This is Ryu Kotei saying that we only have a couple of days to stop SOPA from completely destroying everything we like about the internet. I was also asked where the amber gems are located on Naruto's arms; they're located just a couple of inches above his wrists on his forearms. The claws Naruto uses are somewhat similar to the claws that the Demon Brothers use with the exception that Naruto's has large, quill-like spiked travelling up his arms like how the previous chapter had said.

On a final note, I do not own Naruto or Steven Universe.

"Believe in Steven!" normal speech

"Believe in Steven!" thought/mind speak

"Believe in Steven!" demon speech

Chapter 3: The BIG Mission

*Beach City; Crystal Temple*

Naruto and the three Gems rushed towards the giant crab monster as the beast let out a screeching roar. Naruto summoned his claws as the others followed by summoning their weapons. "Watch the pincers!" said Garnet as she grabbed an attacking pincer to prevent any further injury done to her. Amethyst used her whip to pull at one of the crab's spear-like legs while Pearl and Naruto charged towards the beast, weapons ready. "Aim for its underbelly," said Pearl as she had her sights set on the baby blue underbelly of the beast, "that is where its most weakest at." Naruto nodded as he formed a hand seal and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Smoke erupted as ten Narutos had appeared before them with their own claws rushing towards the giant crab.

"Pearl look out!" cried Steven as said Gem looked to see a the crab's pointed leg about to impale her. Pearl was about to jump away when all of a sudden she felt a rush and a cry before looking to see Naruto getting impaled. Naruto the disappeared in a cloud of smoke as another Naruto said, "Gotta love the Clone Jutsus." Pearl saw that a few other Narutos were swiped away by the crab's giant pincer before disappearing in clouds of smoke. The Gems let out a sigh as the real Naruto was somehow still save…where was he by the way?

"HEY UGLY!" Naruto roared as three more Narutos were with him, "Let's see how you like this!" Naruto held his right hand back as the duplicate was moving his hands around as a sphere of energy began to form in the original's hand. Two of the Naruto then turned around and cupped their hands before giving the other two a small boost in their jump. The Naruto that was forming the now developed sphere of energy had then disappeared as the original slammed the sphere into the beast's underbelly and said, "Rasengan!" Garnet and Amethyst had let go as the giant crab was thrown into the air in a short distance by the sheer force of the attack. The original Naruto then quickly jumped back before the giant crab could crash on top of him as a Naruto clone approached the original's side. "Time to try it out," said the original Naruto as he brought out his right hand with the clone moving his hands to form another sphere of energy, but this time the sphere was golden. Naruto felt the strain of concentrating both chakra and his Gem's power as he dispelled his clawed gauntlets, but the two amber gems remained glowing. "Gem Style…" said Naruto as he rammed the golden sphere into the crab's exposed mouth, "Golden Rasengan!" The sphere exploded as the beast was disintegrated in a golden light as all that was left was a dark blue fist-sized gem stone.

Everyone stared in shock and awe at the power that was displayed; Naruto had just destroyed a giant crab with two spheres made of energy with one of them having his gem's power. Naruto felt his right arm droop as he had lost feeling in it from the amount of strain put in that last attack. "Don't worry, Kit," said Kurama from inside Naruto's mind, "I'm fixing up your arm and with the combination of my power along with your gem's, your arm should be back to normal in about three days." That's good to know, Naruto thought as the last thing he saw was Garnet teleporting the gemstone away before running towards him as the world had gone dark on him.

A few days had passed since the Gems defeated the giant crab monster and Naruto was walking down the beach after Garnet had told him to get the others as they had a mission. "I wonder what that mission could be?" Naruto asked himself before he saw Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven walking towards him with Pearl and Amethyst arguing over something. "Hey Naruto," said Steven with a cheerful smile, "have you ever seen a giant woman before?" The two Gems stopped their arguing as they saw the confused look on Naruto's face before Pearl said, "What Steven is referring to is Opal, a powerful warrior created when Amethyst and I fuse together."

"Huh…that would be pretty cool to see," said Naruto as he motioned the others to follow him to the temple, "Garnet-sensei has a mission for us. She mentioned something about beetles or something." Pearl looked at Naruto before she asked, "Are you okay to join us?" Naruto flexed his arm as he said, "With Kurama's help, I've always been a pretty fast healer and I'm healing much better thanks to my gem's power as well."

"If you say so," said Amethyst as the group arrived in the temple where Garnet was waiting for them as Steven rushed toward the leader. "Did you bring me a souvenir?" Steven asked before Garnet handed him a small rock, "Whoa, a rock!" A rock? Naruto thought in confusion at the boy's excitement over a simple stone, unless… "It's just a rock, Kit," said Kurama from inside Naruto's mind, "just a worthless paperweight."

"So how was your mission?" Pearl asked as she approached Garnet. "I've located the Geo Beetles of Heaven and Earth," said Garnet with her usual professionalism, "We should split up to retrieve them." This should be interesting, Naruto thought as a certain bug-user appeared in his mind, bet Shino would have loved this mission…I think? "Well I'm going with…Not Pearl," said Amethyst as Pearl gave her an annoyed look. "That's perfect because I don't want to go with grammatically incorrect people anyway," said Pearl in a calm tone. "You four go together," said Garnet, "I go alone."

"What?" asked Amethyst, Pearl, and Naruto as the same time, "Why?" Naruto was about to speak when Garnet said, "The Earth Beetle is at the bottom of a boiling lava lake and only I can swim in lava." Garnet the brought her hands together as goggles formed over her sunglasses. "You'll find the Heaven Beetle at the top of the Sky Spire," Garnet continued as she looked at the others, "It's safer." She means boring, Naruto thought as he actually wanted to go with Garnet to see what she can do on missions before he saw Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven head towards the teleporter.

Naruto was about to join them when Garnet place a hand on his shoulder. "Please be careful," said Garnet with a slightly less stern voice, "and be sure to help Steven keep the harmony." Naruto nodded before joining the others and teleported away towards their destination. Even though she knew Kurama and the others would keep Naruto safe, Garnet still had a hint of worry for the small blonde since Naruto had passed out after the battle against the giant crab monster. She didn't know what it was, but Garnet couldn't explain the feeling she would have towards Naruto. She knew it wasn't the romantic love like she had seen on Pearl's face, but instead it was a different kind of love…like she wanted to protect her little boy and harm those who would dare hurt her child. "Please be careful," Garnet said as she faced the teleporter as she had a strange feeling in her heart.

*Sky Spire*

The Gems, minus Garnet, had arrived near their destination as Naruto fell off the teleporter with the world spinning around him. "Naruto," said Pearl as she dashed towards Naruto's side and helped the blonde get to his feet, "are you alright?" Naruto shook his head as he said, "Yeah, I'm fine…just wasn't used to that sudden rush is all." After the world corrected itself, Naruto looked to see the sight of the mountain and couldn't help but stare in awe at the sight. "Whoa," said Steven with awe in his eyes, "Is this where the Heaven Beetle lives?" Pearl looked as she said "Apparently." Amethyst crossed her arms as she then said, "All the way at the top."

The group ventured on the path as Steven asked questions about Opal with the occasional offering to make the mission shorter by having Pearl and Amethyst fuse into Opal. Is this what it's like being around me? Naruto mentally asked as they continued up the stairs while Pearl and Amethyst shot down offer after offer. "Not until he mellows out," Kurama answered, "You on the other hand may never mellow out, Kit. Your Uzumaki blood allows you to just bounce back after just a 5 minute nap after an entire week of nonstop training."

As the group reached the top of the first flight of stairs, they reached a small path with bushes near the path. One of the bushes moved as Pearl and Amethyst brought out their weapons while Naruto brought out a kunai and the trio were ready for a fight when a goat jumped out of the brush. "It's a magical goat guardian!" said Steven as he hid behind the group, "You need to form Opal before it kills us all." Really? Naruto thought as he placed the kunai back in the pouch Garnet had given him. "We only fuse in a deadly situation," Pearl said as she approached the goat and held her hands towards it, "Does this look like a deadly situation."

*chomp!*

"OW!" Pearl yelped as she drew her hand away, "Hey! Bad mountain goat!" Amethyst fell over laughing at Pearl's plight while Naruto was tempted to make goat burgers. "Oh…" Steven sighed disappointedly, "I really wanted to see Opal." The young boy drew in a breath as he began to sing…

All I wanna do is see you turn into a giant woman,

A giant woman!

All I wanna be is someone who gets to see a giant woman,

A giant woman!

Naruto, Pearl and Amethyst looked at Steven sadly as it was disheartening to see the boy sad. They continued their journey while Steven continued to sing…

All I wanna do is help you turn into a giant woman,

A giant woman!

All I wanna be is someone who gets to see a giant woman.

Oh, I know it'll be great and I just can't to see,

The person you are together.

If you give it a chance you can do a huge dance,

Because you are a giant woman!

The group traveled while Naruto noticed Pearl and Amethyst messing with each other. It was reminding him about his life in Konoha when Team 7 was just starting out as it was really dysfunctional during the D-ranked missions they would do and Sakura and Sasuke would hardly spend time with him. He shook the memories with those two out of his head as he thought, I need to forget about the past…we were never friends in the beginning anyway.

Pearl stole a glance towards Naruto and saw the hurt scowl on the blonde's face and knew that the boy was thinking about his painful past. She wanted to do something to help the blonde, but she didn't know where to start. That look really doesn't suit Naruto, Pearl thought as she continued to walk on the path, I wish for a way to help you get over that dreadful past.

You might even like being together and if you don't,

It won't be forever!

But if it were me I'd really wanna be a giant woman,

A giant woman!

All I wanna do is see you turn into a giant woman.

As Steven finished the song, the group stopped at a bunch of floating rocks while the goat jumped across each one with great ease. Naruto stole a glance over the edge to see nothing but clouds before his skin turned pale. "Wait up Steven Jr." Steven called as he was about to jump before Pearl stopped him. "Wait, I'm not sure if you could make those jumps!" said Pearl as she held Steven back. "You should fuse into Opal and lay across the rocks like a bridge," said Steven as inside Naruto's mind, Kurama could help but face fault at the idea. "That would be easy," said Amethyst as she grabbed Steven at the wait, "but not as easy as this!"

To the surprise and horror of Naruto and Pearl, the purple Gem tossed Steven onto a floating rock before landing next to him. "STEVEN!" cried the two of them before the boy smiled. "It's alright you guys, see?" said Steven as he and Amethyst made the rock move before Steven fell off. Pearl quickly dove as Amethyst brought out her whip and wrapped it around Pearl. Naruto watched in awe as Pearl had grabbed Steven before Amethyst pulled them onto the rock safely. "That was great how you two worked together like that!" said Steven before he asked, "Why don't you two do that all the time?" The two gems looked away before crossing the rocks with Naruto following easily thanks to his shinobi skills, wondering about the same thing.

The group managed to reach the top to see a platform with a small little temple in the center of a lake. "I can't feel my legs anymore," said Steven before he saw the temple and dashed towards it, "Hey, look at that!" That boundless energy must be a part of the Gem's power, Naruto thought in amaze as Steven and Pearl observed the temple. "But where's the beetle?" Pearl asked after Steven mentioned the contents inside, "The Heaven Beetle wouldn't leave, would it? Oh, it could be anywhere!" Amethyst scoffed as she said, "Maybe you should freak out more; that's really going to help us find it."

Pearl angrily stomped towards Amethyst as the two started to argue again. Seriously? Naruto thought as he face palmed at the two, Is this what Kakashi-sensei had to deal with? "Kit…" said Kurama as a cry echoed in the sky, "you need to get Steven and move…like now!" Before Naruto could ask, a loud explosion was heard as a giant bird with shadowy feather appeared from the water behind Naruto. "Naruto, look out!" cried Pearl and Amethyst with Steven somehow already next to them. Naruto turned to see the bird as the thought, I really need to work on my attention span.

Naruto was about to perform a Substitution when the giant bird had swallowed both him and the goat. "NARUTO!" Pearl screeched in horror before she summoned her spear and threw the weapon towards the monster, only for the bird to eat the weapon. Amethyst grabbed Steven and pulled him inside the nearby building as she said, "In here guys!" Pearl hesitantly gave the bird another glance before dashing inside the building, praying that Naruto might be safe.

Inside the bird, Naruto had gotten up after narrowly avoiding Pearl's spear before the weapon could impale him. "Okay, this is the second time that I was eaten," said Naruto as he looked around to see all sorts of junk along with a few skeletons and rusted weapons. Naruto heard the sound of bleating as he turned to see the mountain goat gnawing on a small yellow beetle. "That must be the Heaven Beetle," Naruto said as he pried the beetle out of the goat's mouth, just in time for Steven to slid inside. "Steven!" said Naruto as he rushed towards the boy's side, "You okay?" Steven got up and saw the beetle in the blonde's hand before he said, "Is that the Heaven Beetle?" Naruto pocketed the shining bug as he looked around and said, "How about we bust out of here before we become bird droppings." Naruto formed a hand seal as he then said, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Steven's eyes went completely wide with amazement as a multitude of Naruto's appeared and began to crowd the bird's inside. The real Naruto grabbed Steven and the goat as he said, "Hang on, this might get really messy!"

Just outside, an incredibly tall, four-armed woman with pale violet skin with two opals resting on her forehead and upon her breasts wearing clothes similar to Pearl's stood facing the giant bird. The woman was about to act when she saw the giant bird bloat up before exploding in a flash of light while Naruto was falling with Steven and the goat in his arms. "Naruto! Steven!" said the woman before she jumped into the sky and grabbed the trio before landing in the water. Steven looked up to see the woman set the goat aside before he asked, "Opal?"

Before the woman could respond, the small fragments of the large bird then formed into smaller versions of the bird and began to charge towards her. The giant gracefully dodged the attacking birds before sliding down the stairs and leaping onto the adjacent island. "Stay low you two," said Opal as she set Steven and Naruto down before bringing out Amethyst's whip along with Pearl's spear. The two weapons then combined to form a bow that was just as tall as her before she drew back the string with two hands while the other two held the bow tightly. A brightly glowing arrow formed in the bow as the woman aimed toward the flock of attacking birds.

Naruto quickly summoned his claws should any of the birds avoid Opal's attack, but saw the arrow fly into the middle of the flock and glowed brightly as each of the birds were evaporated into light. Holy crap, Naruto thought in awe at the spectacle, she's incredibly powerful. After the light faded, the woman approached the two and helped Steven onto his feet. Feeling awkward about the new woman, Steven asked, "Do you…know who I am?" Opal smiled and chuckled before she began to sing…

All you wanna do is see me turn into…

With stars in his eyes, Steven quietly said, "…a giant woman!" Opal and Naruto sent their weapons away while the giant woman picked up the blonde and Steven and placed them onto her shoulders before heading back towards the teleporter so that they could head back home.

*Konohagakure*

Hinata was in her room at the Hyuga Estate as she was carefully massaging her aching shoulders after a grueling training session with Tsunade. She felt like that she was crushed repeatedly by multiple boulders. Lady Tsunade had warned me that she wasn't going to hold back this time, Hinata thought as she was about to remove her shirt before she heard a knock at her door. "In a minute," said Hinata as she lowered her shirt and fixed it, "Come in."

The door opened to reveal Neji with a small tray that had a tea pot and a cup resting on it. "Your father wished for me to bring you some tea, Hinata-sama," said Neji as he gently placed the tray nearby and poured some tea into the cup, "He would also like to know how your training with the Hokage is going." Hinata picked up the cup and took a small drink before she said, "My training is quite difficult, but very fulfilling as the hard work will pay off in the long run. I'll tell father more about it shortly after I let my body rest."

Neji nodded in understand what his cousin had to go through as he had seen a bit of Hinata's training under the Godaime. The chakra training were not all that difficult as most of those sessions were focused on chakra control and mental concentration, but the physical training…those sessions were brutal as Tsunade held nothing back as Shizune and Kurenai would stand by and healed some of Hinata's injuries. Her training sessions actually makes Gai-sensei's look like basic academy training, Neji thought as he had to suppress a shiver at the comparison between the two.

"Neji…" Hinata asked as she set the empty cup down on the tray, "do you think that we'll ever see Naruto-kun again?" When Tsunade had revealed to the now Konoha 9 that Naruto was still alive, everyone was excited to hear that their favorite blonde was still okay. Tsunade had then told them that while Naruto is still alive, the was no way of finding Naruto save for going out and searching for him. The Konoha 9 were about to asked for missions outside of the village when Tsunade had told them that going out and finding Naruto would take a very long time as the search would have to expand into other countries and so many islands that finding the blonde would possibly take years, if not months, of searching. While a few brought up Naruto's contract with the Toads, Tsunade once again shot the idea down as even they somehow can't reach the blonde stating that Naruto might be somewhere that reverse summoning can't reach or even a possibility of something preventing Naruto from summoning them. After the meeting, Tsunade had all of the Konoha 9 and their senseis, Kakashi included, to swear to not reveal this secret to anyone both in and out of the village as such information could cause more trouble for both Konoha and Naruto.

"I'm afraid I cannot answer, Hinata-sama," said Neji with a sigh of defeat, "All we can do is pray for his safety until the day we can bring him back." Hinata sadly nodded as she knew her cousin was right as it might be years before she could see that ball of sunshine again. "Thank you, Neji," said Hinata as she faced her cousin, "You can head on out. Give Father my thanks for the tea." Neji nodded as he picked up the tray and he was about to leave when he stopped.

"Hinata-sama," said Neji as he faced away from Hinata to hide the forming tears in his eyes, "I wish to apologize about my behavior during our match in the Chunin Exams. I let my anger get the best of me and tried to take it all out on you." Hinata let out a sigh as she had gone over this many times with Neji. "I have told you already that I forgive you for doing that," said Hinata as she didn't like to see Neji beat himself up over this, "You need to let go as this is hurting you; I have forgiven you many times and I really can't stand the sight of you harming yourself." A small tear rolled down Neji's cheek as he said, "I know Hinata-sama…but I still cannot forgive myself for letting myself be easily controlled by my anger…my hatred." Hinata walked towards Neji and gave her cousin a hug as she said, "That is all you have to do in order to get over this pain; you have to forgive yourself as this is only going to hold you back."

Neji smiled as his cousin's words rang true in his head as all he need to do is forgive himself. "Thank you, Hinata-sama, for your kind words," Neji said as Hinata slowly walked towards her bed, "You have a good evening." The Hyuga closed the door behind him as he left Hinata's room, feeling a great burden lifted off of his shoulders. Thank you, Hinata-sama, Neji thought as he traveled down the hall, and thank you…Naruto-san.

*Beach City; Crystal Temple*

Garnet stood by the teleporter as she was drying the remaining lava from her afro when a bright light signaled the return of Steven and his group. Garnet smiled as standing behind Steven and Naruto was someone she hasn't seen in quite a while: Opal. So those two finally formed Opal again, Garnet thought as she approached the group. "The Heaven Beetle," Garnet asked as she hung the towel around her shoulders.

Opal's eyes opened up in shock as she said, "I don't have it!" A flash of light shone as Opal was split back into Pearl and Amethyst as the two crashed onto the floor. "Amethyst!" said Pearl as she sat up in shock, "You were distracted!" Amethyst looked back and said, "Hey, you were the one getting carried away with those fancy backflips!" Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a small yellow beetle and asked, "Is this it?" Garnet smiled and said, "Good job you two."

The Gems brought out a small carrier where a dark blue beetle was resting inside as she put the Heaven Beetle inside before teleporting the carrier away. "I also see that you got your teammates to fuse." Steven puffed out his chest as he proudly said, "And all it took was me and Naruto getting eaten by a bird." Did he really have to say it like that? Naruto thought as he could have sworn he could feel the slime from the insides of that bird. "Great work," said Garnet as she walked away, "You'll be great at fusing one day." Steven smiled with pride before he said, "Wait, I can do that too!" Pearl, Amethyst, and Naruto looked at each other with one similar thought, Oh boy…

It was the middle of the night as Naruto and Steven had gone to sleep with Steven in his bed while Naruto was on the couch. The door that lead deeper into the temple opened to reveal Garnet wearing grey sweats and a black sports bra as she was taking a light break from her training. The sound of rustling sheets and whimpering alerted the woman towards the couch as Garnet saw Naruto tossing and turning restlessly. "No…please…don't leave…me," Naruto wearily said in his sleep, "I'm…sorry…sorry…" He must be having a nightmare, Garnet thought as she quietly approached the sleeping blonde. She carefully kneeled and saw the cold sweat on Naruto's face, seeing the troubled and frightened look on the blonde's sleeping face. Something must have come up during the mission and reminded him of his past, Garnet thought as she looked around before removing her sunglasses, revealing her three eyes.

"Naruto," Garnet whispered as she gently placed a hand on Naruto's face and gently rubbed his whiskered cheek with her thumb. It seem to have worked as Naruto had greatly calmed down with a warm smile on his face. Garnet smiled lovingly as she looked at the blonde and felt warmth inside of her heart before Naruto spoke again. "Kaa…chan," Naruto said in his sleep, still unaware of Garnet kneeling nearby, "I…love you." Did he just call me…mother? Garnet thought in shocked before she got to her feet and headed back to her room.

As she entered her room, Garnet looked over her schedule she had set up for both Naruto and Steven while her mind was still mulling over what Naruto had unwittingly called her. Garnet knew that the gems she and the others bear worked as universal translators as she had told Naruto the reason why he could understand everyone and vice-versa with Naruto occasionally speaking in his native tongue with certain words like sensei, one of the words for 'teacher' or 'mentor'. She could understand why Naruto would refer to her as a teacher, but a mother?

True she along with Pearl, Amethyst, and Greg had raised Steven after Rose had given up her physical form, but Naruto was somehow different. He never knew who his parents were as no one had told him aside that they had died on the night he was born, Garnet thought sadly as she remembered that Naruto was an orphan, but how could I somehow provide what a mother could? I only know the love that Rose had given us, but what should I do? Sighing in defeat, Garnet decided to get some sleep to help ease her mind with what to do from here…

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to rate and review!

Ja ne!

P.S.: STOP SOPA!