Chapter 1: An Unexpected Awakening

"Talking"

'Thinking'

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-A Random Bed-

Naruto slowly forced his eyes open, dazed from everything as he found himself staring up at a ceiling through blurry vision. The blond tilted his head to the right, noticing the blurry shape of a girl around his age as he tried his best to focus, eventually sitting upright to try and rub his eyes.

"Where the hell am I...?" Naruto mumbled quietly to himself, rubbing his eyes and taking note of the girl's long, green hair as she soon turned around, whilst his vision regained its usual focus.

"Oh? You're finally awake..." The girl began to say, walking up in front of Naruto, her purple eyes coming into view for the blond, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Where... Am I...?" Naruto asked, looking around as his vision steadied, eventually leading the blond to realize that he was most likely in a tree house.

"This place is Gandharva Ville. It was once built by Sumeru's scholars to use as a resting post for their expeditions in the rainforest. Now it's used by the Forest Rangers as their primary base of operations," The girl explained as she, with a shaky hand, passed Naruto a glass of water. "My name is Collei, I'm a trainee forest ranger. My master found you passed out in the forest, so he brought you here and instructed me to tend to any wounds you may have."

"Oh, I... See... Thank you for the help..." Naruto replied, trying to figure out how he got here in the first place.

"Eh- N-No! I-It's nothing! I didn't really do anything..." Collei replied, clearly flustered as she waved her hands around, "How are you feeling now? Any discomfort?"

"Not quite... Just... This bitter taste in my mouth..." Naruto mumbled, barely being able to notice it due to him having been exposed to Sakura and Tsunade's medicines early on.

"Oh, hehe... Well, that's just Master Tighnari's medicine that you're tasting as of now... Considering the dosage he gave you... I'm surprised you're only now tasting it," Collei commented, "It may taste bitter, but I assure you, it works!"

"Makes sense, healing usually does come from bitter things..." Naruto stated, thinking back to all his experiences in his past, reminiscing for a moment as he did, "And so does learning... Somehow... It's always from the bitter mistakes that we learn the most, isn't it?"

"I... Agree...?" Collei replied, not expecting this to be part of the conversation as she thought about her past, "I... Apologies, I don't think I've yet to get your name..."

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto revealed, "I'm a shinobi from Konoha."

"Konoha...? Anyways, it's nice to meet you!" Collei cheered, still confused regarding the mentioning of Konoha, but not letting that get in the way of their conversation, "Umm... Anyways, Naruto... Master did say you should have more of the medicine when you woke up."

Naruto nodded, standing back up to stretch and walk around.

"Alright, I'll take a walk for a bit..." Naruto replied, causing Collei to shake her head in dismay.

"That's no good... How am I going to give you the medicine if you just run off...?" Collei asked, turning around to reach for the container, only to drop the container on the table and cause another bottle to fall, in turn causing herself to trip on the bottle, "Whoops... Woah!"

Catching the blond's attention near immediately, Naruto spun around, diving for the ground and catching Collei in his arms, before managing to save the container before it made impact with the ground.

'Eh...? I didn't hit the ground...' Collei thought to herself, slowly opening her eyes and looking up at Naruto, "I- Umm... Please... Please don't touch me..." She mumbled quietly. "Please... Please let go..."

"Don't worry, I'm not here to make you feel uncomfortable..." Naruto tried to assure as he stood up and placed her on her feet again, brushing off some of the dust on her hairpin.

"I said don't touch me!" She exclaimed, taking Naruto aback by her sudden outburst.

"I... Didn't...? I brushed some dust off of your hairpin..." Naruto mumbled, taking a few steps back and raising his hands after setting the container on the desk.

"I... I apologize... I... I didn't mean that..." Collei stammered, shaking her hands around to try and remedy the situation, "I... I'm sorry... I must've startled you there with my reaction..."

"I... Yeah... Kinda..." Naruto admitted, slowly stepping closer little by little, trying not to cause another outburst from her again. "I'll be sure to maintain my distance, just let me know what's on and off limits, alright?"

"Y-yeah... That sounds good..." Collei mumbled, looking at her own palms as Naruto picked up the container.

"Hmmm... How many spoonfuls of this stuff am I supposed to take?" Naruto asked, finding a spoon on the desk as well, "One? Or two?"

"Just one is good..." Collei explained, looking up and watching as Naruto picked up an overly large amount of the medicine. "Wait! That's too much!"

Before either of them were able to properly react, Collei found herself holding onto Naruto's wrist with a weak grip of her own, slowly moving his hand and the spoon in his back towards the container, before the green-haired trainee noticed what was going on, prompting her to let go immediately.

"Ah! I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean that..." Collei assured, herself confused as to why she had acted in such a manner. "Just... Please don't take too much... There... Well, as Master Tighnari says... The dose makes the poison..."

"Right then... I'll... Take this much?" Naruto asked, taking only two-thirds of the amount he originally had, his mind still racing through his thoughts. 'Her hand... For... Whatever reason, was scaly...? Was that why she didn't want me to touch her...?'

"Ummm... Let's see..." Collei murmured, looking at the spoon in Naruto's hand before nodding, "Yup, you've got it, that's the perfect amount."

"Alrighty then," Naruto replied, putting the container back down before placing the spoon in his mouth.

"Wait! You need to drink too!" Collei exclaimed, grabbing the cup of water from the table next to the bed, only to drop it onto the ground. "Oh... That's... Unlucky..."

'And here I thought it couldn't get any more bitter...' Naruto thought to himself, trying his best not to gag as he forced down the medicine in his mouth. "Yeesh... I... Well, if you don't mind... Could I go for a walk now...?" Naruto asked as he picked the cup back up and set it on the table.

"Well... If you'd like to... I suppose it wouldn't hurt... But I'll be following you!" Collei declared, grabbing her bow before going outside with Naruto.

"In that case... Would you mind showing me around?" Naruto asked, "It would be nice for me to have a guide... Or I might get lost..."

"That... That works for me, we'll just have to make sure we don't stray too far... Master should be back soon," Collei stated as she began to show Naruto around the settlement.

"I see... Why does everyone keep giving you strange faces?" Naruto asked, looking around with a slightly confused expression.

"Well, besides the fact you're here with me..." Collei began to say, "I've not actually been here for that long... So... You could say I'm something of an outsider, y'know?"

"I... Yeah... I understand..." Naruto assured, thinking back on his past, 'She's really got quite a few things in common with me... Huh?'

"Understand...? I... I don't follow..." Collei mumbled, continuing to walk along with Naruto as she eventually turned towards him, "Anyways... You haven't actually told me a lot... So... Would you like to share anything with me?"

"Hmm... Well, what would you like to know? I'll be happy to share..." Naruto assured, wanting to put an arm around her shoulder before remembering what Collei had said earlier about touching her.

"Well... How about, your family?" Collei asked, tilting her head slightly in her curiosity.

"Hmmm... Well, that's an easy one to start with. I have no siblings, and my parents passed before I was born... Well, my father, anyhow..." Naruto explained, "But, I do have someone, well, a few people, that I would consider a father to me!" Naruto declared, "Although... The... The one with the greatest impact died protecting everyone..."

"Oh... That... That's unfortunate..." Collei remarked, continuing to walk along with Naruto, "I wish I hadn't known my parents... Not for any bad intentions they had! Just... Just that I wished they didn't go too far for good intentions..."

"Good intentions? People can never-" Naruto began to say, before stopping in his tracks as he looked back at everything he had went through, from his encounters with Zabuza to his recent triumph over Pein, eventually backtracking on his statement. "Yeah... Many people do go too far for good intentions... I suppose the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions... If you don't mind me asking, what did your parents do?"

"I... Well... You won't... You won't judge me for it... Right?" Collei asked worriedly.

"No... Of course not..." Naruto assured, "I was always alone as a kid... And... Well, a few weeks ago... I felt more alone than ever... So, I don't really have the right to discriminate against anyone's familial problems..."

"Well... I was born sick... Very, very sick..." Collei began to explain, looking away for a moment, "My parents were desperate to have me healed, so... They handed me over to a supposed seer... Who then handed me over to a masked individual... If I remember correctly... 'Il Dottore'... That was what he went by... JHe worked for a certain organization."

"I see... Well... What happened next...?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I... I don't really feel comfortable talking about it..." Collei admitted as she looked down at the ground, "My apologies..."

"Don't worry... I can't really expect you to want to tell me about what you've experienced... Especially not after you having just met me..." He assured with a smile as he walked along with her.

"Hmm... Well, I did run away from the organization What was it called, ah, that's it. I ran away from the Fatui, before fleeing to Mondstadt, where the seer gave chase..." Collei explained, "But, with the help of my friend Amber, and a couple other kind people there... I was able to break off the Fatui's chains for good... And... Well, here I am!" She finished with a smile.

"Well... That's relieving to hear. Unironically, I was also chased around by an organization... They called themselves, the Akatsuki," Naruto explained, "They wanted to grab ahold of me for... Whatever reason..."

"Really? What did they want you for?" Collei asked, stopping in her tracks as they arrived by the riverbed.

"Heh, well, I suppose it's only right we both get to keep some things to ourselves, hmm?" Naruto joked as he stopped upon seeing her stop. "Any reason you're stopping here...? I don't mean to pry, I'm just rather curious..."

"My apologies... I was taking a look at those..." Collei explained as she pointed to several blue lotuses floating on the river's surface. "Master Tighnari always got them for me... And they always made me feel at ease, somehow... I believe he called them Nilotpala Lotuses. And while they may look blue on the outside, they're yellow once unraveled."

"I see... Well, you wanna go get one...? I can wait, don't worry..." Naruto assured with a smile.

"Unfortunately, Master Tighnari said I shouldn't try to go get any of them on my own..." Collei explained as she looked down at the ground. "I'm very sorry for stopping, we can continue now..."

"If that's the case, I'll go get a few for you," Naruto replied, not waiting for her response as he ran out into the river and poised himself over the lotus.

"W-wait! You can't take it like that! You need to extract it by the root, and only unravel it on land!" Collei exclaimed as she waved her arms around in surprise of what Naruto was doing, "If you don't... You might break the fruit!"

"Gotcha, so... Like this?" Naruto asked, lifting the lotus up by the root, holding it up for her to see, as a soft splashing noise could be heard from behind.

"Yep! You're doing great!" Collei exclaimed in excitement for once, almost unable to restrain her excitement before her facial expression immediately turned to nervousness. "N-Naruto! Behind you!" She yelled as she pointed behind him.

Naruto immediately turned around, coming face to face with a large, red-spined, crocodile-like animal crawled up behind him, opening it's mouth to bear it's large teeth.

"Gah! What the hell is that?!" Naruto asked in shock, jumping back to dodge a snapping-bite and dropping the Nilotpala Lotus back into the water by accident.

"That's a Spinocrocodile!" Collei explained as she rapidly pulled back on her bow's string, a green energy forming on the arrowhead. "Stand back! I'll try to ward it off!"

Collei closed one eye for a moment, as Naruto ducked down, allowing her to fire the dendro-infused arrow at the spinocrocodile, only for the beast to barely dodge it, as it turned its fangs back on the blond seconds after.

"I am allowed to fight back, right?" Naruto asked, dodging a tail-swing before grabbing the beast's jaws and prying it open. "At this point, it's going to run wild all around the place!"

"Of course you are, just don't hurt it too much!" Collei exclaimed, aiming an arrow but refraining from releasing it in fear that she might accidentally strike the blond. 'I do wonder how he's going to fight back... After all, from what I can tell... Naruto has no vision...'

"Perfect, I'll take care of it from here." Naruto assured, before letting go of the spinocrocodile's jaws and flickering away, appearing behind it soon after to deliver a spinning kick to the back of the beast's head, sending it flying into a tree, as a spiraling green energy began to form in the blond's left palm.

'I can't believe it... I feel the wind...' Collei thought to herself, lowering her bow as her hair began to dance along with the wind. 'Even without a vision... Naruto's managing to utilize Anemo?!'

Whilst Collei remained in her confused stupor, Naruto dashed forward, holding the now green sphere of spiraling energy in front of him before slamming it into the crocodile-like creature's exposed torso, unintentionally sending it flying far out of the forest, the ensuing shockwave from Naruto's rasengan causing the earth to shake slightly.

-Statue of Barbatos in front of the Cathedral, Mondstadt-

In the silent night above the city of freedom, a lone bard sat upon the hands of the statue of the Anemo archon, playing a somewhat silent tune on his harp, before stopping in his tracks soon after.

"Heh... I see... In the distance, far, far away... A foxbound outlander... One who had managed to catch the wind..." Venti commented.

The bard looked on into the distance for a moment, looking up at the stars for a few seconds soon after, before shaking his heads of his thoughts and continuing to play a song on his harp, one regarding journeys and their beginnings, before arriving at their eventual endings.

-Third Round Knockout, Liyue Harbour-

With the moonlight lightly shrouding the bustling harbour, a tall man with amber eyes and yellow pupils sipped from his cup of tea, putting it down soon after as he looked up from the cup.

"Hmm... Most fascinating..." Zhongli mumbled, "Wonder what this would lead to..."

Eventually, Zhongli would finish up with his cup of tea, placing the appropriate sum of Mora on the table before standing up and departing soon after.

-Grand Narukami Shrine, Inazuma-

Whilst the past few days involving the Vision Hunt Decree's passing had been exhausting, a certain pink-haired head-priestest would be relieved to find herself able to enjoy a few moments of respite, between her duties as Guuji and as the Head of Yae Publishing House, however brief they may be as she placed a bowl of Udon topped with fried tofu on the table. Whilst going through her noodles, Yae would suddenly look up and giggle to herself.

"Heh... Oh, I wonder how Ei is gonna react to this..." Yae giggled to herself, continuing to go through her ramen as she clutched the entry pass to the Shogun's palace in her free hand, "Although... Perhaps it'd be more interesting, should I say nothing..."

Yae nodded to herself, deciding to act in service to her own entertainment as she stored the entry pass back in her robes before going back to finish off what remained of her ramen.

-Sumeru, Naruto and Collei-

"Yeah... I... I might have went overboard..." Naruto mumbled to himself as he walked back towards Collei, unintentionally placing his hands on her shoulders despite her having told him not to do so earlier. "Are you alright? You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"N-no... I... I didn't..." Collei mumbled, not exactly stopping Naruto from touching her shoulders either. "I... How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Naruto asked back, slightly puzzled as he stepped back, "That flickering thing?"

"I... Well, as strange as it was to see it... I'm moreso curious as to how you used Anemo without a vision..." Collei mumbled as she looked down at her feet as Naruto jumped back into the river. "Also... Careful... That spinocrocodile looked rather agitated earlier... So... It's my best guess that something or someone had enraged it..."

"Ane- What? I don't really understand what you mean… And… Vision? I definitely have no clue what you're referring to that…" Naruto mumbled, before hearing what she had to say regarding the spinocrocodile. I see… I'll keep it in mind, and… Well… I missed out on getting you one of these earlier… I suppose you won't mind if I get you that one there, right?" Naruto asked, pointing at a Nilotpala Lotus upstream.

"I- N-no… I wouldn't…" Collei mumbled, blushing softly at the gesture as she watched Naruto walk up to the lotus, only for a steady set of footsteps to walk up behind them.

"Well… I wouldn't have expected our lab experiment to appear here… With a friend of yours too…" A voice stated as a cloaked figure appeared in-between Naruto and Collei, with a sharp bladed weapon attached to the glove on his hand. "You're coming with me. My master is none too pleased in regards to your dissapearance."

"I... Well, I... Wait, why am I considering this?! I'm never going back!" Collei exclaimed, drawing her bow and arrow immediately as a green light began to eminate from the arrowhead.

"Hmpf, so be it. Have it the hard way," The man stated as he sliced the dendro-infused arrow in half with his blade, "But you'll have to try much harder than that-"

The assailant was never allowed to finish, having been cut off by a quick kick by Naruto, sending him into the tree next to them whilst Naruto ran up next to Collei.

"Who is this? And why is he after you so badly?" Naruto asked, as the man slowly stood back up and vanished from sight again.

"From what I can tell, and based on what he said... He's a member of the Fatui! Most likely one that's higher-ranked than the common agent!" Collei explained as she and Naruto now looked around, "Be careful... From what I spotted too... He has one of those fake visions..."

"I... I'll have to ask more about this 'vision' thing when we get back..." Naruto commented, wanting to withdraw a kunai only to find his pouch missing. "Well that's just great... Hmmm... This guy controls fire, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, seems so..." Collei joked, pointing at the rotating blades of flame flying across the air, as she reached behind her back.

"Well... Let's deal with him first... Then we'll discuss this vision thing!" Naruto exclaimed, running forward towards the blades, dodging several of them over and over whilst failing to locate the Fatui member whilst the latter was in his cloaked shroud.

Before long, the blond received a massive blow to the cheek, the Fatui member's cloaked fist crashing hard against his cheek, sending him back a few steps and stunning him for a moment.

'Right... That one hurt...' Naruto thought, instinctively pulling his head back and gaining a small cut on his cheek, noticing that the blades began to spin in the air around him, 'And that one was the knife... I wonder...'

A split second after Naruto was cut on the cheek, the blond waited a few seconds, before launching his head forward and smashing it against the invisible enemy, causing the enemy to be forced out of his cloaking ability, allowing him and his weakness to be shown to the entire forest.

"Now!" Naruto exclaimed to himself, dashing forwards and launching a flurry of punches and kicks at the Fatui member, sending him flying up into the air from the impact of the blows, before a large boomerang would fly across the air and intercept the Fatui member, causing him to crash into the ground soon after.

"Phew... Thank the Archons... That worked..." Collei stated, wiping her brow as she caught the boomerang with both hands, taking a quick breather soon after as Naruto quickly ran up to her.

"Are you alright? You seem rather tired..." Naruto mumbled, brushing some of Collei's hair out of the way and causing the girl to blush slightly once again, "That was a good hit there..."

Unbeknownst to either of them, the Fatui member, despite his torn clothes and hood, seemed to still have some fight left in him, as he slowly approached Naruto and Collei, brandishing his knife as he did.

"Yeah... I... I am... Don't... Don't worry..." Collei assured, crouching down for a moment and catching a glimpse of the Fatui member behind Naruto, "Watch out!" She yelled, frantically drawing her bow and arrow once again.

Before the Fatui member could be allowed to plunge his blade into Naruto's back, a lone, greenish arrow would whistle through the air, digging deep into the assassin's back before breaking apart into five smaller arrows, all flying around widely before plunging deep into the Fatui member's back, causing him to collapse to the ground soon after.

"Huff... I... Thank... Master... Master's back..." Collei mumbeld, eventually collapsing from the stress of the situation.

"Wait! You okay?!" Naruto asked in shock, having not expecting such a turn to be taken in this situation, rushing forwards to try his best to break her fall, managing to barely catch Collei and hold her up in his arms, as a soft rustling could be heard in the distant bushes. "Who's there?!"

"Don't be so alarmed, I come with no ill intentions, quite the opposite, actually..." A young man stated, coming out of the bushes and revealing a forest ranger's uniform, with two large ears making themselves very apparent. "My name is Tighnari, thank you for looking after Collei... Let's return, shall we?"

Unsure of how to really react in the situation, Naruto nodded, following closely behind Tighnari whilst making sure to keep Collei comfortable in his arms.