Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Wakfu franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you and please enjoy

Wakfu: Chronicles of the Lost Ninja

-Chapter 13-

-Last Time-

"It's about time those two finally acted their age," Helen said with a relieved smile. "Now who's up for a celebratory dinner?"

"Oh, can we have more of that Ramie stuff?" Dally asked eagerly, making the group sans Eva chuckle at his mispronunciation.

"Sure Dally, besides I did promise Helen-san and Xav-san that I'd teach them how it's made." Naruto said while clapping the Iop's back.

-And Now-

The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon as the smell of freshly baked bread wafted through the air, coming from the home of Xav the Baker. Taking a peek inside, you could see Eva, Amalia, Dally, and Ruel helping themselves to a large spread of baked goods, laughing and chatting happily along with Helen, Xav, and Ratweasel. In fact, the old man had just finished revealing to them all that their 'magic map' was in fact a Shushu he used to own.

"That old thing can be a real annoyance if you don't know how to keep it in its place," The od midget said, getting a round of agreement from the travelers.

"No kidding, it wasn't until Naruto threatened to tear the stupid thing apart and use it as toilet paper that it actually led us the right way for once." Eva grumbled, making Ratweasel break into laughter.

"Ohohoho! Now that is a good one! I normally just held it over a fire!"

Meanwhile, Naruto and Yugo were in the kitchen, the former watching carefully as the latter made a small pot of broth.

"Man Yugo, you're a really fast learner," The whiskered blonde said as he tasted the bubbling liquid with a grin. "It took me days to get this part down."

"What can I say, I've always had a knack for cooking." Yugo said sheepishly.

"Well then, let's see how good a knack that is, time to start working on the noodles."

"Alright!"

Chuckling at the boy's excitement, being reminded of himself a bit, Naruto watched with a smile as Yugo carefully measured out the ingredients to the dough. However, a few seconds later, his attention was drawn back to the others by a loud feminine yell of outrage followed by several slaps.

The source of the commotion was none other than Amalia, who had a copious amount of jam oozing down the side of her face as she glared at a sheepish Dally and apologetic Eva, both with red hand marks on their cheeks.

"By Sadida! Can't you two eat like normal people for once in your lives!?" The greenette growled out at the duo angrily, before running a finger through her messed up hair. "Ugh, this is gonna take forever to wash out."

"Here, let me help," Amalia yelped cutely in surprise when Naruto suddenly appeared literally right in front of her, leaning in so their faces were barely a few inches apart and started gently wiping the purple goop off with a damp rag. "Heh, sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"It's… fine, just don't do it again." She muttered quietly as a light blush spread across her cheeks from their close proximity. Normally she would have given a more scathing remark, but let it go this time since Naruto was just trying to be helpful, plus the jam was grossing her out a bit now as it started to run down her neck. 'Besides, it wasn't like he-'

"Man Happa-chan, you really know how to take care of yourself, your hair is so soft and healthy."

'…said something incredibly embarrassing like that.' Amalia mentally groaned, her blush exploding across her face from Naruto's offhand compliment as he combed through her green locks. "Of course I do, I am the princess of the Sadida kingdom after all. I must always be able to look my best."

"Well then, mind giving me a few tips then? I've always had a bit of a dandruff issue that I just can't seem to deal with." Naruto admitted while tugging at a tuft of his own hair.

"Sure, well first you should consider…" The princess soon went into a surprisingly long explanation on the various methods of proper hair care, while Eva chimed in from time to time. As they were talking, none of the group noticed as Ruel discreetly slunk away from the group and towards a pot filled with gold coins sitting in the corner.

Looking around to make sure no one was looking, the old man smiled greedily as he scooped a handful of them up. Swiftly stuffing them into his pocket, he dove his hand in to grab more, tightly gripping the pieces of…

*Squish*

"What the…chocolate?" Ruel muttered in surprise as he pulled he held his hand up to see the squished coins in his hand, regular and white chocolate smeared across his palm. Looking down at the rest of the 'gold', the Enutrof couldn't help but give a low whistle as he threw away the squished sweets and wiped the chocolate off his hand. "Impressive, these look just like genuine Kamas, whoever made them sure knew what they were doing."

"Thanks, I'm glad to hear that someone appreciates my work," A female voice said from behind him in a cold tone, making Ruel freeze as a hand clamped down tightly on his shoulder. Slowly turning his head, his face rapidly lost color as he saw Helen standing behind him with a smile that promised a lot of pain. "Though that begs the question, if you thought they were real, why exactly were you so eagerly shoving them in your pocket?"

"Uhhhhh… I think I'm gonna go baaaaAAAAH!" Ruel yelped in pain as the Cra mother grabbed him by the ear and ruthlessly pulled up on it and dragged him away. "OW! Mercy! Mercy! MERCY!?"

"Well, looks like Ruel's greed got him into a pickle once more." Yugo said while kneading the lump of dough under the instruction of a clone Naruto left in his place.

"He's just like Ero-sennin, only with an obsession for money instead of girls," The real Naruto said with a nostalgic chuckle before turning his attention back to Amalia as he finished cleaning her face. "How's that? Any stickiness still?"

"No, you got it all." The greenette muttered, sighing under her breath in relief as the whiskered blonde finally stepped away.

"Great, now to get back to-" *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* Naruto was cut off mid-sentence by a tapping knocking at the door, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look towards the slab of wood curiously.

"Huh? I wonder who that could be." Xav muttered as he got up from his seat and went to greet whoever it was, with Yugo and Dally tagging along in curiosity. Upon opening the door, the three of them were greeted by the sight of a small white fluffy creature with a long snout, a red bow, and a wagging tail.

"Hey, it's Kabrok's Snoofle, what's it doing here?" Yugo asked in surprise as the creature sniffed around the entrance.

"The black crow must be here for revenge!" Dally proclaimed dramatically, accidentally spitting jam all over the place as he jumped outside with Rubilax held at the ready, only to be dragged back inside a second later by an exasperated Eva.

"Relax you Iop-brain, that's not Kabrok's snoofle, his is a dark blue. It probably belongs to that man over there." She said dully, pointing to a feminine man wearing fancy traveling clothes that was standing a few feet away with a smug smile.

"Well, well, it is nice to finally be noticed." The man said dramatically as he stepped closer.

"Oh, good morning sir, I'm sorry but the bakery isn't quite open yet, so you'll have to come back later." Xav said kindly, causing the newcomer to recoil in faux indignation.

"You don't get it do you!?" The man exclaimed while striking several 'dramatic' poses. "I am Rich McDeek the great! I am a courier!"

"Oooh! A warrior? Like Percidal?" Yugo asked excitedly, misunderstanding what the newly named McDeek said, who looked entirely unimpressed as he glanced towards the jam-faced Iop who'd gone back to snacking at the table after losing interest in the conversation.

"Erm… No, not exactly."

"He said courier Yugo not warrior, someone carries important news from town to town in order to keep the general populous informed on the going-ons of the world." Eva explained the teleporting child, before rolling her eyes good-naturedly when Amalia shoved past her and bounced excitedly in front of McDeek.

"Which means you must have oodles of juicy gossip for us to eat up, right?!"

"Why of course, I wouldn't be a good courier if I didn't," The fancily dressed man said, grabbing the princess's hand and giving it a gentle kiss. "The real question is, what kind of gossip are you wanting to hear. Would you be interested in the latest fashions of the world? The most recent Gobbowl match results? Or perhaps you'd like to hear the latest news, about the mind boggling mysterious evil making several of the world's greatest fortunes vanishing overnight?"

"WHAAAAAT!?" Everyone jumped as a horrified scream erupted from the house before a slightly beat up Ruel barged past everyone in a panic and grabbed the courier by the front of his shirt. "What do you mean vanished!? A fortune doesn't just disappear!"

Either by pure nonchallantness or a large amount of self-discipline, McDeek maintained his happy and calm demeanor despite being manhandled so rudely. "That's just the thing, they are gone, whether they be guarded by might, magic or both, they are just gone. Poof, never to be seen again"

As McDeek spoke, the panic on Ruel's face grew before he tossed the courier aside and ran off fast enough to leave both a literal trail of dust in his wake and several confused people.

"…Should we go after him?" Naruto asked with a tilted head, prompting his companions to snap out of their own confusion and make chase. However, upon catching up with Ruel they were greeted with a rather… interesting sight.

*Slurp* *Slurp* *Slurp*

"Okay, that is a new one," Naruto stated as the group watched Ruel swiftly being eaten by his own bag of all things. Turning to his friends with a perfect 'WTF' look on his face, he gestured to the scene before them. "Yugo, why is Ruel being eaten by his own bag?"

"Believe me, this is new for me as well." Yugo muttered, before shaking his head to clear away the shock and grabbing onto Ruel's foot, the only part of him that was still out of the bag. "Quick! Help me pull him out!"

"Ugh! You want me to touch Ruel's nasty feet?! No way, no how!" Amalia exclaimed in disgust, taking several steps back while Dally, Eva, and surprisingly McDeek grabbed Yugo's waist for leverage.

"They certainly don't smell like roSES!" Dally screamed out as he, Yugo, and Eva were suddenly pulled into the bag as well, leaving only Eva's legs sticking in the air kicking wildly. Gasping in worry, Amalia swiftly rushed forward and grabbed onto the flailing limbs along with Naruto to try and rescue their friends.

When they tried to pull them free though, they instead ended up lifting the bag itself off the ground. Then to their surprise, the bag rapidly climbed up towards them by rapidly swallowing Eva's legs and before either of them could react engulfed them both and dropped them into a surprisingly large cloth chamber.

"Oof!"

Directly on top of their friends to be exact.

"Well… that was fun." Naruto muttered sarcastically as he got to his feet, easily shaking off the sudden fall and taking in his new surroundings, a large tent-like room made of patchworked and stained green and white fabric that allowed sunlight to gently filter in. What really caught his attention though, were the piles upon piles of seemingly random junk all over the place.

*Sniff* *Sniff* "Oh Kami, I think I'm gonna be sick!?"

…Well that and the horrible stench that flooded the whiskered boy's nostrils the second he took a breath.

Stumbling back with a gag, Naruto clamped his hands over his nose as his whole face turned a sickly green color, barely managing to swallow down the bile that rose in his throat. And he wasn't the only one as everyone else but Dally and Ruel had similar reactions once they managed to get their bearings, with said old coot digging around the piles of junk in a mad panic.

"What is this place? And why does it smell like rancid meat and dragoturkey manure?" Amalia asked in a slightly funky tone as she pinched her nose as hard as she could.

"It's a Haven Bag, a dimensional bag, don't tell me you don't know what it is?" McDeek stated casually, his voice also a bit higher thanks to the clothes pin holding his nostrils shut. "It's a very useful item, it provides enormous storage space, a place for its owner to rest, and some even use it as a workspace."

"Well that would explain where Ruel's been going to at night," Eva muttered before looking towards said old man with a frown, watching him mumble incoherently under his breath while carelessly tossing random objects around in his search. "Speaking of crazy old coots, what's wrong with you Ruel? You're acting like you lost your Kama purse or something."

"It's a personal issue, nothing for you all to be concerned about. Just leave me to my business, the exit is over there." Ruel said, pointing to a rope ladder sewn into the wall.

"You heard the greedy Enutrof, let's get out of here before we all suffocate to death." Amalia said as she eagerly walked towards said ladder, only to be stopped by Eva grabbing her shoulder.

"Oh no you don't, we aren't going anywhere until you tell us-"

"Ah-ha! There you are." Ruel cut the elf-girl with an excited shout as he uncovered a small chest and popped it open, revealing several small vials filled with a shining golden liquid.

"Recall potions?" Eva said questioningly when Ruel lifted up one of the bottles, before she and the rest of the group watched in awe as the old man gulped the liquid down and burst into a cloud of bubbles.

"Cool!" Yugo said excitedly while rushing over and grabbing a potion.

"Wait! Don't drink that Yugo, you have no idea- *Poof* …where it will take you." Eva finished dully as the boy eagerly drank the teleporting drink and also poofed out of sight.

"Oh relax Eva, if Ruel was willing to use one himself then it's probably fine." Amalia said casually as she, Dally, and McDeek grabbed a vial each.

"Yeah right, are you forgetting the part where we still barely know anything about Ruel even after travelling with him for over a month." Eva stated, before sighing in irritation when she saw the three completely ignore her and drink the potions anyway. "Oh come on, is anyone listening to me today?"

"Hey, I'm still here, aren't I?" Naruto asked back with a raised brow, making the elf-girl blush lightly in embarrassment for forgetting about him. Picking up a pair of vials, the whiskered teen held one out towards his fellow blonde. "So we're gonna follow after them?"

Sighing once more, only this time in defeat, Eva nodded as she accepted the potion. "Might as well, everyone else has already."

And with that, they both took a drink.

-End Chapter-

AN: Okay, okay, okay, before any of you rage at me for this chapter being short, let me explain. You see, my brother unplugged my computer while I was at work and it was in the middle of updating, thus my files were all fritzed out. So I lost almost this entire chapter and this is all I was able to salvage so far and I already a few days late on an update, so I'm posting a half finished chapter this time. Still, I do hope you all still enjoyed it and please leave your comments in the reviews.