Naruto The Warlord

Chapter 20

When Naruto and his flock eventually reached the part of the coast in Fire, where the land curved southward towards Tea Country, it was finally time to separate from the coast and move north-east towards the coast that faced the Land of Water.

During their time since Naruto's speech, the people had thrown themselves into training with devotion that was almost fanatical. Fear was a powerful motivator and the threat of the Daimyo's armies and their shadowy agents, the 'Shinobi', had them on a constant high alert. It was reassuring to see so many of his men and women take the severity of their situation as seriously as he had wished for, if not more so.

Naruto had been afraid that the news regarding what he carried would cause a rift between him and his people, but so far it seemed like only a very small minority, mainly the former masters, had given voice to their worries, but nobody seemed to pay them any mind. A brawl had been caused one night, where a former master had apparently spoken out against Naruto and someone else took offence in his honor.

Heartwarming, if unnecessary.

Their acceptance of him, just as En had predicted, came with the relief that Naruto knew now that the Assassin could not use it against him to spread uncertainty and discontent, at least not to the same degree. Though Naruto believed the assassin had not been aware of his status as a container before the poisoning attempt, it would have only been a matter of time.

After a couple of meetings with his officers, it became clear that his closest and most loyal men cared little for the news of what he carried. Upon questioning them about their opinion, naturally they had some questions of their own for the sake of their own curiosity, but at large they seemed to accept it. It probably helped that he'd taken care of them and taught them everything they currently knew since the very beginning, as well as the knowledge of chakra.

Ryu however seemed like he'd distanced himself after the revelation. Naruto had caught his friend throwing him glances when he thought he was not looking and he'd made several excuses of having other things to do when Naruto attempted to speak with him. Between his own duties and Ryu's distancing, he found it difficult to find the proper time to confront his friend about it.

Naruto figured Ryu to be hurt by his secrecy. Ryu had been the one to know him the longest, and Naruto had kept everything away from him. Ryu's distance hurt, as Naruto had been the one to save him back in Kisara, as well as wedding the man to his wife, Hina.

His private life aside, Naruto had made leaps and bounds in his own training. Seeing as his status as the Kyuubi Jinchurichi was now out in the open, it was only a matter of time before everyone with a competent information network would know of the identity of his people's 'Warlord'. Konoha would quickly come knocking and they needed to plan as quickly as possible. The 'Rasengan' that he'd formerly had so much issues with regarding his control, had now been perfected to the point where he could easily form it with one hand without the aid of a clone.

Age, maturity and the aid of his clones during his training, made the task simpler than what it had been years ago.

As for the 'Iron Fist Technique', Naruto felt like he was about to make a breakthrough.

Grunting as he put his fist through the rock in front of him, Naruto quickly resumed his stance with a focused expression.

Goro's technique was a work of wonder, despite En's seemingly easy workaround. In nature, it was categorized as an 'Earth' technique, but it implemented so many principles that it might as well have been a mix between several, which was one of the many reason's Naruto had so many troubles with it.

A positive, if unforeseen, consequence of his practice was a deepened understanding of manipulating the chakra within his own body. Naruto had actually gotten an idea regarding Tsunade's 'super strength' from practicing it, but that would be a project for a later date.