Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Primis
Chapter 11
0 reviewsA new land. A new place. Sure how he had gotten here was...bad. Which is an understatement. And, sure, he could whine and bitch about the unfairness of it all; but that won't change anything. All h...
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Primis
Chapter 11
7 years after Naruto Namikaze's disappearance...
Rabona is a large bustling city, with tall walls made of brick and concrete towering over the buildings. It has a population of over nine thousand people, three thousand being soldiers and guards, with a smaller portion being silver eyed women who are living amongst the populace.
Within one of the barracks was Cynthia, training a small detachment of guards.
“That's it.” praised the plaited haired woman. She observed them attack the dummies that were in the shape of yoma, striking their weak points like a well oiled machine. “By striking their necks you are removing one of their most vital areas. However, this does not mean you are in any way ready to face one.” she said, but not unkindly.
A broad and muscular guard stopped hitting at the dummy and turned to ask her, “Because they have many abilities that makes them dangerous?”
Cynthia nodded with a pleased smile, “Precisely. Some have wings, allowing them to fly and avoid your swords, halberds and spears. That is why you have those who use ranged weaponry. Others are able to stretch their limbs and so on. Although...” she trailed off.
“Hmm?”
“Two friends of mine, Helen and Deneve, encountered a new type of yoma.” Cynthia revealed, “One they had a bit of trouble with. Apparently, it was a walking corpse that could appear and disappear at will.”
Many guards stopped what they were doing at this point, and gave the plaited woman looks of disbelief and disturbance, “Walking corpse?”
“Their words not mine.” Cynthia shrugged, “I never saw one myself.” but she did see a lot of walking corpses before. Not that she'd ever tell them that though.
“What are the chances we'll see one?” asked another guard in training.
Cynthia shrugged and said in a so-so tone, “The one Helen and Deneve encountered was killed seven years ago, and neither they or myself encountered another one since. The chance is very unlikely.”
“I wouldn't say that.” hearing the voice she had not heard from in seven years, caused Cynthia to quickly turn around in astonishment.
“...Naruto?” a shocked Cynthia said with her silver eyes growing wide.
Everyone was shocked. But none more so than Cynthia who was staring at Naruto. However, he was a lot different than she remembered him.
For one he was transparent, like 'Tank' Dempsey, and had slightly shorter but just as spiky hair and had dimmer blue eyes. His clothes were different as well. They were made up of a pair of black baggy tracksuit bottoms, a light grey hoodie, a light grey jacket made of the same material as the jumper. And on his feet was a pair of black trainers.
“Not exactly.” he said with a head shake, “I am Naruto, but not the one you're familiar with. He is on his way so you'd better get ready for the...company he's going to bring.”
“He's coming back?” Cynthia said as filed away what she had learned to the back of her head. “Do you know when? Is it going to be today? Tomorrow?”
The spectre Naruto shook his head. “Unfortunately, it's not that easy to pinpoint when he will arrive. But he is coming, I guarantee it.” he looked to the side, in the distance, and then he looked back at the woman and said conclusively, “If you know anyone that knows the other Naruto here, tell them. You will see me again in the future.”
With nothing else to say, the ghost was gone.
Cynthia quickly looked around the room to find him, but found no one but freaked out young and middle aged men.
“Uh...everyone is dismissed.” she told them, before marching out of the room as if her life depends on it.
“...Who, was that boy?” a random guard-in-training asked.
“No idea...”
X.X.X.X
Yuma was talking and walking with Galatea, a beautiful woman with straight long hair who was once a warrior like herself. She had self inflicted a wound to blind her own eyes and kept herself from healing them in order disguise herself as a nun after deserting the organization. And when Cynthia came along, looking shocked and as if she had seen a ghost, both blondes stopped what they were doing and looked at the plaided girl.
“Cynthia? Is something wrong?” Yuma asked.
“It's him, Yuma. He's coming back.” Cynthia calmly answered, in spite of the urgency in her voice.
“Him...?” Yuma creased her brow in thought – it didn't take that long for her to realise what her friend was implying. The young woman grew wide eyed once the dots were connected. “You saw him? When?!”
“It was him, but not the one we know. But it's him nonetheless.”
“That... doesn't make a whole lot of sense.”
“I know. But you have to trust me when I say he is coming back.”
“I'm confused... who are you two talking about?” Galatea voiced her confusion; then she looked at Cynthia directly, “Who is this person that has you so excited Cynthia?”
Cynthia shaked her head, “Not here.” she then looked to Yuma and said, “Go get the others that are still here and bring them to the meeting point. Tell them its urgent and they can't miss it.”
Yuma nodded frantically and ran off to get those still in Rabona. Cynthia and Galatea on the other hand were still in the street, with the latter giving the plaited woman a curious look.
“C'mon, Galatea. You're practically one of us, so you should be in the know too.” and with that Cynthia walked to her destination, and Galatea who is still curious as to who this unnamed man is followed her.
Cynthia already found a few people prior to walking into them. And now that she has another person helping her out, Cynthia feels she can set up the meeting point.
X.X.X.X
Cynthia and Galatea were in a tavern, sitting around a long rectangular table at the end of the room as they waited for the others to arrive. Cynthia was rhythmically tapping her fingers on the table while Galatea looked around, patiently waiting for the others to arrive.
30 minutes later, a handful of women entered the tavern and made their way to the table Cynthia and Galatea were at. Miria, Yuma, Flora, Eliza and Veronica.
Miria and Yuma were still in their uniforms from when they were part of the organization. Eliza and Veronica however, are garbed in civilian clothing, because they wanted to live a normal life. But because Eliza and Veronica were two of the 24 people that got out of Pieta alive thanks to Naruto, Yuma decided they had to be included as well.
Miria ever the serious one, got straight to the point as she and the other gathered women sat down. “What is the news you have that's so important Cynthia?”
Since Miria got straight to the point, Cynthia decided to get straight to the point too. And so she dropped a bomb on them. “Naruto's coming back.”
Excluding Yuma – who already knew – and Galatea – who had no idea who Naruto was - those three words had shook them to the core. Being the first of them to recover Miria immediately asked the first, prominent question that entered her thoughts.
“How do you know he's coming back? We waited for seven years and never got a word. Not even a peep.”
“Because I told her he was coming back.”
Everyone snapped her heads in the direction the voice came from and found Naruto, see-through and all, sitting at the end of the table with his trainers resting on top. Cynthia was a little surprised to see him again, but not as much, she had already seen him before.
But the others that knew him... they were more than surprised to see his face for the first time in seven years. Galatea on the other hand couldn't see him – she was blind after all and Naruto didn't have any yoki in him.
“Naruto?” Miria said as her eyes slowly grew wide.
“He's not the Naruto we know.” Cynthia pointed out to the woman.
“Glad you remembered that.” Naruto said.
“Please. It was barely an hour ago.” Cynthia playfully retorted.
Veronica looked around to see if anyone was looking their way. Thankfully, there was barely anyone around, and no one seemed to notice there was a ghost among them. Satisfied the pig-tailed woman looked at the ghost, “If you're not the Naruto we know, then who the hell are you?” she asked him.
Naruto looked at Veronica and gave her a straight answer.
“I'm the Naruto who fought side by side with 'Tank' Dempsey a long time ago.” that got wide eyes from nearly everyone, excluding those who didn't recognise the name.
“That's a name I haven't heard of in a long time.” Miria said. “What happened to you?”
He waved her question aside instead of answering it. “We're not here to talk about me. We're here to talk about the other Naruto. Your Naruto.” the ghost reminded.
Cynthia nodded affirmatively, “Right. You said he was coming back, but didn't elaborate on when.”
“That's because I don't exactly know. For fucks sake, the reason I'm here and he's not, is because I'm dead. Your Naruto is still alive – and for some fucking reason it's taking him longer to get here.”
Ignoring his crass language, since she had been told by Dempsey that he likes to swear a lot., she asked, “When he disappeared nearly a decade ago, where did he go?” that was one of the biggest questions she and the others were seeking an answer too.
Kicking his feet off the table the ghost sat correctly and looked at the women with an expression of utter seriousness. “He got sent to a dimension that is directly parallel to this one. But with many differences.”
Curious the hybrids all exchanged looks before giving the ghost their attention again.
“Different? How so?” Flora asked.
Naruto sighed and raised a finger, “Well for one everything in that fucking, inane dimension is destroyed.” another finger, “Everything is in ruins and as far as I know, there's no survivors.” a third finger, “And if you die, then almost everything is reset to the first time you arrived there. Depending how long you lived for, you either remember everything up to your death, or you forget about everything you did there.”
“You die... and everything is reset? If that's the case, then how did you die?” Eliza questioned the ghost.
“I got close to getting out. And when I got overwhelmed by the living dead I died for real.” Naruto told them as if he was talking about the weather.
“Naruto,” said person looked at the person that spoke, Flora. “how many times did the one we know... die?”
“In total? Twenty-eight.”
“Twenty-eight?!” they were so shocked by this reveal, that Cynthia, Miria, Yuma, Flora, Eliza and Veronica nearly yelled.
“Yeah. So don't be surprised if he's jumpy, and not all there when you see him again.”
The hybrids exchanged looks once more, before they looked back at the ghost.
“So, when can we roughly expect his arrival?” questioned Eliza.
Naruto hummed thoughtfully, as he slowly rubbed his chin. “We both left at the same time; and it took me a day or two to get here.” he said, though it was more to himself than them. “Taking that into account, he should be here shortly. If not, then, he may be delayed by another day or two...” he pushed his current thoughts aside and looked at the woman who questioned him, “I hope that answered it.”
Eliza and the others nodded with some degree of satisfaction; then Cynthia remembered what he said just some time before he left the first time around. “You said Naruto was going to bring company. What did you mean by that?” she asked.
“Why the Keeper of course.” he answered her with a wide smirk. Suddenly he looked to his right and gazed off in the distance. “...I gotta go now. You will see him soon.” and with that he gave them a two fingered wave and simply faded away.
There was a tolerable silence in the room.
“...Who's 'Tank' Dempsey?” Galatea eventually asked and effectively breaking the silence.
“He was once a member of Primis. The Naruto we were talking to is from the Old World.” THAT had gotten the nun's attention. She's heard of Primis, and what they sacrificed to ensure the survival of humanity.”
“Hmm... I see.” and with that Galatea slowly raised from her chair. “In that case we should prepare for his eventual arrival should we not?”
Miria, Yuma, Cynthia, Flora, Eliza and Veronica got up from their chairs too, with Miria nodding in confirmation. With them saying goodbyes to each other they all went out of the tavern and went their separate ways.
X.X.X.X
The MTD whirring as it activated; a bright light; cackling electricity; the sound of screeching metal and thrusters; and then the feeling of being tackled by something solid and cold. That was the last thing Naruto Namikaze felt just before he was teleported by the MTD with the Keeper in tow.
Then he found himself seeing glimmering lights; a sight he had become familiar with during the beginning of a new cycles. He saw pictures of people and places he didn't know, and didn't see, and of people he did know and did see.
Being stuck in that messed up world that was so similar to his own, Naruto slowly began to forget a few things. Being killed and revived and killed again in a constant cycle, as well as forgetting and remembering what you said before you died really took its toll on him.
He remembered being angry; but what he was angry at... eluded him.
Then another bright light blinded his sight not a moment later, and he was made all too aware of gravity taking hold. He let out pained grunts as he bounced across the hard surface of the earth, along with the surprised yelps and screams of the people around him, before going the rest of the way in a rolling slide.
The blond came to stop lying on his back with a pained groan; he hurt, everywhere.
His FG-42 slid to a stop at the heels of his boots.
“Agh...!” the blond made aware of the throbbing pain in his chest, that hit him like a ton of bricks.
Christ! It felt he had been bashed in the chest with a metal pipe! Following that was throbbing pain in his skull, like his brain was being pushed through a pipe too small for it to go through.
Then he remembered...
He died thAT MANY TIMES IN THAT FUCKING PLACE?!
And he remembered every detail leading up to his many deaths, and he didn't know what was worse: being ripped apart limb from limb, or getting your skull crushed by the foot of a tank solider.
Gritting his teeth Naruto pushed past the pain raging through his body and slowly sat up to look in the direction he came from. His FG-42 was lying in front of him; beyond that there was a large white, floating sphere that was growing bigger by the second. Groaning with a grimace the blond grabbed his battle rifle and gave it a quick check over, even unloading the magazine and ejecting the bullet in the chamber to see if it was jammed or not.
Once he was assured the hand-held machine gun was did not have any defects in it, Naruto slid the magazine back in its slot and locked it in place; then he got the hell up with another pained groan and looked at it with squinting eyes.
Okay; the Tank Solider obviously got to him; and the MTD brought him to this... medieval city. Naruto took a brief glance at his surroundings and found a few women had silver eyes and pale-blond, or just silver hair; didn't recognise any of them though. And the looks they were giving him and the continuously growing sphere didn't bode well either.
Sighing Naruto looked back at the sphere and got ready to open fire.
Then when that familiar heavily armoured zombie, flew out of the sphere with a roar, its claw-arm held up clamping in a threatening way, Naruto immediately opened fire on it. The bullets harmlessly rebounded off the surface.
Naruto rolled to the side, evading the armoured zombie's flying tackle, and quickly got back up to a knee and looked over his shoulder in time to see the zombie, effortlessly smash through the wall of a building.
Luckily no one was caught in its claw. The blond didn't want to know what would happen to the unlucky bastard caught in it. The armoured suit turned around, its metal feet thudding loudly with every step, and then the zombie within roared at him as the armoured suit walked out of the building through the hole it made.
Naruto had a feeling the zombie was trying to talk smack at him. Key word: trying.
The blond scowled and yelled as he stood up and taking aim, “Come get me!” he bellowed in challenge.
The armoured zombie stomped the ground, making a spider crack around the impact, and activated its thrusters. Naruto opened fire as the armoured zombie threw at him, its claw arm lifted up in front of it, and like the last time the bullets rebounded off the metal surface. Naruto rolled out of its trajectory and got up on his feet as he turned around, in time to see the the zombie crash through another stone wall.
Meanwhile the silver eyed women were finally about to take action as pulled out their claymore swords from one of the two slots on the back of their spaulders.
“What the hell is that thing?!” one of the silver eyed women cried out.
Without taking his eyes off the tank soldier that was emerging from the hole, Naruto answered. “A living dead.”
“What the hell is 'a living dead'?!” another silver eyed woman asked demandingly.
The tank solder roared to the sky as Naruto answered, “Lady, you're looking at one!”
Then it activated its thrusters and flew at Naruto once more. The hybrids quickly got out of the way while said blond moved to the left in order to avoid the claw that tired to swipe grab him. He watched as the tank solider adjusted its momentum before coming to a stop in front of the hole it already caused, turning around to glare at the Namikaze with its empty yellow eyes.
It was getting smarter.
The tank soldier ran at him this time instead of activating its thrusters. Now that it wasn't moving too fast for him to shoot Naruto took aim. He was about to pull the trigger when a few of the silver eyes women ran at it, swords drawn. They hacked and slashed at it only for their swords to ricocheted off the metal surface.
The tank soldier retaliated by swiping at them with its claw arm, and managed to hit one in the stomach and throwing her off her feet. The others pulled back immediately, just in time too as the tank solider turned to meet them with its flame-throwing arm pointed at them.
They let out a startled yelp as fire shot out of the barrel. The heat of the flame made them sweat. Thankfully they were far enough away to not get caught in the fire.
With the tank soldier distracted another group of silver eyed women struck. To Naruto they were a blur, they appeared around the tank soldiers flanks and slashed at It with a greater amount of force being put into it. Naruto saw one or two of them had gold-like eyed with slanted, feline like pupils – and they managed to cut into the armoured suit.
Another tried to run her sword through the zombie's head. But the zombie managed to dodge before it happened.
But despite this, it didn't do anything to deter the heavily armoured zombie. They quickly pulled away with their swords as the armoured zombie turned to them with a stream of fire being shot from its flame-thrower.
The tank soldier roared in anger from their hit and run tactics. Clamping and unclasping its claw it raised its claw-arm at one of the hybrids and to the shock of everyone except Naruto, the claw shot out and clamped around an unlucky hybrid who was too slow to react and get out of its trajectory.
“Gah!” she cried out and was forced to drop her claymore to the ground. She struggled even as she was pulled to the zombie.
Luckily for her Naruto took action. The while they were distracting the tank solider, while inadvertently being a nuisance for him, the blond repositioned himself. So when the claw managed to grab on to one of the hybrids, Naruto was in a position to interfere.
So he did and shot the claw arm.
The bullets struck home, and the tank solider roared as its claw was forced to let go of its victim. Said woman quickly got the hell out of there, shaken but otherwise unhurt.
With the tank soldier now focusing on him Naruto beckoned it tauntingly. It yelled and ran to him. Exhaling the blond started to lead it around in a circle while making sure the zombie wasn't anywhere near the bystanders and hybrids. All the while he calmly changed the magazine in his FG-42 for a fresh one.
After that was done, the blond turned and faced the zombie, kept running – but backwards – as he took aim at the exposed face and opened fire.
That was the scene Miria, Cynthia and Yuma came too when they arrived with a small detachment of soldiers and fellow hybrids.
“What the...?” A bewildered Miria started; she grew wide eyed in recognition when she saw Naruto. An expression copied by Cynthia and Yuma.
“Naruto....?” said an equally bewildered Cynthia.
Miria watched the other hybrids leapt in and struck the thick, metal suit when ever they got an opening. The light haired brunette narrowed her silver eyes analytically, seeing how the claymores harmlessly bounced off the surface for some, and for others they barely managed to cut into it.
The suit itself had to be made of some of the strongest metal for it to be that resistant and dense. Miria guessed it had to be made entirely out of steel, or some sort of other metal like titanium or tungsten. It's more likely to be steel; and given how rare it is to find titanium it's unlikely to be that metal; and it's even more unlikely to be tungsten because of how its made.
All were viable options though.
The hybrids got out of there as the tank solider retaliated; turning and shooting them with its flame-thrower. Naruto got its attention back on him again by shooting at it.
When the tank soldier was facing him completely, Naruto unloaded the entire magazine onto the exposed face. The face was reduced to a red mist and the entire suit locked up before falling down on its back. Then the suit exploded a moment later, utterly ruining it from the inside out.
Pointedly ignoring the stares he was getting Naruto reloaded his battle worn FG-42 and walked over to the carcass, battle rifled and ready to shoot if it so much as twitched. Once he was sure it was well and truly dead, the blond exhaled and allowed his FG-42 to hang by his waist.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed with exhaustion. “Finally. God that was longer than it needed to be.” he said with tiredness in his voice.
“Naruto...?”
He turned to the person that said his name with wide eyes; he was overcome with surprise when he saw three familiar faces he had not seen in ages, walking over to him with wide eyes.
“Miria, Cynthia, Yuma, you three haven't changed. You still look the same.” he said with a tired chortle.
“The same can be said for you.” Cynthia pointed out; and it was true, except for the blood splattered clothes and the bags under his eyes, he still looked as she remembered. “You look like you've been through hell.”
He let out an empty chuckle. “Fighting these things non-stop, with little time to rest, for what felt like an eternity would certainly do that.” he said, while gesturing to the carcass of the tank soldier beside him.
“I'd say,” Miria said as she gave him a quick look over. “You certainly look... different?”
Naruto chuckled and gave her a smile, “I'll take that as a compliment.”
“Miria?” said woman turned to the person who spoke, a fellow hybrid she knows by the name of Nina. “Who is he?” she asked, giving Naruto a look of deep distrust.
“A friend of ours.” Miria replied.
“Miria,” said woman looked at Naruto who then asked, “What did I miss while I was gone? Can you catch me up?”
Miria nodded and gestured for him to follow her; at the same time she dismissed the small contingent of soldiers she, Cynthia and Yuma had brought with them. So he did and followed her, Cynthia and Yuma with the other silver eyed women following out of curiosity.
X.X.X.X
Some time later...
Inside of an Inn, surrounded by silver eyed women and curious civilians and soldiers, sat Naruto. He listened to Miria regaling everything that had happened in short order and the blond realised he had missed out on a LOT of things.
The organization for one, was destroyed, their soldiers – the women with silver eyes and pale blonde, silver and brown hair around him – had rebelled, with the leaders being killed systematically when their headquarters was overrun. The Pieta survivors of twenty-four had been reduced to eleven, many of them having been killed by some girl called Priscilla.
The survivors were obviously, Miria, Cynthia and Yuma. The rest were Veronica, Eliza and Flora, Clare, Helen and Deneve, Tabitha and Jean.
But they are elsewhere; most returning to their home towns and villages, and others were either continuing the fight against the monsters. Flora, Eliza and Veronica however, were in Rabona and was either helping in repairing the damages his battle with the tank soldier had made, or they were busy training the soldiers of the holy city.
Oh, and apparently, the organization was responsible for all the misery and death that plagued this continent. They were the ones that made said monsters by kidnapping homeless boys over the years and infecting them with a parasite.
After being caught up with the events Naruto let out a low whistle.
“Jeez. I missed out on a lot of things haven't I?”
“That is an understatement.” Miria answered with a tiny smirk; then she asked, “So what are you going to do now?”
“I still have to find a way home,” he answered, then after a moment of thought added, “And wait for the Keeper to show up. And maybe Ember too.”
“Ember? Who's that?” Cynthia questioned with a curious look on her face; Miria and Yuma were curious as well because the spectre Naruto said there was no one else alive where the blond before them ended up.
“Ember's a dragon.” he told them, and had to stop himself from laughing at the stupefied looks on their faces.
“...You're not pulling our leg, are you?” a still disbelieving Miria asked him.
“Nope. Ember is a fire breathing, zombie eating dragon.” he cheerfully clarified for them, and took a great amount of enjoyment in their reaction. Then he saw something from the corner of his eye, and when he looked at it, he smiled. “Looks like she's on her way. Not smart of her to show up in the tavern though.”
As one everyone looked where he's looking and before their very eyes, they were astonished to see a glyph on the wall. Then it started glowing. Getting up from his chair Naruto casually strolled over to the glyph.
Then everyone, except Naruto, screamed in surprise when Ember's head emerged from the glyph. Said dragon blinked in bewilderment at finding herself in the inside of a building. Then she looked down and saw...
“Naruto!”
“Hi Ember. Nice to see you again.”
Ember leaned down so she was eye level with her human friend. “Where did you go? When those metal things disappeared I looked for you and the Keeper, but you were gone!”
“Sorry about vanishing on you like that, Ember. But the tank soldier was on our asses. Not to mention you were dealing with them yourself.”
While Naruto and Ember were chatting, everyone was staring at the former, many of them were wondering how the hell he can understand what it's saying, when all they could hear from her maw was growls.
Miria, Yuma and Cynthia correctly assumed Naruto being able to understand what the she-dragon was saying had something to do with the Keeper.
“Really? That's worrying.” a pause, “What are the chances they're gonna show up here?”
They watched as the she-dragon nodded in agreement before it let out a series of growls again.
“...That high of a chance huh?” Naruto looked back at his eavesdroppers, frowned slightly upon seeing them listen intently to the one-sided conversation, then back at Ember. “Alright. Ember, I want you to have a look around on this continent. Come and get me the second you find evidence of their presence here.”
The dragon nodded and with pulled back into the glyph. Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a stress-filled groan.
“...Naruto, what is going on?” a cautious Cynthia asked as she slowly walked over to him.
He didn't answer for a long while, it wasn't until the blond felt Cynthia's hand on his shoulder that he finally looked at her. Cynthia saw the grim look on his face and knew what ever that dragon told him wasn't good.
“There is a potential problem,” he said; then his lips went to a thin line. “Remember that armoured suit I was fighting?” when Cynthia nodded in affirmation, “Well there were more of them. A lot more. Long story short when I left that place, they left too. And since I came here...”
An alarmed Miria picked up on where he left off. “They may have gotten here too.”
His affirmed nod made everyone in the room talk amongst themselves in fear.
They saw how dense and thick the metal on that thing was. If there is a possibility that more of them will come... there's going to be a lot of causalities on their side before they manage to defeat one. The hybrids however were a little more optimistic and with good reason. Because of they are, the women can take a lot of punishment before they expire.
“They're from the Old World, aren't they?” questioned Yuma.
“Yeah. They are.” Naruto growled in the back of his throat as a series of images came to the forefront of his mind. Of one thousand foot tall, metal men....
Oh great, there were bigger ones?!
“Naruto...? Are you... alright?” Cynthia hesitantly asked; said blond was twitching erratically. It would have been funny if she wasn't aware of the suffering and deaths he had gone through in that other dimension.
It looks like the ghosts warning of him not being 'all there' was well warranted.
“Peachy. I'm... peachy.” after growling a little more audibly, Naruto shook his head and forced himself to calm down. There was no need to have a mental break down or something. The likelihood of a one thousand foot tall metal man appearing in this era is abysmal. And even if they did find one, they didn't have the technology and knowledge to fix it.
“So...how tough are those things?” one of the silver eyed women asked, which made Naruto look at her as if she had asked a pretty dumb question. Then she blushed when realising her question was pretty dumb.
She was one of the people who saw the thing in action after all.
“Right. Dumb question...” the same woman said.
“Is there anything we should expect?” another one asked.
“Yeah, there is. Margwa.” Miria, Yuma and Cynthia made a face. They remembered that thing; it's kind of hard to forget an eldritch abomination like that. “Imagine an abomination with three heads that are nothing more than teeth and spiked tentacles for arms. Oh and they're completely invulnerable save for their weak point: their mouths.”
“I never saw one of those since Pieta.” said Miria.
“Neither did I to be honest...” Naruto admitted.
“What about the walking dead?”
“You don't need to worry about them... unless...” he trailed off.
“Unless?” another silver eyed woman prompted, someone Miria recognised as Nike.
“Well a couple of them are able to teleport. I fought a few myself. Although one always stood out, due to how completely annoying and fucking unfair they are. Fucking. Teleporting. Spammers!”
Miria frowned in thought. There was only one undead she knows of, but never had to opportunity to combat one. “...the undead yoma correct?”
“Yeah.”
“A zombie yoma?” Nike shouted, looking as if the mere idea of an undead teleporting yoma is ludicrous. “There's no way they exist!”
“Helen and Deneve, if they were here, would beg to differ.” Naruto replied coolly.
“That's right. They did fight one when you first met them.” Miria said; this had gotten surprised looks from the other hybrids and soldiers.
“Excuse me, but how come we weren't informed of there being a new type of yoma?” asked woman with very long, princess-styled curly hair. Miria knew this woman as Anastasia.
“Because we had other things on mind at the time. Like taking down the organization.” Miria replied, while also reminding them of the organizations treachery.
“Is there anything else we should be on the lookout for?” Anastasia asked; directing the question to Naruto because he had the most knowledge of this enemy.
“Destroy any rocks that are glowing orange with impunity.” A random thing to say, but Miria, Yuma and Cynthia understood. They were told the same thing by 'Tank' Dempsey himself all those years ago.
And they did destroy one a long time ago. No one knew about said rock though, but it was near the town Helen and Deneve first ran into Naruto. Thankfully, it was far enough away it didn't cause anyone to get sick or reanimate the dead.
“Right. Those rocks can bring the dead back to life...” said a nodding Miria.
“They can also wipe your memory, if you're not careful.” he helpfully added. “I still haven't recovered from that incident.”
“Which one?” Yuma questioned, “The one where you were having an identity crisis, or the one where you lost nearly a decades worth of memories?”
“Both. I still am having an identity crisis actually. Shortly before I came here, I was remembering things that I KNOW I didn't see; places I wasn't at; people I don't know.”
Then the Keeper appeared beside Naruto from a sphere of electricity. It's sudden appearance surprised everyone - except Naruto, Miria, Yuma and Cynthia – and they reached for their weapon. It was Miria who held up her hand, in the universal gesture to stop, that kept them from doing do.
“Well you sure took your time, Keeper.” Naruto calmly said as he sedately looked at the other-worldly being. “What kept you?”
“I was searching for some people.”
“Really? Who?”
“Helen and Deneve. Along with a few others from Pieta.”
Excluding Miria, Cynthia and Yuma everyone who was listening in was frustrated by the one-sided discussion. It was just like the conversation with the dragon. One sided and frustrating.
Miria saw this and after informing them that Cynthia, Yuma and herself are able to understand the Keeper, offered to translate what the what the other worldly being is saying. They accepted her offer and Miria went on to translate everything on the Keepers side of the discussion.
Unaware of the translation happening Naruto turned to the Keeper completely. “Oh? Any luck?”
To Naruto's disappointment the Keeper shook its head no. “No. Who knew it would be hard to find a couple of hybrids on this continent?”
“It's a big place, Keeper; and you're one person.” Naruto pointed out. “I would be surprised if you did.”
“Before the Fall, you humans had a saying for this sort of dilemma. A 'Needle in a haystack' I believe it was.”
“Well it certainly applies here.”
“Indeed it does.” nodded the other-worldly being. Then, for no reason whatsoever, the Keeper suddenly appeared within Nike's personal space.
The reaction to having an intimidating creature whose face is made mostly of teeth, and no eyes, was expected. She yelled out in surprise; Nike and those in close proximity stumbled away.
“Well... at least they're not going to try and murder you. Unlike a certain someone who ordered everyone to 'engage' the Keeper back at Pieta...” Naruto said once he was certain no one was going to take hostile action against the Keeper.
“At the time we were on edge, and expecting an attack at any moment. We didn't know if the Keeper was a friend or foe back then.” Miria pointed out and defended her past decision; while she was well intentioned, it was Naruto's intervention that prevented everyone at Pieta from getting wiped off the face of the Earth.
“Fair enough.”
“So, can any of you bring me up to speed?” the Keeper asked.
And so Miria and Naruto did.
Chapter 11
7 years after Naruto Namikaze's disappearance...
Rabona is a large bustling city, with tall walls made of brick and concrete towering over the buildings. It has a population of over nine thousand people, three thousand being soldiers and guards, with a smaller portion being silver eyed women who are living amongst the populace.
Within one of the barracks was Cynthia, training a small detachment of guards.
“That's it.” praised the plaited haired woman. She observed them attack the dummies that were in the shape of yoma, striking their weak points like a well oiled machine. “By striking their necks you are removing one of their most vital areas. However, this does not mean you are in any way ready to face one.” she said, but not unkindly.
A broad and muscular guard stopped hitting at the dummy and turned to ask her, “Because they have many abilities that makes them dangerous?”
Cynthia nodded with a pleased smile, “Precisely. Some have wings, allowing them to fly and avoid your swords, halberds and spears. That is why you have those who use ranged weaponry. Others are able to stretch their limbs and so on. Although...” she trailed off.
“Hmm?”
“Two friends of mine, Helen and Deneve, encountered a new type of yoma.” Cynthia revealed, “One they had a bit of trouble with. Apparently, it was a walking corpse that could appear and disappear at will.”
Many guards stopped what they were doing at this point, and gave the plaited woman looks of disbelief and disturbance, “Walking corpse?”
“Their words not mine.” Cynthia shrugged, “I never saw one myself.” but she did see a lot of walking corpses before. Not that she'd ever tell them that though.
“What are the chances we'll see one?” asked another guard in training.
Cynthia shrugged and said in a so-so tone, “The one Helen and Deneve encountered was killed seven years ago, and neither they or myself encountered another one since. The chance is very unlikely.”
“I wouldn't say that.” hearing the voice she had not heard from in seven years, caused Cynthia to quickly turn around in astonishment.
“...Naruto?” a shocked Cynthia said with her silver eyes growing wide.
Everyone was shocked. But none more so than Cynthia who was staring at Naruto. However, he was a lot different than she remembered him.
For one he was transparent, like 'Tank' Dempsey, and had slightly shorter but just as spiky hair and had dimmer blue eyes. His clothes were different as well. They were made up of a pair of black baggy tracksuit bottoms, a light grey hoodie, a light grey jacket made of the same material as the jumper. And on his feet was a pair of black trainers.
“Not exactly.” he said with a head shake, “I am Naruto, but not the one you're familiar with. He is on his way so you'd better get ready for the...company he's going to bring.”
“He's coming back?” Cynthia said as filed away what she had learned to the back of her head. “Do you know when? Is it going to be today? Tomorrow?”
The spectre Naruto shook his head. “Unfortunately, it's not that easy to pinpoint when he will arrive. But he is coming, I guarantee it.” he looked to the side, in the distance, and then he looked back at the woman and said conclusively, “If you know anyone that knows the other Naruto here, tell them. You will see me again in the future.”
With nothing else to say, the ghost was gone.
Cynthia quickly looked around the room to find him, but found no one but freaked out young and middle aged men.
“Uh...everyone is dismissed.” she told them, before marching out of the room as if her life depends on it.
“...Who, was that boy?” a random guard-in-training asked.
“No idea...”
X.X.X.X
Yuma was talking and walking with Galatea, a beautiful woman with straight long hair who was once a warrior like herself. She had self inflicted a wound to blind her own eyes and kept herself from healing them in order disguise herself as a nun after deserting the organization. And when Cynthia came along, looking shocked and as if she had seen a ghost, both blondes stopped what they were doing and looked at the plaided girl.
“Cynthia? Is something wrong?” Yuma asked.
“It's him, Yuma. He's coming back.” Cynthia calmly answered, in spite of the urgency in her voice.
“Him...?” Yuma creased her brow in thought – it didn't take that long for her to realise what her friend was implying. The young woman grew wide eyed once the dots were connected. “You saw him? When?!”
“It was him, but not the one we know. But it's him nonetheless.”
“That... doesn't make a whole lot of sense.”
“I know. But you have to trust me when I say he is coming back.”
“I'm confused... who are you two talking about?” Galatea voiced her confusion; then she looked at Cynthia directly, “Who is this person that has you so excited Cynthia?”
Cynthia shaked her head, “Not here.” she then looked to Yuma and said, “Go get the others that are still here and bring them to the meeting point. Tell them its urgent and they can't miss it.”
Yuma nodded frantically and ran off to get those still in Rabona. Cynthia and Galatea on the other hand were still in the street, with the latter giving the plaited woman a curious look.
“C'mon, Galatea. You're practically one of us, so you should be in the know too.” and with that Cynthia walked to her destination, and Galatea who is still curious as to who this unnamed man is followed her.
Cynthia already found a few people prior to walking into them. And now that she has another person helping her out, Cynthia feels she can set up the meeting point.
X.X.X.X
Cynthia and Galatea were in a tavern, sitting around a long rectangular table at the end of the room as they waited for the others to arrive. Cynthia was rhythmically tapping her fingers on the table while Galatea looked around, patiently waiting for the others to arrive.
30 minutes later, a handful of women entered the tavern and made their way to the table Cynthia and Galatea were at. Miria, Yuma, Flora, Eliza and Veronica.
Miria and Yuma were still in their uniforms from when they were part of the organization. Eliza and Veronica however, are garbed in civilian clothing, because they wanted to live a normal life. But because Eliza and Veronica were two of the 24 people that got out of Pieta alive thanks to Naruto, Yuma decided they had to be included as well.
Miria ever the serious one, got straight to the point as she and the other gathered women sat down. “What is the news you have that's so important Cynthia?”
Since Miria got straight to the point, Cynthia decided to get straight to the point too. And so she dropped a bomb on them. “Naruto's coming back.”
Excluding Yuma – who already knew – and Galatea – who had no idea who Naruto was - those three words had shook them to the core. Being the first of them to recover Miria immediately asked the first, prominent question that entered her thoughts.
“How do you know he's coming back? We waited for seven years and never got a word. Not even a peep.”
“Because I told her he was coming back.”
Everyone snapped her heads in the direction the voice came from and found Naruto, see-through and all, sitting at the end of the table with his trainers resting on top. Cynthia was a little surprised to see him again, but not as much, she had already seen him before.
But the others that knew him... they were more than surprised to see his face for the first time in seven years. Galatea on the other hand couldn't see him – she was blind after all and Naruto didn't have any yoki in him.
“Naruto?” Miria said as her eyes slowly grew wide.
“He's not the Naruto we know.” Cynthia pointed out to the woman.
“Glad you remembered that.” Naruto said.
“Please. It was barely an hour ago.” Cynthia playfully retorted.
Veronica looked around to see if anyone was looking their way. Thankfully, there was barely anyone around, and no one seemed to notice there was a ghost among them. Satisfied the pig-tailed woman looked at the ghost, “If you're not the Naruto we know, then who the hell are you?” she asked him.
Naruto looked at Veronica and gave her a straight answer.
“I'm the Naruto who fought side by side with 'Tank' Dempsey a long time ago.” that got wide eyes from nearly everyone, excluding those who didn't recognise the name.
“That's a name I haven't heard of in a long time.” Miria said. “What happened to you?”
He waved her question aside instead of answering it. “We're not here to talk about me. We're here to talk about the other Naruto. Your Naruto.” the ghost reminded.
Cynthia nodded affirmatively, “Right. You said he was coming back, but didn't elaborate on when.”
“That's because I don't exactly know. For fucks sake, the reason I'm here and he's not, is because I'm dead. Your Naruto is still alive – and for some fucking reason it's taking him longer to get here.”
Ignoring his crass language, since she had been told by Dempsey that he likes to swear a lot., she asked, “When he disappeared nearly a decade ago, where did he go?” that was one of the biggest questions she and the others were seeking an answer too.
Kicking his feet off the table the ghost sat correctly and looked at the women with an expression of utter seriousness. “He got sent to a dimension that is directly parallel to this one. But with many differences.”
Curious the hybrids all exchanged looks before giving the ghost their attention again.
“Different? How so?” Flora asked.
Naruto sighed and raised a finger, “Well for one everything in that fucking, inane dimension is destroyed.” another finger, “Everything is in ruins and as far as I know, there's no survivors.” a third finger, “And if you die, then almost everything is reset to the first time you arrived there. Depending how long you lived for, you either remember everything up to your death, or you forget about everything you did there.”
“You die... and everything is reset? If that's the case, then how did you die?” Eliza questioned the ghost.
“I got close to getting out. And when I got overwhelmed by the living dead I died for real.” Naruto told them as if he was talking about the weather.
“Naruto,” said person looked at the person that spoke, Flora. “how many times did the one we know... die?”
“In total? Twenty-eight.”
“Twenty-eight?!” they were so shocked by this reveal, that Cynthia, Miria, Yuma, Flora, Eliza and Veronica nearly yelled.
“Yeah. So don't be surprised if he's jumpy, and not all there when you see him again.”
The hybrids exchanged looks once more, before they looked back at the ghost.
“So, when can we roughly expect his arrival?” questioned Eliza.
Naruto hummed thoughtfully, as he slowly rubbed his chin. “We both left at the same time; and it took me a day or two to get here.” he said, though it was more to himself than them. “Taking that into account, he should be here shortly. If not, then, he may be delayed by another day or two...” he pushed his current thoughts aside and looked at the woman who questioned him, “I hope that answered it.”
Eliza and the others nodded with some degree of satisfaction; then Cynthia remembered what he said just some time before he left the first time around. “You said Naruto was going to bring company. What did you mean by that?” she asked.
“Why the Keeper of course.” he answered her with a wide smirk. Suddenly he looked to his right and gazed off in the distance. “...I gotta go now. You will see him soon.” and with that he gave them a two fingered wave and simply faded away.
There was a tolerable silence in the room.
“...Who's 'Tank' Dempsey?” Galatea eventually asked and effectively breaking the silence.
“He was once a member of Primis. The Naruto we were talking to is from the Old World.” THAT had gotten the nun's attention. She's heard of Primis, and what they sacrificed to ensure the survival of humanity.”
“Hmm... I see.” and with that Galatea slowly raised from her chair. “In that case we should prepare for his eventual arrival should we not?”
Miria, Yuma, Cynthia, Flora, Eliza and Veronica got up from their chairs too, with Miria nodding in confirmation. With them saying goodbyes to each other they all went out of the tavern and went their separate ways.
X.X.X.X
The MTD whirring as it activated; a bright light; cackling electricity; the sound of screeching metal and thrusters; and then the feeling of being tackled by something solid and cold. That was the last thing Naruto Namikaze felt just before he was teleported by the MTD with the Keeper in tow.
Then he found himself seeing glimmering lights; a sight he had become familiar with during the beginning of a new cycles. He saw pictures of people and places he didn't know, and didn't see, and of people he did know and did see.
Being stuck in that messed up world that was so similar to his own, Naruto slowly began to forget a few things. Being killed and revived and killed again in a constant cycle, as well as forgetting and remembering what you said before you died really took its toll on him.
He remembered being angry; but what he was angry at... eluded him.
Then another bright light blinded his sight not a moment later, and he was made all too aware of gravity taking hold. He let out pained grunts as he bounced across the hard surface of the earth, along with the surprised yelps and screams of the people around him, before going the rest of the way in a rolling slide.
The blond came to stop lying on his back with a pained groan; he hurt, everywhere.
His FG-42 slid to a stop at the heels of his boots.
“Agh...!” the blond made aware of the throbbing pain in his chest, that hit him like a ton of bricks.
Christ! It felt he had been bashed in the chest with a metal pipe! Following that was throbbing pain in his skull, like his brain was being pushed through a pipe too small for it to go through.
Then he remembered...
He died thAT MANY TIMES IN THAT FUCKING PLACE?!
And he remembered every detail leading up to his many deaths, and he didn't know what was worse: being ripped apart limb from limb, or getting your skull crushed by the foot of a tank solider.
Gritting his teeth Naruto pushed past the pain raging through his body and slowly sat up to look in the direction he came from. His FG-42 was lying in front of him; beyond that there was a large white, floating sphere that was growing bigger by the second. Groaning with a grimace the blond grabbed his battle rifle and gave it a quick check over, even unloading the magazine and ejecting the bullet in the chamber to see if it was jammed or not.
Once he was assured the hand-held machine gun was did not have any defects in it, Naruto slid the magazine back in its slot and locked it in place; then he got the hell up with another pained groan and looked at it with squinting eyes.
Okay; the Tank Solider obviously got to him; and the MTD brought him to this... medieval city. Naruto took a brief glance at his surroundings and found a few women had silver eyes and pale-blond, or just silver hair; didn't recognise any of them though. And the looks they were giving him and the continuously growing sphere didn't bode well either.
Sighing Naruto looked back at the sphere and got ready to open fire.
Then when that familiar heavily armoured zombie, flew out of the sphere with a roar, its claw-arm held up clamping in a threatening way, Naruto immediately opened fire on it. The bullets harmlessly rebounded off the surface.
Naruto rolled to the side, evading the armoured zombie's flying tackle, and quickly got back up to a knee and looked over his shoulder in time to see the zombie, effortlessly smash through the wall of a building.
Luckily no one was caught in its claw. The blond didn't want to know what would happen to the unlucky bastard caught in it. The armoured suit turned around, its metal feet thudding loudly with every step, and then the zombie within roared at him as the armoured suit walked out of the building through the hole it made.
Naruto had a feeling the zombie was trying to talk smack at him. Key word: trying.
The blond scowled and yelled as he stood up and taking aim, “Come get me!” he bellowed in challenge.
The armoured zombie stomped the ground, making a spider crack around the impact, and activated its thrusters. Naruto opened fire as the armoured zombie threw at him, its claw arm lifted up in front of it, and like the last time the bullets rebounded off the metal surface. Naruto rolled out of its trajectory and got up on his feet as he turned around, in time to see the the zombie crash through another stone wall.
Meanwhile the silver eyed women were finally about to take action as pulled out their claymore swords from one of the two slots on the back of their spaulders.
“What the hell is that thing?!” one of the silver eyed women cried out.
Without taking his eyes off the tank soldier that was emerging from the hole, Naruto answered. “A living dead.”
“What the hell is 'a living dead'?!” another silver eyed woman asked demandingly.
The tank solder roared to the sky as Naruto answered, “Lady, you're looking at one!”
Then it activated its thrusters and flew at Naruto once more. The hybrids quickly got out of the way while said blond moved to the left in order to avoid the claw that tired to swipe grab him. He watched as the tank solider adjusted its momentum before coming to a stop in front of the hole it already caused, turning around to glare at the Namikaze with its empty yellow eyes.
It was getting smarter.
The tank soldier ran at him this time instead of activating its thrusters. Now that it wasn't moving too fast for him to shoot Naruto took aim. He was about to pull the trigger when a few of the silver eyes women ran at it, swords drawn. They hacked and slashed at it only for their swords to ricocheted off the metal surface.
The tank soldier retaliated by swiping at them with its claw arm, and managed to hit one in the stomach and throwing her off her feet. The others pulled back immediately, just in time too as the tank solider turned to meet them with its flame-throwing arm pointed at them.
They let out a startled yelp as fire shot out of the barrel. The heat of the flame made them sweat. Thankfully they were far enough away to not get caught in the fire.
With the tank soldier distracted another group of silver eyed women struck. To Naruto they were a blur, they appeared around the tank soldiers flanks and slashed at It with a greater amount of force being put into it. Naruto saw one or two of them had gold-like eyed with slanted, feline like pupils – and they managed to cut into the armoured suit.
Another tried to run her sword through the zombie's head. But the zombie managed to dodge before it happened.
But despite this, it didn't do anything to deter the heavily armoured zombie. They quickly pulled away with their swords as the armoured zombie turned to them with a stream of fire being shot from its flame-thrower.
The tank soldier roared in anger from their hit and run tactics. Clamping and unclasping its claw it raised its claw-arm at one of the hybrids and to the shock of everyone except Naruto, the claw shot out and clamped around an unlucky hybrid who was too slow to react and get out of its trajectory.
“Gah!” she cried out and was forced to drop her claymore to the ground. She struggled even as she was pulled to the zombie.
Luckily for her Naruto took action. The while they were distracting the tank solider, while inadvertently being a nuisance for him, the blond repositioned himself. So when the claw managed to grab on to one of the hybrids, Naruto was in a position to interfere.
So he did and shot the claw arm.
The bullets struck home, and the tank solider roared as its claw was forced to let go of its victim. Said woman quickly got the hell out of there, shaken but otherwise unhurt.
With the tank soldier now focusing on him Naruto beckoned it tauntingly. It yelled and ran to him. Exhaling the blond started to lead it around in a circle while making sure the zombie wasn't anywhere near the bystanders and hybrids. All the while he calmly changed the magazine in his FG-42 for a fresh one.
After that was done, the blond turned and faced the zombie, kept running – but backwards – as he took aim at the exposed face and opened fire.
That was the scene Miria, Cynthia and Yuma came too when they arrived with a small detachment of soldiers and fellow hybrids.
“What the...?” A bewildered Miria started; she grew wide eyed in recognition when she saw Naruto. An expression copied by Cynthia and Yuma.
“Naruto....?” said an equally bewildered Cynthia.
Miria watched the other hybrids leapt in and struck the thick, metal suit when ever they got an opening. The light haired brunette narrowed her silver eyes analytically, seeing how the claymores harmlessly bounced off the surface for some, and for others they barely managed to cut into it.
The suit itself had to be made of some of the strongest metal for it to be that resistant and dense. Miria guessed it had to be made entirely out of steel, or some sort of other metal like titanium or tungsten. It's more likely to be steel; and given how rare it is to find titanium it's unlikely to be that metal; and it's even more unlikely to be tungsten because of how its made.
All were viable options though.
The hybrids got out of there as the tank solider retaliated; turning and shooting them with its flame-thrower. Naruto got its attention back on him again by shooting at it.
When the tank soldier was facing him completely, Naruto unloaded the entire magazine onto the exposed face. The face was reduced to a red mist and the entire suit locked up before falling down on its back. Then the suit exploded a moment later, utterly ruining it from the inside out.
Pointedly ignoring the stares he was getting Naruto reloaded his battle worn FG-42 and walked over to the carcass, battle rifled and ready to shoot if it so much as twitched. Once he was sure it was well and truly dead, the blond exhaled and allowed his FG-42 to hang by his waist.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed with exhaustion. “Finally. God that was longer than it needed to be.” he said with tiredness in his voice.
“Naruto...?”
He turned to the person that said his name with wide eyes; he was overcome with surprise when he saw three familiar faces he had not seen in ages, walking over to him with wide eyes.
“Miria, Cynthia, Yuma, you three haven't changed. You still look the same.” he said with a tired chortle.
“The same can be said for you.” Cynthia pointed out; and it was true, except for the blood splattered clothes and the bags under his eyes, he still looked as she remembered. “You look like you've been through hell.”
He let out an empty chuckle. “Fighting these things non-stop, with little time to rest, for what felt like an eternity would certainly do that.” he said, while gesturing to the carcass of the tank soldier beside him.
“I'd say,” Miria said as she gave him a quick look over. “You certainly look... different?”
Naruto chuckled and gave her a smile, “I'll take that as a compliment.”
“Miria?” said woman turned to the person who spoke, a fellow hybrid she knows by the name of Nina. “Who is he?” she asked, giving Naruto a look of deep distrust.
“A friend of ours.” Miria replied.
“Miria,” said woman looked at Naruto who then asked, “What did I miss while I was gone? Can you catch me up?”
Miria nodded and gestured for him to follow her; at the same time she dismissed the small contingent of soldiers she, Cynthia and Yuma had brought with them. So he did and followed her, Cynthia and Yuma with the other silver eyed women following out of curiosity.
X.X.X.X
Some time later...
Inside of an Inn, surrounded by silver eyed women and curious civilians and soldiers, sat Naruto. He listened to Miria regaling everything that had happened in short order and the blond realised he had missed out on a LOT of things.
The organization for one, was destroyed, their soldiers – the women with silver eyes and pale blonde, silver and brown hair around him – had rebelled, with the leaders being killed systematically when their headquarters was overrun. The Pieta survivors of twenty-four had been reduced to eleven, many of them having been killed by some girl called Priscilla.
The survivors were obviously, Miria, Cynthia and Yuma. The rest were Veronica, Eliza and Flora, Clare, Helen and Deneve, Tabitha and Jean.
But they are elsewhere; most returning to their home towns and villages, and others were either continuing the fight against the monsters. Flora, Eliza and Veronica however, were in Rabona and was either helping in repairing the damages his battle with the tank soldier had made, or they were busy training the soldiers of the holy city.
Oh, and apparently, the organization was responsible for all the misery and death that plagued this continent. They were the ones that made said monsters by kidnapping homeless boys over the years and infecting them with a parasite.
After being caught up with the events Naruto let out a low whistle.
“Jeez. I missed out on a lot of things haven't I?”
“That is an understatement.” Miria answered with a tiny smirk; then she asked, “So what are you going to do now?”
“I still have to find a way home,” he answered, then after a moment of thought added, “And wait for the Keeper to show up. And maybe Ember too.”
“Ember? Who's that?” Cynthia questioned with a curious look on her face; Miria and Yuma were curious as well because the spectre Naruto said there was no one else alive where the blond before them ended up.
“Ember's a dragon.” he told them, and had to stop himself from laughing at the stupefied looks on their faces.
“...You're not pulling our leg, are you?” a still disbelieving Miria asked him.
“Nope. Ember is a fire breathing, zombie eating dragon.” he cheerfully clarified for them, and took a great amount of enjoyment in their reaction. Then he saw something from the corner of his eye, and when he looked at it, he smiled. “Looks like she's on her way. Not smart of her to show up in the tavern though.”
As one everyone looked where he's looking and before their very eyes, they were astonished to see a glyph on the wall. Then it started glowing. Getting up from his chair Naruto casually strolled over to the glyph.
Then everyone, except Naruto, screamed in surprise when Ember's head emerged from the glyph. Said dragon blinked in bewilderment at finding herself in the inside of a building. Then she looked down and saw...
“Naruto!”
“Hi Ember. Nice to see you again.”
Ember leaned down so she was eye level with her human friend. “Where did you go? When those metal things disappeared I looked for you and the Keeper, but you were gone!”
“Sorry about vanishing on you like that, Ember. But the tank soldier was on our asses. Not to mention you were dealing with them yourself.”
While Naruto and Ember were chatting, everyone was staring at the former, many of them were wondering how the hell he can understand what it's saying, when all they could hear from her maw was growls.
Miria, Yuma and Cynthia correctly assumed Naruto being able to understand what the she-dragon was saying had something to do with the Keeper.
“Really? That's worrying.” a pause, “What are the chances they're gonna show up here?”
They watched as the she-dragon nodded in agreement before it let out a series of growls again.
“...That high of a chance huh?” Naruto looked back at his eavesdroppers, frowned slightly upon seeing them listen intently to the one-sided conversation, then back at Ember. “Alright. Ember, I want you to have a look around on this continent. Come and get me the second you find evidence of their presence here.”
The dragon nodded and with pulled back into the glyph. Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a stress-filled groan.
“...Naruto, what is going on?” a cautious Cynthia asked as she slowly walked over to him.
He didn't answer for a long while, it wasn't until the blond felt Cynthia's hand on his shoulder that he finally looked at her. Cynthia saw the grim look on his face and knew what ever that dragon told him wasn't good.
“There is a potential problem,” he said; then his lips went to a thin line. “Remember that armoured suit I was fighting?” when Cynthia nodded in affirmation, “Well there were more of them. A lot more. Long story short when I left that place, they left too. And since I came here...”
An alarmed Miria picked up on where he left off. “They may have gotten here too.”
His affirmed nod made everyone in the room talk amongst themselves in fear.
They saw how dense and thick the metal on that thing was. If there is a possibility that more of them will come... there's going to be a lot of causalities on their side before they manage to defeat one. The hybrids however were a little more optimistic and with good reason. Because of they are, the women can take a lot of punishment before they expire.
“They're from the Old World, aren't they?” questioned Yuma.
“Yeah. They are.” Naruto growled in the back of his throat as a series of images came to the forefront of his mind. Of one thousand foot tall, metal men....
Oh great, there were bigger ones?!
“Naruto...? Are you... alright?” Cynthia hesitantly asked; said blond was twitching erratically. It would have been funny if she wasn't aware of the suffering and deaths he had gone through in that other dimension.
It looks like the ghosts warning of him not being 'all there' was well warranted.
“Peachy. I'm... peachy.” after growling a little more audibly, Naruto shook his head and forced himself to calm down. There was no need to have a mental break down or something. The likelihood of a one thousand foot tall metal man appearing in this era is abysmal. And even if they did find one, they didn't have the technology and knowledge to fix it.
“So...how tough are those things?” one of the silver eyed women asked, which made Naruto look at her as if she had asked a pretty dumb question. Then she blushed when realising her question was pretty dumb.
She was one of the people who saw the thing in action after all.
“Right. Dumb question...” the same woman said.
“Is there anything we should expect?” another one asked.
“Yeah, there is. Margwa.” Miria, Yuma and Cynthia made a face. They remembered that thing; it's kind of hard to forget an eldritch abomination like that. “Imagine an abomination with three heads that are nothing more than teeth and spiked tentacles for arms. Oh and they're completely invulnerable save for their weak point: their mouths.”
“I never saw one of those since Pieta.” said Miria.
“Neither did I to be honest...” Naruto admitted.
“What about the walking dead?”
“You don't need to worry about them... unless...” he trailed off.
“Unless?” another silver eyed woman prompted, someone Miria recognised as Nike.
“Well a couple of them are able to teleport. I fought a few myself. Although one always stood out, due to how completely annoying and fucking unfair they are. Fucking. Teleporting. Spammers!”
Miria frowned in thought. There was only one undead she knows of, but never had to opportunity to combat one. “...the undead yoma correct?”
“Yeah.”
“A zombie yoma?” Nike shouted, looking as if the mere idea of an undead teleporting yoma is ludicrous. “There's no way they exist!”
“Helen and Deneve, if they were here, would beg to differ.” Naruto replied coolly.
“That's right. They did fight one when you first met them.” Miria said; this had gotten surprised looks from the other hybrids and soldiers.
“Excuse me, but how come we weren't informed of there being a new type of yoma?” asked woman with very long, princess-styled curly hair. Miria knew this woman as Anastasia.
“Because we had other things on mind at the time. Like taking down the organization.” Miria replied, while also reminding them of the organizations treachery.
“Is there anything else we should be on the lookout for?” Anastasia asked; directing the question to Naruto because he had the most knowledge of this enemy.
“Destroy any rocks that are glowing orange with impunity.” A random thing to say, but Miria, Yuma and Cynthia understood. They were told the same thing by 'Tank' Dempsey himself all those years ago.
And they did destroy one a long time ago. No one knew about said rock though, but it was near the town Helen and Deneve first ran into Naruto. Thankfully, it was far enough away it didn't cause anyone to get sick or reanimate the dead.
“Right. Those rocks can bring the dead back to life...” said a nodding Miria.
“They can also wipe your memory, if you're not careful.” he helpfully added. “I still haven't recovered from that incident.”
“Which one?” Yuma questioned, “The one where you were having an identity crisis, or the one where you lost nearly a decades worth of memories?”
“Both. I still am having an identity crisis actually. Shortly before I came here, I was remembering things that I KNOW I didn't see; places I wasn't at; people I don't know.”
Then the Keeper appeared beside Naruto from a sphere of electricity. It's sudden appearance surprised everyone - except Naruto, Miria, Yuma and Cynthia – and they reached for their weapon. It was Miria who held up her hand, in the universal gesture to stop, that kept them from doing do.
“Well you sure took your time, Keeper.” Naruto calmly said as he sedately looked at the other-worldly being. “What kept you?”
“I was searching for some people.”
“Really? Who?”
“Helen and Deneve. Along with a few others from Pieta.”
Excluding Miria, Cynthia and Yuma everyone who was listening in was frustrated by the one-sided discussion. It was just like the conversation with the dragon. One sided and frustrating.
Miria saw this and after informing them that Cynthia, Yuma and herself are able to understand the Keeper, offered to translate what the what the other worldly being is saying. They accepted her offer and Miria went on to translate everything on the Keepers side of the discussion.
Unaware of the translation happening Naruto turned to the Keeper completely. “Oh? Any luck?”
To Naruto's disappointment the Keeper shook its head no. “No. Who knew it would be hard to find a couple of hybrids on this continent?”
“It's a big place, Keeper; and you're one person.” Naruto pointed out. “I would be surprised if you did.”
“Before the Fall, you humans had a saying for this sort of dilemma. A 'Needle in a haystack' I believe it was.”
“Well it certainly applies here.”
“Indeed it does.” nodded the other-worldly being. Then, for no reason whatsoever, the Keeper suddenly appeared within Nike's personal space.
The reaction to having an intimidating creature whose face is made mostly of teeth, and no eyes, was expected. She yelled out in surprise; Nike and those in close proximity stumbled away.
“Well... at least they're not going to try and murder you. Unlike a certain someone who ordered everyone to 'engage' the Keeper back at Pieta...” Naruto said once he was certain no one was going to take hostile action against the Keeper.
“At the time we were on edge, and expecting an attack at any moment. We didn't know if the Keeper was a friend or foe back then.” Miria pointed out and defended her past decision; while she was well intentioned, it was Naruto's intervention that prevented everyone at Pieta from getting wiped off the face of the Earth.
“Fair enough.”
“So, can any of you bring me up to speed?” the Keeper asked.
And so Miria and Naruto did.
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