Sagi narrowed his eyes at the blond, but Naruto had already turned around at that point, no longer interested in speaking with the man. With a minor huff, the Daimyo turned to his guards and began giving them their orders. "Proceed."
"Yes, Sagi-sama!"
As the jiao pulled away, Chishimo stood there, looking between his retreating friend, and the blond that had walked off and was now standing near one of the corpses with an expression of interest on his face. After a moment or two of indecision, the Paige walked over to Naruto, stopping just a few feet shy of the bloody corpse.
"Naruto-san," Chishimo called out, getting the blonde's attention to turn from the corpse to him. "Please find it in your heart to forgive Sagi-sama for his words," the man begged, causing the young ninja he was talking to, to raise an eyebrow.
"And why should I do that?"
"Sagi never used to act like this before," the older male defended his friend. Naruto wondered if he was even aware that he had not used the 'sama' suffix when speaking Sagi's name. "But then his father and sister died one after the other. It was then his heart grew cold, I understand why he acts the way he does."
Closing his eyes, Naruto released a sigh. "Whether that is the case or not, it still doesn't give him the right to treat you like that," he said, surprising Chishimo. "I know a lot of people who have suffered just like your friend, people who have lost loved ones and are now forced to rely on themselves."
Finally, Naruto looked up at Chishimo with a hard glint in his eyes. "Your friend is walking a dangerous path right now. I've seen people like him, people who have become embittered by their loss. If he's not careful, he may just wind up losing himself to darkness." That look he had seen in Sagi's eyes just before snapping at Chishimo, Naruto had seen that look plenty of times in Sasuke to recognize those eyes.
The eyes of an avenger.
"Sagi isn't like that!" Chishimo defended his friend fervently, his voice passionate and slightly angry. "I know that the kind hearted Sagi I once knew is still in there. I know he'll come back, he just needs time."
Naruto didn't respond to the younger man's defense of his friend. He had too much experience with people like Sagi to truly believe that the Daimyo could change back with something as simple as time. But then, his own experiences with avengers was jaded, so perhaps he was wrong and Chishimo's friend would eventually go back to the way he had been before losing his family. Everyone was different after all.
A glint of steel flashed out of the corner of his eyes, breaking Naruto from his thoughts and making him turn to look at whatever had caught his attention. It was a small shuriken, one of the ones that had been thrown by those assassins. Walking over to it, Naruto knelt down and picked the projectile up so he could study it.
The shuriken was much different than the ones he used. For one, his had six sides to it, while this one only had three. Another thing Naruto noticed about the shuriken was its shape, the blades were diamond shaped, and were attached to a circle in the center. Looking at it more closely, Naruto could see that if he connected the three blades with a line, the general shape of the entire shuriken would be that of a triangle. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. Way different than anything he had ever used.
"Have you found something?" asked Chishimo, who had been watching Naruto curiously as he moved to pick up the shuriken. Looking over the younger male's shoulders, the Paige got a good look at what Naruto held in his hands and promptly gasped in surprise.
Naruto looked at the man curiously, frowning as he saw Chishimo staring at the shuriken in shock. "Is this weapon familiar to you?" he asked, taking a wild guess. His guess was proven correct when Chishimo nodded.
"Yes," the man admitted, still sounding shell shocked at seeing the weapon that had been used to try and kill his friend. "There are no ninja in the land of birds, but some of the guardsmen are receiving special training."
"I see," Naruto murmured softly, his gaze moving back towards the shuriken. After studying the weapon some more, and memorizing it's details, he turned his head to look back at Chishimo. "And who commands the guardsmen?"
"They are under the command of the..." Chishimo's eyes widened as he trailed off for all of one second. "All of them answer to the tactician, Kōmei-sama!"
"Kōmei, huh?" Naruto looked back down at the projectile, turning it over in his hands with a thoughtful look on his face.
'Naruto...'
'I know,' Naruto responded to the Kyuubi's voice, already knowing where she was going. 'It looks like things are about to get a little more exciting, ne?'
The vixen within his gut stifled a snicker, for once she and her host were on the exact same page. 'I agree.'
"Well," Naruto said out loud, catching the attention of Chishimo. A smile worked its way onto the blonde's face as he turned to look at the slightly naïve older man. "It looks like I'm going to be working late tonight."
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