Hellooooooooooooooooooo, people of the wastes, this is three dog, yahooooooooooooo. (Props to those who get the reference)
Um, I mean.
Salem52, signing in.
So, how have you guys been? Good? Glad to hear it. So yeah, here's some more of Naruto, I guess you all either really like Naruto, hate Eren, or just don't give a damn. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter.
"Once more unto the breach my friends, once more...when the blast of war blows in our ears,Then imitate the action of the tiger."-William Shakespeare.
There it was, the Ravine. It was a massive trench, like a deep, knife-blade cut, scarring the landscape for kilometers in two directions. It was still in the far distance. The only reason that they could see it was because they were on top of a hill resting their horses* on an overlook that provided a view of the land. There was, faintly seen, a long smudge of grey along the horizon. It was about twenty kilometers to the ravine, and another eighty kilometers before they would reach Wall Maria. Massive Titans could be seen dotting the landscape in the area between the group of riders and the Ravine.
They were traveling at around fifteen kilometers an hour right now, intent on having their horses cover distance rather than going quickly. They would gallop only if they were being pursued.
Naruto was thankful for this overlook of the land, as it provided him with a rough idea of where to send his clones. The stretch between where they were and the Ravine was completely flat, and should the group be unable to avoid a titan, they would most likely lose quite a few men. And even with Naruto there, his inability to sense the titans would give little help in forewarning.
Naruto rode to the front of the group of resting riders and their horses, intent on speaking with Hideki about his plan on killing at least a few titans. While Naruto could do this on his own, he was still acting as a 'sell sword' to Erwin, and would thus have to take orders from the command. He probably would gain some rank once he spoke with this "Southern General Pixis", but for right now he would play it safe and consult Hideki.
Naruto found Hideki sitting on a stone, looking over the land, and resting his leg.
"Hideki-san," said Naruto, alerting Hideki to his presence. Hideki sighed before looking at Naruto. He had been looking surveying the land, and felt grim. He counted more than the usual amount of titans today.
"Yes Naruto-san, what is it?" replied hideki.
"I might have a way to take out a few titans before we have to encounter them," said Naruto, stressing the might, because while he was nearly positive that he, or rather his clones, could do it, he would rather not make any promises that he couldn't keep. Hideki on the other hand, was incredibly surprised.
"If you have a way, please tell me," said Hideki, hopefully.
"Well, as you have probably guessed, I am different than everyone here," said Naruto.
"Not really, other than being dressed oddly, appearing in an explosion coming out of bloody nowhere, having an accent, and being able to summon anything you want from those sleeves of yours, I'd say you were pretty normal," replied Hideki, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
"Anyway, one of these differences would be the ability to wield chakra, which allows me to do many otherwise impossible things. Amongst some of the things I can do, is this," said Naruto, his hands placing themselves in a cross position. Naruto muttered something under his breath, and before hideki knew it, three clones of Naruto puffed into existence. Hideki's eyes went wide in surprise. Many of the people who had been watching them converse, were also extremely surprised to see the clones pop into existence.
"You may recognize this ability from our second meeting," continued Naruto. He rested his hands by his side. Hideki did remember the clone that had been in the bed, the one that had disappeared after Naruto had gotten him at knife point.
"These are called Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones), in the normal tongue this means 'shadow clones', what it basically does, is creates tangible duplicates of myself," said Naruto, one his clones walked forward and held out its hand to help Hideki up off the rock he was sitting on.
"But, how is this possible? You say that you use this 'chakra', but what is chakra?" inquired Hideki, awed and confused by this power.
"Chakra is, to put it simply, a combination of spiritual and physical energy. Without it no one would be alive. Everything has chakra, from the air you breathe, to the earth you stand on. Even the titans have chakra. But for some reason, the chakra titans have is completely disproportionate to their mass. You as you are have much more chakra than any titan we have come upon thus far," replied Naruto, a frown upon his face as he spoke about the last part.
"This is why I say might, because as of right now, they have no more chakra than let's say, a large rabbit, and they are very hard to detect," he continued, turning away from Hideki and looking over the plains to the ravine.
"How many of these um, Kage Bunshin, can you create at one time, Naruto-san?" queried Hideki? Naruto turned to look at Hideki.
"As of right now…three, three very powerful, very effective Kage Bunshin," replied Naruto. Hideki visibly deflated. No matter how powerful someone was, three people are only three people.
"Well, Naruto-san, unless these clones can pull off miracles, I don't think they'll be of much help," said Hideki, looking glum once again.
"Hideki-san, while I cannot promise anything, I can almost guarantee at least a few kills, or if nothing else, a small meat shield," replied Naruto. Hideki was about to speak when Naruto went rigid and froze in place.
"Aww, come on Kit, have some more confidence. One of your clones could wipe out this battalion. Three is just overkill," rang out Kurama's voice in Naruto's head.
"While I would agree with you, one can never be too cautious. For all we know, the titans could actually be powerful," thought Naruto in reply. He returned to the waking world abruptly when he felt something poking him. He opened his eyes to see Hideki jabbing at him with his crutch.
"Man, Naruto-san, you freeze up at the weirdest times. Anyway anything you can do will help," stated Hideki. He then proceeded to limp over to his horse, and, with some help from a few of the men, mounted. He stared down at Naruto, and gave him a hopeful look, before turning around and to address his men.
"MOUNT YOUR HORSES!" bellowed Hideki. Hideki turned his horse around once more and waited for his troops to get mounted. Naruto looked over at the clones, and gave them each a nod.
The clones did a salute, placing their hands over their hearts and bowing, before turning around and sprinting in the direction of the Ravine. Naruto watched as they descended down the ridge of the overlook, and out of sight.
Well, at least out of sight for everyone except Naruto, who was actually seeing what they were seeing through their eyes. When Naruto had first gained his dojutsu, it had been a disorienting experience, seeing the world through up to three different perspectives. Now though, it was a normal thing, and provided a very good way to watch his own back during combat.
Naruto pushed what his clones were seeing to the back of his mind, running back to his horse. He leapt onto his horse's back. He was not a moment too soon. Right as he mounted, the group started to move forward.
Naruto rode without thought, letting his horse do most of the leading. As he rode, he watched as his clones came upon their first titan. They got into a formation that allowed them each enough space to not block one another's attacks. The titan they were intent on destroying was nine meters tall.
The first Naruto clone sprinted faster than the others with chakra-enhanced steps; he was going to see how much blunt force this titan could endure. The titan turned toward the trio of Narutos. The first Naruto that had been sprinting in front of the three Narutos, around six meters away from the titan, leapt into the air, and sunk his right fist into the titans right shoulder. The shoulder then proceeded to explode, having been overcharged with chakra.
The titan reeled back, not in pain, but from the sheer amount of force that had been put behind the punch. The titan didn't do anything, other than roar at the first Naruto, and when the titan tried to pursue him, Naruto two leapt up from behind the titan. The very air around his uplifted hand seemed to fluctuate and blur, as though it was moving at very high speeds. Naruto two brought down his hand in an arc right where the titans left shoulder was located. Long before the clone's hand ever touched it, the titan's skin started rending and tearing away.
Now clearly seen, a blade made of wind was slicing through the flesh of the titan's arm, and in less than a second, the left arm was sliced off at the shoulder. The titan roared once again, now attempting to bite Naruto one and two, while its arms regenerated. It never noticed the barrage of small blue shuriken that were launched at it, nor the third Naruto who had launched them. Both Narutos one and two vacated the area of the blast long before the shuriken hit. It was good that they did, because all the shuriken hit home and detonated into small spheres of chakra, a meter and a half in diameter. After around three seconds, the spheres imploded upon themselves, leaving the titan as no more than a few piles of flesh on the ground.
Around a kilometer away, Naruto smiled. Kurama was right; the titans were easy enough to kill. Hideki's group could also see the explosion of Naruto three's ability. When they reached the battle sight, all who saw how little of the titan was left gasped. Many of them had thought that the small mountain of flesh was the carcass some large beast, until they saw the steam that was rising from it, and realized that it was titan, with its trademark hyper-excelled decomposition.
Naruto watched through his clones' eyes as they cleared a path for the group, killing any titans that they encountered. When they reached the Ravine, they took a peek over the edge. Naruto was impressed at the size of the ravine, it was much bigger than valley of death back in his world. That was the second largest valley, the first largest being one where no one except the native population had ventured.
His clones turned to each other and nodded, clones one and two, fanned out left and right, while Naruto three dispelled. Naruto, on his horse, flinched in slight pain, the information from the clone flooding his senses.
The titans were, as Kurama predicted, very easy to kill. The first clone could have taken down the first titan with relative ease, using three was just Naruto being overly cautious. Naruto was fairly sure of his ability to kill these titans, but he didn't want to allow himself to become overconfident. He hadn't encountered any of these aberrant titans that Erwin and Ahiah both spoke about, and from both accounts, these titans seemed more powerful than the titan his clones had encountered.
Naruto got a bloodthirsty smile on his face.
"This'll be fun, I can't wait," thought Naruto. Kurama within his spot in the front of Narutos mind, frowned. This was not behavior he expected from this Naruto. He left his spot in Naruto's mind, which looked like a circular room with glass covering the entire wall. Behind the glass showed each of Naruto's conscious functions. Kurama left to pursue an area of the mind that was more or less Naruto's subconscious.
Kurama, at least right now, looked like a man in his early twenties, dressed in a traditional black kimono. He had waist-length red hair, which swayed fluidly as walked. He had the same slit eyes as Naruto. Kurama found a door that read "subconscious" in bright red letters. He opened the door and entered Naruto's mind.
Naruto's mind, was physically represented as a twisted and winding underground complex with doors leading to various memories. It was a place where someone could easily lose their way. Kurama had spent many years amongst these halls, and he knew his way around them. Deeper into Naruto's mind he went until he eventually came upon a chamber different than the rest of Naruto's mind. It was made of earth and stone instead of glass and metal.
This room had no roof. Instead it extended into a darkness where not even Naruto had been. In front of the room stood a massive gate made of thick bronze bars, making it into a prison. Yet nothing was holding the gate together, save a small piece of paper. On this paper, written in black kanji, was the word "Seal". The corner of the paper was eroded and fallen off. From the gate a small stream of sickly green chakra flowed into the rest of Narutos mind.
Kurama's frown turned into a snarl as he realized what was happening. He turned from the chamber and started shifting shape, his hair conforming into one long tail-like extension. His back began arching and his face started lengthening. His kimono melded with his body and started to shift until it became red fur. Within a span of a few seconds, Kurama had transformed into a fox. He then started to run. If he could find Naruto, then Naruto could transport Kurama were they needed to go. But he wasn't there and this wasn't Kurama's mind. So Kurama had to take the long way to get to where he needed to go.
Through many twists and turns, Kurama eventually made it to a section of the mind that looked like a combination between a hospital and a scientist's laboratory. This part of Naruto's mind was quite unusual, and for good reason, considering who the warden was. The doors in here had little slots in each of them, making this section also seem like it should be part of an asylum.
Kurama shifted back into his human form, his fur weaving itself into a kimono and turning black. He walked to a door that was slightly ajar. Inside was "Naruto", except … it wasn't Naruto. This "Naruto" was dressed in a lab coat and had wavy, shoulder-length hair, definitely not spiky like Naruto's physical hair.
"Naruto" was standing in front of a chalk board doing an elaborate mathematical calculation. Once in a while, he would stop the large mathematical problem to write a much smaller, less complex problem. When he finished an equation, it would then peel itself from the board and fly to another room within Naruto's mind to be processed further. Kurama went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
The only reason "Naruto" didn't notice Kurama was because he was working intently on possible ways of getting back to their own world. So when he felt the tap on his shoulder, he was taken completely by surprise. He reached inside of his lab coat and pulled out a small scalpel, as sharp as he could possibly think.
Kurama was quite aware that "Naruto" would react this way so right after he had tapped "Naruto" on his shoulder, he leapt away as quick as he could. Even so, sharp as one can think, is sharper than anything in the physical world. Even though the blade clearly missed Kurama, he was still cut. As soon as the cut was formed, it healed up. But it still caused Kurama pain, and he winced because of it.
"Kurama-san, you should know not to sneak up on me. For all I know, you could have been one of the more aggressive Ideas," said "Naruto", putting away his scalpel. He turned around quickly and wrote a very simple-looking equation on the board and two chairs appeared next to the chalk board facing each other. "Naruto" took one of the chairs and gestured to the other. Kurama readjusted his kimono and took the seat opposite of "Naruto".
"So Kurama-san, what did you come to see me for?" asked "Naruto". Kurama looked at him intently before leaning forward in his seat.
"You've been slacking off," said Kurama.
"I don't know what you mean Kurama-san," said "Naruto" smiling, not really seeming to care.
"The seal is your responsibility. It's degraded. Under enough stress, he could break out," replied Kurama leaning back in his chair. "Naruto" lost his smile.
"Why do you have me do it?" complained "Naruto", he sprawled back over his chair.
"Because, Logic would try to destroy him, Bloodlust would try to combat him, Sin would strike a deal with him, and the others just don't have the power to control him," explained Kurama. "Naruto" just sort of drooped, before getting up and quickly scrawling something upon the board. The two chairs that he and Kurama were sitting on disappeared, causing Kurama to fall on his butt. Kurama annoyed, got up from the floor, straightened out his kimono and started to leave.
"Ohh, Kurama-san," said "Naruto". Kurama turned around, "Why don't you be a doll, and take this to his chamber. I hope you know how to seal," "Naruto" turned toward the board and wrote a few final variables in the large mathematical equation he had been working on when Kurama had come in. Right when he finished, the equation peeled itself off the board. It flew over to Kurama and then started to shift and line up until, in a large flash of light, a paper seal floated down to Kurama's hand. The seal looked exactly like the one in the large chamber with the large gates, except instead of black kanji, the kanji was red. Much smaller kanji outlined the border of the paper. Kurama chuckled, before putting the seal within a space within the sleeves of his Kimono, much like Naruto would do.
"I'll make sure it's gets done, oh and C., look behind you," said Kurama sprinting out of the room. C. turned around and shrieked. Standing at his board was a small, deformed, midget that looked just like him. The midget was scribbling furiously. All around the lab various things, from sake, to fruits, to furniture started randomly appearing.
"No! Bad mini C., don't do that…" Kurama smiled as C. kept on trying to keep the mini version of himself from destroying the lab.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Naruto felt his body relax slightly. The slight bloodlust that had been afflicting him for the last two hours was gone. The group had stopped at the edge of the Ravine. The Ravine was ominous. A cold fall air had made the stone walls of the Ravine slick with water, and the bottom was concealed by a thick layer of fog.
This made Naruto wonder if a large body of water was nearby. He hadn't seen a marine layer that morning, but perhaps later he would see one. The group had stopped at the edge of the Ravine to briefly rest their horses. Within ten minutes the group had turned right and was following the edge of the Ravine.
Naruto's clones had encountered a few titans; all of them had been easy enough to kill. Still, they hadn't encountered an aberrant yet, and it irked him.
Naruto decided to have one of his clones go into the foggy depths. The clone nodded to the mental command sent by the original. The clone turned toward the Ravine, before stopping at the edge. He tried to sense what was in the Ravine, but with his decreased chakra reserves and only being a clone of the original, his abilities were not as refined. So, while he did try to sense, he did not pick up much. Other than a flock of birds, he didn't sense anything, he walked away from the edge about four meters, before turning toward it once again, sprinting, and leaping off the edge.
As he plunged into the depths of fog, it could immediately tell something was wrong. The fog he was falling through was much thicker than normal fog and had the stench sulfur. When Naruto passed through the fog layer he was met with a terrible sight. What he had taken for a flock of birds, was in actuality a large concentration of titans. These titans were…odd. They moved with uncoordinated strides and were very spastic. The clone came crashing to the bottom of the Ravine, using chakra to enhance his body and withstand the fall. The momentum he had gained caused him to crater into the ground. The noise attracted the attention of every titan in the vicinity and all of them turned toward him. There were twelve titans, each of them twisted in their own way. Among them, was a fifteen meter class titan it was crouched next to the canyon wall, partially obscured by a low wall of dirt. Its face bore a chilling smile that contained ten too many teeth. Its eyes, which were incredibly disproportionate from its head, were open and bloodshot. The other titans, all bore smiles similar to the fifteen meter titan, with personal differences. One titan had long sharp nails, but it was stunted, being only eight meters.
The Naruto clone set his body into a defensive stance, waiting for the titans to come to him. But instead of their usual lumber, the titans rushed him at incredible speeds, one of them falling on all fours like a massive, demented, four-legged spider. The titan with the long fingernails launched itself at the claylike walls of the Ravine, when it reached the wall, its fingernails dug into the soft clay and it propelled itself toward Naruto. The only titan that did not move incredibly fast was the fifteen meter titan, which didn't move, staying behind the rest.
Naruto's clone was completely unprepared for the spontaneous rush, so by the time he reacted the titans had a large advantage. The first titans to reach him, the thirteen and fourteen- meter titans with the largest stride were met with a barrage of the blue orbs that the third Naruto clone had shot when they encountered their first titan. This took out three titans, the clone having fired the maximum of ten, one per finger.
The next titans to reach him were the nine and ten-meter titans, as well as the titan with long finger nails. The nine and ten meter titans that reached him were seven in number. He dodged under the swipe of one, and, using chakra-enhanced wind, sliced it in half, then into fourths, then into eighths. The clumps of titan fell into a messy pile behind him. The next two titans that came upon him both dived at him. He leapt up into the air, then flipped over the attack from the long-nailed titan, which had jumped off the wall when it saw the Naruto clone dodge into the air. While in his back flip the clone slid his hands into his sleeves and pulled out two kunai knives. He used them to slice a sizable chunk from the flying titan's neck.
The long nailed titan slammed into the other side of the Ravine, steam rising from its cut flesh, mingling with the sulfurous cloud above them. The clay substance that made up the side of the Ravine had a massive dent were the titan hit the wall.
The clone had no rest whatsoever because right when he landed, the two titans he had dodged rushed up and dove for him again. Deciding to stay on the ground this time, Naruto ran forward and sprinted pass their dive, causing them to go past him instead of hitting him.
As the titans were getting up, the clone turned around to face them and launched four of the blue orbs of destruction. It wasn't a moment later that the titans were engulfed by the blue explosions.
Four of the eight-meter titans rushed up to him while his back was turned, but he had been prepared for them. Naruto blurred before disappearing in a swirl of dust. He reappeared behind last of the running titans, and sliced the tendons in its left leg with one of his kunai. The titan tried to turn around to face Naruto, but when it placed its weight down its left leg its body collapsed.
The other three pivoted around to face the clone before sprinting at him again. He sprinted towards them as well, holding the two kunai in either hand. He jumped over the downed titan and spun in the air to avoid the hand of the first of the three titans. He stabbed his kunai in the arm and whiplashed himself up into the air, high above the titan's head. The three titans looked up, but couldn't stop the momentum of their sprint.
As Naruto's clone started to fall, he used chakra to fortify his body, and propel himself toward the ground. As he sped down toward the titans, he held the kunai out on either side of his body. Naruto started to spin, and as the titans started to slow down, he came upon them, a whirling spiral of death. To the naked eye, Naruto's clone would have looked less like a human, and more like a distorted tornado.
He plowed feet first toward the ground and, guiding himself using chakra-enhanced air, took out two of the titans who had been standing closely together. When he impacted upon the earth, he sprayed out dirt and stone, before landing in a martial arts stance. He had barely touched the ground, before he started sprinting toward the third titan of the group. As the titan turned around, Naruto leapt toward the side of the titan that was turning away. Using timing and precision, he sliced with the titan's movement and when the titan had fully turned to where the clone had been a moment ago, it was dead.
The titan that he had disabled earlier had regenerated, and was getting up. Naruto rushed over and stabbed a kunai into its eye and jumped away. The beast roared in rage at not being able to see, it flailed out in front of itself. The clone then rushed to the side to try to get a better vantage point. He had to dodge to the side though, as the spider-like titan had attempted to eat him. It ran forward on all four limbs, and using unknown agility, pursued Naruto's clone.
As the clone was sprinting, he made a hand seal and blurred out of existence for a moment. He reappeared on the titan's back. He glued himself to the titan's back with chakra and started to walk along its spine. All the while the titan was spinning erratically, attempting to reach the clone of Naruto. It "sprinted" toward the wall of the ravine, but right as it was about to reach the wall, the clone had made it to its neck. He stabbed down into its neck and sliced out a sizable portion of the nape.
Right as he did this, the titan's body started to crumple up, and momentum made it skid across the ground. As this was happening, Naruto's clone did a high back layout off the titan's body and landed on the oddly soft, wet earth of the Ravine.
The titan Naruto's clone had stabbed in the eye ran over and dove for him. He turned, and blurred once more, and the titan crashed where he was standing. He reappeared on the titan's head, placed a piece of paper, similar to the one in his mind, on its neck before flipping away. The paper started burning. The titan got up quickly enough, and ran after him.
The clone didn't pay much attention to the titan though, instead trying to find the fifteen-meter titan that had been in the ravine. Around six meters away from him, the top half of the titan exploded in a cloud of blood and steam.
Naruto's clone scanned the Ravine for the fifteen-meter titan, but could find no trace of it. He tried to sense it with chakra, but with his nearly-depleted reserves, and the fact that he was a clone, it was of no use. He tried feeling out the earth, vibrations and such, but little warning did he get, before he was engulfed by a mouth full of too many teeth.
Out of the ground, burst the fifteen meter titan, its gaping maw filled with earth and stone. Naruto's clone dispersed, having been damaged enough to cause it to disperse. The titan closed its mouth and swallowed down the dirt. It climbed out of the hole it had created and, turning toward the hole, vomited the earth back into the hole, concealing it.
The titan then walked over to the low wall of dirt, stepped over it and crouched in it again. If one were to look over the small mound of dirt, they would see a hole, leading to a complex tunnel system.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Naruto shuddered on his horse, the pain from his clone being eaten alive impacting his body. The group had been traveling only about five minutes, and that was all the time it had taken for the battle to take place. They were moving at a brisk trot, seeing no titans in their vicinity.
He looked to his left, into the Ravine, the same fog layer his clone had passed through concealing the floor of the Ravine. Across the Ravine, about eighty kilometers away, wall Maria could be seen, slightly larger than it had been on the ridge.
Behind the group, Ahiah still rode. Naruto slowed down his horse slightly to fall back to Ahiah.
"Ahiah-san, how is it that you survive the Ravine?" Asked Naruto, Ahiah looked over at him.
"What do you mean, Naruto?" responded Ahiah.
"My clone took a trip down there and, despite his powers, got eaten. I want to know how you survive," said Naruto, Ahiah sighed and looked down into the "Fog" of the Ravine.
"Well," started out Ahiah, "When we enter the Ravine, the exit is only about four hundred meters away. Our best strikers would take to the air on 3D-manuever gear, while the others would ride near the edges. The only problem with that plan is the cart. It can't ride near the sides due to out cropping rocks and such. Meaning it has to move in the center of the Ravine. For every titan we meet in the Ravine, we usually lose one to two people guarding the cart," explained Ahiah.
"Why do you place so much value on this cart, the value of cripples and the injured can't possibly be worth multiple, still operable, people?" queried Naruto. Ahiah nodded in understanding.
"I know what you mean, well, other than the injured that cart carries two things," replied Ahiah.
"And what would that be?" asked Naruto.
"The first would be the compiled reports of all of our outings and things that we have seen, from the amount of titans, to the weather," stated Ahiah, "It also carries the assurance that you won't be left behind. That cart," said Ahiah, gesturing toward the cart in front of them, "is one of the things that hold the Recon Corp. together. It assures the men that no matter what happens to them, they will have a chance at coming home,"
Naruto nodded in understanding.
"You still haven't told me how you make it through the Ravine," chided Naruto, Ahiah looked at him annoyed.
"I'm getting there," responded Ahiah, he sighed, the weight of years of service to humanity showing, "when I said that we lose one to two men for every titan we meet, I wasn't exaggerating. When the strike team falls, the only way we make it by the titans is by distracting them from the main group, primarily, giving them a target to chase. Usually the titan will forsake chasing the larger group, instead going after the target that is closest,"
"But…" said Naruto predicting what Ahiah was going to say, Ahiah turned toward him, a grim smile on his lips.
"But, the titans down there are aberrants, and even if you can get close enough to kill them, the speed at which they move makes it difficult to land a killing blow," Ahiah explained.
"Sounds hellish," stated Naruto, Ahiah nodded wordlessly. Naruto looked toward the Ravine, then to the group in general.
"Well, Ahiah-san, Erwin hired me to fight for him, and humanity. So if protecting the group is benefiting humanity, I have no choice but to do so," said Naruto.
Ahiah looked over at Naruto, shaking his head. "While it is nice that you wish to protect us, it would be an exercise in futility," said Ahiah, Naruto shrugged his shoulders in indifference, not really caring what Ahiah said. He didn't know what he could do.
Naruto reached his hand into his sleeves, before pulling out a strange knife. It resembled a kunai, but instead of a straight blade with no guard, this kunai had two bladed guards protruding from either side. The grip of the weapon was odd as well, instead of leather or cloth, the grip was a piece of paper with elaborate seal work inscribed upon it. Ahiah looked at the weapon suspiciously; he was surprised when Naruto tossed the kunai to him. He fumbled it in his hands for a moment, making sure not to cut himself. Ahiah looked at Naruto with inquiring eyes.
"Should you come to danger that is too much for you handle, stab that knife into anything, and you shall receive help," said Naruto, Ahiah looked at Naruto for moment, before reaching into a pouch on his hip. He pulled out a flare gun and tossed it to Naruto.
"Shoot that into the air, and help won't be far away, there is only one shot in there though, so use it wisely," Cautioned Ahiah. Naruto looked down at the flare gun, before slipping it into his sleeves.
"Thank you, Ahiah-san," said Naruto, courteously.
"The same to you," replied Ahiah in kind. They both stayed at a brisk trot about ten meters behind the group. They didn't really speak, instead, enjoying the calmness that was given to them, however briefly. It was the briefness that made the silence truly valuable, because both knew that once they entered the Ravine, such a commodity would be non-existent.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Out of the Ravine, many fissures spread, like small roots, grasping the earth around them. It was in one of these fissures, that the south entrance to the Ravine lay. The troop was sitting at the beginning of the fissure. Hideki had stopped the group just a few minutes past, and was now calling out to the mass of riders behind him.
"We have arrived to the Ravine," said Hideki, albeit, loudly enough that everyone could hear him, "Strike teams, TO THE FRONT"
From the group of riders, several men came forward to sit on their mounts at the front of the group.
"You all know what your job is, correct?" inquired Hideki, every man at the front saluted before shouting.
"To clear the path for the cart, and to protect those who cannot protect themselves!" Hideki nodded. He gave a salute from atop his mount, unable to dismount, due to his leg. He was turned around and raised his hand, about to give the signal to ride forward, when he felt a tap on his left shoulder. He turned his head to see Naruto upon his own mount. Hideki was startled, not even hearing Naruto or his mount come forward.
"What is it Naruto-san?" inquired Hideki.
"I think I could be of more use to you as a striker," stated Naruto, Hideki frowned.
"I don't think you should, even if you were the best fighter in the world, the science reps will want to analyze you, do experiments. Even if you are the best I can't justifiably let you fight when you might have something that could be invaluable to humanity. One man can only do so much," Hideki replied, Naruto looked at Hideki for a moment before turning his horse and trotted over to the strikers. He turned his mount around once more and stood relatively uniform to the other strikers. Hideki's gaze hardened, visibly disgruntled by the blatant disregard to his command.
"I only let you know as a courtesy. Erwin hired me as a mercenary and I intend to earn my payment; if he hears that I let you guys get slaughtered. One man can be the deciding factor between victory and defeat" said Naruto. Hideki looked miffed, but didn't say anything. Instead he was going to bring it up with Erwin once he came back to the Wall. He was aware that Naruto and Erwin had made a deal, he just didn't know what it entailed. For now though, Hideki just turned around, raised his hand as he had done before Naruto interrupted him, and called the march.
"RIDERS OF THE REACON CORPS.," called out Hideki. Those who were still mounted reaffirmed their grips on the reins of their horses.
"STRIKERS," all the strikers drew blades and prepared to launch into the ravine. Naruto drew from his sleeves a long, nodaichi-style blade in a plain black sheath. He crouched down, holding his sheathed sword, as he did not have an obi.
"FORWARD!" As one unit, they surged ahead, the striker's horses like a blur as they, and the group, descended into the Ravine.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Well…I got that off a lot quicker than I had expected. Truly, I believed that I wouldn't have this out until Wednesday. Anyway, this chapter just precedes going into the Ravine. I had intended to go into the Ravine, but I got caught up in the story. Still, I hope you guys enjoyed that, leave a review to state anything you would like to say about the story thus far.
Anyway, to those who get the reference at the top of the story, all I can say is that I've been playing a lot of Fallout recently. So, too all those who faithfully read my story(or unfaithfully, so long as ya read it) I say "See you next time,"
*On the subject of resting horses. The famous American postal company the "Pony Express" covered hundreds of kilometers of terrain in a matter of days. Now most would think it would be constant galloping that got it done. In truth a horse could gallop quite a few miles extremely fast, but not on a daily basis. The "Pony Express" riders covered terrain by transferring from a trot (13-15 K/H) and a canter (16-24 K/H). They could cover massive amounts of land, given that the horses got five to ten minutes of rest on the hour. Hence resting horses, now assuming these horses are supernatural (Which they are), they would travel slightly faster, longer, and be able to bring more weight with them, they would still rest though.
With that said, please review,
Salem52, sighing off.