Kabe no Shinobi
Chapter 5:
They all watched from up high as the newcomer made his way into their temporary camp, led by the implacable Special Operations Squad.
Hushed whispers of excitement with an underlying note of awe broke out amongst the soldiers, as Levi turned to his Commander.
"There's no mistaking it, that's the guy we met out in the field."
Erwin gave a slight hum of agreement, but his eyes never left the child that had so suddenly vanished only a couple of hours ago. A smart thing to do, Levi thought to himself, else the kid might just poof away again.
Next to them Hange grinned widely, fixing her spectacles to examine the child that had been the source of gossip these past hours. "So that's him, eh, Levi. You sure he did all those incredible things that the soldiers were talking about? He doesn't look like much. From what I can see, he doesn't seem to have the superhuman build required for those feats." Hange said doubtingly.
"Aa, he doesn't look like much, but I saw it with my own eyes, Hange. And you won't believe it until you see it either."
"Mike, Nanaba" Erwin addressed the two other squad captains standing on a thick tree branch a short distance away. "-gather your squads and have them watch out for any possible threats." The two nodded and flew off to do as bid. "Levi, make sure your squad knows to be on guard. He's an unknown factor, if things go south, I want him captured not killed... He's not something we can afford to lose." His expression tightened. "We're going down."
In unison, they glid down effortlessly, descending slowly on the counterweight provided by the 3DMG.
The boy, Naruto, watched them keenly, his azure eyes dissecting their approaching figures. Probing for anything that might give away less than honest intentions. Levi knew those eyes; they were the same he saw every day in the downtrodden slums that was the underground.
Landing softly with the grace built on years as veteran soldiers, they stood opposite to the child, a silence having descended now that the commander had decided to make his move.
Levi noticed that Erwin hadn't ordered for the other soldiers to disperse, but it was understandable. This was something everyone here deserved to experience. To give them hope. To finally give everyone some semblance of contentment, so that they would know that the survey corps was closer to the truth than ever before, and that their sacrifices up until this point hadn't been in vain.
"Hello again, Naruto." Erwin said calmly, offering a hand in greeting.
The kid smiled lightly, seemingly on edge. No wonder, everyone was watching with looks varying from suspicious and apprehensive to nervous and awed.
"Erwin to… Levi, da yo ne?" Naruto said, taking Erwin's hand and giving it a slight shake, then nodding to Levi in acknowledgement.
"And this is Han-"
A sudden squeal from Hange cut off Erwin midsentence, and she immediately rushed towards Naruto in a burst of mad glee, her eyes shining with a burning hunger for knowledge.
It all happened in an instant. The kid's eyes widened slightly, then sharpened dangerously. Hange's hand reached for his own, probably in an attempt at an overexcited handshake. But before she could even touch him, he'd grabbed her wrist, flipped her around and into the dirt, and whipped out what could only be described as a metal spear tip on a short handle.
Levi cursed and reached for his blade, but Erwin held an arm out.
"Hold."
"Erwin, he-"
"Hold. That's an order."
Levi scowled, but did as ordered. It was rare for Erwin to use his authority over him.
"Oww." Hange murmured from her precarious position in the dirt.
"Naruto-" the kid's eyes were firm. "let her go, she didn't mean any harm." Erwin spoke gently, motioning for him to calm down, then pointing to Hange and making a 'come over here' gesture.
Ever so slowly the brat relented, withdrawing his weapon, and standing straight.
Hange propped herself up on her knees, cradling her arm gently, her face contorted in mild pain.
Naruto's eyes held a tinge of confusion before softening into a look that, in all honesty fit with what Erwin expected of his character.
He proceeded to gently lift Hange to her feet, careful not to touch her arm.
She looked a bit surprised at first, but took it in stride.
Once she was up, Naruto donned a sheepish look, the corners of his mouth quirking up into an awkward smile and hand gently rubbing the back of his head.
"hehe, uh, gomen..."
Hange turned and headed back to her commanders' side, a chuckle rising from within.
Levi tried to relax. "Tch, that should teach you to keep your hands to yourself, shitty-glasses." She's too damn reckless for her own good.
She paid him no mind however, inspecting her arm curiously. "Damn, his grip's like an iron vice. Bruised my arm with raw force."
"Hange, are you alright?" Erwin questioned.
"I'm fine."
"Alright." he said before addressing the mass of stunned soldiers overhead, some who stood at the ready with blades out, uncertain as to whether they should intervene. Most notably Moblit, who looked ready to charge. "The rest of you report to either Nanaba or Mike for guarding duty... we'll be staying for a while longer it seems."
"You sure that's wise Erwin? We didn't plan for an extra day out here. It'll be pushing on our gas reserves."
"I know."
Levi watched the kid silently, only listening to Erwin and Hanges conversation with half an ear. The kid unnerved him. Somehow, the kid reminded him of his old mentor, Kenny.
"So how do we decide if he's really from outside the walls?" Hange asked. "How can we be absolutely sure he isn't just some genuine freak of nature."
"He speaks a different language, Hange." Levi stated as a matter of fact.
"Is it though? A different language I mean? he could be speaking gibberish for all we know."
"No, -" Erwin said, looking down contemplatively. "Thinking back to the field, and just now with our little incident. He spoke with purpose. "
Hange acknowledged his point. "Perhaps his parents taught him? He could be a descendant from another bloodline, like the Orientals." Hange supplied.
"Except they would've taught him the common tongue as well." Levi said. "Besides, no one's ever seen anyone with those kinds of abilities. And few enough possess such a mastery of martial arts. Someone with his skills wouldn't go unnoticed. Not by us and definitely not by the MP's."
Erwin shared a knowing look with Levi. Mind flashing back to how he'd initially recruited the Corporal.
"Yeah. Makes sense... So, how do we proceed Erwin?" Hange asked.
"Hange... get us a map."
Erwin had one of the soldiers go fetch Petra and Naruto. He'd initially intended for Levi to keep an eye on him, but he seemed a bit on edge around the teen. Also, Naruto appeared to be more comfortable around Petra than some of the other soldiers. So, she'd been assigned to keep him company until they were done discussing matters.
Finally, the two arrived and Hange knelt to place the map on the ground. Erwin motioned for Naruto to crouch down as well, before pointing to their map. "Naruto, where's your home? Where do you come from?"
Naruto eyed the map with puzzlement, as if uncertain, and Erwin tried once more. He motioned to himself then to the interior of wall Rose, before pointing to Naruto and the map, trying to convey his question as well as possible.
Naruto remained motionless for a second, after which he placed a finger at a point far off the map.
Hange's eyes lit up and Erwin himself felt a surge of… was it strength? Hope? Or perhaps just relief?
"-he really is from outside the walls." Petra whispered almost reverently.
Moblit watched Hange curiously. She'd been staring at Naruto for a while now, with a somewhat befuddled look. "You alright, Squad Leader?"
"Hm? Oh, Moblit. I'm fine, just wondering is all."
"About what?"
She put a hand to her chin in contemplation. "Just how someone of his size, with no visible physical attributes beyond the normal could do all those things that the soldiers said he did."
"I doubt everything they said is true. Feats like those tend to be exaggerated." Moblit answered.
"Ah! I can't wait till we get back. All those experiments waiting to be done." She clasped her hands with a sigh, almost drooling at the mere thought.
Moblit eyed the blond sympathetically. Poor guy...
"Oi, four-eyes, stop daydreaming, we're going to depart soon." Moblit straightened instinctively when Corporal Levi appeared, his face devoid of any emotion.
Moblit raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Sir, at night?"
"Yeah, Erwin doesn't want us using any more gas than necessary."
"But won't it be difficult to move with no light? I thought that was the whole reason we went on expeditions during the day, despite the safety provided by nightfall."
Levi sighed. "That's true, but dawn will be breaking soon. The titans don't wake up immediately, nor does the light hit everywhere at the same time. So, if we're lucky, we'll have a safer return trip than usual."
Moblit nodded and Hange decided to voice her own question.
"So has Erwin decided what we do with that one when we get back to the walls?" She nodded to the figure of Naruto, who sat resting on a heavy branch overhead, using his "spear-knife" to cut at a piece of wood.
'Kunai' he'd called it when he'd caught Levi staring at it.
"He thinks a private meeting with Zackly might be the best option, perhaps Pixis as well. Otherwise, we'll try to keep it quiet for the time being. We'd like to postpone telling the public until we have something more concrete." Levi crossed his arms and leaned sideways on one of the trees. "We'll have to smuggle him in. Won't do to have people seeing a civilian with us. Nor do we want to give the government any more ammunition in their fight to shut down the survey corps."
Hange nodded; "Right, claims that we're being irresponsible and letting civilians outside the walls won't be good."
"We'll have him hide in one of the supply carts or with the injured. Keep him hidden away." Levi explained, then turned his head to gaze back to where he'd come from, watching his squad gearing up. "Anyway, you should start packing up and get ready. Like I said, we'll depart soon."
"Oi! Naruto! Get down here!" Levi yelled motioning for the blond to come down when he caught Naruto's attention.
Naruto jumped down, landing softly without a sound. Some of the soldiers nearby watched him with awe, whispers of "amazing", "Did he just...?", "Wall Maria, they weren't joking." all reaching his ears.
Naruto walked up to Levi, flicking his head as if to ask, "what's up".
Levi took out a map from inside his coat, then pointed to themselves and then to the walls. "We. Going. Home. Understand?"
Naruto watched the map for a second, before nodding and going after Levi when he waved for Naruto to follow.
"You. Get. On. Horse!" Oluo tried for the umpteenth time, pointing sharply to Naruto then the horse next to them.
And for the umpteenth time, Naruto shook his head.
"Raaargh! What's wrong with you! Just get on the damn horse!"
Behind him Eld chuckled and Gunther smiled amusedly.
Petra on the other hand, sighed. "Calm down, Oluo. Shouting won't make him understand."
"Alright, you try it then!" He gritted out from between clenched teeth.
"Naruto, please, you need to get on the horse." She said pleadingly, but Naruto just shook his head.
"What's going on here?" Levi asked, appearing next to them.
His squad straightened as per usual, before Eld answered. "Captain Levi Sir! He doesn't want to get on the horse. No matter how much we try, he just refuses."
He heard Oluo mumble something like 'you didn't even try' and Levi raised an eyebrow. "Brat, get on the horse." He said sternly but the blond shook his head all the same.
For a second, Petra thought Levi might decide to knock some sense into the teen but was surprised when he didn't bat an eye. "Suit yourself, your own fault if you end up titan shit."
"But Sir! If he doesn't have a horse, he'll get eaten." Petra complained worriedly.
"Petra, you've heard the rumours no doubt, and I've seen him take down a titan personally. With his bare hands, mind you. He can handle himself and if he can't, that's on him." Levi replied, then walked off without so much as a look back.
When she looked ready to keep arguing, Eld interjected. "Just let it go, Petra. You heard him; besides, the kid's supposed to be some sort of superhuman… or something like that, at least."
"And if anything does go wrong, we'll be there to help. Also, Captain might act as if he doesn't give a damn, but you know he'd be the first to stick his neck out for the kid. You know how he is." Gunther added, grinning.
"Yeah, you're right." Petra relented with a sigh before turning to the teen watching curiously as some soldiers put on their gear. "Come Naruto, we need to get in position." she called and he whipped around and followed without a word.
"Amazing, he's actually keeping up with us." Eld whispered as they rode back towards Karanese district.
"Holy shit, he's fucking fast."
"He's as fast as a horse!"
"How long can he keep it up though? Won't he gas out soon?"
The other soldiers exclaimed, amazed at Naruto's speed. It had been decided that the survey corps would ride back as a whole. Only a few had died during this mission, and there were few wounded, but without those soldiers and with the additional men needed to keep them safe, the formation would be spread out too thin if deployed. Also, to keep the long-range scouting formation going, all soldiers needed to be able to fight titans if necessary, and with the gas supply depleted as it was, Erwin didn't want to risk it. Instead, they opted to have small squads consisting of two and three stationed around the main force to retain some semblance of reconnaissance.
Erwin turned to Levi: "is there any particular reason why Naruto doesn't have a horse?"
"The brat refused to get on one when we told him to. Either that, or he's too stupid to understand what we tried to tell him."
"I see."
"OOhhhh! Amazing! He hasn't even broken a sweat, Levi!" Hange yelled, fascinated. "I wonder how long he'll be able to keep it up. Sure, we're not going as fast as we could've, but were still riding at close to 40 kilometres per hour!"
"Shut up, Hange." Levi retorted to her excited rambling. "If he keeps this going, we'll have to put him on one of the carts with the wounded. He's bound to tire out soon."
Hange's eyes glinted. "Not necessarily."
"What do you mean?" Erwin questioned from where he rode next to them.
"Look at him, Erwin. His breathing is even, he's not sweating, and still keeping up with the horses. Horses have larger and stronger lungs than humans, it's why they can maintain such a high speed for a long time. But humans can outrun even a horse in a long-distance run if paced correctly."
"What? But how, Hange?" Petra asked curiously.
"Well, my dear Petra, that's because we cool by sweating, rather than panting. Humans can stay cool at speeds and distances that would overheat most other animals. Which means that if Naruto here can keep going at this speed without breathing issues, he'll most likely outrun our horses to the wall."
Petra, Oluo, Gunther and Eld, alongside some of the soldiers who had overheard Hange, and even the usually stoic Mike, all gaped at that. Even Erwin looked stunned.
Naruto for his part just kept grinning, seemingly enjoying the looks of dumbfounded incredulity on their faces.
After a couple hours of riding, the looming figure of Wall Rose was finally close enough that Erwin deemed it time to hide Naruto.
"Have Naruto get in one of the carts, Levi." Erwin said. "And make sure to have a member of your squad keep an eye on him at all times."
Levi nodded and ordered for Eld to get into one of the supply carts along with Naruto.
The teen seemed skeptical at first but relented seeing the serious look on Levi's face.
It was dangerous what they were doing, Levi knew. Naruto's presence would undoubtedly cause an uproar, and keeping his existence hidden from the public any amount of time, would make their eventual blow-up even worse. But whatever the case, Erwin had decided to confer with Zackly and Pixis before revealing such a ground-breaking discovery.
Of course, the scouts had been ordered not to breathe a word about Naruto, though it was only a matter of time in Levi's opinion. Some loudmouth would no doubt babble their secret and it would all go to shit.
His thoughts came to a halt as the gate to Karanese lifted.
Before even entering, Levi could see that there were people beginning to gather near the gate, lining up along the streets ready to watch the survey corps return from another expedition.
This mission in its entirety had been a success. They had put up a supply station in the forest of giant trees and returned with a much lower casualty rate than usual. However, that fact seemed lost on the civilians around them, as per usual.
"Tch, what a waste of taxes." Someone in the crowd said loud enough for the scouts to overhear.
"Our money's just going to fatten those titans."
"Mark my words, someday they're going to end up leading those monsters in, then we'll lose wall Rose as well!"
Randoms kept speaking up from within the crowds, but they were ignored as usual. Shouting back at them made no difference. Besides, this time was different. They might not be able to say it out loud, but every survey corps member here knew that those words couldn't have been any more wrong this time around. It made Levi want to grin. Almost.
It was a long trek back to survey corps HQ, but they got there in the end.
In the safety of the walls and privacy of the headquarters, they could finally, thoroughly, question their latest discovery. Squeeze out every single piece of information, and finally get some answers. The truth of this world. It was within his reach, at last.
Erwin felt giddy at the mere thought.
Father, this is it.
He turned to Nanaba. "Bring him to my office."
She nodded and approached the carriage in which Naruto was situated.
Hange sprang up next to him, Levi strolling lazily behind her.
"I can't wait! I have so many questions!" Hange looked more excited than ever, and even Levi sported a slight smile.
A sudden sharp intake of breath stopped them dead in their tracks and Erwin whipped around at the sound, eyes finding Nanaba. A sudden dread creeping itself into his stomach.
"Nanaba, what is it?" Levi questioned, fearing the answer.
"I… H-He's not here."
She turned around and gave them a wide-eyed stare.
"He's… gone."
AN: Hello guys! I'm finally back with a new chapter. It's been a damn long time and I apologize for the long wait. Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has favourited, followed, and left a review. Thank you very much! It's what keeps me coming back to this story and motivates me to write more.
I tried to change the perspective of the story in this chapter. I'm still new to the story-writing scene, so I can't help but experiment a bit. I started out writing the chapters from first-person perspective but thought to myself that perhaps a third-person view would suit this fic better. Everything considered, I think it worked well.
Next chapter will be mostly from Naruto's perspective. His first impression of the walls, the people, culture, technology, history and so on. It'll probably be a longer chapter too.
Again, thank you to everyone who reads this story.
~Zenix404~