A.N: Hello everybody! This is your not-so-missed-author! Thank you for your reviews! And thanks for the question from Bigdaddylongstrokes which I'll answer it now.
No. It's Sei. Sui is for Bachou. Sei is for Chouun. Perhaps you're mistaken those two for one another. It is pretty confusing. But then again, it's not me who named them. Sue BaseSon for that if you want.
Now about this chapter. Yes I know I update it pretty quickly compared to the one before. Let's just say that my condition is getting better. And since its holyday, I have a lot of free time to write one. But I can't promise you that the next one will come as quick as this one. I can't give you my word, but I'll try.
Oh yeah, I still waiting for anyone who want to be my beta.
Anyway, here's the next chapter for all of you lovely readers!
"Character speaking"
'Character thinking'
"Flashback"
THIS IS PURELY FANFICTION, IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, THEN DON'T READ IT!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Koihime Musou, Naruto belongs to Masahi Kishimoto and Koihime Musou belongs to BaseSon. And I also don't own any other part from any Animes that show in this story. All of them are belongs to their respectively creators.
Chapter 8: Secret and Revelation
Naruto let out a yawn as the sunlight shines upon his sleeping figure, or should I say sitting figure. Right now, he's in a dark alley with some beggars or homeless person. It's been two days since he came to this town. Since then, he pretends to be a beggar. He kept away his Akatsuki's cloak and put on a tattered and old cloak.
Right now, he needs to keep down his profile. His 'enemy' knows about him, that's for sure. How much do they know about him is still unclear. But he can't take risk to let them know anymore.
In the first day he came to this town, he learned that Sousou is currently in this town. More precisely, setting a camp outside the town. Not very far actually, just far enough to make a gap between the camp and the city's wall.
It seems that this 'Sousou' person is far more interesting than Naruto's predicted. Despite her young look, she seems to be handling her position very professionally. He also learned that Sousou is currently in a 'vacation' across the nation to hunting bandits. A strategic move if Naruto can say. By hunting down bandits, she manage to attract attention to herself, get rid of 'rats' for the nation's future, gathering more supporter, ticking off another leader can also be putted in the list.
Yesterday, he noticed that the Aisha, Lin-lin, Sei, and Lin-lin's new friend that he recalled named 'Bachou' from the tournament came to the town. He already takes a note where they stay for the night and where they worked. It seems that Sei has a fondness to work in a restaurant or perhaps it's because of the uniform. Either way, he didn't care. His objective right now is to learn more about Sousou while waiting for the intermediary from his 'friend' that he owe a favour.
Today is the day where the intermediary will come. He made three clones, he sent two clones to infiltrated Sousou's base and looking for more information about her. While the other clone is being sent to tailing Aisha's company. Of course the clone has to transform into a typical civilian so that the girls doesn't noticed.
Now that being said, He walks away from the alley and disappeared from the sight. Nobody noticed that a beggar look at him from the moment he awakes until he disappeared form his sight.
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In a yard of a big house, stand faces each other a girl and a man. Both of them holding a long stick. From their posture, one can thinks that they will fight each other. But considering that the man opponent is a little girl, and from the weapon they hold, 'practice' will be more appropriate.
The man wearing a dark brown trousers and a blue shirt. He also wears a light blue practice coat over the shirt. His hair is red-brownish that tied in back.
The little girl wears a light yellow trousers and a pair of green shoes. She wears a pink dress with a giant ribbon on its back. Her long brown hair is tied in a ponytail with a green ribbon.
The two of them look at each other in a stand still. But for some reason, the stick that the little girl holds is trembling. This, of course is noticed by the man.
"Sui, are you hiding something from me?" The man asked.
The girl's eyes are widened hearing that, clumsily she tried to denied it, "Wh-What are you saying? I didn't wet my bed this morning... Ah!"
It seems in her attempt to cover it, the girl, Sui, unconsciously told what's she has been covering. This of course made the man laughed at her. "I see, I see. That's what you're hiding from me, eh?"
"B-But how did you know I was hiding something from you?" Sui asked.
Calmly, the man answered, "Martial arts reveal the truth. If you have a sense of guilt in your heart, your aura will be cloudy."
Sui seems understand what the man tried to tell her, "That means..."
"Yeah. I felt the cloudiness from your posture."
The girl looks down with a sad face. The man tried to cheer her up, "What's wrong? You don't need to worry too much about wetting your bed."
"It's not about that." Sui shock her head, "You could understand my feelings from seeing my posture, but I couldn't understand your feelings from yours. I'm frustrated."
"What, so that's what you're worried about?" The man somehow seems relieved, "Its okay. If you train hard enough, you'll be able to read others' aura in no time."
Sui looks happy suddenly, "Really?"
"Of course."
-Flashback end-
On her bed, Bachou mumbling some words to her, "Dad, I'll practice a lot, practice..."
Before long, the sound of bird chirping and a dim light of sun wakes her up from her dream. Slowly, she rises and sit on her bed, "A dream, eh?"
"You finally woke up." A voice comes from bellow. Bachou looks down and noticed that Sei has sleep in the floor, "Wh-Why are you sleeping down there?"
"I'm not sleeping here because I want to." Sei explained, "You pushed me off the bed while I was sleeping."
Bachou looks guilty hearing that, "Ah, sorry for tossing and turning in bed."
"Nah, no need to apologize." Sei assured, "To return the favour, while you were sleeping, I also..." She trailed off while looking at Bachou's figure, "Nah, you still seem to be a virgin. It's better for me not to say what I did."
However, like any other human being, one cannot be satisfied with something unfinished, especially if that has a connection to the said human's dignity. And that also applied to Bachou, "What did you do to me while I was asleep? Hey!"
While Sei and Bachou continued their ramblings, and Aisha and Lin-lin still asleep peacefully, a figure in the next room just scratching his head. This figure is very ordinary. Nothing comes out from him. Ordinary hair, ordinary looks, ordinary face, ordinary clothes. A very unimportant figure and somehow looks like a person that if you put in a movie, only plays as a background character. But what comes next makes him not very ordinary.
A man with exactly the same looks as him suddenly appears next to him. The man from before seems to be noticed his presence but said nothing, as if he already waiting for his presence. If anything, he just twitched a little when the man appears from thin air.
"Hey. Time to change shift." Said the man that suddenly appears.
The man from before just nodded and he disappears in a smoke, letting his 'boss' knows his 'surveillance' of the girls. Seriously, the 'boss' can seems to be a tsundere sometimes. Saying that he can't let the girls go deeper to the job yet always send a clone to keep an eye at them. Then again, there's a difference between tsundere and heroic personality.
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After Aisha and Lin-lin wakes up, the girls come down to eat breakfast. Of course, the new clone that Naruto send also comes down. He makes sure that he sits not too close to them. Even though he's a clone, his hearing is as good as the real one, not that he needed it though.
Naruto always tries to think as a gentleman. In fact, one can say that he's very patience towards women. But there's one thing that he and many other man agreed, put two or more girl in one table and you can hear them bickering even if you deaf.
"Aw, thank you for sharing the room with me, and also treating me to meals." Bachou said at the rest of the girls with a loud voice.
"It's no big deal. There's a saying: 'Just as it's reassuring to have travelling companions, it's important... it's important for us to be pathetic.'" Lin-lin said to her while trying to sound like a wise old man. But as expected, she failed... miserably.
"Shouldn't that be, 'It's important for us to care for each other'?" Aisha corrected her, "Well, I suppose you could say we're pathetic for demanding that the four of us share a two-person room."
"Well, we need to save as much money as possible." Aisha said.
Bachou asked, "Hm? Why don't we use the money from the martial arts tournament?"
The moment she mentions about the martial arts tournament, the atmosphere became gloomy. Bachou noticed this and immediately realized her mistake. "Ah. Sorry."
Aisha makes a bitter smile and shock her head, "No, don't worry about it."
But the atmosphere has already been ruined. Frown came across all the girls' face. Sei, noticed this, tried to change their topic, "Do you girls know about this story?"
The girls turn their head to Sei, wondering what she wants to say.
"In the past, there was a country called Etsu. Its king, Kousen, hung a bitter liver from the ceiling in his bedroom, so he wouldn't forget being captured by his country's enemies. Whenever he licked it, it would remind him of his need for revenge."
Now the atmosphere changed again, but this time, it became tense as the story that Sei tell is not what you called everyday bedtime stories, add that to her way delivered the story makes it pretty decent horror story in the morning.
"Eh, really? So, what's about it?" Bachou asked.
"Oh, nothing." Sei answered with a plain face.
And that's it. Nothing more came out from Sei's mouth. Everyone who listen to her just deadpanned at her way to end the story.
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In Sousou's camp, especially inside Sousou's tent, there is a girl with a brown hair and green eyes. She wears a black skirt with white frills. Her top consist a blue shirt with some butterflies ornament. Along this shirt, attached a cat-like veil. At the moment, the girl seems to be absorbed at the map lays upon in front of her. Across the map lays some marks to mark the enemy and troops progress. A typical war-map.
She stared at the map very intensely that she didn't realise that her lord has entered the tent. She only realised her presence when she put her scythe at the weapon rack.
"Karin-sama, how was the battle?" The brown girl quickly welcomed her.
Sousou, being called Karin-sama by the girl, answered, "Our army won a sweeping victory." She walked to her pedestal only to stop and looks back at the girl, "There was no need for me to be there. Anyway, I heard that while I was gone, there's some kind of commotion in the kitchen's tent."
"Ah, nothing to worry about, it's just that a soldier accidentally hit a food pot until he spilled it over. That somehow starts a brawl between soldiers." The girl reported to Sousou.
Sousou's wince slightly at that, "Is there any causalities?"
The girl shocks her head, "Just some bruises. The brawl didn't last long. I accidentally happened to be close by."
Sousou face made a small frown, 'Is there any change that there's an enemy infiltrated the camp?' But Sousou shock her head, 'Nah, perhaps it's just me being too paranoid.'
The girl noticed that Sousou is sweating quite a bit, "You've perspired quite a bit. I'll wipe you down right away."
But before she can move from her spot, Karin grasp her hand and said to her, "Okay, but not with a hand towel, Keifa. Use your tongue."
The girl, Keifa, now blushed at Sousou's remark, "Eh? K-Karin-sama, but..."
"What's wrong?" Sousou asked with a devil smirk, "Could it be that you don't want to?"
Keifa shock her head slowly. Sousou let go of the girl and sit down at her pedestal, "Well, then."
As soon as Sousou sit down at her pedestal, she lifts her left arm. Keifa slowly approached her and licked her exposed armpit. Sousou just smirk full of delight while watched her subordinate licking her armpit full of lust.
And just like that, the armour that Sousou wears quickly being dispatched and laid down in the floor. Keifa just continue licking her lord timidly.
"Right. That's good. That's right." Sousou just praised her subordinate's job, "It seems you've improved again."
Suddenly, a woman comes in to the tent. She has a long black hair and red eyes. She wears a short pink dress. She also wears a long black stocking. Her armour was dark blue that only covered her right breast. There's also some kind of mask on her right arm.
"Karin-sama" She started to speak, but the sight in front of her is quite shocking that left her speechless. At her entrance, Keifa stopped licking Sousou's feet. Sousou look at her, "Keifa, continue."
"Yes, ma'am."
Sousou look at the woman who just entered her tent, "Shunran, don't you have something to report to me?"
The woman, Shunran, awakens from her stupor and quickly reported to Sousou, "Ah yes. The enemy's main force was pretty much annihilated. We've also captured the leader. Right now, Kakouen's unit is wiping out the rest."
"Really? Thank you. You can leave now." Sousou smiled at her.
However, Shunran stay at her place for a moment. Her cheeks flushed red and her face shows some... envy to Keifa. "Yes, ma'am."
But that didn't last long. She immediately turns around and get out from the tent.
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Underneath the pedestal where Sousou sit, there's a wooden box that makes the pedestal up high. Inside the box, there's a man sit down quietly. This man has same features with the man that following Aisha and the others. In fact, this man, albeit his very common and normal features, is Naruto's clone. Naruto's clone that has been sent to watch Sousou.
'This camp is very poorly guarded. Anyone can sneak here very easily. But let's not use me as a standard.' The clone thinks to himself.
The infiltration to this camp is fairly easy. The clone itself consist two clones. Both of them change into a small rat to enter the camp's perimeter. Then, one change into a soldier to make a distraction in the other side of the main tent, which is the kitchen's tent. The other one, still in rat transformation, wait near the main tent until he heard a commotion then slip inside.
'I have to say, this girl has a lot backbone for a lord. She has a quality to rule. Her brain seems to be efficiently used. Her tactics is almost flawless. Her army also did a good job on their task. Damn, if boss want to play this right, she'll be quite a hassle. But, I'm glad that boss' ability to attract unusual woman still in place. This girl has a weird taste in her sex-life.' The clone continues thinking for himself.
Inside the tent, he finds out quite lot information. Some of it just a battle-plan. But there's one record that caught his attention. This one is about a man. A man that hold a high position in his life. His name is Batou Jusei, Bachou's father. The record tells about how he died and his last wish. The clone quickly makes a copy of it and teleport it to his boss. But before he can find much more, he sense someone approaching the tent and quickly find a hideout, which is happened to be the box underneath the pedestal. That's how he ended up hiding inside a box where the girls above him busily letting out their sexual desire.
The clone starts to make some hand sign quietly, 'Now, my job's here is done. I have gathered enough information. I mean, who have ever thought that this little lord here have some connection to Bachou's dad's death? I bet that boss will try to stop Bachou to meet her.'
And with that last thought, the clone disappears in a small cloud and a quite 'poof' sound.
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An old man walked among the crowd in a market. At a first glance, anyone can tell that the man is very old. His body is light-skinned below average. His cheekbones were very pronounced. He had a grey short spiky hair. A thick goatee, a prominent crease across his forehead, few wrinkles, a wart near his left nostril, and a few liver-spots adorned his face. Nevertheless, this old man has sharp eyes.
The old man wears civilian clothes. A typical blue trouser with a matching shirt with a white lining.
The old man walked with a thick old wooden stick that he uses as a help for walking. A few children run past him. But the old man pays no mind to them. His eyes are focused at a suspicious figure at the end of the street, standing leaning on a wall of a house.
The suspicious figure that the old man looks is a not-so-young man with some wrinkles at his face. Not because of old-age, but more because of his constant scowling. He has a long greenish-black hair. The said man seems to be smoking of a cigar. But what makes him stand out from the rest is what he's wearing. A grey suit that makes him looks like a business man from 21th century. Grey trousers and grey jacket. Something that clearly not from this country. Underneath the suit, he wore a black plain shirt. He also wears a red lab-coat with a yellow scarf.
The man seems to be noticed that he has been watched by the old man. He looks at his eyes and nodded once, then he make a gesture with his head to a restaurant near the market. The old man nodded back once and starts to follow him.
Inside the restaurant, the man with grey suit gestured the old man to take a seat in a corner of the room. Hidden from the sight. The waitress asked them what they want to eat, while doing so, she cannot hide her curiosity at the suit that the man wears. The man looks back at her with a little glare and ordered tea. No meals. This makes the waitress flinch a little and blush in embarrassment. She quickly brings them a tea set and left them alone.
The man takes the tea pot and pours the tea for himself and his companion. The old man takes his tea while muttering a small thank you. Both of them stay silent for almost 15 minutes until the old man let out a small sigh, "So, what's the message from that old geezer?"
The man glared at him, "Can you try to address him more politely?"
The old man glared back, "Can you try to calm down a little bit?"
"I AM calm."
The old man snorted at him, "Then I must be a blind one if I can't notice your calm."
The man shocked his head, "Let's just finished this thing. I'm not in the mood for being lectured."
"Oh, but I am in the mood. Look, I know that you don't like this place. Being sent by that old geezer didn't help."
The man start to open his mouth to argue but the old man shush him, "I know his full name is, but you are the one who works for him. I'm not. I'm just repaying his debt. Besides he didn't care what I called him."
The man gives up and closed his mouth. The old man smiled at this, "That's better. Now, can you tell me what the hell are you wearing?"
The man looks at him expressionless, "Clothes."
The old man sighed, "I know that's 'clothes'. But why that clothes? Those clothes haven't being invented at this century. Waver Velvet, you are the apprentice and assistant of the Wizard Marshall, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. The one who can jump into another dimension and reality. Can you at least wear an appropriate dress for the timeline? You are attracting attention like a sugar inside an ant lair."
The man, Waver Velvet, look at him with a little glare, "I don't want you, from all the people I know of, to tell me how I am supposed to dress. Besides, I can say the same to you, why do you transform into Hiruzen Sarutobi, Naruto?"
Naruto give him a dry look, "Because I'm a fugitive."
Waver make an amused look, "So fast already? Perhaps you are a sweeter sugar than I am, Naruto."
"Don't give me that bullshit; I know that you've read my report. I need to run away. I mean, I can't just explain that my technique is the one that blow away that man into pieces and make a bloody rain." Naruto shoot back.
"Then perhaps you need to think more carefully next time?" Waver shoot back.
Naruto let out a sigh, "Let's drop this. Just tell me the message from him."
Waver nodded, "The first one is about your situation. The Wizard Marshall has asked you to make a part of this world's history."
Naruto arched an eyebrow on that, "I thought that he asked me to not draw to much attention?"
Waver nodded again, "He was. But he said that there's something that missed in this history. An unknown factor. He has a speculation that it has something to do with Shiroi-fudo. In short, he wanted you to fill the empty factor in this world. He also said that it will be interesting." He ended with a frown.
Naruto twitched in annoyance, "That old geezer. Hell, knowing him, I don't surprise that he'll transport some kind of moving corpse into a peaceful world just for fun."
Waver Velvet says nothing, but deep down, he agreed with Naruto. Yes, that old man may do that just for fun.
"So, whose position am I supposed to fill?" Naruto asked.
"I'm afraid he also didn't tell me exactly about this. Anyway, about the girls that you mentioned at the report, he gives you two choices."
Naruto frowned, "Somehow I have a feeling that I won't like it, but let's hear it. What choices?"
Waver sipped his tea before answering, "The first one is you met the girls as soon as you leave this restaurant. That obviously will give you a chance to hold this 'Bachou' girl from rampaging Sousou's camp. But by doing so, there's a big chance that you have to tell the girls about your 'mission'."
"The second choice is you following the girls from distance. Like a stalker." Waver ignored Naruto's glare, "This will let you keep them save from prying too much in your life. But the burden will be doubling. And I'm afraid that this will not very effective as he saw that you will not and cannot avoid them until the end of your mission by choosing this. Because at some point, they will take an important part in your mission."
Waver took a moment before telling the final choice, "The last one is to leave them completely. Never make a contact with them. But..."
"But what?" Naruto asked.
"But by doing so, there will be many innocent killed. Many people will die. And those include the girls." Waver ended with a dark look.
"Then that's not an option then. Anyway, since when that old geezer have an interest in divination?"
Waver give no comment about that, "The next message is about Shiroi-fudo. It seems that they indeed know about you."
Naruto's face became serious again, "How much?"
"Fortunately, not much. They know that you're not from this reality as their leader also didn't come from this reality. But aside from that, nothing more. They didn't know about your past and your origin. They also didn't have a solid grasp about what you can actually do. Therefore, if I may advice, try to not reveal more. It seems that their knowledge about you is solely come from what you have done here, in this place."
"Well, that's good news." Naruto said grimly, "Anything else?"
"Yes, quite a few actually. He asked you to minimize the causalities."
"What kind of causalities?"
"I believe you already know the answer."
Naruto grumbled, "Very well, I'll TRY."
"You also need to be cautious, Shiroi-fudo have a lot of spies. You maybe not noticed it, but one of the beggars that you choose to sleep with is one of them."
Naruto eyes widened, "Damn. I didn't notice it. I'll deal with that punk latter."
"For now, the clear motive of Shiroi-fudo is still unknown. But it seems that aside from getting rid of you, they are targeting several people. One of them is Sousou, the one that you stalk today." Waver ended with a smirk.
Naruto glared at him, "I didn't stalk her. Look at your dictionary brat, there's a big difference between 'observing' and 'stalking'. Anyway, what they want to do with her?"
"Actually, they want her power, her army and authority. So I bet that they either try to kill her, or control her."
"Well, shit."
Waver stopped for a moment. From his face, Naruto can see that he's hesitant about what's he's going to say next, "The other target is a man. His name is Kazu Seki. However, you may not find anything about that name. He's more popular as Ryuubi Gentoku."
"You seem hesitant, what's wrong about this man?" Naruto asked.
Waver look at him intensely, "Kazu Seki is a man that will not go well with you. His personality is completely the opposite of yours, and I will bet my life that you will hate him."
Naruto surprised at this, Waver Velvet may once an incompetent child, but he's changed. The current Waver Velvet is a man who thinks twice before saying anything. For him to say something like this, "Okay, now I'm curious. Just what kind of person is this Kazu Seki?"
Waver look at the tea in his hand, "I've search about Ryuubi Gentoku, it seems that it's not his real name. 'Ryuubi Gentoku' is a name of a deceased girl. He's the one who killed the girl and stole her name. After that, he lived as 'Ryuubi Gentoku' to deceive people. As Gentoku is once a bloodline of a royalty family, he uses that to fool people. His main purpose is money. He loves money and will do anything to get it."
Naruto frowned, "Okay, you may be right. I already start to hate this man. But I'll use my own eyes as to see exactly what kind of people is this man. Back to the topic, what's Shiroi-fudo want from this man?"
Waver Velvet let out a long sigh, "I'm afraid I don't know anything about it. But whatever it is, it can't be good."
Naruto nodded at his statement, "Is that all?"
Suddenly, Waver grinned at him with a devilish look, "One more."
At that moment, Naruto think that whatever comes may not be good, "Wh-what is it?"
Waver take out a small photo from his lab-coat and hand it over to Naruto face-down, "This will be my last job in this reality. From now on, your contact will be this person."
Naruto look at the face-down photo and suddenly felt a chill on his spine, "A-and who might this person be?"
The smile on Waver's faces just getting bigger, "His name is Chosen, and you can contact him from Kohakuren-san."
When Naruto pick up the photo, he felt that all nightmares that he had seems to be a paradise compared to what he saw.
Naruto look at Waver who are trying to hold his laughter seeing the look on Naruto's face, "Oh come on, you must be kidding me. That's not a human! That's an abomination or somekind of thing!"
"I assure you, He's not an abomination or anything. Actually, he has kind and gentle heart of a pure maiden. So, be kind to him."
"Pure maiden my ass! Can you at least find someone else?"
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but he's the only one who competent enough." Waver Velvet's face suddenly turn into gloomier look, "You may want to leave soon. The spy we discuss earlier is on his way to Sousou."
Naruto's face also changed into a serious mode, "Where is he now?"
"Somewhere among a crowd in the main street."
Naruto nodded while muttering, "Thank you."
Before Naruto could leave, Waver stopped him, "About that options that he give to you before, you haven't tell me which one you choose."
Naruto smiled at him, "I didn't tell you because I will not choose any of it."
"What do you mean?"
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, "Waver, I live my own life. What I will choose in my life is something that I have to do it on my own, not someone else." He opened his eyes. The eyes that look at him with a lot of understanding. Eyes, that somehow, fit to be placed in an old man face. Just like what Naruto transformed into, "Zelretch may gives me choice, but I don't take any. That's the choice that I've choose. I will make my own choice. I know that you will understand."
And with those final words, Naruto disappear from Waver's sight in a flash of orange light. Waver just look at Naruto's seat with a knowing smile. Yes, he does understand. He completely understands what Naruto is talking about. Now then, it's almost his time to go back, but it won't hurt to finish the tea.
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A.N: Okay that's it for this chapter. The next chapter will have some fighting scene... I guess. I'm still not sure about the next one. But I'll update it sooner or later.
Oh yeah, don't forget to review this and don't bother flaming, because I'll ignore it.