Sorry for the delay, I really am trying to get better at getting these chapters out quicker. It's tough trying to balance two ongoing stories at once; makes me wonder how some authors have like, four or five active stories at the same time.

Anyways, here's chapter 3! As always, thanks to everyone who's left a review, followed, or favorited this story!

He was lost. Hopelessly lost.

Was it too late to turn around and head back to the little village?

Yeah, most likely. That would've made him look every bit like the little kid he was in the eyes of the villagers.

It wasn't his fault! The forests around Konoha were dense, but they were familiar! This was completely uncharted territory to him, and he didn't have a map, a compass, anything to help him navigate his way through the woods!

"Guess I'll just keep following the river…" That was one of the earliest lessons he remembered learning back in the academy. The classes on navigating Konoha's forests- or any forest in general- had been some of the few that he'd actively participated in and listened intently to. He'd been ten years old at the time, and back then nothing had seemed cooler to him than learning how to live off the land! He'd become a wise sage of the woods, someone who the villagers would have to look at with respect…

Of course, that wasn't how things had ended up going, but the lessons had been interesting enough.

Even if he hadn't learned the secrets to unlocking inner peace- most of the stuff he'd learned regarding wilderness awareness was how to find your way back to civilization, what plants would or wouldn't make you violently ill, and how to move unseen in heavily forested areas.

Case in point; if he followed the river in either direction, he was bound to run into civilization at some point, and seeing how, *ahem* low-tech the village he'd left had been, Naruto was willing to bet that it wouldn't take more than a day to find a settlement along the riverbank. Running water hadn't been a thing back in the village he'd left; with the villagers getting their water from a well, or in some cases trekking to and from the river to fetch water by the bucket.

Oh yeah, when he said it would take a day to find another settlement, that was a day moving at his pace, not a slow trek. When you could jump on tree branches, run up trees, and in general move completely unimpeded by thick forestry, you could cover A LOT of ground.

As luck would have it, it didn't take Naruto more than an hour before he stumbled upon his first major discovery.

Unfortunately for him, this didn't help him in his goal of reaching the civilized parts of Faerghus.

Dead bodies generally didn't offer much in the ways of information, unless you were a hunter shinobi or one of the Anbu, of which Naruto was neither. To him, the grisly spectacle was just that- a bloody sight offering neither little help.

"Hold up… I recognize these guys! They're the bandits from earlier!"

The villagers wouldn't have anything to fear from the marauders anymore- in the state they were in they wouldn't be harming anyone ever again.

"Ugh…" Covering his nose, Naruto looked away from the gruesome sight. The corpses were scattered about the makeshift camp, the injured men having made camp most likely with the intentions of nursing their wounds until they'd recovered enough to venture further into the woods.

The bodies scattered around were horribly mangled, many of them torn open or missing limbs. These weren't the signs of a battle with other people- the bandits looked like they'd met their end at a pack of hungry beasts!

He was no stranger to death; as all true shinobi were. Of course, Naruto wasn't going to call himself a hardened killer, but… well, he'd been in enough fights and close calls to recall that the other guy hadn't always been alive to walk away afterwards.

He knew for a fact that he'd killed at least a few people directly; but that had always been in the heat of battle and when other people were trying to take your head off you didn't have time to stop and mourn the deaths of people who were trying to kill you. Sure, he preferred just beating up the baddies until they couldn't fight anymore, but the cold, hard truth was that sometimes things just didn't go that way. His rasengan had sent people over cliffs or into deep bodies of water before, and in any of those cases, he hadn't seen his foes get up again.

"And these bodies… I beat the stuffing out of these guys earlier, so they were in no condition to resist whatever did this…" He wasn't sad or ashamed about that- they'd been violent thugs, and the comments they'd made towards the villagers had implied that they'd been used to terrorizing people. He wasn't going to shed any tears for people like that.

That being said…

"It looks like at least one of them got dragged off by something…" the blonde mumbled to himself, eyeing the shredded bushes around the camp, and how one conspicuous trail of blood vanished into the undergrowth.

"Guess I know what I'm doing next! Naruto Uzumaki, professional beast-hunter extraordinaire, that's me!" Seriously, he wasn't afraid at all of some wolves or bears. With a single usage of his multi-shadow clone jutsu, he had no fewer than twenty identical blondes spreading out among the bushes.

'Man, I miss my jumpsuit…' Naruto sighed. Seeing himself reflected twenty-times over really hammered it in that his old outfit had been damaged beyond repair. He just didn't look the same in this plain, boring, uncool brown tunic!

"Eh, once I have money I can buy something fancy! Something orange! But first… there's a beast on the loose!" Despite his boisterous words, Naruto wasn't just going after this bloodthirsty beast for the sake of getting to fight something.

In his mind, he was still somewhat close by to the village where those kind country folk had taken him in, and the idea of something that preyed on humans being so close to the village was not something he was going to tolerate!

"Alright, everyone! Groups of four each! Spread out but be quiet! We're going to take whatever this thing is down before it can get any closer to Granny Margot and Grampa Arnaud's village!"

A muted cheer rose up from the platoon of Narutos, the blonde battalion making sure not to make too much noise- they were on the hunt, after all!

It didn't take long to find the great beast. Naruto was no seasoned hunter, but then, it didn't take much effort either to follow the trail left by creature, especially when he had twenty sets of eyes scanning the forest for anything out of place.

His first thought, as he drew nearer to the beast, a colossal wolf curled up in a clearing, was-

'Dang… This place is just like the Forest of Death!' Because that wolf was WAY bigger than normal! The only other time he'd seen beasts that large, other than ninja summons, were the wildlife from that creepy forest!

He'd seen creatures of unusual size before, even if this was the first canine he'd seen of such a size. Most of Kakashi's ninja hounds had been, well, more or less the size of normal dogs. The Inuzuka clan had some big dogs too, but even the largest of their animal partners had been wolf-sized. Regular wolves, that was. This giant beast wouldn't have looked out of place in the Forest of Death, where he'd seen things WAY worse than an overgrown mutt!

Seriously, he'd take a 15-foot tall wolf over a 60-foot long snake any day of the week.

Wait a minute… speaking of Kakashi's ninja hounds…

He was going to feel really, really dumb if this ended up working. Quickly going through the hand seals for the summoning jutsu, Naruto gathered his chakra, and-

Watched as it fizzled out immediately, a small plume of smoke appearing on the ground, highlighting the absolute lack of an accompanying amphibian.

After several more repeats, Naruto was convinced that the issue wasn't him, but something else. Pervy Sage probably would've been laughing at him if he'd seen him failing like this, but Naruto was convinced that after all the time he'd spent working on that stupid jutsu, it failing now was due to something else interfering, rather than an issue with how he was attempting to use the jutsu.

"Man… I'm kind of relieved that didn't work. It would've been super awkward if I could've just had one of my toad buddies send a message to everyone back home about where I was!"

"GRRRRR…"

"Oh… crap!" Right, right. Maybe talking loudly like that when he was trying to sneak up on an oversized canine was a bad idea.

On the other hand…

"RRRR- Yipe!" The massive wolf recoiled in pain as two of his four-man clone squads charged in, flinging kunai and shuriken. The huge beast staggered under the concentrated assault of flying sharpened metal, before lashing out and reducing several clones to smoke!

Not a problem, everything was under control! He was running high on chakra and he had plenty to spare!

"Okay, boys! Distract this overgrown mutt while I get ready to take him down!"

A chorus of "Got it, boss!" rang out from the surviving clones, ten of them charging in, slashing and stabbing with kunai while the remaining provided ranged support with shuriken, aiming for the fleshy bits; eyes, nose, mouth and the like.

The huge wolf clearly wasn't used to coordinated resistances like this, doubly so from assailants who were nimble enough to slide underneath it's flailing paws. All it took was one or two clones flinging kunai at it's head to keep it distracted while another several made mincemeat of the wolf's underbelly with their own kunai!

One clone remained next to him, helping him from the rasengan. As the swirling blue orb of compacted energy stabilized, Naruto and his partner clone charged, the surviving clones attacking the wolf parting to allow him through!

The wolf never knew what hit it- the towering beast barely had time to register the blonde, blue-tipped missile running right at it before the chakra attack rammed straight into its skull!

The beast was launched backwards, slamming into the trees behind it, blood leaking from its mouth as it collapsed to the ground, dead.

"Well… I guess that takes care of that! No more giant wolves in my neck of the woods! Though what gives? I didn't know animals could get that big without chakra…" Drawing closer to the furry corpse, Naruto had one of his clones kick it a few times to make sure that it was dead.

Yup. Dead as a doornail. His work here was done.

Welp, that had been an exciting diversion, but he still wasn't any closer to his goal of-

Wait.

The unmistakable sound of footsteps making their way through the brush caught his ear. Not like the villagers he'd spent a week with, who were untrained civilians. Not like the thugs who'd boisterously torn through the forest, a bunch of unskilled losers like them had possessed about as much grace as an Akimichi at an all-you-could-eat barbecue.

These were lighter, softer. And though these newcomers lacked the stealth and grace of a trained shinobi, they were head and shoulders above anyone else here.

'Two… no, three people? Coming from the northwest…' Naruto's squinted in thought, before quickly running up the side of one of the trees, disappearing into the branches before he could be spotted. It was a possibility that these new folk were friendly, but good ninjas were supposed to stay out of sight.

And a grade-A master ninja like him was the best of the best!

…Of course, he was only still a genin, but once he got back to Konoha, he was certain that Granny Tsunade would give him all the promotions he deserved! Then he would finally have the rank to match his skills!

'If these guys are friends of the bandits from earlier, then I might need to get the drop on them. And I still haven't met anyone who didn't get their lights knocked out by a surprise clone assault!' Granted, his preferred battle tactics involved swarming his foes with clones, but it was always entertaining seeing bad guys panic when a tide of orange descended on them out of nowhere!

From his vantage point, Naruto scanned the newcomers. Two men and one woman, and if they were with the bandits, they must've been the bosses or something, because their clothes and equipment were in way better than the rough tunics and old, chipped axes and cleaver-like swords the brigands had sported prior to their destruction.

This trio was fully armed and outfitted for proper reconnaissance; each of them outfitted in well-maintained light leather armor, with the men sporting fully-stocked quivers with bows slung over their backs.

Listening in on the trio, Naruto gleaned that they probably weren't bandits, or at least they hadn't been friends with the bandits who'd been wiped out.

'Hmm… I wonder if these are the knights that the villagers were always talking about?' Naruto frowned as he remained motionless high above them. These guys didn't look like knights, at least not to him. He knew what knights were supposed to look like- he'd watched the movies! Knights wore armor that was so shiny you could see your reflection in it, rode on top of white horses, and rescued princesses and fought dragons!

These guys just looked like run-of-the-mill mercenaries; the kinds of people who had some combat experience but no ninja training. Granted, they certainly looked more professional than the ragtag thugs who'd been wiped out by the giant wolf…

Naruto continued listening for another minute, gathering as much information as he could. The most important information he obtained was that these guys were scouts for a larger force, and that meant that the rest of their group had to have been nearby!

"Alright, time for some spying! If these guys are so organized, then they hafta have a map or something back at their camp! All I gotta do is sneak in, grab some maps, and hit the road! Then I can book it to the nearest city around and start making my name as the number one ninja in Faerghus!"

Granted, there were quite a few holes and missing steps in that plan... but he knew what he was doing! Somehow, getting to Faerghus's big cities and getting proper, high-paying ninja work was going to help him get back home. He didn't know how exactly the two steps connected yet, but… whatever. He'd work out that step when he got that far.

Maintaining his cover in the trees, Naruto tailed the trio as they retreated away from the giant wolf's corpse. So far, so good! The trio of adults didn't suspect a thing!

Of course, it didn't take long for Naruto to hit a snag in his plans.

After only about twenty minutes of trailing the scouts from the trees, the tree line started to thin out.

…Ah, whatever! A ninja like him knew how to hide in plain sight! A bunch of chumps like this, who weren't even comparable to chunin, couldn't hold a candle to the Anbu that he'd gotten used to evading!

But before he began his descent into the throng of tents, Naruto took a moment to admire the view before him!

"Wow… now THESE have to be knights! They've got horses, armor, everything! Ooh! I wonder if any of these guys have rescued any princesses?" Seriously, these guys looked just like the characters he'd seen in the movies. Whenever magic and wizards were involved, there also had to be knights, princesses, dragons… Oh man, he could just see the look on his friends' faces back home if he could prove to them that he'd ridden on a real live dragon!

"Now… I just need to figure out which tent looks the most important, sneak into that one, and then grab the map out of it!" He was kind of banking on the notion that a map would even be inside the tent of whoever it was leading these guys, but on the other hand, it was a fairly decent assumption to make. Sakura and Kakashi (and to a much lesser extent, Sasuke) had drilled that into his head. Plus, it was almost a universal constant. When you were on a mission and spying on the bad guys, the important documents you needed to snatch were almost always in the head honcho's tent!

Or… I could just watch those three I've been following go and give their report to someone. That seems a heck of a lot easier than trying to judge who here is in charge!" Naruto nodded, mentally kicking himself for overthinking things so much. Seriously, this way easier than he was making it out to be.

Just like how he, Sakura, and Sasuke went to give their mission briefings after finishing a successful job, he'd bet his sandals that the scouts he could see making their way through the camp were headed straight for whoever was in charge!

"All I have to do is look for whoever they go and speak to, wait for the leader to leave their tent unguarded, and bingo! I sneak inside, grab a map, and then sneak out! Piece of cake!" Granted, Naruto did feel a little bad about stealing from people who hadn't done anything wrong to him, but on the other hand… what was he supposed to do? Just waltz up to them and ask if they could give him a map? If the treatment the villagers had given him was any indicator of what to expect, these guys would probably laugh him off, thinking he was a kid playing at being a grown up.

So, the stealth approach it was.

Doubling back into the woods, Naruto skidded down the tree he'd been in, before making the hand signs dog, boar, and ram- the signs for the Transformation Jutsu.

A more educated person may have questioned the physics of whether or not the Transformation Jutsu was really that, or simply an incredibly advanced illusion.

Naruto was no philosopher, and his education had been minimal beyond the basics- though even that was far greater than the common men and women of Fodlan.

He didn't care whether the Transformation was an illusion or not, and his legendary Sexy Jutsu had proved time and time again to be one of the most useful tools in his arsenal! Pervy Sage, Old Man Hokage, Ebisu… heck, at this point he might as well keep a running tally of all the mighty, skilled ninja he'd taken out with it!

This wasn't the time to be turning into a hot naked lady, though. Of course, Pervy Sage would disagree. To him, there was pretty much always time for naked women.

For Naruto's purposes, a tiny little field mouse would do the trick. Something small enough that he could creep through the tall grass unnoticed, slip into the leader person's tent, and make off with whatever maps he could find!

With the transformation in place, Naruto was soon creeping his way through the grass, making his way to the camp. He paid little attention to the hustle and bustle around him, focusing solely on the tent he'd seen the scouts disappear into. So long as he knew where his exit routes were, he didn't need to concern himself with these people. Knights, mercenaries, or just well-organized bandits. It didn't matter to him.

"…Already dead when we found it."

"Signs of a battle, no bodies…"

Naruto's transformed ears picked up the voices coming from within a nearby tent; marking it as his goal. Sneaking inside, he made sure to stay out of sight.

"You're sure? You didn't see any remains? No one who might've been responsible for killing the demonic beast? That doesn't add up."

Naruto froze. For a single moment, his eyes felt hot. Was… was that P-pervy Sage's voice? Was it really him? W-was his strangely not-reliable but also kinda reliable teacher here in this strange world with him?

"Giant wolves might not be the toughest demonic beast around, but that doesn't change the fact that they're not a foe to be taken lightly. The materials that can be harvested from their bodies can make someone a decent sum too… But the corpse hadn't even been harvested?"

Naruto crept closer, barely breathing, his heart pounding in his chest.

"No, commander. We left a trail to the beast's corpse; a retrieval team should have an easy enough time finding it."

"…Well, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Alright, now that we've confirmed the death of that giant wolf, that means the contract for these demonic beasts is closed. …It's about half a day's ride back to Viscount Gaspard's estate. We'll return to his manor first thing tomorrow. He's given us full rights to any materials that can be harvested from the demonic beasts we slew, and I won't have anything go to waste, understand?"

"Yes, commander!"

Naruto swallowed as the tall man passed by his hiding place, followed by the trio of scouts.

It wasn't Jiraiya. As much as it made his heart ache, his teacher wasn't here.

This guy, the 'commander,' couldn't have been more different. Oh sure, both Jiraiya and this guy were tall, well-built men, but this new guy's hair was blonde and cut short, compared to the white mane that Jiraiya proudly sported. Age-wise… it was a little hard to tell, but Pervy Sage was in his fifties, right? And this guy was… not fifty? Maybe forty something?

Whatever. 'Old' was 'old' if you asked Naruto.

And his clothes, unlike Jiraiya's get-up- which made Pervy Sage look like he was either heading to or coming from a theater performance, were plain and practical.

He was also wearing a lot of orange. Even if it wasn't as bright in color as Naruto's old jumpsuit- oh how he missed it- that put this guy up a notch in Naruto's mind.

…Someday he'd be wearing sweet, sweet orange again. For now, though, he'd have to be content with the old hand-me-downs; mostly in boring old greys and browns, that had been provided by Margot.

'Focus, Naruto… Don't get distracted. Just because you thought for a sec Pervy Sage was here…'

He had a goal to achieve, and now thanks to the conversation he'd listened in on, he had a bit more information to go off of.

There was a Viscount Lon- Viscount Lo- Viscount Someone who ruled over these parts, and where there were rulers, there was work to be done!

He also had zero information on how the nobility system of this place worked, but if it was anything like the daimyo and regional lords back home, Naruto considered it a reasonable assumption that whoever was in charge here was also in charge of hiring aspiring ninja like him.

…To bad he hadn't thought about looting that huge wolf he'd killed. Oh well, it was probably a pointless endeavor anyway; even if he skinned the whole corpse with his clone helpers, it wasn't like they had any storage scrolls or anything to carry the remains in.

Yuck, there was no way he was going to just go traipsing around the woods carrying the remains of a dead animal, either!

"…Okay, the coast looks clear! It's been about a minute since those guys left, which means now's my chance!"

There was a puff of smoke as the transformation dispelled, leaving Naruto standing back to his full, unimpressive height of four feet and nine inches.

"Let's see… if I was a map, where would I be…" Looking around the inside of the tent, Naruto couldn't immediately see anything that looked like a map. There were plenty of important looking documents arranged on a table in the center of the tent, but a quick glance told him that they weren't what he was looking for.

"Aw, man! I thought it was going to be easier than this! I really don't want to have to just take anything that looks important with me-"

"Yeah, I'd prefer it if you didn't take anything with you, either."

"I know, I know! It's not like I'm robbing these guys because I want to, they just have stuff that… I need…"

Wait a minute.

Naruto gulped loudly, slowly turning around.

Yeah, there was the big, important commander guy himself. Mr. 'Not-Jiraiya.'

"Uh… any chance I can borrow a map, mister? …You do have a map of the area, right?"

"Oh, I have plenty of maps. Though you won't be seeing any of them, kid. I don't know who you are, but sneaking into a mercenary camp and announcing yourself as a thief generally isn't a good way to make a first impression."

"Um… if it helps, I would've returned the map as soon as I got the chance?" And he wasn't lying about that! Sure, it probably would've been pretty hard to find these guys once he'd gone and made a name for himself as the best ninja Fodlan had ever seen, but Naruto Uzumaki was the kind of guy who always paid what he owed!

The big blonde man snorted, and despite the crossed arms and stern glare, Naruto couldn't help but feel that the old guy was kinda amused by the situation.

"Okay, I'll bite. What's a squirt like you need a map of Lord Gaspard's territory for, anyway?"

"So I can find my way to whoever's in charge of this area and get him to hire me!"

"…Hire you?" Not-Jiraiya's eyebrows rose a tad.

"Yeah! I'm going to be the number one ninja… uh… I mean, the number one mercenary Fodlan ever saw!" So what if he couldn't become Hokage until he got back home? In the meantime, he'd settle for being the number one ninja, period, in all of Fodlan!

…Never mind that he might've been the only ninja in Fodlan!

"A mercenary. You, a kid who doesn't even reach my shoulders, wants to be a mercenary." Naruto glowered at the blunt words.

"Are you making fun of my height?! I've beaten guys who were at least… twice your height!" Okay, maybe he hadn't fought people who were that big, but that wolf back in the woods had been pretty tall.

And then there were the giant creatures in the forest of death… Gaara when he'd been all sandy and murderous…

"Well, you've got guts, kid. I'll give you that. But in my line of work, it's the kids with all guts and no brains who tend to be the quickest to end up face down on a battlefield. Go home."

"…I don't have a home to go back to…" And damn it, it still stung to say those words.

"…Ah. One of those kids. Hmph. Tell you what, kid, if you tell me how you snuck into the command tent without getting detected, you can follow along with my company when we head for Domremy tomorrow. Now, who was it who was asleep on watch? I swear, if someone in my company was drinking when they're supposed to be on guard duty-"

"Nobody was drunk, I snuck in all on my own without anyone seeing me!" And now the blonde guy was rolling his eyes, a hint of irritation creeping over his face.

"…Kid, I don't think you're understanding the situation you're in right now. I am trying to give you a way out of this situation that doesn't end with some very angry mercenaries beating you senseless. As a rule, most mercs don't appreciate it when people intrude on their camps. Even if you're a kid, there's a limit to how patient I can be. If you want to walk out of my camp without a full set of bruises, you'd better start talking."

Well, this was going nowhere fast. Should he just give in and show Not-Jiraiya the transformation jutsu? That was probably the easiest solution here, but at the same time, he remembered how superstitious and suspicious the villagers had been of his accused 'witchcraft,' and unlike back then, he didn't have the boon of a week's worth of chores and Margot and Arnaud's words to vouch for him. …His options were admittedly limited right now.

"So you an' all these guys are mercenaries?"

The tall blonde guy gave him a very unimpressed look.

"…It took you this long to figure that out? Yes, we're mercenaries. In fact, these are my mercenaries. I'm Jeralt Reus Eisner. …Kind of surprised you didn't recognize me. We're one of the most famous mercenary companies in Fodlan."

Oh ho! So this mercenary guy wasn't just a mercenary, he was the mercenary! Even better! A new idea popped into Naruto's head, but Jeralt continued speaking before he could voice it.

"What's a kid your age want to be a mercenary for, anyway? Most kids your age who think they're hot stuff barely know one end of a sword from the other. If you're looking for work, wouldn't you be better off just being a stablehand or something? Mercenary work isn't something most looking to live long lives generally choose as a profession."

"…I need information. The kind of information that I need a lot of money to buy. The kind of information that doing safe jobs won't pay for." Because he was pretty damn sure that hiring a wise, bearded wizard or some other magical expert to help get him back home was going to cost a fortune. And considering that his funds were currently zero, he had a long way to go…

"Mysterious past, huh? I'd be lying if I said I hadn't met your type before. Still on the fence about whether or not I shouldn't just kick you out and let you fend for yourself out there, though."

"…Hire me."

"…Sorry, what was that? I don't think I caught that."

"Hire me! You guys are mercenaries! You said so yourself! I could be a big help to your, um, company!" He was so used to saying the word 'squad' that it almost slipped out. Jeralt's mercenaries were anything but a ninja squad, but… if the big guy was telling the truth, then this might've been the best chance he'd get. Why bother wandering aimlessly across the country in the hopes that someone might hire him, when he could join up with these guys; who were apparently already a pretty big deal? Joining up with well-known guys like this would put him on the fast track to getting home!

"…Heh. I wasn't wrong about you, kid. You've definitely got guts, I'll give you that much." Jeralt's arms crossed against his broad chest, the older man looking down at him with a thoughtful frown.

"So… does that mean I can join your group?"

"I never said that." Naruto's heart sank.

"But-" And rose again. "I'm willing to give you a chance. …Screw it up, and you're out on your own. Pass the tests I give you, and you'll be the youngest member of Jeralt's Mercenaries."

Naruto's face scrunched up, drawing a confused look from Jeralt.

"…You look like you just sucked on a lemon. Something you want to say, kid?"

"…'Jeralt's Mercenaries?' Really? Come on, old guy! You can't tell me that's the best name you came up with, was it?! I thought mercenaries were supposed to be all cool and dashing! Shouldn't you guys be called something like, I don't know, the Crimson Dragon Knights, or the Black Devil Brigade? Ooh, what about Order of the Crimson Arm?"

"…You sound like a kid who's listened to too many bardic songs. Good mercenary companies don't need to come up with flashy names or titles. Earn a good enough reputation, and people will start giving you names." Jeralt snorted, clearly amused at the over-the-top names the kid was coming up with.

"Okay, enough of that. What makes you think a shrimp like you would be able to help out my company? You're hardly the first kid whose begged to tagalong with my company, and I doubt you'll be the last."

"Grr… stop making fun of my height! I know I'm short! Just call me Naruto!"

"Naruto?"

"Yeah, Naruto Uzumaki! That's my name, ya big jerk!"

"Heh, little firebrand, aren't you?"

The entrance to the tent burst open at that moment, and a new figure strode inside.

"Father, what's going on?"

Naruto quickly scanned the newcomer- the girl- more of a young woman, really- was maybe five or six years older than him, and dressed in dull, black clothes.

'Pervy Sage would love her…' The thought slipped unbidden through his mind; but was no less accurate. The young woman had blue hair that fell past her shoulders, and blue eyes several shades lighter than her hair. She was pretty short too, though compared to him that really wasn't saying much. Everyone was taller than him.

She was also noticeably curvaceous, sporting an impressive hourglass figure that even her modest attire could do little to hide.

"Who is this?" Aaaand there was a dagger in her hands, the short blade gleaming dangerously as the young woman advanced.

"Easy, By. Just interviewing an eager young recruit for the company."

"I don't recognize him. He wasn't with the company when we set out from Domremy."

"Yeah, about that… Kid, you never did tell me how you snuck in here."

"Snuck… in…" If Naruto hadn't been looking right at her, he would've completely missed the minor widening of the young woman's eyes.

"An intruder, then. Father, should I discipline him?"

"…Yeah, I don't think there'll be any need for that, By. So long as he tells me who it was who was in charge of keeping watch."

"I was in charge of organizing our sentries."

Oops. Even through the woman's strangely monotoned voice, he could hear a hint of irritation.

"…Ah. Well then, Naruto. I'm certain that my daughter would also appreciate hearing how you got by the sentries she ordered to watch our camp." Wait, this lady was the commander guy's daughter?

…He wasn't seeing the resemblance. …Mhh, oh well. Not his problem.

"About that, By, I was-"

"My name is Byleth. My father calls me By. You are not my father."

"Okay, okay, sorry!"

"Enough. How did you sneak in?"

Geez, would it kill this lady to lighten up?

"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention to them! I just… look, it'll be a heck of a lot easier to just show you!" Jeralt raised an eyebrow while the now named Byleth took a menacing step forward, dagger still drawn, as Naruto quickly flipped through the handsigns for his transformation jutsu.

Of all the ways he'd imagined his day going, catching some punk kid sneaking into the command tent who thought he was hot stuff hadn't been one of them.

And the kid was a kid, not a teenager or a young adult but a kid; which was honestly the only reason Jeralt hadn't had any of his mercenaries toss the kid out of the camp with a black eye and a broken arm.

The kid wanted work, which was… surprising, to say the least, but hey, he was in a good mood. He'd let the kid go without boxing his ears. Maybe he'd give the kid some light chores to do, the kind of tasks that didn't need much skill for, and if the kid didn't screw them up too badly he'd consider keeping the kid around longer. A kid his size wouldn't require much money or food, and it wasn't like his company were light on gold.

And then the kid went and used some kind of magic that even Jeralt, in all his many years had never seen before, and those thoughts went out the window.

There was a burst of smoke, and the kid- Naruto-, he'd named himself, disappeared, being replaced with someone else's.

Jeralt was glad he hadn't taken a drink from his flask, because the sight of another one of him standing on the other side of the tent would've made him spit his drink out. Would've been a damn shame to waste good booze like that.

"What the hell?!"

"…" Byleth's response wasn't nearly as emotive or vocal as her father's, but her eyebrows did noticeably raise, and in Jeralt's experience that was the equivalent of watching someone's jaw drop.

"Ta-da! The transformation technique! I can disguise myself as someone or something else!"

…Okay, it was kind of disturbing hearing his own voice coming back at him like that, especially in a tone that was far more energetic than he'd ever use. Jeralt eyed his flask for a moment, before setting it down. Something told him he was going to need something a hell of a lot stronger- and in a larger quantity- then the ale in his flask.

Byleth, unlike her father, did not remain motionless.

"Hey! What gives?! Stop that!" Yeah, he really didn't like hearing his own voice filtered through a child's mind, and it was doubly disconcerting seeing his own face wince as Byleth poked and prodded at his magic clone.

There was a burst of smoke, and the short blonde loudmouth was standing in front of them once again.

"So… yeah. That's my transformation technique. Pretty neat, huh?"

…Well.

That certainly explained how he'd gotten into their camp undetected. And what was that the kid had said? He could turn into things as well as other people…

That… that had potential.

Now, it wasn't like Jeralt was going to be fielding a shrimp like the kid- who couldn't have been any older than twelve, maybe thirteen, on active battlefields… Byleth was a special case, but he really didn't want his mercenary company to earn a reputation for employing child soldiers. That was a quick way to give a company the kind of reputation no self-respecting mercenary wanted.

That being said…

Well, he'd seen some pretty damn strange things in the very long time he'd been around for, but this was easily in his… top five. Eh, maybe just the top ten list of weirdest things he'd seen as a mercenary.

A kid who could magically shapeshift into other people was certainly a new one, though. And Jeralt, famed, experienced, veteran mercenary that he was, could already see how useful an ability like that would be. He'd never seen magic like that before, but then there was a first time for everything.

Sure, he might not send the kid into direct combat, but there were a lot of jobs that required a more… *ahem* delicate touch. …Assuming the kid was quieter with his footsteps than he was with his words, and Jeralt could see him earning a place in his company.

…Provided he knew to mind his boundaries and didn't try stealing from him again. Shapeshifting or not, if the kid tried stealing from anyone else in the company, Jeralt would kick him out faster than the kid could say his own name.

"Heh heh! So, I take it you'll let me join you guys?"

"…Sure, why the hell not. This still isn't the strangest way someone's joined my company."

"Sweet! So, uh… what do I do first?"

"We spar first. It is important that I understand where your skill level in combat falls."

"Um, By?"

"Yes, father?"

"I really don't think that's necessary-" Because again, the kid had the makings of the kind of merc who picked locks and snuck about unseen, not a front-line infantryman.

"It is important that we understand whether or not he can back up his boasts with a blade, father."

"…This isn't about him sneaking past the sentries you were in charge of organizing, is it?"

"…No, father. Why would you think that?"

Jeralt let out a drawn-out sigh. Saints above, he loved his daughter, as unemotive as she was, but sometimes even with that blank expression of hers he could read her like an open book.

"Alright then. Naruto, follow me and Byleth, we'll get an impromptu sparring grounds set up. Consider this your first test as part of Jeralt's Mercenaries." Or in other words; if the kid wasn't stone-cold passed out by the end of his bout with Byleth, he'd pass the test.

…Hell, if he lasted at least thirty seconds with his daughter- who was already becoming a feared mercenary in her own right- he'd consider that an impressive enough accomplishment!

"Awesome!"

…Yeah, the kid sounded enthusiastic, but he probably was going to be a hell of a lot less enthusiastic by the end of his beatingspar with Byleth. His daughter didn't have a merciful bone in her body.

The kid wasn't going to know what hit him. He just hoped this didn't scare his newest recruit off!

Ending Notes:

Naruto + clones = gambit at will, which in gameplay would be absolutely game-breaking.

I'm not sure if 3 Houses/Hopes ever gave Lonato an actual title beyond 'lord.' All I know is that he's considered a minor noble, and is nearby Count Rowe's territory. My knowledge of nobility doesn't go much beyond what an internet search can tell me, so I just went with the next rank down from Count. Count is ranked right in the middle, 3 out of 5, for anyone wondering. Duke is the highest ranking of nobility (which Felix's father Rodrigue is.) Sylvain's father is a Margrave, which I don't know where that lands, but I'm going to treat it as equal (for the purpose of this story) as identical to the second highest nobility ranking; Marquess.

Other than that... I don't really have too much to say at this time. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!