Disclaimer:Do not own Naruto & Lineage 2
Special thanks to my awesome beta, Tomboy 601
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Naruto regained consciousness slowly, fighting against the sunlight that was shooting straight into his eyes.
When he heard footsteps approaching him, his shinobi training took over.
His eyes snapped open and his muscles tensed. He immediately analyzed his surroundings and the person.
He was in an cozy looking room; the room was square and built from wood, there was a drawer near his bed, on top of it there was a strange sphere, glowing yellow dimly. A dresser settled on the opposite of his bed. He was currently lying on a comfortable single size bed with a comforter wrapped on his body.
Realization dawned him. There were no longer any wooden houses in Konoha. So where was he?
He cursed himself inwardly. He should have known better to experiment with something unknown.
He then shifted his blue eyes toward the person. She looked like around his age. She had a long wavy black hair which was tied into a pony tail with a piece of cloth, her brown eyes looked at him in concern. She wore a plain brown dress. The air around her kind of reminded him of Ichiraku Ayame.
She brought a cup in her right hand as she approached him.
"Thanks Einhasad, your awake... don't move your body yet" her kind voice further reminded him of Ayame.
The woman was pretty in his opinion, not a hot and sexy type like Ino but in the girl-next-door type; warm and caring. He relaxed his muscle when he saw her smile.
He then tried to make a voice but his throat was dry so instead of a sound, a string of coughing escaped from his mouth.
The woman quickly dashed toward him and neared the cup to his mouth.
"Hey, I said take it easy. Here, drink".
Naruto took a sip without hesitation. He knew the water could not be poisoned because if the woman wanted him dead, he would already be dead.
"Einhasad?" he asked and widening his eyes when he watched her waving her hand near the glowing sphere, and the light shut off.
"And what exactly is that?" the blond continued.
She looked at him in confusion "You don't remember, Einhasad?"
He shook his head.
"And you also don't what this is?" she gestured to the sphere.
Again, he shook his head.
"What kind of backwater place you come from?" she looked at him incredulously.
"Hey..." he protested indignantly.
The woman chuckled slightly.
"I guess he has a temporary amnesia..." she said to herself contemplatively "Well, I tell you if it's not big deal anyway. This is a lightning sphere..." she pointed at the crystal ball"... with a usage of mana we can turn it on or off."
"Mana?"
"You don't even remember mana!?" she almost shouted in surprise.
"I don't know, I never even heard about this mana before" he retorted.
The woman sighed "Fine, I'll explain to you. This mana can do anything from a big thing by creating powerful spell like summoning to a simple thing like this" she turned the sphere on and off.
"Do you mean chakra?" Naruto asked.
"Chakra? What's that?"
He groaned. Probably, this place had a different name for chakra "Basically it's the same thing as mana, anyway leaving that aside, am I still in Fire country" Naruto asked.
The woman looked at him in confusion.
"Fire country? Where is that? Wherever it is, you're not there. This is The Great kingdom of Aden and you're at Carvahal" she explained
This time, it was the Jounin's turn to mirror her previous expression.
"Aden? Carvahal? I've never heard that name before. Is it near Demon country or perhaps Kumo? he voiced his thought.
It was true that he never heard the name which was unnerving. He had travelled around the Elemental Nation with Jiraiya and not a single time, he ever heard about the place.
Her brown eyes looked at him in worry. She then put her hand on his forehead.
"Are you still dizzy or did you get a fever?" she asked while checking his temperature
"No, I never got sick before. Is it so weird I don't know about this Arden and Carvahal. It is not that important after all" he raised his voice a bit in irritation.
The black haired merely stared at him as if he just grew another head.
"Carvahal, I can understand. It is just a simple village in the mountain range but Aden? The Great Kingdom of Aden? Where did you live your entire life not knowing of Arden? Are you some kind of dimension hopper or something?" she quipped. Her voice held amusement.
'Okay... so this Aden is some kind of important place but how come I've never heard it before and more importantly, how the hell did I arrive here?" he thought.
"... and beside I found you floating unconscious in the river. So it's not strange for you to caught a fever"
'River? Floating unconscious? Shit, I did not know it was that bad heck, the last thing I remember I was forging my new katana'
-Flashback-
Naruto was holding a piece of black adamantium in his hand. The material was said to be the hardest metal in the world, much more than the metal that made the legendary Kusanagi.
He got this black ore from one of the client as token of gratitude as he saved not only his life but also his family.
The metal was extremely rare and beside of its unbreakable quality, it had one other unique characteristic.
The ore could absorb and adjust itself any type of chakra. So if the adamantium was given a fire element, the stone would gain fire as its elemental nature and if the said ore was forged into a katana, the katana itself would gain a fire element chakra.
However unlike the normal chakra sword, the element was permanent and with the right amount infused of chakra, the user could create a fire jutsu from the katana without the hand seal.
That was why, this piece of material was extremely valuable and expensive and that was also why, he was studying the art of forgery.
The nature of this ore intrigued him greatly. If the piece of information regarding this true, he could make the greatest weapon in history and besides, his own chakra sword needed to be replace.
An idea then struck him. If the ore could absorb any type of chakra and turned it as its own. Then, what if he infused the kyuubi's chakra into it.
He knew that the sharingan was made by the kyuubi. So that mean, he could make a sharingan element katana and that also mean, he could use its abilities.
He chuckled evilly at the thought. This katana would surely scare the council and he was as sure as hell would not let them get it.
The next 3 weeks was filled with reading and forging. Forgery was not an easy art, it took years of experimenting and experience to master it but with the help of kage bunshin, he could attain attain that yet it was not easy.
Forgery was a delicate piece of work, everything had to be precise. For example, if the heat was too low, the katana would not shape and if it was too high, there would be heat loss leading to longer heating times for the metal and in his opinion, rendered the katana imperfect.
Of course, he could just go to a famous blacksmith and asked him to forge with the adamantium however, he could not just trust anyone with the ore especially if they knew about the material.
At the end of 3 weeks, he already had years of experience in forgery and more importantly ready to forge the legendary sword.
The next day, he found himself in his work place. Everything was ready. The coal already burnt at the right amount. His hammer was ready to work shape the black material into a mighty weapon.
He took a deep breath before beginning the process.
I took a full 12 hours even with his strength to complete the task of forging, sharpening and making the hilt
Within the process, he needed to pour out kyuubi's chakra constantly. The adamantium absorbed the foul chakra like a sponge. He could see that the black coloured slowly turned into crimson.
Soon after he finished the katana, he could not help but awe at its sight. The katana was about 30 inches long from the black hilt to the tip. The color of the metal was what entranced him. It was crimson, the perfect mixed of bloody red and midnight black, reminded him of the colour of the moon in the world of Tsukuyomi.
Because of the same reason, he decided to name his katana...
The Moon Goddess, Tsukuyomi.
The jounin then realized that he still leaked out the kyuubi's chakra which Tsukuyomi happily drank it.
However soon, after he stopped the chakra infusion, Tsukuyomi suddenly glowed brightly.
The red light got brighter and brighter until it finally swallowed him.
Just before unconsciousness enveloped him, he heard a low familiar growl.
"Foolish human."
-End Flashback-
"Hey... are you okay?"
Her voice snapped him out of his thought. She waved her hand in front of his face.
"A... oh sorry, I zoned out a bit there. So are you sure this place is not in Fire country?"
"I'm absolutely sure. I've never heard of a country named Fire nor Kumo and Demon country. You're making this up aren't you? Who in their right mind named a country fire or demon. It's ridiculous" she giggled a bit.
Naruto gaped at her. Was this woman insane? Not just she did not know about Fire country, she was making fun of it. Did not she know how important that country in Elemental Nation?
"You're joking right? There is no way you don't know about Fire country. How bout Konoha then?" a dread feeling of panic crawled up in his mind.
The woman laughed louder and wiped her tears before saying.
"You're really funny you know. Not only that, you're also a great actor. That look of confusion on your face and your tone of disbelief. If I am drunk I probably would believe you but if you still don't believe me..."
The woman got up and searched something in the drawer. After a minute or so of searching, she was back with an old looking paper on her hand.
She then sat down and gave the paper to him.
"Here... The world map of Nebraska."
Only one word came into his mind.
"Fuck."
Despite years of experience and training in ninja art, Naruto could only gawk at the map. The content was nothing like the world he knew, not even the slightest. The old map shown two continents with a narrow strait. The bigger continent lay at the right of the map; a large bold word of ' The Great kingdom of Aden' was written in the south part of it, the border of the kingdom was almost as large as the continent itself. It contained names of places that he ever heard before. A large desert adorned the kingdom from the northern part to the border of its territory. 'Wasteland of Elmore' was written in bold letter at the northern part of continent. It contained the series of mountain range along with the frozen wasteland.
The smaller continent lied on the west of the bigger one, 'Holy Kingdom of Gracia' was the name of the kingdom. Its terrain was similar to Aden minus the desert. A single bridge connected the two countries. He also noticed that small islands were scattered around the map, probably deserted, judging by the lack of name on them.
A small scrawny scribble of 'Carvahal' settled at the very southwest of Aden on a mountain range named Gludin. The word 'Carvahal' was handwritten and looked quiet old, signifying that this isolated village was unregistered and hidden.
His concern about his whereabouts skyrocketed as he noticed this tidbit of information, not because this village was unrecorded but more of the fact that the next human settlement in the map was located at the feet of Gludin, just at the border which he did not have any idea whatsoever where it was.
That only meant one thing, he was stuck in this village unless someone agreed to be his guide or he could take his chances by trying to travel alone and took chances of getting lost.
Headache and panic immediately hit him. He was in unknown place located in isolated region and people would probably look at him crazy when he asked about Elemental Nations.
Would he ever go back?
Absentmindedly, an expression of dread made its way across his face. He ignored the girl while he was brooding at her.
*Poke**Poke*
He felt someone poked his forehead rather hard, effectively snapped him out of his beautiful brood.
Naruto turned and blinked at the perpetrator.
"What were you doing?"
"Poking" she replied like it was the most obvious answer.
"I know that but why did you that for?" he asked.
The girl just smiled and chirped happily "Because you looked so pale. My uncle usually do that to calm myself and it did work, no?"
Naruto looked at her in surprise. She was right, his mind was clear right now. The headache and panic vanished like they never even there but still, his problem remained unsolved. He sighed exasperatedly.
"So, Fire country really do exist huh?" the girl asked sympathetically.
The blond Jounin quickly looked at her in anticipation, hoping that she might remember something about that name or anything remotely similar.
"Of course, you recognize the name?"
When the girl shook her head, his look turned into crestfallen.
"Well, that's what I know but maybe my uncle knows something. My uncle is the village elder and he knows everything, I'm sure he can help you" she encouraged him enthusiastically.
He highly doubt that anyone in this small village, elder or not, would know anything about Konoha and would have voice his thought if not seeing her warm smile. It was almost feel like magic, one second he was drown in worry and the next, warm tingly feeling washed over him. Her infectious smile filled with silent promise, a promise that everything would be alright. His lip curved up into a smile.
"I guess I can try that. Thanks..."
"Alicia. Just Alicia, mister"
Naruto raised his eyebrow.
"No family name?"
Maria shook her head, almost sadly though he passed it up as his imagination when she replied with a small smile.
"Nope, my uncle always says that he will tell me on my 18 birthday, so for now, only Alicia" she replied "By the way, what's yours?"
"Ah, sorry... how rude of me, Uzumaki Naruto at your service" he bowed his head mockingly.
Maria giggled "The pleasure is mine, kind sir."
They both laughed.
"So... when can I meet your uncle?" he asked.
The woman tilted her head cutely before replying.
"I guess you can meet him now, he is at his office downstairs."
He was about to reply but then, he felt something was not right. The blond jinchuuriki sat there, trying to feel that something. He widened his eyes when he realized the familiar weight around his neck was not there. He quickly looked down at his chiseled chest.
He did not find what he looked for, the shodaime necklace was not there. He searched around the bed frantically before shifted his azure eyes to Alicia.
"Did you see a necklace when you found me?" he asked desperately.
Alicia tilted her head a bit and 'hmmm'ed before replying.
"Nope... I found you like that and you're not wearing any necklace." she said with her usual cheery tone.
Naruto looked into her sweet brown eyes, searching for any hint of deception but he found none. The blond sighed and massaged his forehead, Tsunade would castrate him when she heard about this, then she would heal him and and castrate him again.
He shuddered at the thought. Naruto then opened his blanket and his eyes widened considerably in horror. Not because he realized that he was stark naked as the day he was born but the problem laid more at his stomach.
The seal, the shiki fuuin that marked him as the jinchuuriki was gone. At normal circumstance he would shout in joy but now, it could only mean either Kyuubi was gone or the fox managed to escape somehow, and to make it worse, the latter was more probable than the former.
He was terrified at the predicament. Everything seemed to turn from bad to worse. Panic and despair that had left him came back and it hit in full force. Scenarios and questions of how this happened quickly flooded his mind but none was likely the answer, much less the solution.
One thing that kept this situation had not became the worst ever was the fact that he was still alive, and it could change any second if the fox decided to change that. Naruto shifted his gaze to Alicia. Seeing her adorable curious look of his savior made him sick of himself. She had been nothing but nice to him, and he repaid her by sending a demon to her village. The blond felt lower than trash, a scum.
Shit... Shit... Shit...
*Poke*
He must warn the village elder right away.
*Poke**Poke*
Or perhaps, leaving this place was better choice but...
*Poke**Poke**Poke*
If the furball smelled his scent in here, that would prove to be...
*POKE*
"Would you stop doing that?!" he snapped at the girl.
"But you were brooding again?" she pouted.
Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Fine, I'll stop doing that. Now let's meet your uncle, shall we?"
The blond quickly pushed over his blanket and get out of his bed. He then made a bee line to the door but stopped when he noticed that the girl did not follow him.
"What now?" he asked impatiently.
He looked at her in confusion and annoyance when he saw that the girl simply stood there, staring at him wide eyed and sporting a huge blush on her cheeks.
The blond raised his eyebrow and followed her stare. He matched her blush when he realized what she was staring at.
They rooted on their spots in awkward silence, until Naruto broke it.
"W-well... d-do you have something for me to wear?"
"I'm glad that the clothes suit you, you should thank Jack for that, young man" an old man said with a thoughtful look as he looked at the blond. The said blond was wearing a cream colored tunic. A black belt hugged his waist while a long tight dark pant covered his lower body.
"But, adding a brown vest would be nice, what do you think Alicia?"
Maria looked at him for a while before replying.
"I guess it's uncle, but don't you think black would suit more?"
Naruto looked incredulously at them. They were on the verge of being slaughtered by 10000 years demon and all they cared was what he was wearing. He shifted his gaze at the elder. The old man was looked like in his 50. The white hair and beard was the testament to that, he also sported wrinkles around his dark brown eyes. Despite his age, he could see why this old man was the leader. Everything about him shouted wisdom and knowledge and judging by the death grip the blond got when they shook hand, this elder was also a veteran warrior.
"Hmmm... I still think brown would be the best" the elder stroked his beard.
The blond finally had enough.
"Elder Thor, Have you gone mental ?! A fox demon could be attacking this place anytime soon. How can you talking about brown or black?! You should alert the villager and evacuate them now, rather to talking about me!" he protested.
"Huh? Did you say something?" both uncle and niece replied at the same time.
Naruto gawked at them, wondering if these two, somehow, related to Kakashi.
"Come on be serious, Elder!" he demanded.
The mirth in Thor's face instantly vanished. He gave Naruto a hard look and stared at him intently, searching something in him for a minute or so, before a broad smile broke out.
"You're too stiff, boy. We have been dealing with that since this village was built. You don't have to worry about a mere fox."
The shinobi looked at him in bewilderment "You clearly have no idea about this one, Elder-"
"Thor" the old man interjected curtly.
"Fine, Thor... You have no idea how powerful this monster is. This fox can simply destroy a mountain with a single flick of his tail, do you realize what it could do to a simple, unknown village like here?"
"Then you clearly have no idea what's this village. Like I said before, we've been dealing the attack from both bandits and monsters since this village was built." Thor replied calmly. The elder sighed at the look the young man gave him.
"If this could make you feel any better, we'll be leaving this village in a week time."
"If you all will leave, why you're not going now? It's only a week away, it don't make any difference whether you go now or later." Naruto reasoned
"But it does to us... let's just say it's for the sake of tradition" Thor replied, but Naruto noticed something hidden behind the meaning. He chose to ignore it.
"I've heard your problem from Alicia, and I hate to say that I don't know anything about Konoha, nor Fire country, but you may be find something at the place we are goin to, which..." he raised his hand when he saw the blond was about to say something
"... we will be going to in a week time."
Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance but wise enough not to say something. He did not have many choices, he could either leave or stay, and he obviously chose the latter for the fact that, he could help to protect the village and Alicia if the Kyuubi attacked; and also, it was the only chance, he could get a guide. He just hoped the fox would not enter for Naruto's hunt season for another week.
'Damn that conniving old man.'
"I conclude that you do not have any more problem regarding this matter?" Thor asked.
The shinobi begrudgingly nodded.
The elder smiled. His eyes had twinkle in it "Good... now, about your vest? Which do you prefer, brown or black?"
"Of course, it's black..." Maria answered for him. She let out those overcoated sweet smile, a smile that Naruto was so familiar of, and usually bad for his health "... right, Naruto?"
He shuddered. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned "O-of course black is perfect, Alicia-chan"
"Chan?"
"Ah... sorry, it's a childhood habit. You don't mind, do you?" Naruto rubbed the nape of his neck.
Maria shook her head "It's okay. I think it's kinda cute."
A radiant smile painted across her beautiful visage. The blond jinchuuriki could not help but noticed how beautiful her smile was, and that lead to how tempting that full red lip.
A cough snapped him out from the reverie. He turned to Thor who glaring dagger at him. The blond had a decency to blush a bit as he was caught staring.
There was an tense atmosphere for as the wizened man glared at the younger man for checking his niece out while the said niece seemed oblivious of the tension.
"S-so... where can I get this vest?" Naruto began awkwardly.
The elder replied and still glaring at him "You can get your vest later from Jack, now a place to stay, there's a em-"
"He'll stay with us." Alicia cut in
"What!" Thor shouted "No, no, no... that will never happen. I won't let any manlike him stay under one roof with my baby niece!!!"
"He'll stay with us, period!!! I found him, I took care of him and I'll continue doing so until the time he's recovered and strong enough to survive in the wild!!!" Maria challenged defiantly
Naruto sweatdropped 'Do I really look like wild animal?'
"He's recovered already!!! Now is the perfect time to let him free, don't you think?!" the village elder reasoned "And talking about pet, how 'bout your last pet rabbit? You took the poor animal for swimming. Who in the right mind took a rabbit for swimming?!"
'Great, now I'm a potential pet.' the blond twitched in annoyance
Maria sniffed "B-but I don't know Chappi can't swim..." she hiccuped "I hate you..."
Thor looked panicked at the sight of his niece.
"I-I..." he sighed "Fine, he can stay here, but you have to promise to take care of him."
'Yaaayyy...' Naruto sarcastically remarked in his mind.
The girl smiled cheekily "Of course, uncle."
Naruto rolled his eyes 'I can see the manipulative trait in this family. Like uncle like niece... is that phrase come out, right?'
Thor grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. He then turned his attention to Naruto.
"Naruto, Maria will show you around. Ask her if you have questions. One more thing, please refrain from leaving the village. It's been strangely quiet since last night, probably has something about the bloody moon?"
"Bloody moon?" the shinobi asked.
The village elder raised his grey eyebrow at his question "You never heard bloody moon?"
Naruto shook his head.
"Hmmm... that's understandable since you're not from here" the elder stroke his beard in contemplative manner "Well, bloody moon is an old legend in Nebraska. It is said the red moon is the sign of the beginning of the end. The end of Nebraska it is."
The jinchuuriki widened his eyes slightly in surprise but managed to cover it as curiosity.
'Red moon? Tsukuyomi? Last night was the time I arrived here according to Maria. This might be my clue of getting home.'
"But, it is just simply a legend. It can't be proved its clarity" the old man shrugged "Despite that, don't leave the village. I don't want to take any risk."
"Alright! We're finished in here." Maria suddenly said. She then wrapped her arm around Naruto's and pulled him towards the door "Come on Naruto, let's head to Jack's to get your vest then I'll show you around the village. Bye uncle..."
The raven haired beauty dragged him out of the office. Just before the blond got out, he caught a glimpse of Thor's glare. Time stopped as the two locked on each other's eyes. A silent message was received by the blond. Try anything funny, I'll cut it off.
'Cut what off?' the shinobi involuntary shivered at the thought. He was sure as hell did not want to know what it was.
"Whoaa..." Naruto stared in wonderment at the sight of Carvahal.
The village, he noticed, was as big as the Hyuuga compound. It was built directly against the large rocky cliff. The hidden village was square in shape and surrounded with 10 meter wooden fence, the top of it were sharpened like a pencil. A large gate that was built between two scouting towers at the end of the village. A large, almost transparent dome was being erected around Carvahal. The pine tree surrounded the village, concealing its presence from the outsider. The blond could hear the sound of the flowing river in the distance from his left.
The elder's house stood lonely at the higher part of the village near the side of the cliff. A vast garden of yellow fragrant olive greeted his sight when he exited the two stories house. The house was being connected to the lower part where the other villagers were by a wooden stair. At the end of the stair was an empty ground, probably training ground judging from the archery target and the wooden post. He could see some people were there, but oddly enough, not for practicing any archery or swordsmanship but removing the log and other training equipment from the ground.
The training ground was being connected to the wooden gate by a single road made by grey brick, cutting straight through the village. At each side was the house or shop of the villagers. The building was built side by side, facing the road. A 5 feet pace was separating the line of house from the wooden fence at both side of the village fence. He counted a total 50 buildings in the village. Forty of them were both house and shops while the other ten were warehouse, barn and and one stable in the end of the line near the gate. They were being constructed as one level building at both side of the road equally, 25 each and all was facing the street. There were approximately no more than 100 people lived in Carvahal, judging by the sum of the house and the size of this village. Each of the houses and shops had its own small garden at the front of the building. They were filled with various plants, ranging from flowers to vegetable. Two spheres for lightning purpose, similar to the one in his current room were being installed at the both side of the door.
Naruto continued to look absentmindedly at the sight of the village below, seeing the small village basking itself in the afternoon sunlight. The fresh air of the mountain and scent of the pine and fragrant olive calmed him somehow from the predicament he currently in.
In his mind, Carvahal was such a blissful village, but then three main questions aroused in his mind, why they decided to move out from the village in a week time from this nice place, it surely not because of his insistence or warning; the second was the lack of children and pre-teen in this village, it was too disconcerting in his opinion, but he shrugged all of his questions. They had their own secrets and that was probably the reason why they decided to leave this place, he was not sure about it but he would not pry. The last was what confused him, this village was too large and organized to be unnoticed, but again, he reminded himself that everybody had its own secret and beside, he was grateful to this village, Maria specifically, for saving him.
His azure eyes then focused at the activity of the villagers below. They were clearing the training ground and replacing the equipment with long table and chair. Vendor charts and barrels of beer were being carried by horses.
As he watched this, an epiphany struck him. How could he see something so far?
Widening his eyes in surprise, the sight immediately flickered. He blinked for a brief moment and rubbed his eyes.
"Are you alright?" the girl beside him asked. Her voice laced in worry
Naruto ignored her and tried to focus his eyes by squinting them slightly, but the previous sight was not returning. Now, all he could see was a small figure of people doing something at the training ground. The dome surrounding the village disappeared from his vision, hell he even barely saw the vendor cart.
He frowned. What the hell happen to him? That seemed the the million dollar question. There was a saying, never regret anything that made you smile. What a load of bull, he had a lot of smile, hell he even chuckled evilly and look at him now, stranded in who-know-where without knowing what happened to his own body.
*Poke*
He was never been so sure in his life when he said this, he absolutely regret what he had done.
*Poke**Poke*
The jinchuuriki twitched and was about to snap but refrained of doing so, instead he sighed in resignation. He turned to Maria, who looked ready to poke him again.
"Maria-chan, could you please stop poking me?"
She merely pouted at him. Her bottom lip trembled slightly. Naruto sighed again, seeing the greatest technique of womankind beside puppy dog eyes and breast, came to play.
"I'm sorry, Maria-chan... could you please lead the way?" he asked.
Maria simply gave him a smile and hold his hand. The blond tensed slightly as their fingers interlaced, but he recovered when a comfortable feeling washed over him. The raven haired then pulled him slightly as she walked first.
They walked down the stair in comfortable silence. Both were enjoying each other presence.
The couple drew various looks from the villager, ranging from curious, knowing and disapproving, though this part was solely given to him, as they walked through the training ground hand in hand. The blond ignored them all, being used to that sort of treatment while the girl seemed oblivious, throwing her lovely smile and polite greeting to the villagers.
Naruto glanced around. Though it still unorganized, he knew the villagers was having some sort of festival, just by looking the amount of beer filled barrel there was a dead giveaway.
"Say Maria, is Carvahal having festival or something?" he asked when they walked out from the empty lot to the grey street
Maria nodded "Yea... we're having the princess' birthday in a week?"
"What you mean is we're going to postpone our leave, and probably the only chance this village can survive, so that we can celebrate someone's birthday who's not even here?" he asked incredulously.
'Is the village stupid or what?' he said in his mind.
"That's not the quiet the real reason, it was me."
Naruto looked at her in puzzlement.
"Well, we- no, I've been kinda want to leave the village since forever, it's not like I hate being here, I just wanna see the outside world, you know. Seeing the sea or meeting the elves and many other things. Unfortunately, there is a tradition in here that stated someone who isn't coming of age yet, cannot leave the village and since I'm the youngest in this village and yet to reach the approved age, I can't leave and as a result, the others won't leave either and they're pretty adamant about it" she explained.
"I can see the logic behind it, but why should the village move out completely just because you want to travel for a bit" he replied.
Maria shook her head "I don't know. Uncle never tells me the reason why. He just said that we'll be moving into another village after I'm old enough."
The blond hummed "So I take it your birthday is also a week away?"
Maria let out a beatific smile "My birthday falls on the same date as the princess'. Lucky, aren't I?"
Naruto could not help but also smiled as he saw her infectious smile "I can say so... let me guess, your twenty-first birthday?"
The girl glared playfully at him "You usually don't mention a lady's age much less the wrong one"
"Ah my apologies, so..." he grinned at her and faked a thoughtful expression "Twenty-fifth?"
The raven haired beauty pinched his cheek as the result "Wrong!"
"Ow,ow,ow... fine, thirtieth?"
"You're an ass, you know that... I'm only 18 next week " she huffed and looked away from him.
Naruto laughed and gave her hand a gentle squeeze "I'm just kidding alright..."
Maria turned to him and glared "You're in for a punishment mister."
"Feisty, are we? You look cute when you are glaring like that" he teased.
A rosy hue was painted across her cheeks. Naruto smiled slightly seeing her blush.
"By the way, have we arrive yet? We've been walking for quiet sometime" he asked.
Maria quickly looked around, partly to identify their whereabouts and the other to hide her blush from the blond though it was kind of futile.
"Ah I guess, we've arrived without us noticing" she replied sheepishly.
Naruto looked at the shop at his right. The shop was without name board, probably due the closeness in the neighborhood the owner did not really need one. It was obviously a cloth store, judging my various thread and clothe in the shop. The owner, Jack he recalled, was an average built man, 5.7 feet in height and had light brown hair and eyes. He was wearing a white tunic and brown long pant. A blade was strapped at his side onto the belt which wrapped around his waist.
'A blade for a civilian?' he was curious. If he recall correctly, in fact all of the villager, both male and female, carried some sort of weapon. He shrugged it and reminded himself that this was not Konoha.
"Well, well. If it is not the princess. What can I help you?" Jack asked.
"Yea, I would like a black leather vest for Naruto please?" she replied.
Jack gave him a scrutinizing gaze before saying "I see, so this is the famous boy. Blond hair, blue eyes... quiet a looker, aren't ya? How do you like your garment?"
"It's nice and comfortable, I guess" Naruto replied, not really knowing what to say since he never wore this kind of clothe before.
"I see, I see... it's good you like it. Wait for a minute..." Jack walked to the back of his store and picked something.
After a minute, he came back with a black vest "Try this."
The blond wore it without hesitation. The vest fitted perfectly on his body. He then moved and flexed his body, trying to test the vest.
"It's perfect, Jack" he said approvingly "What do you say, Maria?" he turned to her.
"As I thought, it really suits you" she complimented and nodded to herself.
Her compliment somehow made the shinobi fluttered and something inside his stomach flipped. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but not unwelcome. In his 19 years of existence, he never once experience this kind of feeling.
It oddly similar to a pi; natural, irrational and important. Wait a second, since when did he know what pi was?
"Thank you" he offered.
"Good now that we've done here, let's head a tour around the village. Bye Jack, put the vest on my uncle's tab" Maria waved exuberantly and dragged the surprise Naruto out of the store.
The shinobi looked at her in shock at her dismissive nature and turned to look at the shop owner before they exited. Instead of the expected offended look, Jack simply shrugged and gave him a warning look. Time stopped for the second time that day as another silent message was sent in the blond's way. Try anything funny, I'll cut it off.
'What the hell is wrong with this village and its unhealthy obsession my 'it'?' he shuddered.
The couple spent almost half a day walking around the village, enjoying each presence while doing so. Maria also introduced him to the villager, and from the encounter with them, Naruto draw a conclusion that Maria was the golden girl of Carvahal, it was kind of obvious really; infectious smile, polite gesture, innocent and naive self. Who in the right mind dislike that kind of girl? The raven beauty had the aura of fragility beside her warm presence, it made everyone around her just wanted to keep her safe from everything, it was for him at least.
There was something did not add up though, despite her affable nature, she had this dismissive tendency whenever she ended the conversation with the villager. It was on the way home after they finished buying the groceries when he asked her about this.
It was evening time as they were walking up the wooden stairway. The setting sun was kissing the top of the cliff while spreading its orange ray across the vast sky. The pine tree rustled slightly as the night wind passed over them. He could hear the night wildlife began to awake from the slumber in the distance.
"My insecurity is probably the reason, to answer your that" she said
Naruto adjusted the groceries in his hand slightly before he looked at her in confusion.
"Despite me of being me..." she smiled playfully at him "I notice the over-protectiveness over me by the villager, well if you haven't notice the glare thrown your way, there is probably something wrong with your head."
Chuckling, the blond quipped "I noticed that, but you haven't answer my question yet."
Maria huffed in indignation
"I'm getting into that but you decided to interrupt, it's rude to cut when a lady talked, you know." she chided mockingly
"Well, if you decide to answer me instead of commenting about my head, I wouldn't cut you." he retorted
Maria simply ignored him and whistled playfully while looking at the the evening sky.
"I don't know why but suddenly the mystery of universe really interests me at the moment." she stated casually
His eyebrow twitched in annoyance "Fine, fine, you win... I'm humbly apologize of my inappropriate action, my lady."
Maria smirked at him "That's better... now to answer your question, you are my very first friend. Everyone in here sees me as a helpless child or a little sister who needs to be protected, and I'm kinda afraid of losing you because of that..." she finished in a low voice.
Naruto stopped and looked at her before calling her softly "Maria..."
She turned to him. A deep blue looked into the sweet chocolate "I won't leave simply you just because somebody tells me to. Those who don't follow rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are lower than trash. That's what I believe, I will never abandon my friend" he stated vehemently "... but unless if you want me to, I-"
*Poke*
His sentence was cut by a poking on his forehead courtesy of the girl. He blinked dumbly.
"What's this you try to looking cool. Come on, let's race."
Maria ran onward soon after she finished her sentence, leaving the Shinobi in his stupor.
"Hey!" Naruto yelled before ran after her. He never saw the bright smile on the the girl's face as they raced toward their current home.
Naruto was currently laying on the roof, watching the million stars and the pale lunar goddess above in the vivid night sky. A melancholy mood washed over him like wave as he lost in the beauty of the night.
Feeling of how familiar the gentle breeze caressed his face and how the queen of the night showered him with her silvery pale glow, somehow reminded him of Konoha, of home.
He then held out his hand, palm outstretched up into the sky.
Home... it felt so close yet he could not grasp it even if he extended his hand. It felt so far yet so close at the same time. He then let out sigh and let his hand down.
"It's a beautiful night, don't you agree?" a melodious voice started.
The blond did not turn to the person, already knowing who she was.
"Well it's unfortunate then for you. The stars are moving away from this universe faster than the speed of light, so one day there will be only pure dark" he remarked a bit harshly.
"How do you know that?"
He did not know. All he knew the answer was suddenly popped in his mind.
"I just know." he said curtly
"But there's still the moon" the beauty replied, but gaining no reply from Naruto. She then sat beside him. They watched the picturesque night in serenity, each was lost themselves in their own thought.
"You know, actually I'm an alien and my real home is on the moon." Maria said.
Naruto did not reply and simply laid there staring up at the night vault of heaven and listened to her silently
"I once had a dream... It was around this time of year. My parents were living in the moon. Everyone was alive and well, even Chappi was there making and pounding mochi, everyone looked so happy and they were calling for me to come to them..."
"... it's okay if you think I'm crazy but I believe they're using telepathy to communicate to me, "We're here... we'll be waiting right here" I believe that's what they're trying to tell me. Though I don't remember their faces and forget their voices, I still believe they are waiting for me up there..."
"... since then I've always believed my home is in the moon. I believe I'll be able to return to the moon someday. That's why I want to leave this village, to find a way to go there, to home." she said
Naruto turned his head to her and was quiet surprise. She was not the same bright and sanguine girl who thinking of him as a pet, right now she had looked like a melancholic mature woman who knew the harsh of reality, a total opposite of her morning persona. As he noticed this, he also realized the way her pale skin basking in the silver glow of the moon, she looked like a stranded lunar goddess who looking up to her home with a longing expression.
He could understand how she felt, having experience it first hand. The feeling of loneliness despite having a surrogate big family, and the feeling of longing of the real parent. The only difference between he and her was he was busy with mission and hanging out with friends, while she had nothing aside of being dote by the entire village, and she must kept her happy mask in check every single second.
Was she waiting for the day she can return to her home on the moon? Was her world only filled with sadness?
"So you're like the wolverine longing for the moon then..." he said
"Pretty much..."
After that being said, they fell again into comfortable silence, until a faint falling star sped across the starry night.
"A shooting star! Quick make a wish" she said exuberantly at him. She sat up and closed her eyes.
Naruto chuckled at her and closed his eyes, wishing for happiness to the soon-to-be 18 young woman.
"What's your wish?" he asked her.
Maria simply smiled at him and winked "Secret..."
It was near midnight, when he was sure everyone was asleep, he began the very first step of solving his mystery. Naruto sat in lotus position on his bed. He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes as the blond began his meditation.
After a while of concentrating, the darkness flickered into a place. However it was not the place he expected, instead of the dark and damp sewer with a large cell bar at the end of it, he arrived at a dark spacious square room. There were extremely complex seals written all over the place; the wall, the floor, the ceiling. The seal was glowing dark crimson, it felt foul and malicious, and the drawn seal seemed to be focus on the spot in the middle of the room.
Naruto walked toward the middle. What he saw shocked him to the core. There stood lonely his newly forged sword, Tsukuyomi. The crimson blade was glowing red and channeling the red chakra into the seal.
He then tried to grasp the hilt, only to be rejected by the red chakra. Narrowing his eyes in irritation, he tried again, only to be lash out again.
The shinobi finally realized something; the only explanation for the evil blood colored chakra was it was the kyuubi's and that meant he was still connected to the fur ball somehow and the other was his katana's intent, usually the lash out kyuubi's chakra left him a nasty burn but this time he felt nothing. It showed that Tsukuyomi forbade him to pull out the katana, but why?
The blond then get out from his mind scape. He opened his eyes and arrived in his room while thinking the answer about the question
His sword was channeling kyuubi's chakra into the seal, but what the seal for? Why there was a seal in his mind scape? He widened his eyes as he had the answer.
He quickly opened his palm and focused chakra on there, intending of making rasengan. True to his prediction, he was now staring in awe at the red rasengan, swirling beautifully on his palm.
But soon, his awe was replaced with panic as a sensation was started to bubble inside him. It was like a dam threatening to break. The sensation itself was so addicting and pulling, seducing his senses to accept it.
It was like the temptation of the forbidden fruit, he quickly released his rasengan and slowly, the feeling retreated back deep into him.
'Great, now I've to find a way to use my own chakra.'
Naruto was panting heavily as the result of fighting the temptation, even now he still could the faint tingle of its sweet taste. He swept the sweat on his forehead with his hand and opened his wet tunic.
He was trying to calm his breath and laid down on the bed before wrapping the cover around himself, and closed his eyes, trying to find solace in the blissful sleep.
But just as he began to drift of to sleep, he heard... a sob.
Groaning, he sat up, throwing the sheets off, and listened, closing his eyes intently as he listened for the voice again. He was right, a faint sob from the room next to him.
Curious, he rose to his feet, and his bare feet landed upon the floor with a soft tap. Quietly, he padded his way to the door. Finally, after a while, he was able to reach the door in the dark, and with a soft creak, it opened as he turned the door handle.
Peeking his head out of the doorway, he listened once more. And his patience was rewarded as he heard a voice, it was clearly a sob from the next door.
He walked toward the door and knocked softly on the wooden door, but she was not waking up instead her sob grew louder and there was a bit of trashing inside. Worrying about her, he tried to open the door and succeeded as the door was not locked.
The decoration inside the room was similar to his room, too bland for a girl's room but that was none of his concern. It was the girl on the bed. She was trashing every now and then, her expression contorted in pain and sadness, clearly having a nightmare.
Naruto quickly stride to the side of her bed and sat on it. He then shook her gently.
"Maria, Maria... wake up. It's just a dream."
Her brown eyes fluttered open, she then immediately flung herself onto him and cried on his shoulder.
"It's alright... it's just a dream" he chanted as he rubbed her back, trying to calm her.
"I-it's horrible... there's so much blood a-and there was fire burning. I tried to s-save mother b-but-" she ranted frantically.
"It's alright..." he reassured her.
The blond rocked her soothingly. It was after a while she calmed down.
"I-it was the night when my parents died. I'm not quiet remember about it. I-i dreamt about it every now and then. There were scream everywhere a-and b-blood-" she said.
"It's okay, Maria-chan. You don't have to tell me." he said.
The jinchuuriki then pulled away and looked at her "Are you okay?"
Maria nodded meekly, causing him to smile at the cuteness.
"Then, I'm going back to my room. Don't want your uncle to chew me off right?" he joked, trying to lighten the mood.
He was about to stand when he felt her grabbed his hand. She looked up at him know, and he blinked, as her frightened teal met his weary blue. Her tone was the neediest he had ever heard, and from her, that was saying a lot.
"Could you... stay with me tonight? I don't wanna sleep alone..."
He cursed inwardly, he really wanted to stay but... he was risking his it. He then looked again at the glassy eyes of her, her eyes was pleading him.
Naruto sighed "Okay but you explain it to your uncle in the morning, I don't want to lose something precious."
The blond laid on the bed without waiting for her response, and she immediately mirrored him. She laid beside him, resting her head on his bare chest. His arm snaked around her back, to protectively hold her by the waist, and she squeezed his chest tighter in response.
"Thanks. That makes me really happy" she sighed contently.
He gave a tired chuckle "Happy to oblige."
Naruto let out a yawn, with Maria mimicking him at exactly the same time, as their eyes began to close.
A minute later, they were fast asleep.
"What the HELL is going on here!!!"
Naruto snapped open his eyes and flinched at the amount of killer intent in the room. He watched as Thor was standing near the door way, and judging by the look of him, he was ready to kill someone.
The blond was about to get up but was prevented by the raven haired beside him. She tightened her clutch around him and snuggled more into his chest.
"Naruto, not now... I'm still tired..." she mumbled.
The jinchuuriki looked at her wide eyed and shifted his eyes to the elder who now was cracking his knuckles menacingly.
"W-wait, I didn't do anything I swear" Naruto said frantically to him "Maria, Maria... wake up" he nudged her.
"Two times not enough, huh? You're really a beast, Naruto" she murmured.
His jaw dropped, was this girl trying to kill him? he now shook her wildly "Wake up, wake up..."
Naruto watched in panic as Thor was walking toward him. His hazardous parental aura around him made the Orochimaru's killer intent felt like a child play.
"I warned you, boy..." he hissed through clenched teeth. Each word promised unspeakable pain to him.
"B-but..." he wanted to denied fiercely, but as for now his chance of keeping his it was nonexistent "Maria! Wake up!!!" he shouted.
"Uncle? What're you doing?" she asked sleepily.
Oh... the blond swore he saw the gate of heaven opened and a song of 'halelujah' being sang by the angel. He never felt so relief in his life, he would kiss Maria now, if not for the fact that the said kiss would be last thing he do on earth before he met his creation.
It took an hour of calming, explaining and pain, the last was his part, to calm the enraged Thor and solved the morning predicament.
Naruto spent the rest of the day by helping the villager arranging the festival. In the evening, he would spent time with Maria on the roof chatting and when everybody had fallen asleep, he would try to find a way to control his chakra, somehow his own chakra had merged with Kyuubi's, and it threatened to send him into a frenzy state every time he lost control of his own chakra.
Suffice to say, he was in bliss. It was not the kind of content when you achieved something, it was more like the happiness of doing something monotonous and tedious. He felt... normal; no mission, no kyuubi, no enemy nin, no constant sneering of the civilian. It felt nice... Ever since he was born, the blond needed in constant vigilance just to survive so, he was throughly enjoyed his stay in Carvahal, even if it was for seven days.
The cycle continued until the fifth day of his stay in Carvahal. It was in the evening after he finished helping the villager when the grey cloud started to form above the village and started to let out a drizzling rain. He predicted that Maria was inside doing something, but he was wrong.
The raven haired woman was at her usual spot on the roof. She was facing the grey sky with her eyes close, enjoying the feeling of rain against her skin. A soft smile was painted on her beautiful face.
Naruto approached and sat beside her "What are you doing here? You may catch a cold."
"I'm just enjoying the rain, I somehow felt connected with my parents. I don't know exactly how... I just feel them in the rain since it is connected to the sky..." she said without looking at him.
"One of the esp they use to contact you?" he asked nonchalantly
"Probably..."
"I never realize it before, but you're pretty deep huh?" the blond stated
Maria turned to him, smiling "You're the first person who knows this side of me. You should be honor."
"Of course, your highness." he mockingly replied
They both laughed.
"Hey Maria, do you want to go out to the festival with me?" Naruto asked
Maria looked at him a bit surprise.
"Well technically I'm don't really need one since I'm the birthday girl" she smirked at the slight disappointment on his face "But I guess I can take up your offer."
Naruto looked at him in bewilderment "You're gaming me..."
The woman looked smug before saying in a mock self-importance tone "You should be grateful I accept, lowly servant."
The blond growled playfully "Oh... you're really gonna get it. I suggest you run now."
He launched at her, trying to tickle the girl but Maria already moved from her spot and now was getting inside the house.
"Hey, take your punishment like a man!" he yelled
"Unfortunately for you, I am not a MAN!" she yelled back at the distance
Soon the laughter, giggle, and pleas to stop filled the two stories house
It was finally the last day he stayed in Carvahal, the seventh day. Tomorrow he will be leaving this village and returned to the hectic life he was so familiar with. The night that day was similar to the one in his first day. The full moon shone brightly on the starry night, watching the festival that was about to begin in the village. It's been almost 15 minutes when he waited for Maria at the front door of the house. She insisted he did so. He asked why but she only muttered something about the novel she read.
He shifted his gaze back to the nigh sky. For some reason he did not know, he felt restless, not because of the date but more about the gut feeling he had about tonight. It was like a bad premonition he felt, nagging him at the back of his head. The blond could almost taste its foul taste in the night breeze.
However that ominous feeling instantly being pushed aside and replaced with sense of admiration and awe as he watched his date walked out from the house. The raven haired beauty wore a simple long cream dress which showed her cleavage slightly, nothing extravagance. She wore a necklace with an hexagonal emerald as its gem, the gem itself radiated something, both power and authority he noticed, but still not what the reason he was in awe.
It was Maria herself. She wore her wavy dark haired down, flowing to her lower back. Her chocolate colored eyes sparkled with happiness and excitement. A soft smile graced her lovely visage as she noticed him gawking.
The moon illuminated her with its pale light, creating a beautiful glow around her, making her more like heavenly being, a moon goddess. She was the epitome of perfection and beauty, she was Venus de Milo in his eyes.
"So, what do you think?" she began
Naruto snapped out from his thought "Wow... just wow... yeah, wow..." he said, still regaining his composure.
Maria giggled "You can say something beside wow, you know"
Clearing his throat in embarrassment, he then replied "Wo- I mean you look gorgeous tonight... shall we go now?"
"Lead the way" she cheerfully said, pumping her fist into the air. She then sneaked around her arm around his.
The village was glowing in amber as the sphere spread the light all over Carvahal. He could smell the delicious food while laughter and chatter entered his ear as they entered the lot. The training ground had been changed into the festival ground. A large bonfire was made in the middle of the ground. On the ground's left side, two lines of long table and bench were installed there. Various appetizing looking food was served on the table. Naruto could also see the huge amount of beer barrels near the table, settling themselves on the end of each side. On the ground's right side settled three tents, he did not know what was in there since the villager refused his help when he offered his help to build them.
The villager had gather there, and when they noticed the pair, a loud cheer of 'happy birthday' greeted them. They then being pulled by an elderly woman to a sit on the spot at the first line of the wooden bench, right in the middle of it. Pile of foods soon being mounted on their plates, courtesy of the elder. Just before he ate, he was being teased and lectured by the villager around about what they would do if he dare to hurt Maria, he could also feel a familiar glare stabbing at the right see of his head. Turning to that direction, he saw Thor, only five seats away at the opposite of the table, glaring at him and mouthed "Hurt her..." he then made a slicing gesture at his neck "... you're dead."
Naruto gulped and turn to Maria who gave him an apologetic smile before gesturing him to eat.
The rest of the dinner of the dinner was remarkable. There was a lot of joke, boisterous laugh and booze. The lively and merry mood was almost palpable in the air. He enjoyed the buoyant atmosphere, and more importantly his date enjoyed it. Her melodious laugh and giggle almost always filled his hearing through out the dinner. He turned to her and smile slightly as he saw her laughing freely at one of the jokes.
At the end of the fantastic dinner, 10 of the villager stood up and walked towards the tent at the opposite side of the ground. They entered and came out a minute later, each brought out a string instrument in hand, ranging from violin to guitar. They positioned themselves ten feet away from the bonfire, ready to play a score.
The other villager automatically stood up and walked to the middle of the bon fire, this include Maria who dragging the clueless Naruto. The villager surrounded the bon fire and positioned themselves for the dance. Naruto sneaked their arm around his date's waist, pulling her closer while Maria wrapped her slender arms around the Naruto's neck.
A second later, a slow and flowing melody played over the clearing. It was melancholic yet beautiful arrangement. The drifting tone was hauntingly sad, and it was weird to use such piece on this occasion but he did not care, all he cared was the girl in his arm.
The pair swayed gently to right and left, looking into each other's eyes and watching emotion played in them. Naruto leaned down and rest his forehead against her. He could feel her hot breath against him, and then his eyes flickered to her.
He tentatively inched his lip to her. Sensing what he was doing, the raven haired beauty tiptoed slightly. They slowly closed their eyes and their lips finally met...
The next thing he felt was the electrify tingle all over his body, something warm bubbled inside him. The kiss was soft and chaste before it ended. He could still feel the sensation lingering all over him and by the daze look on her face, she felt it too.
Maria let out a small smile "Wow..." she whispered in trance.
Smirking, he replied "You can say something beside wow you know."
"Jerk." she said softly, a hint of playfulness laced her word
The second piece was started and it carried the same somber mood as the previous, reverberating the melody over the ground. Naruto and Maria simply danced in silent, enjoying the closeness they shared under the millions star that night.
At the beginning of the third song, she spoke "Say, are you leaving the village tomorrow?"
"Yeah, not just me but we are leaving, right?" he said.
Maria nodded tentatively "What I mean is after we arrive at the next town..."
Naruto was silent for a while "I guess..."
"I see..." she said. Her voice filled with sadness, it made him felt a prick in his heart. The stinging pain in his chest made him realized something, something he should never do, he was falling for her, hard. The blond cursed himself for that.
In his reverie, he felt Maria strapped something around his neck. Looking down at his chest, he found the emerald necklace she had wore. He turned to her questioningly.
"It's for you. You lost your necklace right... my uncle said it was my mom's..." Maria shook her head when she noticed the blond was about to protest "I want you to have it, so when you're looking at it, you'll remember me and your time in here."
"... and if I return to the moon, you'll be the proof of my time on earth" she strained a smile.
Naruto closed his eyes, trying to numb the feeling in his heart. Tonight would be the mark of the end of his seven days; his dream was finally over and he had to wake up. He knew everything had an end, and this dream was not an exception; that's how everyone grow up, that was what make people stronger, but even though he knew that, he could not help but the pain and sadness of farewell.
He opened his eyes and looked at the her. Tears were pooling in her brown eyes. He wanted to hold her, embraced her but he could not, because if he did that, he did not know if he could muster enough strength to return to reality.
His thoughts were broken by a loud howl from the forest. Every activity immediately stopped, there was a complete silent around the entire area, there was not even the sound of the night wind. It was felt like the entire sound was being sucked by that howl, leaving a complete void of silence in its wake.
Then, the pine rustled slightly and rustling moved toward the village, the ground shook slightly and it was getting stronger each second pass. Something was heading this way...
Suddenly it stopped; the rustle, the shaking, it all stopped. The villager waited in tense silent, each of them began to draw their weapons, whatever it was.
The second eerie howl was heard, and then all hell broke loose.
A 10 foot wolf broke the gate, its malicious red eyes looked around the village, it was snarling his sharp teeth to the villager when it found them. The black wolf then howled once again, and soon a horde of horse sized wolf invaded Carvahal.
"Damn how can they see through the illusion!!! Damn that bastard Kain!!!" Naruto heard Thor cursed loudly "Everyone don't let the hell spawn get to Maria!!!" he barked.
The battle finally began.
Naruto looked at the frightened raven haired girl "Maria, I want you go back to home now."
"B-but what about y-"
"Don't worry about me. I'll see you when it's over. I promise..." he reassured her "Now, GO!!!"
After seeing her figure ran, he turned to look around, analyzing the situation. A bright light and fire ball could be seen every now and then, inflicting damage against the wolf. The villager was holding themselves at the moment, but that because its leader was simply standing at the distance, its eyes glanced around and it sniffed the air every so often. The black wolf was looking for something.
He then shifted her attention the smaller wolves. If he managed to deal with the grunt first, they probably had a chance to survive.
The blond had no choice. Readying himself for the temptation, he channeled his chakra to his feet. The effect was immediate, as soon as the chakra ran through his tenketsu, he started to gradually losing control of himself, bit by bit.
He needed to finish the battle quickly not only for the village but also for himself, and with that thought in mind, the shinobi vanished.
The villager was in shock as they watched a yellow blur flashed through out the entire battlefield, appearing and disappearing leaving the dead wolf in its wake. They all wondered who that was, and if their savior was sent by Einhasad herself to protect them.
Around 10 minutes later, the yellow streak finally stopped after slaughtering half of the wolf's horde, and the villager had their answer, it was a man with a spiky blind hair, kneeling and breathing heavily on the ground. The remaining wolves surrounded him warily while the giant black wolf baring his teeth menacingly at him in the distance.
The using of chakra started to take toll on his body; his body was twitched violently, his face was etched in agony as he tried to maintain the little control he had. His whiskered mark was now more pronounced and feral, he could feel his sharpened fang against his bottom lip, drawing blood. Naruto shook his head, trying to focus his vision. His visual was now divided into two, his left eyes projected the normal one while the right became more enhanced, everything was more in detail, he could see the transparent dome over Carvahal with his right. The overlapping picture drove him crazy, everything seemed spinning. Unknown to him, his previous blue right eyes was now crimson red with a slit as the pupil and three coma in it.
He growled slightly as his mind started to slip into darkness bliss, he really had to finish this fast.
Unfortunately before he even regained his strength, he heard loud roar from the giant black wolf, the ground tremble slightly from it. He blinked and the next he saw was the incoming claw from the monster, just inches away from him.
Gritting his teeth, the sharp claw connected to him. He was thrown to the bottom of the stair, destroying the the wooden stair case as the result. A huge and fatal gashes was being inflicted on his torso, his blood poured out from the wound like a waterfall.
The blond coughed blood. He then focus his blurry sight to the wolf, readying to himself for the finishing blow, but it never came...
The said wolf instead of continue its attack on the shinobi, it shifted its attention on the villager, and soon the slaughter began. He watched in helplessness as the monster ripped the villager part from part, and devoured them greedily.
The scream.... the blood... the carnage...
He saw as the wolf ripped the intestines out from Jack's corpse, feasting on it in voracious hunger, he saw as they feast on the kind elder woman, he watched as Thor stared at him lifelessly as he was being eaten.
He tried desperately to move again, but his body simply refused. The loss of blood and the malicious chakra started to make him lost the feeling of his senses. His eyes was now unfocussed and felt really heavy.
'Is this the end?' he thought. He closed his eyes and started to drift into the land of unconsciousness, he stopped fighting the sensation and was about to succumb...
Suddenly, an image of long wavy raven haired beauty appeared on his mind, she was smiling at him softly, the image then changed, this time he stared at the dead corpse of the gentle girl, she was being feast on by the wolf, her devoid chocolate connected to his azure, as if blaming him for her death.
No... no... no...
A pure rage and hatred bubbled up from deep within in. The sudden surge of chakra rushed inside him through his veins. It was so addicting and intoxicating, he could feel the unimaginable power in every cell of his body.
It felt... good.
Snapping open his eyes, the blond slowly rose. He examined his now clawed hand and flexed around his body. His now dark scarlet eyes glanced around at the remaining wolf, they were snarling and growling at him, instead of being intimidated, he grinned maliciously at them, showing his sharp fang.
Naruto closed his right palm into a fist and red chakra started to gather before materializing into blood colored sword, Tsukuyomi. He shifted again to the wolf near him and his grin widened.
He swung down his sword at the air to its direction. A path of black flame appeared and ran itself towards its target, burning everything down. His face filled with glee as he watched the flame burnt the wolf into ashes.
All the wolf growled at him before charging at him, including the large one. He charged at them in retaliation, cutting down everything that moved into pieces and burning down everything that annoy him with the hell flame of amaterasu.
He was laughing in madness as he butchered the wild canine, he was dancing the dance of death in elated rapture. He moved base on his instinct; an instinct for carnage and destruction.
He stopped when there was nothing else cut and nothing else to burn. He was then being enchanted by the sight before him. A gratifying satisfaction and joy was filled his mind as he watched the black flame engulfed the entire building. The ground was painted with blood and chunk of fleshes.
The jinchuuriki barked a laughter into the starry sky.
Maria walked down the stair doubtfully, her knees were shaking and tears were flowing down from her eyes. She was closed to pass out as she saw black flame burnt down her village.
She took a deep breath to calm herself, instead an opposite took over, she almost threw up as she inhaled the foul stench in the air.
Gathering up her courage, she continued her walk...
Second later, she heard a familiar laugh but it was not the laugh she fell in love in, this laugh was filled with madness. She widened her eyes in worry and started to dart down the staircase, forgetting the panic and fear she had felt.
She ignored everything but to run to the blond she fell in love it. At the end of the stairway, she watched the object of her affection throwing up his head up to the sky and laughed gleefully with his back was facing her. The shadow from the flame around cast on him, defining his outline with malicious aura.
He looked more like a demon than her blond idiot.
But she did not care... she ran to him as fast as she could; wanting to hug him, wanting to know what was happening to him, wanting to feel his warmth again, wanting to feel safe in his arms.
As the blond laughed, he felt a presence approaching him fast from his behind. Thinking it as an incoming attack, he grinned.
When his assailant was within his range, he quickly spun around and stabbed his katana through the person in one swift motion.
He smiled evilly as the wonderful feeling of his sword piercing through her stomach.
*Poke*
Naruto then felt a weak poke against his forehead. He blinked for a moment before looking closely at his victim.
His smile quickly contorted in horror, his eyes widened as he realized what he had just done. His euphoria induced mind started to clear as the feeling of ecstasy disappeared and the chakra dissipated back to his coil. His wine colored eyes returned into azure and his whisker was now less pronounced.
As Tsukuyomi vanished into thin air, Maria fell down, Naruto quickly caught her before she connected to the ground. He then gently laid her on the ground.
Maria smiled weakly at him "Hey... what's with the face?"
He did not answer, he was busy checking her wound on her stomach. His body trembled slightly seeing the usual lively girl so fragile, her beautiful pale skin was now a sickly pale.
The blond was in horror as he realized the how fatal her wound, the sword had pierced through her ventriculus, leaking out the acid inside her body. Clenching his hand in desperation, he then tried to use a medical jutsu before he realized what chakra he would be using, the poisonous chakra of the bijuu. In other words, she had only a few minutes left.
He felt a lurch on his stomach, and was about to vomit, when he felt a soft hand on his face, touching him gently and turning his face to her. He felt sick of himself seeing her smile at him.
"Pick me up..."
He obliged and picked her in his arms. Her sweet chocolate stared into his dull blue.
"Remember when I said I want to find a way to the moon?"
Naruto forced himself to nod.
"I lied... when I said that I already know how to go there" her voice was barely a whisper.
He choked before asking "How?"
"Ah, that's easy..." she weakly tried to sound cheerful, and failed miserably "I will as though I'm dying, but I'm not, I'm simply preparing myself for my journey to the moon. This body of mine is too heavy for me to take it with me."
The shinobi simply strained a small smile at her, not knowing what to say. He tightened his grip around her.
"A shooting star..." she said as a light flashed through the night "... quick make a wish."
He wanted to, he really wanted to make a wish, but he knew this one wish would never come true, that's why it called a wish.
"Do you want to know my wish?" Maria asked. Her eyes flickered every so often
He nodded.
"I make the same wish as my last one, I wished for you to return to your home." the girl in his arms scrunched her face a bit in pain.
Naruto widened his eyes in surprise, a sorrowful washed over him like dark wave, engulfing and suffocating him in guilt and remorse.
"I-i think I have to go now..." she began "Don't be sad... I'm going to meet my parent, you know, I'll be laughing with them and playing with Chappi, and when I miss you I'll use my esp to contact you."
He felt pain, every word from her stabbed deep in his heart. He felt useless, he despised himself, he was worse than trash.
"I see.." his voice was laced in pure hurt and pain.
"Before I go, I need to tell you something..." Maria said "I-I love you, Naruto."
His breath caught in his throat. Tears were gathering his eyes
"At least I can tell you that, with this I can go now. Can you grant one more wish for me?" she whispered. Her eyes were half closed now.
"Anything..."
"I don't want any tears for a goodbye... I want it to fill with laughter. Can you laugh for me?"
The blond nodded while trying to hold his tear. He then forced a laugh, softly at first before it ended loudly.
"Thank you... I'll see on the moon, Naruto."
He continued his hollow laugh, throwing his head up to the sky...
His silent tear cascaded his cheeks as he caught the sight of the moon, the moon never felt so sad like tonight before; he continued to laugh.
He laugh and laugh and laugh, until his throat was dry and his laughter turn into more like a croak.
But, he continued to laugh...
He stopped when he had no voice left, he then looked down at her. She had a gentle smile painted on her beautiful face, seeing her peaceful expression she looked like she was a sleep, gone into an eternal slumber.
The stranded lunar goddess had finally returned to her home...
And she took with her a part of him, it felt like there was a hole inside his chest, the pain was surreal.
Tears of blood unknowingly flowed down from his eyes, and his azure eyes flashed into a crimson with a pinwheel before returning back to emotionless blue. Odd enough, he did not feel anymore sadness, he did not feel anymore pain and hurt in his chest.
He just simply did not feel anymore, his heart was simply blank, devoid from any emotion.
Making rasengan on his palm, he examined it closely, being drawn by its beauty. He wondered what it felt like if he rammed the red sphere into his heart, it's not like he had any thing any longer.
Maybe by doing that, he could follow her to the moon...
I wished for you to return to your home.
The blond watched the rasengan for a minute, before dissipating it.
There had been joy, there had been frustration and pain. Joy like flying in the vast sky of dream and pain like falling down to the harsh ground of reality, making his body and heart break into pieces, and though he was broken, he would at least granted her last wish, for him to return to home.
And maybe after he fulfilled her wish, he could meet her again, on the moon.
He then picked up her body bridal style and walked into the forest, away from the burning village, granting her wish to leave the village.
Naruto looked once more at the lonely orb of night with yearning expression before he vanished into the depth of the wood.
Whewww... the longest chapter I wrote so far...
Hope you guys enjoy it
That's it for chap 1, see you in chap 2...