Siegfried whistled in appreciation. "The man sounds like a complete nut job, so why worry about him now? He's probably just an old man that got himself killed by this point."
Cao Cao shook his head. "He may be an old man, but he is still a smart old man. I don't like leaving loose ends, so it's best to keep our ears to the ground...especially if his words wasn't just a bunch of hot air."
Both men nodded, they didn't stay alive this long by being careless after all.
"Come now, we will strike when Uzumaki reveals himself, or when the yokai flush him out." Cao Cao stated with authority, before turning around and heading back to where the rest of the heroes remained.
The unknown warrior, who was staying silent the entire time, turned and gestured for the reluctant Georg to follow as well.
No one would disobey Cao Cao's orders. His word was absolute.
Naruto grunted as he slowly laid the little girl that he was carrying for what seemed like a life time, down onto a small blanket. Hopefully it would be more comfortable than the rock floor.
The shinobi has made a little camp inside the little cave that he found, going deeper inside it in order to make sure that his smell couldn't be detected.
The cold air made it pretty hard to breathe though...hell, maybe that could be used to keep the yokai from smelling him in here? He wasn't exactly the best guy to figure that shit out...
Naruto eventually shrugged, using his chakra to get his bags from the seal he place them in. He had food, water, some blankets...yeah, they'd be fine for a while.
He hoped the kid liked ramen.
Immediately after he finally got his bags out, the blond placed some twigs that he secured from some of the bushes that covered the entrance onto the ground. Using two rocks that he randomly grabbed near him to create a fire, smashing them together to cause friction and sparks.
Not too hard though, didn't want to break the stupid things!
After a few tries, he eventually sparked a fire in the little batch of twigs, a relatively small one. But they weren't exactly in high supply in a cave, so this would have to do.
With the small flame burning bright, Naruto finally relaxed, content that he did what he could to provide some semblance of comfort to the cold hard cave.
For the first time since earlier that day, the blond allowed himself to focus on things that weren't related to finding shelter and protecting a little girl. Whatever happened to Yuki and Maria for example?
The blond's face scrunched up in consternation, he hoped they were doing ok...
Blue eyes widened in elation as a new thought reached the forefront of his mind, of course! How could he forget!?
Naruto excitedly began to dig into his pockets, fishing for the new device that he recently received.
His cellphone!
The shinobi quickly fiddled with the phone, seeking to contact his friend, getting up from his spot on the ground so as not to disturb the unconscious girl laying on the floor.
Naruto waited with baited breath as the phone rang, listening intently for his friend's voice, hoping that he didn't contact her in a bad time-
"Naruto...? Is that you...?"
A sigh of relief blew past his lips before he could stop it.
She was ok.
On the other end of the line, the blond also heard his fellow human sigh in relief. Obviously glad to hear from him. "So I'm guessing that you managed to get out of that situation...good. Where are you right now, Naruto?"
"Ah...well, it took a while to shake our yokai stalker off, but for now I managed to find a little hidden cave to stay safe and hidden. I was gonna stake out in here for a while, then maybe sneak out a few hours before dawn and continue towards Kyoto." Naruto whispered, keeping his tone down so that he wouldn't disturb the kid.
"Alright, understood. That sounds like a pretty good plan, but we ourselves had a bit of a problem earlier today...to be blunt, I think that the humans we defeated before are hunting us. Specifically, the little kyuubi. We were attacked by someone who was probably affiliated with them." the hero responded, a slight urgency invading her voice.
The shinobi scowled. "Are you serious? Those bastards are hunting the kid? Damn...how did they find you exactly? I thought you managed to disassociate yourselves from me by making sure you weren't seen?"
Although he couldn't see it, he imagined his friend shrug in response. "Not sure how, but our enemies could have sensors among them, or they somehow saw us leave the train...which means that they could have seen you leave as well. That being said, if you're still getting hunted down by yokai, then it's likely that they are unintentionally helping you mask your energy signal and keeping you hidden from any sensors. As for the other theory...well, I hope you're well hidden."
Naruto clicked his teeth, they had no idea how they were being tracked. If that was the case, then he wasn't entirely sure how to continue from here.
"...I'll figure something out. Unless this place gets compromised later, I think that we will just hang out here for a while and wait. If the kid wakes up though...then maybe she could explain the situation to the yokai around here. But still, I'm not sure if I want to deal with a powerful and irate mother...how close are you to Kyoto?"
The hero hummed on the other line, seemingly thinking about the query. "I'd say...only a third of the way there. We made some distance between ourselves and the train, only stopping to deal with an armored warrior that attacked us during our trek."
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