I don't own Naruto or Shield Hero
Life is about learning; when you stop learning, you die. ~ Tom Clancy and me...
Chapter 14 – Intersections...
Naruto had made a name for himself as he traveled back to Melromarc. His alternate name was the Savior of the Heavenly Foul and Sky Dragon. He didn't take well to this name, but when crossing back into Melromarc, waiting for him were the Spear Hero, Malty and their group and a large contingent of soldiers. Naruto looked wearily at Motoyasu. Naruto asked, "What is going on, Motoyasu?"
Motoyasu angrily replied, "You know what's going on!"
Naruto sighed and explained, "The reason I asked was because I have no idea why you're blocking my way."
Motoyasu growled and explained cryptically, "You killed them! Admit it!"
Naruto looked confused and asked, "Who did I supposedly kill?"
"Ren and Itsuki! You murderer!" Motoyasu exclaimed.
Naruto asked, "How could I have killed them? I've been out of the country for the last few weeks!"
Motoyasu looked confused and repeated, "You've been out of the country..."
Malty chimed in and exclaimed, "Don't listen to him. He's lying."
Nala jumped down next to Naruto and explained, "He fought off a wave in Siltvelt and then went to Shieldfreeden. What have you been doing?"
Malty exclaimed, "Shut up you damn demi-human! You lie!"
Naruto chuckled and said, "You're back to your old tricks. I've talked to your mother and she agrees that you need some help."
Malty became angry and exclaimed, "Shut up damn Demon of the Shield!"
Naruto looked around and exclaimed, "Out of the cart!" Everyone exited the cart and Naruto touched the cart and it disappeared. He turned to block an attack by Motoyasu. He asked, "What was that for?"
"You need to die for your treachery!" Motoyasu replied.
Naruto blocked another attack and explained, "If you kill me. Either the waves succeed or you have to die and new heroes have to be summoned. Now take a minute to think. Ren and Itsuki are at least competent. They shouldn't die easily."
Motoyasu halted his attack for a minute, but Malty began, "As source of my power and as the future queen. Faust Fire Blast!" A fireball was sent towards Naruto and nearly hit Motoyasu. She smiled with manic glee as the fire engulfed Naruto. When the fire died there was a nearly burned up log. Surprising Motoyasu's party. During this Filo and Ryoko had gathered all of the party into a small area. Naruto suddenly appeared next to Malty and kicked her near his group, followed by the other mage in Motoyasu's party and finally Motoyasu himself.
Naruto appeared the middle and exclaimed, "Shield Prison! Air shield, and Second Shield! Magic shield!" The large group was surrounded by the Shield Prison, two Air shields and a blue ethereal barrier appeared above the prison. Suddenly a light appeared and then beam shot down and hit the shields. The first buckled and broke... soon the second and third buckled and then the shield prison began to heat up. The light lasted for a minute, but the prison held.
Naruto chuckled as he released the shield prison. The two groups were in a crater with molten sides. He then looked up at the destroyed walls of the border. He then sighed and asked, "So are you going to tell me how you're going to destroy the 'Evil' Shield Hero or are you going to just going to take control of the nation?"
Motoyasu looked at Naruto in confusion and then looked up at the top of the crater where Naruto was talking to. He then muttered, "Pope Biscas T. Balmus?"
The Pope looked down and smiled. He then said, "You figured it out, boy? The Spear Hero looks confused. It is too bad that the Kingdom of Melromarc will become a Theocracy."
Malty looked confused and demanded, "What do you mean? I've helped you at every turn!"
The Pope hung his head and replied sadly, "When the Shield Hero returned he went wild and killed all the heroes. Both princesses were caught in the crossfire. It was a shame..." He gurgled and brought his hand up to his throat. He looked at his hand and it was covered in blood. He then felt several sharp pains in his body.
Naruto then explained, "First vertebrae, larynx, jugular vein, kidney, spleen, liver, heart, lungs, and diaphragm." Two slashes opened on the front stomach of the Pope, while three red spots appeared over his heart and lungs. The Pope then suddenly dropped to ground in a heap with a clone of Naruto standing behind him. Naruto then explained, "I love it when they start to monologue."
Motoyasu looked disgusted and about ready to throw up. He then exclaimed, "How could you kill him just like that?"
Naruto sighed and looked between Motoyasu and Malty. He then explained, "He was beginning a coup. I was authorized by the queen to eliminate him if he tried anything and... this was something... so... his subordinates are being either eliminated or captured by my clones." Naruto then eyed Motoyasu and said, "Now do you understand the gulf between you and I?"
Motoyasu began to stutter and asked, "But why did you kill him?"
Naruto shrugged and replied, "I would have liked to talk my way out, but he was going to kill us, the princesses and anyone in his way. It was also a mission from the Queen. He had one chance and threatening the monarchy was his one chance. Melty is the crown princess. While Malty is the first princess. Thus he threatened the line. I was hired to protect said line. I was also hired to improve the relations with other countries and the Pope was threatening that. Making the Three Heroes Church the absolute holder of power in the country would start a war with Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden. If not some other nations. Eliminating that will help relations for Melromarc. I'm known as an idiot and I understand at least this. Get a clue or do you only think with your lower 'spear'?"
Motoyasu had the decency to blush at the implications.
Nala knelt before Naruto and exclaimed, "Thank you, Naruto! You have saved both my country and Melromarc from an expensive war in both lives and treasure. This would be bad especially with the Waves hitting all the countries."
Motoyasu looked confused and asked, "What do you mean... hitting all countries?"
Naruto sighed and explained, "Not only Melromarc is being hit by the Waves of Catastrophe. I have now three timers for waves. If I can I will travel to other places and help those out. Oh hi Queen. Sorry for the number of dead, but they gave me little choice."
Mirellia smiled warmly and replied, "That is fine Naruto-kun. Most would have been sentenced to death for treason. As for the Spear Hero and his party..." She looked pointedly at Malty and continued, "My daughter will pay for her crimes, but may continue with the Spear Hero."
Malty wore an angry look on her face and then noticed Rino. She then exclaimed, "How did you get out?"
Naruto chuckled and explained, "She became my slave. Even though human slavery is frowned upon in Melromarc. She is doing quite well since you and your friends sold her off against her will. I think that you would be found guilty of kidnapping and enslavement against ones will. While it isn't thought to be so bad if it is done against demi-humans. Against humans it is against the law. I hope you enjoy being convicted of these crimes."
Malty glared at Naruto and exclaimed, "You! You! Demon of the Shield!"
Naruto chuckled and said, "Demon... You've never met a demon... I have... Want too?"
Sylvie sighed and said, "We have work to do and the troops have a hole in the ground to fix."
Naruto and his party climbed out the hole and got on the road. He unsealed his wagon and the team loaded up. They then left while the Queen and her troops cleaned up and she disciplined... I mean yelled at her eldest daughter.
Naruto eyed the short pudgy trader. The trader asked, "You wouldn't happen to the be the savior of the Heavenly foul and Sky dragon?"
Naruto sighed and eyed the man. He then replied, "I'm called a lot of things."
"Master we have a group of men blocking the road ahead," Filo explained.
The trader exclaimed, "You must be the Savior. Since the foul can talk."
Naruto asked Sylvie, "How many?"
Sylvie replied, "About two dozen or so."
Naruto looked at the trader and said, "We'll be talking after we take care of this speed bump." He moved to the front of the cart.
One of the men blocking road exclaimed, "You can get out of the cart and give us everything, but your lives."
Naruto sighed and said under his breath, "Bandits... I'm not sure if I want to kill them all or just loot them."
Sylvie giggled and Milly chuckled. Another bandit said, "Look boys, we have a couple cute demi-humans. We'll be having fun tonight."
The group laughed as Naruto, Sylvie, Milly, Melty, Rino and Fried got out of the cart. Another bandit exclaimed, "Look he has some kids too!"
Naruto put his fists on his hips and asked, "Sounds like you guys want to die."
A bandit laughed and explained, "That won't happen. We have a class-upgraded 'bodyguard'. Right boss."
Naruto looked at the girls and asked, "So, how do you want to handle this?"
Milly had disappeared, while Sylvie sighed and replied, "We could out number them and then..."
The bandits laughed and one exclaimed, "You are the ones out numbered."
From above a voice rang out, "You would need an army to out number us!" Suddenly, lightning cut through the bandits. The 'Bodyguard' fell to the ground. During this turmoil. The bandits lost track of Naruto's party. They all found themselves on the ground and soon woke, all of them tied up.
Naruto looked at the peddler and the man wilted under his glare. "You're going to compensate me for my troubles, right?" He asked and then turned to the bandits as they lined up to give away their possessions to Naruto and his party in a line leading from the bandit's hideout.
"Of course! I find you're giving them the choice of their lives or their treasure as the height of the merchants way." The merchant replied.
"I still see at as stealing from the thieves," Nala muttered under breath.
"We could have just interrogated them, killed them and then taken their stuff," Naruto explained with a glare. He then turned to the merchant and asked, "So how are you going to compensate me for my troubles?"
"I will of course teach you the ways of the merchant and contacts. Along with anything at my disposal," the merchant replied happily. And so the merchant taught Naruto all about his trade. He even taught Naruto some ways of imbuing gems and jewelry with mana to give the items special effects and ability modifiers.
Naruto and his band head to a town that has been complaining about a miasma that is poisoning the populous. He enters the town and finds that some monsters have entered the outskirts of the town, but are morphed into toxic forms of their regular forms. As the kids unload the supplies the adults of the party eliminate the monsters. Near the church. "As the Shield Hero decipher the laws of nature and heal all those in the area, Zweite Area Heal!" Naruto exclaims. A golden aura appears below Naruto and expands to include the building and about half of the town. Naruto then kneels down taking a breath and then slowly stands up. He then walks into the church.
"That was amazing. Most of the people are healed. Those that are still not fully healed are much better off. Thank you... Shield Hero," a priest/doctor exclaims at the entrance. "We are happy that you came. I was wondering if the capital was going to just let our town just die out."
"I'm sorry, but I can only be so many places at once. I also hear you have a decomposing dragon problem," Naruto asked.
"Yes. It was left over when the Sword Hero killed it. It attracted many adventurers to gather materials from the body, but then the body began to decompose and the adventurers couldn't deal with the corpse. After a while a miasma began to come down the mountain and it affected the local monsters and they began to come closer to the town. You came just in time to stop the first attack. Will you please take care of the body?" the doctor asked.
"I will after we take care of the rest of the patients. I will also leave some of my party here to protect the town," Naruto explained.
"That sounds most excellent. I will put in for the work orders with the capital and thank you so much," the doctor said with a smile.
"Now Filo I'm ordering you to keep your temper under control," Naruto ordered.
"But why dad?" Filo whined.
"Because we're going to the body of a dead dragon. For all we know it's turned undead... meaning it's a zombie. So, you can't just go crazy and just charge in and attack. We need to figure out a strategy and then go with that. If not then we dismember the body and give it a proper burial. If it's undead it may harbor feeling against the Sword Hero and I REALLY don't want to deal with a tsundere dragon. We would just need to put it back to rest and then lay it to rest," Naruto explained.
"I guess..." Filo replied, but not with acceptance.
"Filo..." Naruto growled out.
"Okay, dad," Filo capitulated.
"Okay, everyone change to poison filters on your masks," Naruto ordered. Everyone, but Naruto and Filo pulled off a white canister filter on their face mask and attached a purple one. The group included Nala, Naruto, Filo, Sylvie, and Millie. The children were left with Jiraiya and the doctor.
As the group approached the dragon corpse the congealed blood began to move back towards the dragon's body and some of the scales that were on the ground moved back to the body.
"Damn! It's undead. Look dragon! I'm sorry you died! I'm here to ask if I can help someone before I send you to the afterlife." Naruto asked.
The dragon shakily righted itself and roared. It shook it's head. It looked at Naruto and his party that while they had weapons. They didn't have combat stances. "Why did he attack?" the dragon asked.
"I don't know." Naruto replied. "He might have thought of you as a threat to the kingdom."
"I have lived here for hundreds of years and haven't been a threat. I even protected the town below from bandits." the dragon explained.
"I understand, but now that you've died. Your body is endangering the village below. It is because of it rotting." Naruto explained.
The dragon sighed and looked around with a little worry in its eyes. "Where is she? Did that man kill her? My daughter?" he asked in trepidation.
"Was she a dragon?" Naruto asked.
"No, she's a demi-human named Windia. Please make sure that she didn't die like I did." the dragon pleaded.
"Filo, Sylvia, Milly, Nala, begin a search of the area for a demi-human girl. Hopefully not a body, but if you do let us know. So that we can put," Naruto turned to the dragon with a quizzical look.
"Gaelion" the dragon replied.
"Gaelion at peace. If we don't find her then we can look for her and put Gaelion to rest and then let Windia know that we have actually laid Gaelion to rest peaceably. Now, Gaelion, what color hair does she have?" Naruto asked.
"She has light brown hair and dog ears and tail." Gaelion replied.
"Very good. I will be on the look out for her." Naruto explained.
"We heard him!" the girls all yelled back to Gaelion and Naruto.
Naruto took a seat in front of the dragon and sighed. "How do we want to do this after we find out if your daughter is here or not. I don't want to keep having looters come and digging up your corpse." Naruto explained.
"I am, or was the Dragon Emperor. I would have looked for my replacement for I feel a candidate in the village." Gaelion replied.
Naruto chuckled. "That would be Ryoko. My daughter that I'm raising."
"How wonderful. I'm glad you approached me in a defensive way. My anger is somewhat abated. I still have much anger for the Sword Hero." Galion explained.
"You aren't the only one," Naruto chuckled in reply. "He seems to be independent and arrogant, but is only looking to fight the strongest. No matter the situation."
"I see. Will you take my core and bury my body properly?" Galion asked.
"Of course. What do you want me to do with the core. I feel it's been tainted and would not like to have it put into my shield or given to Ryoko," Naruto asked.
"There are ways to purify the core. IF you can find my daughter and then purify it with her present. My soul will rest," Galion explained.
Naruto nodded and replied, "It shall be done. Now, how do we purify your core?"
Naruto and the girls stood above a huge rock with a small dragon statue. All of them bowed their heads. "We all mourn the passing of Galion the Dragon Emperor. We are tasked with finding his daughter and passing on his last message to her and his training to Ryoko. Now a moment of silence."
As they left a message below the dragon statue read 'Do not disturb the sleeping dragon or feel the wrath of both the dragon and a Hero.'
The group left the area and headed back to the town.
"We have taken care of your dragon problem, but make sure to let adventurers know not to disturb the dragon's grave or there will be a great catastrophe," Naruto explained.
"Of course, Shield Hero," the village doctor replied. "We will forward the deed to the capital and the reward will be here if you will wait for it," he continued.
Naruto shook his head. "No, I will collect it when I get back to the capital and I'm glad that the town is doing better now. We need to be off. I hear that there is a town that overrun by some plants. So, we have to be off."
"I bet it's that bad Spear Hero's fault," Filo exclaimed. The group laughed.
Naruto was in the seinza position with his eyes closed. Fukasaku was watching Naruto closely and patiently, with a wooden staff. While the rest of the party was doing other chores. Ryoko was in a similar position to Naruto, but seemed to fidget. She was being watched by Jiraiya, who held a wooden spoon. Naruto seemed to have a orange eye shadow begin to appear around his eyes.
"Ah! Why can't I keep as calm as papa?" Ryoko whined.
"Because you're much younger than your father," Jiraiya replied with a laugh. He then pointed out, "He's also sitting on a platform and sitting perfectly still. While you're just working on breathing and getting down just stilling your body."
"Jiraiya-boy is correct. Naruto-boy is getting a handle on the Sage art. He still has a ways to go, but has learned a lot in a short time," Fukasaku explained.
Naruto opened his eyes and showed that he had instead of blue eyes with a round pupil, yellow eyes with a rectangular pupil. He slowly stood up and took a fighting pose. Fukasaku took a similar pose and the pair began to spar. This lasted for about five minutes. Afterwards Naruto striped and walked down to the nearby stream and began to wash himself. He exited the stream and was handed a towel by Sylvie. After drying off he dressed with the clothes she handed him. He kissed her thanks.
The group ate dinner and Fukasaku left back to his home-world.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I've changed jobs, back in February, had a lot to deal with in life, but like I promised... A new chapter. I hope it will satisfy you for a little bit. My life has been very hectic. I won't get into it since some of you know what's going on and for those that don't... let's say my health, my mom's health and my daughter's attitude have gone south. I'm better, as is my mother, but I have a lot of responsibility for my mother. My daughter... not so much. I'm sorry for the chapter being somewhat short, but I've had little rest and even less sleep. LOL My muse is finally coming back and I might be able to work on some of my other stories too. I hope you like the twist with the dragon. Well off to begin chapter 15... and some other stories' chapters.
Updated: Yami Luna Kitsune: thanks for finding the spelling and grammar errors
Naruto= Magic: Support and healing; Chakra: All basic except earth; Lvl: 45/30; Race: Jinchuuriki
Milly = Magic: fire light darkness (illusion); Chakra: fire; Lvl: 47; Race: Fox
Raphtalia= Magic: light darkness (illusion); Chakra: wind; Lvl: 43/14; Race: Tanuki*
Sylvie = Magic: fire water ice; Chakra: water; Lvl: 47; Race: Rabbit
Jiraiya = Magic: fire wind; Chakra: all basic except lightning; Lvl: 50/92; Race: Human
Rino = Magic: lightning fire; Chakra: none; Lvl: 47; Race: Human
Filo = Magic: Wind; Chakra: Unknown; Lvl 30; Race: Filolial
Ryoko = Magic: Lightning; Chakra: Unknown; Lvl 30; Race: Wyr Dragon
Rifana = Magic: Ice; Chakra: Wind, Water, Ice; Lvl: 29/14; Race: Weasel*
Keel = Magic: Unknown; Chakra: Unknown; Lvl: 29/14; Race: Wanui*
Menma = Magic: See chakra; Chakra: Same as Naruto; Lvl: 40/31; Race: Blood Clone(human)
Fried = Magic: Unknown; Chakra: Unknown; Lvl: 32; Race: Dog
Nala = Magic: Unknown; Chakra: Unknown; Lvl: 41; Race: Panther
Melty = Magic: Water; Chakra: Not initiated; Lvl: Not sure; Race: Human
Chena = Magic: Unknown; Chakra: Not initiated; Lvl: Not sure; Race: Human
Tsunade = Magic: None; Chakra: Lightning, Earth, Water, Fire; Lvl: 91; Race: Human