Fairy's Ace

'Thoughts'

"Normal Dialogue"

~ With Naruto ~

Although he did not personally know of the two, Warrod was well-informed of them.

Two, young and promising mages, with Minato touted to be the next guild master after he had more experience in leading.

'Nobody knows what happened to the villagers that day. The attack came and went so swiftly and quietly. I'm not even certain if there were any other survivors or not.' He lamented.

"Can you tell me exactly what happened after you came out of hiding? From what I remember, a Wizard Saint was sent to see if he could help, but he did not see any survivors around. He even stayed and looked around for almost three days."

Naruto scrounged his nose, trying to remember the exact details. "I remember leaving the hidden compartment and then walking around looking for my parents and sister. But I couldn't find anyone. That was when a group of people-"

It was at this point where Naruto stopped speaking before tensing, as if remembering a difficult memory.

Warrod, sensing the sudden reaction, attempted to calm Naruto using his magic.

He quietly casted the calming effect magic spell that he used earlier, and the room was once again filled with a lavender smell.

"Naruto, my boy. You do not have to tell me-"

In his calm state of mind, Naruto interrupted. "No, please. I have to."

Naruto felt that he needed to tell somebody about his story. Not because he was looking for attention. Not because the figure was being kind to him. But because he needed to for himself.

He needed to tell someone so that he could not deny his new reality any longer.

"The group of people. I thought they were neighbouring villagers or a passing caravan of traders. But no." Naruto paused, seemingly trying to find the courage.

"What were they, Naruto?" Warrod asked warmly, trying to give strength to Naruto.

"They. . . were bandits."

P .L. A. T. !

As Naruto continued his tales, Warrod could not believe what he was hearing.

The boy in front of him had lost his family and his village to the Dark Guilds, whether he knew about it or not. Then when he thought he was safe, he came across a group of bandits who took him in as a slave.

He lived the next 5 years of his life as their bait. Scared for his life, Naruto did as he was told. All the while Warrod was studying Naruto's expressions.

Seeing him tell his story, Warrod was certain that not a day went by where Naruto did not feel responsible for the victims of the bandit.

It was only through some absurd luck where Naruto was able to give them the slip. While the bandit group was taking a break in the forest, he had noticed a sleeping Vulcan nearby their camp.

While the bandits were not paying attention, Naruto had unceremoniously woken up the Vulcan by throwing a decent sized rock at its manly jewels. In a fit of rage, the Vulcan began looking around for the cause of its untimely disturbance.

Utilizing its awareness, Naruto screamed as loud as his voice could muster, gathering the attention of the rest of the bandits and the Vulcan itself. Seeing the group of bandits, a feral grin found it's way onto the Vulcan's lips, before it roared out violently and charged towards them.

As the Vulcan was rampaging through the bandit, Naruto had made use of the distraction to run away.

However, he did not make it too far before he collapsed. While captive as a slave, Naruto was not fed well and would often only be given the scraps. If he had given a particularly good performance as bait, he would be rewarded with a full loaf of bread.

Even though he felt guilty, he was too scared of dying that it overrode his morals.

Each time a group of unsuspecting civilians fell into the clutches of the bandits, Naruto would silently pray for forgiveness, while promising himself that one day he would ensure that the bandits would get what they deserved.

And they did.

Now that he was finally free, instead of feeling a weight lift from his shoulders, he only felt a bigger pressure. All the lives that he had ruined began coming back to him.

Before the rising panic could overtake him again, Naruto was suddenly pulled into a warm embrace.

Warrod could not bear seeing the look of guilt on Naruto's face.

"It's okay Naruto. It's okay. You are safe now. I am here."

As Naruto sobbed softly in his arms, Warrod could only provide a gentle and kind reassurance to the boy.

Silently, Warrod promised himself that he would do right by Naruto's parents and ensure that Naruto would grow up well from this point forward.

~ A week later, with Naruto ~

During the first week, Naruto had mostly kept to himself, despite Warrod's insistence. There were two main reasons for this.

The first was for practical and logical reasons. Naruto had wanted to avoid putting himself into a situation where he slips up and reveals his other origin.

To do so, he decided to take as much time as he possibly could to familiarize himself with the two set of memories, as well as the new surroundings that he had found himself in.

The second, however, was more personal in nature.

Naruto's life in Konoha had by no means been an easy one. In fact, he would argue that instead of living, it felt more like surviving in his point of view.

His few positive interactions were the rare, far between visits from the Hokage – whom he rationalized was initially nice to him only because it was his duty as the Hokage.

The only other positive interactions were also from Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame.

The duo owned and operated a ramen shop, where Naruto was first indicted to the food of the gods. Moreover, for reasons unknown to him, whenever he could not secure food and groceries for himself, Ayame would volunteer to do so for him.

Naturally she did so in the guise of buying ingredients for their ramen shop, and since their shop was popular and had high traffic during peak periods, the customers and villagers were none the wiser to their secret arrangements, save for the Hokage and a select few individuals.

Any other interactions he had with the villagers had almost always devolved into a screaming contest, with a few sessions where Naruto would leave with a bruise or two.

It had even gone into the extreme in the most recent beating he received, in which he had actually died to his injuries.

Even in the academy, Naruto was always treated as the rotten apple.

He had made zero friends, though not for the lack of trying. And the teachers never gave the time of day to teach him, let alone answer any questions he might have had.

As a result, Naruto had unconsciously developed a mild fear for strangers.

For the past week, his subconscious had caused him to reactively avoid interacting with Warrod. Even the initial sharing he did when he first woke up did not help him overcome that fear.

However, on this very day, Warrod's efforts would finally bear fruit.

~ End of Chapter 06 ~