Naruto The Warlord

chapter 15

2 weeks had passed in a blur and Naruto had not seen a single shred of sunlight since he was first introduced to their training regime. Every single day, they would wake, train, eat, sleep and repeat. Even for Naruto, who had always had a much better restitution than anyone else he ever knew, had been exhausted by the amount of exercise in the beginning. They were fed well enough, but not enough for their amount of training so Naruto found himself running on empty most of the time.

The pangs of hunger had grown more familiar to him now than what he had ever wished for, exhaustion a brother he conversed with daily and dehydration constantly pounded his head as a reminder of his new life. While he hadn't had any mirror to look at, Naruto could easily tell he'd lost a lot of weight, but there was very little he could do about it.

Naruto grunted in pain upon receiving a hard stab in his gut. While the blunted edge of their training equipment wouldn't kill him, the 'First Instructor' who had taken it upon himself to be his daily sparring partner still had some mean strength in his arms and Naruto could tell he was going to be sore from where he had been hit. Naruto slapped his wooden blade away with the shaft of his halberd and quickly went of the offensive, ignoring his comrades as they all trained and fought upon the sands.

The 'First Instructor', who Naruto had learned was simply named 'En', had quickly realized Naruto's proficiency and paired him off against the other veterans, but as even they were outclassed by Naruto after he'd finally received a wooden halberd, En had begun to pair himself with Naruto and they had met their match in one another.

While En was clearly the more experienced fighter and could often get killing blows on Naruto, Naruto had the strength and stamina of his youth and could easily outlast En in a battle of attrition. Naruto was interested in how they'd do against the other if their chakra were released.

Locking weapons, En shoved Naruto away and called for a break. It was about time for lunch, before they resumed their training again.

En and Naruto bantered lightly as they moved towards the feeding room next to the training area, where tables and chairs were lined for them to rest while they ate. A slavegirl had just finished placing the last of the bowls next to the feeding pot when they entered and the poor girl had to suffer the men's obnoxious catcalls and a few wandering hands as she quickly made her exit. Seeing her make it out alright, Naruto refrained from intercepting, but still took note of the behavior.

Filling his bowl with the...soup, or whatever foul-smelling substance filled the pot, he quickly made his way as far back into the room as he could for some peace and quiet. His hopes for a quiet meal was dashed however, when En seated himself across from him.

"Got some news.", En rasped.

Naruto sighed slightly; he'd hoped for a solitary meal as he'd grown tired of socializing among the men. He didn't have anything against any of the men, especially not the 'First Instructor' En, but some peace and quiet did the soul good every now and then.

"What sort of news?", Naruto murmured, grimacing as he forced the foul food into his mouth. It somewhat helped to hold his breath when he tried to swallow it.

"Master Isamu is holding an exhibition for some of the other local masters in a few days.", En began and Naruto perked up with interest. "Some of those contending will be bringing their own fresh recruits. Blood is going to be on demand."

"Mine and the other new ones, surely.", Naruto snorted with derision. While he'd been wary to display his dislike in the beginning, it had been abundantly clear that his hatred was shared among the fighters, especially En himself. Their dislike, as long as it was kept in private, would not be punished by the instructors.