Kyuubi no Taiyo no Megami

Tetsu no Kuni

New Life Arc

Chapter 3 - Tetsu no Kuni

"Normal Speaking"

"Thinking"

"Amaterasu"

"Amaterasu Telepathy"

"Summon/Jutsu"

Previously. . .

Uzumaki Naruko has now left the border of Hi no Kuni and has begun making her way to Tetsu no Kuni with her new surrogate grandfather, the former samurai general Nobunaga. During their journey they witness a meteor shower, and we nearly hit by a falling star. They search the crater and find a celestial wolf later revealed as the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Amaterasu bonds with Naruko; combining their bodies while keeping their minds separate. They are then ambushed by Root ANBU from Konoha. Nobunaga defeats the ANBU and Naruko decides to go by a new name: Ōtsutsuki Amaterasu.

The newly-named Ōtsutsuki Amaterasu walked side-by-side with her surrogate grandfather. She was covered with a cloak Nobunaga had given her when they had reached the snowy regions of Tetsu no Kuni. They trudged through the snow has the frozen rain continued to fall around them. They were approaching the palace of the Daimyo of Tetsu no Kuni. Amaterasu was nervous by this idea, but Nobunaga assured her that they could trust him. His assurance, surprisingly, was all she needed.

Nobunaga glanced down at his adoptive granddaughter with a curious expression, "Are you holding up okay, Ammy-chan? I know this is the first time you have experienced snow and the cold."

They had discussed her new name after she told him what she wanted to be called and they agreed a shorter nickname would help so that they didn't have to keeping saying Amaterasu all the time. Saying the name of the sun goddess over and over, especially while attaching the name to someone like Ammy who could disguise her vulpine features yet, would bring attention to her that, at the moment, she really didn't need.

Ammy gave the old man a wide grin, "I'm fine, Nobunaga-jiji. My tails are keeping me warm."

Ammy's tails were wrapped around her body to keep them from being noticed. No doubt that even if her celestial, vixen features were covered her tails dragging around from the back of her cloak would've been very noticeable. And as she herself stated, they kept her warm in the snow.

"Good to here. We're almost there. Remember, don't speak unless spoken to. Despite my former position here, I was only a soldier and the man we're going to meet is the Daimyo."

Ammy nodded, "Hai, Nobunaga-jiji."

They continued walking and it wasn't long before a stone wall appeared out of the snowy haze. It was a tall wall, much taller than the surrounding forest, with wooden ramparts that were ornate in design. Torches and samurai guards and sentries could be seen patrolling and standing watch over the fortifications observing for the first sign of trouble.

Pretty soon, they were before a large, wooden, and beautifully-designed gate guarded by four samurai. One of them appeared in front of the approaching duo, "Halt. Identify yourselves."

Nobunaga chuckled a bit, "Do you not recognize me, fuku-taichou? Or perhaps I was before your time."

These words puzzled the guards, "Who are you, stranger. It is obvious you are samurai but what is your name?"

Another chuckle, "My name is Nobunaga, former Tetsu no Kuni taishou, at your service."

He followed this with a slight bow but the 'damage' had been done. The samurai guards were obviously surprised, "Nobunaga-taishou? You are really him? But we were told he had likely passed by now. You were old even amongst the eldest people in our world!"