This is the rewrite of Chapter 2 - I've taken down the first edition because it's plain crap and I'm at a roadblock as to what I want to do following Chapter 42. So I wrote this. Those that HAVE seen the first chapter before please give me feedback either via PM or via new reviews. Those new to the story please inform me of how I did regarding this chapter. I would appreciate it I can get criticisms of my chapters particularly in the first few chapters. Some of you have informed me of your thoughts, and I have and will incorporate them into the next few chapters to make them flow. The chapters under reconstruction are dedicated to you reviewers that allowed me to rewrite it to a (hopefully) higher quality.
I think you guys would be tired of me rambling on now, so time to get this started. Please note flames and criticisms without evidence or methods of improving will be fed to Er'ryl (that's my Winterspring Cub in MoP and will be featured in later chapters. What a cute little guy 3)
Disclaimer: I do not own Warcraft nor Naruto; the brand name and characters belong to Blizzard Entertainment and Kishimoto respectively. Other ideas that may be used belong to their associative owners
Chapter 2: Prepare
As the morning sun rose over the Alliance camp, one human strode across to the ranged barracks for a request. As Naruto approached many of the riflemen and archers turned, wondering who, and what, the new person is doing in the ranged barracks.
"I am here to request an audience to Ranger General Sylvanas Windrunner," Naruto said calmly despite all the stares. Politics come in handy sometimes, after all, "I have a request."
"I am Sylvanas Windrunner, what is it that you request," a woman, slightly taller than even the other elves she commanded, walked forward and replied.
Naruto began describing his plan, a brief description of how his markers work, and how it could be applied onto multiple battalions fighting on different fronts at once. After his explanation, Sylvanas frowned in thought.
"I thought you mercenary types do not like to spread their trade around?" Ah, so she heard that he was acting as a mercenary.
"You cannot truly call me a mercenary General," Naruto smirked slightly, "I am acting within the bounds of someone for hire, yes, but I am not a mercenary."
Dropping his voice lower so that he cannot be overheard, Naruto continued, "I assume that you know of my status and where I came from?"
"I have an inkling, I suppose," Sylvanas replied ambiguously, "I fail to see how your… arrival to our army has anything to do with this."
"Considering how my seals are marked in my own language, who can possibly use it?" Naruto replied with a question of his own, "Where I came from is the key to letting me use it – none of you know how these seals can possibly work. I've looked over seals in your army, General, and while there are similarities, many things are different, enough that I do not worry about such trivial things. I am… hired… to win your battles, and I will do just that."
"Interesting…" Sylvanas hummed in thought, "I will consider your proposal. May I see the seal in question?"
"It will not activate without my chakra," Naruto warned as he handed over a kunai to Sylvanas. She, meanwhile, tested the weight of the blade, and threw it.
"Balanced for throwing fast… yet not quite balanced enough to throw completely accurately. Show me your technique," Sylvanas said. Before she could finish her sentence however, Naruto had already teleported to where the kunai was, thrown it back at her feet, and teleported back to her.
"Does that help as a demonstration?"
"Quite," Sylvanas replied, deep in thought, "Very well, I will commission a batch for field testing, twenty quiver per company of archers."
"Please tell me when you are done. I would need to activate the seals prior to field use," Naruto said as Sylvanas nodded, "Thank you for your time."
"As you are," Sylvanas replied as Naruto walked away. That was easier than expected, Naruto thought as he jumped into the trees to reconnaissance the area.
As he crossed through the trees, he suddenly became aware of someone tracking him… or is there? While Naruto's gut instinct screamed at him that he was being watched, he had difficulty sensing anyone that was close – not that it was easy in the first place already. The strongest signature he sensed was Jaina's, and even then it felt… diluted. The air did not help either as it was saturated with energy, making sensing even more difficult. Deciding to trust his instinct, he jumped onto a clearing.
"Please show yourself, I know there's someone here," Naruto declared to the area. There was silence for a moment.
"Quiet… too quiet," Naruto talked lightly, noting the lack of movement and insect noises in the forest, before an arrow streaked past him, engulfed in flames and whistling as it pierced through the air, "Now it's too loud. I preferred it when it was quiet…"
"Halt intruder! State your purpose or the next arrow goes through your head!" an elf suddenly emerged – but unlike the other elves he met at base, this one had a different pigment of skin – light purple, to be precise. Her ears were slanted back as well. She was riding a – Naruto checked his eyes again – a saber tooth of all things. A white saber tooth tiger. Must be a Night Elf then, Naruto thought, time to play the confusion card.
"Aren't we on the same team?" Naruto asked, confused.
"What?" the Night ELf replied, confused.
"Aren't you an elf?" Naruto replied, "Wait, hold that thought."
Naruto flashed through seals quickly, then slammed his hand on the floor. The Night Elf tensed the instant Naruto moved, but there was no cause for alarm as a jet of water burst out of the ground and doused the small flame.
"What were you thinking about firing a flaming arrow of all things in a forest? Forests are flammable," Naruto chided at the alarmed and wide-eyed Night Elf. Who was this human to chide her at the possible destruction of the forest when they're cutting down lumber for their own greed?
"State your purpose," the Night Elf repeated.
"Aren't you suppose to give your name before you threaten people?" Naruto shot back, deciding the game was over, "It would be nice to know exactly what is going on?!"
"Keep out. I will not have more of your kind or those filthy Orcs from desecrating these forests. This is your final warning: this is not your place to stay," the Night Elf said again. Naruto sighed, Orcs? Must've forgotten to research some stuff last night. Oh well.
"It's not yours either!" Naruto shouted back, and ducked again as another arrow was launched, "STOP SHOOTING SHARP THINGS AT ME!"
"Then leave," the Night Elf replied resolutely.
"Can I at least know who's threatening me?" Naruto replied, irritated this time, "I would really appreciate that."
"Why should I?"
"Because… prisonersayswhat," Naruto quickly said.
"Wha-" the Night Elf said before Naruto disappeared and knocked her out with a chop to the neck.
"Kami I love that move," Naruto sighed before typing the Night Elf up and knocking the saber tooth out absentmindedly, "Hope she's not someone important… I could get into a lot of trouble if she was."
If only Naruto knew.
A few minutes later
The Night Elf groaned as she woke up against the tree. Wait, woke up?
She checked her surroundings, and realized she was bound up against a tree. She frantically tried calling for her frostsaber until she heard a voice, "If you're looking for your tiger, he's unavailable right now. He's taking a nap you see, but we agreed that it was nobody's fault."
Who is this strange and somewhat insane person?
"Let me go. I am High Priestess Tyrande, leader of the Night Elf Sentinels. And you have the gall to tie me up?" the now identified Tyrande spoke up, "And what did you do to my frostsaber!"
"Well shit, she is someone important. I should've known my luck wasn't that good…" Naruto groaned, before speaking up, "Well, there goes my reason to tie you up and interrogate you. I just wanted to know some information, but apparently you just gave it all."
With that, Naruto threw a kunai, slicing through the wires holding Tyrande, and, giving a slight bow to Tyrande as apology, jumped away into the tree right as a dozen arrows impacted where he was a split second ago.
"Jaina is not going to be happy to know that I knocked out someone that important…" Naruto grumbled, before noticing something and ducking, "WILL YOU STOP SHOOTING THOSE ARROWS!"
Tyrande tried to catch up, but Naruto suddenly accelerated, speeding away from the fuming Priestess. She had to wonder though, Who was that human?
Back to Naruto
"Better report that in before I get into trouble," Naruto said to himself as he crossed the camp walls and neared the base. Seeing Jaina, he slowed down and called her, "Jaina!"
"Yes?" Jaina replied, "Is there anything you need?"
"A couple… who or what are Orcs?" Naruto asked.
"You didn't look over that bit of information?" Jaina asked as Naruto scratched his head, sheepish.
"Sort of… fell asleep," Naruto admitted, "I met a Night Elf and heard her say that… speaking of which…"
"I'm assuming something happened," Jaina said.
"How would you react if I told you I knocked out and then tied up the High Priestess of the Night Elves for interrogation because she refused to tell me who she is and what she was doing there?" Naruto asked as Jaina facepalmed.
"I hope this isn't going to come back and bite us in the end…" Jaina groaned, "Naruto, the High Priestess basically leads the Night Elves… and you had to go and knock her out AND tie her up?"
"In my defense, she started first," Naruto replied, "I was more or less taking defensive measures."
"By knocking people out?" Jaina deadpanned leading to a chuckle from Naruto, "I don't know how you do it where you came from, but that's not how we do things… never mind, it's not important, it's already done. As for Orcs… they are a race that has nursed hatred against us… or rather mutual hatred. They first invaded us and we fought back for two wars."
"Sounds like some sort of warmongering race," Naruto frowned. That's not good.
"They're pretty similar to what you described," Jaina nodded, "But not everyone's like that I think. We've had peace talks before, so I'm confident that we can have something out of this. Except… people don't like to talk. They prefer to fight."
"Let me guess, that conflict with you," Naruto guessed as Jaina nodded.
"I will fight if necessary, but I don't like it. Actually, I hate it," Jaina replied.
"Yet sometimes we fight," Naruto said, "To protect those we love, those we care about. Would you justify that?"
Jaina was silent for a moment.
"Many of us fought for revenge…" Jaina finally said, "But I believe Anduin Lothar said similar things before as well – to fight to ensure that the atrocities committed by the Orcs cannot be repeated rather than vengeance for the fallen…
It's impressive that you can grasp a concept like that Naruto. I doubt many of us, me included, really know what we fight for."
Naruto blushed slightly at the compliment. Him, mature? As if. There was something deeper in what Jaina said however, and Naruto struggled to figure out what it was.
Jaina thought back to Arthas, You should have never gone for the blade Arthas… the desire for revenge… compared to the desire to protect…And now Lordaeron… Is it worth it Arthas?
Their train of thoughts were interrupted by a soldier, ragged from running and with blood streaming from wounds unclosed that collapsed before Jaina.
"Orcs! By the hundreds! South Encampment is under attack!" the soldier managed out in a gasp before his wounds overtook him as the Priests arrived. Jaina narrowed her eyes as she turned to Naruto.
"Go assist the front. Keep the encampment from falling. They are resting on a choke point, and I don't think I need to tell you how important it would be," Jaina ordered as Naruto nodded and leapt off. Moments later a small battalion began moving out as well.
Naruto streaked through the trees praying that he might arrive on time. He had no maps, nothing that could help except for shadow clones that he spread for terrain covering last night, thus he knew only that he was going in the correct general direction.
It didn't matter however. Even if he didn't know the precise location of the battle, sounds of the battle and the smell of bloodshed were prevalent in the air, and Kyubi was able to guide Naruto based on emotion sensing. Following slight course corrections, Naruto finally landed at the site of battle after a few minutes.
The encampment was in ruins. Scattered pockets of Alliance forces attempted to regroup and retreat, but the Orcs, outnumbering the Alliance, formed clusters around each isolated Alliance platoon, cutting them down. Naruto growled lightly as he disappeared off the branch he was standing on, reappearing right in between two Orcs wielding large machete-like blades. Naruto's katanas' were already out, embedded into the stomach of the two surprised and dying Orc. Within moments Naruto was gone, slashing into the midst of the Orc attackers.
For the Orcs, they were caught completely by surprise as a lone figure suddenly blurred into their midst, as if teleported or blinked, right in between two of their troops, cutting them down and disappearing just as quickly. Then the killing began.
While Orcs were known to be much tougher than humans and elves, and were capable of taking much more punishment to their body, the majority were still mere cannon fodders. And the one they were facing was anything but. They were facing not a lone, elite troop, but an army killer. This was made evident as screams began to permeate through the air as Naruto slashed through files of troops with his twin katana, the edges glowing with wind chakra. A moment later Naruto was in another location, his katana sheathed and in his hands two glowing, spinning orbs, aimed right at the largest Orc there.
"Tsuin Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he pushed the two deadly orbs right into the leader, as the leader howled and pain and pushed, spinning, back into boulders, causing a small dust cloud to form. Naruto narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong with that; the dust cloud emanated was much too small for the direct impact of something as powerful as Rasengan, never mind two at the same time.
"A human with that much power? I shall enjoy this fight," a dark chuckle was heard as the leader emerged. The Orc emerged, wounded, but still ready to fight. Naruto wasted no time as he ducked, while several blasts of energy whistled past where his head was.
This is getting dangerous, where is the encampment commander? Naruto thought quickly as he analyzed the situation. He could make clones, but they would not be as big a help. He could blow them away with Rasenshuriken, but that would be overkill and he simply did not have enough time to use such a powerful jutsu. Smokescreen it is then.
Naruto flashed through hand seals as he aimed his palms at the ground, "Futon: Atsugai!"
While atsugai was meant as a piercing, drilling attack, the same drilling effect was used by Naruto in this instance to create a vortex of air that drilled into the ground, throwing up clouds of dust to obscure his movement. While he was inside, he quickly killed the spellcasters and hid underground, searching for the commander. As luck would have it, the commander – if he was the one that Naruto sensed – was nearby.
As Naruto popped up, he realized why the commander was unable to rally his troops.
The commander was speared right through his abdomen, and numerous wounds littered his body. He was only kept alive by the efforts of the priests around him, dead trying to heal the commander while in combat, or died using themselves as shields for the commander.
"What happened?" Naruto said urgently, "I'm part of the task force sent to aid."
"They took us by surprise…. Rogues… planted bombs in our barracks and supplies before the battalion attacked… scattered our forces… rally them back to base… position is… lost…" the commander rasped out as he tried to get air into his body, Naruto desperately trying to heal him, "Let me be… save my men."
Naruto nodded, "What of the leader? What can you say about him?"
"Tank… can take damage… attacks with low hitting strikes… took down my calf… immobilized… before his ranged attackers struck me…" the commander whispered out, struggling to get the information out, "When attacking low… he does wide… sweep… arm completely… exposed…"
As he breathed out the last bit of information, the commander passed away. Naruto had to respect the man, if nothing he was dedicated, forcing all the information he could out for victory before he died. Naruto stood up as archers began arriving and raining arrows down on the surprised Orcs, killing many before they could respond with their own counterattacks.
Naruto had to give Sylvanas, or anyone who trained the archers, credit. Instead of aiming precisely for certain people, they scattered their attacks on one region of attack. While precision may take down the very enemies they aim for, it was an unnecessary waste when there are hundreds of archers and only two or three important enemies. The last wave of arrows had taken out the Orc's spellcasters, leaving only the standard infantries and cavalries. Even so, this would still be a hard battle. Unless…
Naruto sighed. His stock of the special kunai was rapidly dwindling, and this battle would surely expend the last of it, but he could see reinforcements arriving from the other side of the river bank as well – Orc reinforcements.
After quickly counting the number of marked kunai he had left, he scattered them high and far, making sure to evenly cover much of the battlefield with the kunai. Then he disappeared, but this time, there was no blur to his movement – there was only an afterimage where he had stood before.
The Orc infantry stood no chance. The instant Hiraishin no Jutsu was used, they could not keep up the onslaught at the encampment. They had trouble tracking Naruto in the first place with his natural speed, and with the space time manipulation that he now possessed he was unstoppable by all but the most powerful of man.
For both sides, it was an awe-inspiring sight. Flashes of yellow were all they saw before Orc after Orc were killed in rapid succession, their arms going limp without ever reacting to Naruto's presence. Their leader roared in anger as he charged in recklessly.
"Your head will be good trophy!" the Orc roared as he swung his blade down, Naruto dodging only at the last second, lashing out with a kick to the largest wolf he had seen, instantly breaking through the knee joint and crippling the wolf. The wolf howled in pain and flung the leader overboard, who tumbled through the grass and mud.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Naruto replied as he flashed through handseals.
"Katon: Goukakyou no Jutsu!" Naruto breathed out a gigantic fireball that soared in the direction of the leader, who rolled out of the way and withdrew his other weapon – an axe. He proceeded, much to Naruto's bewilderment, throw it high up into the air, before charging back at Naruto with his main blade drawn, in the stance that the commander had told him about.
Steady… steady… Naruto thought as he waited for the precise moment. So focused Naruto was that he forgot completely about the thrown blade. As the Orc leader swung his blade, Naruto stepped back, counted to two, and charged forward, the tip of his katana glowing with wind chakra, ready to stab the Orc-
-but was blocked by the sudden axe that appeared in the Orc's hand, deflecting Naruto's blade back. While the Orc suffered no injuries, his axe was rendered unusable, a large crack in the middle of the blade, which slowly split the axe apart in front of everyone's eyes. The Orc growled before charging once more.
Just as the Orc neared Naruto, however, a large blast of lightning, larger than any Naruto had seen yet, pierced right through the Orc, rendering him a smoldering corpse. Naruto looked up.
Ah, Naruto thought, that was convenient.
Along with the arrival of the two leaders was a large contingent of troops sent forward to reclaim the land. With the arrival, the remaining troops, spurred on by the actions of Naruto, sprang into action, adrenaline pumping through their blood once more, their fears forgotten.
Within moments the attackers broke rank and ran, their leaders dead and their morale sapped. Though the Orcs had the upper hand in the beginning, the arrival of reinforcements battered away at their forces until it was but a shadow of the initial attack.
Naruto wiped some sweat off his brows as he turned around.
"General, Lina, nice to see you here," Naruto commented as they raised their eyebrows.
"That was impressive," Sylvanas began, gesturing at the battlefield, "We didn't even get the arrows mass produced in time. How did you manage it?"
"That would be a secret, General," Naruto replied.
"Anything we can do to make you reveal the secret?" Lina asked as Naruto shrugged.
"I'm a mercenary, these secrets are what allows me to survive. If you know what they are, then they would not be much of a secret now will they?" Naruto replied.
"You presume that we may betray you?" Sylvanas asked, narrowing her eyes, "Or do you plan on mutiny?"
"Neither, but it is always wise to prepare for the worst case scenario, I should know, I've been on many missions where lack of information often comes down to said worst case scenario," Naruto replied just as smoothly, remembering his mission to the Land of Waves, the mission to rescue Gaara, and the meeting with the spy, Kabuto.
"Wise words," Sylvanas commented as she turned around, "Secure the site! We will entrench here and make some traps before we leave. We'll set up another encampment further up the river, closer to the main camp."
As her troops scattered, Naruto relaxed.
"I assume you do not sense any troops?" Naruto asked as Lina nodded. At the signal, Naruto sprawled out on the ground, "Good, I'm tired and being serious like that feels wrong."
"What?" Lina asked as Naruto stretched before looking around.
"I'm only serious when the situation asks for it, I'd rather not be so stuck up all the time, it's not fun," Naruto commented before vanishing, "Hey, food!"
Lina shook her head in exasperation as he watched him slide around people getting closer to the cooking pots, before stopping and turning.
"You want some?" Naruto yelled.
Shrugging, Lina moved over to see what the chefs are cooking.
"Sure, that looks nice," Lina commented as Naruto grabbed two bowls and handed one over, before proceeding to devour his portion.
"This tastes nice. What is it?" Naruto said in-between bites. Lina looked down and took a bite herself.
"Crunchy spider surprise with a side of blood sausages, and I think they used the remains of the spider to make the gooey cake," Lina replied as Naruto paused and looked at the bowl in his hands. He paled slightly, then turned green and placed the bowl down. Lina took another bite, "oh, and fried bat wings. I didn't know they had bats."
"I'm not hungry anymore…" Naruto mumbled as he tried to keep his dinner in while Lina raised an eyebrow and took another bite.
"Why? I thought as mercenaries you would have to eat things that are much weirder," Lina commented, "Besides, spiders have a good amount of meat on them."
"Please stop saying things like that… we don't have spiders the size of wagons…" Naruto replied. While that wasn't technically true, the only spiders that grow to that size were summons, and people don't eat summons… at least to his knowledge. He shuddered at even thinking of eating someone from Myobokuzan.
"Well… we have toad soup I think… they found some down by the riverside," Lina said as she held her chin, while Naruto paled even faster.
"It's ok…" Naruto replied quickly before grabbing his bowl again, "I'd prefer to eat this instead…" and not get butchered by Gamabunta.
"Um, ok…?" Lina replied back, wondering what she had said that caused Naruto to pale quickly. Shrugging it off as a strange custom in his land, she took another bite out of the cake, enjoying the taste. The day was turning out to be pretty well.
After a few minutes of silence, Naruto finally spoke up, "You said you're not from Lordaeron. Where are you from then?"
"Quel'Thalas. It's the Elven kingdom north of Lordaeron," Lina replied, "Lots of trees, many of them can probably rival the trees here."
Naruto looked around at the trees, marveling, not for the first time, at the trees themselves.
"They're impressive, almost as big as the ones back home," Naruto commented as Lina's eyebrows shot up again.
"Almost? You mean your trees back home are even larger? I find that hard to believe," Lina replied as Naruto snorted.
"Big wouldn't describe them. We can hardly take them down, never mind setting them on fire – those trees are too big for fire to do anything other than sear the bark," Naruto said as Lina widened her eyes, "That's basically how big they are. But to raise trees to this size isn't an easy task in the first place."
"Indeed…" Lina replied as she looked at the trees, "But that's not what you wanted to know about Quel'Thelas, is it?"
"No, I suppose not," Naruto replied.
"Our king, Anasterian Sunstrider, lived through both of the last wars, though we never joined in the first war," Lina said, "Sylvanas' sister, Alleria, joined the second war, however, but we don't know what happened to her after the Dark Portal collapsed."
"The Dark Portal?"
"A gateway into the Orc's homeworld," Lina replied, "And from what I've heard it was not exactly a place of happiness. Something happened to it, but no one knows what it is."
"Interesting…" Naruto mused, "Wait, how old is your king?"
"I think almost three thousand years old, if not older," Lina replied, deep in thought, "He was born far before I was."
"Wait, elves can live that long?" Naruto said, surprised, "How old are you?"
"You know it's not nice to ask a woman her age," Lina cheekily replied, "But to answer your question, our average lifespan is several hundred years old. King Sunstrider's an exception in that he's managed to lived far longer because of his arcane prowess… I think. He is getting on with his age though, but at least Prince Kael is there to pick up once he's gone, at least, if he leaves the Kirin Tor."
"The Kirin Tor?"
"Jaina didn't tell you about the Kirin Tor? How strange," Lina commented, surprised at Naruto's reaction.
"Um… no. Should she have?" Naruto replied.
"She should. She was one of the brightest in the order, the personal apprentice to the leader, Archmage Antonidas," Lina explained, "It's an order of magi dedicated to studying the arcane. We don't allow necromancy or warlock magic inside though, only standard mage studies. I was one of the students there as well, and Kael holds a high position… though what position he held I'm not fully sure.
We're also independent of the nations and form our own city state. We do not condone violence in our city, Dalaran, but we are somewhat affiliated with Lordaeron. Civil conflicts, however, we do not take part in."
"Interesting… sounds like Tetsu no Kuni…" Naruto remarked, causing Lina to raise an eyebrow as Naruto explained further, "It's a neutral nation that disallows fighting in any of its territory. It was used as the peace talk summits actually and for negotiations. They may be alone, but they're powerful. I've seen their samurai, their warriors, cut one of us down before we could blink."
"That fast? You're pretty fast already," Lina exclaimed, "What kind of people are you to focus on such things…"
"Us? We're soldiers," Naruto replied, "We're soldiers that must stand ready for any situation, at any time. I'm the perfect example. Nearly all of my missions or duties end up being several ranks higher because something unexpected happens."
"Like falling out of the sky and for Jaina?" Lina asked curiously.
"Yeah… wait, what? I what?" Naruto replied before realizing the ending of Lina's question, even as she began giggling, "That wasn't nice…"
"It's ok, we all know it's the denying stage," Lina giggled more as Naruto stared at her even as she turned around and glided away, putting the bowl away.
"What the hell just happened?" Naruto wondered as he tried to take a bite out of his meal, only to realize that his bowl was empty as well, "Well, that was interesting… interesting enough that I didn't even realize I finished. Despite what I actually at, it's surprisingly delicious."
"You sure you don't want that toad soup? I can ask them to save you some!" Lina called from across the clearing as Naruto paled again.
"It's fine!" Naruto yelled back almost frantically, not wanting to face the wrath of Gamabunta, "On second thought it's still as weird as ever. I wonder where Sasuke is, I'm sure he survived the fall… or he could just be stupid and fell into the ocean and got gobbled up by something as stupid as a whale shark or something… as if a whale shark could do that." (Oh you have no idea Naruto…)
Somewhere else in Kalimdor
"That… was the freakiest thing I've ever seen," Sasuke said with wide eyes as he ran up the shore, completely out of character. Never mind his reputation, that… thing… that looked like a whale shark seemed harmless until he accidentally provoked it. Then it was just a matter of running as fast as he could and getting away from the biggest fish he had ever seen… and he had seen some of Orochimaru's sea monster experiments before.
At least, that was supposed to be the freakiest thing he had seen until now.
"Well… who are you?" a calm voice spoke as out rode a man clad in armor, his white hair flowing down, and riding on… a skeletal horse with wings?
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked without even replying.
"Tsk tsk tsk… aren't you the rude one," Arthas commented, "I'll be courteous if you aren't. My name is Arthas Menethil, Death Knight of the Scourge."
"Scourge? What kind of pathetic name for an organization is that?" Sasuke muttered as Arthas laughed.
"Cliché, indeed," Arthas said as his minions came out, surprising Sasuke not only with the fact that such a large army came up on him… but also that he did not detect them given how bad they smelled and the aura of death surrounding them, "But fitting nonetheless."
"Where am I?" Sasuke asked again.
"You haven't introduced yourself, stranger. You're not exactly in a… favorable position to demand. You are in Night Elf territory after all, and they don't take kindly to people intruding on their home."
"As if I care what weaklings would think," Sasuke replied.
"Weaklings? No, annoying as they are, many of them are certainly not what you would call weaklings… they could give me a run for my money easily… and I do not doubt they would yours. I would like to enter an… alliance with you…" Arthas said slowly, but somewhat truthfully, manipulated by the blade at his side.
"Tch, you can offer me power?" Sasuke sneered before an overpowering sensation ripped into him as Arthas blasted him with a death coil, launching him backwards onto the sand easily.
"I would think so," Arthas replied calmly, "Listen, boy, wherever you may come from is now just a dream. I recognize enough magic to know that you're not from this world, and right now your best chance is with me."
Sasuke mulled over the options.
"I also know that a… friend of yours has also landed here and is siding with my enemies," Arthas added in. Sasuke perked up at that, before narrowing his eyes. After going through his options again, he finally spoke.
"So… what… alliance… are you proposing?"
Sasuke never noticed the slight glowing from Frostmourne as he said the final words…