PRETENSES LEFT BY THE WAYSIDE, THE ARCHADIAN FORCES RESUMED THEIR ADVANCE TOWARD RABANASTRE. DALMASCA'S DOOM HAD BEEN DECIDED.

TO MAKE RESISTANCE WOULD SERVE NO END. WITH THIS FOREMOST IN MY THOUGHTS, I, TO THE PEOPLE OF DALMASCA: "SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF DALMASCA, I BID YOU LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS. RAISE SONGS OF PRAYER IN THEIR STEAD. PRAYER FOR HIS MAJESTY KING RAMINAS, EVER MERCIFUL. A MAN DEVOTED WHOLLY TO PEACE.

"PRAYER, TOO, FOR THE NOBLE PRINCESS ASHE, WHO, WROUGHT WITH GRIEF AT HER KINGDOM'S DEFEAT, HAS TAKEN HER OWN LIFE."

"KNOW ALSO THAT CAPT. BASCH FON RONSENBURG, FOR INCITEMENT OF SEDITION AND THE ASSASSINATION OF HIS ROYAL MAJESTY (H.R.M.), KING RAMINAS, HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF HIGH TREASON AND PUT TO HIS DEATH.

"THEY WHO AT THIS LATE HOUR CHOOSE STILL THE SWORD ARE CUT OF THE SAME CLOTH AS THE CAPT.: TRAITOR'S WHO WOULD LEAD DALMASCA TO HER RUIN."

DALMASCA'S SURRENDER WITHOUT TERMS WAS SOON TO FOLLOW.

~ MEMOIRS OF MQS HALIM ONDORE IV

CHAPTER 13: THE PROVINCE OF ALLIES

"So you're telling me that you're a ninja?"

"The one and only."

"I don't believe you."

This conversation had been the topic of the day since Reks had woken up. Naruto had explained to the young boy how they had arrived in the desert. Reks was not happy with the shinobi for knocking him out, but he was grateful for Naruto preventing him from running into the treaty room to get himself murdered.

"Haven't you heard the stories of the blond warrior saving merchant caravans in the desert for the past few months?" Naruto pleaded.

"You are the 'Yellow Flash'?" Reks asked, full of doubt.

Naruto laughed again at the nickname given to him by the people he had saved. 'Who would have guessed I'd get the same moniker my father earned?' "One and the same."

"But you're just a kid like me," Reks complained.

"I… may have lied about my age a bit," Naruto explained. 'Or a lot.'

Reks stared at the blond. The tales he had heard of the Yellow Flash spoke of a man who appeared in a split second, saved the caravan or travelers, and disappeared as quickly. The only thing people had been able to notice was his blond hair, supplying the name of "Yellow Flash." Some reports included notes that the man wore a long red coat with black trim.

"You sure match the descriptions that I've heard of the Yellow Flash," Reks agreed, "but I just can't see you being that dangerous. I mean the Yellow Flash has been taking out bandits and monsters, protecting caravans for years. There were even some reports of him taking out Elementals!"

"Are those the big balls of light larger than a person, cause that's what I took out that one time."

"An Entite?" Reks shouted. "You? You took out an Entite all by yourself? Now I definitely don't believe you!" He stood up and began walking away. "Which way is Rabanastre? I've gotta get away from a lunatic like you." Naruto waited a moment before calling out.

"Haven't got a clue."

Reks stopped in his tracks.

"What was that?" he asked shakily.

"No clue where Rabanastre is, Reks," Naruto answered as he walked slowly towards where the younger boy had stopped. "I don't know much about the geography of Ivalice, actually." Reks narrowed his eyes. "I mean I know we're in the country of Dalmasca, and I know where Rozarria and Archadia are, but I don't know about any cities or anything like that."

Reks sighed and began walking back to their camp. "Even if you are a lunatic, I can't just leave you out here with no idea where to go."

Naruto smiled as he followed. "And I'm sure your staying has nothing to do with the fact that you have no idea where we are."

Reks faulted for a moment. "I-it's not that. I just feel sorry for you."

"Uh huh."

"So why are we here, Naruto?"

"We're here cause you couldn't eat the meat from the monsters I captured without throwing it back up," Naruto explained. "I'm going to buy some food from anyone selling and I want you to ask how to get from Rabanastre from here."

"You have gil?" Reks asked.

"Yellow Flash, remember?" Naruto grinned. "I've been taking out bandits for years, saving up tons of cash."

"I still don't believe that, you know." Reks crossed his arms.

"Yeah whatever, just go ask around," Naruto waved the boy off. He could believe what he wanted. The two walked off in separate directions.

Wandering through the small encampment, Naruto came upon some vendors selling food and small wares. "We could grab some meat cutlets," he mumbled, "but we don't have any way to carry them with us. I suppose I could use sealing scrolls, but I've never been good with sealing away food. Maybe we should just grab some things to snack on while travelling."

"Hey weirdo in the orange dress!"

Naruto looked up from his musings to find several rough-looking men eyeing him dangerously. A few of them held daggers and one of them had hoisted a large club onto his shoulders in an effort to intimidate Naruto.

"It's actually a coat, if you don't mind," Naruto corrected. "Do you guys know where I could get some fruit, by any chance?"

One of the smaller men spoke up, "There's a nice little vendor just down the-"

"Quiet, ya buffoon!" the apparent leader shouted. "We're robbing him, not giving him directions!"

"Robbing me?" Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Now I don't think that would be a good idea, gentlemen. Especially not in the middle of this street here."

"The Boss runs this town anyway, idiot!" another of the ruffians proclaimed.

"No one in this place would stand up to me, punk," the 'boss' added.

"That's only because I've never been here," Naruto said.

One of the ruffians rushed toward him, baring a dagger. Naruto's eyes flashed for a moment before he spun backward quickly to his left, grabbing the dagger from the man's hand and tossing it to the side. Naruto smacked the man in the back of the head, sending him to the ground.

Two more of the thugs ran forward, one with a longer blade as the first man picked himself up and tried to punch the younger boy. Naruto moved his head aside as the punch passed through the now empty space. He grabbed the man's arm and swung his whole body over his own shoulder at the other two.

"Stop there, boy," the boss warned. Naruto turned to him as the other thugs attempted to detangle their bodies from each other in a heap. The boss of the thugs was holding a dagger to the neck of a nearby shopowner. "Think twice, boy. I told you no one in this town stands up to me." The shopowner, an elderly man with a face full of fear, looked to Naruto with pleading eyes.

"And I told you," Naruto began. A kunai stuck into the ruffian's back in an instant. The man's grip on his knife loosened and the blade fell to the dirt. The shopowner moved away as the large man fell. Another Naruto stepped out from an alleyway behind where the leader had been. "That was only because I have never been here." The second Naruto disappeared in a blast of smoke.

He turned to the leftover thugs. "Get outta here before you go down with him," he commanded. The remaining bandits did just that.

"Naruto!"

The man is question turned to the familiar voice to find Reks running towards him.

"What's going on?" the young man asked frantically. "I heard the market was being attacked by thugs." Reks noticed the large man lying face-down in the dirt.

"I was just going to rough them up a bit to get them to leave," Naruto explained. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "But this guy tried to hide behind one of the shopkeepers with a dagger."

"It's the Yellow Flash!"

By now, many of the shopkeepers and villagers had gathered around where the short fight had taken place. Many of them had watched Naruto take down the bandits with surprising ease, not to mention his speed and ability to create copies of himself.

"I… I guess you really are the Yellow Flash," Reks admitted. "But…the tower, the King, why-?"

"We'll talk about that later, Reks," Naruto said hastily.

One of the shopowners had walked up to the pair. "I heard you mumbling before those thugs stopped you, Yellow Flash. If it is meat or fruit you need, you may take whatever you wish from my store here."

"Thank you, sir," Naruto replied. He and Reks made their way to the man's shop and stocked up on fresh-cut meat and fruits. The owner even gave the boys some bags to carry their supplies with them.

The kind shopkeeper waved happily as the two young boys walked out of the town with their spoils on their backs. The keeper turned back into his store and stopped when he saw something strange sitting on the counter at the back of the shop.

"Gods… this is 30,000 gil!"

"You said we'd talk later," Reks said. Night had fallen over the Dalmasca Estersand. Naruto and Reks had travelled until the sun had set before setting up their camp to roast their newly-acquired beef cutlets. "Why were you hiding yourself in the Dalmascan army?"

"You already know I'm the Yellow Flash," Naruto explained as he chewed on some of his beef. "I travel around, beating up thugs like the ones back in that town and rescuing caravans from monsters when I find them."

"But what does that have to do with King Raminas' peace treaty?"

"Every few years I throw on some armor and enlist myself in the Dalmascan army to help fight against Archadia. Before I became the Yellow Flash, I used to live in Dalmasca."

"And that night, you saved me." Reks stared at Naruto.

Naruto simply nodded. His mind returned to what the Kyuubi had told him the night before. The Fates would want to claim Reks' life is at all possible. They would everything that Ivalice could manage at the two of them, to reclaim Reks and to keep Naruto from stopping their plans again. Naruto knew he could handle whatever monsters that Fate chose to send for them, but Reks was still a young boy. He could fight fairly well with a sword, and he knew some magic, but nothing that would be greatly effective against powerful foes.

"I almost forgot," Reks said.

"What's that?"

"When I was asking around the village, I heard news about Dalmasca."

Naruto looked up from across the fire. "What about it?"

"Captain Basch was labeled a traitor and put to death." Naruto frowned. "That's not all. Lady Ashe, the princess of Dalmasca, has… taken her own life in grief of her father and her country."

"Then Archadia has won."

"Or so it would seem," Reks corrected. "We both heard what happened in His Majesty's chambers that night. If we expose their lies-"

"Who would believe us, Reks?"

"There must be some who still fight against the Archadian forces!"

"Of course, but just going to Dalmasca and shouting in the streets isn't going to help anyone." Naruto closed his eyes in thought. "No, I don't think going to Dalmasca at all would be a good idea."

"But what about my brother?" Reks shouted. "He's still there, and he'll be stuck under the control of the Empire!"

"Do you want to help him or damn him?" Naruto shouted back. "You told me about Vaan on the way here! You said he was passionate! You said he would stand up for himself and his friends! Do you think Vaan will just cower and accept the Empire? Do you think he won't fight back?"

"Of course not! Vaan will fight!" Both of them had stood up, shouting at each other from just across the campfire. "Where will fighting get him, though? Nowhere better than shouting through the streets like you said."

"Do you want to help Vaan?" Naruto asked quietly. Reks nodded. "Get better. Train yourself to fight. Become a person who can protect your brother."

"And you're going to make me a fighter?"

"No." Naruto gave the younger boy a wicked smile. "I'm going to make you a ninja."

Chapter 2 End

Here's chapter 2. I didn't get as much of the backstory as I was planning. It'll be included in the next two chapters.

Thanks everyone for all the reviews and favorites. I'm glad people are enjoying this. I hope to get a chapter of either this or 'Darkness In Zero' up once per week.

Big thanks as always to my friend BloodstainedComma for beta-reading this and fixing mistakes.