A Promise to Protect

"What?" He asked. He looked to see a large man standing before him. He was rather fit, with bulging muscles that showed he spent a lot of time working his body. He was bald and wore a black leather jacket and no shirt underneath to show his eight pack of abs. He also wore a pair of black ripped jeans. The man stared at Naruto, cracking his knuckles.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, making my girl cry like that?" The man growled out. Naruto stared at the Portia who looked at the man.

"Rex, come on. Leave him alone, he didn't do anything!" Portia said as she wiped away her tears. "I'm just a bit upset from having Illiana taken from me." Rex's gaze hardened when he turned back to Naruto.

"You had her bring up Illy! That's it, you're dead!" Rex picked up Naruto by the cloak collar and punched him, sending him flying through the air and crashing into a table. The table cracked in two and Naruto stood up, shaking his head to rid himself of the beer that got into his hair. Naruto stood back up, only to get punched in the face by Rex once more. Portia's eyes widened.

"REX STOP IT!" Rex turned to the blue haired girl and pulled his arm free from her grip as she tried to hold him back.

"This bastard made you cry by bringing up little Illy. I ain't gonna let that slide, Portia!" Rex said. Naruto got up and adjusted his cloak and he turned to Portia.

"So...who is Illiana?" Naruto asked. The members of the pub looked at the blonde.

"She's...She's my little sister. She was taken away two days ago, and I don't know what the hell they've done with her!" Portia sobbed. Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked at Kurama who nodded in return. Kurama got up as he just finished his last bottle of fire whiskey and left the pub. Naruto then got up and was about to walk past Rex, but the larger man held back Naruto.

"Oi, I ain't done with you yet, blondie." Rex growled as he went to punch Naruto once more, but Naruto simply raised his hand and caught the fist. The other occupants of the bar watched in awe as Naruto caught the larger man's fist as if it were a ball of paper. Naruto looked to Portia with a slightly softer look in his cold eyes.

"Where are they?" He asked. The pub members watched Portia as they all had confused looks.

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked.

"Where are the headquarters for Black Knight and the Devon Family?" Naruto asked as he kept his grip on Rex's fist sturdy, ignoring the fact that the man's bones were currently being crushed as Naruto slowly applied more pressure.

"I...I don't...I don't know." Portia said. However, a random waitress raised her hand. Said waitress was a woman with a large bust and wide hips with red hair and grey eyes.

"I...I know where they are. I was taken to their base when they tried to kidnap me, but I managed to escape." The red haired waitress said with a blush as she was suddenly feeling nervous at all the attention she was getting. She blushed a deeper crimson when she saw Naruto's beautiful, at least in her mind, cerulean blue eyes staring at her.

"And?"

"They are just five miles south of here. It's a large, black building. You can't miss it." The waitress said with a slightly dazed tone of voice as she continued to stare into Naruto's eyes. The Apocalypse Dragonslayer nodded.

"Thank you." Naruto said politely before turning to Rex and crashed his knee into the man's stomach before letting go of the man's fist and punching him in the face. Rex flew through the wall of the pub and lay in a pile of wood in pain. "Don't touch me again, or I will kill you." Naruto told Rex. Portia then stopped him and gave him a soft smile.

"Thank you." Naruto didn't reply as he watched Portia. If this woman lost her little sister, she'd no doubt lose her mind. Naruto nodded as an image of the Sky Dragonslayer smiling like she normally did entered his mind's eye. If something had happened to Wendy, he'd no doubt lose it as well. Family and nakama were something that Naruto treasured beyond belief. A quality that Zabuza had reminded him of having before he left. Naruto had made a promise to remain true to himself. He would teach those bastards at Black Knight a thing or two about why you never mess with a person's family...even if it wasn't his own.

"Mutual feelings of attachment can have you get like this?" Kurama asked as he spied the rage in Naruto's cerulean orbs. The blonde and the Exceed exited the pub, a crowd watching them leave the village. Naruto turned to Kurama.

"I promised Zabuza-sensei that I would remain who I was. These people...I can sympathize, as well as empathize with them. Having to leave Ayame nee-chan, Sakura, Ino, Shikamary, Chouji, Ji-chan...everyone, it actually led me to nearly having an emotional breakdown like when I learned of my true parentage. I felt the same way when I was forced to leave Wendy, but to a lesser degree since I did it within good reasoning on my part."

"And the people in Clover Town?"

"Those were Tou-san's orders, and besides...like I told him. I understood the fact that with me being his dragonslayer, if people found out, they might use them to get to me. I have been doing what I can to remain secretive in my status as Tou-san's Dragonslayer, but I am merely human. I will slip up one day, but when I do...I'll kill the one who finds out."

"So you're using your empathy as a way to try and give reasoning to the fact that you're about to slaughter an entire dark guild?"

"Not that alone, but Kurama...to have to leave someone is basically the same as losing them. You know as well as I do that I...I actually am very protective of those I keep close to me and when I left the others in Clover Town that is how I felt. I felt as if I were losing the people I cared about...my nakama. These people...they're more human than I am, and as such, they don't deserve to undergo what I have to go through and what I went through..." Naruto sighed. Planting his face into his palm, he mumbled, "Sometimes I hate being overcome by emotions that make me do these things despite my better judgement"

"Don't we all. Besides, those people in Clover Town made you how you are today, and at least you're not as bad as Acnologia. You'd be destroying everything...including all the bars and then I would have no fire whiskey to drink." Kurama said as he rested atop Naruto's head. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Just shut up, you dumbass fur ball." The crowd behind the duo watched them leave Tully Village in the direction of the Black Knight guild.

"What the hell does that crazy kid think he's doing?" A man asked.

"He must be mental if he thinks he can take on the Devon Theft Family AND the entirety of the Black Knight guild." A woman added.

"But he might be really strong. Did you see how he punched out Rex in one blow?"

"True, but that alone ain't gonna keep you alive against a Dark Guild. Not even a full squadron of Rune Knights was able to get past the guild's defenses!"

"Let's just pray that the boy gets to go to heaven when he's dead."

The members of the crowd continued to converse amongst themselves, spouting theories of doubt or praise towards the blonde mage. However, what they didn't know was that the mage that left them was no ordinary mage. This was Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and he is to NEVER to be underestimated.

.....

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