2,059A/N: Still kicking.
Being sick has affected my update schedule. If it weren't for Dark helping me, I wouldn't be able to write at all; he helped immeasurably with this.
Every review truly does help, large or small, anything is better than nothing at all.
I wanted this to feel like an episode of Arcane; hopefully I succeeded on that front. Looking forward to your feedback~! Reviews really keep me going despite everything. Appreciate you all~! Do let me know if you want weekly updates! Very important!
As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes, or memes. Not a wit or a one! They're tributes to legends far greater than I.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time. Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that. In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~! Here we go. And yes, obvious references are very obvious.
Here we go~!
SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO AHEAD! =D
"You don't seem to understand. This city isn't your to conquer...
...did you think I would say its mine?
Ha! Not at all!
~Naruto.
You Don't Understand
There was blood all over the council chamber.
It clung to the walls, soaked into the velvet chairs, dripped slowly from the edge of the council's ruined table. Blood. Thick, acrid, and metallic in the air, mingling with the scent of charred wood and scorched silk. The dying embers of the shattered chandelier still smoldered where it had fallen, splintered glass scattered across the marble floor like stars cast from the heavens.
Naruto had thrown a man through it.
Mel had been smart enough to keep her mouth shut. Heimerdinger, too old and wise to get involved. Caitlyn's mother had been fortunate—standing just far enough away to escape the carnage.
The others?
Well. They hadn't been as lucky.
Vander stood at the far end of the chamber, arms folded across his broad chest, his expression carved from stone. His jaw twitched, his fingers flexed against the old scars that lined his knuckles. He had never wanted this. Never asked for it. But now, with four council members dead and Piltover teetering on the edge of anarchy, he was the only one left who could provide a stabilizing force. Like it or not, the burden had fallen to him.
"My boy, you simply cannot do things like this," Heimerdinger finally sighed, breaking the heavy silence. His large, furred ears twitched as he surveyed the wreckage. There was a weariness to him now, a resignation that spoke of centuries spent watching history repeat itself in blood and fire.
Naruto didn't look up. He sat slouched in one of the few remaining chairs, fingers drumming idly against the polished wood, his expression unreadable.
"Can. Have. Did," he murmured, voice even, devoid of remorse. His golden hair was damp with sweat, a faint trickle of blood trailing down his temple—someone had at least tried to land a hit. "And I'm not your boy."
Powder sat perched on the arm of his chair, humming a tuneless melody, legs swinging like a child on a playground. She was grinning, eyes alight with something between amusement and satisfaction, but she was watching—always watching.
Naruto stretched his fingers, then flicked them toward her.
"She attacked me first," he continued, lazily. "I have a witness."
Powder's grin widened. She rocked back and forth, balancing on her fingertips. "I saw it," she chirped. "She was real mean about it, too."
The Yordle huffed, dragging a fuzzy hand down his face. "Yes, I'm sure the people of Piltover will see it your way." His small fingers gestured toward the bodies cooling on the floor. "That you, in your infinite wisdom, have simply defended yourself against an unarmed councilwoman."
Naruto smirked, teeth flashing. "Is that sarcasm I detect?"
Heimerdinger gave him a long, tired look.
Vander exhaled sharply through his nose, rubbing his temples. The headache forming behind his eyes felt like a freight train. "The hell are we supposed to do now?"
Naruto rolled his shoulders, a casual, almost feline stretch. "Figure it out, I guess."
"Figure it out," Vander repeated, voice flat with disbelief. "Just like that? You waltz in here, leave a pile of corpses, and now it's our problem?"
Naruto's smirk faded. He met Vander's gaze—steady, unreadable, something ancient and dangerous flickering beneath his otherwise lazy demeanor.
"It was always your problem," he said, voice low, calm, and absolute.
For a moment, silence reigned. The embers of the chandelier let out a final hiss as they died.
Vander clenched his fists.
Powder giggled.
Naruto barely spared her a glance as he stretched, rolling his neck until it popped. The embers of the shattered chandelier flickered in his peripheral vision, the last remnants of its once-grand form reduced to nothing but smoldering ruin.
"It's always been your problem," he said, his voice light but edged with something sharp. "You're the ones who let them rot in their seats long enough for this to happen."
Vander's jaw clenched. Naruto could see the fight in him, coiled tight in the way his fingers curled, in the way his broad shoulders squared like a man ready to throw a punch. But he didn't swing. Not yet. Maybe because he knew he couldn't win. Maybe because, deep down, he agreed.
"I never wanted to be part of this damn council," Vander muttered, each word dragging itself out like it physically hurt to say. "Piltover was never my fight."
"It is now," Naruto said simply, the words settling like a stone between them.
Vander exhaled sharply through his nose, nostrils flaring, but he didn't argue.
Heimerdinger coughed into his small hand, breaking the heavy silence. "And what of you?" His large, luminous eyes studied Naruto with something caught between calculation and wariness. "You kill, but you do not claim responsibility. You speak, but you do not govern."
Naruto rolled his eyes, head lolling back against the chair. "I don't do politics."
"No," the Yordle murmured, gaze flickering toward the bodies on the floor. "You do war."
The words hung in the air, heavier than the scent of blood that still clung to the ruined chamber. The weight of them pressed against the high walls, thick and suffocating, curling around the remaining occupants like a noose waiting to be pulled tight.
Vander was the first to move. He ran a tired hand over his face, then walked toward the empty chair meant for Marcus. He hesitated, fingers gripping the worn wood, then dropped into it with a sigh, like a man already exhausted by the burden he hadn't yet taken up. The chair creaked beneath his weight.
"You're making a lot of enemies," Vander muttered, rubbing his temples.
Naruto chuckled, low and amused. "What else is new?"
Powder snickered, kicking her legs against the chair's armrest. "I like it when they get mad. They make the funniest faces before they die."
Vander shot her a sharp look. She only grinned wider.
Heimerdinger let out a weary sigh, adjusting his tiny spectacles. "You misunderstand me, young man. Enemies are not merely obstacles to be cut down. They are the roots that grow beneath the foundation of power. Ignore them, and they will twist and crack the very ground you stand upon."
Naruto tilted his head. "Then I'll burn the ground, too."
Vander let out a low curse under his breath. "You can't keep this up. Piltover's not Zaun. They don't play by the same rules."
"They never did," Naruto said, voice eerily calm. "That's why they lost."
Another silence stretched between them, taut and unrelenting.
Vander's grip tightened on the chair's armrest. "You think you're doing what's right?"
Naruto smirked, standing up and stretching as if the entire conversation had been a minor inconvenience. He tilted his head back, golden hair catching the dim light.
"Nah," he said, voice laced with quiet amusement. "I just think I'm the only one doing something."
He turned on his heel, boots crunching over broken glass and blood-stained marble as he strode toward the exit. Powder hopped off the chair's arm and bounded after him like a shadow, her laughter ringing through the ruined council chamber.
Vander let his head drop back against the chair with a sigh, staring at the ceiling.
At length, he spoke, voice little more than a low mutter:
"Hell of a way to start a new government...
(.0.0.0.)
The bar was quieter than usual.
Not silent—The Last Drop never really slept—but subdued. Conversations murmured in the background, the occasional clink of glass against wood punctuating the lull between songs playing from the old, static-ridden speakers. The scent of sweat, alcohol, and burnt copper from an old fuse mixed into the air, settling in the dim glow of flickering lamps.
Naruto lounged in his chair, legs propped up on the table, his head tilted back as he idly watched Powder pace in front of him.
She was fidgeting. That meant she wanted something.
"I'm not dying," he said preemptively, before she even opened her mouth.
Powder froze mid-step. "Huh?"
"You get that look when you think I'm about to die," Naruto continued, waving a lazy hand in the air. "I'm not."
Her lips pressed into a thin line. "You do get hurt a lot, though."
"Part of the job."
She hesitated, then clasped her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels. She looked at him, really looked at him, her sharp blue eyes scanning his face, his posture, the barely-there bruises he hadn't bothered to heal yet.
"Then I'll praise you while you're down here," she said, almost stubbornly.
Naruto lifted an eyebrow, shifting slightly in his chair. "What?"
"I mean, you keep waiting for something," she said, frowning, as if trying to puzzle out the words herself. "Like, you do all this stuff—helping people, fighting for things you believe in—and then you just expect it to work out someday. You pretend like you're a grown-up because you think that's what you're supposed to do. But it's not."
Naruto blinked. "Powder—"
"You're not some untouchable hero, y'know," she cut in, voice firm, her fingers curling at her sides. "You act like one, but that's not how it works."
For a moment, the only sound between them was the dull thrum of the music in the background.
Naruto stared at her, then let out a quiet chuckle—low, dry, tired.
"Matured? Me?" he echoed, shaking his head. "I wish I could say that, but the truth is…" He exhaled, dragging a hand through his hair. "My mind hasn't really changed since I was a kid. I've just gotten better at pretending. Pretending to be an adult until I can make it as an ideal grown-up." His lips quirked slightly, wry and self-deprecating. "I'll probably keep pretending until the day I die."
Powder's nose scrunched up. "That's dumb."
Naruto huffed a laugh. "Maybe."
A beat passed. Powder crossed her arms. "Why?"
Naruto leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling as if the answer was written there. Maybe it was.
"Because the world doesn't wait for you to grow up," he said finally. "It doesn't care if you're ready. You just… do it. You fake it, you keep moving, you fight through the weight on your shoulders because if you stop, even for a second, someone else has to carry it." He tilted his head toward her, smirking slightly. "And I'd rather not give my burdens to you, kid."
Powder rolled her eyes. "I'm not a kid."
Naruto chuckled. "Then stop pacing and sit down."
She hesitated, then flopped onto the seat across from him, her boots scuffing the floor. For a moment, they just sat there, the distant chatter of the bar filling the silence between them.
Powder fiddled with a loose thread on her sleeve before speaking again, quieter this time.
"…You know it's okay to stop pretending sometimes, right?"
Naruto turned his head slightly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
She wasn't fidgeting anymore.
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he let his gaze drift, taking in the dim glow of the lamps, the way the room felt strangely smaller in moments like these.
Then, finally—softer than before, but no less firm—he said,
"Maybe someday."
Powder scoffed. "Liar."
Naruto smirked.
Maybe. But some lies were easier to live with.
He leaned back, closing his eyes, letting the weight of the conversation settle over him like a worn-out coat.
"After all," he murmured, voice edged with something unreadable, "children need grown-ups for emotional support. They need lots of praise and guidance. As for me… who's going to praise me for pretending until the day I die?" His fingers drummed against the wooden armrest. "That's what faith is for. I believe that by doing good where good is to be found, I'll be rewarded someday." He exhaled slowly. "Though, I suppose I'll have to wait a while for that reward."
Powder didn't answer right away.
She just watched him, her sharp blue eyes unreadable, her usual playful energy subdued.
Then, after a long pause—soft, almost hesitant—she said,
"… That's really sad, y'know?"
"Eh." Naruto shrugged, as if the thought had never occurred to him. Or maybe it had, and he just didn't care.
Another stretch of silence. The muffled sounds of the bar hummed in the background, a few voices rising, the scrape of chairs shifting against wood. Life, moving forward.
Then, breaking the quiet:
"Sooo," Powder drawled, rocking back on her heels, hands tucked behind her back. "Any chance you can teach Ekko a thing or two?"
Naruto cracked an eye open, immediately suspicious.
Powder clasped her hands together, tilting her head in exaggerated innocence. "Pretty pleeeease?"
Naruto exhaled sharply through his nose, unimpressed. "Why?"
"Because he's my friend."
"That's not a reason."
Powder pouted, crossing her arms. "It is to me."
Naruto shut his eyes again. He could already see the conversation playing out. Ekko would be eager, excited, ready to learn. But he would also be reckless. That was the problem with kids—they always thought power was just something to have. They never thought about what it cost.
"You know," Naruto said, stretching his arms behind his head, "power isn't just about hitting harder or moving faster. It's about what you do with it—and what it does to you."
Powder frowned, tilting her head. "What do you mean?"
Naruto sighed, cracking his knuckles absentmindedly. "Every kid wants power, but they never ask what they'll lose getting it. They think it's simple. Get stronger, fix problems, protect people. But power doesn't come free, Powder. It takes pieces of you." His voice was even, but there was something underneath—something heavy. "One day you wake up, and you're not the same person anymore. And you don't know when it happened, or how. But it did."
Powder studied him, her lips pressing into a thin line. "Is that what happened to you?"
Naruto didn't answer right away. He just smirked, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I guess that depends on who you ask."
She didn't like that answer. She scowled, rocking on her heels again, before suddenly flopping onto the chair across from him with an exaggerated groan.
"Fine," she huffed. "But he's gonna get strong anyway, y'know. With or without you."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Then why ask me?"
"Because you won't turn him into an asshole," Powder said bluntly. "If he learns from you, maybe he won't become some big-shot warlord or something." She poked at a loose thread on her sleeve. "Vi's still out there. Zaun's still a mess. Piltover's still… Piltover. And people like us? We don't get to sit back and wait for things to change."
That last part, more than anything, made Naruto pause.
Because she wasn't wrong.
He sighed, rubbing his temple. "Teaching him means responsibility. It means I have to watch out for him. Means he'll probably be a pain in my ass. You know that, right?"
Powder grinned. "Yup!"
Naruto groaned, leaning back in his chair. "Fine. I'll talk to him. No promises. I'll think about it."
Powder groaned louder. "That means no."
"It means I'll think about it."
She shot him a flat look, arms crossed. "It means no."
Naruto smirked but said nothing.
Powder pouted dramatically, flopping onto the couch across from him. "Fine. Be that way."
The conversation lulled, stretching into the quiet hum of the bar beneath them. Muffled voices drifted through the walls—laughter, arguments, the occasional burst of raucous singing. Beneath it all, Naruto could pick out Vander's voice, tired but steady, already trying to keep the fragile peace between Zaun and Piltover from crumbling into dust.
It wouldn't last.
Not for long.
Not unless someone changed the game.
Naruto rubbed his forehead, shutting his eyes.
Maybe Powder was right.
Maybe he had been waiting for a reward that would never come.
Or maybe…
Maybe this was it.
He exhaled, the thought settling in his chest like a slow-burning ember. Then, without looking at her, he spoke.
"Tell Ekko to meet me tomorrow."
There was a beat of silence. Then—
Thunk!
Powder bolted upright so fast she nearly toppled off the couch, her eyes wide with shock. "Wait, really?!"
Naruto cracked an eye open, unimpressed. "Don't make me change my mind."
Her grin split across her face like lightning striking the sky. Then, with a whoop, she launched herself off the couch, arms flailing as she sprinted for the door.
"Ekko's gonna freak—"
The door slammed shut behind her, leaving Naruto alone.
He sighed, dragging a hand down his face, letting his head thunk against the back of his chair.
Vander was right.
He was making a lot of enemies.
And for the first time in a long time, he was starting to wonder if he even cared.
Because at the end of the day, enemies were just obstacles. And obstacles?
He'd never been afraid of breaking them.
A/N: Hey everyone! I had a lot of fun writing this scene. There's something about Naruto's dynamic with Powder that really shines here—she's chaotic, blunt, but perceptive in a way that catches him off guard. Meanwhile, Naruto is in this strange place where he's been an adult for so long that he's forgotten what it's like to believe in something before the world grinds you down. Powder, despite her own issues, still has that fire, and she's pushing him to do something instead of just surviving.
I also wanted to highlight Naruto's internal conflict. He talks about pretending to be an adult, about waiting for a reward that may never come, but deep down, he still wants to believe in something. The moment he agrees to train Ekko is a small but important shift—it's not about rewards or duty anymore. It's a choice. And choices like that are how real change starts.
Also, let's be real: Powder totally knew she would get her way. She's not subtle.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you think—comments, critiques, and memes are always welcome.
See you in the next one!
As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule here. That's no joke. Really, it isn't. If folks don't like this...well, I'll not continue it. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule, I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!
Reviews are my lifeblood. Without them, I cannot write.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?
They keeps an old man alive.
(Preview)
Time flew by like wind...years passed...
And Zaun changed.
Beautifully.
Powder stepped out from the sea of dancers and ran a hand through her long hair. "So...how do I look?"
Naruto stoically averted his eyes, doing his best not to say anything.
Life was so much easier when she was a runt following him around.
His troublesome apprentice had grown up.
"Heh." she grinned. "You can stare if you want. Like you said, I'm an adult now.
"Barely...
"Still counts!"
Vander laughed in the background. "She's got you there...
Naruto snatched an empty mug off the table and winged it at him.
Powder held out a hand. "Dance with me...?"
Can't spoil things further than that.
Looking forward to chatting with you all~!
R ~!