Chapter 8: The Second Wave
The tavern is filled with adventurers and mercenaries, good meals and cold drinks along with telling jokes and humorous stories to lighten the very tense mood. At one of the tables is Spear Hero Motoyasu, most of his companions are gone at the moment, Malty is attending her duties as a Princess at the palace, Elena is at her family in an important business, Lesty is taking a long rest at her home, but Rino is the only one who currently dining with him. "Please, Sir Motoyasu, you should not drink too much, the Waves is tomorrow."
Hearing this he decides to stop at second glass of wine. "Good call, just down in a slump that is all." His thoughts still revolves around Kushina and Hinata, his plans to reconcile and make amends just backfired and now Kushina seems angrier at him, wanting to take his mind off from thinking of the redhead he turns to his companion. "Now that I think about, we never had any long and meaningful conversation."
Rino along with Lesty and Elena are merely eye candy in the party, they would just stand at the sidelines cheering him on and praising his strength and victories and good looks. The one main difference that made Rino stands out is the fact that she likes to help out with the fighting though always end up being told off by Malty and Lesty, though Motoyasu appreciate the help he would prefer not to let a cute girl get her hands dirty.
"Can you tell me about yourself?"
"I'm not as interesting as the Princess; heck even there's more to Lesty and Elena than me."
"Don't look down on yourself like that. Everyone is special in their own way."
"If you say so," Rino takes a big gulp of water before telling him about her life. "My family lived in a small farm, my mother used to be an adventurer but retired and settled down with my father, there are four of us siblings just my two brothers and a sister-"
"Really, you have a sister, what she's like?" Motoyasu eagerly asked.
Rino was surprise by his sudden question, but she expected this judging from the Spear Hero's tendency to flirt with every girls. "Uh sure, her name is Rena, love to help around the house and fields and is planning to marry her beloved after the Waves." She saw that Motoyasu already lost interest upon hearing of the upcoming marriage.
Out of nowhere Ren came to them for a greeting. "Motoyasu, fancy seeing you here,"
"Oh hey, Ren, didn't see you come in." Motoyasu took note that someone is absent. "Is it just you?"
"You know I like to go on adventures alone, my companions are probably not here yet, might arrive tomorrow just in time for the Waves." Ren also took note it is just the Spear Hero and his one companion. "I'm surprise that Princess Malty isn't here with you; you two seems to be inseparable."
"She's attending to her duties as a Princess, so I'm alone with Rino here for tonight."
"I see," Ren sees that Motoyasu is seemingly in a forlorn mood today, and so he curiously asks. "So any interesting news this week, any word from Kushina and Naruto?"
Motoyasu grumbles a bit but decides to share it. "Well, they came yesterday to have Naruto sync with the Hourglass and I happen to be in the same place as them, I gave them a warm welcome but they just gave me the cold shoulder."
"I wonder why." Ren said and he sees that the blond spearman misses the sarcasm.
"After syncing with the Hourglass they immediately wanted to leave, I asked if they want to stroll around town but they refused suddenly disappearing before I could say anything more."
Ren got a feeling that Motoyasu is not telling the whole story. "Considering that the Wave is happening tomorrow it's more likely they're preparing for it and have no time for luxury."
Motoyasu lightly groans because he really hates to admit it but Naruto is right.
Seeing that he's not telling more Ren decides to change the subject. "So what else have you been doing?"
"Just a week ago I fought and killed a Giant Scorpion Brood Mother and got a neat new skill thanks to it, save a few girls' in distress, oh and have you heard that there were fifty murders that happened at the same day yesterday?"
"Yeah, I heard about that, it is the main topic of every gossip I hear, have they found the culprits?" Ren is really intrigue by this, in fact he learned hours ago that Itsuki is looking in to it in hopes of finding the killers and brings them to justice, no doubt to score some more adoration points.
"No, unfortunately, the investigators never found the culprits, but Malty is very insistent that it was Kushina." There is a moment of silence between the two.
"You believe that she did it?"
Motoyasu looks at him incredibly, appalled. "Heck no, I refuse to believe that Kushina would commit such heinous acts! And besides, many of the townspeople pointed out that they came through the gate, go to the church, and then left, their alibi is good."
"Plus, there's no way a single woman could kill all fifty armed and skilled knights, mages and Shadows, all without the townsfolk see nor hearing anything of a struggle or battle." Out of nowhere Itsuki suddenly joins them.
"Hey, didn't notice you there, Itsuki." Ren greeted him.
Itsuki nods then went on to continue his findings. "While most of the injuries are pretty normal, there are some that leave the investigators stumped,"
"Really, what makes those injuries different from the rest?" Rino curiously asked.
"Autopsy reports shows that their insides are really messed up, bones and arteries severed, organs damaged, severe internal bleeding, all while the skin is completely intact no cuts and bruises, no damage on the clothing and armor either, it's almost as if a knife just materialized inside them and start cutting everything."
The three just stare with horror at the thought, Ren expresses his opinion. "Man, a spell or skill that can bypass your armor and skin to cut up your insides? That's really scary; we really need to be cautious if we face someone with this kind of skill."
"Yeah, and unfortunately the investigators have no leads, Princess Malty stated that it was Kushina's doing but she have nothing solid to support her claim."
Motoyasu is disappointed that Malty is so insistent that Kushina had a hand in those murders; wanting to avoid talking about her he asks Itsuki an unrelated question. "So Itsuki, what're you been doing this week?"
"Hunting down bandits and brigands then bringing them all to justice," He glances at his Bow and smiles at one achievement he made. "I even hunt down the Marshland Death Worm, I tell you, it is not easy as it's mostly move underground, I have to wait for it to attack were I managed to kill it." Turning to his fellow Heroes he asks the same thing. "How about you guys?"
"Well, Motoyasu here killed a Giant Scorpion Brood Mother, and I defeated a large beast called the Great Mountain Lion." (1)
So each of the Heroes has accomplished in killing notorious monsters and gains some good drops from them, the only question left is what the fourth one the Shield Hero is doing. Itsuki then asks "What about Naruto, have you heard anything about him?"
"I did hear that he along with Kushina and Hinata eradicated a pack of Dire Wolves that was troubling a village."
"More like Kushina did all the work." Motoyasu scoffs.
Itsuki quickly rebukes his opinion. "I find that unlikely, Dire Wolves will attack you from all direction, and no way can Kushina kill them all alone,"
Ren adds some more. "He's right, the fact they came out of the mission unscathed shows that they're probably stronger then they let on."
"There's also the fact that he's been taking quest and missions from the poor and desperate, sometimes doing it for free." Although admirable Itsuki thinks that it is a massive waste of time. Why Naruto take part in low ranking quests when he should be going for the higher ranking ones with better rewards and drops.
"If he keeps on going on lame quests with poor rewards then he'll remain behind and weak, in fact I'm always worried for the wellbeing of Hinata and Kushina because of that fact." Although tempting to tell them Motoyasu don't want them to know about the brief confrontation at the church, that Kushina became very angry with him for what he said to Naruto.
"Yeah, I agree with you on that." Itsuki said.
Ren agreed with that statement but couldn't shake the feeling that they might be wrong about Naruto, mostly because of the fact of this one buff that caught his attention, one he took note during their first day in this world: Vessel of a Tailed Beast, he just wonders what does it means and how it is able to grant the Shield Hero such incredible boost in stats. He'll just have to ask Naruto himself if he and Kushina are okay with sharing this secret.
While the three Heroes keep on talking about their travels and exploits they fail to notice a man sitting at the table near them standing up and leave, through the doors and silently going to the alleyways. He looks around his surroundings before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
The next day
The Leaf Shinobi prepares themselves for Waves, they are well rested and fed, weapons sharpened and polished, all they waiting for is for the event to happen which Naruto is the one who keeps up the time. Just yesterday more reinforcements have arrived: a team of four jonins consisting of Doto Akimichi, Genma Shiranui, Raido Namiashi, Santa Yamanaka, and Kakashi's friend Might Guy who is leading the team. This team will be the heavy hitters, striking the enemy hard and fast, Guy being the best Taijutsu Specialist in the Leaf Village and Doto is well versed with many of the Akimichi's famous jutsus, Genma and Raido are remarkably skilled shinobi who once served the Hokage Guard Platoon under Minato. Santa is probably an exception since his main specialization is Sensory and proficiency with his clan's jutsus. (2)
Another team this time from the Intelligence Division joined consisting of Anko Mitarashi who is leading the group, Muta Aburame, Iwashi Tatami, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane, their purpose for the upcoming battle is to record and study the Waves, collect specimens as well as figuring out how the Waves work, the last three would be wearing a body cam to record the whole thing. Kushina is very well aware of Anko's past relation with her former Sensei but she never brought it up out of respect.
They already come up with a plan to combat the Wave which is pretty simple, if they are teleported on a much isolated area with no civilians nearby then they'll just focus in finding and killing the Boss and wiping out any monsters from the area, but in the case that they're near a civilian populated area like a village or town then they'll split and organize into three groups.
The first group would consist of Kushina who would be the leader, Naruto, Raphtalia, Sasuke, Kiba, Yugao, Muta, Santa, Genma, Izumo and Kotetsu. Their mission is to deal monsters in and around the village or town. One of the finer details is Naruto performing more heroic actions such as saving helpless children or defeating strong monsters all in plain view.
The second group's role would be rescue and protection being led by Kurenai, as the name suggests their role is to rescue any civilian in distress and gather them in a shelter and protect them, if there's a much safer area nearby like a fort or military encampment then they'll escort the civilians to it. The shinobi assigned to this are Sakura, Hinata, Hizashi, Shino, Taji, Iwashi, Doto, and Raido.
And lastly, the third would consist of Kakashi, Guy, Anko, the two other Anbu operatives, and Jiraiya who will be the leader. They goal is to search for the Wave Boss and put it down as fast as possible and with the added option of collecting its corpse for further studies.
All in all, this make the Shield Hero's group a considerable large and formidable force. The overall commander of this group would be Jiraiya but in case he is absent which is most of the time it is shared between Kushina, Kakashi, and Kurenai.
It was a lot to take in for Raphtalia upon learning that many of these people are considerably strong; being close with Ino Sakura explained to her the specialty of the Yamanaka clan, their jutsu which enables them to transfer their conscious to another person and control them; Kiba explained the Akimichi's ability to grow to the size of buildings, giving a prime example is his friend Choji who can use the Human Bullet Tank which turns him into a ball and roll like a boulder and Partial Expansion that enlarges the fists are feet for devastating attacks. The demi human now gets to see the fastest man she heard about weeks ago, Might Guy, seeing him challenging Kakashi only for the masked man to suggest silly child games like rock-paper-scissors and hopscotch.
The newcomers react to Raphtalia is the same as the genins' curiosity and wonder, the most engaging one is Anko who had asked her plenty of questions some were simple like favorite food or color or preferred weapons, but some were too deep and hard like her family or friends, Anko respectfully didn't press further if she didn't answer some of the questions.
The reinforcements are already aware of her past predicament, the attack on Lurolona and her subsequent enslavement and abuse in the hands of a sadistic noble, in fact Anko have made it her mission to find more about this "Idol Rabier" and give him a one way ticket to a certain group in the Intelligence Division and a nice private chat with Ibiki Morino.
Right now some of the group is sparring as a warm up exercise; Raphtalia is facing off against Guy to practice more with her Taijutsu. Some of genins are sparring as well like Hinata versus Sakura, and Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba on a three-way fight.
"Alright then Raphtalia, attack me when you're ready." Guy gets into his fighting position.
Without hesitation Raphtalia charges forward with her fist raised, putting all her force into the hit, but to her surprise Guy easily catches her hand, his palm absorbing all the force.
"Impressive strength, guess Kakashi and Kushina train you very well."
Raphtalia smiles at the praise then proceeds on her offensive, delivering more punches against her opponent, but all of her attacks are easily block, her left right hook swipes to the side and her right hook diverts upward. She saw that Guy is about to punch her in the face, acting quickly she puts both her hands for a defense, and when hit connects it sending her sliding backwards.
"You alright there, didn't hit you too hard did I?"
"No, I'm fine," Raphtalia regains her composure and continues on with the spar.
"That's good, just don't overexert yourself."
For the next five minutes the two exchange blows, punches and kicks, hits and swipes, for all the demi human girl's effort she can't land a hit on the jumpsuit wearing jonin. Dodging is very natural for a high level jonin like Guy but he is very impress by the girl's determination.
The rest who are on standby are either relaxing and talking with one another or watching the spar. Anko approaches Kushina for some question regarding a certain noble.
"Mind if I ask you about Raphalia's former master?"
Kushina turns to look at her, she already know her intentions and she's happy to help her out, smiling she replies. "Sure thing, as you already know that person is Idol Rabier, he controls a territory west of the Capital, he's an ardent supporter of the Church of the Three Heroes, and there are a lot of nasty rumors about him." She looks back at Raphtalia. "Slavery of demi-humans is legal in Melromarc, but outright torturing them for fun and pleasure is not."
Anko Smiles, already that man is considered a criminal by this nation's law, and if it's true that the cult is plotting to overthrow the Queen then he's guilty of treason as well. "I see, is there anything else?"
"Jiraiya's gathering evidence against that "noble", you should talk to him if you want to know more."
Anko can already see that Kushina is aware of her intention which is to torture that bastard horribly; she smiles and gives a simple answer "With pleasure."
Another five minutes pass Jiraiya appears gathering everyone's attention. "Good news everyone, take a guess who just arrived and will be fighting with us today." He presents two women to his right which surprises everyone.
"Lady Tsunade?" Genma said.
"The Lady Tsunade?" Sakura is amaze but she did expecting that she be coming here.
Naruto rushes up to the woman and hugs her and her companion. "Aunty Tsunade, Big Sis, I'm glad you came, how was your travel?"
"And I'm glad you're safe, Naru," The woman gives Naruto a tight bear hug.
Raphtalia hears Kiba snickering and sees Sasuke's amused smile, the nickname "Naru" is more of a girls' name.
"When I heard you, Kushina, and Hinata disappeared and summoned here I just came rushing straight to the village to help." Tsunade's mood suddenly changes to a sour one. "I really want to stomp on that idiot and his daughter's head for what they've done."
"From what Mom said the whole world is laughing at them."
Kushina approaches them with a smile. "They basically stab themselves in the foot, bringing up Naruto's age and giving him a strong alibi is enough to convince every one of his innocence and making the royals look like idiots."
"With that said, you didn't try to come back to the village and let the older and experienced shinobis take his place?" The general populace's attitude towards Naruto is pretty good but the same can't be said for the Three Heroes Church, a fanatical cult that hates Naruto just for being the Shield Hero.
"We tried that," Naruto raises his arm to show them the Legendary Shield. "But the restriction on this Shield makes it impossible."
"It's true, Elder Fukasaku tried several times to Reverse Summon him to Mount Myoboku, kid's unfortunately stuck here until to Waves is over." Jiraiya explained.
"You know I still find hard to believe that something like the Church of the Three Heroes." Shizune shakes her head. "I'm surprise that you're all still here in this country."
"Staying here is actually part of the Queen's plan to topple the cult." Jiraiya went on to explain the Queen's plan to topple the church and create long lasting peace with Siltvelt, first phase is pretty easy have Naruto fulfill his role as the Legendary Hero helping every person in need and participating in the Waves. They let Tsunade in on the plan regarding the Waves, reorganizing a little to include them; Tsunade is now leading Group One and Shizune leading Group Two.
Few of the shinobi comment of her arrival.
"Ha with Tsunade here, we are invincible." Izumo commented.
"Just because the greatest healer is here doesn't mean we should become reckless." Doto said.
"Oh I'm so excited to see Lady Tsunade in action." Sakura squealing like a fan girl.
"This is going to be interesting." Sasuke smiles, he is looking forward to see not one but two of the Legendary Sannins.
"Wow, looks like everyone's is in a very good mood." Raphtalia watches the conversation and asks Guy. "I didn't know that Naruto have an aunt though."
"The reason why we're all hype up is we basically have two of the most powerful people in the Leaf Village fighting alongside us, you already know Jiraiya, and now you get to see his teammate and close friend Tsunade."
"Teammate, does that means she's as strong as Jiraiya?"
Guy chuckles and answers proudly. "Yes, you assumed correctly, in fact in raw strength alone she's greater than all of us, she can destroy entire stone walls with a single punch." Raphtalia is quite amaze as Guy continues. "Not only that but she is the greatest medical-nin in the whole country; she can heal most grievous injuries in seconds and also find cures for many potent venom and poisons."
After hearing this Raphtalia looks at the woman taking in all the information.
"As for the family ties they're actually distantly related, the Senju and the Uzumaki are close allies even before the existence of the Leaf Village, during the founding of our village a union is made, Tsunade's grandparents the First Hokage Hashirama Senju and Lady Mito Uzumaki married to strengthen the alliance even further."
After some time talking with her aunt and surrogate sister Naruto takes a look at the time on his Shield and immediately warns them. "Guys, there's only one minute left until the Waves start."
Without delay Tsunade and Shizune join as Naruto's companion, everyone else prepare themselves, ready there weapons, thinking of their respective fighting style or jutsu to use. Raphtalia grips her sword tightly as this next Wave will determine how far she goes and how strong she has become.
5
4
3
2
1
The blue sky suddenly turns red, light suddenly engulf each of the shinobi and before they know it they in a much different area on top of a hill. Sakura points up. "Look, up to the sky!" They gaze upward and sure enough the sky seems to be breaking apart.
Akamaru worriedly barks at Kiba who pets the puppy. "Don't worry, Akamaru, we can get through this."
"That's a lot of bugs." Naruto said taking note of the swarm of locust and hope the two Aburame have a very effective method to deal with them.
"This is getting interesting." Sasuke takes out a kunai knife from his weapon pouch.
"So this is the Wave of Calamity." Tsunade frowns, learning a lot about it from Hiruzen and Jiraiya.
Anko turns to her team. "Have any of you started recording? We need to film this event."
Izumo and Kotetsu snap from their stupor and activate their body cams.
"Are those the other three Heroes you're all talking about?" Shino points at the Motoyasu, Ren, Itsuki, and their respective parties.
"Pretty much" Naruto answered.
"Where do you think they're going?" Sakura asked.
"Probably the Boss, it does state that the Waves can only either killing the Boss or the timer runs out. At least that's what I know." Hinata stated.
Raphtalia points at a direction and shouts urgently. "Look over there, it's Lute Village, and those monsters are converging around it."
"She's right," Hizashi confirms with his Byakugan. "Not only that but it seems that a small force of soldiers stationed there either didn't evacuate the civilians or didn't have the time."
"Damn," Tsunade cursed. "And I thought the king had properly made plans to prevent such loss of life."
"It can't be help, does everyone remember the plan?" Kushina asked insuring that everyone knew and not forgotten what they had talked about.
"YES!" The many others shouted, all they need is for the signal to go.
"Good, disperse!" Tsunade commands, now taking her role as a leader like her grandfather.
Group One and Two made a hasty rush towards the village while Group Three tails the three Heroes.
The Village of Lute
The situation in the village is becoming dire by the second, the living dead attacking the living and the abnormally large locusts swarming the sky; the token force stationed there made up a handful of knights, dozens of adventurer, and many armed peasants and militia are doing their best to stand their ground. But it is clear they the enemy force is too great and if no help or reinforcement arrives in time then this battle will quickly turn into a massacre.
An armed villager is pointing his pitchfork at a zombie fear gripping his entire being as the dead is shambling towards him, he tries to be brave for his family behind him but could only brace for what's about to come. As the zombie brings down its sword to strike he closes his eyes to brace for impact, instead of being cut down he hears a clanging sound, opening his eyes he sees Naruto Uzumaki blocking the sword with his Legendary Shield.
"Shield Hero?" His immediately thinks of a certain woman who is always close to the boy.
On cue a few flashes of a sword occurs and the zombie fell down in pieces, revealing to be Kushina Uzumaki with her black katana out. But Naruto is not done yet; he steps forward and performs some hand signs and shouts. "Wind Style: Immense Breakthrough!" A powerful gust of wind bursts from his mouth blowing away the enemy in his immediate vicinity.
Hinata then appears along with several more, she approaches the small family and asks. "Are you all okay?"
"W-We're fine, thank you, thank you very much."
A beautiful blond haired woman addresses the group. "Alright then spread out, rescue every civilian you find and evacuate them to the nearby mines, reduce the casualties as much as possible!"
The group disperse leaving Hinata and Naruto clone to help the family. "Please come with us, we'll take you to safety." Without a word the family follows the two.
A handful of villagers armed are facing off a large horde of zombies, suddenly a man appears before them and shouts "Partial Expansion Jutsu!" his right hand have into a massive size surprising the villagers and other onlookers, Doto easily swats away the horde in front of him.
Kurenai appears and talks to them. "We are evacuating every noncombatant to a nearby mine, if you have a family go to them and take them there."
As some of the men go to look for their family they saw the Naruto, Raphtalia, and Genma facing a large group of zombies.
"You know, it is strange we're fighting zombies, things that come out from fiction." Genma commented not worried in the slightest.
"They're sure is a lot of them." Raphtalia said, she unsheathes her sword and ready herself.
"Don't worry I'll even the odds, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In just an instant, Naruto have created a small army of Clones to fight the undead. "CHARGE!"
With a war cry the Naruto Clones charge resulting in to forces colliding then engage in brutal hand-to-hand combat, it almost looks like a brawl. Raphtalia is cutting down zombies beheading or slicing them into two with ease, and every time she is about to be attacked a Clone is nearby ready to protect her with the Legendary Shield. Genma doesn't need much help; the slow movement of the dead is nothing to a speed of a shinobi, dispatching every single one that came near him using some tricks thought to him by the Fourth Hokage.
A large towering zombie comes lumbering towards the ongoing battle, the villagers raise their pitchforks and spears preparing themselves for a tough fight, but the giant zombie didn't get the chance as a woman severs its head off, landing gracefully on the ground as the monster falls down.
"The Mother of the Hero" A villager said in awe, clearly astonished that a single woman can kill a bigger powerful monster with seemingly ease. They snap from their stupor when they turn back and see the man named Doto is now a giant taking on and easily beating down another giant zombie.
On some parts of the village a mother is clinging close to her daughter as they're about to be engulf by a swarm of locus, after a few more second of nothing she looks up and saw that they being protected by a swarm of smaller insects attacking any insects or zombies that get close to the two.
The Kikaichu beetles part way to allow a boy to approach the mother and daughter extending his hand to them, Shino in his somewhat monotone voice said to them. "Come with me if you want to live."
Not far from them a small group of adventurers are backed onto a wall with zombies about to tear them apart. Out of nowhere someone yells "Fang Over Fang!" Kiba came down with his clan's signature jutsu hitting the zombies and saving the adventurers, when his jutsu finishes he turns and grabs a zombie that he missed and start beating it down.
The adventurers utter a word of thanks and went to fight some more, it is then they and the others took notice of the strange newcomers fighting alongside them.
They saw Hizashi spinning faster and faster until he creates a rotating dome that repels any attack that's about to hit him and enemies flying.
Yugao cutting every zombie and locus into two, when giant swings down its axe on her she dodges and then jumps very high with her sword pointing down, she lands on the giant's head impaling it with the blade.
Izumo spews a very sticky liquid on the ground which immobilizes the zombies in where they stand making them easy targets for Kotetsu.
Muta unleashing a swarm of beetles on the Wave monsters where the insects feast on their flesh, he then focus on getting rid of most of the hostile insect so the defenders will only have to deal with the zombies, he would catch some of the other worldly insects for future studies and experiments.
Sasuke and Naruto are at the tall wooden were the former pours a jar of oil on the wooden structure and the latter is making as much noise as possible attracting dozens of zombies to their location, and when the tower is almost covered with climbing zombies the duo jump down and land a safe distance away.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" As the name suggests Sasuke fires a massive fireball at the tower setting it alight along with the dead. But it's not complete yet.
"Wind Style: Marshland Gas!" Naruto blows a long stream of greenish air and when it hit the flaming tower it intensify the heat and as result speed up the cremation of the walking corpses. (3)
"That's how you get rid of zombies: burning them until they're nothing but ashes." Sasuke commented.
"Couldn't agree with you more," Naruto puff into a smoke revealing to be a Clone as Sasuke went to cremate some more dead.
Perhaps the noticeable one is a dozen Clones of the Shield Hero assisting and protecting everyone from the Wave monsters, using his shield and jutsus to great effect.
A bunch of adventurers and knights are facing a giant zombie, the knights are acting as a distraction while the adventurers keep firing their bows and crossbows in the hopes of taking the monster down fast. A woman walks pass them making the onlookers stop at what they're doing, walking towards the lumbering giant they shout at her.
"Wait, don't go there, it's too dangerous!"
"Are you CRAZY?"
"What do you think you're doing?"
Tsunade turns to look at them with a smile. "I think you fellows worry too much." She said then quickly side step to her right completely avoiding a massive axe, she turns back with her fist raise and punches, and the force is so great that it sends the giant flying and then crashing just outside the village. The onlookers are quite shock at what they saw as the woman turns at them again. "Well, don't just stand there keep on fighting, the enemies aren't going to wait."
Snapping from their stupor they ready themselves and began to follow her lead, now feeling more motivated and with morale rising now that this woman is now fighting alongside them. "YES MAAM!"
Outside the village leading up to the mine the noncombatants are taking shelter, the militia and armed villagers are there either guarding the entrance or helping out the injured, sick, disabled, or the elderly. Shizune, Sakura, and Taji are stationed outside assisting the refugees with Kurenai, Hinata and Iwashi bringing more.
"Lady Shizune, that's the last of the civilians."
"I'm heading back to find any villagers we missed." Kurenai disappears to return to the besieged Lute.
"Right behind you" Iwashi went to accompany her back.
"That's good," She turns to the militia with some instructions for them. "Listen you all, we need to set up a barricade to better the defenses on the entrance."
"Understood, we can use some of the things from that warehouse over there." The man said pointing to a building that is just on the side of the entrance.
"Let's not wait, let's get in there!"
The men went to warehouse and break down the doors, they carry crates and barrels, haul carts and wagons, take chairs, tables, and anything else that can be use then begin the building a barricade. Some went in the mine to grab mine carts, crates, and anything else that can be used as barrier materials. During the process of building zombies came out from the woods and began to threaten them, readying their weapons Raido suddenly appears.
"You men focus on your task, I'll deal with this." Before the villagers could respond Raido throws a kunai with an explosive tag, before they know it an explosion occurs obliterating that small group, and when the locus arrive Raido dispatch them with shurikens hitting with precision.
Sakurai is helping an injured man walk through the path and near the mine. "How's your leg?"
"It still hurts." He said looking down on his bandaged leg, he suffered a deep cut and Sakura did her best to treat him disinfecting his wound and wrapping it in bandages.
When they got to the entrance Taji and Shizune are there very busy with treating any injuries that the villagers might have. Sakura help the man lay down against the wall along with the other injured.
"Sakura, I need your help, we need to cover this man's wound fast." Shizune uses a syrette to inject morphine into the man to make him relax.
Back at the Village things are getting under control Group Two is just searching house to house checking for any survivors, Hizashi's byakugan have help greatly. Group One can now go all out but only as little with the number of civilians in the village is getting shorter and shorter. The shinobi currently working for the Intelligence Division have recorded a good amount and have captured a couple of zombies with the Binding Cloth for future studies.
Kushina blocks multiple attacks from three zombies, she shove them away and with one quick slash decapitates them, a zombie is coming from behind but Naruto blocks its attack with the Shield with Raphtalia cutting the zombie down. "How are you two holding up?"
"We're doing fine." Raphtalia answered.
Looking up to the sky Naruto says. "Is it me or the monsters coming from rift seems to never end."
"The Wave last only a certain amount of time, either that or it ends when the Boss is defeated." Kushina explained, at least that's what she knows from the reports and stories given to them by Mirellia's Shadows.
After smashing the head of a zombie Tsunade joins the conversation. "If that is the case then Jiraiya better find and kill the Boss fast." Turning to Hizashi she asks him "Are all the civilians evacuated?"
"Yes, Iwashi carries the last one to the mine; the only ones here are us and the defenders."
"That's good, now we have nothing to worry about."
"Lady Tsunade, I sense a large group coming from the north, I think this must be the Royal Knights sent to protect the village." Santa reported.
Using his dojutsu Hizashi and looking at the said direction supports the Yamanaka. "I can confirm, it seems that they're la- what the hell are they doing?" The man suddenly looking very alarmed.
"What, what did you see?" Tsunade got a bad feeling asking him.
"It's look like they're performing some kind of spell, and aiming it at us." Those who hear him went on high alert. "They just cast spell, above us!"
Looking up the defenders saw the spell materializes then turns into a massive fireball falling down on them, the non shinobi hastily find some cover or shelter hoping to avoid being burned to a crisp. Kushina quickly summons two Shadow Clones and with a few quick hand signs cast a jutsu. "Water Style: Water Barrier!" The three spews a stream of water from their mouth; water and fire collides fiercely in the air then explode into a harmless warm steam.
"Alright, who did that, didn't you know that we're wiping out monsters from this area?" The knight captain came pompously walking into the village with a several dozen knights.
"Hey, there are still people here, many of which your own people!" Naruto berated them. "How stupid are you to attack your own people."
"Oh, it's the Shield Hero and his mother." The man said completely ignoring what the Hero just said. "Didn't expect you two to be here, but where the other one is?" He is referring to Hinata.
"That attack that you knights casted could've destroyed the entire village and kill everyone, have you no shame?" Raphtalia repeat Naruto's point as she sees that the bastard knight is ignoring his fatal mistake.
"A demi human like you have no right to talk to me like that, and besides it's not like that boy is hurt, he came out of it just fine, so what's the problem?"
Raphtalia and Naruto would've said more rebuttal until Kushina holds their shoulder, they look at her then at Tsunade is who is walking towards the arrogant captain.
"Oh do you have something to sa-" It is one powerful punch on the knight captain's face breaking his nose and knocking out some of his teeth, failing hard on the ground.
"H-How dare you!" A knight comes rushing forward intending to tackle her but instead Tsunade grab hold of his neck and lifts him up. The other knights halt their advance as the woman basically has temporarily taken one of their own as hostage.
"As Raphtalia and Naruto had said, your attack nearly killed us, if you know that Naruto was here and decided to attack then it'll be considered attempted murder." Once Tsunade suggest that there is foul play the knights begin to think this deeply. "And I'm sure Queen Mirellia will be quite displeased that you harmed one of the Cardinal Heroes."
"No, you're mistaken; we simply didn't know that he's here, the Captain just assumed that there might be a large concentration of monsters in this area." The Vice Captain said.
"And yet he didn't bother to send scouts, not checking to see if there's any survivors? This is a severe case of incompetency." Tsunade drops the knight and turns to him. "What are your orders anyway?"
"Fight in the Waves, rescue any civilians, and help the Three Heroes, i-it's simple as that, My Lady."
"Well lucky for you we did most of your job, thank you for being so late, now kindly move along and go to your cherished heroes, I'm sure they'll appreciate your help." Some of the knights can tell that she's being sarcastic, as Tsunade makes her way back to her group she makes one last snarky remark. "It's no wonder Melromarc is a Matriarchy, if so many of the men here are useless." Her words really cut deeper than any sword on the pride of the Melromarc's Knights.
"You bitch!" The Knight Captain bellowed shakily standing up holding his bloody nose and busted lip. "Do you think you can get away with assaulting me? The Captain of-"
The man didn't finish as Tsunade rushes pass them, he thought he might get hit again but looking to where she goes is when she confronts a giant zombie, she caught the blade of the axe between her fingers and before they know it she punches it, she use more force behind her hit as she obliterates a good chunk of the giant, the village defenders were surprise to see her abilities and now the knights are shock to see such an impressive display of strength.
She turns to face the knights with a deathly glare that sends shiver down their spine. "Don't make me repeat myself, kindly get lost if you have nothing to do here or stay and fight if you're man enough." She turns back and walks towards the enemy.
She is then follow by Kushina, then more of the other shinobi, Naruto runs past the knights sticking his tongue out at the bastard.
"Just leave them, men, helping the Three Holy Heroes is now our top priority!" The knight captain ordered.
While some followed their leader most stay behind along with the Vice Captain to fight the monsters of the Wave, they're going to prove that woman wrong, prove to her that they're not useless and incompetent and that they're worthy of the title of a Knight. The knight captain didn't bother reprimanding them as he just want to get out of the situation quickly, and if one is to look down they would see the he wet his trousers.
With the Three Heroes
After some time the Heroes and their parties have finally found the monster they've been looking for, in a small clearing is the mythical beast called the Chimera, their statuses indeed confirms it that once they defeat it the Wave will be over. And so the three heroes charge in leaving their companions and party behind to cheer them on.
Just two minutes into fight, Motoyasu is about to use one of his moves. "Lightning Spear!"
Before he could strike someone else did as a new person shouts out "Dynamic Entry!" a man in a green jumpsuit comes zooming in kicking the beast on the side and sends it skidding a few meters away.
They are taken quite surprise as the man gets into a fighting stance, Malty began chiding him for interfering in the fight. "Hey, what are you think you're doing!"
Ren joins in though in a more respectful manner. "Whoever you are, please stay away, you might get hurt."
"You're brave to go in without weapons, but you're getting in our way." Itsuki is looking at the man as if he is a fool; the Bow Hero tends to look down on fighters who don't have weapons believing that they're in a massive disadvantage, although this is true for the most part he's wrong about this man just this instance for he know nothing about Might Guy.
But the man ignores them as he is focusing on the beast in front of him were it let out a might roar then charges at him, he responds closing the distance in a second and gives it an uppercut on the lion head making it stagger back, he press on with the attack, he appears on the left kicking at the leg to break it, when the beast turns to attack Guy is now on its right punching its ribs two times then hits the goat head, and when the snake part attempts to bite him he merely grabs the head and give one big pull, the next thing the beast know it is being thrown into the air.
"Kakashi, NOW!" This is the first time they hear him speak or rather shout out, but upon realizing that he's not alone look up to the beast and saw a man with a hand engulfed in electricity.
"Lightning Blade!" Kakashi impales the Chimera striking its heart, landing to the ground with a crash he pulls out his arm and stop atop of it in a triumph.
Sure enough a notification pops up on the Heroes status magic, looking up they saw the cracks quickly mends until the sky is now clear and blue. Now they should be celebrating like most of their companions but instead their annoyed and furious, these two men just barged in and steal their kill and feeling jealous that they managed to finish off the boss in under a minute.
The Heroes and their party went closer to the two men and the boss, although they quickly got over it as long as they got the loot from the corpse and get some unlocks, unfortunately someone foil that too, three more people suddenly appear, a woman and two masked men.
"Good work, boys, glad that didn't take long."
Guy shows a big smile. "I believe that last under a minute, didn't it?"
"Pretty much, a total fifty seven seconds, by the way, the Chimera is all yours, Anko." Kakashi said as he and Guy step back from the Chimera as the Special Jonin do her work.
Motoyasu is quick to ask some questions. "Hey, who are you guys and what are you doing?" Upon seeing Anko's face is where he is immediately smitten especially after seeing that she's wearing odd clothing that reveals her shapely body from under her overcoat.
"Stop talking, I'm working here." Anko replied as she unravel a scroll on the ground, the next thing that happen surprise the non shinobis the corpse of the Chimera dematerialize and is absorb into the scroll. "-And done."
"What did you do to it?" Ren asked incredulously.
"I just basically store the corpse into this scroll, simple as that." Anko answered as the matter in fact.
Malty then approaches the woman with an annoyed look. "If that's so then you should put the Chimera out, Sir Motoyasu and the other two Heroes haven't got any unlock from it yet."
"Too bad, it's already in the scroll, but don't worry you'll get a piece after we study it." Anko waves the scroll then puts it in her pocket.
At this point Malty is getting a bit too confrontational. "That's not request that's an order!"
"Can't do that, little lady, I already have orders of my own." Anko looks rather amuse than annoyed by the princess's attitude.
"Do you have any idea who you're talking too?" Malty is looking like she's about to explode and is ready to have this insolent woman arrested.
"Yes, we do," Out of nowhere a new face emerges, standing between Kakashi and Anko. "In fact we know you very well, Princess Malty S Melromarc, First Daughter of the Queen and King, the Disgraced Princess after so many mischiefs which resulted in losing the title as Crowned Princess. I'm a little surprised that Queen Mirellia hasn't disowned you yet for such a disappointing child."
"I am the rightful Heir to the Throne!" Malty refused to accept that her little brat of a sister will be the next Queen instead of her.
"Sure you are do you also plan to accuse your little sister of assaulting you, or you have something much worse in mind?" Kakashi didn't like this young woman one bit since she false accused Naruto of a crime he didn't do.
"I wouldn't be surprise," Anko added. "What's next, selling innocent people to slavery?"
"It is such a severe misuse of your youth, young lady." Guy is shaking his head in disapproval. "If only you were properly disciplined as a child you wouldn't grow into a rotten person."
Motoyasu steps in to defend her honor. "Myne is good person; all the bad things about her are either a bunch of lies or a misunderstanding."
"Whatever you say," Jiraiya said sarcastically which the Blond Spear Hero didn't catch on but the rest notice. Turning to his fellow shinobi he orders. "We completed our mission and got what we wanted, let's move out." As they make their way to the forest someone calls out to them
"Hold on a second, I need to ask you something." The group of shinobi look back and see that it is the Bow Hero Itsuki Kawasumi who stop them. "Are you affiliated with the Shield Hero Naruto Uzumaki? You have the same symbol as him." He points to the symbol on the headband worn by Kakashi and Anko and the belt worn by Guy, the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Leaf.
"You have a good eye and some observation skill, and yes we know Naruto, Kushina, and Hinata; they are our comrades after all." Jiraiya didn't tell them too much, such as him and Kakashi being Naruto's godfather and teacher respectively, or the fact that there are more of them though that will come out soon enough.
When the two Heroes and the natives of Melromarc hear this they're quite surprise as they are sure that it's going to be just the three of them, Malty kept her mouth shut as she's planning to come back to the castle quickly and tell her father about this important information.
"How did you come here? If I remember correctly we can't go back to our own home world unless we defeat all the Waves." Ren asked.
"All of your questions will be answered at another time, so for now enjoy the party."
Before another word is said the shinobi disappear from sight, leaving just the Three Heroes and their parties on an empty field. Just a moment later the Knight Captain arrives with a handful of knights behind, seeing them unharmed and with the sky is clear he assumes they just finish off the boss monster. "Oh great Heroes, I see that you won the day a battle well fought, a job well done indeed!"
The Heroes felt like they didn't win anything, when they glance at the knight captain Ren would've say that they're late but immediately spot something about the man. "Did you just wet yourself?"
Chapter End
AN: I finally write this, I was feeling a little lazy lately but I'm happy that I finish the chapter
(1). Okay, to clarify here's the mini boss that they defeated
Motoyasu – Giant Scorpion Brood Mother
Ren – Great Mountain Lion
Itsuki – Marshland Death Worm
I need a little help in coming up with what kind of special attack they gained from these monsters, for Motoyasu I am thinking of Scorpion Stinger Spear from the "Sword Hero Who Dances in the Shadows" by Lyall the Werewolf, though think of something else
(2). Genma, Raido, and Doto knew Minato, the latter two were part of the Hokage Guard Platoon and was taught by Minato to use the Flying Thunder Formation Technique, while Doto fought alongside Minato during the war between the Konoha and Kumo it never explained more beyond that
(3). I come up with this fanmade jutsu: Wind Style: Marshland Gas, the user spews highly flammable gas at the target, primarily used by Wind affinity shinobi to support Fire affinity ones to make the fire attacks more bigger and powerful
Omake
Motoyasu tries to flirt with: Anko Mitarashi
Anko is trying out some of the local food in Castle Town, although unlikely she is hoping that she can find a dango shop, she have no luck so she settles at a bakery that serves pastries, she is eating a croustade until the Spear Hero Motoyasu came to her with a flirty smile. "Hello there, I was wanting to talk to you more after the Wave but you seems to be in a hurry, but judging that you are relaxing here that means you have a free time."
Anko looks at him uninterested but would like to mess with him. "Oh, it's you, how can I help you?"
"Well I was hoping we could go in a little stroll, a date maybe."
"A date, weren't you and that bratty princes a couple?"
"Why yes, but that doesn-"
"Oh I get it, you two are sex friends. Is that why you're trying to have a date with me?"
Motoyasu seems really offended when she said that. "S-Sex f-friends, no, that really offensive to say such a thing to a Princess, you must come with me go to her and apologize to her."
She gave him a pleading seductive eyes. "If I give you a kiss will you leave and forget about this? I didn't mean to offend you."
He was quite surprise by this proposal but he can't say no to such a beautiful young woman. "U-Uh, sure, we can do that, and I'll forget what you said about Myne."
Anko is inwardly laughing. "Good, now please close your eyes."
Motoyasu closes his eyes and readies for a kiss, he suddenly felt something slithering around him but ignore it, and he felt her lips, though he took note that it's cold and kind of leathery, he quickly open his eyes and to his horror a snake is just a few inches from his face, he kissed a snake, and looking down is that he saw snakes slithering all over him. He began to scream and roll around getting the snakes off from him
Anko is just standing there pointing and laughing at him. "Oh man, you're so gullible, do you think I give a crap about what that bratty princess think, say, or feel?" Motoyasu hears her but keeps on screaming. "Welp, off I go, bu-bye." The woman is gone in a puff of smoke.
Omake ends