In the eyes of a wise king, the most important thing for his kingdom is to keep his people safe so that they may prosper for the future. There have been examples in the past of kings who put their people above everything else, even their own lives, to ensure the continuity of their reign. These kings have become legends in humanity, remembered for their most significant acts.
One such legend, considered the beginning and end of magic by humanity, occurred during the reign of Artoria Pendragon, born in times of chaos and war that began with the disintegration of the Roman Empire. Although believed to be indestructible, the Empire awaited its destruction at the hands of barbarian invaders. In preparation for war against the enemy, Rome deprived the island of any significant military force stationed there. Once Britannia lost the protection of the Empire, it never recovered as a Roman province; soon after, it divided into several smaller countries. In that time of barbarian invasion and self-destruction among clans, a long period of war began, later known as the "Dark Ages." Artoria was born during that time as the heir to the throne, the daughter of the King of Britain, Uther Pendragon, and the woman with blue eyes, Igraine, who was the wife of Uther's vassal, the Duke of Cornwall. The king, believing in Merlin's prophecy, longed for the birth of his awaited successor, but the child he had was not the one he desired.
Legend has it that Artoria was left in Merlin's care as a reward for securing Uther's love for Igraine, saying, "I predict the arrival of the child, who will carry a great destiny, and will protect the royal family." But the reality was that Artoria was not a boy, so the king could not make her his successor even if she was destined to become king. She was entrusted to the king's vassals and raised as the daughter of a mere knight. Meanwhile, the king fell into despair, while Merlin was delighted because the sex of the future king did not matter. He was sure that the fact that she was removed from the castle was proof that she would become king.
As time passed until the hour she was declared king of Britain during the test of pulling Caliburn from the rock, she renounced that test because it meant becoming something she did not want, as she would have to renounce her humanity to wield the sword of victory. Faced with that, she preferred to set it aside to preserve her humanity and use the weapon she was known for, Rhongomyniad (Holy Lance).
But as everything begins at its moment, it had to come to an end so that humanity could take the next step on its own without relying so much on what was magical. So, as time passed, humanity progressed, remembering the acts that formed the legend of King Arthur, even though for her, time passed like the blink of an eye, seeing how from one moment to another, she was in the last moments of her life to appear in an unknown place, making her alert, but nothing she couldn't handle.
In the first days she was aware of her unknown surroundings, she found that her previous deplorable state, close to death, was now far from it, being at her best before the wars of Britain began. But those were things of the past that she wouldn't dwell on too much.
She explored the new lands where she found that they were quite different from what she had seen in Britain because instead of knights to defend the people, there were those who were called ninjas, men who murdered in the shadows without any honor to the targets they selected, having bounties on their heads in what was called the bingo book, where the most prominent people of the era were listed, something she found quite useful for obtaining information on the most relevant people of S-rank classification.
Among the most prominent she found were those called Kages, leaders of their villages, the strongest ninjas of their respective villages who were responsible for sending out what they saw as dishonorable men, killing their rivals from behind. Although it was something she expected because she was not in Britain, and these new lands were governed by other rules that, although she did not support, were the way they maintained peace to control people who merely caused harm, as she saw during her travels through the small villages to gather information about the new place she found herself in.
She intervened on some occasions to stop the abuse of power she saw from the ninjas who intimidated weaker people than themselves. She didn't want to stand out too much to avoid attracting unwanted attention like the higher-ranked ninjas in the bingo book. An example of one of those ninjas was a snake-like man named Orochimaru who had recently deserted his village to experiment with people, something that really disgusted her because what kind of person would harm their own people merely for their nefarious ambitions?
She herself was sure that not even Morgan was capable of going to such an extreme to achieve her goals. She admitted that sometimes she was ruthless with the enemy, but never with her own people, perhaps sometimes treating them coldly but never reaching the point of experimenting on them, and if she did reach that point, she was sure it would be with the enemy just for the sake of getting back at them, something that, although she didn't like, sometimes she saw as necessary to send a message to her enemies that she wouldn't hesitate for those who threatened her reign.
Although those were already things of the past that she only thought about occasionally, her train of thought shifted to an individual she had seen in the bingo book during her time gathering information. He was a boy who couldn't have been more than fourteen years old, classified as an A-rank ninja alongside another of the same age, but the latter didn't interest her as much as the former, not because she despised his ability because she was sure he must be quite skilled to be classified alongside the one she was interested in.
It was not because she was looking for someone to accompany her, but rather seeing what was shown in a simple photograph because in the photograph of his face, he had a smile that anyone who saw it could interpret as arrogance, but in her eyes, it reflected a proud and haughty person who didn't stop at anything even if someone stronger challenged him, something she compared to one of her knights of the round table when he was admitted to it, swearing loyalty to her over her other knights.
Shaking her head, she looked at the image of that young man in the bingo book for a few more seconds until she put it away to continue her exploration journey. With that, she traveled for the last two months through the so-called Land of Fire, shaking her head again as she watched for a few more seconds the image of that young man in the bingo book until she put it away to continue her exploration journey. With that, she traveled for the last two months through the so-called Land of Fire, finally reaching the borders of the Land of Lightning, wandering for a few days, not knowing if it was mere destiny or coincidences, but without trying, she ended up encountering that young man who caught her attention, not directly with his person but from a distance, watching as he battled with masked people covered with metal plates in some parts.
She clearly saw that the battle was uneven, being outnumbered four to one, but somehow he had managed to take out two of them, leaving another incapacitated, and the last one was at the edge of a rock, watching as his companion fell one by one until he entered the battlefield with a single leap, rushing towards him, about to strike, but being stopped when the young man raised a chokuto vertically, almost cutting through the middle of the hand of the Ambu who moved a considerable distance away.
The battle continued for about twenty minutes, seeing how the Ambu gained ground due to his opponent's exhaustion, being on several occasions on the verge of being killed, but by mere survival instinct, he dodged the attacks, but staying on the offensive, not wanting to retreat, costing him that the weapon he had in his hand broke in two for not being able to withstand the Ambu's defense, who took advantage of it to connect a chakra-charged punch to the young man's abdomen, sending him crashing into the rocks.
Because of that, she was about to leave because the battle already had a winner, but she stayed still in her place to see how the young man began to rise from the ground, staggering, holding his abdomen, his face hidden behind his blond hair, just like hers, but after a few seconds, he showed a challenging smile, although the most remarkable thing was his eyes, which she finally saw clearly, being a deep blue color, like the sky in its purest and calmest state. It was a blue that seemed to have an infinite depth, as if looking into them was like contemplating the abyss of the ocean on a clear day.
Amidst that deep blue, there were subtle touches of emerald green. These flashes of green were like jewels embedded in the surface of the ocean, creating a smooth and magical transition between the two colors. They were like small islands of vegetation in the middle of the vast blue sea. The appearance of these eyes varied with the light.
In the sunlight, the blue became brighter and more dazzling, while the green flashes seemed to dance like leaves swayed by the wind. In the twilight, the eyes acquired a deeper and more mysterious hue, like the bottom of a lake at night.
In those eyes, she saw the memory of that knight of hers again, something she didn't know why, since those two had no connection whatsoever, being from different places, but she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't snap out of them until she saw how the Ambu's chest was being pierced by the young man's arm by blue rays, changing from time to time to red.
Faced with that, she wanted to enter the field to check that phenomenon and dispel any doubts that arose in her head, but she had to stay in her place when two more people stepped forward, reaching the side of the blond-haired young man, checking on his condition because they could hear and recognize one of them for having taken off the mask, being the one who was with the blond-haired young man in the bingo book named Uchiha Itachi.
Itachi: I see it didn't go quite well for you, Naruto. If Kushina-sama sees you in that state, she surely won't let you go on a mission with us again.
Naruto: Hmn... shut up, Itachi. They didn't ambush you, damn it.
Itachi: Yeah, yeah, no need to get angry.
Kakashi: Alright, we don't need any more time. Let's go back to Konoha to report to the Hokage.
Seeing how everyone was leaving, having to carry Naruto on the back of the tallest one, she looked at where they had left, keeping in mind the name Naruto. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't sure why that young man caught her attention, bringing back memories of the knight of betrayal.
Perhaps she was just overthinking the matter, so she preferred to leave it at the back of her mind and focus on the rumors she had recently heard about some kind of demon called Mōryōquedo in the land of demons. Because of those rumors, she already planned to head to that country to see if the rumors of such a demon were true or just something made up.
Current time -
In front of her was her firstborn, who was once called the Knight of Betrayal. After the long wait of seven years in this new place, after appearing and taking over the land of demons four years ago, her firstborn heir had been by her side during her new reign after having failed as a father in the past. Destiny gave him a new opportunity to form a bond of father and son in the present.
It didn't matter to her if in this new opportunity her son was created in an unorthodox way; for her, he would still be her son, whom she would protect from anyone who wanted to harm him, regardless of the past. Although they were still seeing to her son, she got up from her seat to go to where he was, standing in front of him, raising her right hand to rest it on his head, giving him a warm smile, closing her eyes.
Artoria: You're right, but I'm glad you're back, son. for some scolding from him.
And end of the chapter