Summary: He was just an average student. Nothing stood out too much. Naruto Uzumaki was always smiling, helping others, and doing what he could. But as it turned out, he was much more than that. He would become the unknown factor in the world of Spellswords.
"Naruto." Speech
'Naruto.' Think
Warning: My English isn't the best, but I try to write to the best of my abilities.
Naruto looked out of the window of the carriage he was in right now. After he had survived the encounter with Alexia, he and she became friends. Since today was the weekend, he could visit the blacksmith he knew in the province. He heard from him that he finally got his hands on some mithril, and because of that, Naruto was on his way to the Kagenō territory.
He also heard that a girl was seen that had first signs of demon possession or, to be more precise, did she show first signs of the diablos curse. He would make sure to find her before he would go to his old friend who made his swords. Naruto looked at the other two people who were in the carriage. It was a surprise, but two women were in the carriage as well. He hasn't spoken with them yet because one of them was a woman he knew well.
She wore a revealing dark decorative gown with opera gloves and high heels, a choker, and a necklace. Her blue eyes were closed while she sat on the other side of the carriage. 'That is unfortunate that Alpha is also on her way to the Kagenō territory,' thought Naruto. Just from the look of it, it should be the woman beside her, one of the other girls who were with Alpha when they confronted him in the crater.
Naruto looked out of the carriage again and thought about the document he had with him. Since he would be in the territory of the Kagenō, he could go to the place where he hides everything that would be critical when it would fall into the wrong hands. He didn't have the plan to come back to the capitol till Sunday anyway, and thus, he could even relax a bit in his hideout.
"A beautiful landscape," said Alpha. Naruto looked at Alpha and could see how she was looking at him with her blue eyes. She was smiling and didn't seem to be one of the leaders of a secret organization who fought the Diablos cult in the shadows.
"Indeed," said Naruto with a smile. "I always love to see the scenery while I ride the carriage to the Kagenō territory." He looked through the window and said, "Nature is one of the most beautiful things that exists in this world. Nothing comes close to the beauty nature provides without any form of payment."
"That is a good quote," said the woman beside Alpha. Naruto nodded and smiled while he looked for a short moment at her before he looked through the window again. Naruto took a little book out of the inside of his blazer and a pencil. He opened the book until he was at a side where there was already something written. Naruto smiled while he began to write something on the page.
The woman beside Alpha got curious about what Naruto was writing. She would love to ask, but she can't do that right now. She was a famous writer for the outside world named Natsume. Seeing how someone else writes in a book with such deep concentration was always a pleasing sight.
Her attire comprised a white ruffle blouse that also revealed her cleavage, a professional dark mini skirt with split-up sides, black stockings, and high heels. Additionally, she was adorned with a pair of glasses she needed for clear vision, a necklace, and a scarf around her waist that wrapped along her forearms to stay affixed to her person. This was Beta in her civilian attire as Natsume Kafka, the famous writer.
Naruto was deep in concentration while he wrote the page complete. He hasn't released a book yet, but he is on his way to joining the writer community from this world. He would use the name of his master to remain anonymous.
Alpha couldn't help but think of Menma when she was looking at Naruto. She didn't know the name of the man in front of her, but he had some similarities with Menma. The spiky hair was just a bit shorter than Menmas'. The most obvious thing would be the six whisker marks on the face of the man who sat on the opposite side of the carriage.
Naruto stopped for a moment and looked out of the window for a few seconds at the beautiful landscape slowly passing them. He smiled the entire time, and after he had looked out of the window for a few seconds, he wrote again. His smile never left his face while he was writing about the life of his old master.
When Naruto stopped the next time and closed the book, he looked a bit confused at Beta. "Is something, miss?"
"It is nothing. I am just curious what you are writing about. I am a writer, and I find it fascinating to see how other people write a book," said Beta with a smile.
"Oh, you must be Natsume Kafka, the newcomer and superstar! It is an honor," said Naruto while he smiled.
"Oh please, you don't need to be so formal with me. You can call me Natsume," said Beta.
"Could I ask what you are writing about?" asked Beta.
"I once had an important person in my life who taught me many things and showed me how to have fun," said Naruto while he looked outside with a dreamy look. "I never had parents, and he was like a father to me. I don't know what I would do today if it weren't for him."
"He sounds like an amazing person," said Alpha.
"Yeah… the best there was," said Naruto while he thought about his old master.
"What happened to him?" asked Beta.
"He died in a fight with a criminal," said Naruto.
"I understand," said Beta. Alpha didn't say anything at this remark and looked at Naruto. She couldn't get the feeling out of her chest that the person in front of her had something to do with Menma.
"But don't worry," said Naruto while he smiled at both of them. "I live my life to the fullest just like he showed me. I will honor his teachings and his way of life. No matter what happens, I will go forward on the path he made possible for me."
"I wish you good luck on your way," said Beta.
"Thank you, Natsume," said Naruto. "Could I ask what you both are doing in the province? I hadn't thought that a famous writer and another beautiful young lady would travel into the province," said Naruto.
"Let's say that we have a meeting with an old friend," said Alpha.
"Oh… you both are friends, I presume? Then I won't ask any further," said Naruto.
Alpha shook her head and said, "Don't worry. Everything is all right."
"Yes, it is a pleasure to meet you. It is not every day that someone meets an open person like you," said Beta.
"Oh please, I am just me. I am nothing special like you both. I am not a beautiful young elf, and I am just an average student at the Royal Midgar Spellsword Academy," said Naruto while he touched the sword that lay beside him one time.
When Alpha saw the sheath of the sword, she thought she had seen this sword before. "What a relief; if something happens, then we have a knight who would protect us," said Beta in a joking manner.
Naruto chuckled a bit and said, "I would try my best, but don't expect too much from me. I am just an average student still in training. Normal robbers wouldn't be a problem, but harder enemies would be a problem," said Naruto.
The carriage stopped, and that was the moment the three passengers found out they were at their destination. "Oh, look at that, I have luck. I don't even need to draw my sword," said Naruto while he stood up and equipped it properly on his left side again. He got out of the carriage first and turned around.
"Melady…" said Naruto while he held his hand to Alpha, who was about to go out of the carriage too. "Well, thank you," said Alpha. Naruto did the same thing with Beta, and shortly after, all three were standing in front of a little grocery store.
"It was a pleasure to meet the two of you, but I have to go now," said Naruto.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, too," said Alpha. "Could we get your name before you go?" asked Beta.
Naruto just realized he hadn't even introduced himself properly. He laughed a bit and said, "Of course! I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto's smile faded for a moment when he looked to his side in a specific direction. He felt it pretty clearly. Alpha saw his look and knew something was up. She didn't believe that he was just an average student. He looked pretty standard on the outside, but she wasn't the second strongest in Shadow Garden for nothing. She had seen how his muscles twitched when he was doing certain things in the carriage or his actions now, too.
"I hope we see each other again," said Naruto with a smile again on his face. He bowed once and then turned around and walked in the direction he just looked in a few seconds ago. Both members of Shadow Garden looked after him before Alpha said, "Let's follow him. He hides something."
"I know," said Beta. Both began to walk in the same direction before they both went into a side alley. Out of nowhere appeared, black slime around them before they were in their shadow garden outfits. Their slime-body suits were on full display before both jumped onto the next roof and made their way toward Naruto, who wasn't in sight of both anymore.
Naruto was running at full speed, with mana enhancing his body, through the woods toward his destination. He was already looking like "Menma" again since he had a hunch that Alpha and Beta would follow him. He knew that he could quickly lose them, but he wouldn't be able to help a specific person. He stopped when he saw her.
Naruto didn't say something because the elf girl was sleeping with a painful expression on her face. Her right arm showed the curse of diablos. Her entire right arm was just rotten flesh. He raised his hand and held it in front of the sleeping elf girl. A white light shone through the woods before it vanished.
Alpha saw it and got faster. Beta followed her at full speed to see what happened in the depths of the woods. Naruto looked at the now-cured girl who was still sleeping. 'She must be 13 years old or something like that. It is really a shame that I could find a victim even today. Since I cured Alpha and she joined Shadow Garden, I only met ten other girls over the past five years. I thought every victim in Midgar would have been cured by shadow garden and became a member of them,' thought Naruto.
He could hear how two people landed behind him. He didn't move and laid a hand over the eyes of the sleeping girl. A white light emitted from his palm before it vanished again. The painful expression on her face was already gone since Naruto cured the girl, but now, she looked like she had a pleasant dream.
Naruto stood up and took a step to the side to reveal the elf girl. He turned to Alpha and Beta halfway and said in a quiet voice, "Perfect timing. This girl was a victim of the curse. It would be best if Shadow Garden would let her join," said Naruto. His blood-red eyes looked into the blue eyes of Alpha.
"It would be the best, yeah," said Alpha. "What are you doing here, Menma?" She looked at the sword at his side and recognized it directly. It was the sword Naruto equipped on his left side. She looked into his blood-red eyes and waited for an answer.
"I have business here. On my way to my destination, I felt the magical wave of magic overload, and since this mostly meant that someone with the Diablos curse was in the nearby area, I went looking. I found this little elf girl and cured her," said Naruto.
"I ask myself if you should just join us after all that happened in the short amount of time we saw each other more than one time," said Alpha.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders and turned away. He took a step before he stopped when he saw something black out of the corner of his eyes. Something black lay on his right shoulder. It was the tip of a black spike that Alpha created. She held her right index finger in his direction, which was the source of the black spike.
"I would retreat that thing if you don't want to get hurt, Alpha," said Naruto with a calm voice.
The black spike retreated, and Naruto vanished before he appeared right in front of Alpha. His blood red eyes looked straight into her blue ones. Alpha twitched slightly when Naruto appeared right in front of her and was facing her. His blood red eyes were shimmering dangerously. He hadn't drawn his weapon and was standing right in front of Alpha.
Naruto took a step back and said, "One more time, and I will not just let this slide. I have no problem with fighting against Shadow Garden, but I would favor it if you wouldn't give me a reason to do so, Alpha." He looked at Beta, and after that, he looked at Alpha.
"You both want answers? Fine. But don't say I didn't warn the both of you." Naruto turned away and walked towards the sleeping girl. He picked her up and carried her now like a bride. Naruto began to walk in a specific direction.
Alpha and Beta followed him, and after 30 minutes, both came to a single house that stood far away from any civilization. "Wait here," said Naruto before he went inside. He came back outside after 5 minutes and said, "Alright. We can go now. I just made sure she would sleep the entire time before you both got her from here to join your ranks.
"Where are we going?" asked Alpha.
"You wanted answers," said Naruto. He pulled the sword out of his sheath and stuck the sword into the ground. "Before I will answer your questions… I want to ask both of you something, and only if you both tell me the truth, only then will I answer your questions."
Alpha nodded and had a severe expression on her face. "Cid Kagenō is this Shadow you told me about the other day, isn't he?"
Alpha didn't say anything, and Beta was shocked that Naruto even knew this piece of information. She got worried about how this conversation would go. She had a feeling in her belly that something unpleasant would be said.
"Since you already know it, there is no reason to deny it," said Alpha. "Why do you want to know this if you already know it anyway?"
"What is he doing right now? Do you both know that?" asked Naruto. He looked into the blue eyes of each number's member of Shadow Garden.
"He is doing what he is always doing; he does what he needs to do," said Alpha.
Naruto closed his eyes and sighed. "I see," said Naruto while he pulled his sword out of the ground and sheathed it. He turned around and was about to walk, but Alpha stopped him.
"Wait! What are you doing? I thought you would give us answers," said Alpha.
"Your entire organization is blind. You don't see what is happening right in front of your eyes. When you can't see what is right in front of your eyes, why should I give you answers you don't deserve?" asked Naruto.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Beta with narrowed eyes. Naruto looked at Beta and said, "What's the answer Alpha gave me to my question about what your leader is doing?"
Beta remained quiet before she said, "Shadow-sama does what Alpha told you! He is always doing what is necessary and helps others. He knows everything and doesn't even need our information to know what we plan."
"You just gave yourself the answer," said Naruto. "You are too blind for what is really happening in front of your eyes. You and everyone else in your organization ignore the obvious facts. I thought that at least Alpha had seen through that whole theater, but I was wrong. I misjudged the both of you, and that was my mistake. I shouldn't even have allowed the two of you to follow me. You are not ready for the truth," said Naruto.
"I will go now," said Naruto. He walked towards the both of them, and when he was right beside them, he looked at Alpha one more time. She seems to be deeply thinking about what Naruto told them. He walked a few meters more and stopped.
"Rule number one…" Both girls turned around and saw Naruto as he looked at both of them. "… always look underneath the underneath. Remember that while we are traveling," said Naruto. "Now, follow me."
He turned around and started walking again. Alpha and Beta looked at Naruto's back for a few seconds before both narrowed their eyes and followed him. All three were walking in a regular tempo through the woods in a specific direction while no one was talking.
"Tell me, Alpha, what have I said to your comrade?"
"We are too blind for what is really happening right in front of our eyes…," said Alpha before Naruto nodded, satisfied. "Good. Beta, what do you think I have meant with it?"
She didn't say anything at first and repeated his words in her head a few times. She didn't know what he meant by what he said to her. "You don't need to answer me right now. It will take a while before we come to our destination," said Naruto.
"Why are you doing all of this?" asked Alpha.
"Shadow Garden is a giant organization with many members. I can only imagine how many victims you all cured, letting them join your ranks. The important thing is that you think that you all know exactly what is going on, but you all don't know what is going on and what you all believe in. I hope after today, you both recognize what you don't see. You all must see the truth that hides itself all this time directly in front of your eyes." He looked ahead and saw a deer that was running through the woods.
"But when I would say it to both of you, you wouldn't believe me because of the circumstances. You both need to understand it yourself what is going on and what is hiding from all eyes of your organization," explained Naruto.
"You don't trust us at all in this matter, do you?" asked Alpha.
"It may sound harsh, but no, I don't trust you in this matter. You need to figure that out yourself," said Naruto.
After a while, Naruto looked at Alpha and asked, "Who plans everything in Shadow Garden before you all move out to do the mission?"
"It all depends on the circumstances and the kind of mission," said Alpha. "I hope you understand that we can't just reveal how we operate in Shadow Garden."
"I know. I want you both to think about my question. Answer it yourself in your head. I don't want to hear the answer. The only important thing is that you both understand the question and the reason I asked this question in the first place," said Naruto. After that, Naruto went quiet again while the two beautiful women followed him.
Three hours later, they were walking through a purple mist. Naruto had asked the two a few questions, and like before, he didn't want an answer. He wanted them to think about the reason why he asked them all of this.
"We have reached our goal," said Naruto. Beta and Alpha walked up to Naruto and were now standing right and left next to Naruto. "You are still searching for a place for your organization. I think this place would be a decent location. This is Alexandria, the old capital of the Midgar. Kingdom."
Alpha had wide eyes when she heard the name of the ancient city. She and the other shades tried to find this specific place in the past because they thought that this would be the perfect place for their base, but they couldn't find it. They searched through the mist for a long time, but they couldn't find the ancient capital of the old Midgar Kingdom.
"How did you find this place?" asked Beta while she looked at Naruto.
"You could say that I have owned this place since I was 13. I am the only one who can find this place without a problem. You two were only able to travel through the mist because you both were with me. I renamed it the Hidden Mist Village," said Naruto while he began walking.
Both followed him down to the ancient ruins of the old capital. While they were walking through the ruins, Alpha and Beta could see that some ruins had been renovated and were now houses again. "Have you done all of this alone?" asked Alpha.
"Yes. I want this place to be a haven for people who suffered enough in their lives without the fear of dealing ever again with the evil from this world. This was my plan to this day, but I thought that you all basically could fit into this description, and because of that, I wanted to offer you this place as a base for Shadow Garden, with certain conditions, of course. The first and most important was that you all would see the truth and know what is going on right in front of your eyes," said Naruto.
"Why are you doing all of this, Menma?" asked Alpha.
"I have seen enough suffering for more than just one life. I want to help people, and giving people a place to live without the fear of having to deal with the evil of this world is simply a part of that," said Naruto. "But that will have to wait since I showed you the truth about why I was in the Kagenō territory, and with that, our conversation is over."
A purple mist suddenly surrounded Alpha and Beta before they found themselves again inside the forest they just passed through with Naruto. "What happened?" asked Beta.
"We are back inside of the forest. I guess Menma can manipulate the mist and teleport people around with the mist, but that is just speculation," said Alpha.
"Alpha about the things Menma said… you don't believe that, do you?" asked Beta.
Alpha was quiet for a few seconds before she said, "I don't like what he is indicating, but he never lied to this day. I trust him enough to know that he would never lie about something like that, and I always thought about that If I am being honest."
Beta remained quiet when she thought about the person who saved her. Shadow… the leader of Shadow Garden. What had he done so far besides the obvious, training the seven shades? After the seven shades left him… she didn't want to think about what Naruto was indicating. She knew that Naruto had more than one good point with all the things he asked them without telling them the exact reason why he asked them the question. He was right about one thing: She would never believe him when he would have said what she came up with herself after she thought about everything.
Shadow is not the guy he appears to be. Something was odd, and she didn't want to think about it, but like she always did… she was able to summarize a large amount of information and filter out the most essential information from it. She had gone through everything that happened after Shadow Garden went out into the world to start the war with the cult of Diablos. After they left Shadow… she had pain in her heart when she thought about the truth that Naruto was talking about.