Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or HyperDimension Neptunia
"I am the best main character ever!" Neptune could be heard saying as she marched in front of her two party members. "I've only been here for a few hours and I've already a quarter of the way finished with our main objective!"
"I thought you said your main object was to defeat the 'final boss' and therefore stop all the monsters,"
"Oh that objective, well I'm pretty sure we'll end up meeting the final boss along the way after all that's how games usually work,"
"Neptune… how does your head work?"
"What do you mean 'how does your head work?' its common knowledge these kind of things, right Compa?"
"Well, I wouldn't say common knowledge but it is pretty reasonable,"
"You know what I'm just going to go find something to eat it'll probably give me some much relieved stress relief if I think about something other than your common knowledge,"
"Aw but we're on a roll right now, we can't break this streak we're on right now I mean look, we already have the first key fragment so we should head to the next land mass and grab the next one!"
"You say that but hasn't your stomach been growling for a while now?"
"Huh, yeah it has… what does that mean?"
"It means you're hungry, I'm pretty sure Compa is also hungry from that last romp of dogoos and weird spider monster thing," receiving an affirmative from Compa he continued, "If we're hungry we won't function one hundred percent, if we don't function one hundred percent we're bound to be beaten much easier," pulling out a frog pouch he started tossing it up, "Sides, I'm pretty sure we can afford quite a feast with what we made,"
"Do you know where to go then?" Neptune asked causing Naruto to stop, "I mean you're new here too so I wouldn't expect you to know any good places to eat,"
Regaining his bearings Naruto shifted his face upward and took a few sniffs. The air wasn't as fresh as Konoha and had a myriad of smells he had never smelled before but there was a scent that stuck out. "I believe we should head this way," making his way through the busy streets of Planetpune he couldn't help but smile.
"Hey you just sniffed the air like some kind of dog… oh do you have some kind of super sniffer dog trait that only special characters have?" Neptune tried sniffing the air only to frown, "You must have some kind of smell trait cause I don't smell anything here!"
"Well, his nose is leading him to the food district area so at least we know it's working well," Compa stated as she walked next to Neptune, "I wonder which type of restaurant he'll choose,"
Just as she finished they saw Naruto stop in front of a small shack like stall. It looked like it could seat a few people and had a few cloth flaps out in front obscuring the view of the stall. "This is where we should eat," Naruto says before going on inside and taking a seat.
"Well nothing ventured nothing gained, at least that's what my grandpa always used to say," Compa than headed inside followed by a uncertain Neptune.
"I'll have one miso and one shoyu ramen," they heard Naruto say and an affirmative that followed.
"Ramen, well ramen is a good too… hmm I think I'll have a shoyu ramen,"
Not knowing what to choose Neptune just stared at the menu before closing her eyes and pointing at a random item, "I'll choose this one!" Neptune shouted and stared at what she chose, "Tonkotsu ramen, what's in it?"
"Oh, its ramen with broth made from usually boiling pork bones for half a day,"
"Ehh, why would you boil bones like that?"
"It adds great flavor Neptune, now just try eating it before saying anything else," Naruto said as two bowls were placed in front of him, "Thanks," Naruto told the owner before taking one sip of the soup, "Ah it's been so long since I've had ramen," tears forming in his eyes Naruto started to wolf down the shoyu ramen set in front of him.
"Whoa how does he eat like that and not spill anything?" Neptune stared at him in shock only to shake her head, "Well it must be some good stuff if he's wolfing it down like that,"
"It is really good Nep-Nep," looking over at Compa Neptune was shocked to see that Compa had already eaten most of her ramen, "I didn't know about this place and if Mr. Star never lead us here I would have never found out about this delicious place,"
Seeing that her order had come out Neptune picked up the chopsticks and took a bite, "Oh, it's pretty delicious,"
"Yup, for me ramen is the food of the gods, although I haven't been able to eat any for the past few days," shivering from remembering all the bugs he had to eat Naruto tried to think about other things, "So, after eating this where should we head to next?"
"We should go to the other landmasses immediately,"
"There's no need to rush Nep-Nep," Compa stated, "Planeptune is still threatened by monsters. We can't just leave the townspeople like this,"
"But… Well… fine… after we're done eating let's go clobber some monsters,"
"We're just waiting on you than Neptune," looking quickly over to the other two members of her party Neptune couldn't help but double take as she saw the empty bowls in front of the two.
"But how?"
"Don't worry about that Neptune, for now I'll go out and find out any more places we can go to lower the monster population,"
"Oh like quest boards and such,"
"Stop comparing everything to a game!"
"But I didn't even mention where I knew about this from,"
"You were going to say it was common knowledge or something about a game," Naruto stated as he pulled out his frog wallet and paid the amount due. "…So where would I find this quest board Compa,"
"Oh did you give up already Mr. Star?"
"If I don't fight it it'll end up being less painful for me in the end," Naruto stated as he started noting where Compa stated to go. "Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes," leaving the two by themselves and he went to find the quest board.
"So… Evil cave huh, how generic can they get when naming these places," the party was situated in front of a cave.
"Yeah, this was the only 'quest' that was available. *sigh* I really don't like how this place handles things," entering the cave Naruto was impressed at how there was light in the cave. Looking around he saw there were a bunch of crystals that seemed to giving off an ambient light that lit up the cave.
"Oh our first dungeon crawl through a cave this ought be really interesting," Neptune shouted as she ran past Naruto and continued running before stopping suddenly, "Oh yeah since this is a cave we ought be really careful, no telling what might happen if we don't have our guard up ahhhh!" already seeing that a person ran into Neptune Naruto didn't react much but Compa showed more concern.
"Nep-Nep? Are you okay? You should be careful too, or you might fall onto some spikes and game over…" not being overly worried Compa walked over to Neptune's side and saw another person lying next to Neptune.
"No, I ran into something. Wait, no again, something ran into me!" Neptune quickly stood up and looked at the offender.
"Ow… watch it, girl. This isn't the place for kindergartners to have recess!" the person in question, a long brown haired girl in a black one piece covered over with a blue coat stared up at them from the ground.
Neptune taking offense to that immediately responded back, "Kindergarteners? Look who's talking. Who're you? Do you live in this icky cave?"
"Do I look like a ragged bum to you? I'm IF. I'm here to eliminate the monsters, as requested by the Basilicom. Who're YOU?"
"We're here because our party member over there picked up the quest to get rid of the monsters in this cave. So… we're here for the same reason. My name is Neptune and those two over there are Compa and Leeroy Jenkins,"
"Leeroy Jenkins? You mean that famous guy who got his whole party killed from rushing in and ignoring the plan?"
"It's Naruto is it that hard to not call someone by a nickname?"
"Well when you do something like a Leeroy I'm going to call you a Leeroy,"
"Ah enough… Compa I guess it's your turn,"
Pointing her out Compa jumped a bit before starting, "H-Hello. I enjoy arts and crafts, and I'm good at math. I know I don't look it, but it's something I'm quite proud of,"
"Oh then Compa, you are now in charge of our item inventory and accounting," ignoring the whine that came from Compa Neptune continued, "Anyway, why not help us conquer this dungeon?"
"What? Well I guess the more help I get the easier it'll be for me. Fine, we'll team up, but know you're joining me!"
"Hey hey hey, I'm pretty sure I got first dibs on the quest so you can't just muscle your way in here and take it,"
"Ah don't worry Jenkins didn't you hear what she said? Iffy said she'll join our party!"
"You do know she was saying something else right?" Naruto asked only to be ignored like always.
"Whatever. Don't call me Iffy. That's not my name," IF stated only to receive a pat on the back from Naruto.
"I don't think you'll ever hear your name said normally ever again," giving Naruto a disbelieving look Naruto could only smile halfheartedly, "I haven't heard my name said normally in quite some time,"
"You're joking right?"
"Mr. Star what are you talking to her about?"
"Nothing Compa, nothing to worry about,"
"Oh okay, well now at least we really look like a party! We'll be together forever. It's out pleasure to have you with us,"
"Yeah, yeah, okay," IF waved off as her mind was preoccupied with other matters, "Wait, what? Forever? No, just for now. This dungeon,"
"Bzzt! We're already a party, so you can't get away from us, even if you try," Neptune put her hands on her side putting up a haughty pose, "Abandoning your party is against the rules of this world. You got that, missy?"
"U-Um, no, but… it doesn't matter," IF started panicking as she backed away.
"Oh no, you're not getting away, you're not leaving me with these two psychos!" Naruto stated as he latched onto her arm.
"What have I gotten myself into?!"
"Now don't get too chummy you two, we have to go and find the boss of this dungeon and beat it!" Neptune stated as she came in between the two and started pulling them deeper into the dungeon.
"Wait, Neptune stop you're not watching where you're going!" Naruto started only for Neptune to trip and drag the two with her, "Ugh why Neptune!?"
"Please don't tell me she's always like this," IF started only to see Neptune stand up and start running only to trip again, "This isn't going to end well for me,"
A ringing sound soon filled the cave and it chilled Naruto, "Compa… did you just?" Naruto started as he turned around to see Compa holding her bell.
"Well before we entered this cave Nep-Nep told me to ring the bell after we made it a good distance into the cave. I thought it was the right time to ring the bell!" Compa stated happily.
"GOD DAMN IT NEPTUNE!" picking himself up Naruto pulled out a few kunai and tossed them up into the air at incoming shadows. Hearing a couple of shrieks he smiled before readying himself. "I'd ready yourself IF, that bell Compa has seems to cause the monsters to be attracted to our location,"
"You don't get much rest with these two do you?" with a flick of her arms two qatars formed over her hands, "Well, this is what we came here to do anyway isn't it?" spinning she slashed two dogoo's that had closed in on their location. "At least those two can handle themselves," looking over at Compa and Neptune they could be seen shooting down bats that came down their way.
"Over there," Naruto pointed at a couple more bats heading towards them from above. Grinning Naruto gave a look to IF which IF returned. "Here you go," holding his hands banded together IF ran towards him and jumped onto his hands. "Alley oop!" using most of his strength Naruto tossed IF up into the air.
"Take this!" piercing two bats on the way up IF spun around to slash a few more before landing next to Naruto. "Well, that was fun!" Seeing Naruto's hand blur IF was shocked only to see him toss a kunai to a target behind her.
"You got most of the ones in the air, but there are still a couple on the ground," walking past IF he picked up the kunai he had just thrown. "I think that was the last one on our side," looking over at Neptune he could hear her yelling something about 'Victory' and 'Easy EXP' but decided to ignore it.
"We should probably go catch up to those two; they're already running deeper into the cave,"
"What are those two thinking?"
"Fun and adventure from what I've gathered," chuckling a bit Naruto continued, "Glad to have someone who doesn't act like Neptune or Compa for a change, makes it so much less stressful,"
"You've had it tough haven't you?"
"I snapped in the first dungeon we went in together…"
"She's our party leader?"
"I found out that not caring too much will lead to me not getting bewildered more,"
"Ah… oh crap I should probably tell the rest of them to wait up for me, I have a special gadget here that helps me find treasure here in dungeons," Seeing Naruto's confused look she continued, "Well sometimes chests are hidden and can't be found normally, but with this device I can find all those hidden chests,"
"Oh cool, what do you usually find in those chests that you find then?"
"Oh… keychains and stuff,"
"…"
"Hey don't look at me like that; some of those items go for top dollar in the right auctions,"
"Hey guy's we found the boss monster in this cave!" Neptune's voice could be heard echoing through the cave, "Heh it's just standing there probably waiting for us to engage it… Ah it's moving hey that hurts OW OW OW!"
Holding his head Naruto sighed, "God damn it, she always does stupid stunts like this," Naruto grabbed IF's hand and started to run, "If we hurry we might be able to stop her from killing herself…"
"Ah Nep-Nep its shooting laser beams everywhere!"
"and Compa," after a few turns the two arrived to see Compa and a transformed Neptune battling what looked to be an oversized worm with a whole bunch of teeth.
"Naruto, IF glad to see you two could finally make it," Neptune said causing Naruto to grin and IF to stare at her, "It'll probably be easier if you grab its attention and have the rest of us focus on attacking it," just as she said that she flew off towards the side to avoid a flurry of laser beams that was shot in her direction.
"Nice to see that this Neptune is much better at planning things than the other one," Naruto stated as he stepped away from IF, "You should probably get yourself together now IF, we have a battle to get to," once he said that a bright light over took him and he emerged in his HDD form. "Alright here I go," using his new forms boosted power Naruto rushed forward towards the worm. Just a few feet from the worm Naruto jumped over it and landed behind the worm, "Take this," in a fluid motion he delivered two slashes at the back of the worm.
Screeching out in fury the worm turned around to retaliate and lunged forward at Naruto to land a bite on him. "Not happening," leaning to the side Naruto avoided the bite and countered by landing an uppercut. "Hah, weak, you're weak!" Naruto shouted out.
"Whoa, Mr. Star is suddenly acting very cocky," Compa stated as she shot a few rounds at the worm.
Finally breaking out of her shock IF pulled out her own gun and started firing at the worm from a safe distance, "So the purple haired chick is Neptune right?" receiving a nod from Compa she continued, "and that new guy over there is Naruto? How come they're acting differently?"
"Well, I don't know about Naruto but Nep-Nep seems to be more serious when she's in that form,"
"What do they both have multiple personality disorder?" she was brought out of her musing when she heard Naruto start laughing again.
"Heh c'mon give me some more fun!" looking at the worm in boredom he then stabbed the sword he was carrying into the ground before crossing his hands over his chest. "Here I'll give you chance, hit be with your best attack, I won't move from this spot,"
Responding to the taunt the worm screeched and rushed towards the smirking Naruto only to be knocked away by an attack to its side. An annoyed expression came onto his face as he looked at the interloper, "Neptune, why did you interfere?"
"What are you crazy, an attack like that might not kill but can seriously damage you," Landing next to Naruto she looked at him in the eye, "I won't allow any one of my party members to be hurt again,"
"Hmm, still I wouldn't have gotten hurt," as if to prove his point he uncrossed his hands and revealed the pistol he had been concealing, "Burst shot," pointed at the worm a concentrated burst of energy was fired at the worm knocking it back even further.
"Even if you would have been fine you shouldn't have scared me like that,"
"That's right Mr. Star, we're a party and parties take care of their own!"
"That was a pretty ass move you pulled there," the two other party members made their way over to the two HDD members. "and here I thought you would be the sensible one in the group,"
"Don't get me wrong I'm still more responsible than those two," getting an annoyed shout from both Compa and Neptune, "But this form seems to make me a bit… cockier," tossing the gun he was holding up into the air it disappeared. "We should probably take care of that worm over there before talking like this though," pulling out the sword he had stabbed into the ground he gave Neptune a nod.
"Agreed Compa, IF Naruto and I will finish it off now," returning Naruto's Nod the two stood next to each other Naruto on the right and Neptune on his left. "Combination attack!" the two rushed forward towards the worm that had now gotten up. In a screech the worm started firing a barrage of lasers.
The two bounded towards the worm weaving through the laser barrage, "Flash slash!" Naruto shouted as the two disappeared in a flash of purple than appeared behind the worm. For a second nothing happened than thin lines started to appear on the monster. "Easy,"
"Indeed it was," when she finished the worm gave a final death cry before dissipating into blue particles.
"WOW that was amazing you two!" Compa said rushing over to the two. "When did you two come up with an attack like that?"
"I kind of want to know that too,"
"Well, it was something that appeared on the spur of the moment," Neptune said sheepishly.
"I just followed and matched her," Naruto stated, "it was much easier than dealing with the other Neptune on a regular basis," with that said light appeared around him and he changed back. "Well that was weird,"
"That is weird, your personality changes dramatically when you change forms," in a familiar light show Neptune reverted back to her childish form, "That form of yours is no fun, acting all cocky is not something you should be doing Naruto,"
"Hah, well it can't be helped, just like how you don't look like an elementary school kid in your transformed state I change personalities it seems… also you have a massive change in personality as well so u can't complain,"
"Ehhh, but it matches me cause my appearance changes and I get huge boobs too," reaching for her own boobs she started mashing them together. "See I don't have any boobs here so I can't act mature like that other me,"
"Ah, you just admitted to acting immature," reaching over he also smacked Neptune on the head, "Also will you stop acting like an idiot already?"
Rubbing her head she had fake tears start falling from her eyes, "Hey I'm the main character, you can't just attack me like that,"
"Than act like a main character is supposed to act. If a main character is anything like leader than you need charisma and will to never give up,"
"Hey I have plenty of that, look at the party I've already assembled,"
"I'm only in this party temporarily,"
"See Iffy is agreeing with the party that I made,"
"You did hear her correctly right?"
"And I totally have inner strength, I mean I totally was able to finish those five puddings you said was too much for me," patting her stomach in accomplishment.
"You're just going to keep on replying with non-sensible remarks until I stop aren't you," looking at the smile on her face that threatened to reach past her nose. "Fine, let's just get out of this cave first,"
"Haha I win!" Neptune started jumping up and down, "See Compa I'm definitely party leader material,"
"Yeah you are Nep-Nep,"
"I feel like I should be bothered more by this," IF stated only to sweatdrop when she saw Naruto bent over.
"There is no winning against an idiot," patting Naruto on the back she helped him and started leading him out of the cave.
"So basically, you three are looking for key fragments for this…. Histy person,"
"Ding-dong! Histy's sealed away somewhere in this world. She's like one of those secret optional characters,"
"The different fragments are guarded by monsters. So, the source is really whoever ordered the fragments to be guarded. That Histy character must have something to do with it, too. Saving the world, hmm? It could be a big fib,"
"Ohh, Iffy, you're beyond keen. How can you possibly be so observant at such a tender, young age?"
"Tch, it's simple logic. If this is all true, however, leaving it to you two… will spell doom for all humanity. Even with Naruto helping you I fear that one right cannot beat two wrongs,"
"I try, but it's not all that bad," as he said that he saw Compa this time trip over something. "Even when things happen," leaving the two he made his way over to Compa who was sniffling over the scrape she had on her knee.
"No choice! I'll help. You're traveling, right? You'll need someone with you who's been to a lot of different lands. About those fragments… if they're guarded by monsters, it might be pretty easy to find them after all,"
Perking up Compa responded, "Really? Than I guess we'll save Histy in no time,"
"Basilicoms around the world have been researching monsters. I think they'll have a good idea where they spawn,"
"So, speaking of… what's a Basilicom again?" Naruto swore he could see a bunch of question marks floating above Neptunes head as she asked that, "I'm apparently an amnesiac, so I need you to explain stuff to me in a manner convenient for the players to understand!"
"Neptune stop talking as if you're talking to an audience!" Naruto shouted out on reflex.
Before Naruto could continue Compa stepped in, "Be patient with her, Miss IF. She somehow lost all her memory when she landed from the sky with Mr. Star over there, which is why I call him Mr. Star,"
"It's Naruto…"
"Now where was I, oh yea, Basilicoms… Basilicoms are holy organizations run by those who serve the goddesses. There are two parts to a Basilicom: the Sanctuary where goddesses are cared for, and Parliament for political activities,"
Not able to comprehend it Neptune stopped Compa, "whoa, stop. Why not let the people at the Basilicom explain it? We're heading there anyway,"
"To ask about monsters? But we don't need to do that until we got o another landmass,"
"Well not really Compa, we'll need a permit from the Basilicom to travel anywhere. They manage the Sky Harbors, too,"
"Oh I see. Then we'll continue this when we reach the Basilicom, Ok Nep-Nep?"
"I say we do it tomorrow," Naruto suggested as he pointed upward, "I mean look at the sky, the sun's setting and I'm pretty sure it's going to get dark soon,"
"Aw man I wanted to advance the story line... stupid author getting lazy and not wanting to add more explanations," Neptune started making Naruto stare at her blankly, "But wait, that means we can have a sleepover! We can stay up all night talking about girl stuff and…," Neptune continued on talking to Compa who was listening diligently.
"Yeah, no. I don't care what you guys do but I'm going to get my sleep. Hey IF do you know a good place to get a good night's sleep?"
"There's a Inn nearby the cave we just conquered, I don't know why the people built a town near a cave/dungeon but at least it makes it easier to get some rest,"
"Sounds good," looking back he could see Neptune still going on and on, "Hey you two we're heading to the town nearby let's get moving," waling after IF he didn't bother checking if the two were following.
"Ah wait, I still haven't listed off all the activities we'll be doing!" Neptune shouted as she chased after the other two party members with Compa trailing behind.
AN: Well here's chapter 3 and hope you guys enjoy. As for this chapter, I kind of rushed it out so I could get it out before 10 pm, which is what I think is a good time for stories in the Naruto area to be released. Now you guys may have seen a lot of strange things happening like Naruto's change of personality in HDD but I figured since some CPU's when they transform have different personalities (Plutia/Neptune) I figured I would give him that quirk too. This chapter though was a tough one to write, idono why but it was just really tough for me… trying to get into character of Neptune was really hard, as for battle scenes, I always sucked at them so don't expect any grand ones, at least for these weaklings they face.
But mainly what I have to say for this AN is thanks to everyone that reviewed, it gave me a huge motivational boost when I saw all the people review this story, I mean it went from 1 review in chapter one to suddenly 9 reviews in chapter 2. I also like how you guys keep guessing and such it's pretty fun to read those reviews and always make me think about this story some more. Well as always THANK YOU FOR READING. Also sorry if there are typos and syntax errors but it shouldn't be as bad as a fanfic written by Blanc.