Claymore Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Red Dawn ❯ The Meeting Part 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

I Do Not Own Claymore or Naruto
Teresa knew there was someone at the oasis. It wouldn't have bothered her normally as she could handle almost any threat, though she was unsure if she could successfully defeat one of the three Abyssal Ones. While she at one point had fought an Awaken One nearly equal to an Abyssal One, it didn't have the experience of one of the true Abyssal Ones.

But with the burst of yoki she felt earlier had her worried not only for Clare's safety, but her own. The power she had sensed had dwarfed her own by far by light years and even in a thousand years, she doubted she could come anywhere close to the power of that being.

However, Clare was still as energetic as she ever was and didn't know there was a possible threat looming around in the area. That in its own had made Teresa feel a little better and she was sure that if it came down to it, she could get Clare out of trouble. She wanted to continue on and move to a different campsite, but this was the best area to camp as it was the easiest to defend and detect a possible threat.

Still, she would need to stay vigilant to make sure whoever this person happened to be wasn't the one with the great yoki she had sensed earlier.

The oasis overall wasn't that much, but the peninsula was probably the best place to camp in the desert as it was right by the water and the only place that had a decent amount of wildlife nearby. It had a few palm trees and thickets to give it a somewhat tropical look.

Carefully leading Clare, Teresa silently moved towards the camp when a strange knife like weapon stuck into the tree besides her.

"Who's there?!" Naruto's voiced sounded and despite the situation it was calm and collected.

Teresa had to wonder how she was sensed so easily. Even with Clare with her, she was not easily sensed as the girl had a good deal of stealth to her even in her worn out condition. If she didn't know better, she would have believed the girl to be another warrior in the making for the organization.

Still, the distance between her and the man that had set this camp was easily thirty meters away and he was right on the money with his aim as if she had taken another step forward, it would have struck her between the eyes. It made her wonder if this was a really good idea and if they should continue on and forget about stopping.

She threw that thought out as she looked at Clare and could tell the girl was ready to pass out if she didn't get something to eat soon. Taking a deep breath, she walked forward with one hand in front of her to signify she wasn't a threat as the other hand led Clare the thickets. "Sorry about the intrusion, but this is the only good camping ground for about ten miles and my little girl needs to rest as she can't make the rest of the walk to the closest town."

Naruto frowned as he could clearly read the yoki flowing through her system and instantly came to the conclusion that she was a demon. But now that he could see the young girl besides her and getting a good look at her through the camp fire, he took back his thought. At the most, she was a half demon if not a vessel for one of the demons he had ran into not to long ago.

Putting away another kunai he had at the ready to defend himself, he motioned her to come over with a slight nod towards him. "No problem and help yourselves as there are plenty of fish here. I'm just a little weary of another one of those creatures attacking me again."

Teresa's entire body froze as he said this. Oh she did not like what he had said in that one sentence. She had only sensed one Awakened Being in the entire area and it was quickly extinguished by a far greater yoki then anything she had ever felt before.

And it wasn't helping that she couldn't get a clear reading on him as a mysterious, yet familiar energy was surrounding him in great force. She was sure that if she a correct reading from that energy alone that he was equally matched with her in raw energy.

But she was over analyzing this at the moment. He by no means was an Awakened One as they only contained yoki and nothing else. She had begun to notice that humans had there own energy source no matter how little it was. Taking a quick look at Clare, she could see the same type of energy surrounding the young girl as the young man they just ran into.

This made her worry even more as a human with the ability to grow their energy to such an extant was unheard of and to have their aura match that of a former number one was even more worrisome. And if he did have access to yoki, which if he did it was very well hidden, did that make him a warrior of the past that had lasted this long without the organization knowing?

Naruto was beginning to wonder what was taking so long with the woman to answer. It was a simple I'll join you or not and it seemed that she was stopping to think about it. 'No, she isn't thinking about stopping... She's gauging me to see if I'm a threat. Hn, good call. I don't know myself at times anymore.'

Still, the little girl seemed to be on the verge of passing out and wasn't looking too good at the moment. It seemed that she was straining herself beyond her limit, probably not to slow down her caretaker. Even if she wasn't going to stop by, he wasn't letting the little girl go without something to eat. He was still a Good Samaritan and couldn't let someone suffer if he could help it.

Checking the couple of fish he had cooking on wooden stakes in the fire, he took the largest one he had of the group and made sure it was thoroughly cocked before standing up and walking towards them. This action of course had the platinum blonde on guard and ready to draw the giant blade she carried with her, but he simply ignored her as he squatted down besides the young girl. "Here you go. You look like you could use this more then I can."

While Teresa was caught of guard by this action, Clare looked up at the young man and into the eyes. She really did want the fish as she was quite hungry, but for some reason Teresa seemed to be hesitant and she was going to be as well. But with one look in the eyes, she gently took the fish from him before biting in hungrily before almost dropping it as she painfully swallowed the bite.

Naruto chuckled at the girl before he smiled softly at her. "Oh, be careful. It is quite hot. Maybe you should let it cool for a little bit."

Seeing the young girl smile back at him, Naruto chuckled again before heading back towards the fire and pulling out the other fish out of the open flame and stabbing the wooden end into the ground. Clare followed after him and attempted to do the same and succeeded, mostly because of the soft sand near the water.

Teresa was unsure what to think as she watched Clare follow the young man's example. For some reason, she was taking to him quite well and it seemed that he was more then happy to have company before she began to reason with herself after getting a good look at him.

The black cloak he wore seemed to be dusted while he a red cape folded at his side that seemed to have a few holes in it. He had the cloak unbuttoned so she could see that he wore a dark black shirt underneath and a pair of bright orange pants underneath. His clothing was rather odd for being in a desert as she was quite sure it would get overly hot and unless he could control his own body temperature she wasn't sure how he could not be sweat after being in the sun for so long.

His blonde hair seemed to be a little dusted and matted down but she could tell that if he washed his hair it would be naturally spiky. The band he wore on his forehead with a metallic patch in the front seemed to have a large gash through a leaf like symbol. And finally the red clouds that were variously scattered across his cloak were faded which led her to believe that he had been on a long and harsh journey.

So it would be natural that he was lonely if he been on his own for a while and getting to talk to someone for a little while was refreshing. She knew the feeling all too well as after a long time of slaying Yoma and saying the same things over and over again, she really got bored as there was no one to talk to and she would willingly go on hunts for Awakened Beings just to talk to other warriors.

Slowly but surely, she seated herself next to the fire as she watched Clare begin to devour the rather large fish he had given her. She couldn't help but smile at her when suddenly he handed her an average sized fish. "Here you go. You're probably hungry as well."

While that was indeed true as she hadn't eaten in a few days, she really didn't trust him all too much right now. While he seemed to be a kind person and even was enjoying their company, she had to stay on guard just in case as she was quite sure he was the one with the great yoki she had felt earlier as now she could see as clear of day, small wisps of yoki traveling within his energy stream.

"No thanks. I'm not that hungry right now." Teresa responded with a rather neutral voice, really not wanting to have anything to do with him.

Seeing this, Naruto shrugged before spiking the wooden stake into the ground in front of her. "Alright then, I'll just leave it here for you if you get hungry. I have to catch another couple of fish anyways."

Teresa twitched lightly at this but took the fish nonetheless. She didn't want to waste the food if he was going to catch a couple other fish for himself. It only irritated her more that he seemed to be smiling as she pulled the fish from the stake and took a small bite out of it.

Shaking his head, reminding himself not to purposely piss this woman off as she would more then likely attempt to decapitate him with that giant sword of hers, he walked towards the calm waters of the oasis before focusing chakra to his eyes so he could get a better glimpse of the fish in the water.

Finding the two he wanted, he took aim with a kunai with some wire attached to it and waited for the exact moment the two crossed each others paths. In that second, he let his kunai fly and it pierced through both easily before it embedded itself into something much larger in the bottom of the oasis.

Wondering what this was, Naruto yanked on it slightly only to feel it yank back. This only made him wonder what the hell was at the bottom even more and was about to go in when he noticed the line suddenly became slack. Beginning to really wonder what this was, he began to real in his line faster then before he slowly began to see what it was that he caught.

Suddenly a six foot alligator launched itself from the water with its jaws opened and ready to clamp onto Naruto's torso.

It never had a chance to bite down as it suddenly went slack with a kunai driven into the skull and another into the jaw, pinning them shut so it could open it mouth to try and get one last bite off. Watching the light in its eyes slowly disappear, Naruto pulled his kunai off before dipping them into the water to wash off the blood.

As Clare was in shock at what she saw, Teresa was very surprised at the reflexes and the precise strikes from such small weapons. Albeit, her claymore really wouldn't have needed to be a precise strike to kill such an animal, it would have hardly been quick enough to allow such a fast striking creature get so close to kill.

She knew he had let it in on purpose once he realized what it was and no longer cared for the fish as he wanted something with more meat on it. She just wasn't sure that gator meat was all that great as she heard from a few of the other warriors that gator was the last thing they would eat and would avoid it at all costs.

But he caught her off guard again as he simply reeled in the fish he had caught with his kunais before kicking the gator back into the water, letting it sink to the bottom. Figuring he was thinking along the same lines as her fellow warriors, she shrugged it off before she took a bite off the fish he had given her.

Clare quickly got over it as well having seen Teresa dispatch yoma so easily that she thought that it wasn't too abnormal for someone else to kill a rather larger and fast predator. Picking up the fish she had dropped and wiping off some of the sand that got on it, she began to happily devour the fish once more while Naruto gutted his fish, getting it ready to cook.

As soon as the young girl had finished, Naruto had his fish set into the fire and was sitting back, watching them to make sure they didn't burn. Throwing the bones aside as she was sure it wasn't going to hurt anything before she remembered the thing she picked up when the freak sandstorm had hit.

Taking it out of her pouch, she walked over to Naruto and held it out to him. "Is this yours mister?"

Looking at what she was handing him, Naruto chuckled softly as he now knew the reason why he didn't find his compass. This little girl had it. Taking it and putting the compass into his pouch. "Yeah, its mine. But it doesn't work so I don't see what use it is as I have no clue where I am so I can get back home. ...And call me Naruto. Mister makes me sound... Old."

"I'm Clare!" Clare stated the name Teresa had chosen for her proudly. While it was her true name, she liked it even more as her mentor and caretaker gave her the same name.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle once more at the girl's energy. She definitely would be a handful to take care of but she seemed to be worth it and probably was why she was traveling with his fellow blonde.

His eyes wandered to the person of his thoughts and only shook his head as she seemed to be giving him a dirty look, probably because Clare wasn't a talkative child and she was attempting to talk his ear off as she spoke again. "I'm sure the village Teresa and I are heading to has someone that can fix it. Why don't you come with us so you can get it fixed tomorrow?!"

He could see Teresa was twitching at Clare's words and his old instinct was coming back and he wanted to accept just to tick her off some more, but he knew better then to do this. So he had to politely decline. "Sorry, but even if I get it fixed it wouldn't help me get back home. I don't even know where I am or if I'm even on the same continent that my home is."

This caught Teresa attention quickly as she was sure there was other lands out there, they just couldn't find them. It would also explain why he used such foreign weaponry and his clothes were so different from what most people wore around not just here, but around the continent. It also explained why he had both human energy and yoki. Maybe on a different land, the one he was from, that wasn't too uncommon and it was there form of self defense.

But seeing the look on Clare's face when he said he couldn't brought her down a little. Clare seemed to be enjoying his company and the same could be said for him. And honestly, she had no reason to say no as he had been nothing but kind to them since they arrived, outside of the throwing knife as he wasn't sure if she was a threat or not.

Sighing as she knew she would regret this later, Teresa spoke. "It wouldn't be too much trouble if you came along with us for a little bit as Clare is obviously enjoying your company. And it wouldn't hurt to have someone else look after her as we continue to journey. So just come with us tomorrow and see what happens. If they can't help, we'll just take you to another village and see if they can."

Having the blonde speak to him, trying to convince him to go with them, Naruto had a little less doubts about going with them. Honestly, he didn't see a reason not to as he had no clue where that said village was and didn't know where any village was at that. But the main reason he wanted to go, truthfully, was to spend a little more time with Clare. He could already tell she was fun to be around and he hadn't laughed this much in a long time.

"Alright," Naruto responded to Teresa as he pulled the smaller of the two fish he caught out of the fire, "I'll head out with you tomorrow but I can't promise you that I'll stay with you too long. I've never been very good company to take along."

Once again, Clare was ecstatic and hoped around a few times before she was sitting besides Naruto, holding up one of his kunai to him. "What is this?"

Teresa could only smile as she saw the look of disbelief on his face as she asked him that question. Clare was a curious one after all.

It took a couple of hours, but Clare had finally fallen asleep leaving Naruto very exhausted after explaining to her what everything was.

He was rather astonished that she didn't know what a kunai and shuriken was so that confirmed it for him that he was in a different land. It was doubly confirmed when she didn't know what a ninja was, which almost caused Naruto to have a heart attack, and was mostly what he was trying to explain to her when she fell asleep.

However, Teresa did not fall asleep and had listened very carefully to what Naruto had said. What disturbed her most was that in his land almost everyone seemed to have his kind of power and if that was the case; what could have caused them to develop such a power? Sure one man led to the awakening of 'chakra', but what could have caused the need of it?

As she tried to piece all of what he said together, Naruto sighed as he took off his red cape with black flames before wrapping it around the sleeping girl as the temperature began to plummet. He was quite surprised it was getting this cold, but he knew deserts had the most unpredictable climate on the planet so it wasn't a shock to him.

Pulling out a sleeping back from a scroll, which was one thing he had gone over to explain to Clare what happened to the kunai he used to kill the gator, he unrolled it and began to press the ground, making sure he wouldn't be too uncomfortable as he slept.

Looking over towards Teresa, he frowned lightly before sighed as he knew she was trying to put together some of the things he had said despite not having the entire picture. "You can stop now. You don't know everything about my world and even if you did, you wouldn't completely understand it. It just isn't a world that can be entirely understood and we like to keep it that way."

Teresa didn't like that she had been told to stop trying put together dead ends, but he had a valid point. Even people from his world that knew more then others could not wholly comprehend it. Besides, it wasn't like she was trying to find a new place to...

She stopped her thoughts as that was exactly what she was looking for. She was looking for a new place to live where the organization could not come after her so she could live in peace with Clare and watch the young girl grow up. And if that world happened not to have yoma, it would be even better. Now the fact that these ninja apparently waged wars with one another was a bother, but humanity would never completely get along with one another and war always seemed to be the last resort.

And if he was trying to go back home, maybe she could go back with him and leave this world once and for all. And even if they failed to find his home, maybe they find somewhere else that the organization doesn't have influence and she could settle there. It was always worth a shot.

"Naruto... I have a proposition for you." Teresa spoke, unsure how to word what she wanted to ask him.

"I'm listening." Naruto responded simply as he walked down to the waters edge and filled a canteen from his pouch, getting ready for tomorrow, before walking over back to the fire and sitting across from Teresa.

Teresa nodded, knowing as much. She just wasn't sure how she wanted to come out and say it without it making seem like she was using him. After a few moments, she came out and said it. "I know the layout of this land well and I will take you to the port cities to help you on your search for home. I to want to leave this place, so helping you find your home can only help me."

"...But I need some help with Clare to. She is a handful at times and won't tell me when she is tired even if it is obvious that she is. You seemed to be better with children then I am so if you can help, I would be very appreciative of that." Naruto nodded as it seemed like a fair trade off as he was so far enjoying the company of the little girl. But the next thing Teresa said even caught him off guard.

"And I know my time is running thin, so if I die before we can get you home... I want you to take care of her for me. She really seems to take a liking to you and if anyone can enjoy her life as a human... It would be you as it seems that you can keep a balance between you and your demon."

Of all things to throw Naruto off, she had to pick two of the things that could do it. Death and Kyuubi.

Seeing the look of absolute surprise when she mentioned his demon, Teresa figured that he hadn't expected her to figure it out. But after his little speech of sealing, she knew it was possible to seal beings like that of a yoma into a human without them becoming a half yoma like those the organization created. And after seeing the small pulses of yoki in his chakra system, she knew he had a demon sealed within him.

"Don't be too surprised. The powers of our warrior powers have a lot of similarities to your ninjas and I happen to excel in reading energy and could see the yoki flares in your system." Teresa quickly added on after seeing his face.

After hearing this, Naruto felt slightly better but still was quite worried that someone else had learned of Kyuubi. Well, she didn't know of the fox demon. She just knew that he had a demon sealed within him. She just didn't know it happened to be the strongest of all demons.

Shaking his head of that as he had to put that aside for now, he looked back at Teresa with a slight frown on his face. "What exactly makes you think that you're going to die any time soon? And I just met you and Clare today, what makes you think that I have any capability in raising a kid when I've just turned eighteen only a month ago? And for all you know I could be some kind of rapist and take the girl for my toy or something like that?"

Teresa only smirked at him as he ranted to her before she calmly answered him. "I think you would do find because you are raising up all these questions and a person that could do any of those things wouldn't ask them and just do them. And sure, you may be young but out here someone of your age is already a parent as people live in fear of the yoma as the next day they could be in the after life."

"As for why I know my time is coming to end is because warriors like me are under the control of the organization that creates us half breeds to kill the yoma. I am on the run because I broke the most sacred of the rules they place on us and the only one they really care that we uphold and killed humans..." At the end, Teresa was almost silent as the grave but Naruto clearly heard her.

"If that was the only rule that you had to keep, why did you break it?" Naruto asked as he clearly didn't understand why she would do such a thing. He had a feeling it had to do with Clare, but he would wait to hear her answer.

Sighing softly, Teresa unsheathed her claymore from her back before she began to sharpen it. After a few moments, she spoke softly as she continued working on her sword. "It all started when I saved Clare from her nightmare as a yoma was using her as a toy while moving town to town. She followed me when I left that village and we ran into a group of bandits. I instinctively sliced one of their arms off thinking them to be yoma at first... Anyways, after they left as they couldn't stand being around one like myself, I tried to get rid of Clare."

"She was persistent and followed me forcing me to take care of her as if the bandits found her dead in the wild, they could have blamed me for her death and the organization would want my head. Later on, the bandit whose arm I sliced off followed us and attempted to rape me as I could not retaliate. Clare tried to defend me and I forced him to leave by threatening him with death as at the moment, I really didn't care if I lived or died."

Naruto's face twisted at the story so far, but he continued listening as he was quite sure it was going to take a while for her to finish.

"But afterwards, Clare spoke for the first time and after listening to her... I became to care for her. But I couldn't take care of her as she was a human and belong with other humans. So when I took her to the village and slaid the yoma there, I asked for someone to take care of her for me. She tried to convince me to let her stay with me, but I eventually convinced her to stay."

"After I left the village and Clare... I came across the same bandits who were going to raid the village that I just came from because the yoma was no longer protecting them. Fearing for Clare's safety, I quickly chased after them but it was too late and the village was in ruins. That's when I saw the same man that had attempted to rape me dragging Clare behind him before telling me he was going to do the same to her. ...Then I snapped and killed every single one of those bastards for what they did as in that moment... They were lower then any yoma."

Naruto couldn't help but agree with what she had done. Anyone he knew would have done the same in her position as mostly every ninja had their own honor system and bandits that raped and pillaged were the single most detest people in their minds. That why it wasn't uncommon for jounin to willingly go on C-class missions, even if it was with gennin. They just wanted to rid a few more cretins of the world.

But seeing Teresa wasn't quite finished, Naruto continued listening as she continued on.

"Afterwards, my personal agent had brought five warriors to execute the law on me while taking Clare hostage. ...At first I was just going to let them do their job as I had indeed broken the rule we were all brought up not to break... But after hearing Clare scream, I couldn't and I severely injured each of those warriors before taking Clare back... And now I know they'll be sending everyone they have that can have any chance against me, after me."

"That is why I need someone to take care of Clare as I know the organization is training a new number one right now, just to kill me." At the end, Teresa's eyes darkened to the point that her silver eyes almost seemed to be black.

Being told more then enough, Naruto could only nod before he walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, bringing her back from her dark thoughts. "Alright... I'll take care of Clare... If that happens."

Teresa looked up at Naruto strangely as he said this. "What do you mean if? It isn't a possibility; it is going to happen if I can't leave these lands fast enough."

Naruto could only smirk at her as he walked over to his sleeping back before creating a clone of himself.

While this surprised Teresa greatly, she kept her eyes on Naruto as he slowly pulled off his cloak and folded it neatly and laid it on the ground to be used as a pillow. As he did this he turned to her with an even larger smirk then before. "I'm saying it is a possibility now as I'm the leader of the Red Dawn for a reason."

Teresa was more confused then ever as he said this as she didn't know what the 'Red Dawn' was in the first place. But when he said it, she could feel and see the power around him increase dramatically before it quickly faded back to normal.

And that alone made her realize this 'Red Dawn' was something not to be screwed with.

"Okay, why are you two hiding in those cloaks?" Naruto asked Teresa and Clare as the three neared the village.

Teresa sighed in an annoyed tone as she pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, but more importantly she hid the color of her eyes. "Because if they find out I am a half breed, we won't be able to stay there in peace and honestly, I rather sleep on a bed then on the ground tonight... Even if I can't become comfortable I want to at least have a damn bed."

Nodding in understanding, he pulled out a straw hat and put it on, tipping it just right so no one could see his face. He could feel Teresa twitch madly at him and he could only smirk as if he was going to be staying with them for a while, he couldn't keep himself from irritating her. It was just something he liked to do and it seemed all women were susceptible to it.

"You don't have to hide yourself! You already look more conspicuous then we do but adding that hat takes the cake! We're trying to have people avoid us, not notice us!" Teresa refrained from yelling at him as he was getting on her nerves already and they had only been walking for a few hours.

Of course it wasn't helping that Clare was giggling and siding with him. "But I like the way he looks. It looks cool."

Teresa just sighed in frustration before walking off; leaving the two behind her, lightly laughing to themselves as they followed the highly annoyed half breed.

As they entered the village, both Naruto and Teresa instantly knew something was wrong as every single villager seemed to be surrounding something and due to their ability to detect/see yoki they both knew what all the commotion was about. Getting a closer look, at what was going on by moving near the front, both frowned as they saw a large yoma gripping a young boy by collar as he looked around at the villagers, daring them to come and try to do something about it.

Naruto was ready to do so it seemed to be taunting him and no one got away with taunting him. Except Jiraiya; he died before he could pay back the toad sage.

However, he was stopped as Teresa grabbed his sleeve tightly. "Don't... If you save the boy things will get out of hand as you aren't one of us. I didn't tell you about this before, but if the organization was to learn of your existence, bad things would happen as they would stop at nothing to either use you or eliminate your existence."

"I would like to see them try. No one has been able to do that so far." Naruto countered back as he tried to break her grip but failed as she gripped his sleeve tighter.

Sighing to herself as he wasn't going to listen to her and take the yoma out anyways, she turned back to Clare and gave her a half hearted smile. "Do you mind if we sleep outside for another day?"

Clare instantly shook her head as she didn't mind whatsoever as long as the boy in the yoma's grip would get help.

"Well, damn it." Teresa said to herself before letting go of Naruto's sleeve before throwing off her cloak, revealing herself to the crowd as she walked over towards the yoma, one hand on her hip.

"A Claymore!"

"Why is a Claymore here?!"

"Don't ask me! Why would I know?!"

Naruto frowned as he heard this and had to wonder why they were calling Teresa a Claymore. He knew her sword was indeed a claymore sword, but outside of that why in the hell would they call her a Claymore? Deciding to wait and ask her later, he tipped his hat upwards a bit before Clare suddenly spoke to him. "Don't blink otherwise you'll miss it."

Blinking as he wasn't sure why she had said that, he turned to Teresa in wonder as he hadn't been told that. Ever.

Ignoring the villagers' words, Teresa stopped a few meters from the yoma as a slight smile began to build on her face. Wanting to get out some of her pent up aggression that Naruto had been building, she began to taunt the yoma. "Ah damn it. Why did you have to show up and ruin my chance of relaxing? Are you just asking for one of us to come and slice off your head because I'm here now?"

The yoma was seriously getting agitated by Teresa's words. He had dealt with a Claymore before but he had barely gotten out while the rest of the yoma there were utterly destroyed by the single blonde haired bitch. However, this one was just getting on his nerves and seeing that she was screwing with a possible meal, he was going to make her pay.

Faster then the human eye could see, he let go of the boy and charged Teresa, planning on decapitating her with the first blow.

But in a blink of an eye, Teresa was behind the yoma and flicking the purple blood of her blade. Just as she did that, the yoma suddenly burst into an even two pieces, spurting blood all around yet mysteriously avoiding Teresa who was only a few feet away.

Naruto was highly impressed with the display he had seen from the platinum blonde. She moved very quickly and her aim, despite the size of the sword, was precise. And just from that one display of ability he gagged her overall ability within seconds and knew exactly where she ranked to him in terms of ability.

And to be honest, Naruto wouldn't want to face her in battle. He knew he could win, but the blonde would be equal to and possibly better then Pein was before he passed on. And to face someone of that caliber... Well let's say he wouldn't look forward to it as Pein was one of his hardest battles ever.

As she made sure there was no blood on her claymore, Teresa sheathed her sword and was ready to call for Naruto and Clare to leave when the crowd suddenly burst into cheers. This surprised Teresa as she had never been cheered after dispatching a yoma before. And to be frank, she kind of liked the feeling.

Watching the boy run over to his parents, who were crying and holding onto their boy for dear life, she smiled softly before who she assumed to be the village leader walked over. "Oh thank goodness you came! I don't know what we would have done as we didn't pay for the last time we called! What can we do to thank you for showing up and saving the boy?!"

Teresa could only blink as she heard the man speak and had to wonder why they didn't pay last time. The village didn't seem to be that broke and could afford the price of one single yoma head. So either there was a bad dealing or the warrior did something to piss off the villagers.

Shaking that off, she was about to answer when Naruto walked besides Teresa and wrapped his arm around her waist before speaking in a boisterous tone. "Yes, my wife and I would like a place to stay for the night for us and our daughter before we continue on with our traveling. Also, if you happen to have anyone here that can fix a compass and a good bar, can you please show me where they are? I need to stock up on my liquor supplies."

Ticks were growing out of Teresa's temples for each word that came out of his mouth. She swore if he hadn't stopped where he did, she would have killed him. It was bad enough that they were taking advantage of these people, but why in the hell did he have to tell them that they were married?! To make it worse, it seemed that Clare was playing along with him.

"Mom, wow that was so cool!" Clare commented loudly, trying to mimic Naruto as she was enjoying the fact that Naruto was so fun to be around.

"Ah yes, we have plenty of rooms available and I'll make sure you will get the best! And we have a bar right across from the hotel so it shouldn't be too hard to find!" The village elder spoke excitedly as if Naruto's energy was contagious and affecting him as well. "But, we don't have anyone here that can fix a compass, but we have a few maps if you like?"

"That'll be fine. Now leads us to our room my good man!" Naruto answered with a shit eating grin as he could just tell Teresa was ready to hit him. But she seemed to be holding back for some reason that he couldn't understand.

As the village elder began to walk towards the hotel with Naruto and Clare following him, Teresa visibly twitched. Oh she regretted ever asking him to come along with them as she was going to kill this guy before it was all over.

Nice and slow.

"So this is where she is?" A woman with short, spiky, platinum blonde hair spoke as she stood just outside the village where Naruto, Teresa and Clare were in with three others that were wearing the exact same clothing as Teresa was.

"It seems that way, Noel. But why would she just stay here? She knows she is on the run." The woman standing besides her answered. Her hair was rather odd as it only reached the top of her neck in the back while gradually getting longer as it neared her face.

The woman standing in front of both of them with straight, long hair and elven like ears and face looked on towards the town with a scowl on her face. "She knows she is, but she doesn't care. She believes she can beat us, Sophia."

"Well Irene," Noel spoke in a low voice as she stretched lightly, "Teresa has beaten all of us in the past when we challenged her for the number one spot and I hate to say it, but she beat me pretty easily. For once, I don't think we have a good chance of succeed as this is Bishou no Teresa we are talking about."

Irene refused to even nod at Noel's response even if it was the truth. She had never liked that Teresa had always defeated her every time she had thought she was better then her. But now she had to hunt her down and if it wasn't for the last individual in their group, she would have rather become a traitor then take on Teresa.

Turning back to the last member of the group, she motioned for her to step forward. "But we have a secret weapon this time... Do you know the plan, Priscilla?"

"Hai." The youngest of the four spoke as her hair gently waved in the wind.

Irene nodded before turning to the village, her eyes set dead on where she knew Teresa was. "Then let's end this... Teresa's life will be taken today."