38 Chapter 38:- Special Chapter [VI]
You can consider this chapter to be chapter 38 or just part of the Special Chapter. This chapter will be a part of volume 2.
While Volume 2 will begin much later after this special event.
_____________
While the boys were talking about random topics, one by one the girls also began arriving. The first one to come was none other than Sakura.
"It seems everyone is already here." Noticing Naruto and others she said with a smile.
"Did I come late?" She asked.
"No, you came here just in time," Naruto said. It was that he and the boys came here too early.
"That's good to know." Sakura was carrying a dark pink bag pack.
"Look, Ino is here as well," Choji said seeing Ino running towards them.
Seeing Ino, Sakura silently took a few steps and stood next to Naruto. Although Naruto and the other boys failed to notice this, this was noticed by Ino who was running towards them.
Just like Sakura, she also had a big bag pack. It seems she had packed a ton of things as Sakura did.
"You're late, Ino-Pig!!!" Sakura taunted Ino.
"It's not that I am late, it's just that you came here too early. Don't tell me you were so excited about this trip that you came here early." Ino teased Sakura back.
Hearing Ino's words, Naruto and the boys also felt awkward. In fact, they came early because they were too excited for this trip.
Fortunately, Naruto saw Hanabi and Hinata coming. "Look....!!!" He was able to divert everyone's attention and prevent Sakura and Ino from starting another catfight. He certainly did not want a catfight between them on this trip.
Once Hanabi and Hinata arrived, Shika looked at Naruto and asked in a doubtful tone. "Is there anyone else? Or can we leave already?" Even the lazy Shika sounded excited and couldn't wait to start their trip.
"One more." As soon as Naruto said these words, he noticed his mom followed by Sarada coming towards them.
"Wait, mom?" Naruto and others couldn't believe it.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked Kushina in a mix of shock and surprise.
"Hehehe!!!! I was too lonely so I decided to tag along."
"But....!!!!"
Kushina quickly stopped him and continued. "Don't worry, I am just here to enjoy myself. I won't disturb you all. Besides, if I tag along in this journey, even if you all were attacked by anyone, I could protect you all."
Shika and others felt that Kushina's words did make sense. With an expert Jonin such as Kushina by their side in this journey, their safety was confirmed.
"Besides, it has been a long time since I left the village. I want to spend a few days in Crimson Leaf Village. Don't worry, I won't restrict you guys in any way. You're free to have fun." Kushina said in a cheerful tone. As for Sarada, she just nodded her head.
As for why Sarada and Kushina came together, it was because Sarada happened to meet Kushina on her way here.
"Alright let's leave." And like this, their trip to Crimson Leaf City began.
They had around 5 to 6 hours of daylight to reach Crimson Leaf City. Since other than Naruto, Kushina, and Hinata, the rest did not know how to walk on trees or walk on water, their speed of traveling was very slow. They were going to walk to the Crimson Leaf village. A normal shinobi would take less than an hour to travel the same distance by jumping from tree to tree. However, since the majority here did not even know how to climb a tree, traveling by jumping from one tree branch to another tree branch wasn't possible.
If Naruto wanted he could travel between the Hidden Leaf and the Crimson Leaf Village many times.
"By the way, Naruto, where is your bag?" Shika had noticed this for a while now. He has been curious about this.
"Oh.....about that. I just sealed my bag in a scroll. Whenever I need my bag, I just can summon my bag from the scroll. That way, I am not carrying my bag anymore."
Hearing this everyone finally understood why Sarada and Kushina were walking without any bags.
Naruto who was walking along Shika suddenly noticed that Ino, Sakura, Hinata, and Hanabi all were giving him pleading looks. Seeing this Kushina chuckled while Sarada just pushed the glasses. Sarada was walking along with Kushina.
Sigh!!!!
"Come here!!!! I will seal your bags in my scroll as well." In the end, Naruto had to seal everyone's bag in his scroll. Without their bag packs, the group's walking speed did certainly increase.
Fortunately, the group managed to reach the Crimson Leaf village before things completely became dark outside. They just barely made it. If they had been even 15 minutes late, then they would have needed to travel in the darkness.
On their journey, the group did not encounter any bandits or rogue Shinobi. The journey was peaceful. Everyone brought snacks and shared the snacks with each other.
The journey wasn't boring at all. Everyone enjoyed their time talking to each other. The girls mostly stick to themselves and the same could be said for the boys as well.
"Finally we made it." Everyone other than Naruto and Kushina was very exhausted from their long journey. This was the first time that they had traveled this far from the village. As for Naruto and Kushina, they were already used to it.
The Crimson Leaf Village was built in a crater. Legend has it that this crater was made by the nine-tailed fox. The whole village was surrounded by tall mountains and forests. The village was only 1/4 the total size of Konoha or maybe even smaller. The village was bustling with lights and activities.
While the local villagers were mostly farmers and artisans, the village was mostly used as a tourist place or as a stopping point before reaching Konoha. The Crimson Leaf Village wasn't under the jurisdiction of Konoha. But the village always has been a very close ally of Konoha. During times of war, the village has stood with Konoha and has provided its support with troops and by sharing some of its resources.
The Crimson Leaf village had its own system, its village leader, and its own Shinobi. The Shinobi of this village were experts at using Fire-style Jutsu.
'I wouldn't be surprised if this village was controlled by Danzo and the two advisors from the darkness.' Naruto thought to himself. This village did not exist in Naruto's old world. Instead, there was a much smaller village located in this surrounding area.
So this was also Naruto's first time visiting this village as well.
From what Naruto heard, this village had around 500 Shinobi among which only around 50 of them were Jonin or near Jonin rank. Most Shinobi of the village were Genin. The village has been controlled by one clan. It is usually the Patriarch of that clan that also ends up becoming the Village Leader.
The village had a population of around 30,000. During the first great ninja war, the Crimson Leaf Village was attacked by the enemy village and would have been nearly totally destroyed if Konoha hadn't helped the village.
"Since it's already dark outside, I suggest that we find a nice inn to spend the night," Naruto suggested. Everyone agreed with Naruto's suggestion since they were tired from their long journey. Now everyone wished to take a bath have dinner and then go to sleep as early as possible.
"I have known this village very well. I know a safe and secure inn. Come with me." Back in the day, Kushina always used to come to this village. As the host of the nine tails, she wasn't really allowed to leave the village that much. But Minato secretly used his Flying Thunder God jutsu to take Kushina out of the village and bring her to this village.
After Minato died, Kushina had come to this village a few other times. The inn that she was taking them to was also half-owned by her. Back in the day, this inn owner was on the brink of going bankrupt so Kushina brought half of the inn. The money that she poured allowed the inn to become one of the best inns in this village.
It took them another 20 minutes to reach the inn. Since at night time, the village streets became much more crowded. This slowed down their speed.
When Kushina entered, the manager who happened to be at the entrance recognized her even though it had been a few years since Kushina came here to stay. But Kushina signaled her to keep her mouth shut for now. Which the manager fortunately understood.
Kushina talked with the Manager in another room for a while. Kushina did not want the Manager to reveal her identity. When she and the managers returned, the female manager personally took Naruto and the rest of the boys to their room which was on the second floor.
"You girls come with me." The girls will be staying on the 3rd floor. Kushina wasn't going to stay with the girls. She had her personal room.
--------
Once again thank you for reading this chapter. I really appreciate all the power stones that you all have given to this novel. Your comments and your power stones do make a big difference.
I have uploaded the last of the special chapters on Patreon. If you are interested to know what will happen at the end of the special chapters or what will happen after, then you can head to my Patreon page.
Patrèon page - patreon.com/Salted_dragon
