"All good Gods," Naruto mumbled, looking at the thick trees that were practically a wall in the earth. "How the hell does it get so dense so fast?" he asked the speaker, gesturing to the bare glade all around the mountain.

"Trees thick near mountain too, until fangfolk cleared them long ago, no cover so they can shoot as any tribes approach," she explained simply enough. "Also, good border," she added with a grin, knocking on the trunk of one of those trees. "Soon as you enter trees it's Branch Walker territory, attack begins then!"

Naruto spared a glance at the hundreds of little bodies right behind them.

Surely their enemy knew an attack was about to begin already?

"I've found a spot," Sakura piped up, drawing attention and a wicked grin onto their ally's face. With but a short grunt the claymore severed multiple branches bigger than his arms, then two more quick strikes and there was a hole just a little bigger than her. It meant plenty of room for him to walk, although the foliage littering the ground still made it a bit tricky. They would manage.

"Good! You go, fangfolk watch back and flanks, make sure enemy is only in front of giant," she said with a nod. "Make your way due north, towards their cattle, and they have to come to you! Kill druids, battle depends on it!" her words grew more demanding at the last short sentence, eyes hard even as none of her new allies looked all that intimidated.

Well, Naruto did.

Nonetheless, the young man unslung his new weapon, held it firmly in his hands, and followed his two much stronger companions into the enemy territory. Thinking about his feet, already covered in scars and currently tingling with anxious anticipation, he couldn't help but remember something. How this started. How he was just supposed to walk Sasuki to a fucking town or something. He'd gone far beyond for his old friend.

Not that he hadn't been rewarded well. The sight of her lovely little ass, even covered as it was by the studded leather she'd worn since leaving civilization, was a staunch reminder of that fact. The sight of Sakura glistening with sweat as she carved through the forest wasn't bad either. The young man found himself actually smiling as they started their perilous little hike.

Though it didn't last long.

They weren't five minutes into the trek before Sakura suddenly braced! Her arm flew up to protect her eyes and a pained grunt slipped through her mouth as a verifiable barrage of dart and stone flew from the branches ahead! Without thinking Naruto popped a bolt out in their general direction. The only response to this, and hell it might not have even been a response, was an apple-sized stone lodging in his gut and sending him to the forest floor.

Sasuki was already down there.

"Sakura! There, cut us through to the left and you can use that bigass boulder for cover!" she shouted from behind the massive fallen log he was struggling to crawl towards. Crawling was quite hard when you could barely breathe and blood was gushing out from internal injuries, if you were unaware. It felt like a miracle when he was finally able to relax his body behind the wood.

He stared at the sky, the small patches of blue poking through the canopy rather, as he desperately tried to breathe. The sounds were constant now, the whizzing of pierced air, the grunts and guttural cries of pain from their ally as she tried to force her way to the stone. He was scared when that latter noise stopped. The sight of her back safely lodged against the massive stone summoned his first even breath since injury.

Though even that relief didn't last long. Her arm was a bloody mess positively covered in pinpricks, like it had been waved through the nastiest thorn bush hell ever placed on this realm, repeatedly. There were more than a few on her body too, even on her chin and cheeks. Still, there was fire in her eyes. Not half a minute later she whipped out from behind her cover, that massive arm and the four-foot-long blade spearing a staggering distance, and returning from its thrust with one of the little bastards skewered like a snack on it.

Naruto actually smiled until a fangfolk only a head shorter than him, and nearly as muscular, burst from the bushes with an ax that was clearly constructed for war. Bladed on both sides, sharp and gargantuan in his hands. The creature was right behind Sakura! For a moment he thought her foot was severed when the ax came down, but it was still right there when Naruto bolted from cover to her side. He was rewarded for this act of bravery with about twenty darts lodging into the right half of his body.

No stones though, so hey, small blessings.

Sakura's scream had softened into a long, lingering groan as he dove behind her stone wall of safety. Only a head shorter than her now that she was on her butt. The wound looked bad but the blood loss was already slowing between his magic and her own remarkable durability.

Naruto sighed again.

It was only now that he noticed the noise was everywhere. To their left and right, far and near, there were scraggly cries of pain everywhere. Like the fucking forest itself was screaming at him. Though there were triumphant scraggly cries as well. You might think that would bring him some comfort, but they were coming from both ahead and behind so, not much to make of that for the terrified youngster. Except that it would make it borderline impossible to know where the hell that monster with the battle ax would pop back out.

He sucked in a deep breath and reminded himself that Tsume seemed confident in the plan.

That's when a spell shot out.

A real thorn, although the size of a goddamn eggplant at least, flew down from the branches, propelled by a sickly green force towards Sasuki as she twisted upright, spinning with the grace of a dancer to find her feet and avoid the impact! Naruto didn't even see the dagger fly from her wrist. Not until the fangfolk fell out of the tree with it lodged in his heart.

Not far from him actually.

With another deep breath, more to brace for the pain than anything else he lunged from cover, dove at the weapon like it was his precious family heirloom! Thank all kind god's he hit the brambly, branch-covered forest floor without a single injury, in his armor it didn't even hurt that much. That didn't matter. He wrapped his hands around the weapon soundly! Then the big one came back.

The giant fangfolk with that giant fucking ax appeared overhead. The weapon raised high and ready to come down on him with another force to make some simple cow skins all but useless! Like a spring braced to launch in less than a second. That was the young man's thought as he looked up at the freak. It likely would have been his last thought if a heavy cudgel didn't fly out like a deadfall into the side of his weapon, just barely scraping it, just barely reaching the man even with her incredibly long reach.

It was still enough to whip the weapon off course, and to capture the man's attention as he growled and turned to face the threat so much larger than the panicked dumbass lying on his stomach under him. Sakura was at an awkward angle after her swing, vulnerable. The man braced to lunge at the giant he'd so badly wounded, and promptly fell flat on his own face as he dove forwards.

Naruto wasn't even sure where his blow had landed. Somewhere in the legs probably, it's where he was aiming, and it would explain the tripping. Faster then either could find their feet Sakura got her fancy club over her own head.

The attacker just about exploded with the force of her swing on his spine.

Naruto averted his eyes and tossed the dagger lightly back towards the log he last saw his raven behind. Keeping to the forest floor got him behind a nearby tree without any darts. Wait was it still raining darts? Now that he finally had a few seconds to think he noticed the world had become quieter. Not quiet, but the storm of cries and pierced wind around him was distinctly less overbearing.

He almost felt safe poking his head out from behind the tree.

Safe enough to take shots at least.

Although loading a crossbow is actually pretty hard, as you may or may not know. Not less so when cowering behind a tree only a little wider than you and still in tremendous amounts of pain from a shattered rib stabbing into something squishy.

Naruto managed three shots in the final minutes of their battle.

Their end was defined by a voice ringing out from above.

"HEY! HEEEY!" following the noise showed a furry arm waving from behind the trunk of a thicker tree, then two familiar eyes, and only then did Tsume step out into full view. The grin on her face was absolutely manic. "Great! Great victory!" she said, shouting over the continued sounds of battle around her. "Injured coming now, don't kill!"

"We're done?" Sasuki confirmed, raising up to her feet, but staying braced and ready, like a big cat at rest.

"You? Yes. Just heal,"

"Just heal," Naruto muttered, finally breathing easy as he waddled over and collapsed by his friendly giant. The grass was stained red around her, but she was at least well enough to be more focused on pulling out the various 'thorns' lodged in her. Well enough.

It seemed this had all gone well enough.

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