"I hate Bandits" Luffy unwaveringly stated whilst looking at Dadan and her Bandits. Naruto, who was sitting in the corner, sighed and took another bite of food.
"Shut up Brat! You realize how much trouble I'm going through because of you?" Dadan said scolding Luffy. "If you don't like it here, that's fine with me! Leave and go die somewhere!"
"Take it easy, Boss." One of the Bandits said trying to calm down the steaming Dadan.
"I'm still hungry. Gimme some of that meat!" Luffy said pointing at him, Dadan went to scold him until a large piece of meat landed in his lap. Turning her head around to look at Naruto, Dadan went to scold him until his look drained the colour from her face.
Naruto had one of his claws out and was using one to pick a piece of meat stuck between his teeth. Grinning Naruto stood from his seat and made his way for the exit.
"Where are you going brat!" Dadan yelled out as Naruto ignored her and made his way out.
"I'll be back later Luffy, I'm going hunting" Naruto called over his shoulder.
Walking towards the tree line and in the direction of the Goa Kingdom, he stopped as he heard Luffy yell out.
"Hey! I'm Luffy! Don't worry! I'm not mad at you for spitting on me anymore!" Luffy yelled up to Ace who in reply cut down a tree that landed directly ont op of Luffy. Laughing to himself Naruto continued on his way.
'He'll be fine ... I think' Naruto said to himself as he continued.
Walking into the Goa Kingdom was a stark contrast to that of the Gray Terminal that Naruto had just walked through. The streets of the Kingdom were clean and spotless as Naruto walked through the streets towards where his client was located. slowly reaching a dark alley way Naruto slipped into it and made his way to the door and knocked on it.
The door swung open, and he was greeted to a table with a Den Den Mushi on top of his, grabbing the microphone and placing it on the table he waited for an answer.
"Your target is 'Jyris the Terminal Hunter', he's a lanky man with grey hair and a long bird but do not be fooled by his appearance he's massacred over 30 people in the last three months and has started seeping is murder spree into edge town and as of yesterday had his first murder in the central town. The reward is 12,000,000 million bellies."
"Make it 15 and he'll be hung over the walls at the Gray Terminal by evening."
"Fine 15, but if not, it'll be 8." The voice finished as the Den Den Mushi went silent, leaving the room Naruto swiftly made his way the Grey Terminal as he ran atop of buildings with each step going faster as the wind pushed him along.
Upon reaching the walls that overlooked the Gray Terminal Naruto closed his eyes for a few seconds before jumping off the walls and landing into a sprint. As he grew further away from the walls he could hear screaming and as he rounded another pile of trash, he was meet with the gruesome sight of a man being ripped open with a knife as the man's screams silenced.
Jyris seemed to of found is 31st victim and had clearly made it quickly as he up and looked directly at Naruto with glazed eyes and a manic grin.
"Next ... Next ... Next ..." Jyris repeated as he stumbled his way towards Naruto then suddenly with a burst of speed, he arrived directly in front of Naruto with his knife inches away from his throat.
Back stepping the attack Naruto took a second to regain himself and asses Jyris who slowly stumbled his way towards Naruto and once again with a burst of speed went to slash at his throat but was meet with Naruto's claws which pushed off his knife and sent him stumbling.
"Surprised ... Fast ... Good ..." Jyris dribbled out as he slowly pushed himself to his feet and stood waiting for Naruto to make the next move.
As Naruto was about to push off to end the fight Jyris leapt at him leading with his knife and swinging it at his face to which Naruto dropped to his knees to avoid but then was scratched by Jyris's other hand cutting Naruto's cheek.
Rolling back Naruto slowly go to his feet, looking back up at Jyris who was smiling and touching the tip of his knife.
"Fear ... Fear ... Fruit" he said gleefully as Naruto felt a cold breeze run down his spine as if someone had run an ice cube down it. Turning around and haphazardly slashing his claws Naruto vison darkened as if he had tunnel vision.
Turning back around Naruto could make out Jyris slowly making his way towards him, knife twirling in his hand. Backing away Naruto couldn't think straight as he stumbled over a can and falling onto the ground.
"My ... My ... My ... Thought ... You ... Strong ... Wrong" Jyris whispered what felt like into Naruto's ear making jump and slash in that direction. "One ... Touch ... You ... Lose ..."
As the last remnants of Naruto's vision seemed to disappear, he felt feeling of fear and aggression rise which he hadn't felt since that night on Wano. His claws grew longer as energy dripped from them, and his eyes dilated making Jyris faulter for a second before shrugging and continuing towards Naruto.
"Calm Naruto"
A voice called out to Naruto, instead of the chilling effects that Jyris Fear-Fear had this was comforting like a warm blanket.
"Use them Naruto, use the tails."
Vision slowly returning to Naruto he could see that Jyris was only a few paces in front of him, closing his eyes and breathing Naruto kicked his leg into Jyris hand knocking the knife away and sending him tumbling.
Jumping up Naruto didn't stop his attack at Jyris who grabbed the knife once again and blocked Naruto's claw. Slashing Jyris mouth started to foam in frustration as Naruto continued to dodge.
Backflipping away from Jyris, Naruto landed onto a pile of trash and made a strange sign with his hands and aimed it towards Jyris who was stunned.
"Ichi-Kaze"
As Naruto yelled out wind in the area picked up rapidly and seemed to converge on Jyris who wasn't able to move so was flung onto the ground with his head hitting a rock. Not wasting a second, Naruto leapt at Jyris unconscious form doing a different hand sign.
"Ni-Tsume"
Naruto's claw went straight through Jyris chest killing him, pulling the claws out Naruto noticed that the energy had now become refined and was humming around them as if it was a barrier.
However as quickly as it was there it faded away and Naruto stumbled down in exhaustion from the fight. Closing his eyes Naruto could no longer fend off the void as it consumed him.
Naruto opened his eyes and found himself laying in clear shallow at water that seemed to stretch on to forever. Pushing himself from the floor and looking around everywhere seemed to be covered in water.
"Hmm ... quiet right you are" someone said from behind Naruto, swirling around Naruto found himself looking at an old man who had deathly pale skin with horn protruding from his forehead whilst also wearing a pure white kimono with six different patterns lining his collar.
"I ... I know those patterns" Naruto said whilst staring intently at the different patterns on the man kimono.
"Mm ... Yes, these were the crests of the six ruling families of Wano. The Kozuki Family, The Shimotsuki Family, The Uzumaki Family, The Amatsuki Family, The Fugetsu Family and The Kurozumi Family. These families helped build Wano to what it was and lead it to its destruction." The old man solemnly finished.
"Who are you old man?"
"Me? I'm Hagoromo Uzumaki"
Naruto's eyed widen as he realized he was meeting a person from his father's side of the family for the first time since leaving Wano.
"Why are you here?"
"You have come of age to learn of your burden."
"Come of age? You mean my birthday?" Naruto asked tilting his head to the side.
"Yes, and now that has happened you will learn the truth of your power however, you'll find the true extent of your power as you grow."
"The full extent, what are you trying to say old man? I'm already pretty strong!"
"Although that may be true you are only scratching the surface. The powers that you have used to defeat that devil dweller was only that of the First Tail, summoned at full strength with the sign of rabbit, and the Second Tail, summoned with the sign of Tiger, with the use of full strength you will be able to take on entire armies even if they are devil dwellers."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"That is to be expected, however it is you that has to figure it out. Farewell Naruto Uzumaki!"
Hagoromo pushed his hands forward knocking Naruto back into the water and flinging himself back into the real world. Gasping Naruto reentered the land of the living.
Looking around there was no one around expect for the corpse of Jyris which now had a large puddle of blood that surrounded it. Wiping his brow Naruto grabbed and made his way back towards the grey terminal walls.
Upon reaching it Naruto grabbed rope that had been dumped not too far away and started to scale up it. Once at the top he found a metal poll waiting with a bag sat next to it.
walking up Naruto noticed a scroll sticking out of it, dropping Jyris and the rope down to pick up the bag and undid the scroll.
"15,000,000 as promised, thank you for you for work U."
Opening the bag there was indeed 15,000,000 bellies as Naruto counted it out. Nodding and pocketing it Naruto set to work for the final touches of today's work.
It was when Naruto first heard a scream from the edge town side of the wall that he knew his work was done. The scream was a response to the view of Jyris being hung from the wall with the rope that Naruto found with the injuries he sustained in the fight in full view of everyone.
Deciding that it was probably best to hang low for a few days Naruto started to make his way back towards his new foster home of the Dadan's Bandits. As he reached the edge of the Gray Terminal, he could hear voices yelling at each other, this wouldn't have been noticed the voices due to yelling being a normal occurrence, but it was the fact that one of the voices was Luffy.
Creeping closer to the commotion Naruto could see that Luffy was tied up against a tree with Ace and another boy, who Naruto believed was called Sabo, talking to each other about what to do with Luffy.
"HELP ME!"
"SHUT UP!"
Naruto's eyes narrowed and was about to jump to free Luffy and reprimand Ace and Sabo until he heard footsteps and voices getting closer.
"I heard a voice in the woods!" one of the men said they came to where the trio of Ace, Sabo and Luffy were before hiding.
"Ace and Sabo? Those two are notorious around here. You sure it was Ace who stole the money from you?" The largest man, who Naruto knew as Porchemy of the Bluejam pirates, asked another pirate.
"Yes. It's embarrassing to admit it, but he caught me off guard."
"That Stupid Brat ... He'll regret taking our money. If Captain Bluejam gets word of this, he'll kill us all."
Looking back over to where the three boys were, Naruto noticed that Luffy had disappeared.
"Lemme Go! Grarr!" Luffy yelled at Porchemy trying to bite at his arm. "Help me, Ace!"
Slapping his face Naruto was about to intervene but stopped and look towards Ace and Sabo to see what they would do about the situation.
"You know Ace?"
"He's, my friend! Oh, but he tried to kill me just now."
"I might as well ask. Today Ace stole some money from us and ran off with it. Do you know where he is?"
"N-Nope" Luffy responded terribly lying making Naruto drop his head in shame.
'He was never one to lie, was he?' Naruto thought to himself.
"Heh Heh ... So, you don't know, eh? that's too bad but I'll make you remember! Don't worry about that!"
"Hey! Let me go! Where are you taking me!?" Luffy yelled out as Porchemy and the other pirates retreated away. Looking over towards Ace and Sabo, Naruto waited to see what they would do about Luffy.
Watching Sabo and Ace move their treasure from one location to another filled Naruto with disappointment towards the duo who saw so little in Luffy.
Dropping down next to Ace, after Sabo left for the old hiding spot, who continued to pour treasure into the new hiding spot Naruto tapped his foot.
"I'm disappointed Ace." Naruto said as he scared Ace who scrambled for his rod and held it in front of himself to fight Naruto.
"It's not like I owe him anything since he's going to babble to the pirates." Ace responded glaring at Naruto "I'm not his friend or brother just because Garp says so, you're his brother so why aren't you there saving him?"
"Because although I am his cousin, I'm not his protector who fights his battles."
"Well, you're a good cousin."
"And you're a good friend?" Naruto responded, noticing that Sabo was returning stepped back as he came into view of Sabo.
"Ace!"
"Sabo! What happened? Did they come back!?"
"No! They never did! That Luffy! He still hasn't talked!"
"What?" Turning to Naruto, Ace face went dark.
"Well, I guess you owe him for not babbling, don't you?" Naruto said jumping in the direction that Luffy was being held in.
Watching Luffy get used as a punching bag infuriated Naruto to no end, but he waited to see if Ace and Sabo would come and save Luffy from his predicament. Sighing Naruto released his claws and was about to break open the wall when Ace and Sabo crashed through.
Knocking out some of the pirates and rushing towards Luffy, Ace was grabbed by Porchemy but was saved by Sabo who hit Porchemy over the back of the head with his pipeline.
Grabbing a knife from one of the pirates Sabo slashed the rope holding Luffy and grabbed him.
"Let's go, Ace!" Sabo said making his way to the exit.
"Go on without me!" Ace responded standing his ground. "Once I face off against an enemy I never run away!"
"Forget it he has a sword! That guy is no punk from town" Sabo said trying to reason with Ace.
"Look here I know you didn't mean to do it." Porchemy said standing back up. "Just gimme back the money, you little rat."
"I can put it to better use than you can!"
"Shut your stupid mouth!" Porchemy said cocking his arm back to strike Ace with his sword.
"Hey, hold on a second!" Sabo said dropping Luffy to help Ace as Porchemy and Ace's sword connected with Porchemy cutting through Ace's rod.
"If I lose to a kid, I'll hang up my cutlass!" yelled Porchemy as he went to strike Porchemy as Ace and Sabo were doing the same.
"clink ... clink ... clink" was the first sound that Porchemy heard as the slowly opened his eyes to darkness. Trying to stand he found himself chained by the leg.
"Now where do you think you're going Porchemy?" a voice said in the darkness, suddenly two red eyes appeared from the darkness making Porchemy crawl back and pushing himself up against the wall.
"Who are you and where are we!" Porchemy yelled into the darkness.
"'Who am I' doesn't really matter and 'where we are' doesn't either." the voice said as he grew closer. "Let's get started then shell we?"
Porchemy heard a sound then suddenly the ground was brought to life as claws were dragged along the ground. Looking around, Porchemy realized that he was in a cave along with other bodies that had tortured.
Eyes widening, he was meet with the maniacal smile of Uzumaki, who had been responsible for killing many members of the Bluejam pirates who had bounties. Looking down he noticed Naruto's claws dripping with the blood of the other pirates.
"Porchemy, do you remember what you did that kid? If not, I'll make you remember."
Into the night outside of the cave that Naruto had chosen blood curdling screams could be heard from the mountains.
Arriving back at the Dandan bandit den, Naruto was meet with yelling and screeching.
"What's going on here?!" Dadan yelled. "Ace! Luffy! Who is that? Why is there another kid here?!"
"Hey! You're Dadan, right? I'm Sabo" he said whilst grabbing Dadan's hand to shake it.
Entering the den everyone inside turned to Naruto who waved and smiled.
"Naruto!" Luffy said with joy whilst jumping at Naruto. "Where have you been! I nearly died!"
"I saw it is handled by Ace and Sabo so left it to them." he said with a smile, then turning to Sabo he put out his hand. "I don't believe we have meet before, my names Uzumaki D. Naruto."
Smiling Sabo grabbed his hand and introduced himself as well. Once letting go of his hand the three boys ran from the den back into the jungle. Laughing turned back to Dadan whose face showed she was far from pleased with the new arrangements.
"If it makes you feel better, I've got wild boar for dinner?"
Sitting around the pot as the food was cooking Dadan turned to Naruto and two of the Bandits.
"Dogura! Naruto! Magura! Where's this ... Goa?" She asked the three of them.
"Technically Mt. Corvo, Trash Mountain and Foosha village are all a part of the Kingdom of Goa." Dogura answered.
"Yeah, I thought so."
"Take it easy, Boss! Why are you reading the newspaper anyway? I never saw you do that before."
"Some sort of big shot is coming to the Kingdom and it's making headlines." She responded making Naruto take notice. "So what's so great about these people? These Celestial Dragons?"
Naruto stilled with all the memories of Fisher Tiger flooding back to him, looking down his shirt at the slave mark chills ran down his back as he thought of how he got it.
'Yeah, what is so great about these celestial dragons?'
As the days and weeks went by the trio of Ace, Luffy and Sabo grew closer through training and their adventures around Goa kingdom. As the three had fun Naruto continued his 'hunting' for his contractor whilst also spending time with the three boys when he had time.
"GUM-GUM PISTOL!" Luffy yelled out as he shot his arm out at Ace but only for it to bounce off the ground and straight into his chin.
"What are you even doing!" Ace yelled at Luffy whilst drop kicking him.
"That's it. Another win for Ace." Sabo said scratching the score onto the sign that made a scoreboard to tally the wins. "With that Luffy has zero wins to me and Ace while I beat Ace 24 time and lost 26 times, Rats! I guess your versing Naruto then Ace."
Without a second thought Ace rushed at Naruto with a fist only for Naruto to dodge left and kicking his leg out then punching his waist. Harshly landed on the dirt ground Ace gasped for air.
"You are to head fast look at your enemy and notice their movements and then decide what to do." criticized Naruto to Ace whilst wagging a finger.
"Hm ... I'll win one day!" Ace stated with full confidence, as he and the two other started to discuss what to do for dinner.
As Naruto continued to train the trio, alongside the harsh conditions of Mt. Corvo, they grew stronger each passing day.
The trio many times had snuck through the Great Gate into the city where Naruto would follow from afar to make sure none of them were seriously injured in their escapades.
On a particular when the trio had done a dine and dash, which Naruto had paid for without being seen, the boys had run into Sabo's biological father. Although Sabo was resigned to telling the boys of his family.
At the boys uncaring reaction to the fact Sabo reflected to the boys of his experience as an aristocrat.
"Ace! Luffy! Let's go out to sea someday! Let's get out of this country! So we can be free!" Sabo exclaimed with a smile. "I want to see the world and write a book about it! And navigation is the one thing I like to study! Let's get strong and become pirates!"
"Ha! You don't have to convince me. I'm gonna be a pirate and win, win, win! I'll be famous all over the world. I'll prove my life's worth something!" Ace yelled with a smile. "I'm gonna become a great pirate and show them all!"
"Hee Hee Hee!" Luffy said with a smile. "Okay. Then I'll ... I WANT TO BE ..." Luffy said making Naruto fall out of the tree that he had been watching the trio in. Luffy noticed him with a massive grin whilst Ace and Sabo had shocked looks.
"I can't believe you actually said that" Ace said still stunned by Luffys announcement.
"Ha Ha Ha! You're funny, Luffy!" Sabo laughed. "I can't wait to see what you'll be like in the future!"
'That's what Roger said to Kushina!' Naruto yelled to himself, as the boys debated about who would be captain or if they wanted to go to sea separately.
"We'll decide our future in the future." Ace said pulling at a bottle along with cups.
"Hey! You stole Dandan's bottle, didn't you?" Luffy said whilst looking at the Ace.
"You know about this?" Ace asked the Luffy and Sabo but then looked over at Naruto. "If you exchange cups, it makes you brothers."
"Brothers? Really?!"
"When we become pirates, we might not be on the same ship together but the three of us will always be brothers!" Ace said with a smile. "No matter where we are or what we do this bond will never be broken!"
The four boys all grabbed a cup and hoisted it in the air and with clinking them together.
"Starting today we're brothers!"
"Yeah!
As the brothers' continued to sneak into edge town but this time Naruto helping them steal as he stopped his contracted hunting in favor for helping the brothers.
On an odd week where Luffy had nearly died falling off the wooden bridge, Makino and Woop Slap bearing gifts of clothing for the boys and drinks for the Bandits.
"You've gotten taller" Makino said with a cheerful smile making Naruto blush.
"Thanks" Naruto mumbled while accepting the cloths that he was given.
The next week Garp had showed up and had beat the brothers senseless with Naruto being the only one putting up a fight but as he finally about to fall unconscious he heard Garp say.
"You've gotten stronger Naruto! You'll make a good Marine!"
After the episode of with Garp the boys collectively agreed that they needed some independence away from the Bandits so on a rainy day the boys pinned a note.
"Going Independent - ASUL"
Dadan who had been gob smacked by the declaration she sent out Dogura and Magura in the rain to spy on the boys.
When they found the boys, they were in a haphazardly built tree house looking smugly at what they had built.
One day, a mail bird had arrived where it had dropped off a scrunched-up letter in front of Naruto.
Picking it up and opening it, he realized it was from Makino asking him to come see her down at Foosha village.
All but sprinting to pack a bag of cloths and put on the cloths that Makino had gifted him.
Naruto yelling a quick goodbye to the boys and the bandits before sprinting in the direction of Foosha village.
After running for a few minutes Naruto's pace quickly turned into a crawl as he spent more time fighting off boars who had recognized Naruto and had immediately attacked him.
Fending off the boar had been easy but what was much harder for Naruto was franticly fending off the boars from getting his cloths gifted from Makino dirty.
Naruto finally walked out of the tree line with scuff marks on his as the moon light shined the way for the path towards Makino's bar.
Looking through the window and seeing the bar completely empty, looking up at the clock on the wall inside it showed that it was 4 am in the morning.
rubbing his eyes Naruto walked to the door and released one claw and started pick locking the door.
Slowly pushing the door open and closing it Naruto sat himself down at the bar and dropped asleep.
"Naru ... to ... aru ... Naruto!"
Slowly opening his eyes, Naruto found himself looking directly at Makino's face which was centimeters away from his.
Blushing, he fell off his chair whilst his face was steaming. Rubbing the back of his head Naruto gave a toothy grin at Makino.
"Sorry Makino but when I got your letter, I just had to come see you" Naruto said whilst still smiling. Makino, who had sighed at Naruto's ignorance, face adopted one of confusion at Naruto.
"Letter? I didn't send a letter, did I?" Makino said whilst putting a chin on her hand to try and remember.
"Well, of course you had to I've got the letter with me" Naruto said pulling at the crumpled-up envelope and handing it to her. Reading the letter Makino's face adopted one of concern.
"Naruto this isn't my handwriting and if I needed to see you I'd much rather come up and see you." She said with concern.
Naruto's face quickly adopted one of concern as he tried to think why someone would send him a fake letter.
"Well, I have no ide-"
Suddenly the bars door slammed open as a tired Woop Slap entered the Bar with another envelope in his hands.
"Naruto! Thank goodness you are here." He said when seeing him in the Bar. "I just received an anonymous letter saying that the Gray Terminal will be burnt to the ground."
Naruto's eyes widen realizing the amount of death that would bring with how many people lived there.
"That's not it Naruto, Luffy and Ace have been captured and trapped there." Woop Slap finished, Naruto's face was blank then suddenly turned to one of fury. Immediately going to rush to his brothers aid, Makino grabbed his hand making him turn around.
grabbing him in a hug, Makino squeezed the life out of him with tears in her eyes.
"Be careful Naruto, save them but I die, please for me." Makino said ushering Naruto to the door. His features stealing Naruto nodded and sprinted out of the bar.
Rushing pass trees it had quickly become apparent how long Naruto had been asleep for as it quickly grew dark once again as he broke through the tree line.
As he reached the Bandits den he saw them all looking out towards where smoke was now billowing out.
"Boss! Boss! Look!"
"Look at the sky to the north!"
"Is it coming from the town?!"
"No the Gray Terminal has been set alit" Naruto said to the Bandits as he reached them. "They've got Luffy and Ace there to."
The Bandits eyes all went wide and turned to Dandan for instructions on what to do. Dandan looked Naruto with narrowed eyes and nodded at him, Naruto sprinted towards the Gray Terminal as the other Bandits followed.
As the Bandits and Naruto finally reached the fires, Dadan pulled up and looked to see if there was a better entrance into the mayhem.
Naruto completely ignoring them performed the hand sign of rabbit and pushed it forward.
"Ichi-Kaze" Naruto yelled out immediately putting the flames out and making a path for them to continue on.
As they continued there were many people lying in agony as the flames slowly ate at them. Finding it hard to not stop Naruto was starting to slow down until Dadan grabbed him by the collar and faced him.
"Save them we'll save the boys" she said as she dropped him to continue with the Bandits.
Picking himself up Naruto went back to the people he had passed and put many on their feet and encouraged them to walk while he carried those that could not.
Quickly gaining a massive group of people who were on the brink of death. Eventually finding where most of the civilians of Gray Terminal had group together Naruto looked around in despair as the fire grew closer.
"It's all over! We're surrounded by the flames!"
"The heat! There's no escape!"
"How did this happen?!"
"Waaagh!"
Suddenly as the people of the Gray Terminal had given up all hope a massive explosion ripped through the fire. Turning everyone looked shocked but amazed at the sight.
"I see a ship!"
"This leads straight to the shore!"
"I don't know how it happened but we're in luck!"
As everyone scrambled for the safety of the shore line Naruto dropped to his knees in exhaustion.
"Lad!" A man yelled out as Naruto fell over. "People help the injured!"
Many people that were still able to move grabbed the injured and continued to carry them towards the ship.
"Laddy let me help you up" The man said grabbing Naruto up by the arm.
"T-Thanks sir but continue I have to go back."
"What for lad? There's nothing there for you" The man said trying to urge Naruto to the exit, shrugging him off Naruto sprinted through exhaustion to where he had left the Bandits.
Running through the fire Naruto see looked down at his arm which was heavily burnt and noticed that red fur started to stitch itself together to replace the burnt away skin.
Shaking his head from these thoughts and just focusing on finding the Bandits in a hope the Luffy and Ace had been saved.
"NARUTO!"
Luffy's voice cut through the fire like a knife, whipping his head around Naruto saw that Luffy was being carried away towards the mountain.
Rushing to there side Naruto noticed that all but Ace and Dadan were missing.
"Where's Ace and Dadan!?" he yelled getting worried about the situation that was growing more dangerous every second.
"Boss told us to take Luffy, find you then run" one said still gunning it back towards the mountains.
"What! We have to help them or they'l-"
One of the Bandits smacked Naruto over the back of the head with the butt of the sword knocking him out, but before he could hit the ground caught him and continued their escape back towards the mountains.
"WHY ARE WE JUST STANDING HERE!" Naruto all but screamed at the Bandits as he was immobile in his bed.
"There, There." Magura said patting Naruto's head. "Wait, Luffy! Where do you think you're going in that state!"
"I'm gonna look for Ace and Dadan!"
"Don't be stupid!" Magura said chastising Luffy "Your wounds are really deep. There, there. Just get some rest."
"The military is running around trash mountain cleaning up after the fire." Dogura explained. "And when I say, "cleaning up", I mean sweeping up the burned trash and exterminating the survivors. If you go now, you'll be killed."
"But..." Luffy stammered. "I wanna see Ace! Sabo has to be worried about him!"
As the Bandits as the den waited to see if Ace and Dadan would return Dogrua being the smallest of the bandits was sent out to see if he could find Dadan and Ace whilst the others waited.
"Ace isn't dead!" Luffy yelled at Magura whilst Naruto sat down in a corner with bandages covering is entire body.
"Take it easy! I know how you feel, but you can't go to trash mountain in your state! That place is crawling with soldiers right now!" Magura continued to explain to Luffy. "After that huge fire, I know the chances are slim but I want to believe that boss and ace are still; alive!"
"But-"
"Luffy leave it" Naruto said with darkened eyes then turned to Magura and nodded towards him to continue.
"Dogura should be at trash mountain looking around right now. Just leave it to him, we're all worried Luffy."
Suddenly as all the Bandits were about to give up hope one of their own smashed the door open.
"Listen, everyone! Those two are back!"
"What?" everyone said out loud and looked outside.
"Boss!" "Ace!"
"Thank goodness! They're all right!"
"ACE!" Luffy yelled hug tackling Ace.
"Luffy did you think I was dead?"
"But..."
"What are you crying for?! How dare you kill me off, you idiot!" Ace yelled whilst hitting Luffy before sitting by Dadan.
"On the night of the fire, we managed to beat Bluejam but the fire blocked our path and we had nowhere to run." Ace explained. "That's why Dadan is burned all over. We managed to hide ourselves in the middle forest by the river where the fire couldn't reach. I went into town and stole medicine to try to keep Dadan alive."
"Take it easy. I'm just glad both of you are alive." Magura said relieved that the situation had worked out.
"Boss, you'll need to get lots of rest."
"Sorry for making everybody worry" Dadan wheezed out.
"I didn't think that would happen to trash mountain. I hope Sabo's not worried about us." Ace said solemnly.
"Ace, why didn't you run away back there?" Dadan asked Ace with intrigue.
"Sometimes, I get so angry ... and I feel like if I run away ... I'll lose something I could never get back and this time Luffy was behind me." Ace explained, Naruto who had been silent the entire time walked up to Ace and ruffled his hair.
"Thanks Ace!" Naruto said with a toothy grin before going outside to see what Luffy was doing.
Outside, Naruto and Luffy were playing with two beetles who were fighting until they noticed Dogura making his way towards the den.
"Huh? Dogura!" Luffy yelled out. "Didn't you go out to look for Ace and Dadan? They're back already!"
"They are? That's great."
As Dogura spoke Naruto's, Luffy, Dadan and Ace were deathly still. Suddenly Ace lunged forward at Dogura.
"You Liar! Even if you're kidding that's not funny" Ace yelled whilst aiming to swing at Dogura, not fazed Dogura continued.
"It's true! It was so sudden I doubted my own eyes! I thought it was a dream or something!" said Dogura then pushed Ace off him.
"Luffy, you said Sabo got taken back to his aristocrat parents. Hoodlums like us all have a place we don't want to go back to!" Dogura said. "If he was really happy, do you think he would've gone to sea. Do you think he would've raised a pirate flag and gone out to sea all by himself!"
"SABO!" Luffy said lip wavering. "You weren't happy after all!"
"Why didn't we try to get him back?" Ace said in frustration before grabbing Dogura once again. "Who killed Sabo?! I'll go kill him right now!"
Grabbing his pipe Ace went to for the door of the den.
"I'm gonna avenge Sabo!" Ace yelled, as he reached the door his head was smashed into the ground by Dadan.
"Stop it right there, you brat!"
"Stay out of my way!" Ace yelled at Dadan try to get out of her grip.
"You can't do anything on your own! All you do is talk big! What do you think you can do? You're just going to get yourself killed!" Dadan yelled at Ace. "You'll die and nobody will remember you tomorrow!"
"It's this nation that killed Sabo, Ace! It's this world! Do you think you can do anything about it? Your Father died and changed the entire era! Became as big a man as him before you even think about getting yourself Killed!" Dadan huffed up before turning to the other Bandits.
"Somebody tie this idiot up!"
Naruto who hadn't moved after hearing the news looked down at the ground in front of himself.
'NOT AGAIN, NOT AGAIN, NOT AGAIN, NOT AGAIN, NOT AGAIN, NOT AGAIN' Naruto chanted in his head as no other thought passed through.
Standing almost robotically Naruto walked out of the den and into the tree line away from everyone. Satisfied that he couldn't be seen, he slid down the tree until he reached the bottom as tears fell from his eyes.
'I let it happen again. It's all my fault.'
As the minutes turned to hours the thought of guilt was the only thing that he felt.
Luffy was laid flat on his stomach on the grassy cliffs that overlooked the ocean, sitting beside him Naruto watched the water lap against each other. Slowly Naruto heard footsteps getting louder and closer until Luffy was hit over the head by Ace.
"How long are you two gonna stay like that?" Ace asked the cousins. "The treasure we hid in the middle forest was all gone. Sabo never got to use it either. That's why I don't care about it anymore."
Naruto looked at Ace with speculative eyes doubting Ace's reasoning but let it go as Luffy sucked in a deep breath.'
"Ace, Naruto, I want to get stronger!" Luffy proclaimed. "I wanna be lots, lots, lots, lots, lots, lots, lots, lots, lots stronger!"
"So, there won't be anything I can't protect! And nobody'll ever have to go away again! So please don't die Ace and Naruto!"
"Don't be stupid! You should worry about yourself not me! Don't you know how much weaker you are?" Ace said whilst hitting Luffy on the head. "Remember this, Luffy! I'm not gonna die!"
"Neither shell I" Naruto stated as he rubbed Luffy on the head as he cried.
"Yeah!" Luffy responded with a quiver.
"Sabo told me to take care of you! I promise you, I'm not gonna die!" Ace huffed. "I'm not gonna leave my crybaby little brother behind to Naruto!"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Luffy said rapidly nodding his head.
"I'm not that smart, so I don't know who or what killed Sabo but whatever it was, it is definitely the opposite of Freedom. Sabo died without being able to grasp freedom."
"But Sabo was our brother and we're still alive!" Ace said. "Listen to me, Luffy and Naruto. We have to live our lives, so we don't have any regrets."
"One of these days, we'll go to sea and live the life we want to live! We'll be freer than anybody!" Ace declared to the two whilst looking out to the sea. "And we're gonna make a lot of enemies too! Even Gramps will be our enemy! Our lives will be in constant danger!"
"We'll set sail when we're 17! Nothing's gonna stop us! We're gonna be pirates!"
Naruto looking up at Ace from his sitting position couldn't help but agree with Ace and for the first time since learning of Sabo's death, Naruto smiled excited for the future.
That's another chapter complete and sets up the next chapter which will be the biggest by far. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter because it was fun to right but will not be as good as the next. I'm not sure when the next chapter will release due to magnitude of it in the story going forward.
On that note I will be putting down some rehashed summary's and would love feedback because the one that gets the most positive feedback will be the new summary. Along with this the pairing will be released in the character section of the summary, though understand it could change if I feel that it won't work with the story.
(ORIGINAL) - Living a life of adventure, Naruto one day wishes to return home to save his homeland but first he needs to get strong enough to take it back and to do that he needs friends to help him see his dream through while also helping others achieve theirs. Naruto x multi.
OR
(OPTION ONE) - Wano was his birthplace, Dressrosa was his home and Foosha village is his family. As Naruto watched his birthplace be taken from in front of him and Dressrosa ripped from his chest, Naruto swore one day he would return to save them both. Naruto x multi.
OR
(OPTION TWO) - Never knowing stability and only knowing adventure, Naruto would give it all to get both. Naruto x multi.
Hope you liked the chapter all feedback is welcomed and feel free to leave reviews on your thoughts.
Thanks.