Chapter 2
Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction. I do not own or claim to own the Naruto franchise. Lawyers remember the Streisand effect and sue someone else.
It was at this point my jaw hung agape.
"What the fuck?" Escaped my mouth as my brain tried to find a way for this situation to be occurring.
"Okay kid you seem to be having a meltdown let me make things clear to you. But first have a seat." He waved his hands and a chair appeared behind me. I sat in it.
"Here's the hard truth of the situation. You have been transported to a new world, this means that you are in a entirely new universe, you have no way of returning home. The gods and goddesses have nothing to do with you being thrusted into a new reality. Remember that whole firestorm? That was this area being transported into this new world. During the transport, you became the anchorpoint. Explaining what being an anchorpoint is a whole other discussion that we don't have time for, but it did include one thing. I was appointed by the goddess Minerva to be your guide, I will teach you what it means to be an anchorpoint. Basically, you are the link between this world and the one you left behind. Does this make sense?" Cincinnatus said.
My brain kicked into overdrive as I began to process the information. If I was in a new world that meant I could never get to Rome. Which mean that I can't ever see my parents or sister again. My thoughts ground to a halt.
"WHAT ABOUT MY PARENTS?" I yelled. His nonchalant explanation had done a fair amount to annoy me.
"You will never be able to see them again." A monotone reply met my fury. Dousing the fiery rage that started to build me. I sighed. Grief started to bud. If only I had tried harder in my studies maybe I could have been apprenticed somewhere else. If I had changed any of my decisions in my life maybe I could have not been posted to this island and not have gotten wrapped up in all this crap.
"This was fated, you would have ended up here even if you had tried to not to be posted to the Caledonian Legion." Cincinnatus's voice snapped me out of my mental musings.
"It was fated?" I asked.
"It was absolute fate." He replied back.
"So I was fated to be separated from my \family and thrown into this mess?" I asked.
"Yes" This was the reply that calmed my fury completely. A silence descended upon our conversation.
"So what now?" I asked.
"You will have to figure that out now. It's time for you to wake up. I'll still be here when you fall asleep next." Cincinnatus said.
"What do you mean time for me to wake up?" I asked. He didn't answer. All he did was walk up to me and kick me in the stomach. I fell back in my chair and hit my head on the floor.
"What the hell happened to him" I heard from Furianus.
"Wasn't he out on a boat when that massive firestorm happened?" I heard Cato say.
"He was out on the boat during the firestorm, and afterwards Arminus did leave and brought him back so it seems likely that he was out during the firestorm. Although, I do not think speculation will get us anywhere." Muscius was next to join in the gossip.
As the mental fog began to clear the smell of burnt wood and leather assaulted my nose, my back hurt as if it had been beaten repeatedly. I let out a groan and then started to rub my back.
Caius are you awake?" Furianus asked.
"No" I replied as I tried to rub out the pain of my back.
"Hey Arminus, Caius just woke up!" Furianus yelled. I clutched my head in pain.
"Shut up! Stop being loud!" I yelled back.
"Caius how are you feeling today?" Arminus asked. He was standing over me.
"Tired. I'm tired and I don't wanna move," I replied.
"Well I guess you are going to have a long day ahead of you. We have muster in five minute. Plus, we have some pork and beef cooking for breakfast." The last part of that statement took a second to process in my head and had me out of the tent looking at our cooking fire. It was only hot oats.
"That's just cruel!" I remarked.
"Whatever it takes to get you out of bed. Get your sandals on quick we have muster starting right now." Arminus said as he walked out of the tent.
I slipped on my sandals and fastened them quickly.
When compared to the group of men that had assembled here, the one that currently held its place seemed as if it was bad copy. Burned clothes and equipment seemed to be the new 'in fashion' if one only looked at this group. The legate quickly walked up on stage and began his speech.
"ROMANS, BRITONS, AND ALL WHO FOLLOW THE CALL OF ROME, HEAR MY WORDS! I have had a dream brought to me by the second founder of Rome, Marcus F. Camillus. Romans, look around! Do these mountains look like the ones we have seen for the past year as we worked to create a new city of light?" He paused and watched as men everywhere started to look and realize to their horror that they were indeed in a different place than where they used to be. A few men almost let loose screams from their mouths, but the shame of such an act kept them in check. The eyes of all the young men darted back to the legate.
"Now we are trapped in a new world where it is impossible to return to Rome by any amount of walking or sailing. Our only choice now is follow the destiny given to us by the Gods. We must leave this place, lest whatever event brought us here happen again. We must journey out and create ourselves a new home. Your centurions have been given specific instructions on how to proceed. Stay strong my fellow Romans and nothing will overcome us! This new world will soon feel the mark of Rome!" The legate finished before walking down and leaving the platform.
I was in shock. It turns out I hadn't just dreamed that encounter with Cincinnatus. This was real. I quickly got a grasp of myself. I walked over to Timon, where the rest of our century had gathered. Timon stepped onto a log so he could talk to all of us.
"Alright men, we have been chosen to be one of the first units in the column. We will be boarding rafts and trailing Gallic and German auxiliaries who will cut us a path through the foliage. So everyone pack up your gear and meet me by the south shore in an hour," Timon said before he stepped down and walked off to begin packing.
I returned back to my tent group where we all met up and took down the tent. We packed all of our cooking gear and bed rolls, making sure the weight was equally distributed between all of u. We finished packing up and all walked to the beach where we waited for the rest of the century.
The Gauls and Germans were already departing across the lake when Caius and company arrived. The rest of the century showed up 30 minutes early. We were all then carried across the lake rather swiftly, following behind the Gauls who easily cut a path through some foliage with their swords and axes, leaving a clear path behind them. We marched in ranks of 4 wide through the cut foliage. We proceeded very quickly throughout the landscape. The huge trees were widely spaced apart, only small shrubs blocked the path on occasion. We stopped and made camp at dusk. Men continued to arrive into camp well into the night.
Once the camp was constructed, a couple of Augers created a shrine to Jupiter. Men walked by and dropped possessions of theirs near the shrine. At midnight, the still awake Augers gathered up all the possessions and tossed them into a massive bonfire. They chanted a prayer to the gods to offer support to them.
I had not enjoyed this day. The walking was hellish, and my sore back only aggravated the pain that came from walking long distances non-stop. When we had made camp I had found my bedroll and flopped into it, only getting out to eat dinner. I did have intermediate amounts of sleep, but I never saw Cincinnatus.
I was woken up in the middle of the night. The air was foggy and a mist hung in the air almost unnaturally, but that was not what caught my attention. It was the burning fire that burrowed into my arm was what grasped my attention. The pain was paralyzing. It began to spread though my arm causing even more pain. I soon fell unconscious.
I awoke to find myself back into my white roomed mind area. Cincinnatus was sitting in a wooden chair tipped backwards, chewing on an apple. The whole scene was quite comedic if one removed the cone
"So you're back. Time for more learning, I guess although I hadn't planned this far in advance." he said between one of his bites.
"Wait, I have a question. If Minerva personally made you my guide, does that mean I can talk to one of the gods personally?" I asked.
"No can do. The gods are a very mighty, busy bunch. Plus, you are only the medium between old humanity and this new world, the gods can't use you to traverse the gap" Cincinnatus replied before taking a massive bite out of his apple.
"Okay different question. So I woke up and my arm felt like it was burning d you have any idea what could cause that?" I asked.
"Also no luck there either. I would say that probably your arm is on fire and you passed out from pain, but you would be panicking if you were on fire. I would also say some sort of power is flowing through your body and making a wreck of things. It happened to me once. Although since the gods and their powers again cannot cross through you to this side, it is unlikely if not impossible for that to be the case." Cincinnatus responded.
"What if it was a local god or some sort of local entity?"
"You think some sort of god is going to bestow power on you when you don't even know who to pray to?" Cincinnatus said as he took another huge bite out of his apple.
"Well you're no help whatsoever. Since you're dead shouldn't you be enlightened."I responded the frustration in my voice becoming very clear.
"No, I can't and it would take an eon to explain why." He responded.
I was about ready to wring Cincinnatus neck I he felt the wind pick up in my mind area. Sabd that was carried by the wind began to form a body of a decrepit and ugly man with a walking cane. The man blinked in surprise and looked around the mindzone, eventually stopping and focusing on Caius.
"Hello, young man my name is Socrates. Do you have slightest idea of where I am right now?" the man asked. He had brown eyes that seemed to stretch on forever
"A Greek. You had to summon a Greek?" Cincinnatus questioned.
"Wait, I summoned him? How? and this Greek is the father of learning and questioning the world."
"Oh, no I am not that spectacular. I am just a feeble old man."
"Nonsense! I have always admired your intellect. Now will you help with a conundrum I am in?" I proceeded to explain everything I felt relevant to the situation. When I finished, Socrates was silent for a minute before he began to speak.
"I believe that the power that you feel in your arm is one that is inherent to this world. It must be either dependent on or manifested of the people who live here. I guess that it must be like some sort of magic. If I were you, I would try to use this power that you have. However, do not overuse or attempt anything unreasonable with it. You do not know what this power's true purpose is. Now it seems like you are waking up. Go now and discover a new world," Socrates said before I began to feel myself to wake again as my dream world melted away.
"Caius! Caius! Caius, wake up!" Arminus raised his voice, which sounded like a war drum to me.
"What?" I responded irritably. My head felt as though a big bronze hammer had smashed it last night.
"What's with you guys? One little hike is all that it takes to put you in bed. We have to get going so that we don't hold up the whole army," Arminus said before he left the confines of the tent.
I groaned and looked around me. The rest of my compatriots were also lying on the ground all clutching their heads as well.
"Did anyone else get woken up in middle of the night by something?" I heard Cato ask.
"Yeah, my arm felt like it was lit on fire or something like that." Furianus responded.
"That also occurred to me" Muscius replied in his monotone.
"It also happened to me aswell" I offered up.
"What do you think it was?" Cato asked.
"Godly powers!" Furianus immediately offered.
"Nah that's crazy, I think it's maybe something else" I shot back.
"We do not have enough evidence to speculate. I suggest we get ready, and see if anything happens that way we can see if anything did happen." Muscius stated.
"Agreed. Let's get going," Cato said as he got out of bed.
The day went absolutely terribly. We had a heck of time trying to keep up with the marching pace.. At the end of the day, I somehow managed to feel worse than when this whole mess had begun.
I tried to follow Socrates wise words and call the power out of me, but whenever I focused pain arched through my body and broke my focus. Eventually I gave up, ate dinner and fell asleep. I did not have an encounter with Cincinnatus that night.
This routine of walking, attempting to use my power, and sleeping continued. This routine continued for quite a while. It was on the 13th day that my routine changed. Instead of having a quick century meeting, we had a full muster. Every legionary and even auxiliaries attended. The legate stood on top of a collapsed tree as he addressed all of us.
"Legionaries and auxiliaries, today an enemy army has been spotted near our camp. They have sent envoys demanding all our heads! They are inhabiting a small gully with dense forests on all sides except for one corridor, which the fools have not even fortified. They outnumber us 3 to 1. Men, prepare for battle and listen to your centurions instructions. They have been provided deployment details. Today we will march and show these vagrants the strength of Rome and her allies! MEN, TODAY WE FIGHT!" The legate finished as the legion exploded with cheers and rushed off to mount their armour and get their weapons.
My friends and I also had our own armor and were official legionaries, so we would be fighting along with the men. We all put on our armor and shields, grabbed their swords, daggers and pilia, and marched to the meeting point for the twenty-first. Once we were all there, we marched through the deep trees until they were ahead of the ninth, which had lined up in the center of the grassy area with units of 2000 German and Gallic warriors on both sides of the 6000 man strong force of men. Artillery pieces were all set up and scorpion users had found a hill behind the main formation to use as a firing point. The 300 legionary cavalry and 700 mix up Persian and Briton chariots along with some Numidian cavalry was behind the formation of the legion.
The 21st engineering legion had split off from the main force and now sat on a hill that overlooked the gulley. They all knelt down and watched from behind the camouflage of the forest. Within 10 minutes, the enemy force rushed out of their camp and began to form up on the battlefield. The army that they seemed to be facing looked like a mash up of a Greek army with a German army of raiders. A couple lines of spear men with columns of swordsmen out in front of them seemed to make up the army, although heavily armed cavalry and some heavily armored foot soldiers made up the first line of combatants. Archers seemed to be absent from the formation.
The legate rode his horse in front of his men.
"Romans wait until you are guaranteed a hit before throwing your pilum. Fight steadily and surely and the day will soon be ours. Do not think of loot while you battle, for when you win the day, then you can have it all. Take no prisoners nor slaves and fight well." The legate rode his horse back to the cavalry.
The general of the opposing army did the same thing to his army although his speech was more impassioned. His men yelled and cheered with such gusto that even a German horde looked disciplined compared to them. The opposing general eventually finished his speech, and the enemy army rushed toward the dead silent 9th legion.
The command 'Ready pilia' went out and men grabbed the javelins. They waited, waited, waited, and waited, and when it seemed the enemy would be upon them in an instant. My stomach twisted in anxiety. I would watch the coming battle with interest and dread.
"HURL!" A wave of 6,000 spears flew out to the enemy army, utterly demolishing the front ranks. The first wave of heavily armored combatants slammed into the front ranks of the Roman line, and were rebuffed with such vigor that many fell on their backs and were finished with a swift stab of a gladius. The heavily armored cavalry was then drawn off by the faster Numidian cavalry that drew them into a pocket. Once there, the Persians rushed in with their scythed chariots that cut horses out from the bottom of their riders, leaving them stranded and vulnerable to the next pass that the Numidian cavalry took.
The Roman artillery caused chaos within the large blob of enemy forces that were trapped and pinched together by their advancing comrades in the back and solid wall of people in the front. Clay pots full of Greek fire exploded and covered men in the napalm like substance. The scorpions picked off groups of 1 to 2 men with each bolt they fired.
A whistle blew and the front ranks of the 9th legion swapped to the end to rest while the fresh front rank continued the fight. They only defended and took stabs at those that strayed or were pushed too close to the Roman line.
The enemy soldiers were no means incompetent either as the front ranks attempt to make space with Roman lines so they could stay out of reach of the deadly roman shields and swords. However, the flying pots of Greek Fire and scorpion bolts caused those in the back to push forwards as they saw the front ranks were immune to the artillery barrage by virtue of being too close to the Roman front ranks.
Another whistle blow occurred and the front ranks switched back again. This occurred many times, before the Romans began to get pushed back by the weight of the enemy's numbers. The massive amounts of bodies that littered the area were staggering, but the front ranks of the ninth began to tire as they continued to fight.
A large horn blow caused the commander of their engineering legion, Lucius Torquatus to stand up.
"Alright men, let's advance! We have to aid our forces." Nobody moved a muscle. A paralyzing atmosphere held grip on every man including me.
"Come on, let's go!" He yelled again, this was an army made up of architects and other such professions turned soldier, not the other way around. The fear was so palpable I could almost taste it in the air. I then heard Cincinnatus's voice in his head.
"Grab the legionary standard and run." He said.
'What?!' I thought back in response
"Grab the standard and run into the enemy rank, like Caesar's invasion of Britannia. This is the only way to secure victory for Rome and ensure your survival.' The voice of Cincinnatus stopped.
Fuck me, this was either going to be the the best thing or worst thing I had ever done. I eyed the legionary standard. It was held by a man, who was quaking in his boots, right in front of me. So I closed me eyes, made peace with my gods and lept up. I snatched the standard from the man's arms.
"WHAT?!" he yelled.
"FOR ROME!" I yelled, that sounded like the right thing to yell. I ran out of the trees and towards the enemy ranks. I heard the yelling of other Legionaries as the sound of them standing up behind me reverberated.
"FORWARD!" yelled Lucius. As I ran I heard what sounded like an avalanche of metal behind me as I ran down the hill we had been situated on. As I approached, I saw the enemies in the back ranks turn with horrified expressions as they saw the wave of metal rushing at them. It was that fear that made me feel powerful.
It was at this point that I started to feel something inside me, a sort of intoxicating tingle in my body that almost urged it self to be used. I allowed it to flow to my legs, my speed began to increase more and more. It also flowed to my arms holding my sword and shield. I felt a tunnel vision form as I focused solely hitting those soldiers who were in front of me. I impacted them with such speed that I caused almost 20 men to tumble over. I saw a man that was down in front of me, and by almost pure instinct I drove my gladius into his chest. It smashed through his armour and hit the ground. I pulled it out. I then saw behind me the metal avalanche of the 21st slamming into the rest of the enemy army.
What happened next was a blur of almost constant fighting and killing. The intoxicating power too over him and guided his actions as he fought and killed. It was awful.
Now that the enemy army had been flanked it had instantly been thrown on the defensive. The legate saw this was the perfect time for him to begin his offensive. He made a signal and a signaler made a drum beat that sounded like 3 hammer blows. The form of the legionary wall changed to point where it soon formed a serrated metal blade with red and gray teeth that began to advance and cut through the enemy formation. Men were either killed at the tips of the sharp teeth or herded down into the valleys where death was imminent.
It began with a single man who screamed, dropped his spear and fled. This made up the mind of a man who had been thinking something similar, who fled as well. Then a group of 4 men fled, then 10, then 50, then 100, then 300, then the whole right flank had collapsed under the dual assault from front and back.
Gallic warriors and 21st legion then wheeled around and attacked both the center and left flanks. These two both broke soon after.
We pursued the enemy as they fled back to their camp, killing any man that was too slow to outrun the legion. It was then at this moment that all the cavalry and other mobile troops raced ahead of the pursuing legion and cut down the vast-majority of those that were fleeing. It was during this rout that we stormed their camp and came upon a large amount of treasure. I ensured that I was able to get a large amount of gold in my possession.
Silently watching from a tall tree, two men stood side by side, one on official business and the other here of his own free will.
"It's hard to believe that such a small force could outmaneuver and destroy a coalition force containing 70,000 men of the Wind, Earth, Lightning and other minor daimyos. If you had told me about this, I wouldn't have believed it." the white haired one spoke.
"Did you notice something unusual with the unknown force?" the silver haired one asked.
"Yeah, although I don't know how, but most if not all of them lacked chakra. It should be impossible, but we have proof right in front of our eyes. There was one that used a burst of chakra the one who lead the assault of the back of the right flank," he replied.
"This is interesting and all, but I should probably head off now. The Hokage will need to know of this immediately if we are to take advantage of this development," the silver one said before he shot of through the trees back to Konoha.
'I guess I can spend some time shadowing this force,' the white haired one thought. As he watched from the tree branch
After the infantry had given up their pursuit of the enemy and the intoxicating fog that clouded my mind had lifted. All I wanted was for my friends to return safely to camp. They also returned with large amounts of gold so I did not feel like I would have to share. Arminus came to talk to me.
"Caius what you did out there would probably have gotten you killed by your own side had it not been so crucial during battle, and it still might get you killed. Some large egos have been bruised, so keep your head down the next couple days until this all blows over," Arminus told me.
The day went by quickly after that, and with a hearty dinner we all fell asleep with content stomachs. The day after was a dull day with the only activity being mulling around camp, however it was not a total waste of time as my compatriots and I Had all gathered together to talk about the power. They all had used it in the battle, but we made a pact not to show their power off too much until they were sure what it was. The day went by quickly after that, and the day after that even quicker. The camp was mostly quiet as the couple of days past. However at the morning muster on 3rd day after the battle, an air of excitement permeated the camp. The legate got up on a speaking platform.
"Men of the ninth and twenty-first legions, today we have been offered a home. In the last battle, we were in combat with the nations of Wind and Rock and their tiny little minion states. There is, however, a state to the east, the Land of the Fire. It is the largest of all the nearby nations. The king of this realm has granted us our own chunk of land to rebuild our own Rome and expand our territory as we see fit. The condition of this is that we fight with the Fire King's wars when called. WHAT SAY YOU TO THIS DEAL?!" The crowd exploded with approval. "Now we have one last order of business today. We must learn about this land's people and customs if we are to be a player in their world. I wish for 3 tent groups to partake on this mission, each taking separate routes to our new home. Does anyone have any nominations?"
Predictably, the legion exploded with men chanting names. Within 3 minutes, 2 names ruled supreme. Gaius Suetonius, who was the next in line to inherit the responsibilities of leading the first cohort, and the other Publius Ciceronis Glabrous, who was a highly scarred veteran of many wars many thought to be the wisest man in the legion.
"You two! Come up here along with your conterbinum." The men shuffled through the mass before 16 men were upon the stage. "Now, there is one more that I have personally selected. You." He pointed to where I was standing. I looked around to see to whom he was pointing to
"Yes, you boy. I saw you lead the twenty first down the hillside. You thought I didn't see you, but I did and I am rewarding your bravery." The legate said. I stopped for just a second. I had a mental freakout, and then I started to walk through the crowd to the legate. The crowd parted as I walked, I tried to keep myself cool, but this was something I had never expected. I eventually made it on the stage accompanied by my compatriots, Arminus and the 3 soldiers.
"What's your name boy?" The legate asked me.
"Caius. Caius Nonus," I responded with enough confidence to hopefully not look like a weakling in front of the whole legion.
"These are the men and boys that will allow you all to flourish in this new world!" The legion exploded with approval.
"You are dismissed, except those I have selected. You will come with me to my tent so I can give you the details of your mission." I followed the legate as he left the stage and walked swiftly to his tent. Once everyone was inside, he began by handing everyone a map, a bag of supplies, and a book.
"This map details each general route your group will take. Publius will take the southern route, Gaius will take the upper route, and Caius will take the central route. Each of those books are your passports into the heavily defended cities. Do not lose them. The bag of supplies contains a large amount of the currency of the land. I suppose the gold you have also seized can be used in case you run out. Talk to as many people as possible and prepare to depart for you will all leave in an hour. You have the blessing of the priests, now go and show the world what Rome is capable of!" I took that as the signal to leave, and so me and my contubernium all left the tent.
When we had arrived back at the tent, I was congratulated by Timon who had dropped by before heading off to make sure preparations for the whole army to leave were being undertaken.
"Caius, do you know how lucky we are?!" Furianus yelled with excitement.
"Pretty lucky, I guess. But what's the big deal? All we have to do is walk through cities, maybe stay in some inns or even use a thermal bath. Seems pretty dull to me" I said as my mind began to wander. I wasn't really thinking.
"You don't get it do you? Firstly, we are heroes of a battle. Secondly, do you know how long we have been on campaign Caius? 11 months, Caius! We haven't used any of the baths, even in Londinium, in 11 months! Plus, we have been working hard for 11 months. We are nearly the definition of awesomeness in the eyes of Greeks. If these people are as civilized as we are led to believe, they will certainly have baths. Thirdly, all the girls will absolutely swoon over our awesomeness."
"Plus, we have a lot of money to spend and time to perfect the you know what!" Cato added.
"We could also check out some of the libraries, to learn the stories of this land. I would like to visit the biggest city possible." Muscius added.
"I guess that sounds pretty fun" Caius murmured, but then a realization hit him. "I'll be 12 in 7 days. So yeah, this might be very fun!" Caius now packed with an energy. They soon were all packed up and waiting at the gate of the camp. The legate had come to see them off.
"Good luck with your journeys men and boys. Now be off and explore as much as possible."
"Let's go!" Furianus yelled and began to speed off.
"Furianus wait!" Cato yelled as he ran after him.
"The rest of us probably aren't as excited as you," Muscius said as he followed his brother.
"Hey,come one guys! Guys! Slow down Furianus!" Caius yelled as he raced to catch up with them.
This is a rewrite of chapter 2