Saviour Shinobi [Naruto x Aot crossover]

Chapter 8 - The Encounter (Part 1)

[Recap] "Hey guys. What would you do if I told you we were making progress?" . His teammates furrowed their brows, signaling for him to continue. "Turns out civilization came to us," he finally announced.

What a pleasant surprise. Although it had crossed their minds, team 7 hadn't even begun looking for civilization, yet somehow here it was making its way to them. Surely someone was on their side to be provided with such convenience. It took long enough, but things were finally looking up for them.

As if by instinct, at the mention of the approaching targets, they swiftly put out the fire and cleared all signs of human interference before tree walking to a high branch. More detail would be needed from Naruto after their top priority was resolved; getting everything settled.  Once everything below looked natural and they were sure their current position wasn't easily visible, Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto expectantly, waiting for more detail on his previous statement. Naruto, however, had not noticed the expectant looks his comrades were giving him and was digesting what he had just seen.

He first noticed that there was a large group of people – on horses? Horses weren't unknown in the Elemental Nations, however the commonly known ones were that of summons or the Gobi, [Transl. Five Tails] Kokuo, but he was technically a dolphin horse. 'Human sized' horses were especially rare, with the exception of a few being used for methods of travelling, used by certain small villages. It was pretty much unheard of to use horses for travel during era where chakra was enough, however they were in a different dimension with giant 'cannibals' so nothing could be considered too out of the ordinary here. Everything had to be taken into account here, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. The use of horses could determine them to be this dimensions civilians. However, with the lack of chakra to aid them with high speed sprints, it was a possibility that they just used horses to get around quickly. In actuality, they could be part of an army or battalion system; the matching outfits and gear were a clear notion in deducing that much. Considering all the man eating titans, this was probably the best theory. Naruto also took into consideration the way his clones were slain efficiently as if they had been doing this like clockwork. It was impressive how they adapted to their environment and duty to slay their enemies without chakra by using their – waist mechanisms? They weren't as effecient as using chakra, but it was better than-

"NARUTO," a pink haired kunoichi yelled unaware of the sheer volume until both her teammates flinched. The addressed shinobi, snapped out of his musings upon hearing his name and was met with an irritated look from Sasuke and an impatient look from Sakura. "Sorry I zoned out," Naruto laughed sheepishly while rubbing the nape of his neck. This was a common occurrence that left many impatient. He would have to work on that...

"You really have to work on your attention span," Sakura huffed, regaining her composure from the yell she just let out. It had probably been only a minute, but time was essential. Sasuke nodded his head in agreement; irritation still visible on his face. Their situation must have been dire if Sasuke was willing to show this much emotion in such a short amount of time. Naruto and Sakura found it amusing. This time, he noticed the expectant looks both him and Sakura were giving him; this time, he was alert and prepared to share his observations and theories with his comrades.

"Right. So a group of about 200 – 300 people are headed our way on horses. I couldn't exactly tell the exact amount, but they continued down the narrow path as far as my clones could see." His comrades digested this information cautiously. Sure it was nothing compared to the might united shinobi forces, however it was a lot more than expected to find in the middle of a forest - much less a forest infested by man eating titans. "Why would 200 – 300 people just be in the forest" Sasuke mumbled the thought that Sakura had also been thinking. "I was getting to that," Naruto huffed, crossing his arms like a child; Sakura snickered at his antics before recomposing herself. "They may be armed forces. Like a military or something. I thought this made the most sense, since the titans who eat humans so they would probably go for the people in this world too."