Chapter 7: The Mercenary's Reputation
POV: Kole
Two weeks after the scaffolding incident, Kole's "Peculiar Problem Solutions" had evolved from desperate gambit to minor legend. The business card—hand-drawn on recycled paper because professional printing was beyond his budget—had somehow found its way into the hands of people who needed problems solved in ways that conventional shinobi services couldn't provide.
The collapsed mine outside the village walls was his masterpiece so far.
"Twenty-seven miners trapped," the foreman had explained, wringing his cap between calloused hands. "Tunnel came down during the earthquake last week. We've been trying to dig them out, but every time we clear a section, more rock falls. The ninja said it would take weeks to stabilize properly, and we don't have weeks. Some of those boys have families..."
Kole had studied the geology, the stress patterns in the remaining stone, the delicate balance between speed and safety. Then he'd placed his hands against the collapsed entrance and begun the most complex transmutation of his life.
Structural alchemy wasn't just about moving matter—it was about understanding how stone wanted to flow, how pressure distributed through fractured granite, how to convince a mountain to hold itself up just long enough for desperate men to crawl toward daylight. The work had taken six hours and left him unconscious for two days, but when he woke, twenty-seven miners were breathing free air and buying drinks for the "crazy civilian who talks to rocks."
Today's job was smaller in scope but no less satisfying. Merchant Satoshi's cart had snapped an axle three miles outside Konoha's gates, leaving him stranded with a load of pottery that needed to reach the market before the festival crowds dispersed. The replacement part would take days to acquire and install through normal channels.
Kole fixed it in thirty seconds.
"Incredible," Satoshi breathed, running weathered fingers along the repaired axle. The wood grain flowed seamlessly where Kole had convinced broken timber to remember its original strength. "It's stronger than new. How do you—?"
"Trade secret," Kole said with a grin. "But I'll take the payment in recommendations rather than ryō, if you don't mind. Word of mouth is worth more than coin right now."
"Absolutely! My cousin runs the grain merchant association, and my brother-in-law works road maintenance. They'll want to hear about this."
Good. Each satisfied customer was another thread in the web of reputation Kole was carefully weaving. Not strong enough to draw serious attention from the major players, but solid enough to establish him as someone who could be relied upon when conventional solutions failed.
The return journey to Konoha should have been peaceful. The road was well-patrolled, merchant traffic flowed freely, and the afternoon sun painted everything in warm golden light. Kole walked beside the repaired cart, listening to Satoshi's stories about market politics and festival preparations, feeling almost normal for the first time since his arrival in this world.
That's when the bandits struck.
They emerged from the roadside brush with the coordinated precision of trained fighters—three men in dark clothing, faces hidden behind cloth masks, weapons gleaming in the afternoon light. Former shinobi, if Kole's assessment was correct. Their movements carried the fluid grace that only came from chakra-enhanced muscles, and the way they positioned themselves showed tactical awareness beyond civilian capability.
"Just the cargo," the leader called out, voice muffled behind his mask. "Nobody has to get hurt."
Satoshi's hands tightened on his cart's traces, knuckles white with fear and frustration. "Please, that's everything I have. My family depends on—"
"Your family depends on you staying alive," the bandit interrupted. "Smart people don't argue with superior numbers."
Superior numbers, maybe. But superior capability?
Kole stepped forward, placing himself between the bandits and the merchant. "Walk away. There's nothing here worth dying for."
The leader laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "Civilian thinks he's a hero. How inspiring." Chakra flared around his legs, enhancing speed and strength to superhuman levels. "Let me show you the difference between dreams and reality."
He moved like lightning, covering twenty feet in the space of a heartbeat. The kunai in his hand traced a silver arc toward Kole's throat, fast enough to end the fight before it truly began.
Time stuttered.
Not a full stop—Kole's control wasn't that precise yet—but a hiccup in causality that stretched 0.8 seconds into subjective hours. The bandit's attack became visible, predictable, almost laughably slow from Kole's accelerated perspective.
He sidestepped the strike, grabbed a handful of roadside dirt, and slammed his other palm against the ground. Transmutation blazed through the earth beneath the bandits' feet, solid stone becoming sucking mud in an instant.
Time resumed normal flow.
The bandit's momentum carried him face-first into newly-created quicksand. His teammates stumbled as their footing vanished, cursing as they fought to maintain balance in the unexpected swamp.
"What the hell—?" one of them started.
Kole didn't give them time to adapt. Another transmutation sent stone spears erupting from solid ground, not aimed to kill but to divide and disorient. The bandits scattered, their coordination broken by terrain that had turned actively hostile.
The leader extracted himself from the mud pit, fury radiating from every line of his body. "You're dead, freak!"
He launched himself forward again, this time with chakra-enhanced strength that could have pulverized stone. But Kole was ready. He caught the bandit's wrist mid-strike, used the man's own momentum to redirect him into a newly-formed stone pillar, then transmuted the pillar's surface to capture and hold his opponent's arm.
The other two bandits exchanged glances, fear replacing arrogance in their postures. "He's some kind of earth-release specialist," one whispered.
"No chakra signature," the other replied, voice tight with confusion. "How is he doing this?"
Good question. Kole was wondering the same thing. The alchemy came easier now, more intuitive, like his body was finally catching up to his understanding. But the physics were still impossible by this world's standards. Matter transmutation without chakra should have been as likely as flying without wings.
"Last chance," he called out, breathing hard from the exertion. "Walk away."
The trapped leader snarled something unprintable, but his teammates were already backing toward the treeline. Whatever bounty they'd hoped to claim wasn't worth facing an opponent who could reshape reality with his bare hands.
"This isn't over," the leader spat as his companions freed him from the stone pillar. "We know your face now, civilian. We'll be watching."
They vanished into the forest, leaving behind only disturbed earth and the lingering scent of fear-sweat. Kole stood in the middle of the road, fists clenched, adrenaline still singing in his veins.
I won. The thought came with a mixture of elation and terror. I actually won a fight against trained shinobi.
"That was incredible!" Satoshi emerged from behind his cart, eyes wide with awe and gratitude. "I've never seen anything like that! Are you some kind of secret ninja? Undercover ANBU?"
"Just a guy with unusual skills," Kole deflected. "And lucky timing."
Very lucky. If they'd been chunin-level instead of barely-trained criminals, if they'd fought smarter instead of relying on intimidation, if they'd brought backup...
But they hadn't. For once, the universe had handed him a fight he could actually win.
"We should get back to the village," he said, scanning the treeline for signs of renewed threat. "Tell the gate guards what happened. They'll want to investigate."
The rest of the journey passed without incident, but Kole couldn't shake the feeling of eyes watching from the shadows. He'd made his first real enemies today. People who knew his face, who'd remember what he could do, who might come back with friends and better tactics.
Welcome to the big leagues, amateur.
Ichiraku Ramen was busier than usual, filled with the dinner crowd of off-duty ninja and hungry civilians. The familiar scent of pork broth and soy sauce wrapped around Kole like a comfort blanket as he claimed a stool at the counter, nodding to Teuchi with the easy familiarity of a regular customer.
"The usual?" the old chef asked.
"Make it two bowls. I'm starving."
Combat, it turned out, was excellent exercise. Kole's body was finally catching up to the demands he'd been placing on it, muscles adapting to the strain of advanced alchemy and impossible physics. He was still fundamentally human, still limited by biology and chemistry, but those limits were expanding in ways that would have been impossible in his old world.
"Kole! Hey, Kole!"
The voice made him turn, noodles still hanging from his chopsticks. Naruto bounced through the evening crowd with his usual infectious energy, orange jumpsuit bright as a traffic cone in the ramen stall's warm light.
"I heard you fought missing-nin today!" Naruto continued, claiming the stool beside him without invitation. "Satoshi-san was telling everyone at the gate. Said you made the ground eat them or something!"
Of course he was. Word traveled fast in a village full of professional information gatherers. By tomorrow, half of Konoha would know about the "civilian who fought bandits with weird earth techniques."
"It wasn't that dramatic," Kole said mildly. "Just caught them off guard."
"Don't be modest! You took on three missing-nin by yourself! That's awesome!" Naruto's grin could have powered the village's electrical grid. "You know what this means, right?"
"That I need to be more careful about the jobs I take?"
"It means you're like me!" Naruto declared with the absolute certainty of youth. "No special bloodline, no fancy clan techniques, but strong anyway! You're proof that anyone can be powerful if they try hard enough!"
Kole nearly choked on his ramen. If only he knew. Naruto's comparison was both flattering and terrifying—flattering because Naruto was one of the most genuinely heroic people in this world, terrifying because being compared to the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox was exactly the kind of attention he didn't need.
"I'm not that strong," he protested.
"Are you kidding? You fought ninja! With earth jutsu! Without any chakra!" Naruto paused, confusion creeping into his expression. "Wait, how do you do jutsu without chakra? Is that even possible?"
Excellent question. I'll let you know when I figure it out.
"Trade secret," Kole said instead.
"That's what everyone says when they don't want to explain the cool stuff," Naruto grumbled. But his annoyance lasted exactly three seconds before enthusiasm reasserted itself. "Doesn't matter! What matters is that you're awesome, and awesome people should stick together!"
Before Kole could process what was happening, Naruto had grabbed his hand in both of his own, blue eyes blazing with determination.
"From now on, you're my big brother!" he announced to the entire ramen stall. "Anyone who can fight ninja and save people is family! Teuchi-jiji, another bowl for my new big brother!"
"Naruto, you can't just—" Kole started.
"Too late! It's decided!" Naruto's grin was absolutely radiant. "Big brothers look out for each other, right? So if you need help with anything—anything at all—you just ask! That's what family does!"
"Family."
The word hit Kole like a physical blow. In his old life, family had been distant relatives and awkward holidays, people connected by genetics but not genuine affection. In this new existence, he'd been alone—an orphan with no connections, no one who cared whether he lived or died.
And now Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage and savior of the world, was calling him brother.
"I..." Kole's throat felt tight, emotions threatening to overwhelm his carefully maintained composure. "You don't even know me that well."
"So what? I know you're a good person. You save people, you work hard, and you don't give up when things get tough. That's enough for me!"
"This terrifies me."
Having family meant having people to lose. It meant caring about someone whose fate he knew too well, whose future battles would make today's bandit encounter look like a playground scuffle. Naruto was going to face gods and monsters, was going to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Kole would be helpless to protect him from any of it.
But looking at that infectious grin, at the absolute sincerity in blue eyes that had seen too much pain and chosen hope anyway, Kole found himself nodding.
"Okay," he said quietly. "Big brother it is."
"Yes!" Naruto pumped his fist in triumph. "This is going to be awesome! We can train together, and eat ramen together, and I can introduce you to everyone, and—"
"Naruto," Teuchi interrupted gently, setting bowls in front of both of them. "Let the man eat before you plan his entire social calendar."
"Right! Sorry! But this is great, isn't it, Kole? You've got family now!"
"Yeah," Kole thought as he picked up his chopsticks. "I've got family now."
The terrifying, wonderful truth of it settled over him like a blanket. For better or worse, he was no longer just an observer in this world. He was part of it, connected to it through bonds that would either save him or destroy him.
Probably both.
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