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.

Thanks for reading and please enjoy

Wakfu: Chronicles of the Lost Ninja

-Chapter 21-

"Uuuugh… my head…" A groan escaped Naruto's lips as his eyes slowly flickered open, before hissing when sunlight seared his pupils. Rolling over, the whiskered teen grimaced as he felt several small hard lumps digging into his back and side when he shifted while a muffled clattering rang in his ears. He grumbled a quiet profanity under his breath as he pulled the covers over his head to block out the sun and snuggled up to his bed mate, his head sinking into their bosom as their gentle heartbeat soothed him back into slumber.

…

…

Naruto's eyes snapped open, and he sprung up, all vestiges of sleep vanishing from his mind as looked around. His eyes widened in shock when he found himself in a VERY luxurious looking bedroom, like royalty grade luxury, with pure white carpet, intricately painted walls, marble tables, the works. And to top it off he was laying on a literal bed of gold, or to be more precise a mountain of kamas piled up atop a queen-sized bed, beside a beautiful half naked woman.

Speaking of, it took him a minute but the blonde soon recognized said woman as none other than Miranda, the salacious business woman that Ruel had made a merchandise deal with.

More importantly to Naruto though was the fact that last he checked the Ecaflip was very happily married. Meaning he was in bed with a married woman… who was naked… and so was he… and was that lipstick on his pecs?!

Breathing heavily, the whiskered teen lifted up the blanket still covering his waist… before sighing in relief upon finding that he still had his pants on. So he didn't have any hanky-panky last night despite how it looked.

However, that still left a lot more questions that needed to be answered, the most of important of which were. ' Where am I? And how the fuck did I get here?'

The last thing he remembered, he was in the middle of a Gobbowl game against Lamechester and…

-Flashback-

"We're now at the end of the third q-quarter of t-the game, with Real Gobbly having continued to widen their lead to a staggering 25-3. This certainly has been a game that's defied all expectations, hasn't it folks?" The announcer's assistant said meekly through the speakers, though the audience didn't seem to notice as they roared with a mix of applause and jeering.

Meanwhile, down on the field itself, Naruto took a sat next to his cheering teammates. "Well this is going well, just one more quarter to go."

"Yeah, at this rate we're sure to win!" Yugo cheered, high-fiving an equally excited Amalia.

"Just one more quarter to go!"

"As long as somebody doesn't run to the wrong goal zone again at least." Eva said while giving a sheepishly smiling Dally a dull look.

"It was an honest mistake…"

"What part? You running the wrong way or you somehow not hearing literally everyone screaming 'Dally! You're going the wrong way!'?"

"Uh… well Naruto let them score."

"Yeah, to piss off the other team's captain, you're just a Iop Brain."

"Oh, lay off of him Eva, I think that walloping you gave him was enough," Naruto said as he patted the annoyed Cra's shoulder, getting her to grumble under her breath but otherwise drop it. "Besides, I think Dally giving them a point pissed off Kriss more than me letting him score a goal."

He did have a point as the Gobbowler in question was raving in pure rage at his teammates who, aside from Jay, were sporting bruised looks and heads bowed in shame. That was because the only point his team scored was when Naruto literally let them score by simply sitting down for the whole play. Then Dally somehow mixed up the goal zones when he had the ball, inadvertently scoring Lamechester another point, which Kriss seemingly took as a pity score.

Otherwise, the game had been utterly one sided for the entire quarter in Real Gobbly's favor. Between Naruto's confounding plays along with his and Eva's near flawless teamwork and the fact Lamechester was still down to four players, their opponents had been utterly trounced at every turn.

"Don't get too excited brats, we still got a whole quarter to go," Toot cut in, snapping his fingers to get everyone's attention as he paced back and forth in front of them. "We may have the lead now but that doesn't mean we can let our guard down. This is Gobbowl, the sweet nectar of victory can be swiped away just as fast as you seize it.

"Toot's right, if anything we need to be even more aware as our opponents will no doubt be getting desperate, and a desperate Gobbowler is a dangerous Gobbowler," Ruel agreed while using a stick to scratch an itch inside the fake cast he was still wearing. However, despite his apparent casualness, it was obvious to those with more awareness that the old Enutrof was actually keeping a keen eye on their opposition. "It's moments like this that the true underhanded glory of Gobbowl shows its face."

"Or in other words, be ready for a lot of cheating, dirty tricks, and foul moves this quarter." He wasn't the only one as Eva's eyes narrowed when she noticed Kriss smile smugly for a brief moment between his ravings.

Her attention was quickly brought back to her fellow blonde though when he snorted in amusement. "You're assuming we'll give them the chance to try anything."

"I'll take that as you have a plan then." Despite being worded as a question; everyone could tell it was a statement, one that they all agreed with as they turned to the whiskered blonde expectantly.

"Of course, a good ninja always has another trick up their sleeve." Naruto stated with a smirk as he leaned back in his seat and took a swig from a water bottle. And before anyone could ask him to elaborate what he meant the warning horn blared to tell them that the new quarter was starting.

Naruto wasted no time hopping back to his feet, rolling his shoulders with a sigh before calmly strolling back onto the field with his team in tow.

"Alright folks, it's time for the b-big finale. Unfortunately the Audience Surprise is unable to be used due to damage caused in the previous quarter but if this g-game has been anything to go by I don't think we'll be missing out on much." The announcer's assistant explained, though it was hard to tell if anyone heard her as the crowds were already cheering at the top of their lungs.

"So Kriss," The blonde started as he squared off against Lamechester's captain with a grin, to which the Sacrier simply glared back at him. "I'm still waiting for you to show me how a real Gobbowler plays. Unless you meant that real Gobbowlers always get their ass kicked."

"Ha ha… laugh it up while you can Naruto," The shaggy haired athlete said, his lips suddenly flipping into an arrogant smirk as he got into position. "I have a feeling the tides are gonna change in my favor this quarter."

"Is that so?" Rather than being intimidated by his opponent's sudden boost of confidence, Naruto's own smile just widened further while he cracked his knuckles. "Then how about we make this a bit more interesting?"

"And how would you suggest that?"

"Easy, like this," His grin growing to cover almost his entire face, Naruto… stood up straight turned to the referee? "Hey Ref, I call for a Final Gobbowl."

…

…

Dead silence filled the stadium aside from those two words 'Final Gobbowl' which echoed through the stadium ominously.

"A Final Gobbowl?!" The Ref exclaimed in shock, falling off his gobbal mount and face planting into the grassy field.

"""A Final Gobbowl!?!""" All of Real Gobbly and Lamechester aside from Dally shouted at the same time.

"He's going for a Final Gobbowl!?!" A stunned Ruel exclaimed from the bench. Accidentally ripping his cast off with the stick when his hands shot up to grab his head in disbelief.

"Holy! The amazing new player Naruto has actually called for a Final Gobbowl! This is truly a shocking surprise!" Even the assistant was left stunned, completely forgetting her prior anxiety about public speaking as she spoke clearly for the first time.

"Uh… what's a Final Gobbowl Ruel?" Yugo asked Ruel, tilting his head to the side in confusion alongside Amalia while Az tweeted in curiosity, snapping the old man out of his shocked stupor.

"It's one of Gobbowl's riskiest gambits my boy, an all or nothing gamble that can be called at the very start of any quarter by a team who's at least twenty points in the lead. By doing so that team has the chance to win the game instantly upon scoring another goal," The greed-driven old man explained in a dead serious tone. "However if the other team manages to score instead then the leading team loses all of their points."

"That's it? Well that doesn't sound so-"

"Also, whoever calls for it must face the opposing team all by themselves with no equipment."

"- Bad!?" Amalia's voice cracked as her eyes went wide.

"That means Naruto is gambling all our points on if he can take on all of Lamechester by himself," Posho said, shaking his head with a sigh. "Normally I'd say he's completely crazy, but crazy seems to work for him."

Meanwhile, back on the field, Naruto had taken off his glove and boots to give to Eva while the rest of their team shuffled back towards the bench. As he set the gear into her grasp though, the whiskered teen found himself under a stern look from the archer. "So this was your big plan, huh? Gamble everything and hope for the best?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Naruto said without an ounce of shame, making his fellow blonde sigh exasperatedly.

"I should have figured it'd be something half-cocked and utterly nuts," Shaking her head, Eva tucked the gear under her arm… before grabbing the front of Naruto's shirt and pulling him in so close their lips almost touched, making it seem like they were kissing. A collective 'Oooooh' ran through the audience at what seemed like a rather tender moment between lovers. In reality though… " You'd better smoke their asses or I'm going to put my foot so far up yours that not even you will be able to shrug it off."

"Hai, hai, of course Surudoi-chan, don't worry. I've got this." Naruto said with a chuckle, patting Eva's shoulder with a wink which just made the Cra roll her eyes as she strolled off the field.

Once she was back on the bench, the ninja turned his attention back to Kriss and his team, finding them all staring down at him with identical sadistic grins.

"Hehehe… well Rookie, I hope you enjoyed your little moment with your lady," Monty said, laughing sinisterly while punching the palm of his hand. "Because when we're done with you, she'll be feeding you through a straw."

"Yeah, and this time none of your silly tricks are gonna save ya." Jeremy said as he cracked his knuckles repeatedly in anticipation.

"That's a lot of big talk considering you guys have yet to even touch me," The whiskered blonde pointed out, casually rolling his shoulders as he got into a ready stance against Kriss. "But enough talk, how about we get this show on the road already?"

"Couldn't have put any better myself." The shaggy Sacrier said, coughing into his hand as he got into a pose as well with a sly smirk. ' Fool, with the cheating time I just bought, we'd have had more than enough time to catch up. You losing all your points will just be the icing on the cake.'

Coughing into his hand as well, the Ref waited for a moment until coughing was heard over the speakers and held up the ball. "Ready… and go!"

And just like that the ball went up in play… yet none of Lamechester even bothered to go for it.

Instead, all four of them immediately pounced on Naruto at once, fists raised, spiked shoes armed… and did Jeremy have a fucking AXE!? In an instant they were piled onto the blonde, Monty grabbing one arm and Jeremy another to ensure he didn't pull any switcharoo shenanigans. What followed next was an absolute brutal display of just about every kind of physical assault possible as the guys rained down blow after blow.

"Oh my! Lamechester is definitely not holding back now as they open up with a straight up foul play! Seems the new rookie king of Gobbowl's lucky streak has come to a sudden and tragic end…"

"Oh no! He's in trouble!" Yugo gasped while jumping to his feet, about to run out onto the field to help, only to be stopped by Eva grabbing his shoulder. "What're you doing Eva? We gotta help!"

"Just give it a second…" The archer said with a knowing look, never once looking away from the growing dust cloud on the field.

Almost as if on cue, Monty and Jeremy suddenly went flying across the field, the former tumbling into the Lamechester Bench and the latter landing in the crowd. Even worse for Jeremy, he just so happened to land on Real Gobbly's side and the fans there were all too happy to show their… displeasure for him beating up their new favorite player.

Back at the center line, the dust settled to reveal a ruffled but otherwise unharmed Naruto holding both of Kriss's wrists while Benji was once more trapped under his foot, head buried in the dirt.

"What?! How?!" The Sacrier exclaimed in disbelief while trying to pull himself free to no avail, the blonde's grasp holding him in place tighter than an iron clamp.

"A word of advice," Naruto said with a smirk before catching the Gobbowl ball in his mouth. "Vont fuse shut anth ofious vignal for vuying oth ve def."

"Uh… whaaaaaaAAAAA!?" Kriss started to ask, only to cut himself off with a scream when Nartuo started spinning in place VERY fast. The world turned into naught but a blur for the pair as they ramped up speed, creating a powerful gale that spiraled into a twister around them. "STOP! I'M! GONNA! PUKE!"

"Ofay!" Naruto happily complied, coming to a dead stop instantly and letting go, letting inertia do its thing as a screaming Kriss was sent flying away…

"Penalty to La-GCK!?" And crashing straight into the referee, smashing into both him and his gobball without even slowing down. The three kept going until they slammed into the stadium wall, shattering it on impact and burying them in a heap of rubble.

"Shrike!" The whiskered teen called jokingly with a fist pump before taking the ball out of his mouth and skipping out of the crater he'd drilled into the ground from spinning so fast, leaving poor Benji buried in ripped up grass and dirt. Absolute silence filled the entire arena once more as a stunned audience watched this with dropped jaws and wide eyes.

Smirking, Naruto folded his arms behind his head while casually strolling across the field unopposed. It was only when he got to the goal that he stopped, looking over his shoulder just in time to see Kriss's head popping out from under the debris with a glare.

"By the way Kriss," Setting the ball down on the goal, Naruto sat down atop of it and crossed his arms as he met the gobbowler's blank eye glare. "I said don't use such an obvious signal for buying off the Ref. If you're gonna cheat at least try to be subtle about it."

"I… that… uhm and that's it everyone. Real Gobbly wins!" The announcer called out while the final buzzer rang, snapping everyone out of their shock.

In an instant the entire city of Bonta was filled by their roaring cheers, the stands shaking as they jumped from their seats in pure excitement. Kriss donned a look of pure disbelief before collapsing back into the rubble.

Meanwhile, the rest of Real Gobbly came running out on the field, surrounding Naruto as they whooped and cheered. Amalia straight up tackled the blonde in a hug, almost knocking over, before they both went down when Yugo and Dally joined in.

-Present-

' Oh yeah, we won…' The blonde thought, chuckling to himself as he recalled the hassle of getting out of that unexpected dogpiling at the end of the game. However, his humor soon faded back into concern after glancing back at the lady in bed with him when he felt her latch onto his waist, before massaging the side of his head when it throbbed painfully. ' Fuck… we must've celebrated really hard afterwards; my head is killing me.'

It took a lot to get him hammered enough to have a hangover, so he must've really gotten into the party to feel this bad still.

While he would have loved to just curl back up under the covers and wait for his hangover to go away though, Naruto still had some big questions needing answered. Specifically, why there was a married woman in his bed and why said bed was covered in a literal mountain of gold part.

Figuring that the others could hopefully fill him in on the rest of what happened, the blonde shook off his headache and slowly got to his feet. Wobbling a little at first, it only took him a moment to regain his bearings before slowly making his way towards the door, pushing it open with a grunt...

' Or maybe not…' Only to sigh when he saw the absolute mess that was the main room in where the rest of his group was.

Dally was embedded in the floor from the waist down and covered in vomit and Fermented Bamboo Milk bottles. Eva and Amalia were passed out on the couch in a tangle of vines, the latter holding a half-finished bottle of milk that dripped onto the former's face.

Ruel was hanging from a chandelier by his ankles, mumbling something incoherently under his breath with a tear stained faced. Meanwhile, his Gobbowler buddies were in a heap beneath him, either passed out after putting him up there or had been in the same position and had fallen lose.

The only one missing was Yugo, though he couldn't be far as Naruto saw his Tofu napping on a bird stand by the window.

Before he could wonder where exactly the portal user was, a familiar delicious aroma wafted in from another room. Following it to the kitchen, Naruto found Yugo in the middle of cooking up a big breakfast.

"Oh, good morning, Naruto, glad to see you up, I made breakfast for everyone." The hatted boy said with a smile upon seeing his fellow blonde, quickly serving up a plate of food and portaling it over to him.

"Thanks Yugo," Nodding his head in appreciation, Naruto took a seat on a nearby stool and took a bite, careful not to eat too fast since his stomach was still a little woozy. "You wouldn't happen to know what happened last night, would you?" He asked while waving at his own head. "Everything's all blurry up here after we won the game."

"Oh, um well…" Yugo rubbed his chin thoughtfully while stirring the food that was still cooking.

-Yesterday Afternoon-

In the team meeting room for Real Gobbly, spirits were high as the team continued to rejoice over their recent victory.

Most were excitedly feasting on a huge buffet laid out before them, especially Dally and Eva who were practically wild animals as they tore into everything within arm's reach. The only ones not helping themselves were Ruel, who was instead counting a large sack of Kamas, and Naruto, who was speaking with an Eniripsa man while giving him a smaller sack of gold.

"Thirty-nine thousand eight hundred ninety-nine, thirty-nine thousand nine hundred, alright aside from the hundred for our mysterious friend's future medical bills it's all here." The Enutrof said with a smirk, tying the bag shut very tightly before dropping it into his haven bag, a loud clattering ringing out as it collided with the many things tucked inside. ' And with all the money I got from that little merchandizing deal this has proven quite the lucrative little side quest.'

"This is great! We'll be able to afford a ship to get to Oma Island no problem now!" Yugo, who was sitting next to the old man, cheered excitedly between mouthfuls of fried gobbal. In his excitement though he forgot to chew and ended up choking on his food, causing him to cough it back up onto his plate

Chuckling, Ruel patted the boy on the back while he was catching his breath. "Easy there brat, don't get too ahead of yourself. We got the money, now we gotta find someone willing to sell their boat and-"

"Actually, we already have a ship," Naruto cut in, or rather a clone of his did, as it hopped in through a window, landing next to the original. The duplicate handed its creator a pair of scrolls, one a storage scroll that the group was used to seeing him use, and the latter Ruel immediately recognized as a rolled-up deed. "Here you go boss, all ready to go."

With that done the clone gave a salute before dispelling into a cloud of smoke, leaving the original to chuckle while reading over said deed.

Seeing this, Eva smirked knowingly as she finished off the last few bites of a cheese pastry and wiped her mouth off. "Is that what I think it is?"

"That and so much more." The whiskered teen said cryptically, causing his fellow blonde to snicker while everyone else looked between the pair in confusion.

"Okay, what aren't you two telling us?" Amalia asked, her eyes narrowing into a suspicious glare that was focused mostly on her best friend.

However, Eva just kept smirking and shrugged the plant princess's glare off while casually munching on an api. "I think Naruto could explain it best."

And thus, all the attention shifted back to the blonde in question, whom finished reading over the deed with an approving nod before tucking it under his armpit. He then unrolled the storage scroll and dropped it to the floor, creating a huge puff of smoke that caused everyone else to break out in coughing fits.

Once it cleared though, all their jaws, including Eva's this time, dropped straight to the floor at the sight of an absolutely huge pile of gold. Easily three times wider than he was and reaching almost all the way to the ceiling, the heap of kamas gleamed brightly in the rays of the setting sun.

"Ooooh… soooo much… gold~" Ruel mumbled dazedly, slowly reaching for the glittering pile in an almost trance like state. "There has to be at least ten million kamas there…"

"Thirty-five and a quarter million actually." Naruto said with smirk before the entire pile vanished back into the scroll which the whiskered teen promptly picked back up. The blonde had only just managed to tuck it away into a pocket of his jacket when Ruel grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Where did you get that money!? WHERE?!" The old man demanded with a mixture of greed and panic written all over his face. Greed at the hope of finding out where Naruto got such vast amounts of wealth along with if he could claim it for himself naturally, and panic because of the possibility he already knew where he got it from.

"Oh relax Ruel, I didn't touch your family stash, I ain't no thief," Naruto said, effortlessly prying Ruel off and setting him back down into a chair. "If you must know, back when we were trying to figure out how to get money, I kept trying to tell you guys that I had an idea. But none of you wanted to listen so I decided to go do it myself, just in case this whole Gobbowl thing didn't pan out."

Taking the half-eaten api barely being held still in Eva's grasp, the whiskered blonde took a large bite of the fruit while flopping into an empty seat beside her.

"It was actually quite simple really, while you guys were focused on getting ready for the game I made a hundred clones and sent them out to find work. Turns out there's a lot of jobs that nobody really wants to do since they don't pay much but do a hundred of them at once and it really stacks up fast," He said between bites. "Only took me a day to rack up about fifty thousand kamas, more than enough to get everything we need to get to Oma Island, including a boat one of my clones managed to get a good deal on while we were playing."

"Hold on…" Snapping out of her daze, a look of dawning realization spread on Amalia's face as she tugged at the skimpy cheerleading outfit she was still wearing. "So, you mean we went through all of that-"

"For absolutely no reason? Yeah, pretty much." Naruto finished and answered the greenette's question with a nod, snickering when she slammed her face into the table with a groan.

"Okay, that part I remember you telling me about on the field," Eva said, swiping her api back before jabbing her fellow blond's collarbone. "But where in Cra's name did you get the other thirty-five million?"

"Oh, turns out each clone bet fifty kamas on us winning the game and the odds were ten thousand to one so when we won, they won five hundred thousand each, or fifty million altogether." He said with a shrug, causing Eva to accidentally crush what was left of her api into pulp from shock while Amalia unplanted her face from the table with wide eyes.

Meanwhile, Ruel straight up fainted while clutching his chest, with Yugo quickly running to his side to make sure he was okay.

"Fifty million?" Toot parroted, getting Naruto to nod.

"However, the betting booth ended up running out of money at thirty-five and a quarter million, so," The blonde unfurled the deed for all to see. "They gave me ownership of the Gobbowl Field and connected business to cover the remaining amount."

"""They WHAT!?"""

"Yup, you're looking at the new owner and manager of the Bontarian Gobbowl League," Naruto said with a grin, enjoying the absolutely shocked looks on everyone's faces for a few moments before tucking the deed back away. He then turned back to Ruel as his grin turned mischievously malicious, causing a shiver to run down the greedy Enutrof's spine. "Speaking of which…"

Ruel blinked and gasped in horror when he saw Naruto was suddenly holding a certain bag of gold in grasp. "HEY! My gold! Give that back you-"

"Actually it's mine, seeing as I also acquired the outstanding debt you ran out on after losing a bet on one of your own games."

…

One could almost swear they heard glass shattering followed by the sound of rusty gears turning as Toot, Calbien, and Posho slowly turned towards the now heavily sweating Ruel.

"That's why you ran off to be a bounty hunter? You were bailing on a failed bet?" The floaty wearing gobbowler demanded while cracking his knuckles ominously.

"Uh, well…"

"You were hoping we'd get stuck paying for it instead of you, weren't you?" Calbien added with a glare.

"Would you look at the time, I-"

"Get him!" Posho shouted as he and his fellow Real Gobbly veterans dogpiled Ruel before he could make his escape. Fists went flying and profanities were yelled as the quartet rolled around the room, forcing everyone else to move out of the way or risk getting caught in the fray.

"Alright! A fight! Let's go!" Or in Dally's case just jump right in with a battle cry of his own.

"Whelp, my work here is done," Naruto said with a chuckle, pretending to dust his hands off while standing back up. "I think I'm gonna go out and hit up a bar or something, anyone want to come with?"

"Like you're leaving me out after dropping a bomb like that," Eva stated as she got up as well, grabbing onto her fellow blonde's arm as if he was gonna disappear. "I still got questions."

"Of course."

"And you're not sticking me with these idiots." Amalia added as she latched onto Eva's free arm after ducking under a bowl of pudding that got sent flying when the brawl crashed into the table.

"How about Yugo, wanna tag along?" Naruto asked the portal user, only to get a headshake from the youngest member of the group.

"Nah, I'm good," He said while opening a portal to grab a piece of paper and a pen from the other side of the room without getting caught in the fight. "I'm gonna write a letter to my dad anyway, it's been way too long since I've talked to him."

"Oh, well in that case," Naruto dropped the sack of kamas he'd taken from Ruel onto Yugo's lap with a smile, making the Eliatrope blink in surprise. "Why don't you get him a cool souvenir while you're at it."

After a moment though a grin practically split the boy's face before scooping the bag up with one hand and hugging the older blond with the other. "Thanks Naruto! This'll be awesome!"

"No problem." Naruto said, chuckling as Yugo excitedly ran off.

-Present-

"And that's the last I saw of you guys until I got back and found everyone all… that." Yugo said with a shrug, now sitting next to Naruto as they both finished off the last few bites of their breakfast. As he spoke the portal user jabbed a thumb over to the other room where their friends were still passed out from last night's activities.

"I should have figured as much." It'd all been coming back to Naruto as Yugo had been telling him his versions of events.

He normally wasn't much of a drinker but he'd been feeling in a very good mood after both winning the game and springing his ironic vengeance on his friends. So he'd thought 'what the hell' and decided to go see if a few celebratory drinks was all it was cracked up to be.

Based on how he woke up, it was not…

"By the way, why were you and Miss Miranda sleeping on your gold?" Yugo asked innocently, causing Naruto's cheeks to gain a light dusting of red.

"I'll explain when you're older."

"Awww… why does everyone say that?"

"…I'll explain when you're older." The whiskered teen repeated, making his fellow blond grumble under his breath with crossed arms. Unfortunately, Naruto was still wondering that very same question about Miranda himself, as no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't remember.

So, with a shake of his head, he got back up and stretched, his back cracking satisfyingly from his spine realigning.

"Anyway, thanks Yugo, that helped," Naruto ruffled the boy's hatted head playfully in thanks before wandering back into the main room. ' Guess I'll just have to hope Eva or Amalia remembers what happened when they-'

"Wait, Naruto," The teen stopped mid-step and looked over his shoulder to see Yugo holding up a crumpled folded-up piece of paper. "Here, this fell out of your pocket."

"Hmm?" Plucking the parchment from the portaling boy's grasp, Naruto raised a brow when he saw Miranda written across one side in smudged ink. His curiosity peaked, he unraveled the paper to reveal much more writing. ' Dear Miranda, if you're reading this…'

-Last Night-

"So bars here serve… Bamboo Milk?" A confused Naruto asked while looking at the glass of 'milk' he'd been served dubiously.

"Fermented Bambo Milk, and *Hic* yeah, it's one of the most popular drinks in the World of Twelve," A slightly tipsy Eva said after chugging down her third glass, giggling softly while slamming her empty cup onto the counter for the bartender to refill. The normally composed archer was flushed and wobbly in her seat, a dribble of milk on her chin that she tried, and failed, to wipe away. "Oh man, I've been needing this."

"You said it." Amalia agreed while slamming her own glass down with a goofy smile of her own and a heavy blush on her cheeks.

"Uh, maybe you two should slow down a little…" Naruto suggested half-heartedly, only to sigh in amused exasperation when the duo just chugged down their next serving. He really should have known this was coming as in the short time he'd known them it was obvious that despite their usual formal attitudes both girls enjoyed to cut loose when they could.

So that's what he let them do, idly handing the bartender a sack a kamas to cover their ever increasing amount of orders. It didn't even take twenty minutes before the duo were utterly sloshed and before he knew it they were over at a karaoke stage trying to sing a duet.

"Oh thy beauty~"

"What holdeth my name~"

"The Rose grows upon the sunny daaaaay~"

Or at least that's what Naruto thinks they were trying to do as they mostly just sang out random lines between fits of hiccups and giggles. Hell, Amalia was barely able to even stand, constantly leaning on Eva for support as they swayed to and fro onstage.

Realizing he was being left out of his own celebration though, Naruto finally took a curious sip of his own beverage and had to admit it wasn't half bad. The milk had a mild sweet flavor he couldn't quite place with a surprisingly pleasant alcoholic aftertaste, not really bitter but enough burn to balance out the sweetness. All in all he could see why it was such a popular drink as he cheerfully down the rest of it in just a few swigs. "Oh, not bad, not bad at all."

Waving down the bartender for a refill, the whiskered blonde casually nursed his new drink while continuing to enjoy his friends' onstage antics. About halfway through his second drink though, Naruto's gaze drifted over to a familiar face at a table in the far corner.

' Miranda?' Indeed, the sly businesswoman in question was there, sitting by herself while sipping at a glass of hard liquor, with several empty ones around her.

Thinking she was here to celebrate Real Gobbly's victory as well, the blonde smiled and was about to wave her down. However, he stopped himself cold when his brain pushed back his mild buzz to get him to notice that something was off.

Firstly, she was alone, there was no sign of her husband Kabrok or anyone else to be seen. And secondly, one good look at Miranda's face told Naruto that she was NOT in any kind of celebratory mood. If anything she looked outright depressed, leaning on the table with her chin in the palm of her hand.

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears while she took a long draught from her booze.

' …So much for a relaxing night.' Sighing, Naruto set his drink aside as he got up and made his way over to the Ecaflip's table, idly creating a clone to keep an eye on Eva and Amalia.

His concern only grew when the woman didn't even notice him taking a seat right across from her…

"Ahem."

"HUH!?" At least not until he pointedly cleared his throat to get her attention. Poor Miranda nearly jumped out of her fur, nearly dropping her drink in shock when she snapped out of her thoughts and saw the whiskered blonde. Once the initial surprise wore off though, the businesswoman quickly sat up straighter and plastered on one of the fakest smiles Naruto had ever seen in his life. "Oh, uh… hello there, you're Naruto, right? Did you need something?"

"Not really, I just figured I'd stop and say hello, seeing as we haven't been properly introduced yet," The blonde said with a shrug, before offering his hand. "You already know it but I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Miranda, it's a pleasure," The brunette Ecaflip stated while accepting the offered handshake, missing it the first time thanks to her tipsiness but getting it the second attempt, still wearing that fake smile the whole time. "Ruel told me a lot about you."

"I can say the same about you, especially about a certain map I've had the… pleasure of dealing with while traveling together." Naruto said with a wry chuckle, causing Miranda to wince a little as her smile finally became a tad genuine albeit sheepish.

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't happen to believe I wasn't aware of how temperamental that little trinket is, would you?" She asked, to which Naruto just snorted with an eyeroll. "Figure as much, you aren't mad about the whole 'engagement' scheme too, are you?"

"That whole thing, nah, I already got that whole thing out of my system," Another snort slipped from Naruto's lips as he spoke, recalling the predicament he'd left Ruel in beforehand. Part of him hoped the old coot would learn a lesson, but the rest of him knew that that wasn't likely to happen anytime soon. "Speaking of though, I'm a little surprised you aren't still out peddling that stuff. From what I saw people were all but trampling each-other to get their hands on it."

"Oh they were, I just decided to call it a night so erm, I could celebrate Real Gobbly's victory. Yeah, to Real Gobbly." Miranda said, holding her glass up as if for a toast before taking a large swig, or at least she tried to.

Instead of cold burning booze though, the sensually dressed saleswoman found herself pressing her lips against warm flesh thanks to Naruto cupping his hand over the top of her glass.

"Well, I've never seen someone celebrating by crying and getting drunk in a dark corner all by themselves." While the words were spoken softly, they made Miranda flinch as if struck before she stared at the floor, refusing to meet Naruto's gaze.

" Well now you have," She muttered in a more scathing tone than she intended while trying to pull her drink free but couldn't get it to budge even an inch. Frowning, she grabbed Naruto's hand with hers, razor sharp claws extending from her fingertips and sinking into his flesh as she yanked and pulled. And yet the blonde still didn't budge, not even when a dribble of blood started to seep down between his fingers, making her scowl. "Look buddy, how I celebrate is really none of your business. So why don't you move your fucking hand before I 'celebrate' my foot right up your ass?"

"…Alright then." The blonde conceded, finally letting the cup slip free from his grasp so Miranda could finally enjoy her drink.

However, she'd only taken a tiny sip before stopping, her ear twitching as she glanced at Naruto watching her. He didn't say anything, didn't do anything, he just watched her silently with those comforting cerulean eyes of his.

Frowning, she pointedly stared at the table while downing almost half her glass in one go, yet she could still feel his gaze boring into her.

…

…

"You know what, fuck this!" Slamming her drink down so hard that the bottom of the glass cracked, Miranda grabbed Naruto by the shirt and pulled herself right up in his face, all but throwing the table out of the way to get to him. "You think you're such a hot shot now, huh? That because you won a stupid game and everyone will cave in to whatever you want? Huh? Think maybe you'll get lucky with the pretty lady by acting all suave?"

Not giving Naruto a chance to respond, the Ecaflip lady slapped him, her claws leaving small angry scratches on his cheek.

"Well you can go fuck off! I ain't open for that kind of business!" She screamed in his face while slapping him again several times, though without the claws out this time. When this still didn't seem to faze the blonde though, she balled up her fists and started wailing on his chest instead. "You'd best go try some other skank because I'm happily ma…! I'm maaaarr… I-I… I'm… I'm ma…"

As fast as it had flared up, Miranda's fury suddenly sputtered back out as she tumbled over her words. Her punches slowly lost their strength with each blow, striking slower and softer each time until she didn't even bother lifting them anymore. She kept trying but that one last word kept getting stuck in her mouth for some reason, as if her own voice refused to finish it. And with each failed try more and more tears welled up in the brunette's eyes, before finally spilling down her cheeks.

"I'm maar… I'm maaaar… I'm… maaarried…" At last Miranda finally managed to spew out that one little word out, yet all that seemed to do was shatter whatever resolve she had left as she buried her head in Naruto's chest sobbing uncontrollably.

"Whoa… easy there," Naruto said softly, rubbing the crying woman's back while pulling her chair close and helping her sit back down, though she stayed clung tight to him. After setting the table back up, he waved down a server for some cups of Bamboo Milk, unfermented this time, for them. Helping her tap a few sips of the soothing beverage, he waited till her sobs had calmed down to a soft sniffling before speaking again. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Rather than trying to say anything, Miranda slowly reached into the hem of her dress and pulled out a folded-up note with her name on it. She ended up dropping it from how bad her hand was shaking but Naruto was quick to catch it before it could fall more than an inch.

Glancing at it, he was thankful that he'd spammed a few clones to learn the basics of this time's writing as he unfolded it.

Dear Miranda, if you're reading this then I'm already long gone

I can never apologize enough for the pain and misery I have brought upon us these last few months. My selfish actions ruined what was a beautiful life we had together and you've had to pay for the consequences for them. I can only hope that without me to drag you down further and the money you've earned today you'll be able to at least have a normal prosperous life again.

Live well, be happy, and find it in your heart to forgive me,

Kabrok

"…Oh." That was all Naruto could say, unconsciously hugging Miranda a little tighter after reading and rereading the note. His heart went out for the heartbroken woman, he may have not known her long but he could see the love she'd obviously held for Kabrok. Even when she had been frantically selling off wares she'd always stop every few minutes to cheer with him and more than once pulled the man into a hug during the big moments.

And to top it off, a wedding band sat underneath Kabrok's name, held in place by a clear glue.

Meanwhile, the woman in question bowed her head, tears pouring down her face as she finished off the rest of her milk.

"It's all my fault…" She whimpered out, getting the blonde's attention when she started whacking the side of her head. "If I had only listened to Kabrok when he said to let things go none of this would have happened. But no, I just had to be all stubborn and kept pushing. Stupid. Stupid!"

"Hey, stop that," Naruto grabbed her wrist and held it down to stop her from hitting herself. When she still kept struggling while muttering 'stupid' under her breath though, he did something a little more daring; gently scratching her head between her ears. The moment his fingers met her scalp Miranda went stiff as a board… before sighing softly and slowly sinking further into his grasp. "Why don't we just start from the beginning, okay? What happened exactly?"

There was obviously more going on here than just a runaway husband, given the 'selfish actions' and 'months of pain and misery' said husband mentioned in his goodbye note.

Sighing again, this time sadly, whatever buzz Miranda had seemed to fade away as she stared down at her lap. "The others told you what happened when we first met, right?"

"They needed a map and you agreed to give them the magic one in exchange for catching a criminal called the Black Crow who turned out to be your husband. He was messing with local businesses out of frustration of not being able to adventure anymore."

"Yeah, I suspected it was him but part of me was hoping I was wrong, so I asked your friends to find out. Unfortunately my suspicions were proven right and it really was Kabrok," The brunette mumbled. "We managed to get past it though, he promised to stop in return for going out on the occasion adventure. He even made a good point that it helped keep our rare items in stock. Everything seemed to be going fine again…"

"I'm sensing a but." Despite being a statement not a question, Miranda still nodded while rubbing one of her eyes with a sniffle.

"Not everyone would be so willing to forgive and forget as I was. I figured the other businesses would be salty for a while and apologized with some free inventory to help them out. They seemed to accept it and I thought everything was fine… but I learned the truth soon enough," Her voice cracked as she grabbed the bottom of her dress with a trembling hand and slowly lifted it up. Naruto was about to stop her, thinking it had something to do with her inebriated state, only to stop when a large bald spot of melted looking rubber-like skin was exposed. It was a burn scar, second almost third degree by the looks of it, covering most of the left side of her hip and stretching a few inches up her waist. "A week after everything happened Kabrok left to go on his first adventure in years, everything seemed like it was going fine, a-and then the next thing I know I'm waking up in the middle of the night to find everything on fire."

Letting her dress drop back down but keeping a hand over the scar, Miranda's entire body shook, and she grabbed onto the table for support. A fresh tide of tears poured from her eyes as she gained a thousand-yard stare.

"I'm a heavy sleeper, if it hadn't been for a piece of the roof b-breaking off… burning m-e… everything was b-burning… my home… my S-Snoofle… all of it… all I could do was get out. But when I did…" A shudder ran down the businesswoman's spine as her claws dug into the wooden table.

Naruto frowned seeing how distraught Miranda was getting and kept petting her head more to try and help her calm down. However, this time it didn't appear to have any affect, making his concern grow even more. "Hey, you don't have to talk about it if-"

"Everyone was just standing around my home," The cat-like woman cut him off while hugging herself and snuggling up to his side. "At first, I thought they were just investigating the fire… but then I saw just how many there were… hundreds of people I've never seen before… and the way they just stared at me… I could tell…"

"They wanted revenge." Naruto finished for her, getting Miranda to nod softly.

"So I fled for my life with what I could salvage, and once I was far enough away I called Kabrok, he… he used to carry a special relic that I could contact him through in emergencies," Miranda's gaze drifted to the ring stuck to the goodbye note. "He came back and we moved here to Bonta hoping to start over. Thankfully I always kept our most valuable stock hidden in a Haven Bag that was protected from the fire and we set up shop pretty easy."

"But…?"

"But Kabrok's reputation followed us, or rather his victims did…." The Ecaflip stated with yet another sigh before waving down a server for an actual alcoholic drink. And this time Naruto didn't do anything to stop her, rather he ordered one for himself as well while Miranda spilled out her guts to him.

As it turned out Kabrok hadn't just harassed businesses, he'd stolen many valuable treasures as well which people had naturally come demanding back. Others had simply reported them to the guards who forced the couple to give up almost all their remaining wealth or be sent to jail. And then there were the more violent ones who simply tried to destroy their business and/or kill them outright.

Even when all that was over, rumors had spread so far that it left the pair with very little business, with only the passing travelers even setting foot in their shop.

"Today was the first time we *Hic* made an actual profit in two months, you know," Miranda said while giggling in a dopey drunken manner, Naruto joining in as they chugged down large mugs of Fermented Bamboo Milk. If it wasn't obvious that the pair were completely sloshed by looks, the several dozen empty glasses littered around them definitely gave it away. "And I thought that *Hic* maybe our luck was finally turning around. But nooooooooooooooo! He decides to just up and leave me! Just like that! And now *Hic* and now I don't know what I'll do! Hahaha *Hic*"

"I'm sure you think foo something, you talk smartz and… and… whatzit word again? Completative? Compalitate? Good with work." Naruto told her with a hearty pat on the back that caused Miranda to drop her drink, alcoholic milk flying everywhere as the glass shattered on the floor. Not that Miranda seemed to care as she just burst into even more laughter before taking a swig from the blonde's mug instead.

"Oh aren't you just the sweetest little thing~ *Hic*" She said while snuggling against the blonde's chest, dancing her fingers across his chin with a soft purring. "You know, it's getting pretty late. How about we *Hic* go somewhere a little more… private so I can tell you more~?"

"That's probably a… a something… a good idea? Yeah, good idea. My hotel isn't… its nearby," Naruto mumbled with a nod, completely missing the businesswoman's less than subtle intentions as the duo got up… and immediately fell flat on their faces. "…I think we took a wrong turn."

-XxXxX-

It took nearly an hour before Naruto and Miranda managed to stumble their way back to the hotel room the blonde was staying in. Mostly because they could barely make it ten feet without falling over again.

Honestly it would have taken even longer if not for the clone Naruto created to watch Eva and Amalia creating another one to help the original Blonde.

Stumbling into the blonde's room, the inebriated pair flopped onto the bed with drunken laughs while the clone went to check on something.

"Oh man… why won't the room stop spinning?" Naruto asked with a snort as he sat up, slowly swaying side to side.

"I don't know, it's really hot too," His hammered companion slurred out while fanning herself with a hand before smiling salaciously. "Good thing that's *hic* easy to fix."

"Oh really? How-" Naruto started to ask, only to freeze when he looked at Miranda just in time to see her dress dropping to the floor. As it turned out she'd forgone wearing a bra today, assuming she ever wore one as her bare breasts hung out in all their glory, leaving her in just a pair of red silk panties and her gloves.

"I think you already know~." She purred out while crawling on all fours across the bed until she was right on top of the blond, literally. Pushing the blonde down onto his back, the sensual Ecaflip grabbed his jacket and shirt and, with a surprising amount of dexterity for her drunken state, slipped them both off in a single move. Drool poured down her lips as she ogled his washboard smooth stomach and toned chest that she gingerly kissed. "Oooh yes~ I think I know exactly how to-brrm?"

An admittedly adorable sounding confused burble slipped from Miranda's lips when she was scooped off Naruto… by Naruto?

"Yeah no, not happening, you are nowhere in your right mind for that kind of stuff," The clone said with a shake of his head, holding the hammered businesswoman under his arm. However, she just kept trying to get to his creator, who was too drunk to understand what she was trying to do.

Seeing this, the clone sighed before grabbing a scroll from the original blonde's jacket and unfurled it, causing a deluge of kamas to pour all over the bed.

"Gack!" And the original Naruto of course, who burst out from underneath the pile with an indignant shout. "Holy! Is it raining gold? I didn't know it can rain gold."

"…Wow, note to self, Boss is a stupid drunk." C. Naruto muttered with a shake of his head while carefully setting Miranda back down, who stared at the pile of gold with sparkling eyes.

"So many *hic* kamas… I've never seen so many at once, there's gotta be *Hic* a… a lot!" Quickly crawling to the middle of the pile, the brunette giggled in an almost childlike manner as she started rolling around in the pile of coins. She scooped up several handfuls and let them shower down onto herself with a purr, before flipping onto her side and stacking several haphazardly. "One, two *hic* two, so sparkly… I gotta know how many, five, six…"

"That should keep her busy until she-" Miranda's head dropped onto the stack she was making, scattering the coins back into the pile, followed by the sound of gentle snores. "Falls asleep, alrighty then."

Glancing at his creator, who'd also passed out cold, C. Naruto shook his head in amusement before tucking them both in.

Once he was done, the shadow clone took a seat by Miranda's side and gently rubbed her head, making her hum contently, before dispelling himself.

-Present-

Naruto sighed sympathetically as he sat beside Miranda, gently running a hand through her long hair. Even in her sleep the Ecaflip nuzzled into his touch while curling up into a ball on the bed of gold.

' Man, I really can't do anything without finding people that need help, can I?' He thought with a quiet sigh, which turned to a chuckle when Miranda latched onto his arm like a teddy bear. ' Well at least there shouldn't be anything else that-'

"Oh Cra! Move!" Eva suddenly bulldozed through the room with a green face, cupping both hands over her mouth as she ran straight for the bathroom. Not a second later the sound of loud and violent vomiting rang out through the whole hotel, followed by several moans and groans of everyone else waking up… and more vomiting.

"…Fuck, I'll get a mop."

-End Chapter-

AN: A minor pet peeve mine was how Kabrok just gets off Scott free for all the crimes he did. Throughout most of the first and some of the second you can hear how many people he ruined/robbed over the years, such as the Map which is revealed to have been stolen from the bread baker family. And yet after his true identity is revealed, with Yugo proudly blurting it out all the time, nobody bothers to get payback? Thousands if not tens of thousands of businesses, families, travelers lives ruined and we're expected to just accept that they all just let it go?

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a great character and him x Miranda is one of my favorite couples, but still… no consequences at all? Hell he even gets rewarded with getting to go on real adventures again.