Sage

Ch.13

Luckily for the two of them they actually managed to stumble across a road after finding a winding path to take them down the cliff-face. It wasn't very wide or well maintained but it was a definite step up from trekking through seemingly uncharted jungle aimlessly. The trio of boy, girl, and monkey steadily made their way along the road, noticing it begin to widen as well as a few signs of better up-keep. They quickly found out why when it suddenly merged with a much better-maintained road that was actually paved.

After that it wasn't long before they reached a small town; Shizuku was grateful for the opportunity to change her clothes and get them cleaned while Naruto stocked up on their supplies. Currently they were sitting in a small outdoor café, a plate of steaming dango between them which Shizuku was happily munching her way through. They were getting some odd looks from the town's residents; Naruto guessed it wasn't every day you saw such a young monk and miko eating casually while occasionally feeding a small Capuchin monkey.

However as they ate Naruto was casting a well-hidden eye around them, not entirely sure what he was looking for himself until he spotted them. A small trio walking along the road, rather unremarkable save for the headbands they all wore. The simple metal plate was engraved with what appeared to be two mirrored lightning bolts that the blonde knew to be the symbol of the hidden waterfall village. Naruto smiled at that, it was good to see there was a Shinobi presence here, it meant they couldn't be too far off from the village itself.

Usually Hidden Villages made good shows of protecting the various towns and settlements within their respective countries. However most of the time it was merely for appearance's-sake, ninja rarely did anything for free, especially if it spread out their available manpower. If there was an actual patrol in the village and not just some Shinobi on their way to, or back from, a mission then it was a good guess to say Takigakure no Sato was close. Unfortunately Naruto knew he couldn't just follow them back to their village; as soon as they left the town they would take off at speed and if the two of them were caught running like that it would be highly suspicious.

Naruto had tried asking around town for the way into Taki but the residents had been very tight-lipped. Apparently even merchants had to go through a special process before being allowed to enter the village. With a sigh the blonde quickly paid for their food and motioned for his companion to follow him. He couldn't follow the ninja but nothing was stopping him from travelling in the general direction they were going. Originally Naruto had planned on using his Rinnegan to seek out the area of high Chakra density a hidden village would surely be, but he then remembered Shinobi villages had defences against that kind of thing.

It was started by Konoha during the founding of their village; the wife of the Shodai Hokage had constructed an enormous barrier array that would not only hide the village, giving more credit to its name, but also alert a special team of any and all entries into the village. However it obviously couldn't account for people leaving the barrier if Naruto was able to leave with the ease he did. Other villages had similar countermeasures, mostly against the threat of the Byakugan and Sharingan which could both see Chakra.

At first Naruto had been rather excited when he found the name Mito Uzumaki, going on to discover lots about the Uzumaki clan from the extensive library in the temple. The old Hokage had always told him he was an orphan and didn't know who his parents were; he had always taken that to mean his given name was just chosen at random. However it had still been fun for the young monk-in-training to imagine for just a moment he actually had a clan, a rather powerful one at that if the history books were anything to go on.

Unfortunately the Uzumaki, along with their home village Uzushiogakure no Sato, had long been wiped from the Elemental Nations. On top of that Naruto had none of the recognisable characteristics of the clan famed for their longevity. He had neither the traditional red hair nor common purple eyes, he didn't count the fact his Rinnegan was purple as much as he would like to. Still the blonde briefly enjoyed the fleeting fantasy of having a family, even if they were spread to the four winds of the continent.