Okay, amigos, I'm on a score now. Hopefully I'll be able to write more now that I got the time. And I'm glad to say that at least my MHA fic has gone with great success.
And for that, I am also giving an announcement about another project coming out. Well, not a new project, but rather a reboot of a story I deleted a few years ago.
Yes, that one story that had a good following, but got rather crappy. Forgive for me deleting that, because I was both embarrassed by it, and got hate mail for it.
Yes, it is a reboot of my Naruto - GATE fic, but this time it will be a Naruto - Anime X-overs. Mainly because other animes will be included.
It will take time, but I'm working on it.
Anyway, lets start with the chapter, shall we? Hope you all like it, leave a review and follow it.
Enjoy!
A month later
Konoha- Land of Fire
Hokage building
In the Hokage building, right in his office sat Hiruzen Sarutobi , the Third and current Hokage who was busy with the current crisis he has been given:
Orochimaru - his former student, member of the Three Legendary Sannin and one of the Leaf's most dangerous rogue ninja. Plus, currently the leader of the Hidden Sound Village, or also known as Otogakure. A very new village that was bordered up to the northwest of the Land of Fire.
He now was looking at maps of troop movement, intel gathering and battle loses. With it being only a mere month ever since the war begun. The numbers of fallen Shinobi of his were still low, but he expected them to rise in the future if this would drag on.
"After all these years of trying to keep the peace - I am facing another war."
Leaning back into his chair, Sarutobi sighs at the stressful situation that was already taking a toll on his health. As he failed to deal with the former student over a decade ago, it now was unraveling into a continuing, escalating conflict.
And that all took a dive, three years ago. When he returned from Suna, and was immediately told about Mizuki's betrayal, stealing of the Forbidden Scroll, and the disappearance of the Nine-Tailed Jinchuuriki, Naruto Uzumaki.
He was supposed to be on a diplomatic mission to renew ties with the Hidden Sand village or better known as Suna, to make sure the villages' their ties would be stable enough for the future. And just when he was ready to reach the border, it was then when an emergency messenger hawk was delivered to him to immediately return to the Hidden Leaf.
And the news was absolutely catastrophic. Both politically and personally: for one, that the Leaf's most valuable items were now in the hands of a rogue Shinobi, who would in doubt use it against them.
And secondly, with Naruto's disappearance from the Leaf village, the Fourth Hokage's Legacy' current status was now uncertain, and the Third Hokage mentally prepared himself for the worst, and could only blame himself.
"Minato... Kushina, I am deeply ashamed of my actions. I should've taken care better of young Naruto, and for that I will have to take this shame to the grave in failing that promise."
But he did promise the following: Justice, Mizuki was to be brought back to the Hidden Leaf and pay for the unforgivable act of betrayal he had committed. And for that, there was no shortage of volunteers. Normally, this would be a job for the ANBU Black Ops, but because this wasn't just any situation of a random traitor Chunin, this would be handled differently.
One of those volunteers, was Kakashi Hatake and surprisingly, the former academy teacher, Iruka Umino. Who perhaps was more invested into this mission of capturing this traitor than anyone else.
For Iruka, he was beginning to have a steady brotherly relation with the boy who was also an orphan, but also was befriended for the longest time with Mizuki.
When it was told to him that when he was having a free day off, and Mizuki tricked him into getting the detention class, only for him to do the mentioned acts. He felt perhaps more betrayal and guilt than anyone else. As he was responsible for Naruto, he was trying to look after him, bond with him slowly.
And it was the main drive for the Umino young man, for the following three years, to infiltrate the Sound Country, gather intel and work besides the others into doing some of the harshest things against the Sound-Nin they encountered.
And after three years of a conflict in the shadows, intelligence gathering, and targeting, it broke out into a full-out war. With the backing of the Fire Daimyo, who was an easily swayed person, but his advisers were way more willing to the Leaf's intentions on finally taking out Orochimaru, who they saw as a threat who had to be dealt with, a long time ago.
With the war having broken out over a month ago, the first results were in. The strongest forces of Konoha having taken in multiple border checkpoints, and occupied multiple towns, and having taken out over a hundred Oto Nin, with only a minimal amount of casualties on the Leaf's side and the attack on the Hidden Sound village being led by another student of his who recently returned.
Jiraiya, his other student who was out travelling the world, got back after hearing Minato and Kushina's child got kidnapped and taken by the traitor, first berated the Third Hokage's for his failure to protect the child before taking his own part of responsibility and deciding to take part of the operation.
So the Toad Sage was to be the leader of the Leaf force that would attack the Hidden Sound, with a handful of Konoha's best Shinobi, and a squadron of ANBU Black Ops, that included a former student of Kushina too.
Now - it was three days ago the initial strike against the Sound village had started, with little to no information passed on for the following days. Which for the Third Hokage was troubling for two main reasons.
One; the neighboring Shinobi villages were extremely uneasy with Konoha's offensive against the smaller Sound Country, and the fairly new Hidden Sound village. It caused the Hidden Leaf to watch over its other land borders again.
Mainly Iwagakure, or better known as the Hidden Stone Village, with Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, being the first to bang his hand on the table, and demanded for Konoha to remove its Shinobi away from the land.
It wouldn't be long after Ōnoki's cries for withdrawal were going to be,seconded by A, the Fourth Raikage, who unlike the old man, had a very understandable reason to the demand of Konoha's withdrawal, as the large scale of Leaf Shinobi were way to closer to Kumo's borders and it was causing a more vibrant tension to brew up.
Right now, this war needed to have a fast victory, by either capturing Mizuki, or retrieving the Forbidden Scroll, or hopefully neutralizing Orochimaru, but only the first two options were realistically possible.
He just needed to wait for Jiraiya's next message of confirmation of a mission success.
"Lord Hokage. Mr. Mitokado and are here for you."
"Homura and Koharu." Sarutobi muttered, his two old comrades, he talked through the intercom and told his secretary.
"Let them in."
In a moment, two elderly people walked through the door they opened, it were Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. Both were comrades of Hiruzen, veterans of the First Shinobi World War, having even fought alongside the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
"Hiruzen."
"Koharu, Homura." Sarutobi addressed them by their first name. "What do I owe your presence for? The next council meeting is still a few days away."
"You know best well the reason why we've come here, Hiruzen." Koharu commented while sitting down first and speaking to her old comrade in a harsh tone that the Sarutobi grew accustomed to. "We're here to talk about the war situation."
"You know it has only been a month since it has started." Sarutobi answered.
"And it has been going on for way too long." Homura strongly said. "Believe me, I'm no pacifist, but the current situation with no link to Jiraiya, and our best forces now being in the Land of Sound, it's making the situation with our neighbors troubling."
"Are you referring to Kumo and Iwa?" Sarutobi asked. "Or with our new neighbors to the East?"
The 'Neighbors of the East' was Sarutobi referring to the World Government, and its Marine forces that were building up several marine bases in the eastern sea, with one big military base being build in the Haran Bay. That laid between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Hotsprings.
The only reason for that was because the Daimyos of both countries allowed it to happen, after negotiations had quickly ended, without the consolidations of both their Shinobi Villages. With the Daimyos having been convinced in both their minds, and pockets, that this was a good decision for the future.
"Yes, it's about them, Hiruzen." Koharu stated sternly. "Word is that they're about to send a condemnation to us, and demand we stop all our military activities now."
Sarutobi wasn't much surprised by this, as he's been called to calm before. "I have yet to understand why it is such a warning issue to be discussed. The Fire Daimyo has given us his full backing on handling this situation. Also, we've stated clearly what our intentions are."
"Those World Government thinks very differently about that, I'm afraid."
The fourth voice to have entered the room, came from the opened door entrance, where another veteran and old comrade stood. Only this one was in a different footing with the Hokage on both his friendship, and his handling as the leader of the Leaf. This was Danzō Shimura.
"Hiruzen…"
"Danzō…" Sarutobi said the bandaged-covered war hawk's name he addressed him by. "You came here unannounced, so I feel like you've got something to say."
"That I have indeed." Danzō replies, he pulls out a scroll from under his sleeve and hands it over to the Hokage. "This is information I have obtained from the Fire Daimyo's court."
"The Fire Daimyo's court?" Koharu asked the war hawk. "How do you get access there?"
"A envoy who's a former member of mine Foundation works there. Send me this information just this morning." Danzō answered. Telling not much further.
For Sarutobi, it smelled fishy on the man's explanation, as he had long suspected and knowledge that Danzō's Foundation, or better yet known as, ROOT, was still active.
ROOT was an subdivision of Leaf Shinobi, that created by Danzō. Almost like an different branch of the ANBU Black Ops, but fiercely loyal to Shimura, and his different strained ideology of warfare, an ideology that often, if not always, hit against the Hokage's ways of working.
They'd do assassinations, infiltrations, manipulations and even acts of warmongering, all that could not be legally linked to the war hawk. Yet only was finally under Sarutobi's orders, to be disbanded after Danzō spearheading the tragedy.
Yey, all this time, for good reasons the Third Hokage knew they've just gone underground, and been active for the following years.
"Please read the scroll, Hiruzen." Danzō said to him, calmly. "It contains important information."
The two stared at each other for the good one minute, with both having a delicate relationship over the last few years, especially after the lose of the Jinchuuriki, to which Danzō really began making his moves…
He still wanted that Hokage seat.
Opening up the scroll, Sarutobi began reading it thoroughly. Whatever this scroll contained, it brought a frown and both a dissatisfied sigh from the old man's mouth.
"It appears to be that the Daimyo is expecting a special visit from a representative of the World Government." Sarutobi told as he added. "And the Daimyo is expecting him at the palace tonight."
"Tonight, you say?" Koharu narrowed her eyes while listening. "Who is this representative? If I may ask."
Danzō was the one who was to answer. "A king from a far away country, he's been most eager to visit and establish relations between the World Government and the Elemental Continent." He then turned back to the Hokage. "We're running out of time, with the influence these World Government people have, we'll need to react quickly."
As much as he'd like to disagree, Sarutobi knew that the war hawk had a point. With the Daimyo meeting with the World Government, that was stretching its influence around the region strongly and swiftly, with its vast resources and legitimate backing of a strong Marine force that's been making a presence in the eastern seas.
"Whatever the outcome will be, we cannot allow Konoha to be isolated." Koharu spoke, "So we need to send the Daimyo something about the intervention. Right now."
"I agree. We cannot allow our influence to the Daimyo to be distorted." Danzō suggested. "I suggest we send a message to Jiraiya, telling him about the current situation."
"You all know, that the political ramifications matter absolutely none to Jiraiya at this point." Lord Third replied to them. "Especially now that he's trying to track down the traitor who-"
"-You allowed getting close and kidnap the Nine-Tailed Jinchuuriki right under our noses." Danzō abruptly interrupted, adding. "If you just allowed the boy to be trained from a very early age, we wouldn't have this problem to begin with."
"And being turned into a weapon?" Sarutobi worded, glaring right back at his old comrade for his obvious grievances that the two had over certain issues. "We've been over this, I will not spend another moment on this topic."
"Yet, it is thanks to your decision-making, that our village has lost an important tool in its military strength." Danzō stated, with his view of the Jinchuuriki being only a military object in its defense of the Village, it was not a view that was secluded to him.
"What are you trying to insinuate, Danzō?"
"I'm only stating the factual truth here." The bandaged man said with a returning small eye glare, going further. "With the times changing, you, as the leader of the Leaf village, have been making mistakes ever since you were re-instated as Hokage."
The tension between the two could be felt in the room, like a cold winter breeze or a summer heatwave, it was impossible to escape from it. As Homura and Koharu knew, the two were having a very professional, but personally strained relationship.
Both were willing to put the safety of their village as a top priority, their patriotism was unquestioned, but it were the tactics that both morally did not compromise to one another.
POOF!
All that tension then tuned down by the appearance of the puff of smoke, with it coming out, a green toad with white hair that gave away he was an elder, wearing a small version of brown coat, it was one of Jiraiya's most trusted summoning of the Toads.
"Master Fukasaku?"
"Lord Third, I'm bringing you a message of Jiraiya-boy." Fukasaku said, the unsettling gaze he gave was taken notice as he told them. "The Hidden Sound Village, it doesn't exist."
The news came as a bit of an astonishment to the Konoha elders, who were having their own questions, but instead listened first to what the elder Toad said.
"What do you mean, the Hidden Sound doesn't exist?" Sarutobi asked, slightly taken back by the news, he now wanted to know more. "What happened there?"
"We've discovered there is no such thing as a Sound Village, it's all a ruse, what they found is a network of laboratories, hideouts and bases within and outside the borders of the country."
The information came as both a bombshell, and also not much of a surprise to elders.
"In other words, he turned an entire country into his own laboratory," Hiruzen summarized to the Toad elder. "am I right?"
Fukasaku nodded in response. "Unfortunately, yes."
The Hokage sighs in frustration with this news, and took a moment to digest the fact of what one of his student's had done to a neighboring country. "Do you have anything else to tell me?"
"Once we entered there, it all was abandoned. As if they were tipped off." Fukasaku added. "They only came across a few guards, but not any significant number of troops, which only seems to clarify something to Jiraiya-boy about something."
A suspicion that long was present within the council and Intelligence community for a very long time. Ever since the Mizuki incident, that they figured out that the lone rogue didn't do this by his own, must've had help.
"We've got a spy in our midst…" Homura guessed and pretty much hit the nail in the coffin. "The question is, who?"
"That, I might be able to answer on Jiraiya-boy's behalf. Found a name that might clear up things." The toad elder brought up. "Kabuto Yakushi, does that name say anything to you? Because he appears to be a genin in your village, but in reality is a spy for Orochimaru, has been linked to even giving Mizuki the intel about the location of the Forbidden Scroll, and had given escort to him with his own team, consisting of two others; Yoroi Akadō and Misumi Tsurugi."
"All three are Leaf Shinobi." Homura commented. "All are Genin, I've heard about this team. Failed the Chunin Exams multiple times."
"Looks like they've been keeping a low profile, I see." Koharu added. "Nevertheless, we seem to have three spies for Orochimaru instead of just one."
For Danzō, he was being awfully quiet. With his suspicions becoming fruition, he decided not comment on this, as Sarutobi needed confirmation.
"Lord Fukasaku, are you certain about this information?"
The toad responded. "It's Jiraiya's intel, he checked it." Frowning even as he adds. "He got it from a very reliable source. You can take my word for it."
And knowing the toad elder's word, and Jiraiya's' infamous intelligence gathering, brought much needed confirmation to the Third Hokage who went along with this information and called out.
"That's settled. We got three suspects to round up now." Sarutobi said with a serious frown upon realizing he had to act hard on this treachery. "I want to know the exact locations of these three genin, and them to be apprehended to Ibiki Morino."
"Immediately?"
"Yes, now that the Hidden Sound is taken out for the moment, the news will spread soon, that's why It's for the best to arrest them now before they make a run for it." Sarutobi gave his reason and repeated himself.
"What are you proposing now, Lord Hokage?"
"We can now send a message to the Daimyo now. Telling him we're pulling our forces back. So he doesn't need to worry about being pressured anymore." He spoke as he told them the following. "Homura, Koharu, I entrust you to prepare the warrants for the three, inform the ANBU Black Ops."
The two councillors nodded to their leader's command and were the first to leave the room, leaving Danzō alone with his old rival.
"What shall I do? Hiruzen…"
"I want you to go and send a message to the Daimyo, explain to him what we've been told, and that the troops will now pull back."
"Yet you trust me with this task?" Danzō questioned. "Sending a hawk to the Fire Daimyo?"
"For now, I have to." Sarutobi replied. "But you also know, that link of yours is less then a former member of your organization."
They both knew that trust wasn't much of a thing they both shared, but they did both acknowledge the security of the village was a priority.
Nothing else was as Danzō left the room, with the sound of his walking stick, tapping each step he made, before closing the door behind him.
TCHK!
Igniting his pipe, Sarutobi had finally taken the time to grab for it and blow out a puff of smoke. Turning back to the toad elder, who he now was left alone with.
"Lord Fukasaku, I believe-"
"There's one other thing for me to tell you, Lord Hokage." Fukasaku spoke up. "My apologies for interrupting, but it is important."
"None taken, but tell me." Sarutobi continued. "I suspected your presence was going to mean something more important was found, or else Jiraiya would've sent one of your other toads instead."
"Exactly, the reason why I bring you this news here is not because of the military success Jiraiya-Boy has made. It's of something else." Fukasaku narrowed his eyes in seriousness.
"Then what is it?"
"It's because of what he has found." Fukasaku started. "Something that is supposed to be impossible and yet has been succeeded."
Sarutobi raised his eyebrow with the pipe in his mouth. "What is it then that's supposed to be impossible?"
"The full completion of the Reincarnation jutsu."
….
TIK!
The pipe dropped on top of the desk, felling out off the Hokage's mouth, the sheer shock about the sentence he'd just hear, made his world stop for a moment.
And then the first words came, not from his mouth, but across his mind.
'He's done it. He actually crossed the line of life and death. Shame on you, Orochimaru, for crossing that line...and shame on me, for not ending your life when I had the chance…'
Fukasaku wasn't finished, as he said the following.
With the Third Hokage hearing more of the details of the discoveries that were made in the Hidden Sound, the veteran of the First Shinobi World War, and leader of the following two wars. He'd be the first of those within the village to hear the shocking and appalling truth of what Orochimaru had done.
The Third Hokage lumped back into his chair, and digested the news, unable to respond correctly, he only could say the following.
"Naruto, I'm sorry."
Meanwhile
"ACHOO!"
That was the sound of Naruto sneezing, whipping his nose clean after doing that.
"Jeez, kid. Anyone told you that you sneeze unnecessary loud?" One of the crewman told him while cleaning his sword. "You're not catching a cold, are you?"
"No, of course not. I don't get sick." Naruto spoke back, bit of a frown before wondering. "Not that I remember, really."
"Maybe someone's talking about you." Kaneshiro suggested, carrying around some wooden planks for repairs. "Ever thought about that?"
Naruto shook his head. "I don't think so, besides." Naruto threw his hands up. "Who would talk about me?"
"Maybe somebody in that old village of yours?" Hatchan suggested. "Or maybe that girl Robin, thought about that?"
A tint of shade covered Naruto's cheeks. "S-Shut up."
"He's blushing."
"I'm not!"
"Yes you are!" Everyone on deck said, with all shitting grins on their faces before sharing a laugh about their human crewmate's his encounter and first kiss, something Hachi had been talking about with the crew - Much to Naruto's disapproval.
"Knock it off!" Naruto shouted at them, as they continued to laugh. "It was just one kiss!"
"It begins with one kiss, kid.-"
"Then it will be another"
"And before you know it-"
"You'll be married!"
"NO!" Naruto freaked out, "I don't want to get married yet!"
The laughter continued on, as they all were just teasing their little human comrade, treating him like a little brother, with the progress of some of the crew even talking to him on friendly terms.
"Naruto!"
The laughter stopped and everyone turned right around to the deck, and saw Tiger, who was addressing him.
"Y-Yes, captain?"
Tiger crossed his arms, it was that time of the day again.
"Training."
"Up, kid!"
Without a shirt, Naruto was seen doing push-ups, with on the boy's back, some weights to add to the pressure. Some crates of ammunition that were a bit heavy for the young human boy, but he himself wasn't new to this.
"Ugh!" Naruto pushed himself back up, with only a minimal amount of sweat on his forehead, as he was slowly building up his muscle and his strength.
"That's 100 push-ups, kid." Tiger said, "You still got 400 more to do, so go on!"
"Yes sir!" Naruto shouted as he continued on. Part of his training, what many looking in from the outside would call 'cruel and unusual', Naruto was not given any easy start, not like he asked for it.
For the past month, he woke up early, and do some morning exercises after he finished breakfast and his daily tasks. The exercises consisted of weight lifting, squats, dips, situps and other parts of his morning physical work out.
His day mostly consisted of him being busy on his body and mind, whenever there were calm days or when they would come across enemy ships, Naruto's training regime did not stop for anything.
The rest of his regime, still, contained Naruto's daily education off everything a boy his age normally would need. Like algebra, math, writing and spelling, he also continued learning about other essential things like how to work with repair tools, cooking, navigating and most importantly; reading.
Reading, is what became one of Naruto's main things he would do during the day, often on his breaks, and with no forcing, as he was beginning to take a liking to it.
But his main course of the day consisted of training; and that was from the spectrum of doing squats and push-ups, to even hours of long swimming and other parts of his brutal training regime.
...
BANG!
After the physical training, Naruto was also to be given another important lesson they told him he would have to take.
Firearms, he was going to be taught how to work with them, not only how to shoot them, but also how to dismantle, repair, re-assemble and take care of them.
But now, he was doing target practice, with the Colt 45 revolver he held in his hands, having been trying to hit the dummy puppet that was in front of him, with minimal success.
Having missed again, this was Naruto's sixth shot. Having used every bullet in his chamber and having wasted it all in total!
"Damn!" Naruto cursed to his own failure.
Arlong would've been laughing at this if he wasn't taking a nap back in his cabin, but everyone else was just watching on the deck as Naruto's practicing, that was a letdown to what they saw him do when he used the rifle against that Marine sniper.
"Damn it!"
"Calm down, kid. It's not a disaster." Macro said, standing next to Naruto, as he was being his instructor for his training. Mainly because he was the best shooter of the Sun Pirates, and that it was his revolver Naruto was using.
He walked over to the dummy and checked for it, seeing two of the bullets had grazed the dummy, but hadn't hit the red target on the chest or head.
"You might've not hit the targets, but you did hit it multiple times. Which is an improvement."
"But I've wasted like eighteen bullets already." Naruto complained, looking down in shame, and felt stupid. "How come now I'm bad at shooting when I did better last time?" Being obviously vague, Naruto exactly meant on what happened at the last encounter with the marines.
"That was because you were under a lot of pressure."
Naruto turned his head around, seeing it was Jimbei who was saying that to him.
"You were in a situation that forced you to act fast, even when you had minimal to no experience of handling any type of weapon." Jimbei explicated to the young human cabin boy. "I'd hate to break it to you in such a manner, but perhaps you were lucky that day you weren't shot, that-"
"I could've been killed." Naruto finished that sentence. "Right?"
Jimbei nodded his head, not sugarcoating the fact that could've happened that day. Seeing, the boy wasn't by any way horrified by that thought of him killing and witnessing a man dying like that. What normally would traumatize a child of his age.
But Tiger was right, the boy was already growing up faster than needed, and it was kind of sad to see that.
"Alright, kid. Reload the chamber, just like how I thought you." Macro told Naruto, handing him over a handful of bullets. "Remember what I thought you-"
Naruto began opening up the chamber and allowed the empty shell to fall out, letting it drop to the floor, and then he began putting each new bullet in, one by one, before closing it again.
"Good work, you're getting the hand of it."
"Like you said, practice does wonders." Naruto replied, pulling the hammer back with his fingers, before he focused his aim again at the practice dummy.
….
….
….
BANG!
The first bullet finally managed to hit the dummy, causing the feathers that were stuffed inside the dummy to explode everywhere and fly into the air.
"Good, kid, very good." Macro said, while clapping his hands, congratulated him. "You see, you're stepping up your game, practice helps."
"Finally," Naruto said, pulling the hammer again. "Now-"
"Up ahead!" Hachi said yelling from the crow's nest, warning everybody. "There's a pirate ship!"
This made everyone turn their heads up and see where Hachi was pointing at before turning towards that direction, and seeing indeed a ship on the horizon.
The ship was coming right for them, and it got the crew excited for a fight they were yearning for.
"Looks like a big one."
"I'm guessing they want to take us on to prove themselves."
"We're really racking on the enemies." One other Sun pirate said standing right behind Jimbei and Naruto, who was still holding onto the revolver.
The large blue Fishman turned to his human crewmate. "Are the cannons ready?"
"Huh?" Naruto turned towards Jimbei. "They're cleaned, why?"
The second-in-command nodded and brought up the suggestion. "I say we sink their ship. Best to make an example of them. Go down below deck and prepare the cannons."
"Right!" Naruto nodded and ran towards the entrance towards the deck below, making Jimbei look at the others and giving them a frowned expression, to which they were confused by until he said the following.
"What are you standing here for?" He ordered. "Go help the kid! He can't do it all alone, move!"
The others quickly followed suit as they began running for their positions while Jimbei gave more orders.
"Prepare for boarding them! Once our cannons neutralized their ship, we will enter the ship and take out the remaining forces!" Jimbei ordered around the plan. "So get moving, people!"
From the sidelines observing, Tiger watched as his crew was preparing for their next upcoming battle, with everyone coming up and ready to fight another day.
Months later
Weeks has gone by as the Sun Pirates have been engaged in combat on a daily basis, with gaining victory after victory. Growing in both strength and notoriety, with every action they were taking, the more attention was given to this group.
This of course came with a risk, but to others it came as a reward.
The fact that a ship full with Fishmen, was on a crusade of rescuing escaped slaves, fighting and sinking ships of the Navy, and destroying any pirate ship on their path, brought enough infamy to the Sun Pirates that soon the whole world would know about their actions.
While all the Sun Pirates brought the fullest of themselves into every fight they came across, the attention was especially focused on two of its most recognizable members. Which were to Fisher 'Adventure' Tiger and Jimbei 'Knight of the Sea'
With their actions, it even caused them to gain fame from Fishman Island, where word got out that Tiger and his crew were being hailed as heroes, while their queen was trying her best to gather signatures for her cause to connect the human world with her people.
And that news was being discussed by the people on deck.
"Zehahaha!" Arlong laughed while hearing the latest news. "Queen Otohime is still trying to gather signatures for her futile goal? Pathetic!"
They all were sitting on deck, with Jimbei observing Naruto being busy with the handwritten exam that Tiger had prepared, while doing it in front of the others. With the whale shark Fishman being slightly irritated.
"Can you tone it down a bit? I'm trying to tutor the kid." Jimbei asked. "He's got an exam to focus on, and he's almost done."
"Hey, don't blame me, brother." Arlong responded. "Why do an exam anyway? Like if the kid will get a diploma."
"It's called educating him for the future." Jimbei responded while facing back Naruto. "I'm making sure he's smart enough for the future. Maybe even smarter than you."
"Hey!" Hachi was seen running up towards the others on deck while holding two pieces of paper. "The government put on a bounty on both Boss Tai and Jimbei!"
"Seriously?" Arlong asked as Hachi showed the bounty posters. With Naruto read them out to the rest of the crew.
"Fisher Tiger: 230 000 000 Beli" The blonde then turned to the other. "Jimbei: 76 000 000 Beli"
"Wow, congratulations, Jimbei, with your first bounty!" One of the crew members cheered. "If you go on like this, yours might get to the same level with brother Tai!"
"Enough, let's turn back to focus." Jimbei said, turning back to Naruto. "Go on and finish your exam, kid."
"Alright." Naruto groaned as he wrote some final parts before dropping his pencil. "Done!"
"Already?" Jimbei questioned before picking up the sheet and examining the test.
"Hmmm…"
Hachi wondered about Naruto's test. "And? Did he pass?"
Lowering the sheet down, Jimbei turned his gaze towards the Uzumaki boy after reading all the answers.
"Well, kid, congratulations, you passed my handwritten test." Jimbei told the human boy. "It isn't the best, but you certainly have improved. If you would've taken a real exam tomorrow, I doubt Arlong would've done any better."
"What the hell!" Arlong shouted. The group turned to laughter at this, with Naruto unable to contain it, he joined into the joy and began laughing also.
A child's laughter was always helpful.
3 Years later
1512
Grand Line
Three years, that's how long the journey the Sun Pirates' their voyage has been going on, and many things had changed over the years sailing the seas.
Walking out of his cabin, was Fisher Tiger himself, being one of the first of the crew, to wake up early in the morning, the captain looked at his surroundings and saw the surrounding ocean itself was calm and very silent like it was usually in the early mornings.
And looking up, he saw the seagulls, flying around the ship in circles, making noises as they were the first indicators of the day starting to begin. With the rest of the crew still asleep, the only other person not in his bunk bed was on top of the crow's nest on watch duty.
And the captain knew just who it was, and decided to go check on him.
Crow's Nest
One of the seagulls that was flying, took the opportunity to land its orange webbed feet on the ramp of the nest, waving its wings around as the bird approaches the lookout who was eating a self-made sandwich while reading the newspaper that had recently arrived.
The lookout took notice from the feathered visitor and smirked at it before raising up the single remaining piece of his loaf of bread and offered it.
"You hungry, my feathered friend?"
The seagull responded and seem to be intrigued as he received the loaf of bread before flying away, having gotten itself a piece of treasure.
"Hope you like it." The lookout chuckled, ruffling his blonde hair for a moment, right before he got back to reading the newspaper that he got accustomed to reading on a daily basis. That lookout turned out to be the only human crewmate of the Sun Pirates.
Naruto Uzumaki, now fourteen years of age. Had grown progressively over the last three years, both physically and mentally, the boy's upbringing by the Fishmen had turned him into a more mature, responsible and smarter kid who had grown up to be a handsome young teen.
Having now to wear his orange colored bandana around his forehead, he also showed to be having let his hair be mildly long but short enough for him. Wearing also a white shirt with suspenders that he often wore also, and laying next to him was his own Springfield rifle, with ammunition and a holster around his waist, where his revolver was strapped in.
Underneath his clothing, it showed the result of his training, ending up with a healthy body after brutal regimes of physical work-outs, from some of the strongest members of the crew, training him in any way possible until the further notice when he was allowed to go to the next level.
He also was more book-wise and had picked up on some important abilities like navigation, cooking, carpeting and other useful stuff, but the one thing he was more focused on anything, was fighting.
Unable to join into the fighting, Naruto still was allowed to spar with the others and test his limits. It would be considered reckless for a young human boy to train with dangerous Fishmen who were undoubtedly lethal, but you would be looking this from the outside in.
"Morning, kid."
Naruto heard that and glances back to see it was his captain having climbed all the way up.
"Good morning to you too, captain." Naruto greeted back while holding the paper. "You're up early I see. Need some coffee?"
"No, no need for that. Just came here to check you out."
"I'm on my shift, and everything's fine. So no need to worry." Naruto smiled and told him. "Ship's on course, and we might be having a day off from fighting."
"That's good to know." Tiger smiled hearing that and then noticed the newspaper in Naruto's hands. "Is that the morning paper?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, just got it, like a half hour ago." Telling him that. "Hope you don't mind if I read it first, shift's almost over and I want to read something before my break."
"Sure, no problem." Tiger agreed, being glad that the kid grew up to read in his spare time and then questioned. "Something interesting in the papers?"
"Nah, nothing really, except for some pirates raiding coastal areas of kingdoms, major Navy fights, some revolutionaries, so forth..." Naruto said, summarizing the articles, with the times being violent, "but I read an interesting article about the Shinobi continent."
"Your home?"
"My old home, yes." Naruto rephrased that, having really grown away from it, he didn't even bother. "Want me to read it out about it?"
Tiger was first bothered about Naruto's shrugging away his home, but didn't show it to him and instead nodded to the teenaged kid.
"Sure, read it out for me."
"Alright, because it's a long article." Naruto said as he began reading the first article. "The Shinobi Continent, for the last few years, has been walking over a minefield of political and military tensions, as even though the small war between the Hidden Sound and the Hidden Leaf have been over for almost three long years. The tensions still remain high as the Major Villages are still unable to speak with one another without the presence of international diplomats from Reverie."
Tiger nodded to this information, having been reading the newspapers that are reporting daily about the continent for years now.
"Go on."
"While no major skirmishes have occurred, a buildup of forces has been continuing. With it not only being the Five Major Villages, but that also extends to the ever-growing being of the Marines, with their military presence in the Haran Bay."
"They sure are making a footprint in that area." Tiger said listening to this news.
"Haran Harbor now has been the main base of operations for the Navy where they have a major fleet present, with consent of multiple Daimyos and having bought the land after a fierce and costly legal battle over the land with the local fishermen. All the while, a massive crisis is feared to come to fruition in the smaller western nations that lay on the borders of the Land of Fire."
"Crisis?" Tiger questioned.
As Naruto continued on, reading the final paragraph of the article. "The crisis that is being referred to, The ever-increasing unrest in the border regions of the Rain, Grass and River, the areas that are known for being fought over in every Great Shinobi wars. Their debacles and an ongoing drought, is causing a food shortage and failed crops that are causing riots over the limited food supplies and are spilling over borders, causing some fears to rise up as also a growing sentiment of radical revolutionary activity has been growing in this region - With multiple protests in major cities, wavering the flags of the Akatsuki, an established movement that took part of a coup against the Rain's former ruler, Hanzo the Salamander. Observers believe if this crisis won't be focused on, this will then only contribute more to the instability of the Shinobi Lands."
He ended with the last few sentences of the article before Naruto closes the paper. Looking over to Tiger, he saw that the captain was focused on his thoughts.
"Something wrong, captain?"
Tiger crossed his arms and spoke out. "The bartender was right, they are growing lately. These revolutionary groups, I mean."
The bartender he met three years ago, who got killed but right before that, told him about the rise of revolutionary, ant-government groups who were inspired by his actions in Mariejois. That they have been growing in numbers, in acts, in mentioning, and lately, they have been organizing, assembling themselves slowly into this one unified force.
"Whatever is happening there, I couldn't be bothered to care much." Naruto puffed as he finished it as he leaned forwards on the nest and kept on watching. "What's going on there is none of my concern anymore."
Tiger asked him then. "Aren't you curious about your old home? How they're doing?" wondering what Naruto's reaction would be, if he thought back to his old home he was forcefully removed from.
To which the following reaction was predictable.
Shaking his head, Naruto responded. "Nah, not really. I don't look back at it now. I believe they're better off without me," He picked up his rifle and sling it around him and made a stretch move to loosen up his back. "And I'm better off without them, really. Life's been rough here, I know. But at least I got a fair shot, very different from back there."
The two stayed silent for the moment, observing the sight of the sea, just as the day became lighter and some of the other crew were beginning to wake up and come up the deck.
"Like you said before once, boss. The sea provides freedom for those who want it." Naruto told his captain and idol. "And honestly, ever since I tasted it, I would never trade it in for anything else."
Tiger smiled hearing that and chuckled with the following. "I'm glad to hear that, you've grown, kid. And for that I am proud of you."
The salmon's hand patted over Naruto, who in return gave his cheeky grin as they both shared a rare but wholesome moment.
"Island up ahead!"
The two turned up towards the direction after hearing that warning - and look at that, there was an island. Tiger's next orders became clear:
"Set sail!"
The island that the Sun Pirates arrived at, asides from its dumbbell looking mountains, had a small port but for the rest was mostly unnoticed and had little to no particular interest except for some wildlife that was just enough for Macro and a couple of others, including Naruto, to go hunting for some food.
The group of hunters consisted of Macro, Tansui, Gyaro and Naruto, all of whom were carrying their rifles, but also some of their catches, mainly deer and some boars, to which Naruto was carrying the latter.
"Clean shot kill, kid. You keep impressing me every time." Macro stated as he carried two boars over his shoulders. "You listening, boys. Naruto's making your shooting look like amateurs. Maybe you need to take a lesson from him."
"Very funny, Macro."
"Yeah, I'm laughing myself to the ground." The two others sarcastically replied, to which Macro only started laughing harder.
"Man, kid, you don't know how proud I am to know, that I trained you to make that clean shot through the head." Macro said, meaning it. "You keep doing that good work, you might become a professional shooter when you get older."
Naruto, who was in the back, smiled at his comrades and replied, carrying the deer.
"I'm good, as long I got you guys to help me out."
Gyaro chuckled and responded to his friend. "You hear that, Macro, you might've learned the kid how to shoot, but maybe you can learn some manners from him in return."
Tansui laughed harder this time, taking this opportunity gladly to laugh back, but Macro didn't seem bother much as he laughed also. Allowing Gyaro to change subject on something more interesting.
"Have you guys heard about these new weapons that are out there? Apparently the Marines are being given some of those."
In the bushes, something was watching them.
"No, not that I have heard of, but please enlighten me." Macro asked, leading the group as they got close to the sea. "Is it something about a new type of weapon?"
"You're spot on, yes. It's called a machine gun, if I'm correct." Tansui told them about it. Knowing the same info as Gyaro. "Heard it they were testing it out somewhere in the Grand Line, supposedly in Marineford. Saying the gun can fire 450 to 600 rounds a minute."
The bushes moved more a bit.
"450 to 600 rounds a minute?" Macro repeated, being the skeptic, he asked. "I don't know if I trust that. Sounds like hogwash to me. What's it called?"
"A Vickers, I think, or it was called a Maxim, I don't know. It was a rumor I heard from the port we landed last time, but I thought it was bull too, until I found out from one of the locals here who told me about it." Gyaro affirmed it. "Supposedly, the Marines and a few of the Reverie kingdoms are getting modernized new weaponry, and maybe Fishman Island too."
The moving of the bushes continued-
Naruto's head turned quickly back, having heard this, he took a clear look around.
"I say that's still hearsay, until I hear something about it from a guns store owner." Macro stated to his friend. "I'd appreciate seeing one of those things, but now we're in the good and no need for it."
The bush moved again...
"Whatever, if it true or not, I think we're going to need to watch out for the Marines in the future." Tansui said to them. "The fact the Navy is modernizing their equipment is more than enough for me to convince times are changing."
"Since when are you speaking like an old man?"
BANG!
The three other Fishmen quickly turned around, hearing the gunshot, it came from Naruto who had it pointed at the bushes next to them, having dropped everything in focus for the suspicious movement.
"Whoever's in there, out!" Naruto ordered, pulling the bolt back and allow it to reload while aiming down the bush. "Now, or I will shoot you."
It took a moment before a reaction would be given, just when the others joined in and Macro decided to pull out his revolver and aimed down the bush.
"Come out now."
Then, stepping out slowly, were two old men in white robes. Appearing to be monks or natives of this land, they both had something on their chests that Naruto spotted instantly.
Hoof of the Flying Dragon - The mark of the Celestial Dragons, they were escaped slaves from Mariejois. The two men held their hands up at the sight of the rifle.
"Please, child, do not shoot us."
Naruto lowered his rifle and nodded, lowering the tension between the two groups once he made the first step to deescalation. Then it was when the blonde crew member made the decision.
"Let's go back to the ship."
Snapper Head
Once the group came back to the rest of the crew, they surprised everyone, including the captain, when they brought along a few humans who had the same mark on them from the World Nobles.
Once the old men spotted Tiger, they immediately thanked him over and over again, with tears in their eyes. Praising the salmon Fishman for freeing them from the torturous life and suffering that was brought upon them by the ruthless Celestial Dragons.
The conversation would continue on for almost a good hour before Tiger called it in that they had to leave, now that they fully restocked themselves, the crew was ready to sail again.
"Mister, we could use your help with something."
Tiger turned back to the old men, and to his surprise, they brought up forwards someone, with the other Sun Pirates spectating from a distance.
It was a girl, small, skinny and she had long unkempt brown messy hair that looked like it wasn't taken care of for years. Looking around Naruto's age, she most likely was younger than him. Wearing a dirty, short-sleeved collared shirt that she had over a dark overall that was equally messy and covered in dirt.
And then there was the noticeable, large and creepy smile she had hanging across her face. That to which some immediately figured out where this was going.
"This girl here, she escape from Mariejois with the rest of us, back when you liberated us from slavery three years ago. Here, look."
The elder man moved the back of the girl's shirt up, revealing the slave mark that was imprinted on her back.
Naruto kept his focus on the conversation, including others of the crew, Aladdin and Kaneshiro, who were standing by his sides.
"She, hasn't seen her parents in many years and her home is far away." The elder explained the situation to Tiger, Jimbei and Arlong who kept himself quiet. "We would like to help, I'm sure they miss her, but it's hardly doubtful we can safely cross the ocean."
It was clear what the old man was proposing, and already Arlong rejected.
"No way, one human is enough-"
"Shut it, Arlong." Jimbei shut him up before turning to his captain. "Boss, it's your decision, but I genuinely ask you to consider this-"
"We'll take her with us." Tiger proclaimed his final decision, with a Stoic face.
"Huh?"
"What?"
That was the reaction from both the crew and Arlong, without a moment of thinking, Tiger accepted the request of the freed slaves who were only being more thankful.
It was then when the girl approaches the three members of the Sun Pirates. Tiger, Jimbei and Arlong. The deadliest men of the Fishmen pirate crew, now, were being neared by this little girl, who introduces herself.
"I'm Koala and I'm eleven years old. Thanks for saving me, I'll do my best not to cause you any more trouble."
And that was when Koala entered the Snapper Head.
Back in the sea, the Sun Pirates were dealing with this weird development, and it was Arlong who was the first to bring up his thoughts about it.
"I know she's just a kid, but she's still a disgusting human." Arlong protested, clearly not on board with this idea, with a hint of his bigotry. "Why the hell would you let her on board with us? We already got one-"
"Yeah, just drop it, Arlong." Tiger stated. Looking at Koala, who still had this unchanged smile on her face, that caused to piss off Arlong even more.
"I'll drop this ugly brat!" he raised his fist against the girl and yelled, "Quit smiling, damn it!"
"Arlong no!"
WHACK!
Koala was sent across the deck, having received a merciless punch from the sabertooth Fishman, who had to be restrained by Hachi, who grabbed him from behind.
"Calm down!"
"Let go, Hachi!" Arlong demanded to be released. "I'm not done yet!" Trying to free himself from the octopus' strong grip.
"He is right." Chew then chipped in. "It is creepy how she won't stop smiling."
Naruto just shook his head, and just kept observing what the girl was going to do.
They all looked as Koala got back up after receiving that painful punch to the face, she started to get up by her knees and arms. Then a small drop of blood, from her nose, landed on the floor. This caused her to do the following.
She ripped a piece of her pants off, and went on to whip the blood away from the deck in the middle of the ship. Causing the others to look very confused. So much that it even caused Arlong to calm down and wonder.
"What are you"
"I'm sorry, I'm a hard worker. I'll clean and I won't need to take a break, so please don't hit me!" she continued to clean as she clearly was pleading for her life. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'll give it my best!"
It was at this point that Jimbei was the first person to approach the scared girl, sitting right across her as she continued to clean.
He then politely told her. "Stop."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Koala kept on apologizing. "I'll clean it."
Jimbei pointed out. "You're bleeding."
"I'm sorry, I'll promise I will never cry." Koala said, sounding more frantic in her voice while scrubbing harder her blood off from the floor. "Just please don't kill me."
That last comment really put everyone off, the fear in this girl's voice was real and disturbingly calm with that smile on her face.
"It's alright," Jimbei said, he held his hand up and tried to pose himself as no threat as he asked her. "are you…scared of us?"
"Yes, but I really miss my mother, so I made myself get on board." Koala answered to his question as she kept on cleaning. "I won't stop cleaning, I know if I do, you think I'm useless and kill me, but I'm a hard worker, so please let me live."
Her reasoning was rather shocking to some of the crew, even for Jimbei, who calmly stood right back up and took the information that was given to him, sticking it to his mind for now.
It was then when Aladdin nudges to Naruto to try his luck, "Hey kid, try to convince her to stop cleaning."
Naruto nods and walks over to the girl while Jimbei walked over to Aladdin's side, "It's understandable what she went through, must've seen her friends die for crying or even taking a break. She has to be afraid her whole life, thinking she was next. Not trusting anyone."
Jimbei nodded, and he watches as Naruto would try to convince her, seeing he was a human, she might ease up to him. Naruto kneels down to the cleaning girl says in a friendly tone
"Hello, I'm Naruto."
She looked up, and her eyes widened slightly with a small gasp from her mouth.
"You-You're a human!"
"Yes, I am, name's Naruto. " Naruto introduced himself to her, "Now, would you please stop cleaning the floor?"
….
She just kept staring at him, but then started scrubbing again, ignoring Naruto's please as her mind kept on repeating the words out of her mouth.
"No! I must clean! So I won't be killed!"
That now got the whole crew to feel like their heart sunk in a deep pit. for Naruto especially, but the reactions of the crew were more readable as they muttered.
If even Naruto's presence didn't work, a fellow human, how much trauma did this girl go through?
Then Tiger finally decided to do something about it. He walked through the crowd and entered the scene right there, causing everybody to speculate what the captain was doing.
"Naruto, pick up the girl." Tiger told him. "We're going to my room."
...
Once inside the room, Koala was laid on the bed, on her belly, with her back exposed as Naruto held her down with his hands.
She was suddenly very quiet, something Naruto wasn't prepared for, maybe she was fearing for a lashing like he used to get, and was trying her best to stay silent.
PSHHH!
Naruto looked up and saw Tiger, pulling out the burning branding iron being pulled out of hot coals, and walking towards the bed, standing over the girl's body.
"I-I, please. Give me another chance!" Koala begged still with her smile. "Give me-"
"Koala."
Her gaze turned to Naruto, and she didn't know why but she looked right into his eyes, unable to look away, her fear suddenly began to go away slowly, as she heard him out speak.
"I know this will hurt you now, It's going to be intense, but believe me." Naruto told her in his honest voice. "This will be a short pain, far much better than the one you'll have if you keep that mark. So I need you to be strong now, alright?"
"Huh?" She got confused. "Strong?"
Naruto turned to his captain and quickly told him.
"Do it, boss."
Outside, the crew awaited at the door of their captain's room. After he, Naruto and Koala entered, there was little to no sound to be heard, making the others question what their boss was planning to do.
"What is he going to do with her? Lecturing won't do her any good."
"The kid is too far long gone."
Everybody was wondering what was going on inside, all except for Arlong who just listened.
"I wonder why Naruto got called in, think he'll be helping her?"
"I wonder how."
"YYYAAAARGH!"
The frantic and horrifying scream caught everybody off guard, and the first question was raised.
"Boss! What are you doing to her?"
The answer would soon be answered, as the door opened and Koala was seen being carried out by Naruto, with her shirt off and on her back, her new mark.
She was just branded with the Sun mark.
"Bandage her," Tiger told them. "It may have hurt, but she would never get pass the pain of being a slave with that mark staying on her."
Hatchan and the others soon swarmed around Naruto and the branded Koala, with some of them asking if she was alright, to which Naruto told them the following.
"She's fine, but let's get her to the infirmary. We'll treat her there."
Infirmary
Once inside the infirmary, Aladdin took no slow time to take care of her burning wounds and bandage her, in the presence of a crowd, much to his dislike as a doctor. They all watched as they waited for her to wake up, with Naruto being the one closest to her.
She then woke up, wide eyes and that forced smile again.
"Oh good, you're awake." Hachi said in relief, with the others as well, the room was indeed packed.
"I guess I passed out, I'm sorry!" She apologized, and begged with her hands. "But I didn't cry did I? So you don't need to kill me! I promise you I will never cry! So please let me live-"
"Koala."
The girl turned back to the only other human, with her smile forced on her face, she still was trembling. Trembling in fear.
*Grab*
Her body then felt grabbed, and she turns to her front, seeing that the giant hand that was on her shoulder belonged to Fisher Tiger, who made her to pay attention to what he had to say.
Still trembling, she heard him say:
"IT'S OKAY FOR YOU TO CRY!"
Her eyes fixated on him, unable to look away, she listened to what he had to say.
"We are nothing like those evil Celestial Dragons, so don't you dare act like we are." Tiger told her, pulling out an old pistol in front of her. "Now watch."
The girl shrieked first at the sight of the gun, but then saw Tiger walk away from her and go out of the infirmary, meaning she had to follow him, with everyone else.
Tiger walked over to the end of the ship, and then dropped the pistol over the rails, and let it drop into the deep blue sea.
Koala ran over to the edge, and watched confused how the Fishman just threw the weapon away.
Why did he do that? That was the question that ran through the girl's mind.
That answer Tiger gladly answered. As he turned to his well armed men, with his charismatic traits and his full beliefs and convictions, he best stated it like this.
"No killing, not now, not ever!"
Then dozens types of weaponry dropped to the ground, swords, axes, pistols, rifles, anything landed on the deck floor at the words of Fisher Tiger, who had their full attention now.
"Is everyone with me?"
"YEAH!" was the universal cry from the Sun Pirates. All who followed their captain to their very end.
"No matter how far the journey may be…"
The flag and sails, with the red sun emblem, were set clear, symboling his speech.
"We're taking this girl home!" Tiger stated, loud and clear, his goal to free and help every slave he could find.
While everybody else is cheering their captain. One pair of eyes focused on Koala, who still was leaning her hands over the rails.
Still trying to process what has happened, she slowly started to crack down, as her forced smile slowly was going away, and her face was beginning to shake.
And then she cracked: she began to cry her eyes out.
"AAAAAGH!"
Night
After a full day sailing, now the night finally arrived and people began to go back to their sleeping spots.
As for Naruto, he was busy cleaning up his own rifle, the bullet chamber to be precise, having only one small candle on, it was enough light for him to clean up his equipment.
"Hmmm…"
Laying next to him, on the other small bed, laid Koala. Sleeping in the bed that the blonde himself prepared for her. With some extra blankets and some pillows, he figured she'd like to be sleeping comfortably.
She shuffled around to the point where she was facing Naruto, revealing her much relaxed and comfortable face, seeing she was sleeping good.
That brought a smile to Naruto's face, and he could only feel much sympathy for her, having gone through a painful experience like her, she at least had a mother to go back to. Something he gladly would help contribute to bringing her home.
Home to a mother, that would be a nice feeling. To have a mother.
After that, Naruto finishes cleaning up his rifle and then puts out the candlelight and laid his rifle on the floor, before he got himself under the blankets to sleep, and right before that he said some few words.
"Good night, Koala." He told her in her sleep. "You'll go back home, we'll make sure of that."
And that were the last words for tonight, as both kids, part of a strong crew, would start their new day tomorrow.
A new day.
That's it for this chapter, hope you like it y'all!
Till next time!