The Golden King
Chapter V: Treasure
Naruto sat down on a very comfortable-looking armchair with a sigh. Wordlessly, a golden portal opened next to his hand before a single golden chalice appeared and the blond grabbed it. Mordred quirked her eyebrow at her friend and sat on a couch across from him.
"So, what did the Hyuga want?" The knight was curious if it was important enough for ruining her time with Naruto. While she would never admit it, it was her favorite thing to do, just spending time with her king, not having to think about responsibilities, just enjoying themselves.
There was a silence for a few moments during which the blond sipped on the red liquid in the chalice. How did he call it? The Holy Grail? Mordred never asked about it, she was more interested in the crimson liquid, which turned out to be wine. Something the blond indulged ever since his mother passed away. Not that it impaired his duties as thanks to the Biju inside of him, it was almost impossible for the young King to get drunk, tipsy at most, and even then only if he drank a lot. He always said he merely drank it for the taste and she believed him.
The wine from his gate of Babylon was truly something else, it tasted nothing like the wine one could purchase and Mordred would drink it more often, but unfortunately, she is considered what is called 'lightweight'. The last time she and the blond drank together, she woke up to a ruined garden, filled with trenches, trees, and bushes destroyed while maids and servants looked at her fearfully. And let's not forget the headache.
Oh, the embarrassment.
Luckily for her, Naruto was amused enough by her drunk antics he helped her alleviate the headache with another concoction from his treasury. At first, she was against drinking anything else from the gate of Babylon, but after the red-eyed blond gave her his word that it would help, she decided to trust him and was not disappointed.
Back on the matter at hand, she listened as Naruto explained the deal between him and the Hyuga Clan head. She narrowed her eyes at the part where the Hiashi was prepared to leave Konoha behind and scowled when he told her how some girl is going to be learning under him.
"What! Do you really need to have some little girl following you around?" Naruto sighed and stared at his friend, who had the decency to flush and look away with her eyes crossed. "A-And what about promising a place in Uzushio to unloyal Ninjas?" He sighed, looking at the wine in his chalice, crimson like the blood in his visions recently.
"First off, I never promised him anything, I merely said I would see what can be done. Their offer benefits the kingdom, but who knows when their deal becomes useless or outweighs its worth? It's not like I can see the future, right? Besides, if what I saw is indeed true, then there won't be time to help them," Naruto closed his eyes, contemplating what the future holds. Lately, even his Clairvoyance had been acting weirdly. While could still peer into the different futures, all of them were cut off or became very fuzzy about five years into the future.
It was the first time something like this had happened to him and it's not like he didn't look so far ahead. Once, when some young noble questioned his gift of Clairvoyance, the irritated blond decided to teach the fool a lesson. He gazed 24 years into the future to see how the noble would die. The next time they met each other, Naruto simply told him the exact day, down to the very hour, and how he died.
Apparently, his family usually died around the same time from some kind of sickness that was passed down and only their family was supposed to know about it. The fact that Naruto not only knew about it but the fact that he was just told how much time he had left spooked the man to the point the man was too afraid to ever look at the blond again.
"And what about the girl?"
"Hm? Ah, yes, do you fear I would replace you with her?" The blond asked with a raised eyebrow, an amused smirk on his face. His fellow blond sputtered and crossed her arms.
"Ha! As if I care what you do, Goldie! Besides, I am Sir Mordred, the strongest knight in the Kingdom of Uzushio, I know neither fear nor defeat!" She stated proudly, puffing out her chest, making Naruto laugh at her antics.
"I'm sure there are some people who would contest you on the title of the strongest knight in our kingdom,"
"Bah! There is no one stronger than me in the round trouble. Byakuya and Ushiwakamaru are fast, true, but Byakuya doesn't have the strength to cut me down and Ushiwakamaru doesn't have the endurance to fight me. Rukia? Pff! She relies too much on Majutsu, I would crush her. Ichigo? Well, he is good but doesn't excel at anything, besides he has no true combat experience,"
Naruto listened with a small smile, it was always fun to listen to Mordred talk about other people's shortcomings and never mention her own. But her analysis was not false. While all of them would be considered an A-Rank in the Shinobi world, only Mordred strived to become even more, something that would need to be rectified in the near future.
"Well, I cannot say that I disagree, but maybe you should think about starting to learn at least some basics of Majustu?"
Majustu, also known as Magecraft, was developed by the first inhabitants of Uzushio long before the Sage of Six Paths. Unlike the Ninja techniques, the ancient Majustu didn't require the user's Chakra and instead used the natural energies of the world.
That of course, made it possible to use only for a handful of people and once humans had gained Chakra, they started developing a new way of using Majutsu. They still kept the principle of using natural energies but mixed them with their own Chakra. While this made it easier to use and more people started to learn it, the overall power of Majustu was lowered.
Magecraft was a secret technique for the kingdom and only selected few that were able were allowed to learn it. Thus, an institution was created to teach and safeguard the secrets of Majutsu, the Mage Guild.
The Guild was an organization localized in the city of Navori, on the main Island of Uzushio, and was led by the council of mages, who swore their allegiance to Naruto. While they were not part of the army, for the institution was battle-oriented, but more like a place for research and development, the members of the Guild knew that should a war come, they might be called to defend the Kingdom.
"For that, we would need to head back to Uzushio and we are currently stuck here, remember? Besides, you still didn't tell me why we are here and I doubt that you just want to play being a Shinobi for a corrupt Ninja Village," Mordred asked, sprawling on the couch and munching on cookies she purchased before.
"Hm, you are right, I am not here to become a Shinobi, but I have to be here, for it is my duty as the King of Uzuhio to make sure my subjects' lives are safe," Naruto answered, getting a quizzical look from his fellow blond.
"Didn't you say that the people of Uzushio are there for you and not you for them?" Naruto chuckles lightly and got hit with a pillow for it. "What are you laughing at!?"
"Don't worry, I just remembered someone. Anyway, yes, I am not there for the people of Uzushio, but they are there for me. It is their duty to act as my subjects, they belong to me, just like the whole kingdom, no, the whole of elemental nations is merely my garden to do as I will. My divine right to rule does not only go for the Kingdom, but for the whole continent,"
"You planning on conquering the world or what now?" The knight of treachery asked with a confused expression. Never before had she heard the blond say something like this, he always only spoke about Uzushio and that is as his.
Naruto sighed and closed his eyes in deep thought, thinking about how to explain it to his friend.
"No, I am not planning on conquering it. The whole is my garden which is my divine right, something that was given to me by King Gilgamesh. Had I not been born to inherit the throne, I might have decided to subjugate the whole world, but I can't. As the King of Uzushio, my duty is first and foremost to my Kingdom, to make sure its legacy continues and my subjects live in prosperity and peace,"
"Isn't that contradictory?"
"No, look at it this way. The people of my Kingdom are like my treasure, they do what I tell them to, they fight when I tell them to, and die when I tell them to. They do so, because they are mine, but like with a sword, you have to polish it, like with a chalice, you have to clean it, like a pet, you have to feed it. As my treasure, I have to take good care of them so they can continue to serve me to the best of their abilities,"
"So, am I just another treasure to you?" She asked quietly, making the blond open his eyes slightly and look deep into her eyes.
"If you were a treasure to me, you would be my most precious jewel, one that I would never anyone else to gaze upon, but no, you are not. You are the most beautiful flower that I can ever hope to obtain or control, my most prized companion, my friend, and confidant, and the only person worthy to stand next to me. That's what you are to me, Mordred,"
Naruto smiled seeing the blush grow on her face, even when she tried to hide it with a pillow. But it was the truth, for him, she was the only person worthy of being at his side, and never could look at her like a treasure, because for Naruto, treasures were to be used and once they lost their worth, discarded, not something he could ever do with her.
"You still didn't answer my question. Thinking you can throw me off with your honey word, you bastard," Her voice was muffled by the pillow, as she peeked over it at him with narrowed eyes, making Naruto laugh.
"I guess I didn't. Very well, in short, Uzushio, while powerful is an anomaly in this Shinobi world, a relic of the past that this new model of Shinobi Villages would like to snuff out and bury. While I am certain that we are untouchable with me around, what happens once I am gone? The Villages will band together to destroy it, something I can't allow,"
"Do you really think something like this would happen?"
"I don't think, I know, that once we lose our one and only ally, the other Villages will mobilize and turn on us. To prevent this, Konoha needs to stand as our ally,"
"And we are here to prevent it from being destroyed?"
"Yes,"
"When will it happen?"
"In five years, during the Chunin Exams,"
"Huh, can't we just come then and deal with it?" Naruto sighed and shook his head.
"No, if I come as the King of Uzushio, Konoha still ends up destroyed. The only way for me to help it is to be during these Exams as a Shinobi of Konoha,"
"How come?"
"The box where I and the Kages would sit will be encased in a particularly powerful barrier, from which I wouldn't be able to escape, for which I would need to use enough power to level the whole Village, which is the opposite of my goal. So, I will need to be someone taking part in the exams to have the freedom to help the Leaf,"
"Wouldn't you be sitting with the Daimyos?" At this, the blond barked out in laughter.
"Don't jest, these clowns, the Daimyo, all of them are merely puppets. While they have their armies of Samurai and money, they are dependent on the Villages and the five Kage hold the real power, at least in the great five Nations. To put me at their level is insulting,"
The two fell into a comfortable silence, just relaxing in the other's presence until Mordred asked another question.
"Does the Hokage know?"
"Of course not, I came here, declared we will attend the academy, and made him sign the paperwork," The two blonds burst out laughing together, before retiring for the night, having academy in the morning.
Yo, I know it's been some time, so I decided to write a short Chapter so you have at least something. At first, this Chapter was supposed to be longer, but I couldn't get around writing it, so I made the cut here and write the rest in another Chapter.
I hope the Chapter explained some things, like why Naruto is in Konoha, but if you still have some other questions, pm or write review and I will make sure to answer.
Thanks for reading, I will try to get the next Chapter done quicker.
See ya!