Naruto The Warlord

Chapter 19

Time seemed to fly by as Naruto and his flock followed the coast throughout the Fire Country. Their speed was slow and it took them another 2 months to reach halfway through the country, despite following the coast that provided an easy way to navigate the land. Foraging and living off the land was easy, as Fire had always been a blooming nation regarding the surrounding nature. The former slaves that had now integrated themselves within their society were filled with glee every single step of the way and the mood was contagious.

But not for Naruto.

Every moment they were there was excruciating for him. He was constantly battling paranoia and calming himself proved difficult. Had a shinobi taken the place of Shou, Ryu or any of the others? Anyone he knew there could be dead in a ditch somewhere, their identity usurped by an assassin who was merely biding his or her time.

He told himself that it was useless to worry about it, but he couldn't help it.

He'd opted to keep the matter of Konoha and the Kyuubi hidden from his people for now, although it was a conflicted decision. It would be better for them to hear it from his own mouth than through rumors or manipulations of others, but it was difficult. Such things like the Tailed Beasts were little more than myth and legend, usually told to scare children, rather than believed to be actually true by most folk. Even if his people were now using chakra at a fundamental level, granting them what others perceive to be inhuman abilities, demonic creatures the size of mountains may still be a bit outside of most people's comfort zone.

And he had one, the LAST one, inside of him. And he was now hunted by his former home for it.

He didn't even know where to start if he was to explain that.

As they traveled from village to village, city to city along the coast, Naruto made sure to announce their arrival to as many people as possible. Orphaned children were easy to persuade to come with them, but a surprising amount of people, both singles and families, were actually willing to join. The local nobles grumbled but dared nothing due to the army at Naruto's back and he welcomed them warmly into his flock, just as he expected the rest of his people to do. The more poverty that was present in the village or city, the more people usually abandoned their homes in order to seek their happiness with them.

While he was loath to think he took advantage of the people they persuaded, Naruto took solace in the fact that they made their own decisions. They were free to come and go whenever they wanted to, like the many others who eventually settled wherever they crossed.

More people joined than those who left though and they were now bordering on 4000 men and women. It was a slow increase, but always a welcome one.

Some issues had arisen however, as one of the former slaves had assaulted one of the few former 'masters' from 'The Ivory Dock's'. While no lives had been lost, yet, Naruto was forced to discipline the one guilty of the crime.

He'd never done so before. His people from before everything that happened in Wind had been unified in a common goal and thievery and inside violence within their group was practically nonexistent.

Now, they had more people from everywhere else than they had from Kisara. It was a wakeup call if anything, that the people from outside of Kisara did not have the same mindset as the rest of them. The issues that came with mixing different people with different backgrounds were starting to show.

Naruto had the man flogged publicly, ordering his men to beat the man within an inch of his life while taking some of his possessions as offerings to the victim. Naruto could understand that the former slaves had suffered beneath the former masters, but they WOULD obey his words as long as they followed him. There was a place for everyone among them, even the former masters, and they were just as protected as the rest of them.