Chapter 3: Flight into the Unknown
"WEEE!"
The girls' joyful cries echoed through the open sky, their voices muffled slightly by the rushing wind.
Everything below blurred—mountains, rivers, towns—flashing past in a matter of seconds. Yet they felt no fear. Wrapped securely in Naruto's chakra, they were protected from the sheer force and heat of moving faster than sound—much faster.
Naruto flew with calm focus, the wings on his back forged through transformation jutsu, their movements controlled and powerful. They shimmered faintly under the moonlight, each flap more symbolic than necessary, given the speed he was moving at: Mach 100.
The Empire was behind them now. Ahead lay unknown lands—the neighboring Kingdom, supposedly at odds with the one they had fled. It made for a natural place to start fresh.
Within seconds, Naruto slowed and descended toward a vast stretch of woodland bathed in silver moonlight. He landed softly on the outskirts of the dense forest, where towering trees formed a living wall. As his feet touched the earth, the chakra-formed wings dissipated in a quiet shimmer.
It's been so long since I used that technique seriously, he thought, breathing out. I don't know why I never thought to fly like this before. I could've ended that Akatsuki guy mid-air without a trace…
Arche landed beside him, holding her sisters' hands tightly. Her expression was skeptical, her instincts on high alert. The darkness pressed in around them, and her magic-created glow was the only thing keeping the shadows at bay.
"This is the Great Forest of Tob," she said warily. "Why are we stopping here? This region is infested with high-tier monsters. It's dangerous."
Naruto gave her a small smile, his eyes glowing faintly with chakra-infused sight. "Not for me. Here, I have the advantage. The beasts won't come near—not once they sense me. This place is perfect. Remote, wild, and untouched. No one will find us."
He lifted his hand, and several shadow clones formed in a burst of chakra. They dashed into the trees and immediately began construction. Wood creaked and twisted as they used a lesser form of Mokuton, the Wood Release technique.
He wasn't a natural bloodline user—it took immense concentration and careful chakra blending to form even simple wooden structures—but he made up for it with sheer numbers and skill.
Arche watched, still holding her sisters close. The girls clung to her robe, frightened by the deep woods and the dim light. Even their earlier joy had faded into unease. The towering trees loomed like silent giants.
Just five minutes later, the clones dispelled, and a modest cottage stood among the roots—simple, but solid. Warm golden light flickered from inside.
"Let's go in," Naruto said gently.
They stepped inside the cottage. A warm glow filled the room—not from a fire, but from rune-inscribed seals embedded along the walls. Arche didn't recognize them but these were Basic fuinjutsu light seals… stable, low-cost, and long-lasting.
She turned to Naruto with a raised brow. "You made these?"
Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Jiraiya taught me ages ago. Never thought I'd use them like this, but... guess the old man came in handy after all."
He knelt to help the girls remove their coats, his movements gentle. For the first time in a long while, Arche felt something unfamiliar settle into her chest.
Security.
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"Are you not going to sleep?" Naruto asked softly, his voice breaking the quiet hum of the night.
He stood at the edge of the room, watching Arche seated beside her sisters, who had long drifted into peaceful slumber. The dim fuinjutsu lights cast a soft glow across her features as she looked up from the book resting on her lap.
"I don't feel like it," she said, her voice calm but distant. "I need time to adjust to everything that's happened."
Naruto nodded, taking a slow breath. "You don't trust me… That's why you can't sleep. I understand."
He offered a faint smile, tinged with melancholy. "Still… I hope someday, you'll come to see me as a friend. Because I already see you as one."
His words caught Arche off guard.
That tone—quiet, almost too calm—carried something she hadn't expected from him. Loneliness.
It wasn't loud or desperate, but it lingered like a silent echo, and it reminded her painfully of her own past… of friends lost, of debts unpaid, and the heavy weight of survival.
She closed the book and set it aside. "I'll try," she said at last, gently. "To come to terms with this. And… don't apologize. I'm kind of grateful, really. You've done a lot."
Naruto gave her a sincere look and bowed his head slightly. "Thank you for accepting my faults."
He stepped away from his bed, stretching lightly as he approached the door. "I'll be heading out for a bit. I can't sleep either. But don't worry—there are clones stationed outside, and a barrier around the cottage. You're safe."
Arche hesitated, then spoke with an unexpected softness in her voice.
"Be careful. And… come back before dawn. The twins will worry if they don't see you when they wake."
Naruto paused, hand resting on the doorframe.
"I will. And you should try sleeping too. Lack of rest isn't good for your body or mind."
With a final glance toward her and the sleeping girls, he stepped outside, closing the door quietly behind him.
The cottage returned to silence, save for the soft breathing of the twins.
Arche sat there in the stillness, eyes lingering on the door. She hadn't known him long, and yet… something about him felt oddly reassuring. Strange, for someone who could move faster than sound and bend the world with ease.
He called me a friend...
She let that thought sit in her chest, unfamiliar but not unwelcome, as she leaned back in her chair, eyes slowly growing heavier.
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Naruto strolled beneath the moonlit canopy of the Great Forest of Tob, his feet padding soundlessly across the forest floor as if the leaves themselves had agreed not to make a fuss about it. The trees, tall and tangled like wise old men with bushy eyebrows, rustled politely as he passed by, almost whispering secrets to one another.
"This place is truly beautiful," Naruto murmured aloud, glancing up at the crisscross of branches above him. "Even if it's a bit behind in technology. I mean, they don't even have instant ramen machines."
He chuckled softly to himself.
Still, he had to admit, the architecture of this world had a charm of its own—grander, older, and far less concrete than what he was used to. Not to mention, people here didn't look at him with those half-hidden frowns or the kind of polite smile that always had a "monster" hiding just behind it.
Then again...
"The people are worse in some ways," he muttered, frowning now as his hands slid into the sleeves of his cloak. "Slavery. Can you believe it? Real, actual, chain-you-up slavery like it's some medieval fantasy... Which, I guess, this place sort of is."
He paused beside a mushroom the size of a table lamp, examining it with mild curiosity before sighing.
"Back home, sure, there were terrible people doing terrible things. But at least nobody was openly selling kids at the market like a farmer's egg cart." His voice held that slightly disbelieving tone, as if hoping the forest itself might disagree with him and say, "Oh, it's just a phase, don't mind the humans."
But no such reply came, only the gentle hooting of a distant owl who sounded far too judgmental for his own good.
Still, despite the occasional monstrosity (and there were a few, he'd discovered), Naruto found himself oddly at ease in this world. Not relaxed, perhaps, but lighter. There were no stares here. No whispers. No villagers clutching their children a little tighter just because he walked by.
"I miss my friends," he admitted with a small sigh, "but I don't miss feeling like I was chasing their approval."
The words floated into the darkness around him, joining the cool night air like breath into fog.
"Seriously… I fought, I bled, I almost died—for them," he said with a little scoff, as if remembering a joke that stopped being funny. "And only then did they decide I was worthy of being treated like a person. Not a monster. Not a demon brat. Just… Naruto."
He gave a low, sarcastic laugh.
"Hilarious, isn't it? I was trying to make up for something I didn't even do. Like I was repenting for the crime of existing. For being born the wrong way. You'd think being nearly murdered a few dozen times would've bought me a bit of goodwill."
Naruto's fingers brushed the bark of a tree, feeling the pulse of life within it. His sage mode painted the forest in colors and sensations he didn't have words for—like music made of wind and heartbeat.
"I wonder what Sasuke's doing…" he said aloud after a pause. "Still brooding in the shadows? Maybe he'll die this time. I doubt it though. That guy's like a cockroach dipped in edge."
The owl hooted again, this time sounding slightly amused.
"And that thing, the one who preaches about humanity's goodness—what a delusional idiot," Naruto mused. "If he didn't have power, they'd eat him alive the moment an enemy asked nicely."
He snorted. "No amount of friendship speeches can change what people are. Not really."
Naruto stopped walking as a curious scent floated through the air. Something wild, strong, and far older than the little animals that skittered beneath the bushes. His gaze shifted toward the source—something big, no doubt. But he wasn't alarmed. Just... intrigued.
As his feet resumed their quiet path, his thoughts took a softer turn.
"Mother said to find love… and give her a lot of grandchildren."
He smiled faintly.
"But what is love, really?" he asked the night, a little awkwardly.
"Not the kind in books. Not the one where a princess falls for a prince just because he's got good hair and a sword. Real love. The kind that makes you feel like you belong without needing to prove it."
Naruto tilted his head thoughtfully, tapping his chin.
"How do I even know if I love someone? What does it feel like? Do your guts flip? Do you hear bells? Or is it more like… coming home?"
The forest, of course, didn't answer. But it seemed to hush a little, as if listening very intently.
"Well," Naruto said, finally cracking a grin. "I guess I'll find out. Sooner or later."
With sage mode tingling through his senses and thoughts bouncing like rubber balls between deep questions and silly memories, Naruto moved deeper into the woods—toward the strongest presence he could feel. Whether beast, guardian, or cranky squirrel king, he didn't know.
But he was Naruto Uzumaki.
And life, after all, was just one big, strange adventure.