(Half Breed Chapter 2)

It was cold and the sun had just begun to peak its head out from behind the Spine. The snow that clung to the forest and ground radiated beauty that permeated the Spine as well as a haunting chill. Only small green leaves poking out of the snow could be seen other than the brown of the bark of trees.

The forest was unnaturally silent, like someone holding their breath waiting for something to happen. The feeling was lost to the buck grazing on what little green in the snow it could find, but not to the two others who hid in the bushes getting ready to strike.

Naruto had grown up much in the past sixteen years. He had come to love his adoptive family like they were his real family. Naruto had always been a very smart child and knew instantly that they were not his biological family, but soon accepted them to be the family of his heart.

Naruto had gotten taller as well as a bit more muscular. His lithe frame gave him a sleek look, but nobody could deny the muscle he had from working in his father's forge, though the part Eragon was jealous of was how cut he was. His muscles weren't excessively large or anything and he still had a lithe frame, but the definition the muscle had was amazing.

His face had become even more handsome as well as angular the older he got and his eyes became a bit more slanted. The most noticeable feature though, Naruto's ears, were long and pointed which was the most obvious part of his body that others noticed. Naruto had gotten his ears pierced when he was younger so now he had two black studs in his ears.

Naruto wore nice clothing consisting of a dark green tunic with black leather riding pants and dark brown rider boots. He had a brown leather belt on his hip that he usually attached tools for black smiting, but now he was using it to hold his quiver in place. On Naruto's hands were brown gloves that didn't have any fingers in them to keep Naruto's thin fingers agile.

Naruto and his best friend Eragon were hiding behind a bush stalking said deer. They had been doing so for the past few days and had varying luck catching up with it. Naruto had decided to go with Eragon so that he would have something interesting to do since his father had been training his two brothers extensively for when they left to find jobs in surrounding towns so he really didn't have much to do besides help his mother do house work. When Eragon had come by to tell him that he was going hunting Naruto had asked to join him immediately.

The hunt wasn't that bad. Naruto hadn't ever had the same difficulties that others had had with well anything but he never like holding it above other's heads and had kept it to a minimum so as to not be seen as even more different. He had gone at Eragon's speed and had enjoyed the conversation as well as the thrill of the hunt. Now that they were here, ready to strike, his heart was beating extra fast as he could feel the climax of the hunt approaching.

"I bet my arrow kills him" whispered Naruto as he looked over at his friend. Usually Eragon was so relaxed and somewhat silly but now when his food supply was on the line he was serious and had a deadly look in his eyes, though he did smile.

"I'll take that bet" spoke Eragon as he strung his arrow and pulled back his bow. He aimed it at the deer with deadly precision and waited for Naruto to do the same.

Naruto's strength had caused him a problem when he first started hunting like it had done everything else. No matter what kind of wooden bow his father would make or by it would always break in Naruto's hand like a brittle stick. His father had spent days thinking about the problems and had eventually come to a solution. If wood was too weak he would use something stronger and since he was a black smith metal was the best option. He spent weeks perfecting the method until finally he was able to make Naruto a steel recurve bow that could handle his strength if he wasn't too rough with it.

It had worked great and Naruto could pull the metal bow back as far as he wanted and the braided metal wire string wouldn't break either. He had been excited to use it as soon as his father had gotten it right but then he ran into another problem. None of the wooden arrows could handle the power the metal bow put out and would shatter and splinter when he would release them. His father wasn't even bothered in the slightest; actually he seemed thrilled at the challenge, and set out to make Naruto some metal arrows. They worked like a charm but the down side was they were expensive and time consuming to make so if he shot an arrow he would always have to go find it and fix it if it were damaged.

Both Eragon and Naruto lined up their sights and aimed at the buck. The buck lifted its head, probably sensing the tension in the air, but it was too late as Naruto and Eragon let their arrows go flying. The unexpected happened though as the arrows from their bows. A large explosion in between them and the buck caused the buck to become startled and Eragon to hesitate causing the arrow to go off track. Unfortunately for the buck though Naruto wasn't as easily startled and hit his target dead on.

"What the hell was that" shouted Eragon as he stood up and looked into the burnt area that the explosion had caused. Sitting there in the center were two beautiful round objects both of which caused Naruto and Eragon to marvel.

There sitting in the center of the chard earth were two large stones, one a beautiful sapphire blue, and another a breath taking emerald green. They both had thin white veins spread across them that had no real pattern. At the same time, almost like they were being drawn in, Naruto and Eragon bent down and picked them up. Naruto picked up the emerald stone and Eragon picked up the sapphire stone.

"What are they" asked Eragon as he looked at the sapphire stone. It was huge in his opinion and it took both hands for him to keep it up.

"I don't know. I would say giant emerald and sapphire's that haven't been cut yet but I haven't ever head of them looking like this, and they are not near as heavy as that much crystal. I honestly wouldn't know what they were" spoke Naruto as he examined the stone. He held it up into the sun light and could see that there was something inside of it but figured it was kind of like how sap incased mosquitos and didn't think much of it. "Maybe the traders will know something."

"Well I hope it is worth something because without that deer my family isn't going to have enough meet for the winter and we don't have enough to buy any" spoke Eragon with a depressed voice. Naruto just rolled his eyes. Eragon and his family wouldn't go hungry, Naruto's father would see to that, but if it did come to that Eragon would have to deal with his uncle Garrow's broken pride. Naruto loved the man but there were some things that were trying to deal with when around the man and his pride was one of them.

"Don't worry about it. Even if you missed I know I didn't" spoke Naruto as he pointed at the dead buck lying on the ground not far away. Eragon seemed to light but, but then got depressed again.

"Yea but you're the one that killed it not me, so that makes the deer yours." Eragon went back to examining the strange stone hoping that it was worth something when he got smacked upside the head by Naruto.

"Don't worry about it. My brothers all started working and are bringing in plenty of money, we won't go hungry I assure you. You can have the deer, just don't tell Garrow you weren't the one that killed it and we will be fine" spoke Naruto as he put his stone in the satchel that he wore on his back. He had to rearrange all the things in there like his camping equipment but other than that he was golden.

"Are you sure" asked Eragon as he looked over at Naruto. He had walked over to the tree that his arrow had hit and was retrieving it. It might not have been made of metal but it was still a pain in the ass to make another one.

"I wouldn't have said anything if I weren't, besides it's not like Garrow will be happy that you didn't bring any meat for the winter and if you don't get back to town soon then you won't be able to give Katrina that letter" joked Naruto as he went over and took his arrow out of the deer. After cleaning off his arrow and putting it in his quiver he kneeled down and picked up the deer and started walking towards town.

"I'm never going to be able to get over all the things you can do" spoke Eragon as he watched Naruto carry the large deer on his shoulder like it wasn't even worth mentioning. Ever since they were little Naruto had always been so fast, and strong that it almost seemed unreal but then again if the stories he had heard from Horst and Brom were anything to go by he really shouldn't be surprised.

XXX

Horst was waiting for his son out by the forges. In the past sixteen years Naruto had done nothing but bring happiness to their family. It was odd at first since they didn't know if elves were allergic to anything or any other requirement they may have in order to live but soon they realized that elves were much more durable than even they themselves.

When Naruto was three years only he accidentally got in the way of his brothers while they were wrestling. They fell on Naruto, but to their shock and to their parents Naruto was able to lift both of them up and wasn't even slightly hurt. Soon over the years it became obvious that Naruto was not only stronger, but faster, more durable, had way better stamina, and healed much faster than they could have thought possible.

Another great thing that they learned about Naruto was he was a natural when it came to metal working. They didn't know if it were an elf thing or if it was just a personal skill but Naruto learned to forge with easy that astounded them.

They were happy when Naruto made friends besides with his two brothers because honestly they were worried he might be a social outcast. His features and the stories about elves were really against him but he quickly made friends with Eragon and Roran which was a relief.

"Dear it is cold out here. If you wait for Naruto forever you'll catch a cold" spoke Elain, Horst's wife as she stepped outside and looked at her husband with a smile on her face. She loved that her husband had brought Naruto into their lives and she loved how he loved all of their children the same amount.

"I know but he told us he would be coming back today. He never makes us wait for him" spoke Horst as he looked up at the Spine with a worried look. "Maybe I should go looking for him. He could have gotten hurt or lost his way."

Elain smiled knowing how much of a worry wart Horst could be when it came to Naruto. It was like he always assumed he was fragile just because of the way he looked when in reality he knew that Naruto was many times stronger than him.

"Honey it is early, give him some time before you go running through the spine. You and I both know that if anyone can survive up there it is Naruto" spoke Elain as she walked up behind Horst and wrapped her arms around his waist. He gave him a warm wet kiss on his cheek though it was difficult because of how tall he was.

"Yea I guess" but that was as far as he got when they bother heard "Hey mom, hey dad" coming from up the road. When they turned around they saw Naruto walking towards them. They were so happy to see he was alive and well.

There happiness was eviscerated by the sight of blood on the top of Naruto's right shoulder as well as their curiosity regarding the stone he had in his left hand. They did notice that Naruto had his metal bow strapped around his shoulder though and he had his metal arrows as well.

"Honey what happened to you" asked Elain as she ran up to Naruto and started to fret over him. Naruto just smiled and let her do as she pleased as there was no stopping her when she was in 'mom' mode.

"It's nothing I just carried the dear that we killed down the mountain side and I guess it bleed out on me, but that isn't the real interesting news. Check this out" spoke Naruto as he held up the stone for his mother and father to see.

"What is it" asked Horst as he took the stone from his son. It was odd looking it looked like emerald lodged in stone that hadn't been purified yet but then again it didn't.

"I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me dad" spoke Naruto as he looked at his dad with anxious eyes. He really wanted to know what it was and if it had a connection to magic, something elves where supposed to be able to use.

"I'm not sure. I haven't ever seen anything like this before… let me go get my tools so I can examine it better" spoke Horst as he hugged his son and walked back into the house to find his tools. The stone interested him greatly and he wanted to see what it had in it.

When they were all alone Elain pulled Naruto into a warm hug which Naruto returned full heartedly. "I am so happy your safe Naruto" spoke Elain as she walked towards the house. "Dinner is ready" spoke Elain as an afterthought.

"Alright" shouted Naruto as he walked over to the forges where his brother Baldor was hammering away at a piece of metal. It looked like it was going to be a horseshoe when he was done but it would still be some time before that happened.

"What's happening big bro" asked Naruto as he sat on the other side of the forge to keep away from the flying pieces of burning metal that his brother was knocking into the air.

"Hey how was the hunt" asked Baldor as he put the horseshoe into some water casing steam to rise up. He was using giant metal tongs so he didn't destroy his hands and a giant apron that Naruto used to make fun of him for wearing, until he started to have to wear it.

"Pretty good, I was able to kill a large buck but gave it to Eragon and told him not to tell Garrow it was me who killed it. Honestly if I was going to starve I don't think I would be so picky about where my next meal came from" spoke Naruto as he rested his back against his chair before taking a deep breath and standing up.

"Not everyone is like you little bro. some people would rather die than to lose their pride no matter how petty others see it. You have to remember Garrow is pore and doesn't like to be reminded about it so when he sees something as charity he kind of freaks out. It was wise of you to tell Eragon not to tell his uncle" spoke Baldor as he watched his brother stand up and heat up his own small forge that him and his brother had used when they were smaller. Naruto had been using it to make a new sword that he said would be much better for someone who was fighting one on one.

"Yea I figured that but it was still annoying having to tip toe around Garrow" spoke Naruto as he pulled out a long curved piece of metal that he had been working on for the past two days. He called it a katana and he was making it by pounding metal flat then folding it and then repeating the process.

"Yea but you will learn that there are things in this life that we have to deal with even though we don't like it. Tip toeing around Garrow is worth it because he is a good friend who would die for you if need be so taking a few extra steps to save his pride isn't such a big deal, anyways what's got pops all uppity" asked Baldor as he watched Naruto continue to hammer the weird sword that he had been developing.

"Oh yea me and Eragon found these weird stones in the Spine but we had no idea what they were and decided to take them home with us. Eragon took the big blue one and I took the big green one. I wanted to show dad what it if found and now it seems he is on a quest to figure it out" spoke Naruto as he watched the coals get hot enough to melt steel.

"Maybe it is a new type of metal? If that were the case then you could use it to make your new sword" spoke Baldor as he went back to making the horseshoes.

"Hmm I hadn't thought about it like that, but yea if it is some new kind of metal than I guess I could always melt it down and see what happens" spoke Naruto as he went back to forging his new weapon. He didn't have any swordsman training since nobody from their village had been in the kings army but he still wanted to make a weapon so that was what he had set out to do.

XXX

That night during dinner Horst came back into the room and handed Naruto the stone. Naruto looked up at him inquisitively as he could tell his father was both confused and interested.

"I have no idea what it is. I have tried to identify it but nothing I know of matches it, but I will tell you two things that I learned about it" spoke Horst as he sat down and began piling food onto his plate.

"And they would be" trailed off Naruto hoping that his father wouldn't play no long guessing game. He was far too interested in figuring out just what the green stone was.

"The first thing I discovered was it is hollow'' spoke Horst as he cut a slab of ham off of the roasted pig that was in the center of their table. He used a large spoon and slapped the top of the stone causing a loud yet hollow sound. "The second thing I discovered is that it is hard. I couldn't even scratch the damn thing and I figure it might be even harder than diamonds but I can't be sure" spoke Horst as he continued to pile on more food.

"How could it be harder than diamonds? I thought diamonds were the hardest substance in the world" spoke Naruto as he looked at the stone in his lap trying to figure out what was going on.

"I thought so as well but maybe we were wrong. I'll take it to the traders when they come here and ask them about it see if they know anything" spoke Horst as he took a big bite out of a biscuit Elain had made for them.

"Why can't I go talk to the traders? I never get to" spoke Naruto with a sad tone to his voice. Out of everything that he could and was allowed to do going to see the traders was not one of them.

"Naruto dear you know why you can't see the traders. What if they find out your half elf? They will surely tell others and by the end of the month Galbatorix and his soldiers will be marching over the Spine to try and capture you" spoke Elain in a soft soothing tone that still had finality too it.

"But I promise I will wear a wrap or a hood or something to make sure none of the traders find out I am part elf" spoke Naruto in a pleading tone. He really wanted to go to see the traders. They were the only form of entertainment their small village got each year and he was forced to stay hidden while they were here only to hear about how amazing it was year after year from everyone else. It was miserable and he hated it.

"I am sorry Naruto but this is final. Until it is safe for elves to live in the empire you're just going to have to bear with it" spoke Horst as he looked up only to see the sad look in his son's face. "I really am sorry Naruto."

"It is ok" spoke Naruto as he wiped his face and stood up. "I think I am going to go lie down for a bit" spoke Naruto as he walked out of the kitchen and up to his bedroom.

When Naruto made it to his room he lay down and stared up at the ceiling with sad eyes.

"Well it looks like another year staying at home just to wish I was somewhere else" spoke Naruto as he fell asleep.

XXX

As Naruto was sleeping he kept on hearing a strange sound. It was bothering him because it was already so hard for him to sleep as it was. He gave up trying to ignore whatever it was that was bothering him and cracked open his eye and looked around the room.

He didn't see anything but then that sound kept on repeating so Naruto kept on looking. After the last squeak he followed the sound with his heightened hearing and noticed that it came from the stone.

"What the hell" spoke Naruto as he looked at the egg? It was bouncing around making all kinds of squeaking sounds as it hopped around looking like a Mexican jumping bean. Naruto watched it with ahh as hair line cracks started to form all around the stone.

'Not a stone, an egg' thought Naruto as he corrected himself. He wondered just what kind of creature came out of an egg that big. 'Well I am not sure how my biological mother had me. For all I know elves could be born from eggs' thought Naruto as he looked down at the jumping egg as it continued to crack. He certainly wasn't ready to be no dad that was for sure.

Eventually an ear splitting squeak filled the room and the egg all but blew up sending bits and pieces of the egg in all directions. Naruto had to shield his eyes to make sure they were not gouged out thanks to the incoming projectiles.

"Well if this is how elves are born then I feel bad for all elven parents" joked Naruto as he looked down where the egg used to be only to gasp at what he saw. Standing there was a beautiful emerald colored lizard with the most beautiful glowing neon green eyes he had ever seen, but oddly it had two wings.

"Wait a second, wings? That isn't a lizard, that's a dragon" spoke Naruto as he looked at the baby dragon with wonder. 'I thought the king was the last rider' thought Naruto as he looked down at the baby dragon.

The baby dragon waddled around getting used to walking on all four feet as it looked around his room. It bit into the side of his bed post a few times before getting bored with that and looking for something else to entertain itself.

"You're kind of destructive you know that" spoke Naruto as he watched the baby dragon chew on his bed post. The dragon looked up at him with interested eyes and started to walk towards him. When it got to the edge of his bed it raised its head up and gave him the cutest look.

"I swear if you bite me I am going to be having deep fried lizard by the end of the night" spoke Naruto as he reached down with his left hand tentatively not wanting to lose a finger and touched the snout of the dragon with the center of his palm.

It was the most painful experience he had ever been forced to endure as what felt like ice water was poured into his veins and rushed through his entire body. Naruto fell back on his ass as he lost the feeling in his legs. The searing pain running through every fiber in his body wasn't helping and the silver marking on his hand that was itching wasn't either.

"When I recover you're so dead" spoke Naruto as he slowly stood up scratching the weird marking on his hand that felt like a spider bite. As he looked down at the dragon he felt something brush against his own mind. It was an odd sensation but oddly he felt he was almost expecting it and reached out and felt the dragon's mind. He wasn't very good at it and could only feel what it was feeling.

"You're hungry" spoke Naruto with a less than annoyed look. The dragon seemed to understand him and made another high pitched noise.

'So much for that novelty moment' thought Naruto as he went down to the kitchen and got a hand full of meat before walking back up to his room. He slowly fed his new baby dragon bits of meat that it snapped up and swallowed hole. "Hey you take one of my fingers I gona end you" spoke Naruto as he fed the dragon another piece of meat. The dragon growled a bit but other than that ignored Naruto.

"Man I am a half elf living in the empire and now I am stuck with a dragon. I am so screwed" spoke Naruto more to himself than to anyone else but the dragon made a burping sound that almost sounded like it was agreeing with him. The sleepy look on its face was still really cute so he figured he would ignore it. After that Naruto gather the pieces of its shell and put them in a bag beside his bed.

"Whatever I will deal with this in the morning" spoke Naruto as he laid in his bed and pulled up his blanket. The dragon jumped up and glided onto his bed and started to crawl around. "Geez could you just let me sleep a bit? You're like an annoying alarm clock that won't let me sleep" spoke Naruto. The dragon growled a bit more but then made its way to Naruto's side and curled up. Naruto didn't know why he did it but he grabbed the dragon and pulled it in closer to him so it would be able to absorb the maximum amount of his body heat. The baby dragon made a weird purring sound that sounded almost like a cat but Naruto ignored it. He was tired and still had some pain lancing up from his hand so he just wanted to sleep it away.

XXX

When Naruto opened up his eyes the world had changed for him. Now everything had a ting of green in it and it wasn't as clear as before. Naruto squinted his eyes trying to figure out what was going on when he saw small bones with veins running across his vision.

"Damn it" spoke Naruto as he looked over and saw that the baby dragon's wing had landed on his face causing him to see through the translucent wings that were tinged green like the rest of its body.

He really didn't know what to do with it. He could always keep it in his room but he could tell that even after one night it had gotten bigger. Keeping it in his room wouldn't work and when it got bigger he would only have a harder time trying to hide it.

"Where could I keep you that is both safe and convenient for me. It would also have to be a place where nobody else goes" spoke Naruto but then he snapped his finger. "That's it. I'll take you to the place my dad found me" spoke Naruto as he looked down at the dragon, "but first your gona have to get a bit bigger so you can defend yourself."

The dragon looked at him with those big cute eyes and Naruto's heart melted a bit. He really didn't want the dragon to be away from him even if it kind of pissed him off from time to time, but still he felt a connection to it.

For the next two weeks Naruto watched over the baby dragon and also watched at it grew. The dragon was ravenous and its hunger seemed to never end, but with a successful kill a week ago he had been able to keep it fed and his family unaware.

After a month of raising it in secret he moved it to the cabin in which he was found. The dragon would have everything it could possible need. It had some food until Naruto could resupply it, blankets, shelter, and even company. It seemed that blue stone was a dragon egg as well and it hatched for Eragon around the same time as the green egg hatched for Naruto. Naruto had agreed to let Eragon use the cabin with him since he figured the dragons would enjoy the company though he really hoped they didn't try and kill one another over territory or something like that.

When all was said and done Naruto was standing before a young oak tree with a smile on his face. This was where his mother had been buried and this tree had grown from her. In a way this tree was his mother though he knew that she really wasn't.

"Hey mom guess what, I found a dragon egg and it hatched for me. I hope you would be proud and I love you" spoke Naruto as he leaned forward and kissed the tree before leaving to go back to the family of his heart.