his signature, Naruto hear a knock at the door.
"Come in." Naruto said as he just finished
In a instant, Hinata burst through the door, nearly breaking it off its hinges. Her face was soaked with tears, and jumped over the desk and tackled Naruto in a bear hug. She then instantly dove her head into his shoulder and cried into it. He instantly realized the problem, but it only lead to more questions.
'This has got to be about work.' Naruto thought to himself as physically he tried to comfort her without saying anything yet
While his work was horrendous with the amount of paperwork like Hokages had, he was somewhat used to it. Hinata was swamped with all the reforms and bill he was putting in. How the government worked was there were two halves. Naruto's was the military, courts, and general security. Hinata's was the law making body. It was her's that was the civilian side of things. While Naruto had generals, judges and other officials like that, Hinata worked with the newly elected by the people provincial governors. After taking office, Naruto reorganized the area into two equally sized areas easier to control, and two elected lords managed them. There primary purpose however was to be part of the council of lords. Hinata ran this, and even though there were currently two, they worked out if the bill would work or not, and if need be, Hinata would make the final decision. Again, Naruto still had questions and it didn't answer any.
"Hinata, what happened?" Naruto asked
"I-I-It w-w-w-was..." Hinata tried to stammer out
"Hinata honey, my love, my empress, its alright. Take a few deep breaths, wipe off the tears, and tell me whats wrong." Naruto said while stroking her hair
"One of the elected lords said something awful during session..." Hinata said, but Naruto quickly stopped her cause she started crying uncontrollably again
He knew exactly who it was. He basically split the elemental nations down the middle. The one on the left was a honorable, simple woman named Ikara. The other however was a slimy bastard named Naja. While some programs the man brought to attention like resettling the land of whirlpools were masterfully thought out and beneficial. Aside from a few good deeds, the man was as low as you could get. Sneaky, utterly and unremittingly corrupt, and connections far and wide. Naruto wanted to get rid of him, but he knew that it would mean backlash. So the best option for him was to knock some sense into him. Naruto got himself off the chair, and carried Hinata bridal style to Tsunades office. As soon as he got there, Naja appeared.
"Ah, my lord. I wish to discuss your wife's conduct in our latest meeting." He said humbly, a cheap ploy
"Really?" Naruto asked sarcastically, but hid it as almost genuine
'Naja, you are in for it now.' Tsunade thought as she helped Hinata with moral support
"Yes. I feel she is unsuitable for her to be leader of the council of lords if she can't handle a simple insult." He said
Naruto had a trick up his sleeve. Like a court case, he had a writer write everything said in those sessions at what times for future reference. He called in the writer, and handed him the paper.
"Really? Cause from this, its not a simple insult." Naruto said holding up the paper
"That woman should be held for espionage, how dare she do that for a private session." Naja said utterly surprised
"I always was a little paranoid, so I put a writer in there to capture everything. This is what you say to her before she runs out..." Naruto said, all color went from Naja's face, "What you don't understand, you ungrateful little Hyuga whore, is the simple principles of politics. How that man you call a husband put you in a position of power is beyond me. We are deciding peoples fates, there states of living, not like playing around with toys. If it were my choice, you'd be off in some whore house selling yourself for almost nothing, and that's if you were extremely lucky. End quote. The writer then notes Hinata runs off with a delighted look on your face, while Ikara's is horrified by what you said." Naruto read
"I-I-I..." The lord stammered
"You bastard." Tsunade said gritting her teeth
"More than that." Shizune agreed
Naruto walked over and grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him into the air. The face Naja displayed was sheer terror as Naruto's blue eyes displayed a fire of utter hatred in them.
"If I catch you or anyone saying that about my Hinata at all, be it to her face or out somewhere, I will hunt you or them down and feed you straight to a pit of dragons. No, I will not even do that, I'll spare them the horrible taste and vile stomach aches you'd give them. This is your only warning Naja, you got a complaint, take it straight to me, or deal with it." Naruto said, and let him down; Naja ran off like a bunny being chased by a wolf
"Its okay dear, if Naruto's not around, just come to em. I'll punch him into jelly if he says anything like that to you." Tsunade said trying to comfort her
"T-t-thank you a-a-all." Hinata meekly said
"My lord, we need you, this is of military importance." Rectangle came in, and bowing
"I have to go Hinata. Be strong." Naruto said, then kissed her on the cheek and left
"What happened?" Rectangle asked
"It's best I don't tell you for Hinata's confidence's sake." Naruto replied bluntly
"Sorry boss." Rectangle said
"Its alright, you didn't know. Now what is it that you need me for?" Naruto asked
"We got a large number of refugee's from the west right on the palace steps. There rioting wanting you to have audience with them. I got 300 men out there in a shield wall trying to hold them back. Sir if this gets any worse, I'm having on of your dragons roast them cause there really disturbing the peace." Rectangle explained
"Can this day get any worse?" Naruto asked rhetorically
Rectangle got the drift and led him outside. In the plaza that was erected in front of the palace as the city around it was being constructed, thousands of refugees wearing ragged clothes and fur were rioting in the streets. The 300 men were being reinforced, but the sheer amount of people made it a losing battle. They all were chanting madly to see Naruto. When he came out, they stopped and backed off.
"Now who is your leader? I wish to speak with him or her about this." Naruto said
A man about middle aged came out, and walked up through the soldiers to him. He has greyish hair from worrying and lack of sleep. In short he looked older than what he was. Naruto gestured for him to follow him to his office, and he agreed non verbally. They made it to his office, with a eerie silence all the way.
"Thank you for this audience." he said humbly
"Can you tell me why you guys were rioting in the streets?" Naruto asked
"I had no part in that. My people have been refugees for several years now, 7 to be exact. We have lost almost all hope. Your our last hope! You must defeat him!" He said
"Hold the phone. I don't know who you are. Defeat who?" Naruto said utterly confused
"Let me explain. My peoples homeland is on your western border. It makes up the whole western border of your country. We were rich, and craftsmen, builders, not fighters. Most of the refugees scattered across Japan when the dragon attacked." He explained
"A dragon huh? I can handle that." Naruto said
"It was drawn by out excessive wealth." He explained
That confused most people in the room, till Draco came in to see what was going on. When he came in, he knew exactly what was the problem.
"Ah, a dragon drawn by wealth question." Draco said slyly
"Yes, I mean, I know dragons like gold and jewels, but why?" Naruto asked
"There's two alignments for dragons. Some are under the oriental dragon, some under the destroyer. But some let the internal lust for treasure and loot take over them, and they horde it. There attracted to huge wealth, and will guard it with there lives." Draco explained
"Look, a dragon is nothing to snuff at. Give me time to think. I will not abandon your people. I'll make you all citizens, and you can find work as blacksmiths, we need those badly. But the dragon problem will be up for debate." Naruto said
"I thank you for your time." the leader said
"No, I thank you for your time." Naruto said to him, and he humbly left
5 minutes later, with Hinata in Tsunade's office
Shizune finally got Hinata to calm down, and was looking for a towel for her to get the dried tears that caked onto her face. She however still had a worried look on her face, but for a different reason.
"Shizune, I don't know if I should say this to Naruto." She said nervously
"Say what?" She asked, finding a towel and soaking it in water
"I-I want to say something to N-Naruto, but I don't know." Hinata said again
"What do you want to say to him?" Shizune asked
"I-I w-want to have a b-baby." Hinata said meekly
"Hinata, you need to think this over. You just got married a few weeks ago. Have you even had sex with him yet?" She asked
"No, I'm still a virgin." Hinata said embarrassed
"Just think this over okay. That's what I beg of you." Shizune said to her
"I will." Hinata nodded
Hinata under guard from Tsunade made her way to Naruto's office, and even though he was busy with officials on the subject of attacking the ash-lands as the western border was called.
"We send in only ranged units, dragons are weak to them." Ventro's said
"Ya, and get roasted in the process." another general said, commanding the 9th legions
"A dragon that could take over the capital of a rich country like that is powerful, there military would be well funded." Draco said
"Doesn't exactly mean there warriors. By your standards, you can put a scythe in a peasants hand, and say he's a elite soldier." Rectangle scoffed
"What if this dragon decides to attack us? What then? I'm not going to have a threat like this live." Naruto demanded
"Pain, sorrow, and eternal death." A general solemnly said
"Exactly. Even if we send a army with me, the dragon could kill us all with ease." Naruto said
While they were discussing the proper course of action, Kuroi slipped in, and motioned to Naruto to speak with him privately in the hall. Naruto rubbed his temple, knowing this day was not going very well at all.
"What is it? I'm a little busy as of the moment. If you want to help, I could use it." Naruto said irritated
"That's the problem, I can't." Kuroi said, and handed him a scroll
"Dear clan heir Kuroi,
You are summoned by the pack leader Taikara. Any resistance to this calling will be met with a death sentence. You have 3 days to arrive. Well at least they tell you the punishment." Naruto read
"I have no guarantee's that I'll survive." Kuroi said sadly
"Bye buddy." Naruto said, and they bro hugged each other
"You may want to look for a backup adviser." Kuroi solemnly said, and turned into his wolf form and ran off
'I wouldn't need to. You will come back buddy, I know you.' Naruto said
2 days later, a portal to the underworld
After sneaking past the mass emigration of the contents of the underworld, he finally made it to his home territory, and it was not in very good shape. Prey was scarce, same with vegetation, and water was almost non-existent. He made it to his pack living grounds, a massive cave and tunnel near a permanent well. He made his way down, and found mostly near the front females with cubs and lesser males. As he went down, the amount of women and cubs decreased while males increased. Finally, he found his father. Seated on a stone throne, he was massive, more werewolf like than wolf. He had several gray lightning like patterns on his neck.
"So, my son finally decides to crawl back home." His father said with distain
"Nice to see you too." Kuroi sarcastically said
"Don't you dare say that kind of tone to me!" Taikara snapped
"What are you going to do, kill me? I didn't know I had any other siblings to pass the title of heir to?" Kuroi said to egg him on
"You take that human form and flaunt it like your superior to you own clan. What the hell have you been doing all this time?" Taikara asked
"What happened to a human form to be a honor? I'm just doing what I like." Kuroi said
"What you like is not good for the clan." His father snapped
'This is not going be a quick visit, I just know it.' Kuroi thought to himself as his father started to go on a tangent
Meanwhile, near the capital city of the ash-lands
After setting up camp, Naruto parked his army a mile away from the city. It's wealth was prevalent. 250 foot walls surrounded a city that could house 770 million people easy. Massive towers 350 tall could house massive catapults to better defend the city. It wasn't a great hold, but it could count as one. Naruto decided instead of taking the 30,000 troops in with him, he decided to scout ahead. The capital building was build into the side of several rolling hills. The front door was open, and looking in, he saw a huge amount of gold, precious jems, and other treasures. Then he stealthy came back.
"So sir, what are we up against?" Rectangle asked
"The dragon seems to not be home at the moment. But the treasure, I can see why that dragon was drawn here, the amount of treasure could buy the favor of a deity for a lifetime, 2 lifetimes, maybe 3." Naruto said still amazed
"Sir, we got a letter from the council of lords." A light infantryman said, holding a letter in his hand
Naruto read the letter, then crushed it in his hand. In the few weeks he's been emperor, to get the masses of unemployed that came into his empire working, he began hundreds of massive public works projects. They were building new and superior road systems, rebuilding the land of whirlpools, making dams, forts, and many other things related to infrastructure. Now the debt was catching up with him, and he spent all his initial treasury. Now he was 2 trillion yen in debt. This treasure, which the people gave to them if they could get it from the dragon, would not only get rid of it, but will give him a treasury that could allow him to do operations before thought impossible.
"Okay people, time to kill us a dragon, and double the size of our empire." Naruto ordered, and his troops readied for battle
They marched into the building ready for battle. Then Naruto noticed something, where was its roost. Aerial dragons like to roost in big and open areas like this, and Ryu had one on top of one of the towers back home. There was none to be found. Then he noticed tracks, and between them was a trail of drag marks.
"Everyone, retreat now." Naruto said
"Sir, we just got here?" Rectangle said confused
"Get out now! Its a fire-drake, terrestrial dragon, get out!" Naruto yelled and the soldiers scrambled out
Not a moment too soon either. A massive wingless dragon burst out of one of the massive piles of treasure. It was a black in color, with a light tan underbelly, and its hide on most of its body was black and resembling a crocodile. Its head was the most massive part of it. Out of the 300 feet of dragon, 75 feet of it was head, teeth and jaw. Its teeth were the size and sharpness of the soldiers short-swords, about three feet and double edged. Its tail made up half its body length, and at the end of it was a massive crescent moon ax like club. Composed of scales, hide and a club like bone in the middle, it was as sharp as Naruto's sword. It opened its mouth and a massive beam of white fire came out. Only Naruto was left, and thanks to the dragon scales that made his armor, he was unaffected.
"So, you wear armor made of my kind? It may protect you from my fire breath, but not me!" It roared and charged with its head like a battering ram
Naruto rolled out of the way, but his right leg got caught, and was smashed into the wall. While his armor protected him against slashing and piercing attacks, blunt force like this it did little to help. He screamed in pain as his entire leg was crushed like a toothpick. To add insult to injury, the dragon picked him up by that leg and threw him in a golden cage that was lying around. Now he was trapped like a rat, or more fittingly, a bird in a cage.
"What do we do now sir?" A soldier asked General Rectangle
"What else? We call the second in command." Rectangle said, and instantly began writing a letter
one day later; black lighting clan territory
In one day, Kuroi's visit turned into all out verbal war with his father. The rest of the pack stayed far away from them, even the strongest warriors kept a 11 foot distance at least from them. The courier that Rectangle sent got to the cave entrance, but was stopped by two guards.
"Kill that human that dares to enter our land." Taikara ordered
"Don't kill him, he's with me." Kuroi said, stopping the two guards
"Boy that is it. This is blasphemy!"His father snapped
"Dear Kuroi,
Naruto led us on a campaign to kill the dragon with 30,000 troops. Naruto's been captured and is injured. Please hurry, I am not making a move on that dragon till you come and take command. Signed, General Rectangle." Kuroi read completely ignoring his dad
"You are not leaving, I forbid it!" His father yelled at him
"And what are you going to do about it? Send your starving weakened warriors at me. By the time they catch up to me, I'll be able to sick 30,000 healthy, well fed and fit troops on them. So you can't do anything about it. And another thing, I'd follow my friend, a emperor of a empire thats 3 million times more powerful than our pack in our prime. He treats me with respect, listens to my advice, I get three square meals a day, and a room. You know what, in the 3 years I've been in the human world, Naruto has done more for me than you ever did in all my years living here. Let that be a lesson to you. Goodbye." Kuroi said sternly to his father, and left with the curior
"What are we going to do sir?" A warrior asked Taikara
"My honor has been damaged. Give all the food we have left to the females and pups. All warriors, gear up and follow me. That dragon is as good as dead. We will help him in anyway possible." Takara ordered
1 day later; at the military camp
"I'm here, whats the dragon's position." Kuroi said as he entered the camp
"Naruto found out the hard way its a fire-drake, completely terrestrial. Its holed up in there, its going to be a bloodbath." Rectangle explained
"We have to lure it out. I need a crossbowmen to volenteer for a special job." Kuroi called through the ranks
One woman with a heavy crossbow came out. She wore the steel helmet and chainmail that was standard for there ranks.
"What is this job sir?" She asked with a salute
"You are to sneak up to the lair and fire a explosive bolt at the drake to draw him out." Kuroi ordered and she ran towards the city
When she made it to the captial building, she found the dragon asleep, with its head facing towards the door. It gave a perfect shot. She took the shot and the dragon woke up with a start. The blast only gave it a headache, and raged out of the building. She fired again and lured it towards the wall, where the 30,000 troops have taken up positions. There were archers, crossbowmen, regiments of blood-riflemen, balista's and trebuchet's, a form of catapult. Kuroi was wearing a simple steel helmet, chainmail with leather bracers and leather boots, and a composite longbow. He had a large quiver of arrows on his back.
"Let him have it!" Kuroi ordered at the top of his lungs, and a hail of stones, arrows, bolts and magic crystals at the drake
The stones and long balista bolts hurt him, but only as much as a human would get from a paper cut. The bolts and arrows were sticking out of his hide harmlessly, and the ammo from the blood-rifle's only staggered him slightly. The drake in retaliation sent a massive blast of white fire at the tops of the wall, and sweeped it from right to left. A third of the army died instantly. Then a howl was heard, and a bolt of black lightning hit the massive fire-drake. Behind them coming through the gate was his packs warriors, 70 in total. They mounted the walls and readied there bows. However, they conjured black lightning to subsitute as the arrow. The lightining hit the drake and it was certainly slowing it down. His fathers lightning, the most powerful of the packs, wasn't even doing much.
"Why are you helping?" Kuroi asked his father
"Lets talk about that after the dragon's dead." Taikara replied
Even with the extra firepower, and the loss of the siege engines, the dragon still wasn't really being damaged. The only thing that was somewhat hurting it was the black lightning, and to it it was like static electricity.
"I'm going to save Naruto, Rectangle your in charge." Kuroi said and bolted past the dragon while it was distracted
"Fire everything you got! Anyone a alchemist?" Rectangle barked out orders
One however was. He had bandoliers full of flasks of alchemist fire. In a rapid frenzy, he was chucking flasks of it at the dragon. Most hit due the massive size of the dragon. The hide of the dragon took the full brunt of the damage, only it burned harmlessly on the hide.
"Is there anything that can kill that thing?" the pyro alchemist asked
"We're not going to kill it, were going to capture it. Archers, reload with paralysis arrows. Kuroi, get your pack to conjure some black lightning chains. Everyone else, fire like hell at it." Naruto said as Kuroi carried him up the wall
While the archers cleared the wall, the crossbowmen and blood-riflemen shot him like hell. The 70 warriors surrounded the dragon, and conjured massive lengths of black chains. The archers then began to put hundreds of nerve poisoned arrows into him, and he staggered. Finally the wolves tripped it with the chains and it was down, but not dead. Everyone approched it, weapons ready, with two wolf pack members volenteering to help Naruto.
"Drake, who are you. State your name." Naruto ordered in vain to the drake
"Fool, what makes you think you can order something from me." The dragon said in a low voice
"Well, we have you surrounded, your restrainted, and I'm trying to be nice. Now talk." Naruto replied
"Even though you are my brothers champion, I have no reason to listen to you." It said
"Wait, brother of the oriental dragon? Your not the chaos dragon." Naruto said in confusion
"Don't even mention him, that traitor locked me in hell for thousands of years!" It roared, almost breaking the chains
"Who are you?" Naruto asked
"My name doesn't matter. I am the first fire-drake. I'm what your kind would call the bastard brother of the oriental and chaos." The drake said
"What you are doesn't matter. Why did you take this fine country over and turn it into this?" Naruto asked
"Power, treasure, leg room. Whats it to you?" The drake asked
"Well your on my turf now. Either you surrender, or I'll have my men kill you." Naruto said as the ranged troops readied there weapons
"Dragon champion, I wish to give you a sign of good faith. I want to be a allience, or partnership with someone of your dragon guard." The drake said
"Alright, who do you want?" Naruto asked
"That man." He said, pointing his snout at Taikara
"Say what?" Taikara said in confusion
"Dad, do it, or he's going to roast us?" Kuroi said to him
"Mr. Taikara, I've heard a few things about you from your son. Let me just say I will explain things later, just get on that dragons back... now." Naruto said with a air of threat in his voice
Taikara saw that this human had power, power he no longer had. He agreed silently and began climbing up his back. When he got on, the chains came off. The fire-drake rose, and roared. Taikara felt a new sense of power, he felt the power the drake possesed, and let out a yell of excitement. The drake drowned out his yell with a massive roar.
"Black Lightning Clan, welcome to the Dragon Empire!" Naruto yelled
2 days later; Konaha
In the middle of the day, the guards cleared the streets of people, then a roar was heard. The first half of the army marched in front of a massive caravan that had all the treasure. The treasure caravan then split off to go to the treasury, while the army continued to march to the captital building. In the middle was Taikara and his wife riding on top of the Fire-drake. Naruto was limping with crutches in front of the whole army, and had to be helped up. Hinata ran to him, and nearly knocked him over.
"Naruto, your alive!" Hinata yelled
"Who told her?" Naruto asked, and everyone didn't even try to answer
"You must be empress Hinata, I am Taikara, Kuroi's dad." Taikara said, and kissed her hand
"Lord Naruto, I need to... oh I see you have company." Naja said
"Kuroi, is that the guy named Naja you talked to me about?" Taikara asked
"Ya it is dad." Kuroi said
"Your the boss, what do you want?" Taikara asked
"Lets rip him a new one." Kuroi said and bared his wolf teeth
Naja ran off screaming as the pack chased after him. Naruto pulled Hinata in and kissed her.
"Naruto, what will happen now?" Hinata asked
"I don't know Hinata, but whatever happens, we will be prepared. We'll get the ash-lands up and productive again in no time, and continue to provide for our people. That is what will happen." Naruto said, being hopeful what he said would come true.
MHG: I'm terribly sorry people, exams and the first week of a new school schedule kept me busy. I hope this will calm you. Man this story seems to be popular, I get 200+ views the day I upload this chapter, and it gets higher every time I upload a new one. I thank all of you for that. This is the start of a new arc I call the ash-lands arc, so be ready, the stakes get even higher in a unforgiving landscape.