Their new giant drew some eyes limping about, but not much. Ironhold was a strange town. Although to call it a town is admittedly a bit generous.
Not ten buildings were counted, despite the lively crowd prattling about on the road that ran through. There were probably at least bunkhouses or something in the mine, no telling from the outside how many that housed. Though it couldn't be that many, not with one entrance and a town this far from real civilization. That lack of order is hopefully why at least half the people he saw carried weapons, everything from crude spears and farm tools to castle-forged steel.
Unfortunately, it seemed to be people wielding the prior example that kept approaching their group. Five in total before they reached the center of town, all nervously asking some variation of the same question.
Are you hiring? Are you looking to team up for hunts? Holy shit is that giant your follower?
Said giant actually posed a bit of an issue, which Sasuki raised.
"Naruto, you go see what our options are for accommodations here, I'll ask some questions and see if any of these dumb farm folk are worth working with,"
"Am I just trying to find a stable or something for Sakura? There's no way any of these buildings could house her,"
"I can make my own shelter, just need a space to do so on," she offered him snidely.
"Oh great, I guess I'll look for the mayor or magistrate or whatever,"
"Start with the mine's owner," Sasuki suggested. Firmly suggested.
Not that the young man had any objections, it was a reasonable route to take, although where the man in question lived was another matter. Just walking up to the biggest house and knocking seemed unwise, leading him to the nearby taphouse. It was the closest building with a sign out front.
Inside made him yearn immediately for Ayame's inn. He could barely move through the crowds lofting about around the tables, he could barely think over all the damn noise, and it took a full half hour to get any staff's attention. Not to mention how many of these people had weapons. An accidental bump or a spilled drink could bring him into some real serious shit real quick. The way the bulky man at the bar looked at him made it feel like he already was.
"Yeah uh, I was just wondering if you could point me to whoever's in charge of the town or mine or-"
"-Over there," the man said, pointing for approximately three-fourths of a second before stepping away.
Thankfully the man in question was a bit of a sight.
For one, he had a table to himself, for another, he was the fattest man Naruto had ever laid eyes upon. The olive green cloak he wore at least covered it all up well enough. He'd almost look refined if not for the stains on his cloth and the hearty red flush on his face.
At least he was smiling.
Naruto took a deep breath, put on his own friendliest face, and strode forward. Almost immediately he found his path blocked firmly by a tall, dark-skinned woman with a nasty-looking hammer thing on her hip; also a full set of leather armor. She was not smiling.
"What's your business with Mayor Choji?"
"Oh uh, well I just was hoping for a minute to ask about what beds were available in town," he offered earnestly, looking right into her amber eyes and maintaining his hopeful smile.
"Someplace other than the inn?" she confirmed, raising a brow. "They do have beds here, they also let people sleep down here in the barroom for only a copper coin," she offered simply. Though he earned a ghost of a smile with his next remark.
"Well I'm definitely keeping that little tidbit in my back pocket," he laid out honestly. "But uh, anyplace else? Like a loft or an apartment or anything we could get?"
"Any land your willing to clear of forestry is yours to build on, though I assume building a house isn't in your budget. You might find-
"-Oh! Whose this then?" the fat man yelled out, turning to look and apparently just noticing the conversation a foot away from him. He wiped his chin with a cloth handkerchief as his half-lidded eyes looked Naruto over. "Another hunter? Welcome to Ironhold lad!" he offered, raising his mug and sloshing something fruity looking over the table.
"Thank you, nice to meet you Mr. uh…." Naruto offered, not missing the look of annoyance falling over his bodyguard's face.
"Choji! And this lovely creature is my wife, Karui What can we help you with?" he asked loudly, loudly even for the loud ass room they were currently stuffed inside. Didn't mayors usually do their business in an office or something? It's not like it was even lunchtime, despite what the plate of roasted chicken on the table suggested, the sun hadn't been up two hours!
Still, Naruto smiled as he answered.
"We were just talking about where I might find a place to live near town,"
"Oh! The hag's house if you can take it, nobody's done that yet right baby?" he slurred out enthusiastically. Karui didn't answer right away. She sighed before releasing her words. Word.
"No,"
"Great! Yeah, she's just like, ten minutes up the trail north yeah? She shot at a kid just for walking it near her house last week and-"
"She tried to shoot a kid a week ago?! What the hell, why hasn't your lawman done anything? Why-" he decided to swallow his third question, why haven't you done anything?
"Well she was uh… a hunter like you well not like you like, a really good one who did it for a long time!" he began, not softening Naruto's aghast face the slightest bit. "Anyways lawman says it's too dangerous to go alone and it's… rustling up a mob is hard cause a lot of them locals are afraid of her too so… the bounty! Yeah, the bounty, I put up a reward that whoever takes care of her get's the house, deed and everything," he offered, raising his mug and brow as if to sound enticing.
Naruto dared look back at Karui.
She said nothing, though she looked mildly ashamed as her eyes averted.
"Yeah. I think I will go see about this," he said simply, turning around without looking back, even when the stern woman said one last thing.
"You might also take one of the south or eastern trails, out into the cleared land. It might be a bit of a walk but I'm sure you'd find a farm willing to board you, in their barn or something if nothing else,"
He sucked in a breath of relief just stepping outside, getting that useless fat fuck out of his sight. Sasuki was still just down the road, and no longer trailing a small mob of militia he noted, he headed straight back.
"So do we have new recruits?"
"No. Do we have a place to sleep?"
"Uh… well kind of, yeah, about ten minutes up the northern trail, I'll tell you on the way," he offered, not missing the way her eyes narrowed at his lack of detail. At the uncertainty he spoke with. Still, she said nothing as he started walking, and to his deep relief, the soft clap of her steps fell into pace behind him.
Shortly drowned out by the thundering footsteps of their giant of course. It made him desperate for some sound other than the pounding of Sakura's feet on the dirt. To his anxious mind, it sounded like some great gong, a constant reminder that one more of the extremely finite footsteps he had to think had been expended.
"So uh… why didn't we get any more recruits?" he piped up after a couple of minutes
Sasuki answered him with little emotion.
"Your healing is a lot more valuable as an asset than any of them were going to be,"
"Healing?" Sakura interrupted, for perhaps the first time; sounding quite irritated.
"Yes. Naruto has healing powers, that's a secret that will cost him his life if discovered, so don't say another word about it," she bit back sharply, looking up at the woman nearly twice her height with that demanding stare she wore so well. What's crazy is it seemed to work. Sakura clammed right up, even with that nasty gash still throbbing against her leg. Sasuki looked back at him without softening her expression. "Now, where are we going?"
"Oh there's a house we can have just five more minutes up the trail, just have to uh… take care of the current owner," he offered with a smile. She didn't return it. She also said nothing and continued boring her eyes into his. He continued. "The mayor said there was a bounty on it since she shot at a kid walking by her house last week-"
"-last week?" she bluntly interjected, silently asking what the catch was.
"…apparently some of the townsfolk are afraid of her, and the lawman, she's an experienced retired hunter or something but it's-" he trailed off as she turned around and started back the way they came. "Sasuki!"
She didn't pause her stride.
"We are not going to risk our lives attacking a, quote, experienced retired hunter, while she has the home turf advantage. We'll find a farm or something that's happy to have us in their barn for a silver a week,"
"She almost killed a kid!" he shouted angrily.
That made her stop.
"And that's not our problem," she said pointedly, turning to stare at him and making it apparent she was done with this conversation. Naruto had to swallow a noise at her words. Did she really not care at all?! Surely she wasn't that cold, she wasn't a sociopath was she? Just hearing those words out of her mouth put a sick feeling in his gut, and hardened his eyes.
"Well I'm going," he said simply, turning to continue his walk.
"Naruto get back here!" she demanded, slowing his steps the slightest bit, but only for a moment. "Naruto," she said again, exasperated as she began trailing off of him. "Naruto stop," she said, in a tone of concession.
He didn't.
"Naruto we have to wait until night, it's the best chance we have of taking her by surprise," she explained, finally catching his attention. "If this woman's a marksman that's ten times as important,"
"We? You'll come along?"
"Well you're going to die if I don't," she bit back, sounding quite irritated about the situation still. Still, Naruto smiled at the news. It's not like she was wrong, his chances were slim alone. Aside from a few practice swings mostly done for his own amusement, he had zero experience with the weapon on his hip. He had no idea how he'd go about dealing with the woman.
Sasuki did.
"We wait until the sun has been down a few hours, you'll walk up the front pathway or whatever and pound on her door. She probably won't open it for you but it should get her attention, if you can get her talking, I'll slip around back and find a window or another way inside,"
"What should I say?"
"It doesn't matter, just keep her attention on you,"
"And what will I do?" Sakura piped up.
"You will stay far out of sight in the trees, this is a stealth mission you walking mountain," Sasuki said tersely. A hard sigh punctuated as she took up a seat against one of the many oaks lining the path, a good five meters from either of them. Naruto was not surprised when the exciting twelve-hour wait for the sun to set passed in silence.
X
X
X
Thanks for reading!
Check my if you want input on what I write next or if you'd like to see fanart of my stories. Or search Macko Bole on the kindle store if you want more by me.