Chapter 32 Guardian Stag
Naruto felt a little foolish, but he did as the Koi told him, placed the cantaloupe in his palm, and put his hand into the water.
This time, he did not let go of his hand, but let the cantaloupe lie steadily in the palm of his hand.
He guessed that the koi would swim over to eat—
Before he had time to think about it, the koi fish swam over suddenly and swallowed the cantaloupe in Naruto's hand in one gulp. It was so fast that the cantaloupe disappeared before Naruto could even react.
Naruto looked at the scene in amazement.
After the koi finished eating the cantaloupe, it swam quickly around Naruto's hand and playfully rubbed its head against Naruto's fingers.
Naruto couldn't help but laugh as he sat in the shallow water, wiggling his fingers and teasing the koi.
The koi fish were also having a lot of fun, chasing his fingers, shuttling between his wrists, chasing the water flow.
Because his movements were too large, the wound on his knuckles split open again and blood seeped into the water.
The koi stopped playing and watched the blood slowly spread in the water.
It swam towards Naruto cautiously, as if it was afraid of scaring him.
It swam all the way to Naruto's hand and gently placed its head against his hand, its fins touching the wound on Naruto's knuckles.
A surge of warm chakra came from the wound, and Naruto jumped in surprise, thinking something had happened until he saw a golden glow in the water.
The golden light slowly flowed through his wounds, penetrating into every corner like ointment.
After a while, the golden light disappeared, and Naruto's wounds healed, leaving only a few faint marks on his wrists.
When he looked up, the koi had disappeared, leaving only a stream of golden chakra flowing slowly on the water.
This happened five times in a row.
The second time was in the evening of the first day, when Naruto finally stopped to rest.
He had already dug out skeletons from the south side of the city, including ninjas from the Whirlpool Country and civilians, their bodies mixed in with the rubble, mud, and ashes of the enemies.
He guessed that the chakra that emerged from the bones might be the result of some kind of seal, a power to summon loved ones.
He placed the remains in a vacant lot, the only building site he found that had not been destroyed.
It should be a square, or something similar. The ground was paved with white slabs of stone. In the center of the slabs was a huge spiral pattern made up of dark gray stones.
The pattern was incomplete, but the white stone slabs on the ground were intact, without even a crack.
Every time he placed a skeleton on the square, some images would emerge in his mind, some memories that did not belong to him, letting him know the identities of these people in their previous lives.
A blacksmith, a Chunin teacher, an Anbu ninja, a shop owner...
He began to piece together what the city looked like before the attack:
A group of Genin practiced Ninjutsu on the water in the bay, and the residents on the shore waved at them;
A group of strange people in robes, neither ninja nor civilians, walked the streets;
The wood and glass building next to the waterfall deep in the valley was once a birdhouse;
The top floor of the collapsed tower across the river was once the office of the Kazekage;
This square was once the place where various ceremonies, festivals and funerals were held.
He sat on a small mound, overlooking the piles of bones in the square, trying to control his emotions, sadness, loss, pain...
These emotions surged into his heart like a tide, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
Because what he collected was not just cold corpses, he also saw every detail of these people's lives, their joys and sorrows, and their unfulfilled dreams.
He knew that if he didn't bottle up these memories, he would be overwhelmed by them.
He found that, except for the hands that were healed by the strange koi, there was no part of his body that didn't hurt. Even the corrosive power flowing in his blood seemed to have become dull.
He knew he needed rest, but he didn't know how to fall asleep peacefully amidst all these chaotic memories.
The memories of hundreds of dead souls swirled in his mind, making it difficult for him to breathe.
He took a deep breath and tried to control his despair, because what he saw was not only pain and sorrow, but also hope and light.
Perhaps, he could treasure these memories deep in his heart and let these departed souls live forever in his memory.
Maybe he could remember it all for them.
So he leaned against a broken wall, looking at the twinkling stars in the night sky, exiling those lost souls and his own thoughts into the boundless night sky.
Late at night, a sudden noise, accompanied by a slight rustling sound, suddenly woke Naruto who was lost in thought.
In the night sky, the stars are no longer tiny points of light, but have turned into rivers of light flowing across the sky.
He turned and blinked, placing a hand on the brick wall behind him in a fight or flight stance.
At first, all he could see was a vast forest.
Tall oaks, yews, and sporadic willows, with weeds growing between their branches. But as he blinked away the remaining starlight in his eyes, his vision gradually adapted to the darkness of the tree shades, and a figure gradually became clear.
A stag, of gigantic size, stood between two stout yew trees.
The antlers on its head had twelve branches and almost blended into the surrounding winding branches, making them difficult to recognize.
Naruto froze in place, remembering what Shikamaru once said: an enraged stag can be as dangerous as any beast, and can attack violently with its sharp antlers and powerful hooves.
However, the stag in front of him seemed calm.
It was almost motionless except for its cupped ears that trembled slightly with the sound of Naruto's footsteps.
The stag's eyes were a bright moss green, set against the charcoal gray fur, like two peridots, calm and wise.
The man and the deer stared at each other, Naruto's bright blue eyes reflecting the deer's soft green eyes.
Time seemed to stand still. Finally, the stag slowly lowered its huge head, antlers drooped, and walked out from the shade of the tree.
The starlight reflected off the antlers, shining brightly with a golden glow that bore a striking resemblance to the koi's golden armor.
Naruto felt like he was being scrutinized by the spirit of this forest, this creature, although it looked like a deer and behaved like a deer, was definitely not an ordinary deer.
