#10

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A SAGE ADRIFT

#10

The next day, Davis Farm

It was the day after Naruto had been visited by the two people representing two-thirds of the mutant community, both with different intentions but the end result was the same for both of the factions. They both left empty-handed. Charles and Eric both desired to have Naruto on their side because their instincts told them that it would be very advantageous to have someone of Naruto's caliber on their respective teams but the same instincts also warned them about the sheer danger that Naruto posed to both of them, even with them being some of the strongest mutants the world had ever seen.

"Don't you worry dear? I have already sent dear Charles the bill for the roof repairs." Dorothy said as the entire farm staff had decided to do a Barbeque event for everyone. Dorothy had been all for it since, according to her, a community coming together after an adverse event always strengthens the community.

"Oh, yeah, Charles got the bill alright. A bill ten times more than what was necessary-" Richard said as he continued to grill the meat and then winked at him, "-for mental damages, you know."

"That is well deserved. Controlling someone against their will has to be some sort of violation of the natural order, even if their people are maligned wrongly most of the time." Dorothy continued while looking over some of the plans that they had drawn up for the building construction.

According to Richard and Dorothy, the existing staff building was feeling crowded to the current tenants and they didn't want them to move out into a bigger place off the farm so they had taken it upon themselves to build another building altogether. One with twice the space of the current building. Armed with the fat check they were going to get from Charles Xavier, who was pretty well off if the records in his mind were true, the Davis couple was going to significantly enhance the living standard of their workers, him included.

"Hey, where is Henry?" He could hear someone shout in the background as all the workers mingled near the firewood they had burned.

Somebody else shouted, informing everyone that Henry had taken the Missus and the kids to their grandparents for some reason and would not be back for another few days.

That was odd to him because the timing seemed very suspicious to him but there was no tangible way he could confirm if Henry was the one behind anything. Especially since he had met Henry and other than being slightly cold towards him, which was understandable since he was young and had no paperwork and was going to live in the same building as them, he had nothing that could indicate such.

He wished he had the Mind's Eye of Kagura or rather the version Karin had that allowed her to sense emotions. He did have something like that since Kurama was able to sense negative emotions targeting him or somebody else but that power left him the same time Kurama did.

He tried not to think too much about that though. He had enough problems on his plate as it was.

His top priority was engineering a ritual or magical process robust enough to create a portal to go back home. He was sure that even if the Time Stone and the Space Stone didn't allow him to create a portal to go out of the universe, just studying them would allow him to develop some variation of his own that could be helpful.

He held onto hope that it might be possible. He had to. Otherwise, he would have no motivation left to do anything.

In the meanwhile, as he gathered the resources necessary, he would go on helping people in his way. The Davis couple would only be the first batch of people that he would save in this universe. The village could be brought away from his but the title of Hokage would always remain with him and he was confident that with the thousands of years of history and expertise that Kamar Taj had with the Time Stone, he could find a way to go back to his home in a time period where it hadn't been long since he had left. 

That would be ideal but it remained to be seen if there existed any way to do that or if he would have to invent his own method for that.

"Naruto NARUTO!" He was snapped out of his thoughts by Dorothy as she held up a plate full of barbecued meat for him.

Smiling slightly, he took it from her, "Thank you."

…

..

It was a peaceful scene. Children could be seen frolicking around the site where the firewood had been set up and a small speaker was playing. Adults were sitting at the fireplace discussing or just plain lounging near the warm fireplace. Some of them were binging on the unlimited barbeque meat the Davis couple had sponsored for the evening. Some held beer bottles. Some made do with just coffee.

Naruto was staring at his coffee cup, deep in thought when he heard something. His enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the rough screech of tires that stopped right outside the gate of the property, right next to the Davis' home. He continued to listen to any more sounds that came from that direction to ascertain whether his ears were deceiving him or not.

He stood up in alarm once he heard the distinct sound of heavy boots hitting the ground followed by the unmistakable sound of guns clicking.

"Mrs.Davis?" He said as he looked at the people and calculated in his mind if there was any way he could get everybody present to safety before the hostiles outside broke down the gate and came inside.

His hackles rose once he also heard the sound of helicopter blades running in their direction. 

"Yes, dear?" He heard Dorothy answer but it was Richard who realised something was wrong.

Making a split-second decision, he decided to forego anonymity in favour of saving the people here. 

WIncing internally in pain as he allowed a torrent of dimensional energy to flood his chakra pathways, he looked towards the now silent crowd as they stared at the walking flashlight he must have looked like, "Run towards the Barn. We have intruders on the farm and they have heavy weaponry with them."

Whirling around to face Richard, he took a step back when he saw Richard flinch at his new appearance. In Richard's defense, Naruto was completely lit up like a Christmas tree and his face was now set in stone as he looked around the entirety of the farm, trying to find someplace where the people can hide.

Richard's eyes showed realisation as he said, "Where are they coming from?"

"They are at the front door, waiting for something. I don't know what they are doing but they also have a helicopter with them that has landed in the forest behind the meadows in front of the farm boundary."

Naruto kept his eyes in the direction of the house as he prepared himself for the incoming pain of trying to use his unhealed chakra pathways to try out a technique he knew but with dimensional energy as a substitute for chakra.

By the time Richard had finished taking out his gun that he apparently kept on his person at all times, all the people who worked on the farm had huddled on the other side of them. All the parents clutched their kids closer to them while the others pointed and whispered at his form. He could hear their words but chose to ignore the hurtful words since he knew that they didn't know better than the views that had been pushed into the general narrative by the people in power who don't want mutants to become commonplace or accepted by the general societal fabric.

"We can go to the old barn?" Dorothy suddenly suggested.

"How far is it?" He snapped his neck towards her even as he continued to saturate his entire body with dimensional energy in preparation for the technique he was about to cast. Richard and Dorothy both gave him concerned looks as the brightness with which he was glowing continued to increase.

"Maybe a mile this way," Richard said as he pointed to the forests behind him. The same forest where Dorothy had found him practicing his powers.

He nodded internally. That was a good place to hide, especially since the forest was dense which made it all the more harder for them to be spotted easily. He would know since he was pretty sure that, without his enhanced vision and senses, he would have easily lost himself in the forest.

"Very well, take everybody and go hide in the barn. I'll join you guys shortly." he nodded as he felt his body reach the limit of the dimensional energy it could keep inside it without it leaking out.

"Just come back safely," Was all Dorothy said before she herded everybody out of the clearing. Richard just nodded at him and left with Dorothy.

Just as they left, a ball of golden energy started forming from all the dimensional energy that was leaking out of Naruto's body. The process repeated for a dozen times before Naruto's chakra pathways urged him to stop.

'Even this is enough. At least, I hope it is,' Naruto thought to himself as he willed for all the balls to start spinning as fast as they could, creating a slight whine because of the air being displaced.

He had to make these ones count since he was sure that making more of those would just end up hurting him to the point that it could impede his normal physical movements.

His ears perked up as the helicopter that had landed finally started showing movement again but instead of taking the expected path, i.e. coming towards him, it left the property and went away.

He was initially confused but that went away instantly as he tried expanding his senses and felt the sheer amount of energy that was coming off the person who had just exited the helicopter. 

'This is bad. At this rate, I would not be able to save anybody else. Hell, even surviving myself might just become difficult. I have to do something otherwise everybody's lives would be in danger, even the kids,' Naruto thought to himself before jumping from the ground he was standing on, cratering it as he leaped miles away from his current position.

He could tell that they had noticed him because of the sudden activity he could see that was happening right out the door. The person left behind by the helicopter also picked up pace as if he could sense him coming for him.

His eyes narrowed in anger and distaste as he spied the logo that was proudly printed on all the armoured vans that had arrived. It said: Friends of Humanity.

Mid leap, his ears also picked up on the noise of trees falling down as the person, whoever he was, simply began running towards his direction.

After a couple of jumps, he must have finally entered their visions because he could sense multiple fast high high-powered bullets hitting the shield he had fashioned out of one of the orbs of rotating condensed dimensional energy.

He called them the Sorcery Truth Balls. A bastardised version of the Truth-Seeking Balls made with the Six Paths Chakra.

While these did not have the ability to instantly corrode anything that came into contact with them, they had similar properties in terms of their overall resilience and their ability to change shape according to his will.

He must have looked like an orange orb to them because there were almost a dozen orbs rotating around him at high speeds. The shield he had made soon compressed itself back into a ball once the hail of bullets stopped.

He landed roughly right on top of the gate of the Davis farm, completely crushing it under his feet and also cratering the road.

Wincing internally, he tried not to think about the amount of unpaid labour he would have to do to recoup those costs alone.

"I will only say this once. Leave." He said as he willed the orbs around him to shine and rotate, making way for a menacing figure.

Word Count - 2098

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