Naruto: Cautious Ninja

A few moments of consideration later and Naruto knocked on the door.

He didn't have to wait long for a response. "I said it before and I'll say it again, I am not selling my land to you dogs! Fuck off!"

The reply from inside had Naruto recoil in shock. Well that was a pretty unpleasant welcome.

Staring at the entrance for a few more seconds and wondering what had this person's panties in such a twist, the blonde frowned and knocked again. This time though he wasn't just greeted by a voice but by the door itself flying open and a crossbow being shoved into his face. "Didn't you hear me? I said fu-huh?"

Naruto gave a yelp and stumbled back, freaking out at the sight of the loaded weapon. The swallow on his shoulders also chirped in surprise, ruffling her feathers to the point she looked like a ball of fluff.

The person brandishing the projectile piece peaked over the crosshairs to see a child staring back at her in shock. Blinking, the farmer lowered her crossbow. "A kid?"

Looking up at the owner of the cottage Naruto found himself staring at a slightly dirty yet pretty young lady around her twenties. Sporting a perfect figure, she wore tight jeans, a buttoned up red and white checkered top with her midriff exposed and a straw hat. Additionally she had long, dull green hair tied back into a ponytail, bright brown eyes, a beauty mark under her right eye and had a piece of straw stuck in her mouth. She looked quite spunky based solely on her appeal.

Upon looking the person standing in front of them over for a good minute, they both eased up, with the farmer removing the weapon completely out of her stance and letting it hang at her side. "Well this is a surprise. What's a brat like you doing all the way out here?"

Before he could answer Naruto's stomach gave a loud growl. He covered it with both hands and grinned sheepishly up at the woman, who raised an eyebrow at him. Taking that as his answer, she smiled at him and propped her crossbow against her shoulder.

"Hungry huh? Been living rough?"

"Sort of," the blonde shrugged. He would have liked to tell her about his situation back home, but that would have taken him hours and it was a conversation he really didn't feel like shedding light on. Getting straight to the point seemed like the better option. "I haven't eaten in three days."

"You're not the worst case I've had stumble in here but still, I'd be a bitch to just turn a little squirt like you away from my doorstep." The woman stepped aside and ushered him in. "Come on. I'll get yah something."

"Thanks a lot," Naruto chirped before striding into the home. The swallow sitting on his shoulder remained, feeling just as curious about this place as her human friend. She was a bit hungry too.

OOO

Warm relief flooded through Naruto the moment he finished the big bowl of stew that had been laid out in front of him by the nice lady who had invited him into her home. With a big, satisfied smile on his face, the blonde patted his sated stomach and breathed out a warm cloud of soup air, at the same time looking down to see his partner Swift eating her own fill of birdseed from a small saucer also provided by the farmer.

"It's been really quiet nowadays. Not many people come walking passed here anymore," the farmer exclaimed with a smile. "I guess maybe because I'm so out of the way as well that I don't get that many visitors."

It had been while they were eating Naruto'd learned that the kind woman's name was Hanare and that she was the sole owner of the farm he was currently at. She had been looking after this place ever since the old man who had taken her under his wing passed away and up until a few months ago the place had been bustling with life and was one of the most prosperous farms in the area.

That was… until…

"You're the first person who isn't one of those salesmen scumbags to come knocking on my door in, I'd say, about a month."

The blonde looked up at her curiously. "Really? That long, huh?"

Hanare nodded. "It sucks. Though I don't mind the peace and quiet, I had to sell off a lot of my animals just to pay the bills. I'm down to my last ones now."

"No wonder the farm looked so empty when I passed it," Naruto murmured while standing up. "What about your fields? Everything growing in them looks dead… like they haven't been watered in ages."

"The crops were what made this place so profitable to begin with," Hanare stated, glancing out her window with a perturbed look on her face. Naruto noticed her stare and how concerned it became. "Ever since Gato came in here and built that God-awful eyesore up the river, this land's value and living quality practically went down the toilet…"

"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head. "River? Eyesore? Who's Gato?"

"Man squirt, where the hell have you been these past several months? Living in a hole?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "I'm not from around here. The outside world is still abysmal to me."

"Well… if that's the case," Hanare began, checking her watch. Nodding her head she then opened one of the cupboards sitting above her kitchen sink and grabbed a pair of binoculars. She then motioned for the boy to follow her and soon the two of them were standing out on her front porch side by side. Holding the specs over her eyes, Hanare looked out to the massive gorge they could see in the distance before she held the device down to the blonde. "To the North. The mist's clearing up now so you can't miss it."

Naruto did as he was asked and raised the binoculars to his eyes. When he eventually spotted the 'eyesore' Hanare was talking about, his jaw almost hit the ground.

"What the hell is that?!" the blonde nearly shouted, leaning forward and blinking several times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He lowered the binoculars.

Even at this bloody distance he could still see the gargantuan structure as clear as day.

"It's massive!"

"Yeah," Hanare replied, folding her arms and leaning against the doorframe. "That monstrosity is called the Mugen River Dam… or better known as Gato's White Wall."

"Mugen River…" Naruto murmured.

"This river stretches across the entire continent. It's the largest canal in all of the shinobi nations," Hanare informed before her eyes narrowed tersely. "Well… it used to be. I'm sure you've at least heard of Gato Company. Its products and services are known worldwide. Ever since the boss came waltzing in here with his circus act and bought out every water and power station in the region, as well as every available estate up on that ridge, he then built that thing right next to the border. Now he's got a monopoly over the entire country."

Naruto's once puzzled and bewildered expression slowly transformed into a look of outrage as Hanare explained to him the situation. He glared out towards the colossus on the horizon; an enormous concrete structure stretching two kilometers with massive frames, cranes, towers, and the name Gato International stamped clean across its front where the water outlets sat. The problem with his initial analysis though; there was absolutely no water to speak of.

The massive river had been reduced to a small stream barely visible from where they were standing; a shadow of what he assumed it once was.

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