Freedom. Chapter 8: Robert The Bruce.

(Note: In this chapter, we get to meet another one of the "Braveheart" characters who, like William, and many others is very interesting – Robert The Bruce. Oh, I forgot to put this at the beginning of the last two chapters. Enjoy.)

Disclaimer:
I do not own Braveheart or Naruto. Braveheart belongs to Mel Gibson, and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement intended. All copyrights are reserved.

~ 1 month later (November)... ~

A month after Naruto's birthday and two months after Team Kakashi's and the Scots' victory from their battle with the English at Stirling as well as Kakashi's birthday, in a ceremony at Edinburgh, William was about to be knighted as the Guardian Of Scotland.

William kneeled before Craig.

"I knight thee Sir William Wallace," Craig took out a necklace, and put it on William. "Sir William, in the name of God we declare and appoint thee guardian and high protector of Scotland and thy Captains as aides-de-camp. Stand and be recognized."

William stood up, and gave necklaces to Team Kakashi, and the rest of the Scots.

"Wow! Now I'm a full-fledged knight! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed with a fist in the air pointing at the Scottish nobles. "Well, kind of..."

"It only seems like yesterday when Iruka-sensei graduated me. Iruka-sensei... if only you were here," Naruto voiced to himself with a smile.

Then, a man by the name of John Balliol came up to Team Kakashi and William.

"Sir William," John said to William. "Inasmuch as you and your captains hail from a region long known to support the Balliol clan, may we invite you to continue your support and uphold our rightful claim?"

Mornay shouted in anger:

"Damn the Balliol clan! They're all Longshanks' men!"

William was trying to get their attention.

"Gentlemen!"

But the Scottish nobles continued arguimg.

"Gentlemen!" William cried again, yet again trying to get their attention once more.

"Now is the time to declare a king," John declared, but Mornay pointed out to him:

"Wait! Then you are prepared to recognize our legitimate succession."

"You're the ones who won't support the rightful claim," John accused Mornay.

"Those were lies when you first wrote them," Mornay spat.

"Oh, no. That's not true. I demand recognition of these documents," John replied.

"These documents were lies when you wrote them," Mornay repeated his statement.

William rolled his eyes in disgust while Naruto scoffed.

"Come on, William. Let's go. I can't stand to be with these idiots any longer."

Sakura glared at Naruto.

"What? They are idiots," Naruto tried to explain.

"Yeah, but at least they know what they're doing," Sakura replied.

Naruto gave a dirty look to Sakura.

"You think so, Sakura? If Grandma Tsunade was here, what would she have done?"

"She probably would have stopped their bickering by punching the ground with her fist. I mean, you know how feisty she can get," Sakura stated.

"Naruto, Sakura, let's go," William called their names as he was about to walk out of the building with Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Campbell, Hamish and Stephen.

However, Craig noticed that they were leaving.

"Wait! Sir William, where are you going?" Craig asked William who turned around to face the crowd.

"We have beaten the English, but they'll come back, because you won't stand together."

"What will you do?" Craig questioned.

"I will invade England and defeat the English on their own ground," William determined, which made Craig chuckle.

"Invade? That's impossible."

"Why? Why is that impossible?" William questioned with a serious tone in his voice. "You're so concerned with squabbling for the scraps from Longshank's table that you've missed your God-given right to something better. There is a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom. And I go to make sure that they have it."

With that, William, Team Kakashi, and the rest of his men left the building, which made the debate between the Scottish nobles begin again.

As they were about to leave Edinburgh, a man's voice called out to them.

"Wait!"

There stood Robert, the 17th Earl Of Bruce, who was also one of the leading contenders to the crown of Scotland, along with his other rivals John Comyn, and William Lamberton, Bishop Of St. Andrews.

He had short brown hair with a beard and mustache, and was about 5' 10'' tall, while he weighed a few pounds heavier than William. Like William, Robert also wore a belted plaid (part of it was on his neck as well as a necklace), but except he wore a long fur coat and brown leggings.

As soon as the septet (Campbell, Hamish, Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, Stephen and William) heard Robert's voice they turned to look at him.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"I'm Robert The Bruce, but you can call me Robert. I know who Sir William is, but who are you?" Robert responded, questioning Naruto.

"These are my friends; Hamish with his father Campbell, Stephen of Ireland, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake who have been sent from a far away ninja village called Konoha on a mission to guard me during our fight against the English," William replied.

"Yeah! And I'm gonna become Hokage someday! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin.

"Excellent," Robert said with a smile as he turned his attention to William. "Now, may I please with Sir William alone?"

"Okay," Naruto shrugged his shoulders as Robert and William walked away from the group.

"I respect what you said, but remember that these men have lands and castles. It's much to risk."

"And the common man who bleeds on the battlefield, does he risk less?" William quizzed.

"No, but from top to bottom this country has no sense of itself. Its nobles share allegiance with England. Its clans war with each other. If you make enemies on both sides of the border, you'll end up dead," Robert spoke.

"We all end up dead; it's just a question of how and why," William responded to Robert's statement to which they stopped walking and looked at each other face-to-face.

"I'm not a coward. I want what you want, but we need the nobles," said Robert.

"We need them?" William asked.

"Aye," Robert stated.

"Nobles. Now tell me, what does that mean to be noble? Your title gives you claim to the throne of our country, but men don't follow titles, they follow courage. Now our people know you. Noble, and common, they respect you. And if you would just lead them to freedom, they'd follow you. And so would I," William vowed to Robert while Naruto who was inspired by William's words to Robert watched their conversaiton.

William walked away from Robert, who thought about what William just told him.

After William met up with Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura, Kakashi asked:

"So, William. What's our next move?"

William looked at them.

"We're going to attack York."

"Does this mean we have you call you "Sir William" from now on?" Naruto groaned with disappointment on his face.

William chuckled.

"No, Naruto. It doesn't."

"Oh. Good," Naruto smiled at William.

"Now come on. Let's go," William demanded.

"Right," Sakura voiced as she left with William, Kakashi, Naruto, Hamish, Campbell and Stephen to tell the rest of William's men their plans to attack York.

Here's something pretty interesting that I learned about Robert The Bruce, or who we knew as Robert.

Not only was he the 17th Earl Of Bruce and rivals with one of the leading contenders to the crown of Scotland, along with his other rivals John Comyn, and William Lamberton, Bishop Of St. Andrews, but he and William Wallace had a strong friendship.

In fact, sometimes their bond reminded me of Naruto and Sasuke. In a way, Naruto was kind of like William, while Robert was kind of like Sasuke for obvious reasons.

However, unlike Sasuke who wanted to avenge his clan by killing his brother Itachi, Robert didn't want to avenge his family because I think he lived a pretty normal life just like everyone else.

(Note: Sorry for the short chapter, but I think the next chapter will be a little bit longer than this one, maybe. Anyway, in Sakura's narration where she compares William and Robert's close bond to Naruto and Sasuke's is actually what I thought when writing this fanfic and watching "Braveheart" at the same time. I don't want to say why Robert reminds me of Sasuke because, well, you're just going to have to find out for yourself. Although, for those of you who have seen "Braveheart", you probably know what I'm talking about. Anyway, hope you enjoyed Chapter 8! :D Please read and review because Chapter 9 is coming soon. ;) P.S. Does anybody know the outfit that Robert The Bruce is wearing? I think he was wearing a tartan like William, but I'm not sure. I'm sorry if I didn't describe Robert The Bruce correctly. Also, how much does he weigh? I went by the height of Angus MacFadyen, the actor who portrays Robert The Bruce in "Braveheart.")