Naruto fic

The palpability of Naruto's frustration was highlighted by his narrowed eyes and stiffened jaw. To a shinobi like him, seeing in the level of lighting in the room was no problem in the slightest, in fact, he could pick out details most people would miss but despite that, red was the forefront of his gaze.

Crimson was all he could see. Crimson was what was staining her symmetrical features. Her eyes wide, mouth gaping as a stream of fluid raced down her chin and trickled onto her colour. Noises similar to a drowning person were heard as she tried to express the immense discomfort that was torturing her.

Gurgle Gurgle Gurgle

He needed neither his sensory nor his medical abilities to know what was going on, what was deteriorating before his hawk-like eyes, blanching away and bringing her skin tone closer to that of the clothing she wore.

Her limb body only supported by his arm oozed out a viscous red fluid that he was very well acquainted too. Blood. He made no attempt to stop the bleeding or heal her because he knew it was pointless. He was in the same position that he had sacrificed a lot to get out of, powerlessness. He had no power. He was worthless. No... There was one thing he could do for her at this point. With a discontent sigh, he got onto one knee and held her hand, feeling her struggle, feeling her attempting to cling to life with everything she could muster. Her eyes were wet with tears, experiencing the phenomena that occurred when one was on their death bed.

The girl was surrounded by an ocean of frost and withered trees and before her was a fiery orange flame that had taken up the shape of a horse. She was then in a village, in front of a muscular man. Her delicate features hidden away by a hood which didn't do enough to hide her face causing her to stare avoid eye contact. She was then back in the forest, in front of a yeti-like monster that had a large ice crystal growing from its side as its face mirrored the expression of the children's face as they saw her ears.

Puck injured and battered.

In front of a desk, writing and reading before clutching her head.

"P-puck," she mouthed, feeling her heartbeat slow. He did not respond. She then looked up and averted her eyes, "It's over," she resigned. Her heart stayed silent for a moment before exploding into flames as memories of ice sculptures. Puck wasn't around and there was only one person with her at the moment. A strange human who had shown her affection despite them not knowing each other. Despite being strangers. Despite her being the thing she was.

She peered into his eyes and expressed desire.

"I don't want to die" her eyes seemed to say, "I DON'T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE HELP ME!," they screamed, imploring him to save her from her impending doom. "Regrets huh? What significant thing was it that she didn't complete?".

He reached out to stroke her hair, comforting her and gazing back into her eyes.

"It's okay. It will all be fine. Leave it to me, I'll save you," he gave her a warm, reassuring smile as he affectionately stroked her hair. Her body leaned into him, not because it was limb but rather its owner was displaying faith in him. A tear ran down one of her eyes as she felt his warmth overwhelming the cold dampness that was her blood. T

His embrace was like sunrise on a frosty meadow. It forced the cold feeling of death that was crawling up her chest, moving to clutch and rip out her heart away. This was one of the only moments in her life when she felt safe. "Naruto."

Alleviating the stress of people who were in their death bed was nothing new to the 21-year-old. During the days of the war, it was a known fact that Naruto would visit those who were about to pass when he wasn't practising and improving his powers. If he could help them he would but if he couldn't then he'd hold their hand, staying vigil until they passed.

It's unknown why he does this. Or how he finds sympathy in his seemingly tundra-like heart but it didn't matter to the people of the Ninja world. He was both loved and hated by the people. The affection born from appreciation and the hatred born from how he was one of the catalysts for the war.

Naruto's eyelids drooped as the rest of her life force trickled out. Her grip expired as her body went limp, pale from the excessive amount of blood lost. It was over. She was dead.

Naruto furrowed his brow as numerous thoughts flooded his mind such as " Why did a person with a heart of gold have to killed, instead of being rewarded?"

Naruto already knew the answer. No good deed goes unpunished. If she had chased the girl, leaving him in the alleyway she could have gotten what she needed earlier and hence possibly avoid all this. The feelings of guilt were immediately crushed as he acknowledged that he too was a slave of fate. "That won't do," he thought, as he began fidgetting as his focus was drawn to the pool, seeping into the floorboards.

A crimson version of himself was reflected into his eyes, a stone-cold face was the focus of the image. Killing intent slithered from the confines of his body as the pool of blood showed him the true nature of his feeling. The prominence of darkness and dim moonlight made it impossible to perceive but somehow, all he could see was red. His breathing became laboured as he gently placed the cadaver on the floor. He took a deep breath and miasma radiating from his toned body cleared.

"Now this won't do," he whispered, raising his eyes, directing his gaze toward the culprit, frozen but with a fair expression. She did well to mask her fear but it was still clear to him. A woman with the beauty of a courtesan. Her eyes angled down towards their edges giving the impression of compassion. Below her left eye was a beauty spot. Long, braided black hair flowed from her head down the left side of her body to her hips. A single flower was on her head.

"Now this won't do indeed," she agreed with a sultry smile before twirling the kukri blade on her left hand. She then took a step forward, moving her body into a position like a tiger preparing to pounce but to her surprise, Naruto merely sized her up as if looking at a feeble but boisterous man.

"Oh my, I killed your little friend here yet you don't seem too upset," her eyes twinkled with curiosity at the anomaly in front of her. Most people would scream bloody murder and rush her but he was different. The only sign of his displeasure was the twitching of the hands but otherwise, he remained calm and kept his wits about him. Almost like he was used to seeing such.

"Hmmm, I wonder why," his Kakashi like conduct fading. "I wonder why indeed," he continued.

Earlier That Day

Blink

"Well, shit" cursed a familiar blonde-haired ninja. He was dressed in tattered, navy blue shinobi pants with bandages wrapped around his left quadricep. Atop those bandages was an army green pouch. He wore black ankle-length shinobi sandals that left his toes exposed.

On the top half of the body, he wore a torn and worn-out mesh armour t-shirt with dirtied, bloodied bandages covering the entirety of his left arm. His body was littered with bruises and wounds of varying severity. His wounds were no longer life-threatening as he had been able to heal before getting sent to this mysterious land.

Naruto was a man who appeared to be in his teenage years and had a strange aura about him. He seemed odd because his expression resembled that of a doll and his posture resembled that of the worst of freeloaders. It invited people to attack but something about him made crowds instinctively back away.

His presence was almost threatening but that feeling destabilized by how laid back he seemed.

Naruto frowned as his eyes travelled from his body to the sprawling city and the groups of people who had taken time out of whatever they were doing to stare at him. "Well this is gonna be problematic," he thought, acknowledging that he was drawing too much attention. He had noted that his more than dishevelled state got him questioning looks from the people around him and that his outfit was out of the norm. Items on his person such as his pouch looked out of place. Most people around him seemed to have sack pouches.

"What happened to me?" he stumbled slightly as he began moving forward. He raised his bandaged left hand to rub his temple. "Damn Otsutsuki and their Space-Time bullshit. What happened to Sasuke?" he pondered, ignoring the strange looks the townspeople were giving him. Well, this was normal when he was a child so it did not bother him in the slightest.

"My wounds aren't healing." He then tried to reach for his latent energy, his chakra. He winced slightly as searing pain invaded his nerves nearly causing him to tip over but was able to regain his balance. His body was hit with a wave of lethargy, making it feel like he primarily composed of lead. Like a count down, the eminent feeling of unconscienceness was getting closer by the second prompting him to instinctually search for a safe place to rest.

Despite his tiredness, Naruto straightened his back and strode with grace and confidence, sending a message that caused a mass aversion of eyes. The last thing he needed was a sympathetic person to approach him which could possibly compromise his attempt at secrecy. He needed to keep a low profile because he didn't know where he was meaning that for all he could know, this place could be a planet that worships a certain group of aliens so he could not afford to be captured.

Fortunately for him, chakra suppression was a habit of his that didn't seem to be needed at the moment as his reserves felt like they were rapidly being drained from his body. He shook his head as he noted how his chakra was moving out of his body. It wasn't being drained, it was having an immune response to something... Whatever it was, was so severe that his ocean-like reserves seemed to be just barely holding it back. That explained his constant lethargy.

Naruto shook his head, taking the immune response for granted and reached out to his reserves.

He recklessly attempted to stop the flow and to the surprise of the crowd around him, he turned to ash and collapsed into a pile of dust.

Blink

Tsk

"I see, so what Ishikki hit me with was Kaguya's all-killing ashbone. He must have stored it in his pocket dimension," Naruto concluded with a grimace before walking down the path he had taken earlier.

"Wait" he paused, "Wasn't I just here a second ago? Didn't turn to ash just now. Wait what?"

He moved to different sights and conducted various experiments before stopping the flow several more times, and each time he did it, his predicament became more clear. "I need to stop, there has to be a limit to this. Or maybe not. Is this some form of perpetual reincarnation? What is this strange aura surrounding me? Envy? There is some kind of link, connecting me to someone else's consciences? Hmmm... It's not harmful so perhaps I should leave it for now." Naruto mused, analyzing his circumstances, "or rather it's triggered by my death. Did Ishikki gain chronokinesis or something?". The link Naruto felt disappeared as the strange aura around him cleared, reducing the number of things he had to think about.

He berated himself lightly before scrapping the thought. "Nay, every technique leaves traces of chakra. Despite my severely weakened senses, I would be able to detect it easily as I'd be subject of the jutsu," he nodded. He began trying moulding and channelling his chakra once before getting rattled by immense pain. He aimed to create a tiny gust of wind but his body retaliated by firing off his pain receptors. As a testament to his high pain tolerance, he merely flinched whilst his left eye watered slightly. "Fuck!," he cussed wringing his rising breath. He got control of it rather quickly, putting to work the calming techniques he learned from his comrades.

"To think the damage to my chakra network was this extensive. It flows just fine but my body can't handle changing its form as it disturbs the All Killing Ash Bone's suppression. I can't do anything... No, what I can do is extremely minimal. The amount of chakra I can use is enough to let me access my storage seals several times," Naruto sighed in both frustration and relief as he continued trekking.

In the Elemental Nations, Naruto never stood out, like at all. Maybe he would have during the days when he was a loudmouth brat before he was enlisted in Konohagakure's ninja forces. Right now though he stuck out like a sore thumb. For one his hair. He was blonde which was fairly common from what he saw, the problem was it was far too bright. He was human but had whisker marks making it difficult for people to differentiate him from demi-humans. His injuries were problematic as well as they caused some people to worry as they gazed upon him but were conflicted by his unclear race. It was ironic how segregation seemed to bring him relief for once in his life.

Naruto then began scanning his surroundings and its people, trying to absorb as much of their culture as possible based on the way they interacted with each other, dressed, and other things.

"Haven't seen any horses, just large reptilian creatures," he noted as an oxcart-like vehicle was pulled by one of the reptilian creatures crossed in front of him. This caused him to raise an eyebrow as he didn't feel what quick-moving objects typically had. Drag.

"That would explain why these creatures are used instead of horses. If they don't have drag, transport will be much quicker. Interesting," he nodded to himself as his eyes proceeded to travel around the area. "Technology here doesn't seem to be on the Elemental Nation's level" he compared. "The common language around here is English the system of writing is very unfamiliar... This could be problematic" he scratched his head before nearly stumbling forward. "Come on legs, don't quit on me now"

In the world Naruto originated from, 5 major nations were named according to the dominant chakra nature of its inhabitants. These nations were:

The Land of Fire

The Land of Water

The Land of Earth

The Land of Lightning and

The Land of wind

The world mostly used Japanese as an international language that originally recognised to pay respects to the father of all shinobi, the sage of six paths but that was forgotten with time, it was just there. Japanese was simply known as the founding tongue in the nation. English was called English because of a man named Eng. He established its writing system. The founding tongue stuck around for a while even after the sage was forgotten. This made Japanese the main language and no one questioned it. The majority of the world's inhabitants were bilingual with them speaking the international language and the tongue found their region

The Lands of Fire and Lightning had English, The Land of Wind Arabic, The Land of Water had Latin and other romantic languages, and The Land of Earth just stuck to Japanese with most of its people having a choice of picking which language they'd like to learn.

Fortunately, the language used in this land was very familiar to the young man as he spoke it just much as he spoke the founding tongue. Communication wouldn't be too difficult but since his world is different from theirs, their diction could contrast. "The fuck is an appa?" he questioned as he listened to the chatter around him.

Of course, he also noticed the discrimination that was as obvious as a dot of ink on white paper. It was so extreme that, people were segregated based on race almost like how some restaurants in Konoha only served people of the Fire Nation. Demi-humans had their own restaurants and bathrooms. "Different world, different customs I guess," he shrugged it off. He couldn't change anything so he didn't stress. And even if he could, he wouldn't. That would bring way too much attention.

He was all about that quiet, hermit life.

"Ah," He had finally found a decent place to rest. It was an alley. Security in the city seemed top-notch as he didn't notice much crime occurring so he wasn't too worried about being mugged, not that he had anything valuable on him so they probably wouldn't try. "That logic is pretty optimistic. Oh well," he yawned as his eyes shut.

He was dragged into the realm of dreams.

An hour later

Blink

SNORE! "Don't touch the ramen, have this fine bitch instead," SNORE!

"Having ramen while getting lap dance has to be the best thing ever," Naruto was sleep talking with the innocence of a child.

Three individuals looked at him strangely. "This guy nutty or something?" inquired one of them. "ACK! ECCHI SHIYOU!" Naruto woke up with great fervour, standing up clenching his fist. He blinked and noticed a trio of not-so gentlemen looking, people. "Excuse me," Naruto lowered his head before attempting to leave the alley.

"Hold it," a well-built man stood in his path. "Ah shit, seems like I got me some muggers. Experienced ones at that. Maybe I should have slept on a tree a something," he held back a groan and adopted a friendly expression. "Might I ask what you fellows plan doing to me?" The ex-shinobi inquired. He wanted to avoid a confrontation that could probably bring him trouble. In most cases, he would normally body-flicker away and cover their faces with leaves but unfortunately, that wasn't an option right now. The ninja god proceeded to prepare himself to stun and escape.

"Oh, it looks like this one here's a smart one! Well, nothing to worry about. Just give everything you've got on ya, and there's no need for anyone to get hurt." Their gazes were filled with scorn, ridicule and a sense of superiority. They felt happy about the fact that they had found such a vulnerable target. The muscular man took a step forward.

"I am going to have to warn you, I am a master of MMA and I'm not afraid to use it. I am also called the God of Shinobi for a reason ya know, I am the one above all!" Naruto declared in an arrogant manner attempting to use his achievements and title to intimidate them. The best to win a fight is by not fighting. He radiated his fighting spirit whilst giving the trio a stern look.

"Huh!? Ya think you fucking tough huh? Man let's shank this idiot"

It began.

Naruto immediately feinted to the left before twisting on his heel and delivering a round-house to the muscular man's nose. He made sure to flick his foot, sending dust into his eyes. ACK! He groaned. Naruto delivered a nut-shot, bringing him to his knees before using his shoulder as footing before launching himself at the remainder.

"W-w-what the hell?!"

Naruto delivered an elbow jab to the taller man's throat whilst catching the shorty's fist. Naruto hooked his foot between the tall one's feet and pulling, tripping him. Naruto then yanked the short one off his feet before delivering a clean blow to his liver. Naruto's body tensed and intense fatigue washed over him. "Shit, I gotta gom" he cursed. It was clear that he had overestimated his capabilities. He should have made a break for it as soon as he had taken down the muscle head.

He moved to finish the job but it was far too later.

He fell to his knees as his eyebrows furrowed, expressing his annoyance. He felt a warm liquid oozing out of some of his injuries.

As Naruto was attempting to get up, the three quickly regrouped, recognizing this moment of weakness.

"Not so tough now are ya, you little shit,"

"Oh, this is gonna be good,"

Smack Smack

The muscular man had his right fist in his left hand as he approached the downed shinobi. The other two grabbed his arms and forced him to his feet. He couldn't offer a form of resistance because his body felt like it was being weighed down by Ishikki's giant cubes. The two men held his arms tightly, spreading them, exposing the entire front portion of his body. "This pretty bad," he clenched his jaw as he tried forcing his muscles to respond but to no avail.

He wasn't worried about them harming him as he could roughly scale how much force each of them was capable of exerting based on their arm length and body type. Their strength was pretty human really so they had no chance of even bruising him. Even chunky there, in front of him, should be at least 3 times stronger than shorty and that was pretty laughable. His world's civilians had more potential than they did.

They could not harm him. His resilience was above them.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

The only real problem right now was his immobilization and bleeding. He could no longer heal his body as he used to. Most of his chakra was dedicated to fending off the effects of the All-killing ash bone lodged deep into his body. He couldn't use the remainder of his chakra to cast a lightning jutsu to force them to let go because he couldn't mould his chakra and even if he could he didn't have enough.

He was going to die from blood loss due to his inability to heal his wounds. The taste of iron invaded his mouth as he received several blows from the big man.

"Wow, for such a big boy you hit like a little girl," Naruto chuckled, his body not registering the heavy blows. The big man's nose flared alongside his eyebrows. He yanked the blonde out of his accomplices' arms before slamming him into the ground. He then sat on his stomach and began smashing his rocklike fists into the stupid laughing face.

The other two pulled out knives and had a certain murderous glint in their eyes. They started approaching until-

"Hey! Out of the way! Out of the way! I'm talking to you! Move!" yelled a flustered-sounding feminine voice as its owner dashed into the alley. The men looked up, and Naruto turned his head towards the direction of the voice.

He saw a blonde child that was somewhere between the ages of 12-15 dashing by. From her red eyes came a fairly strong will, and her one canine tooth sticking out made her seem like quite the prankster. Similar to a certain blonde with whisker marks "Wait that's me. Could she be my heroine?" Naruto nearly spat at the last word. Naruto hated heroes. Besides that., Naruto instantly felt a sense of comradery with the girl despite not knowing who the hell she was.

This child, in her well-worn clothes and unclean appearance, had stumbled upon this assault and a rather pathetic attempt (Pathetic in the standards of shinobi) at murder. What was her reaction to all this?

"Dang! You look like you're in pinch, but sorry! I've got my hands full right now! Good luck! And hold on to that life desperately,"

"Damn I like her!" Naruto had a rather amused look on his face as he and his attackers watched her race down the alley, jump over the end wall in an impressive showcase of free running. "Woah, she is good," he complimented, keeping the bemused look on his face, holding in a chuckle. He got another punch to the face. Sad.

"SHUT IT!"

He felt them grabbing his hands and attempting to show their knives into his nails. "Shit, I'm about to faint," he cursed, starting to feel the effects of blood loss. "The fuck is he made of!?" They didn't give up.

"Hey, he looks like he gonna bleed out, let's open his wounds a little," one of them suggested causing Naruto to curse internally as they finally had a decent idea.

"They finally got a good idea. These idiots, I feel bad for their mothers. If this looping thing happens again, I am going to pull what I did to Kiba, find their mothers and 'comfort' them. I am going to fuck your mothers you shits," he mentally declared in a salty manner, reminiscent of a teenager. No one could blame him, after all, he didn't enjoy both his childhood and his teen years. He was rather childish because of the gaps in growth. At least his teen years were more favourable than his childhood as he had a lot of friends and wonderful teachers.

"Looks like I'll join you soon buddy," he thought of a certain humanoid fox. His best friend, the one who was with him at birth and the one who watched him grow up. Kurama.

A feeling of resignation fell over him as his vision blurred and his ability to perceive sound warped. It was all fading as if being sucked into a void. Time seemed to dilate before his eyes, slowing the world down. He took a moment and read the environment. Horrible, it sucked. It was dirty, murky, unclean, filthy, smelly and much more. No outward appearances did not matter at all to him, what really bothered him was the sheer loneliness he pretended to have shaved off when he was younger.

This was bizarre really. You would think after latching on to his new friends, he'd always seek their company. This was not the case at all, he always excluded himself for their safety, always burdening himself with the responsibility of their safety and happiness. After all, he didn't fit in, he was just an uncouth orphan who happened to have the ire of the majority of the population he came across.

He had grown resilient to their taunts, insults, and their dehumanizing words. Saying that he was used to it would be a lie but at the very least he had become capable of suppressing the feelings of desolation and hatred. They didn't need to tell him how much they hated him and everything involved with him. He could feel it. He was introduced to this at a very young age and he grew up, adapted to it but what would happen to those who grew up living happily? Would they cope? No. Not at all. They were not shinobi yet, just children. He acknowledged that.

He grew up hoping for the day the villagers would start liking him more so he could cherish what he had. The heart is slow to learn. It would never happen. As long as he existed, there would be those who try to take what was close to him in an act of vengeance or jealousy.

He had to grow stronger, much stronger, to protect them. He tried doing everything on his own, carrying burdens, being the scapegoat, being the loser they could pick on so they don't have to feel negativity towards themselves. He never liked doing this at all and this ended up causing him to resent his friends. Why can't you see my pain!? Come play with me Come encourage me

They came for him, welcoming him.

You idiots, no they'll hate you too! Stay away from me Join them for a better life!

He also rejected them. Human nature was weird really. His emotions incomprehensible, as scrambled as glass that had fallen from great heights. He only showed concern for them and hardly for himself. He didn't value himself or his well being only saw himself as a tool that was to stay sharp in order to protect those he valued.

So he drowned in blood, sweat and tears.

The price for immense power was his ability to cherish and enjoy relationships. Well there were exceptions as in those who refused to leave him and tried to get him to value himself more: Sasuke, Jiraiya, Kurama and Hinata to name a few. But they were all gone, he had no one. Kurama was killed by Ishikki, Jiraiya, and by Pain, Shikamaru by Obito, Sasuke was an unknown, perhaps he was in this world with him but that was an optimistic thought. His death was likely.

There he was in a filthy alleyway, regretting not living his life. Regretting staying alone despite craving attention. Regretting not creating happy memories with those that had fallen.

Shinobi were always taught that life never returned the favour. Kindness was a waste and this was true to Naruto. Consoling but hardly ever consoled. Giving but hardly getting. Training but failing when it mattered the most. Darkness was upon him. "I can finally see you two again, mom, dad... But, I don't want to die."

The darkness bearing down on him was broken by a single clear voice.

"Hold it right there, villains!"

Her voice was as soothing as the sound of wind chimes on a sunny day. It had a strong sense of justice about it and hinted that its owner was innocent, child-like even. He felt hopeful, he didn't want to die.

He shifted his head towards her direction and nearly gasped. Beauty. Just beauty.

"What a beautiful maiden," his eyes were wide, taking in every detail of her form even forgetting his current predicament to appreciate the angel before him. She was a beautiful short-eared elf with flowing silver hair and purple-blue eyes. She garbed a white and purple outfit along with a white flower in her hair.

She looked down towards him and nearly cried in shock. Her gaze turned cold and said gaze was directed at his three buddies. "Unforgivable," she whispered harshly.

"Wha- who the hell is she?"

"Her clothes look like they quality, she a noble or something?"

"Wait, she's a half-devil!?"

"Wha- what the he-ACK!"

A dull sound rang out, like that of flesh being struck by something solid followed by the men's cries. "Is she of the Yuki clan? No wait, this world is different. I didn't any chakra being moulded. How curious, I wonder how she did that," Naruto weakly furrowed his eyebrows. His body was shutting down and so felt weak, like in some kind of molasses.

The girl, ignoring the men, immediately rushed to Naruto's side and worked to close his wounds. She knew that if she tried to get him help from better healers, he would die before she made it. So she prioritized stabilizing him first.

"Fuck you! We don't care if you some shitty noble or mage or shit! We are going to fucking kill you and that little fuck! Fucking half-devil bitch, you dare get in our way," The shortest one yelled in fury. He and his companions immediately rushed her and the downed bloodied blonde. "Puck!" she called, a small cat emerged from her hair and before raising its paws and creating three ice spikes, each a foot long and as thick as a teenagers forearm.

"Right," it responded with a high-pitched, genderless voice.

It launched its projectiles, hitting the large man on the right arm, the short man on his left and the last on his leg. These projectiles exploded upon contact, releasing what was in likeness to casts, freezing part of their limbs.

They immediately lost their footing and instinctively held their affected area as they writhed in pain, releasing hisses. "G-g-guys?" The short one gazed at his right hand in horror. It had turned blacked as if burnt by the ice. The others did the same and felt a chill going down their spine. They were shaking and sweating as they looked up to cat,

The cat radiated a dangerous aura and stared at them. "Leave," it commanded with hostility in its voice, they clambered onto their feet and ran for the hills.

"This boy," the girl furrowed her eyebrows in frustration as his wounds refused to close no matter what she did. Even with the help of the glowing entities around her. Something prevented his wounds from close, almost like the boy was cursed to never heal again. It was so severe that she had difficulty closing a cut that a novice healer could get rid of with relative ease.

Fortunately, something strange happened as she worked on healing him. The left side of his body suddenly started absorbing her mana and his skin started to lose its paleness much to her shock. The mana drained was skillfully and was somehow use to suppress the curse giving her the ability to work on him.

It was as if it knew what it was doing, it worked with her as if weakening the curse. What baffled her however was how his gate wasn't active in this process, instead something else was at work. Her mana was converted into… something? And that something assisted in healing and also somehow restored his blood.

Even though it was quite peculiar, she didn't question it because she was happy he made it.

"How'd it go Lia?" the small cat flew over to her side and joined her in observing the strange young man before them. "I managed to fully heal him," she reported with a relieved smile, "Now all that's left is to wait for him to wake up," she continued.

"I see – Wait, fully? His wounds were quite severe, not on your level."

"Yes, I had help from his body, it's really weird. Anyway, leaving him to lie on the ground like that is not good for his health," she said while giving Puck a stare, causing the cat to sigh.

And so, Puck enlarged himself and let the boy use his lap as a pillow while discussing what had happened with his companion.

A Few Minutes Later

Snoooorrrreeeee

Snore

"NO! I WILL NOT PLAY ROCK PAPER SCISSORS WITH YOU, YOUR FINGER HAS A BOOGERRRRR,!" he shot up with wide eyes, screaming in the founding tongue. He was sweating profusely as if he had seen a great horror.

He blinked, yawned and turned his head.

The angel.

His cheeks were dusted in bright pink causing him to retreat back to his comfortable pillow, hiding his flustered face. "Wait, pillow? The fuck did this come from?" it shifted as if shrinking. Naruto immediately caught himself in a pushup position, stopping himself from face planting.

He looked up to see an amused cat hovering over his head. "Oh my, seems like you have an admirer," it giggled. "No reaction? " it questioned internally in a way that sharply contrasted its laid back and joyful attitude whilst gazing at the flustered human.

"Looking away in such a manner, how suspicious," the girl started in an interrogative, frosty manner, not letting her eyes leave him. "You know the girl who stole my badge," she continued whilst glaring at him. The former shinobi immediately regained his composure and raised his hands in a surrendering manner.

"Her attempt at intimidation sucks, I wonder what the act is for," he sighed internally. "Don't know anything about 'the girl who stole your badge," he responded honestly. She raised her eyebrows, "Oh yeah? How did you know she is a girl?" she asked.

Naruto blinked. Puck had a bemused look on his face.

"You… Told me?" he responded in part confusion and part amusement. The girl's face lit up causing the blush that had departed from Naruto's face to return in full force.

"S-s-so adorable," he nearly stuttered, shaking holding in the urge to laugh at her expense, keeping his normally stoic face intact. The pressure caused by holding back his laughter escaped fr. "Sh-sh-shut up!" she raised her voice at him, "You're a villain as well aren't you? Mocking demi-humans by putting such on your face!"

"Weren't we talking about a badge just now," Naruto raised his eyebrow inspiring a greater reaction from the girl. "You scoundrel! Answer me already!"

"Scoundrel… What are you? 90?" he responded sarcastically.

The cat burst into laughter, holding its tiny belly as it rolled about in mid-air. "I've never seen you so flustered," it wiped an imaginary tear as its laugh devolved in giggles. "Quiet Puck!" she demanded with a reddened face.

"Relax, he doesn't have any negative intent," the cat assured. The girl nodded at this and turned to the former ninja. "You owe me your life you know and what I want is information. Are you sure you know don't know anything?" she inquired, dropping her aggressive tone.

"Yeah, I don't. I really don't. I don't know anything," he explained truthfully whilst maintaining eye contact. She frowned slightly as lightly stomped the ground in frustration. As she did that, a question popped into her head "Tell me, what did you do to get them so mad to the point they'd inflict such wounds on you? You clearly aren't demi-human up close?" she inquired.

"My ancestors would roll in their graves if chumps like them injured me," he whispered in an acerbic voice. "What, I didn't get that?" she titled her head whilst Puck was holding in a laugh. "No, nothing really. I was just resting after a really long journey and I was just attacked after they found out I had no belongings to cough up," he lied smoothly.

"Oh, I see," she placed her hand on her chin. "Don't you have something to look for?" Naruto said, bringing up the subject of her stress. She winced at the question and looked to rush out of the alley with a mindless fluster.

"A debt cannot go unpaid I suppose."

"Before you go off running, do you even know where your badge might be," she froze at his words. "I'll be at least useful to the one who preserved my life," he thought. His hand twitched and his eyes widened slightly.

"Hey, I can mould a bit of chakra now. Not enough for E-ranked jutsu but enough to pull out more than a dozen items from my storage seal. What happened? Did she somehow heal my coils?" He thought. He placed his knee in front of him, wrapped his arms on it and leaned in.

"How valuable Is that badge of yours anyways," he interrogated the beauty before him. She hesitated briefly and looked at Puck who gave her a slight nod. "I can't say exactly but it was given to me by a noble. I can do without anything but that badge," she answered as best as she could. Naruto nodded before standing up.

"There any slums around here?" he asked as he moved closer to the alley's exit, beckoning her to come along. "Yes but why would we want slums?" she questioned.

"Logically speaking, you were definitely targeted. Thieves must have known you would be here and planned to take that badge from you. Judging by how you carry yourself and with how you have that cat with you, you have combat experience meaning that a confrontation and struggle is extremely unlikely. Since you know of its value, you most likely weren't waving it around like a nut," he began explaining as they ran towards the slums.

"That girl was like a ninja, she knew what she was doing and that means she most likely watched you from a distance observing you. That or one of your retainers is responsible for giving up your habits which allowed her to quickly snatch the badge before you could react... Another thing to consider is how nervous she seemed. Well, I could tell she was nervous with how she moved, meaning that she hesitated briefly but was able to take your badge despite that," he continued whilst skillfully weaving in and out of the crowd not losing sight of the nimble elf. Her eyes widened in shock whilst her cat raised its eyebrows, frowned and placed a paw on its chin.

"This boy has a solid point. What are you up to Roswaal?" it thought, narrowing down the list of suspects to a single man who was dressed as a Jester. "Listen, lady, that badge of yours is definitely going on auction but it isn't likely to be happening right now. Authorities typically don't get involved in slums which makes them high crime areas. Whoever hired that girl must meet up with her somewhere there most likely meaning that they are most likely to arrive during sunset. People are typically more tired around that time so that means people are less likely to take note of who enters," He explained.

She suddenly stopped. He was about to ask why and noticed a little girl crying. He sighed slightly and looked at her "You realize that the more time we waste, the more likely your precious badge will be lost, right?".

"How could you be so cruel? How could you want to walk away from this with a clear conscience," she glared at him. Naruto wasn't affected at all, he had dealt with similar situations in past. "I'm not her mom nor is she the person that saved my life," he responded with clear disregard for the child's safety. The silver-haired angel glared at him, "As you said, we probably have time till it is gone. We are helping her!" she commanded before turning and approaching the girl.

"Understood," he followed without complaint.

As her hair danced behind her, she moved across the street to where the child was standing. The girl looked up, hoping that her mother had found her. Disappointment.

"I'm sorry, I'm not the one you are waiting for," she knelt down to communicate with the child.

Her eyes became watery, likely from fear. "Not used to strangers, huh?" the shinobi scratched his temple and yawned whilst watching the scene play out before him. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but where are your mother and father? Aren't they with you?" she spoke with an extremely gentle tone, hoping that would appease the girl.

The half-elf had noted the girl's anxiety and fear so she attempted to convey her worry and concern to the girl. Her attempt failed however and only caused the child to close her heart even more and brought her closer to exploding.

"We won't make it at this pace. This needs to end now."

"Hey, kid, look at this 100 Ryo coin," Naruto cheerfully called out whilst lifted a bronze coin, bringing it up to her eye level. The girl shifted her hands away from her eyes and saw the coin and a teenager with a contagious grin, causing her tears to recede a bit

"Wha- you?" the half-elf started.

She was ignored.

"Now, can you see this coin here on my right hand? Of course, ya can! Here watch this," he instructed before tossing the coin slightly making it land between his thumb and pointer finger. He then flipped it, catching it between his little finger and ring finger then proceeded to roll it back and forth across his knuckles. He tossed it once more and caught it in his left hand. He then presented it to them, "Now I'll squeeze it like so. Squeeze Squeeze Oh look, it's gone, where could it have gone?" he presented his hands once more.

"Which one of you is the real?" she wondered, looking at the blonde's back, thinking of his expressionless and extremely unsettling face with a very plain and occasionally sarcastic tone and the wonderful and pleasant face she was seeing right now. His tone differed from before as it was cheerful and full of life. Because she experienced how he normally was, she felt the shift like a kick to the face. If she had to liken it to something, it would be to a wilted rose recovering. The contrast was so great that she was left flabbergasted.

Neither of his hands had the coin in them. The child blinked several times and stared at his left hand but whether she looked at the back of his hand or palm, she could not find it. Same for the right hand.

The blonde nodded before reaching out into her hair, "Hey check it out, it was in your hair" he smiled before ruffling her hair with his left hand and presenting the coin. "This coin is very special, make sure to keep it safe, okay," he smiled warmly as he pushed into her little palms. She was stunned. She then nodded vigorously whilst clutching it close to her chest.

"How'd you do that?" his companion asked.

"Magic," he gave jazz hands as he turned to her.

"He's back," she gave a troubled expression. As he turned back to the child his expression shifted back into the bubbly individual he was a second ago. He then proceeded to communicate with the child, nodding as he quickly and efficiently filtered out her childish redundancy, only noting important details such as how her parents looked.

"Hmm, got it. Leave it to big bro and big sis. We'll find her right away," he offered the child his hand and she took it with little hesitation. "Yo big sis, hold her hand as well? She needs another friend ya know!" he called out, giving a smile and wink. The half-elf smiled and took the girl's other hand.

"Yes, leave it to us. We'll find her," the half-elf nodded, presenting a warm smile.

Later

"You are a surprisingly nice guy," the mage stated as she waved at the girl and her mother. "She says after declaring I was villain like a kid. At least she acts like approximately 18 years old she is," Naruto responded with a dead voice, similar to a certain scarecrow. "And he is back."

She raised an eyebrow, "I'm half-elf you know. I'm much older than you probably think I am," she stated.

"Wow, that explains a lot. It seems the stories my grandpa told me about how beautiful elves are, are true though pretty downplayed. People here are really trippy, not turning their heads to appreciate how cute you are," he responded with a straight face and an even relaxed tone. The girl blinked several times as if her expectations were completely off the mark.

"What?" she thought she misheard

"Hmmm," she shifted in discomfort, "I-I-I am… Half-elf, and…"

"Heard ya the first time, you think I'm deaf?"

Like a drama queen, she made a strange sound before suddenly stopping, finding the nearest wall, kneeling beside it, and holding her silver head in her hands. "?" Naruto tilted his head then blinked "Must not be used to compliments huh. Is prejudice against her race the bad?" he thought, mirroring his own past. He could sympathize so he decided to stay silent and wait for her to regain her composure, after all, he felt that she needed this. Her mind needed to be stable for the possible confrontation.

"Take that!"

Naruto tilted his head.

"Oh? How about this?" Naruto casually avoided the cat's strikes. He then snatched it out of the air, and gently restrained it. "You are good kiddo," it resigned with a disarming smile. Naruto caught its tail swiped with ease.

"Woah kid, you gotta learn to relax."

"The hell was that?"

Naruto released Puck who floated on his face level. "Dunno just felt this overwhelming frustration and couldn't keep it bottled up," the cat explained whilst pawing at its face. "Hmm, did I upset you?" Naruto tilted his head, not feeling any anger in the cat.

"No, not at all. In fact, it's the opposite,"

"I see."

"You are nincompoop," the girl glared at him. "Oh. How hurtful." He replied dryly. Naruto perked up as he saw someone he recognized. The guy he had used to confirm that his currency had no value in this region. Judging from the child's description earlier, that man must be her father. The man had a certain glint in his eye as if he was used to being deprived of necessities. From the corner of his eye, he saw the girl and her mother.

"Hey, play along will ya, I think we can quickly narrow down our search," Naruto told her before gently grasping her hand and tugging. "Play along?" she raised her eyebrow before nodding and allowing herself to be lead. "Hey pops, it's been a couple of hours, how ya doing," Naruto greeted with his usual tone.

"What… It's you again. Was hoping for a customer, Creepyman," said the shop owner with a cold stare. He wore a bandanna and was muscular. He had a stern-looking face and a deep threatening voice. Kinda like someone involved with the mafia.

"Come on don't be so cold man, I really need info, my girl" He wrapped his arm around the elf's waist and pulled her into an embrace that suggested intimacy. If she hadn't been warned she would have expressed her immediate discomfort. She only flinched slightly and looked down. "lost something super important. Her mom passed on recently and left her a gift. Sadly it was stolen from her" Naruto explained. Hearing this the girl gained a despondent look and tightened her grip on his hand, keeping up with the act.

"Shut up, I'm not wasting time a bloody beggar," he roared. The girl holding Naruto's hand wanted to speak up but Naruto brushed her knuckles, communicating his desire for her to be silent.

"Check-mate."

"This kid is ridiculous," Puck nodded in appreciation, acknowledging his skill.

"Honey! Don't be so insensitive!" he had made sure that the woman heard his little sob story. "Big bro," the child from earlier rushed to hug his leg. Naruto smiled and brushed her hair with his hand. The shopkeeper looked at Naruto in shock as the boy stroked his daughter's hair. "Honey? Dude. Woah, pops, you didn't kill this lady's husband and take over the shop did you?" Naruto raised an eyebrow whilst giving a mischievous smile.

"Shut it! This is my shop and that is my wife!" he stated firmly. "Honey, do you know these destitute beggars?" he turned to his spouse. "Don't call them that," she berated before going on to explain how she met the two and how they had helped their daughter.

The little girl let go of his leg and went to the half-elf. "Honey, watch shop for a bit, I'll be back," the man left the shopkeeping to his wife before walking away with the former shinobi. They began talking and with that the location of where his 'girlfriends'' badge was narrowed down. It was in a loot house.

Slums, Near Loot House

Naruto grabbed the girls forearm. "You'd best be prepared for a confrontation," he warned. "When it comes to criminal activities such as these, it isn't uncommon to be attacked. In fact, the girl may be dead as we speak," Naruto's tone lacked the idleness it had before. It was so emotionless that it sent shivers down her spine and caused all her hairs to stand on end. On his right hip, he had a katana. She was confused but he wouldn't explain how he acquired it. "I'm at my limit," Puck appeared on the girl's shoulder with a grim look on his face.

She pulled out a crystal which Puck hugged, "Please be careful if anything happens, don't hesitate to use your od to call me back out," Naruto regarded the crystal with mild interest but ended up paying it no mind.

"I'm not a child. I can take care of myself." she was ignored once more.

"Young man, my precious daughter here always worries me. I'm counting on you…"

"Naruto and yes, I will do everything in my power to keep this one from harm."

"Very well then Naruto. Until next time," he became a ball of light and disappeared.

The girl regarded her companion with a pout.

His nose twitched. A scent he was quite familiar with.

"Stay here and keep your guard up," he suddenly ordered.

"What!?" she exclaimed but shrunk as soon as she saw the withering gaze he gave her. "Trust in me. I also promised that cat of yours your safety is my priority," he stated dutifully. He gave her a strong gaze that did not allow her to refuse. How intense.

She relented, "Understood,". He nodded and turned and began moving towards the loot house.

He entered the building, allowing his instincts to take over. He looked around, shattered furniture and looked down. Blood. He then got to his knee and dipped his finger in the puddle, ignoring the two corpses beside him as the stench of rotting hadn't invaded his nose yet. He needed to check one more detail to figure out the timeframe of their deaths. "Fresh," he muttered.

Whoosh! Shhhh! Thud!

Naruto ducked and twisted his body to the side avoiding a single kukri blade that destroyed the table behind him. He didn't bother looking for the assailant, they were good. If he were a fresh ninja, he wouldn't have detected them. They were well hidden in the shadows.

Kukri blades often came in a pair so he kept his guard up, preparing for the next attack. His eyes widened in terror as he heard rushing footsteps from outside the building. The door slammed open, "Naruto! I heard noises, are you okay!?" a worried voice called out in a panic.

The world slowed down as he broke out in a run whilst yelling "You idiot!". Even more fluid stained the floor. Naruto froze. "Why would you take such an innocent life?"

Even a child would catch the hypocrisy in his words.

The palpability of Naruto's frustration was highlighted by his narrowed eyes and stiffened jaw. To a shinobi like him, seeing in the level of lighting in the room was no problem in the slightest as he could pick out details most people would miss but despite that, red was the forefront of his gaze.

Gurgle! Gurgle! Gurgle!

He needed neither his sensory nor his medical abilities to know what was going on, to know what was deteriorating before his hawk-like eyes, leaching away and bringing her skin tone closer to that of the clothing she wore.

Her limb body only supported by his arm oozed out a viscous red fluid that he was very well acquainted too. Blood. He made no attempt to halt the bleeding or heal her because he knew it was pointless. He was in the same position that he had sacrificed a lot to get out of, powerlessness. He had no power. He was worthless. No... There was one thing he could do for her at this point. With a discontent sigh, he got onto one knee and held her hand, feeling her struggle, feeling her attempting to cling to life with everything she could muster. Her eyes were wet with tears, experiencing the phenomena that occurred when one was on their death bed.

Puck injured and battered.

In front of a desk, writing and reading before clutching her head.

She peered into his eyes and expressed desire.

"I don't want to die" her eyes seemed to say, "I DON'T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE HELP ME!," they screamed, imploring him to save her from her impending doom. "Regrets... What significant thing was it that she didn't complete?".

He reached out to stroke her hair, comforting her and gazing back into her eyes.

"It's okay. It will all be fine. Leave it to me, I'll save you," he gave her a warm, reassuring smile as he stroked her hair in an affectionate manner. Her body leaned into him, not because it was limb but rather its owner was displaying faith in him. A tear ran down one of her eyes as she felt his warmth overwhelming the cold dampness that was her blood. T

His embrace was like sunrise on a frosty meadow. It forced the cold feeling of death that was crawling up her chest, moving to clutch and rip out her heart, away. This was one of the only moments in her life when she felt safe. "Naruto," she mouthed nearly causing him to fall back in surprise. He regained his composure, leaned down and kissed her forehead before pressing his own forehead against hers.

Naruto's eyelids drooped as the rest of her life force trickled out. Her grip expired as her body went limp, pale from the excessive amount of blood lost. It was over. She was dead.

Naruto furrowed his brow as numerous thoughts flooded his mind such as "Why did a person with a heart of gold have to killed, instead of being rewarded?"

Naruto already knew the answer. No good deed goes unpunished. If she had chased the girl, leaving him in the alleyway she could have gotten what she needed earlier and hence possibly avoid all this. Feelings of guilt were immediately crushed as he acknowledged that he too was a slave of fate. "That won't do," he thought, as he began fidgetting as his focus was drawn to the pool, seeping into the floorboards.

"Hmmm, I wonder why," his Kakashi like conduct fading. "I wonder why indeed," he continued.

He drew his blade and rushed her. She smiled before meeting his katana with her knife. She was much stronger than he was currently but that didn't matter much as he could track her without issue. The floor caved in and was scarred as the woman pressed her blades against his katana. Naruto tilted his sword slightly, creating a gap in her defence as she slid down before feinting to the left then swung his blade from the right. The woman twisted her body before launching her knife at him. With impressive reaction speed, he redirected the blade to the furthest side of the room.

To her great surprise, he, without hesitation, grabbed the half-elf's body and launched it at her. "A corpse has no value to me," he thought as he prepared to attack again."Oh my!" she excitedly thought as she kicked it away. Naruto had used the body to hide his line of sight and foot from her, making it difficult to determine where he would slash and in the same fashion, hid his sword behind his body, away from her line of sight

"His sword?" she momentarily confused. Her instincts screamed, yelling DODGE! She jumped back, a slash directed her neck. She knew that she couldn't play with him anymore. She dashed over the counter, onto the ceiling, on the window sills. She moved around her prey aiming to take him down swiftly, retrieving her blades in the process.

She was about to pounce when his eyes turned in her direction, creating a brief moment of hesitation. "He can track me?" For some reason, she felt a potent, inexplicable fear of the man in front of her. "After that, I'll come here and trade-off some of my stuff to get that insignia back," he was furious about his companion's death but he knew he couldn't win because his body would collapse soon. Not to mention the massive gap in speed and strength. His body's durability and the fact that he had faced far faster opponents in the past helped.

This woman was considerably stronger than he was, to the point he felt like he'd be blown away if his feet weren't lodged into the ground. He knew he could fend her off for some time but not long. She wasn't nearly strong enough to physically harm him but her blows were strong enough to rattle his weapon and nearly break his form. It was fortunate his weapons were made to fight people of his level of power.

It was clear no matter how many times he looped, he wouldn't be strong enough to face her so he had to take the more intellectual route and determine her fighting style and potential weaknesses. He also needed to plan a whole operation so he could take her down quickly before the elf appeared.

He needed to execute the next operation as quickly as possible and avoid having his companion dying on him. Him doing this was a risk but he already made peace with the fact he had somehow gained affections for her. It was annoying but he would repay her for saving him and keep his promise to the cat.

"Stop," he commanded and she did. She couldn't easily oppose him, not in the face of such great fighting spirit. "My, you are quite amazing," she complimented, giving him a seductive smile.

It was ignored.

"Might I know, this fine lady's name?"

She giggled, "Elsa Granhiert, the Bowel Hunter"

He smiled. "Naruto Uzumaki, the God of Shinobi" He cut off his chakra flow, turning him to ash to her surprise.

Last Chapter Next Chapter