How goes it my peeps? This is Salem52, signing in. It's been a long time hasn't it, sorry that I've been away for so long, adapting to my new school has been more difficult than I had previously thought. Anyway, Naruto is back and ready for action (or in this case, teaching). Well, I think I have said enough (or too little, I can't really tell) so let's GO!
"Training gives you an outlet for suppressed energies created by work and stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body,"- Arnold Schwarzenegger
(Eren, Mikasa)
The sun was rising over the eastern forest within Wall Rose. Atop a hill inside the forest was a large fortress, from which a single bell could be heard tolling for five AM. It was at this moment that ten of the occupants of said fortress all started to rise to the call of the bell, waking from the deep sleep that each had been in. If one could sense chakra, and they were in the area, they would have felt ten blooms of energy coming from the second floor of the manse that lay within the center of the fortress.
"Ugh, my head," said Eren Jaeger, one of the ten individuals who had just awoken. He sat up from his bed, rubbing his cheek which was sporting a nasty bruise, and looked about the room that he had stayed in for the last three or so years. Eren looked to be about fifteen years old, having grown considerably since had entered the gates of the estate of his sensei. His hair looked much like it did when he was twelve, having kept it well cut. His face had grown leaner with the loss of his baby fat and he looked more stern now than he had when he twelve. His upper body was quite muscular, not bulky, but a more lean muscle. On a leather cord around Eren's neck, hung Grisha's key. When Eren had woken the day after his father's disappearance, he had the key grasped firmly in his hand and he had kept it with him ever since, being one of the few things from his dad that he had left.
"Well, if you had actually tried to dodge Annie's punches, rather than trying to tank them, your head might not hurt as much,"
Eren turned to see his longtime friend and adopted sister, Mikasa Ackerman, sitting up in her bed and looking towards him, smiling slightly. She had changed quite a bit in the last three years as well, looking only somewhat similar to her twelve year-old self. She had let her hair grow out, taking a page out of their sensei's book. It now hung around her lower back and was tied in a tight French braid. At the bottom of the braid was Carla's beaded leather hair tie, which kept the braid from coming loose. Her bangs were left were they were, two of which hung loosely on either side of her face, framing it and the third hanging down the center of her face in between both of her eyes. Eren had initially didn't want her to keep it long, saying that it would be a hindrance during their training, but he had been assuaged when their sensei reminded them of his long hair and the fact that there were many Jutsu that could be utilized with long hair. Her face was also slightly longer, giving her a look of elegance few could rival. She wasn't incredibly muscular, but she was very well toned, having little to no body fat. Over the past three years her bust had also filled out, making her look quite curvaceous.
"I still beat her, didn't I?" replied Eren, getting out of bed and turning towards his dresser to get some clothes. He stood at around five foot nine, and was completely nude. Now most would consider this odd, considering Eren's current companion, but to them it was completely normal. Their sensei had trained them to not let anything bother them, in case a situation arose where one of them would need to see someone of the other sex naked. Needless to say, Eren and Mikasa were perfectly fine with seeing one another naked without any problems arising.
"Yes, you beat her, but in the future, there might be a situation where you cannot shrug off someone's attack, then what?" replied Mikasa. Eren looked down at her before shaking his head, sighing, and turning back to the dresser and pulling out a white cotton shirt and some cargo style pants.
While he was doing that, Mikasa got up from her bed and opened her dresser. She stood at equal height to Eren. She reached into her dresser and pulled out a shirt and trousers that were identical to what Eren's. As she started to put them on, she turned to see Eren doing the same. She then opened a drawer near the bottom of the dresser and pulled out a small leather sheath. She strapped the sheath to her left bicep before reaching under her pillow and grabbing her knife. She looked at the knife for a few moments, staring at her distorted reflection in the old blade before putting it in the sheath and closing the drawer.
Eren had just finished sheathing his knife, which was also located on his left bicep, when their room's door was flung open. Standing in the doorway was a fifteen year-old Armin Arlert. Out of the trio, Armin had probably changed the least, physically. He stood at five foot five with shoulder-length hair. Atop his head was his grandfather's hat, although it had a modification to it. Attached to the hat was a strap that held it firmly to Armin's head. He was fairly lithe and didn't have much in the way of muscle. He also had a pair of spectacles on his face that gave him a very shrewd look. Strapped to his hip was a large spool of incredibly thin, razor sharp wire made of ultra-strong steel. In the center of the spool was a barbed object that looked reminiscent of a small harpoon.
"Eren! Mikasa! What are you two still doing getting dressed; you two are the last ones out. You don't want to be late for breakfast or Sasha is going to eat your portion," said Armin.
"Don't worry Armin, we were just about to leave. Go on, we'll be down in a moment," replied Eren, reaching under his bed and grabbing a pair of combat boots and socks. Armin stood in the doorway for a moment before nodding, turning around, and heading towards the central staircase.
Mikasa was just finishing lacing her boots, when a tapping noise sounded through the room. She looked up to see a large raven-like bird pecking on the window. The bird was like a raven in color and appearance, although it was the size of a large house cat. She stood up and walked up to the window before unlatching the lock and opening it up. The raven bobbed its head up and down, as if in thanks. Mikasa then extended her arm before touching the tip of the raven's nose. She gathered up chakra in her hand, and began pumping the raven's body full of her chakra. The raven stiffened, before ruffling its feathers. It quickly hopped up onto her outstretched hand and scurried up her arm to perch on her shoulder. Mikasa reached up and started stroking the birds black feathers, which were pitch black and soft to the touch.
"Looks like I wasn't the only one to sleep in, eh Kurayamino*?" cooed Mikasa to the bird. Having properly laced his boots, Erin stood up and headed towards the door.
"Come on Mikasa, Armin is right, we are late," said Eren, standing the doorway of their room. Mikasa only nodded, before turning around, closing and latching the window. Turning back again, she followed him out their room.
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(Annie, Armin, Bertolt, Connie, Krista, Sasha, Reiner, Ymir)
"*Burp* ahh, I think that was the best breakfast I ever had," said a happy Sasha Blouse. She leaned back on the bench she was sitting on inside the bailey until she was parallel to the ground. She, like everyone else, had grown considerably in the last few years that they had been together. She stood at five foot six and had hair that went all the way down to her mid back in a ponytail. She, like Mikasa, had left her bangs to frame her face and they extended down to the middle of her neck. She was more sturdily built than the other girls in their group, sans Annie, having quite a lot of muscle. The only other girls who could compete with her in a battle of strength would be Annie and Ymir. She was dressed in the same apparel as everyone else in the baily, white cotton shirt and cargo pants. On the bench next to her was a bo-staff that, though incredibly well-worn, was still well kept.
"You always say that whenever we eat," said a slightly annoyed Reiner Braun. Reiner was easily the largest out of the ten trainees, being six foot two and very broad chested. He was also the strongest physically, outclassing everyone in their group with brute strength. He had his hair cut short in a military-esque style. His face had also broadened out, with his chin becoming much more pronounced, as well as having a heavyset, square jaw. His eyes had become a little more sunken as well giving him a perpetual stern look. On his back were two unique looking swords. They looked like trench knives, except that instead of the traditional thirty-centimeter long blades, their blades were roughly two thirds of a meter.
"Ahh, but Reiner, they say that hunger is the best seasoning, so perhaps every meal is the best to her," interceded Krista, meekly. She was the smallest person in the group, standing at four foot nine. She was incredibly thin; looking like a stiff breeze could break her. She had short blonde hair which was kept in a low ponytail that reached in between her shoulder blades. Next to her was a scroll that was as large as she was. Perched on the back of the scroll was a large canary, which was easily the size of a small chicken.
"But every time she says that a meal is the best, it carries less value for the next time she says it," replied Annie. She hadn't grown as much as everyone else, at least in height, only topping out at five foot. She had her relatively short blond hair tied in a short ponytail that reached the nape on her neck. Her bangs hung down in front of her face, with her right bang almost covering her entire right eye, whilst the left bang was somewhat held back by her ear. Out of all the girls, she was the most muscular in their group, having muscle definition that some of the boys didn't even have. On each hand she wore a pair of leather gloves with what could only be described as sharpened thimbles. Each "thimble" extended about a half an inch from her fingers and looked quite sharp. They were dark, as though they were made from raw iron or some other dark metal, or they were stained at the time of forging. The leather of the gloves was also stained to look black, giving the gloves a somewhat sinister look. Different than everyone else, her cotton shirt also had a hood sewn onto the back. Coiled inside of her hood was a small white albino snake.
"*Sigh* we're all looking into this way too much, just finish your food guys," stated Ymir, looking tired. She had changed a lot in the time that she had been with the ten other kids. Her defensive, and sometimes manipulative, demeanor that she had at the beginning of the three years with them had been replaced with a somewhat aloof and indifferent way of acting. She had grown up to be the tallest of all the girls in the group, being at around five foot eleven. Her body was much less muscular than Sasha or Annie, instead being more slender like Mikasa, although she was by no means weak. Her hair fell down to her mid back, although she had it in a high pony tail. Her bangs fell around the side of her face, around the length of her chin. Her eyes had sunk slightly into her face, giving her a slightly sinister and intimidating look, although it was put off by her aloof expression. She, like Annie, had a set of gloves on her hand. The difference being that, instead of sharpened thimble like protrusions from each finger, she had ink stamps. Each ink stamp had an elaborate kanji on it and small hole in the center for ink fluid to flow out of and onto the stamp. These gloves were currently on her hip, held on by leather straps.
Everyone gave a response in their own ways through a series of "Hmm"s and grunts. The moment that they did that, Eren and Mikasa came in, only to mentally sigh, seeing that Sasha had eaten both of their shares. They just looked over at her, annoyed, and she stared right back, a satisfied and slightly devious look on her face.
"Sasha? Why did you eat our breakfast?" inquired Eren, annoyed. Sasha yawned, before sitting up.
"Well, I was already here, and you guys were taking sooooooo long, and then I saw your food just sitting there, getting cold. You know that I can't just let food go to waste. So I did you guys a favor and ate it before it got any colder," replied Sasha, grinning cheekily. Eren just sighed, before walking over to the door to the kitchen and placing his right hand on the door. The back of his hand glowed bright with a black seal, before the door made a clicking sound. Eren pushed on the door and opened it, revealing a kitchen inside. Eren went inside and started making Mikasa and himself a breakfast, while Mikasa sat next to Connie and Armin.
"So Mikasa, why were you so late?" inquired Connie. Mikasa just looked over to Connie, before shrugging. Connie shrugged himself, seeing that he wouldn't be getting an answer, not that he was expecting one.
Connie hadn't grown in height as much as the other kids, being the shortest boy in the group. He had kept his head shaved, just as it had been when he had first come onto the estate three years prior. He was quite muscular, even more muscular than Eren or Armin. He had a large mantis on his shoulder that was larger than any species that currently existed. On his side he had a simple katana, although the back of the blade was serrated instead of being flat like a traditional katana.
It was only a few moments before Eren came out with breakfast for himself and Mikasa. He placed the plate in front of her before seating himself next to Bertolt and Reiner. Eren dug into his breakfast, oatmeal and dried fruit. He sat there for a few moments, eating his breakfast, before setting down his fork and turned to speak with Bertolt before deciding against it, seeing that his friend was in one of his nervous sweating fits.
Bertolt had grown quite a lot in the three years he had been with the group, standing at six foot eleven, easily dwarfing everyone in their group. He was prone to fits of nervous sweating whenever he was slightly disturbed or afraid. This stemmed from the death of someone close to him, although he never revealed who it was to the group. He had his brown hair cut short to his head, leaving only a little to fall haphazardly across his head. His body was quite slender, not possessing any of the muscle displayed by his childhood friend, Reiner. He had an unusually large long bow slung across his back. It was approximately eight and a half feet long, much longer than the usual size of six feet long. The wire was also slightly thicker than normal, although it was probably done so to compensate for its large size. He had no quiver or arrows, making his appearance look slightly off. He also had a glove on his right hand, which had a seal on the palm. The glove was a deep crimson red. On the tip of his bow was an unusually large red butterfly, the same red as Bertolt's glove, its wingspan easily reaching two feet across and its antennae were each at least a half foot long.
Eren turned back to his breakfast, before sighing and finishing his breakfast. He looked across the table to see Mikasa finishing her breakfast as well. He picked up his plate, tilting his head back and scooping up the scraps of his breakfast into his mouth. Then, as if on cue, everyone stood up unanimously and started filing out of the bailey, leaving their plates on the table. Mikasa was the last person in the file, and right before she exited, she turned around and put her fingers in a cross like hand seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(shadow clone technique)!" she called out. In front of her, ten solid copies of herself poofed into existence, turned around and began to clear the table. Mikasa nodded once, before turning around and closing the door to the bailey, leaving her Kage Bunshin to their work.
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(Trainee group ten)
Each of them, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Annie, Bertolt, Connie, Krista, Sasha, Reiner, and Ymir, were standing in a line in front of the great Iron Gate in the front of the estate. They each stood there as if waiting for something, and it wasn't too long before something did approach. Quicker than a human could see, a figure blurred into existence. The figure was crouched onto of the center of Iron Gate, before standing up. The figure was girl who looked at least eighteen, despite the fact that she was a year younger than any of the ten before her. She had long, brown hair, reaching down to her upper thighs; two bangs fell down on either side of her face . She stood taller than all the girls, being a few inches taller Ymir. Strapped to her back was a nodaichi, although it sheathed. The sheath was dark blue with a black flame decal along its length. She was wearing a black sleeveless shirt that hugged her form quite appealingly; she wore a long trench style coat over her shirt. The coat had the same red cloud decal that their sensei had on his coat. She wore a pair of baggy cargo pants that looked to be filled to the brim with scrolls; the pants were stuffed into a pair of shin-high, steel-toed combat boots. She flipped off the gate before landing next to Mikasa.
Mikasa looked up at her before turning forward and putting her hands behind her back. They all stood there, once again resuming their wait. It wasn't for another five minutes until something happened. While they could not see it, they each sensed something come onto the estate, or rather, two of something. Six minutes after, two stage coaches could be seen moving up the path to the estate. The Stage coaches were the same that had transported the group three years prior. Leading the horses were four cloaked figures, two per stage coach, their faces hidden from view by their high-collared coats and low-sitting Asian straw conical hat. The group of teens straightened as the stage coaches approached. The leading coach stopped five feet from the entrance to the estate before the door opened. Out of the door came a figure dressed in the same coat that the coach drivers wore, although he was lacking the hat.
"Naruto-sensei," breathed out the girl next to Mikasa. Mikasa just looked up at the girl, before smiling.
"You missed him didn't you Chana-sensei?" said Mikasa rhetorically. Chana just nodded.
Naruto walked to the Iron Gate, before placing his hand onto the gate for a moment. It started to sink into the ground. He looked at them, before giving a small wave. He had barely changed in the time that the group of kids had known him. He hadn't grown any taller, and he didn't even look like he had aged a single day. A tanto blade was located where his nodaichi would normally be. On his left hand, he wore a black glove with a very elaborate seal on the back. He turned around and made his way to the coach, climbing back in and closing the door. The coaches resumed their way, going through the space left in the wall from the gate.
The group of teens split so that the coaches could make their way through, and they ended up lining the path for the coaches. The coaches' windows currently had their curtains drawn shut so they couldn't see inside. After the stage coaches' passed by, they regrouped and started following at a leisurely pace. They were about thirty meters away from the manse when the stage coaches stopped and started unloading.
Soon after Naruto had exited the first coach, a second, third, and fourth came out behind him. The first of the three to come out after Naruto was a man that had an air of command around of him that few possessed. He was roughly six foot two with blonde hair split down the left side, and icy blue eyes that could pierce into someone's soul. He was wearing a loose cotton shirt and a brown coat that looked to be made of high-quality leather. He had an emerald green bolo tie and wore long brown pants along with a pair of combat boots.
Behind him was a short man that was quite heavily muscled. He stood at around five foot three, with short brown, going on black, hair that was styled in an undercut. His eyes were gray, and they had an intimidating aspect about them. He had a perpetual scowl on his face making him look somewhat unapproachable. He wore a shirt and pants similar to the first blonde man, although instead of a leather coat, he wore a green cloak with the wings of freedom emblazoned on it. He also had a cravat coming out of his shirt giving him a slightly noble look.
Behind him came a woman who looked as eccentric as they get. She stood at around five foot seven and had messy brown hair held up in a high ponytail. She had her bangs loose in front of her face, framing it well. She wore a cotton shirt that hung loosely around her; she also wore a pair of goggles over her eyes which gave her a look of a somewhat mad scientist. Her pants were the same as the two that came before her and she wore the green cloak with the wings of freedom on it. One thing that set her apart from the two that came before her, other than her goggles, was a large satchel that hung off her waist. Out of the second coach came a compliment of soldiers each carrying a piece of equipment ranging from 3D maneuver gear to large microscopes.
The blonde man looked around the estate before turning to Naruto.
"This is quite an impressive estate Naruto-san; I see our resources did not go to waste," assessed the blonde man. Naruto bowed his head slightly in thanks.
"Thank you Erwin-san, this shall be my base of operation for when my people come," replied Naruto. Erwin nodded before turning to look at the approaching group of teens.
"So, Naruto-san, are those the ones you promised me?" inquired Erwin, turning his head slightly so that he could look at Naruto.
"Yes, they are the ones I have been training for the last three years," replied Naruto crossing his arms in front of chest. Erwin apprised each of them, studying them with his eyes, before they finally rested on the tallest girl amongst them.
"Naruto, that little Chana-chan?" inquired Erwin, slightly disbelieving. Naruto turned to look at him before chuckling.
"Heh, yeah, that's 'little' Chana-chan," replied Naruto, still chuckling slightly at Erwin's reaction.
"Well, she has certainly grown in the last six years," stated Erwin. Naruto only nodded, before turning to the other two people who had exited with them.
"Well, Erwin-san, Levi-san, Hange-san," said Naruto addressing each of them, "I expect you and your people are tired from the trip. I'll show you to your rooms, and then there are some things I need to attend to. You are welcome to look around the estate, although I ask that you refrain from going inside my study,"
Naruto then walked up to the doors of his estate and opened them grandly. He turned, motioning for them to follow him. When they started to follow, he entered and headed to the central staircase, before walking up. Erwin, Levi, and Hange followed after him, with the compliment of soldiers trailing closely after them carrying their equipment.
While Naruto was showing his guests to their rooms, the figures climbed down from their seats on the coaches and started to unsaddle the horses, before turning to the teens and gesturing for them to help. When they saw the call, they all started to jog to the stage coaches, ad were there in seconds helping the drivers. The drivers all took off their hats, revealing themselves to be clones of Naruto. They each nodded to the teens, before giving control over to them. When they saw that all the teens were doing fine, they each put their hands up in a hand sign and dispelled in a puff of smoke.
It was a few minutes before the horses were fully stripped and led to their stables, during which time the soldiers had come down bringing the rest of the equipment from inside the second coach into the manse. After the horses were properly situated, Eren, Ymir, Connie, and Armin went into the house, emerging a few moments later with two massive scrolls being held between them. They laid the scrolls on the ground in front of the coaches and unrolled them. The scrolls reached a length of ten feet each. The material that they were made of looked as if it were metal, and was just as heavy as it, although it had the properties of cloth, unrolling with ease. Inscribed upon the metallic material was a large seal that spanned the lengths of the scrolls.
Sasha and Reiner wordlessly took position behind each of the stage coaches before both of them started pushing the coaches onto their respective scrolls. Their muscles bulged for a moment, before the stage coaches started to move. If a person would have been looking onto this scene, they would have been gaping in disbelief, since the coaches each easily weighed upwards of five hundred kilo's. Once the coaches were completely on top of their scrolls, Sasha and Reiner stepped back, having not even broke a sweat from the exertion. Krista walked up to the first coach and placed her hands on two circles at the base of the scroll that the coach was on. She started to pump chakra into the scroll and for a moment nothing happened, then there was a puff of smoke. When the smoke dispersed, the coach was gone and the scroll had a small red circle in the center that was slightly glowing. Krista stood up, before walking to the next scroll and doing the same. After that, Eren, Ymir, Connie, and Armin rolled up the scrolls before bringing them back into the house.
"Chana-sensei, who was the blonde man who said he recognized you," asked Mikasa, passing the time until their comrades returned. Chana looked down at Mikasa, before smirking slightly.
"Mikasa-san, do you know who Erwin Smith is, or what he represents?" inquired Chana.
"Commander Erwin Smith is the leader of recon corps and scouting legion, he is one of the five leading commanders. Their political power is only exceeded by the King and the Church," replied Mikasa instantaneously, her eyes widened almost imperceptibly, "You mean that man was Erwin Smith?!"
"Mmhmm," replied Chana, looking towards the house, "I met him once, six years ago, after Naruto-sensei had found me. He looks just as he did then, tall and stern and looking as if he could take on all the titans and win,"
While Chana had been saying this, the others were listening raptly to their discussion. At the mention of Erwin, Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt stiffened slightly, before looking toward the manse with a new look in their eyes. Mikasa was about to inquire further but their friends had come out of the building and were heading towards their group.
When they all finally were together again, they started toward the Iron Gate. After the five or so minutes it took for them to walk to the entrance they stopped. Chana walked in front of them before turning around to face the group of trainees.
"Well, now that 'that' is over, let's start the morning race. Same as always, if you can beat me, you will be exempt from the rest of today's physical activities, the last person will have double work," stated Chana, before quickly turning on her heel and leaping over the gate. The moment she touched the other side she blurred slightly, flooding her body with chakra, before disappearing altogether, moving so fast that she couldn't be seen. The others didn't hesitate a second, quickly following after her.
The forest on the hill was quite dense except for where the path for the coaches was cleared. So when one was moving at the speeds that the eleven kids were moving, if one did not take care, they could easily find themselves face first in some very hard wood. Chana, who was currently leading the group in their race, was moving along the branches of the trees with her hands, using her momentum to slingshot herself further down the hill, as a monkey might have done. Her method of travel was more unorthodox then the rest of the teens, who were either running on the ground, or in the trees. She moved to the side just as kunai knife flew right past her, hitting a tree about ten meters ahead of her. She saw a piece of chakra paper on the hilt of the kunai, which had nearly burnt away, showing the edges of the kanji for explosion.
"Shit," thought Chana, as she flew past the explosive kunai, unable to alter her trajectory enough to avoid the kunai completely. Instead, she pushed herself to her limit attempting to outrun the explosion. She was in part, successful. She had made it in front of the explosion so that it propelled her forward, although it did disrupt her enough that she missed her next hand hold, causing her to spin out and lose at least five seconds, by which time three people had made it in front of her: Ymir, who had been trailing her on the ground the entire time, Armin, who had been the one to throw the kunai, and Annie, who had been running in pace with Ymir. She frowned, before pumping more chakra into her body, slowly gaining on Armin.
"So he wants to play like that, hmm," thought Chana, her frown turning to a small smirk, "alright then…let's play!"
While in flight, she reached into one of the numerous pockets in her cargo pants, before grabbing a small purple scroll. She tossed it into the air in front of her, as the hand that was holding it was needed to grab a branch. She launched herself forward from the branch and shot forward, biting onto the scroll, before swinging onto the next branch. While in midair, she cut her thumb on a small blade protruding from the scroll in her mouth, so that blood was freely flowing. She reached forward, grasping the next branch, before slinging herself. At the height that she had flung herself, which was roughly fifteen meters above the tree line, she had ample time to do what she needed while having sight of her targets.
While she was still rising in the air, she took the scroll out of her mouth, twisting it slightly and letting its contents spill out. When she had nearly reached the zenith of her temporary flight, she had one meter of cloth following her. The cloth had an elaborate seal on it, which was glowing a deep red. She took her now bloodied thumb, and quickly ran it across the length of the scroll while simultaneously pouring her chakra into it. Not a moment later, six wicked looking black kunai were now flying along with her. She dropped the scroll before holding her hands out in front of her, cupped. Her arm bulged for a moment, before thick strings of chakra emerged from the tips of her fingers, attaching themselves to the base of the black kunai. The kunai stopped falling; instead taking up positions around Chana, looking like they were each a kunai-headed snake, being controlled by the strings on Chana's fingers. She then brought her arms back, holding them there for a moment, looking down at her targets, before thrusting them forward with all the speed and power she could muster. The kunai had responded in kind. When she brought her hands back, the kunai moved back, and when she thrust her hands forward, the kunai sped forward with a boom, signifying that they had broken the sound barrier. She smirked as she started falling back to the forest, seeing that her kunai had hit their marks.
When she came back down into the forest, she rolled out to disperse her energy, before using the leftover momentum to launch herself back into the trees. It wasn't long before she came across the struggling forms of Armin, Ymir, and Annie, all of which had their shirt sleeves staked to either the ground, or a tree. The kunai were buried up to their hilts in the trees, making the process of taking them out just that difficult, and taking just enough time to give Chana the ability to pull ahead of them. Annie was the first to get loose, using her superior physical strength, augmented with chakra, to just rip herself off the kunai; she turned immediately to pursue Chana. Ymir was the second, taking a little time to pull herself off the kunai, due to the kunai hitting her sleeves in an awkward position. Armin was last out of them, being the weakest physically, as well as having to pull his kunai out of wood, whereas the girls' kunai had been in the earth.
While Armin freed himself, most of the trainees had passed him. When he had finally been able to pull himself free, the only people he was in front of were Bertolt and Krista. He sighed, having been in the lead and then having it taken from him so quickly.
"Well," he thought to himself looking back at Krista and Bertolt, who, despite him having been stuck to a tree for close to fifteen seconds, were still quite far behind him, "at least I won't be last,"
It was at that moment that Chana reached the curtain wall at the base of the hill, effectively winning the race.
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(Trainee group ten and Chana)
Each of the trainees lay on their backs, completely and utterly tired from the hours of work they had just endured. It was now nearing three bells and the sun's hot rays fell upon them, warming the otherwise cold autumn air. Chana herself was still standing, although she was breathing heavily and was very sweaty. After the first year, she had started participating in the workout schedules she had set up the trainees, deeming them worth the effort.
She walked up to a tree, before placing her back against it, sat down, and started slowing down her breathing. She opened her eyes and looked at the clearing that she and trainees were occupying. As already stated, a clearing; it was located about a mile east from the estate and was around forty meters across. On the northern side of the clearing was a stream, which had a series of logs placed by it. The logs were all worn down on their topsides, looking as though they were used as pseudo benches. There was a small, well-beaten path following the stream, which led back to the estate. The forest around the clearing was especially thick, making it difficult to enter or leave by any means other than the stream.
Chana took one last deep breath, before standing up and going to each of the trainee's and kicking them roughly in the side, telling them to get up. Each time she did this, she got grumbled at or cursed at, but always got them up after the threat of another kick.
When they all were up, she gestured to them before heading down the path. They all trailed behind her slowly, making their way at their own pace.
(One hour later)
Chana placed her right hand on the Iron Gate, a seal briefly appearing on its back before disappearing. She stood back, yawning, as the gate slid down into the earth. When it was fully submerged, all of the teens trudged through. The moment the last person, Krista, had passed through, the gate started rise. After the five or so minutes it took them to reach the estate, Chana turned around stopping the trainees behind her.
"Well, I guess this i-" Chana stopped and suddenly jumped to the side right as a hail of kunai landed where she had been not a second before. She stood up, giving an annoyed look towards the eaves of the manse. Each of them suddenly heard a thump on the ground next to Chana, before a man started to appear.
"C-sensei, why did you feel it necessary to interrupt me," inquired Chana to the now fully-visible C. C stood at the same height as Naruto at a solid six feet tall. He had kept his hair shoulder-length. It was as wavy as it had been when they all had initially seen him. He still wore his doctors' scrubs and his left eye was still sewn shut. The only difference from the C three years prior was a pair of spectacles that had several magnifying lenses over his right eye.
"Well, Chana-chan, you kept me waiting, and you know how impatient I am. For all I knew your little speech could have taken one minute or ten," replied C. Chana just sighed before grabbing the bridge of her nose.
"Sorry, C-sensei, I had worked them extra hard today, so I let them walk back," replied Chana, annoyed. "Besides, it's their last day; I didn't think you would really care,"
"Meh, I still need them on time, even if it is their last day. Now go. Naruto said he needed something." Chana nodded, before giving a wave to the ten trainees and blurring away, presumably, to find Naruto. C waited a moment, before nodding to himself and leaning up from the wall. He looked to each of the ten before him, before giving them all a wide smile.
"Well, this is it huh? Last day being my cute little students," started C, sarcastically wiping away a fake tear from his eye. "I want you all to know that I am proud of all of you and that I can't wait to see what you guys will do and create." C reached inside his coat and produced a small bag.
"I have something for each of you," continued C, reaching into the bag and pulling out ten, black, marble-sized balls. He walked up to each of them and gave them one of the balls. When all of them had one, he walked back in front of them before continuing, "Those are product of three years of hard work,"
"What do they do?" asked Bertolt. C only smiled, before reaching into the bag and pulling out one, final, black ball. He then pumped his chakra into it.
"Well, Bertolt-kun, it allows for non-verbal communication across long distances," replied C, although instead of him speaking, his voice just appeared inside Bertolt's head with perfect clarity. Each of the other teens stiffened, having had the same thing happen to them.
"All you need to do is channel you chakra into the ball and, so long as it in contact, think what you want to be communicated, and the communication ball with interpret it and send the message to each of the other communication balls," explained C, still talking through the communication ball. "A word of warning though, be sure that whatever you want to say, you would be willing to say in front of everyone else. The ball has no way to distinguish who wants to talk to whom, so it will transmit the message to every ball,"
"Now with that said and done, everyone is dismissed. I have an experiment to complete, so you have the rest of the day off unless told otherwise." With that said, C blurred away, leaving the ten teens.
"Well, what do you guys want to do?" asked Connie to the rest of the group.
"Well, I don't know 'bout you guys, but I could go for some lunch," said Sasha, heading toward the bailey. The group just gave unanimous sigh, before following Sasha. From in his study, Naruto smiled, chuckling slightly.
"You know, Naruto, I'm going to miss them," stated C. He was leaning against the side of Naruto's doorway.
"Yes, but you know you are not a field operative. You are much more valuable here, trying to find a way back to our world" replied Naruto. "Which reminds me, what is the status on seal? Have you made any headway?"
C grimaced, before shaking his head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a partially-burned piece a paper. In the center was a black spot that had once been an incredibly elaborate seal.
"He's growing stronger," stated Naruto, as C placed the paper on Naruto's desk.
"Let me see it," asked C, holding out his hand. Naruto only nodded before holding up his gloved left hand. He brought up his right hand and channeled chakra into the seal on the back of his hand. The seal glowed a dark red, before fading. He then took off the glove revealing his left hand which looked as if it were decaying; it had small, sickly purple veins running along it. The decay stopped abruptly were the glove ended.
"It's getting worse," stated C, analyzing it with a skilled eye. He reached up and put one of the magnifying lenses down over his spectacles. He held the hand closer to his face until it was almost touching his nose.
"The spread rate has increased," continued C. "Naruto, we can't keep it contained to just the hand, we'll need to expand the glove." This time it was Naruto's turn to grimace.
"Isn't there something you could do?" inquired Naruto.
"Damn it man, I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker. I'm already doing all that I can, his chakra is just too much for the seal," replied C.
Naruto just sighed, before placing the glove back on his hand.
"Alright, how long till you can have the next container ready?" inquired Naruto. C placed his hand on his chin, his eyes loosing focus for a moment.
"Six months, any less and I could risk the ink not setting correctly," said C. Naruto nodded, before leaning back in his chair. He just sat there for a moment, not really thinking of anything. Then he sat forward and looked to C, who had resumed his position next to the doorway.
"So, what do you think of our guest?" inquired Naruto.
"Well," C started, "I think that Levi guy needs to get that stick up his ass checked and to stop judging my cleaning techniques." Naruto barked out a laugh at C's description of Levi Ackerman, the supposed, "one-man army of the recon corps".
"And the other?" continued Naruto.
"Hange? She's a blast, I would seriously consider bringing her to my lab and hashing out some ideas with her," replied C. "Not to mention that I wouldn't mind doing a few other things with her in my lab,"
"I bet you would C, but let A be the perv, I need you focused on your work," stated Naruto, chuckling a little.
"Hey, I can't help it. Even if I don't directly embody that desire like A, I'm still a guy," replied C.
"Whatever you say." They both just stayed there for a few minutes, not talking, just content being in each other's presence.
"Well, Naruto, I shall have to leave you. It seems that Erwin has something he wishes to speak with you about." With that said, C gave wave before blurring away. Naruto's window slammed open at that same moment. Naruto only chuckled, getting up from the chair and going over to the window to close it. Naruto had just closed it when he heard the knock on his door.
"Come in," called out Naruto, walking back to his chair.
Erwin opened the door, walked in and bowed slightly. Naruto sat down behind his desk, before gesturing for Erwin to do the same. Erwin walked up to the desk and sat down in front of Naruto.
"Naruto-san, this is a most impressive estate and your generosity is unmatched," started Erwin. He was going to continue, but Naruto waved him off.
"Don't pander to me Erwin-san, it doesn't suit you. Now what did you want to discuss," inquired Naruto. Erwin got a serious look in his eyes.
"We need you Naruto-san," stated Erwin.
"Need me?" laughed out Naruto.
"Yes Naruto-san. The Recon corp. and Survey corp. need you. The last time you worked with us was the most successful expedition we ever had, and that was before the wall fell," stated Erwin. He sighed, "To tell you the truth, we have slowly been losing support since the fall of the wall, and with the Wall cult's power growing daily, it has been more difficult to set up proper defenses on the wall."
"Hmm, that isn't good," stated Naruto. "The Wall cult has been getting quite troublesome as of late. I just thank all that's good that my students don't share in their views or practices."
"Good," agreed Erwin. "So Naruto, how strong are they? You didn't talk a lot about them on the way here."
"Individually, they are strong, although your man Levi could beat most of them in a titan killing contest. Together though, they're comparable to a force of nature,"
Erwin's eyes widened at that statements.
"If they are considered that strong by someone as powerful as Naruto-san…" thought Erwin.
"So, Naruto-san, could they beat you?" inquired Erwin.
Naruto put his hand on his chin and started thinking, much like C had done not too long prior.
"I truly don't know. If they took my teachings to heart, they very well could. But as of right now, I could beat them,"
"What do you mean 'if they took your teachings to heart'?" inquired Erwin.
Naruto laughed.
"Even though you wanted weapons of mass destruction, I still taught them to be shinobi. And don't worry. You'll have your weapons. They'll just be taught like shinobi,"
"Naruto-san…what is a shinobi exactly?" asked Erwin, not really caring that his previous question got dismissed.
"In my world, shinobi was the highest class of mercenary. A shinobi village was a settlement created and funded by the country in which it resides. In return, a shinobi village would protect the country from enemy shinobi. One could go to a shinobi village, and so long as they had enough money, they could ask anything and the village would do it." Naruto paused, taking a breath, before continuing "A shinobi's knife is always laced with poison. Where we walk is in shadow, shinobi do not value things so immaterial as honor or mercy. We are paid to do what no one else can do, or will do…you asked what my teachings were?" Erwin only nodded, not used to getting so much information about Naruto's world all at once, "A shinobi is taught to always keep something up his sleeve, never to reveal what he can do to anyone, not to his enemies and especially not to his friends. After one has vanquished one's enemies, they're usually not the one to stick a knife into your kidneys. A shinobi's best weapon is not a sword, or Jutsu, it's deception. If nobody knows anything about you, then nobody has an edge on you,"
Erwin really didn't expect this kind of answer. He did get the ideology behind what Naruto said though.
"Always have something up your sleeves," thought Erwin.
"Thank you for your explanation, it was…enlightening," said Erwin. Naruto only nodded.
"Happy to oblige," replied Naruto.
"Now Naruto-san, back to what I came here to tell you," continued Erwin, "The Recon corp. really does need you back; I feel that if we don't have some kind of success soon, we'll lose enough support that it will be fatal to the cause,"
"Don't worry Erwin-san. While I do enjoy teaching, it can't replace the feel of being out in the field. I think I have stayed here long enough," replied Naruto getting up and walking to the door to his office.
"This was quite a pleasant talk we have had Erwin-san. But unfortunately, I have a few matters that need to be taken care of before tomorrow," stated Naruto, opening the door.
"That is quite fine Naruto-san, I intend to have a nice long sleep in the bed you provided," replied Erwin, who was already getting up from his chair. He walked over to the door. Neither of them said a word, having already said all that they needed. After Erwin had stepped through, Naruto closed the door and walked back to his desk. He sat down at his desk, taking a deep breath, before sliding his coat off his body to reveal his shoulder. On his shoulder was a large seal that spanned the majority of his torso. The seal was a circle with a kanji in the center, surrounded by nine rings. He brought his hand to the outermost circle. He started pumping his chakra into the outer ring, before a small orange scroll appeared in his hand. He set the scroll down on his desk and slid his coat back on his shoulder. He then unraveled the scroll until it spanned the length of his desk. On the scroll were nine circles, within each circle was an elaborate seal designed to hold chakra-heavy materials, such as chakra-imbued items or even humans. He took the tanto off his back and brought it up to his thumb and made a slight incision in his thumb. He quickly brought his bleeding thumb to the tenth circle and, before his thumb could heal, smeared his blood onto the seal while simultaneously pumping his chakra into the seal. Out of the seal came out a sheath large enough for a nodaichi. On the sheath were six kanji: earth, fire, wind, water, lightning, and demon.
Naruto just looked at the sheath for a long while, until he set it down and started unstrapping the sheath for his tanto. He then took the sheath for the nodaichi and held it up. He examined it with an analytical eye, before seeming to come to a decision. He put his left hand up to the sheath and channeled chakra into the seal for wind. Suddenly a hilt appeared on the end of the sheath. Naruto grabbed the hilt and pulled, revealing…nothing. At least, nothing that could be seen by normal eyes. But to Naruto's eyes, he could see what was there with perfectly clarity. Emerging from the sheath was a blade of pure wind chakra. Naruto smiled to himself before sheathing the sword and standing up. He walked to his window and looked outside. He saw that the sun was setting. He opened the window before climbing up on the sill and crouching. He waited until the last light of sun was gone before placing his right hand on the left sleeve of his coat. His straw hat appeared in his hand. He placed it on his head, before popping his collar up leaving only his red, rippled eyes in view. He extended his chakra-sensing abilities, finding what he wanted. The ten teens that he had been training were still in the bailey, apparently just talking.
"Well, my little students…let us see if you took my training seriously," said Naruto to himself, a devious grin crossing his features, although no one would have been able to see it. With that said, Naruto held his sheath in his right hand, and leapt off the fourth story of the manse, turning transparent as he fell to the ground. By the time he reached the ground, the only thing that let anyone know that he existed were the slight indentations in the ground as he moved swiftly toward the bailey.
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(Trainee group ten)
They all were talking, laughing, and reminiscing. Even the more unsociable of the group like Annie and Ymir were participating. They all had a large lunch, although that had been close to two hours prior. Connie was currently talking about how the elk back in his village Ragako were the largest in all of the walls. He was about to go on explaining how his dad was a lead hunter, when everyone stiffened. They all leapt away from the table, when a single large kunai landed in the middle of it, an explosive tag already nearly burned down. When it exploded, it released a massive cloud of smoke, as well as sending a large hail of wooden shrapnel in all directions.
After gaining their bearings, all of them reached for their respective weapons and stood in a ready stance. Each of their ears was ringing from being in such a close proximity to an explosive blast.
"Who are you?!" called out Annie in anger. She did not like the idea of almost being killed in that moment, especially so meaninglessly, "plus, I still have my mission as well," thought Annie.
"Who do you think," whispered a voice in her ear. Annie's eyes opened. She recognized that voice. She was about to ask what was happening, when a hand clasped over her mouth, and a blade of wind emerged from her chest. She started gurgling, before having darkness cloud her vision.
"Why?" thought Annie, as she fully succumbed to the darkness, a single tear falling from her eyes.
Each of the others teen's eyes widened, feeling Annie's chakra signature suddenly vanish. Each of them grasped their weapons tightly, very confused at what was happening at that moment.
"Come on guys! We need to get out of here, let's get outside so we can see who we're actually fighting!" sounded Armin's voice in all of their heads. He was grasping the communication ball that C had given them in his hand, before sliding it in his pocket and rushing for the exit. He almost made it as well, except for a pair of arms suddenly coming out of the wall and grasping him around the neck and torso. Armin would have cried out, except the arms around his throat prevented him from making a sound. He started trying to pry the arms from around his neck off, as they were depriving him of much-needed oxygen. His head started to throb and his vision started to go fuzzy. It was only right before his vision faded to black that he realized something was…strange. His eyes widened in realization, before closing, finally leaving consciousness.
Eight of the trainees ran out of the entrance of the bailey, only to stop suddenly when they felt the chakra signature of Armin cease. They turned to look at the bailey - a fatal mistake. Out of the smoke that was billowing from the doorway, a veritable wall of kunai and shuriken flew out, striking Reiner in the throat and Ymir in the knee. Connie fared even worse, having his torso filled with the weapons and having to endure a slow death, every minute of existence filled with unendurable pain.
"What the hell is this?!" yelled out Eren. He had to dodge out of the way when a massive shuriken flew out of the smoke, nearly decapitating him. The shuriken all of a sudden veered left and struck the crippled Ymir in the torso, causing her to spit out a massive amount of blood, before having the massive shuriken shear through her torso completely. Eren's eyes widened in terror as he felt the chakra signatures of both Reiner and Ymir vanish almost immediately. It was during this time that he stood there…still, that a hand reached in front of his face grasping the grooves made by his eyes. He felt his neck twist, and then all went black.
Mikasa, Krista, Bertolt, and Sasha all gasped as they heard Eren's neck make a sick, fleshy, snap.
"My god…Eren," thought Mikasa, tears starting to fall from her eyes. It wasn't until this moment that they actually recognized who was the one that had just been massacring them.
"Naruto-sensei, what is the meaning of this?!" cried out Bertolt, raising his bow into its ready position. Naruto didn't respond, instead, blurring away. He reappeared with his sword emerging from the chest of Krista who had just unraveled her scroll and was about to release its contents. She coughed once, blood emerging from her mouth. She reached into her cargo pants and brought out a kunai, before stabbing it backward, attempting to stab Naruto. Instead, Naruto sidestepped the stab and let Krista's momentum carry her off his blade.
"YOU BASTARD," yelled out Bertolt, letting loose an arrow from his bow. The arrow flew true and struck Naruto in the head. Bertolt then collapsed to his knees, before looking over to the body of Reiner.
"No more," he whispered out, his voice hollow, "he can't die, not after everything we've done, not after Marc-" his words were cut off by a blade emerging from his throat. The blade withdrew. As Bertolt fell to the ground, he glimpsed a black coat with red clouds, before his vision faded to black.
Sasha and Mikasa gasped, looking to where Naruto's body was supposed to be. What they found was a split log lying on the ground near Krista's dying form.
"Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)!" thought Sasha and Mikasa simultaneously.
Sasha suddenly ducked, avoiding the sword that would have bisected her. Her bo-staff didn't fare as well, being cut in half by the power of the cut. She rolled forward, avoiding the kick Naruto had directed towards her head. She stood up, dodging the sword swing Naruto made for her, before swinging at Naruto with the half-staff. She made a mistake though. Being used to the weight of a full sized staff, she swung too hard and overextended herself. She screamed when she felt her arm get lopped off. Her scream was cut short, as her head fell from her body. Her chest was still exhaling though; obeying the last command of its previous controller.
It was at this time that Mikasa finally saw what Armin had noticed. The chakra around her and Naruto and, well, everything, was slightly distorted. The things she focused on, like Naruto, her friends, the blood, they were all perfect. It was the things on her peripherals that gave away what was happening. They were fuzzy, as if she were looking through a lens.
"Genjutsu!" she thought. It was at this moment that she felt Naruto's hand close over mouth and a blade slide across her throat. As she fell to the ground, she thought of what Naruto had taught them about Genjutsu.
(Flashback)
They were all sitting around Naruto in his garden in the back of the estate. It had been three months since he had activated their chakra, and he had now just started teaching them to actually be a shinobi. He had just spent the last four hours explaining the three main shinobi arts
"Now…Krista, what is taijutsu?" asked Naruto, making sure that they actually remembered what he had taught them. Krista squeaked, being surprised that she had been the one picked to answer the question. "I'll need to work on her self-confidence for sure," thought Naruto.
"Well…um, taijutsu is the shinobi art that relies on physical strength; it is fighting with your fists and is often like chakra-augmented martial arts," concluded Krista.
Naruto nodded, before looking across the rest of his students. He saw Connie picking the petals off one of the flowers, not paying as much attention as the others.
"Connie, explain to us what ninjustsu is," stated Naruto, smirking slightly when he saw Connie's head snap up at his name. He looked flustered, before swallowing and putting the flower down.
"Isn't ninjustsu using your chakra, along with hand signs to make fireballs and other cool things like that," replied Connie, looking at Naruto expectantly. Naruto laughed at Connie's oversimplified version of ninjustsu.
"More or less Connie, ninjustsu is the combination of physical and spiritual chakra, along with hand signs as a focus, to create various effects…like fireballs and 'other cool things like that'," stated Naruto. He chuckled as he saw Connie smile happily, before returning to his flower.
Naruto then looked over the rest of his students, seeing them rest in rapt attention. He looked over them before finally deciding.
"Mikasa, tell me…what is Genjutsu?" asked Naruto.
"Genjutsu," Mikasa started, "is a branch of Jutsu that focuses on manipulating your targets five senses. More advanced Genjutsu can directly influence the targets mind, although they are extremely difficult and are usually only able to be achieved by some inherent ability. Those that are able to influence the mind are able to achieve a more complete sense of reality, even though the target is in a Genjutsu, leaving the target most times unaware that they are even in a Genjutsu,"
Naruto raised his eyebrow, impressed that Mikasa could give such an in-depth explanation.
"Now tell me, what are the tree ways you can be broken out of a Genjutsu?" challenged Naruto. Mikasa looked up at him, before taking a deep breath.
"The three ways to break out of Genjutsu are: having an outside source interrupt your chakra, stopping your own chakra, or causing self-inflicted pain. It is important that the pain you endure is self-inflicted, because many Genjutsu revolve around causing the target as much pain. The only restrictions being that, if you are already being inflicted pain within the Genjutsu, the self-inflicted pain has to be greater than the pain you are already feeling,"
"Very good Mikasa, I see that you have taken this lesson to the heart,"
(Present)
As Mikasa was falling to the ground, she could already feel her head getting light from blood loss, so she did the only thing she could. She reached up to the sheath on her left bicep and pulled out the knife she always carried with her.
She gasped as she hit the ground nearly losing grip on the knife. She looked at Naruto for the briefest of moments, seeing the satisfaction in his eyes, he was glad that she figured it out. She then held out the knife and thrust it into herself as quick as possible, sliding it into her ribs and twisting. The pain that she was feeling was intense and nearly unbearable, and then…she woke up.
(Real world)
Each of them woke up simultaneously; they were each still at their seat inside the bailey. It was nearing seven bells. They all gave out a large shuttering breath. Bertolt set his head down, before breaking down in tears. Mikasa gripped her ribs, the phantom pain from the knife wound still fresh in her mind. Ymir, Annie, and Reiner were all somewhat shell-shocked by how easily they had been either caught off guard, or outright killed. Armin was berating himself for not realizing it was Genjutsu sooner. Eren was doing something similar, except he was thinking about how he was so stupid for just standing still! Sasha was thinking about how she needed to work on her hand-to-hand. Connie was just hugging his chest, remembering what it felt like to be a human pincushion. Krista was doing the worse out of them all. She idolized Naruto and to be so brutally killed by him had her completely unresponsive.
They all looked up when they felt Naruto's presence inside the bailey. He was leaning against the doorway looking at each of them with an analytical eye.
"So…how do you all feel?" He had to dodge to the side when an arrow lodged itself into the doorframe right where his head was.
"Yep, I expected something like that," said Naruto.
"What the hell was that about Naruto-sensei?! Why the fuck did you do that?!" yelled out Eren.
Naruto sighed, before looking into Eren's eyes.
"That, Eren-kun…was your final lesson," replied Naruto.
"What, how the fuck was that a less-" yelled out Sasha, but she was cut off by Naruto's hand.
"What did you learn from this Sasha-chan," inquired Naruto, deadly serious. Sasha gave him a fierce look, before replying.
"I learned that you have one fucked-up mind, if you think that was a test," Naruto's gaze became hard.
"If that's what you think, I'm fine with that, so long as I got my message across," replied Naruto.
"And what was that message, pray tell?"
"Losing friends sucks. It's one of the worst feelings in all existence, only made worse by having someone you look up to or even love do the deed. I don't care if you never forgive me; all that I ask is that when you are in the field, you remember this feeling. Work as hard as you can so that you never have to experience it ever again, because next time, it won't be a Genjutsu. I won't always be here to help you. I want to leave this world without a doubt that you ten will live to be nice and old," said Naruto. It wasn't until that moment that his students realized that he truly and utterly cared for them.
He walked up to the end of the table, pulling up a chair and sitting down. He looked at each of them, giving them a small smile. He leaned forward, conspiratorially.
"Did you guys know that I'm sterile," asked Naruto? Each of them widened their eyes, before shaking their heads. "Yep, have been my entire life. When I was younger, I had a girl I loved, but she was from a prestigious clan, and the clan head didn't want an heir who couldn't produce children to continue the royal line." Naruto paused, sighing, "She married some old fuck from another village, part of a political marriage. He produced sons though, so her father was happy. I never saw her again. I did have an apprentice though, and she was like a daughter to me." Naruto paused again, this time he had tears in his eyes, "Soon after taking her on as my apprentice, my village got into a war…I found her eight months later. She had been raped to death in one of the enemy soldiers' encampments." He was tilting his head down so that his hat kept his eyes from view. None of the teens knew what to say, they had never seen their sensei as emotional as this. It was disconcerting.
He suddenly looked up, determination in his eyes.
"Unfortunately, I can't help but think of you all as my children and, whether you want it or not, I will fight until death, to keep you all safe," stated Naruto. "So, if you guys still hate me after what I did, I will understand, but know that you will always have a place here."
They all just stood there, shocked that Naruto thought of them in such a way. It made more than a few of them question themselves. They were all shaken from their thoughts, when Naruto suddenly stood up. Feeling that the moment was ended, they all stood up with him.
"You all are now officially part of the Recon corp. Be ready to go. We are leaving at dawn." Abruptly, Naruto blurred away.
They all kept standing, still a little shell-shocked from all that had just happened. Then, as one, they headed for the exit, each having their own thoughts going through their heads on what they had just been through.
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The window to Naruto's study opened, and a loud thump resounded throughout the room before a previously-invisible Naruto, now became visible. He stood for a moment before he leaned back against the wall, and slowly sat down. He just sat there for a long while, not really even thinking.
"You know, what you are doing is truly despicable," echoed a voice throughout Naruto's office, before C appeared next to Naruto. Naruto just looked up a C, before chuckling soullessly.
"To instill true loyalty in ones followers, one must have a personal connection with them," replied Naruto, "Erwin does it too, with those mid-expedition breakfast things that he does. Now look at his troops. They would all willingly die for him. He could order them to storm the capital, and they would do it without a second thought,"
C snorted.
"The difference is that he truly cares," stated C. Naruto looked up at him, annoyance in his eyes.
"C, you obviously care for them. I think you forget that you are still an aspect of me and all that you feel, I feel to a certain degree. It's not that I don't care for them. I just don't think I could care for them as much. You and I both know that no one could replace her,"
C just shrugged, before sliding down the wall and sitting next to Naruto.
"That's true, although… Krista looks a lot like her," stated C.
"Don't remind me, she even has an unnatural knack for seals too," replied Naruto, rubbing his eyes.
"It seems like the gods take a special pleasure in tormenting us," added C.
"That they do," agreed Naruto. They both sat there, much like they had done earlier that day. After awhile, Naruto stood and walked over to his desk.
"Well, C, as much as love contemplating the death of loved ones, I need to get to bed. Go find Mini-C or something; you've been out of your lab for most of the day, so he's probably done something worthy of your attention," said Naruto, pulling scrolls from inside his desk and putting them onto his desk.
C chuckled, before getting up and walking over to the door. He opened the door, looking back at Naruto.
"Naruto, remember, if you truly care for them, protect them. You and I both know that there is something up with a few of them. Even if they betray us, make sure you do everything that you can before ending them. When she died, it took forever for your mind to get back in some semblance of normality; I think if they died, we'd break," with that said C turned and closed.
"Oh yea, Naruto, don't forget to come back in six months, I'll have your glove ready," rang out C's voice in Naruto's head. Naruto just nodded to himself, before getting up, looking over the scrolls on his desk one more time, and heading to his bed.
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Whoo, that took way shorter than I expected. Not a lot happened in that chapter, action wise, but I promise that the next few chapters will be quite action intensive. And so, we learn a little more about Naruto's past and his relationship (at least how he views it) with his students.
And now, it's like, two in the morning, I'ma go sleep for the next twenty-ish hours, see you on the other side.
As always, I thank you guys for your support, and ask that you give any criticism or helpful comments.
This is Salem52,
Signing off.