The reunion of the party of youngsters was a joyful one, with them meeting back up all properly dressed, their extra escorts got full thanks, then dismissed from the volunteer duty. Some jealous looks got exchanged among the girls on certain of them catching sight of Shion's extra gifts, yet Kirk stuck around with Circe to plot over that.
Thunder rumbled ominously as rain began to pour over the nearby forest.
With no further need of them, Naruto dismissed his clones - only to clutch his head in agony for a moment, before rubbing it away, puzzled over the painful sensation. Then he gathered their fallen robes and gear because, hey! Free changes of clothes!
He'd just been taught how important those are.
"Well, come along!" the lead Paladin declared cheerfully. "Back to the Cathedral district. We still have some waiting for your godfather to do."
He was uniformly met with horror from the eyes of the young ones.
"Couldn't we wait here?" Naruto asked. "Or at the inn?"
The Paladin looked briefly guilty. "It was understood that your godfather wants us close in case of trouble, so if he hears of fighting he can come to your rescue."
'Not that anything has happened,' thought most of the raid group grumpily, bored themselves with waiting by now.
Hands got shoved in pockets as the boy submitted poorly to this imperative. As the group began to move off, however, he brought out a trinket, transferred there from the pockets of his now discarded, ruined pants.
"Another memento of your friends?" the Paladin asked kindly, hoping to change the subject away from the boy's renewed depression, which was depressing itself to watch.
"Sort of. My grandfather..." the boy didn't really feel up to expounding on the complexities of his relationship with the Third Hokage just then.
'Grandfathers are good at talking,' The knight thought. 'Most tell stories that interest young boys.' He had enough of a budding paternal thought in him to seize on that mental thought, 'Distraction!'
"Well, we could bring him here, too, if you want," the Paladin dissembled, badly.
"He's dead... too?" Naruto's thoughts froze in mid-stream as he recalled that wasn't the barricade he'd once thought it was.
"We can deal with that," the lead Paladin seized on that distraction gladly, willing to take nearly anything over the boy's encroaching depression.
"You can bring back the dead?" Haku asked, before blushing as the Priestess gave her a 'Are you honestly asking me that question?' look.
But the Priestess backed that up with a smile, and boasted, "Anytime, anywhere, honey. You just bring me a body."
Shion, Hinata and Temari stared at her in open disbelief.
Haku, much more humbly, produced two things from her robes, first a headband, a spare once worn by her mentor. "Zabuza-sama was my teacher, and close to a father to me. My mother..." she produced a lock of hair, along with silent tears, too choked up and emotional to continue.
The raid changed course towards a certain basement with nothing more needing to be said. However, Naruto's voice floated up from the steep ramp down into blackness, "Hey, your teacher gave you his headband too? How neat is that?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi wished he had a pipe to smoke as he took in his surroundings to the best of his ability. Naruto was a few months older than he last recalled, so he had not been... gone, too long. Iruka was here, looking on awkwardly as a dark haired girl was tearfully embracing her mother while a missing-nin, one of the seven swordsmen, stood close by, almost hovering over the pair of them; and he had one heiress, one priestess, and one child of the leader of an allied village looking on in shock at the group of them.
The rest of these people were unrecognizable, and yet clearly the cause of his currently living condition.
Any break from dwelling in the belly of a Death God was welcome, but he also had to understand it! He would not be the ninja he was if he didn't.
Mentally pacing his actions to allow for the expulsion of a breath of smoke he wasn't smoking, and pausing just for a moment to wonder how long that habit had been with him, the Third Hokage decided that none of the children were liable to be his best source of information, and Naruto particularly liable to cause enough chaos to make learning about his current condition, and the reasons behind it, difficult - especially in sufficient detail.
"Naruto," Sarutobi actually gestured with a pipe he wasn't holding and again wondered how long he'd been at that habit, "Why don't you run along and train for a little while? I'd like to discuss things with these gentlemen."
"..but..?" Naruto threw a longing glance to the others his age.
"Oh, take your friends with you, of course." Sarutobi quickly agreed, as that made everything much simpler. He smiled an old man's smile, wise and cunning. "The adults can stay with me. We have a lot of boring adult things to talk about."
Like what his response should be to the missing-nin, for one.
"Sir," one of the heavily-armored men was apparently confused over the tangible aura of authority Sarutobi was exuding. "We have been contracted to protect the boy today by Jiraiya, of the Sannin."
"All of you?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow.
Those contracted raised their hands. Sarutobi did a quick count. Most, but not all. That left plenty for him to ply for details, and with that many gone he'd have some measure of privacy to connect with Iruka and get current information on that side of things.
So much the better.
He almost waved with a pipe he wasn't holding again. How long had he been using that thing? Still, he smiled in a warm yet guarded way. Too much of a life in politics behind him to do otherwise. "Well, go along and protect them while they are training, then."
"Jiraiya," the man in heavy plate armor began.
"Jiraiya works for me," Sarutobi concluded with a heaviness that only came from authority.
The armored man gave Naruto a glance, who nodded confirmation quickly.
At this the Paladin shrugged. "Alright then," and the raid began to move out.
As they emerged back into the sunlight, sun still shining despite the clouds overhanging the forest outside, the leader of the raid began to direct the group towards the main gate, while addressing Naruto specifically, and the boy's party in general, "Well, as you probably know we give easy tasks to kids and newbies like you..."
Naruto's head went down, and Hinata overheard him grumbling, "Great, more D-ranks..."
But the Paladin continued unconcerned, "So you'll be fighting bandits, starting in Northshire Valley."
"BANDITS, did you say?" exclaimed the suddenly shiny-eyed youth.
See other episodes by Sapphire Cat
(Posted Wed, 29 May 2013 11:48)
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