••••
Ever since I was a little boy I knew that I was destined for something great, I knew that my story didn't end the day that I lost my parents or the day that I was abandoned by my so called family. If so I would have given up the day I got thrown out of my parents home, but something kept pushing me, something kept me going, and it was that same something that kept me alive during the harshest days of my life
What is this something?, I do not know. That's why I've dedicated my life to finding out what it is, which Is why I have decided to embark on a journey. Dr Whitman a renounced archeologist is planning to find yamatai. He is in need of a crew and I have been chosen on this journey, to find out what my something..
...Really is.
•••
(Ship Docks)
An elderly man dragged a huge chest across the ramp connecting to the ship. He was struggling as his old bones didn't have the strength to pull such heavy loads. He was about to give up when he saw a young man standing a short distance away from him causing him to sigh in relief.
"Hey Blondie!" The old man called out to a blonde hair kid staring off into space as he struggled with pulling a luggage "stop staring off into space and come help me lift this load"
"I'll be right there gramps"
soon I will find my something...
"Stop doing that!" the old man shouted again as he struggled to pull the load on deck.
"Sorry gramps..." Blondie apologized before walking over to help the old man lift the load.
"...here, let me help you"
"You're too young to be staring off into space" the old man scolded as they lifted the loads onto the ship.
"And you're too old to be seeking out an adventure" the blonde chuckled. They finally made it onboard of the ship where the rest of the crew were preparing for the journey ahead.
"I'm not!" the old man stubbornly denied causing the blonde to snicker.
"Somebody should call a nursery home, and let them know they forgot one!" his words got everyone on deck laughing.
"I'm just saying..." the old man grunted as they approached their destination.
"...won't want you catching the croft-fever"
"What's that supposed to mean!?" a voice shouted dumbstruck erupting another round of laughter.
Thud
The cargo was dropped heavily onto the deck, that it was a surprise that the wooden didn't crack or shatter.
*pant*pant*pant*
The old man leaned on the load for support only for the blonde kid to smirk at him but he ignored it.
"By the way*pant*what's your name kid?" he asked. For awhile now he had been curious since the kid had shown up out of the blue asking to tag along, something about finding a spark or whatever that bull is, he would have turned him down had he not been the same so many years ago and look at him now, he's still doing it. That's why he hired the kid as an extra muscle around the ship, well technically Roth hired him but who cares.
"Uzumaki Naruto" he answered with a huge grin on his face.
"Naruto huh?" he looked puzzled as he gave him a once-over. Slick back Blonde hair, a pretty face, black top, grey cargo pants completed by a white Sneakers and that billion dollar smile, definitely asian.
"The name is Angus Grimaldi but you can call me grim, welcome aboard the Endurance" Grim introduced before completing his introduction with a small mocking bow then walked off.
"Well it was nice meeting ya, pretty boy" he shouted back mockingly before he rounded a corner.
"What a crazy old bastard" Naruto remarked, feeling kinda upset. Seeing as he had nothing to do, he turned to look around the deck of the ship before his eyes landed on two ladies conversing with each other and decided to say hello.
••••
A huge wave rose up from the sea and crashed into the side of the ship causing it to sway. Naruto nearly lost his balance as he approached the ladies. But thankfully he managed to steady himself on time and not make a fool out of himself.
"Hi there, my name's Naruto. How are you doing?" Naruto greeted with a friendly wave and smile.
"Hello Naruto, my name's Lara croft" the female with a ponytail downing a brown Jacket with dark blue sleeveless shirt and green cargo combat pants, completed by motorcycle boots replied just before staring off into space confusing Naruto
"Ignore her, am Samantha nishimura" Sam chuckled not even bothered by the fact that Lara was staring at nothing. Sam is a very attractive young woman, she has very notable Asian facial features, pale pasty skin complexion, and light brown eyes. She has dark brown hair, which she has cut in bob haircut style, (it being as long as Lara's). She has a slender physique and stands roughly at 5'5" (165cm) tall with a cross bag .
"Is that what grim meant by a croft-fever?" he asked horrified, just the mere thought that he had been doing that moments ago scares him.
"You'll get used to it" said Sam just as Lara snapped out of it and began scribing something down on a note. Naruto nodded before he moved closer to lara
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked as he peeked over her shoulder.
"I am mapping out the possible places for the yamatai to be" she replied not bothered by his presence, infact she seemed to welcome it.
"wait yamatai...as in the long kingdom of the sun queen" he asked with an underlaying tone of disbelieve which gained both Lara and Sam's full attention.
"Do you know of it?" Lara perked up
"My dad used to tell me stories about the legend of the sun queen when I was just a kid, I thought that such a place doesn't exist, that it was supposed to be a myth"
"oh I assure you it's quite real, and Lara here seeks to find it" Sam said with a soft smile as she gave Lara a light shove.
"really?, so you're like one of those tomb raider kind of people"
"I am also an archeologist" Lara chuckled at his choice of word, though he wasn't wrong.
"oh, so you're like that dude over there" Naruto stated as he pointed at a man with a cross bag as he approached another man who was busy typing away on his laptop.
Lara and Sam looked at who he was referring to, only to shiver.
"I assure you Naruto, I am nothing like him"
"I almost forgot" Sam snapped her fingers as a look of realization flashed on her face before she dipped her hand in her bag and pulled out a camcorder then started recording.
"Wait what are you doing?" Naruto asked when he saw sam turning the camcorder his way, already feeling camera shy.
"I am filming silly, it's part of My job description" Sam giggled at his reaction. It wasn't her first time meeting
"She's a filmmaker so she's making a documentary for our expedition to yamatai"
"oh"
"Sam here is also a descendant of himiko herself" Lara pointed out which had Sam puffing her chest out with a satisfied smile as Lara stroked her ego.
"Get out, really?" Naruto asked shocked by the revelation that the woman who stood before him is a direct descendant of the storm goddess herself.
"Better believe it fishcake" Sam stuck out her tongue at him while Naruto did a double take at the nickname.
"You have got to be kidding me, how?"
"I am half Japanese" Sam confessed
"So your name means fishcake huh?" Lara snickered trying not to laugh at the horrified face of Naruto.
"IT'S MAELSTROM DAMNIT!"
Lara burst out laughing not being able to hold it in anymore, and it would seem that she wasn't the only one as Sam would soon join her In her own fit of laughter.
••••
A bespectacled young man was busy typing away at his laptop when he heard someone call his name.
"Hey Alex"
Alex turned his attention away from his laptop to look for the source of the voice only to find his least favorite person standing before him.
"Yes Dr Whitman" he answered with a calm voice not showing his displeasure at the unwanted presence.
"You're a hacker right?"
"And an electrical engineer, why?" Alex asked, returning his attention back to his laptop. If Whitman was here to waste his time then he should just leave right away.
"I have a solution to our funding problem" that seemed to grasp his full attention.
"And what is it?"
"There's a gambling site that you can hack, it's 99.9% untraceable"
"What about the 0.1%?" Alex asked suspicious, however Whitman just shrugged nonchalantly and said.
"You can make it work"
"Alright..." Alex cracked his knuckles as he got to work. "...let's do this"
••••
"I'm m telling you Jonah it's only for awhile" a man argued as he walked alongside another man who seemed to want to be anywhere else but there.
"Does senility comes along with old age, Roth" jonah said as he was beginning to question the thinking capacity of his captain.
"It's just for the expedition" Roth argued as they walked towards the deck of the ship.
"But we know nothing about him"
"Same as Alex, but still you vouched for him and I listened" Roth pointed out, he might be the captain but he can't have his shipmates being mad at him.
"Fine" Jonah finally relented
"Yes!, I knew letting that kid onboard would finally come in handy" Roth chuckled as they finally made it on deck.
"You planned all of this out, didn't you" Jonah deadpanned while he laid hand on the handle of the door.
"Who's the senile old bastard now?" Roth laughed just as Jonah opened the door and they both walked out on deck only to see Naruto and Lara conversing with one another while Sam filmed them.
"...You are"
"Seems like Lara has taken a shine to him already" Roth smiled as he watched as the two happily chatted away which only made Jonah grumble before walking away.
'I'll fulfill my promise old friend' Roth smiled before mimicking Jonah's action by walking away.
••••
Inside the engine room two peopled were busy tending to the ship's engine. And from the looks on their faces they weren't happy
"How's it going" Grim asked as a woman went to work on the ship's engine.
"Not too shabby" Reyes replied as she keyed down the last bolt and started packing up her tools.
"That's better than nothing" grim chuckled only for Reyes to sigh.
"why haven't you guys gotten another engine or a whole new boat?..." she inquired as she gave the engine a quick start "...and get rid of this old bucket of bolts".
"you know it's named the Endurance for a reason" Grim joked dryly only for Reyes to give him a deadpan look.
"I can imagine why"
"Well don't look at me like that, I didn't name the ship" Grim said but that didn't serve to change Reyes mind one bit.
"Let's just get out of here"
"Roger that"
••••
"Shit" Alex shouted as he threw his laptop overboard while Whitman snickered at his misfortune.
"I thought you said that it was untraceable"
"Correction, I said that it was 99.9% untraceable" Whitman corrected. It wasn't his fault that Alex couldn't handle a golden opportunity and messed up.
"well there goes my laptop" Alex sighed.
Hey alex.." Whitman called out as he turned his attention towards Lara's location. "...who's the blonde".
"The who now?" Alex who was still dejected at the loss of his laptop turned to look at who he was referring to before his eyes lit up in realization as he laid eyes on said blonde.
"Oh that's naruto, he's part asian...and for your information, you're blonde as well" Alex summarized.
"Naruto huh"
••••
"So let me get this straight...you're a duchess but you don't like to spend from your families fortune cause you prefer to make your own income?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"Yap"
"so you sent yourself to school and paid your own school fees"
"I had a guardian but that's true"
"You've got to be kidding me" was his shocked reply as even he struggled to survive every passing day and barely had enough to send himself to school. And here stood someone who had more than enough but won't touched it, unbelievable.
"Actually am not" a cocky smile found it's way to Lara's face.
"And what about you Samantha?" Naruto asked. As Lara's best friend he doubted her background would be ordinary.
"Well my uncle's the one who funded this expedition, that's probably why am here..maybe" she shrugged which caused the both of them to sweat drop.
"We're Setting Sail!" a voice shouted over a speaker.
"Guess Reyes's done fixing the ship"
"Finally, Yamatai is not going to find itself"
"We know that lara, we know" Sam giggled
"So how about a toast then" Lara stated as she pulled out four drinks from her bag, then handed one to each of them
"To Yamatai"
"TO YAMATAI!".
Soon the world will know the name...
...Uzumaki Naruto.
••••