Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto or the Final Fantasy VII series
Co-author & Beta: Etheral-23
Prequel: The gears turn
The island breeze felt both calming and solemn for the lone figure sitting up at the hilltop of the isle of Uzushiogakure. Her long wavy crimson hair flowed equally with the grass around her, as a twenty-two year old Karin Uzumaki, wearing a plain blouse and shorts stared nearly blankly up at the skies above.
One year... It had been one year since the insane nukenin Sasuke Uchiha was finally killed. But it also had been a year when her cousin and adopted brother, Naruto Uzumaki had simply vanished off the face of the earth. By sea and land they had searched for him, but Naruto was nowhere to be found. The toads and dragons could not summon him, they couldn't even trace if he was alive or dead through the contract scrolls.
His friends had searched for him far and wide, never giving up on their friend like they knew he wouldn't have given up on them... but as time went on, reality mercilessly showed its ugly face; Naruto could not be found.
She had cried for him, they all did. The brave Uzumaki who had done everything for them, the ones he pulled out of the abyss, the ones he had given hope to. The one who had given her a family she once lost…
But, she couldn't let herself stay in mourning. If Naruto could have overcome Sakura's death; she could overcome losing her brother. And time kept moving forward, the now daimyo Maiyuri Sasaki had nearly achieved her dream of a unified Elemental Nation under the Land of Fire's banner.
There had been numerous and radical changes brought out by the young daimyo. Some ideas had been met with resistance while others had been widely accepted. The very long overdue dismantling of the obsolete shinobi system had been the most controversial.
The hidden villages were not making it easy; years of tradition cling too tightly to their mindset. The edicts dictating a greater oversight of the countries over their own ninja forces and the ban of employing children as soldiers were met with heavy resistance.
Thank the gods for Gaara and the Kages, after the chaos of the Fourth War and realizing what a system designed to feed on conflict was doing to their lands and people, they were able to placate most of those who spoke against the new reforms. Gaara swore to continue his friend's quest for peace, and would do anything as to not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Maiyuri's ambition for a new era of unification, peace and prosperity, Gaara's resolve to stop the pointless cycle they had created, and the support of many who shared their vision proved to be a powerful force which was taking the Elemental Nations by the storm... and for once, Karin could say it was for the better.
And this peace has done a world of good for the new Uzushio, a phoenix rising out of the ashes and growing more and more with uncle Saito as clan head. The Uzumaki Clan had literally returned from the grave, after the war; Karin, Naruto, and their adopted mother Tsunade Senju had left Konoha and came here. But for Karin it felt hollow in some ways.
Though while Karin worked as a nurse for both Konoha and Uzushio, Tsunade vocally stated she had enough of the Leaf Village for a lifetime. Since then she had become one of the head doctors of Uzu. Leaving Kakashi as the new Hokage.
'But even if things are moving in the right direction,' Karin thought to herself. 'Without you here it feels empty;' the spectacle wearing Uzumaki sighed; "What should I really be doing?"
"There you are!" A spirited feminine voice called out from behind the sitting Uzumaki.
The spectacle wearing redhead turned to see the cheerfully smiling face of the Seven-Tail's Jinchuuriki. The adult woman was wearing a more updated version of the outfit she wore when Karin had first met her. In their years of struggle, Fu had proved to be a great friend and ally who stood by their side till the end. She had not changed in the slightest, she was still the same fun loving woman with an outstanding love for life and that could dwarf even Naruto's.
Karin knew Fu had been there to comfort Naruto, as a lover, when the two felt the weight of the world on them. The dark skinned little toddler with a moss of blond hair and whisker marks on the cheeks was proof of that.
The last thing Naruto had left before vanishing from this world. Little Hiruzen Uzumaki.
Karin immediately went to coo over her little nephew. "Hey there~" She waved a hand at his still sleepy face. "You came to see me? Ohhh you know I love to see you~"
"Me too;" Fu asked with a large smile.
"Unfortunately, you come along with him;" Karin retorted in jest.
Fu pouted "So mean, Karin-chan~!"
It had been one hell of surprise, that's for damn sure. It was least a week or two after Naruto had vanished, Fu then learned she was pregnant. Knowing she was going to be a grandmother kept Tsunade going. Granted it did not help that the Senju woman hounded her daughter in about when she would have a kid of her own too.
Ugh, Karin was too busy at the hospitals even to bother in trying on dating.
The redhead giggled as Fu soon joined; "You were looking for me?"
"Wanted to see if you came with me and Hiru-Chan for lunch," the Nanabi Jinchurriki smirked tilting her head. "And you have been looking down."
"No I haven't," Karin's flimsy denial was met with a dry look from the young mother; "that bad?"
"Well, it's been nearly one year since he left right," The jinchuuriki said rhetorically. "Doesn't take a genius to know you've been sad lately"
Karin let out a soft breath, "Yeah, well" She said humorless smile. "I've never been good at hiding how I feel" She shook her head sardonically. "Some ninja I was..."
"To be fair" Fu tilted her head. "I think most of us were terrible at being ninja" She giggled. "Did you know I was actually shocked to hear how the shinobi of old were? Boy did we twist the meaning of 'ninja' with time"
The Uzumaki snorted, oh yeah the ninjas of today would have been the laughing stock to the Shinobi of old. Karin sighed; "I'd like to say I've been moving forward. But I haven't had I?"
"You've been, but it was more along the lines of just of dragging your feet," Oh yeah, the same blunt manner just like her brother. "But think you can start walking normally when you remember what you have in front of you."
"...And that is?"
"Your nephew, Hiru-Chan."
Suddenly, Fu was holding her child right on front of Karin's face. The Uzumaki had to back up a bit.
"You love Hiru-chan right?" The jinchuuriki says in a cutesy tone. "Cause Hiru-chan loves his Aunty Karin" The small baby yawned and sleepily rubbed an eye. The sight was so endearing it made Karin's heart melt.
Naruto had given her a home, a family, when she had been lost. Losing her mother in Kusa, being made a servant of Orochimaru. It had been one spectacular mess after another, that's how her life could be summed up.
With Naruto gone, she felt she had once more lost her home... But seeing Fu's smiling face urging her to move forward, the young promise of a hopeful future in Hiruzen's face, reminding her she had friends who cared for her, a place she belonged to. She wasn't as alone as she thought.
Gently taking her little nephew into her arms Little Hiruzen blinked those adorable orange eyes up at Karin. She gently stroked his tiny cheek; "I do have something to keep going."
XxX ~ Gaia: εγλ 0006 ~ XxX
The sound of the waterfall nearly drowned the whooshing sound of a wooden staff begin used in a swift manner. The user practiced various swipes and blunt strikes against an invisible opponent, shifting between different stances. Formerly clumsy hands that would once drop the blunt weapon (and often hit herself...) now wielded the item with dexterity one could only achieve through long hours of daily practice.
The long brown haired girl spun on her feet, twirling the staff behind her back to once more bring it in front of her with one strong downward swoop against the ground, spreading her legs and lowering herself as she did so.
Aerith had her hair in a simple ponytail, wearing a plain shirt and sweatpants repeats the movements. A full year, and now twenty-one, the flower girl of the slums could at least say she was in decent shape to protect herself.
"Your right foot needs to be in a little further..."
Her brunette brow twitched cutely as she adjusted her foot and glared over at her friend/sensei with the intensity of the depths of the netherworld. Sitting cross legged and wearing black sweats and a burnt orange muscle shirt, Naruto's glowing cerulean observed every action in her sessions. The man was a brutal perfectionist when it comes to training.
Still, she had to say she had never felt this physically fit. And she used to think she was alright since she ate healthy. Now she felt like she could run a marathon. "I don't think a few inches make a difference..." The brunette replied, her breath getting a bit heavy from all the physical exertion.
"Maybe, maybe not… But do you really want to take that chance? Trust me, I learnt that having finesse and perfecting your technique is what will save you and let you win a fight"
The fox dryly replied; "This coming from the guy who stabbed himself to get rid of the poison in his blood without realizing he could have died of blood loss. And then won a fight with a FART"
'Yes I was an idiot,' He ignored the 'was?' from the fox; 'Least after the Chunin exams I got my head out of my ass.' And he really did after the Sandaime died, which was his wake up call to make himself into a proper Shinobi.
"Just be glad my uncle Saito knew more than sword training," And honestly he was not surprised when the time came for weapons and Aerith had picked the most non-lethal item there was.
And after a few times of Naruto trying not to laugh at his friend's attempts, she has gotten herself pretty far with the staff.
Finishing the last exercise, she took a deep breath and walked over to the twenty-two year old Uzumaki. She sat down cross-legged in front of him; "Too bad I can't do those Jutsu," she sharply glared at him hearing a snorted laugh; "I wasn't that bad..."
That only made Naruto snicker more. By the gods she had butchered those hand seals. Half of those attempts looked like some sort of new and rude hand-gesture.
"You can't do jutsu, but my training gave you a better control of your own body's energy" He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a spherical green materia, he throws it her and Aerith catches it easily. A vast improvement from when they would just hit her in the head or she'd just fumble with them in a bad juggling act, "Do a spell"
Try as he could, they just couldn't figure out a way for Aerith to do any of those so called 'Cetra magic'. Regardless of what Kurama told him over and over; "How are you even gonna teach someone from a different race to use powers you don't understand?" He was still sort of a knucklehead when it came to giving up. But sadly, Aerith couldn't progress beyond using Materia. The only one who could teach her proper magic was another Cetra, which was a problem for obvious reasons.
That is not to say Aerith was hopeless. Her control over Material was outstanding; she just molded it to her will to do as she wanted. Healing and elemental, and barrier spells to give others any sort of boost, she was simply a natural. Right now Naruto was sure Aerith's spells were near B rank in comparison with jutsu.
Nearly effortless fire gently covered Aerith's hand and forearm almost like a cloak; "it's like I'm not even trying. Why haven't you tried materia?"
"Uh why would when I can already use wind, water, and fire in jutsu. And plus I worked my ass of learning and master those three elements. I'm good," Not too say he did not try out a materia, but it wasn't much of his thing. And from his perspective it felt too easy for him given how much effort he worked in wind, water, and fire.
"Lunch is almost ready," Elmyra's voice catching their attention as they saw the matriarch at the door; "Hungry?"
It was at that moment Aerith's stomach made the loudest bestial growl making the brunette blush wildly. Didn't help either with Naruto laughing and she just knew Kurama was doing it to.
XxX ~ xx ~ XxX
As everyone settled at the table and began eating, the young sage idly glanced at the ladies. He had to say life was interesting here on Gaia after a year. Between living in the slums, with the eventual trips to Midgar's upper plates, he had gotten used to living in this much more technologically advanced world. Yet somehow it was as different as it was similar to his old home. Between the thugs, the criminal underground, the monsters that managed to sneak into the city, various things he was used to dealing with back during his time as an ANBU.
Then there were the Turks again, no doubt the president got impatient, those guys just wouldn't give up. Well, it gave him the chance to fall back on old habits and have a laugh while keeping Aerith safe. Ahhh Shadow Clones were so fun to use, a couple of seals, some homemade harmless explosives and traps, all harmless of course. He didn't want to give them any reason to come down hard on them with a whole freaking army.
Oh the memory of that Reno guy having his face covered in paint when one of his clones exploded just brought a smile to his face. Laughter often came when he also remembered the guy flailing around blindly, shouting obscenities before tripping over a dumpster and falling into it.
And he was pretty sure everyone had those camera phones out when seeing Reno and Rude running for their lives as about thirty or was it fifty or so clones henged into giant burly bald men, dressed in drag chasing after them.
Naruto swore that was the first time Rude showed emotion of sheer terror. And the people on the sidewalks and in their cars literally stopped what they were doing, as they could not look away at that little scene, which went on for several blocks for an hour. He had to say Reno and Rude did have stamina where it counts.
But the one moment that would truly live on his heart was when a clone of his henged into a one of the many beautiful women he had met during the course of his life, flirted with Reno at a bar, played him like a fiddle until the two were making out and then he'd drop the henge and teased him.
Reno's face would go from shock, to horror, to a sickly green in the impressively short span of a couple of seconds. Then he'd hurry to the bathroom and empty the contents of his stomach.
From that day forward, that redhead became his prime target for nearly every prank he had. Mostly due to the fact this guy's reactions were always priceless, and he did a double take seeing Cissnei of all people laughing at Reno hanging naked upside down via ninja wire and covered in glitter.
The poor guy would go crazy sometimes, screaming in the dark 'Why do you hate me so much?!', not knowing Naruto was most likely standing on the roof of some building watching the whole thing. A part of him wondered if he went too far, but another part (which suspiciously sounded a lot like Kurama) just urged to continue tormenting the man for his own amusement.
Huh... maybe those years in the ANBU had left him a bit touched in the head.
"You were touched in the head long before then," Kurama had retorted.
But life kept moving forward. Idly his glowing cerulean glanced to Aerith. The girl was interesting, that was for sure. She never lost her smile, or that warm outlook she always had. When they were home, Naruto found himself quite relaxed being around her.
Aerith's situation reminded him a bit of his own life, being hunted down for something she had no control over. While the Turks were infinitely more controlled than Akatsuki (granted, these were agents of the government while the latter were terrorist), he doubted the people who wanted Aerith for her heritage would be as kind to her. Who knew what kind of twisted experiments she'd be subjugated to?
Not everyone was an Orochimaru, but that was a chance he was not willing to take. He wouldn't let them take Aerith, she deserved a normal life. Then there were the few stories he had heard of this Professor Hojo when having his henged clones scouting and during his infiltration of Shinra. That bastard might actually be worse than the snake ever was. No way in hell was he letting that monster near her.
A soft giggle interrupted his thoughts as he turned his attention over to Elmyra who was only smirking at him knowingly. The elder Gainsborough did not have to say a single word as the tall blond blushed now noticing he had been staring too long at Aerith, thankfully the said brunette was unaware as she ate.
Her smirk only widened further while Naruto got back to eating his food.
The matriarch got up from the table to serve herself more of the stew. Her smiled only widened when she heard her daughter talking to the blonde, the conversation quickly turning into hearty laughter. There was just so much joy in Aerith's voice whenever Naruto was nearby, when the two conversed and spent time together.
She had been so sad when that good boy Zack disappeared. Aerith put a brave face but she could never hope to fool her mother. She had grieved for a long time and moved on, but her daughter would always hold a special place in her heart for the young SOLDIER.
A part of her, her motherly part, worried Naruto would bring Aerith more pain. Elmyra didn't want to see her daughter going through that again.
Naruto was a young man who carried his own burdens, secretive as he was about some parts of his life. But he had suffered; oh Elmyra knew very well the old memories of melancholy and pain that would sometimes be reflected in his eyes whenever he spent time by himself over on the gardens near the waterfall, lost on his own memories.
She only prayed both would not have their hearts burdened more with pain again. And secretly hoped one of them would realize what was forming between them. Ah, to young and dense.
XxX ~ one week later ~ XxX
Sheamus whistled as he held a newly forged kunai; "Do have to say kiddo you're a natural at smithing."
A snort came from the blond Uzumaki as he worked on a sword; "You should have told that to the hard ass who taught me. That bastard wouldn't even give me a smile or 'good work brat'." Naruto huffed as he worked at the hammer and anvil.
"The good black smiths are always the hardest to please."
Naruto gave him a teasing smirk. "So, that you like my work so much must mean you do a shitty job."
The bald man gave a dirty look. "Don't get smart with me boy" He grunted as he crossed his arms. "All you do are metal stars and knives, and with simple metals. You wouldn't even begin to know what to do with crystal, much less mythril"
"Crystal?" The blonde frowned in confusion. "Wouldn't a crystal weapon be... terrible?"
"Not if done by the right smith and the only one is in Mideel. That woman I hear is a savant of the forge. People asked how she can make those weapons, but said it was family secret she will keep to her grave," Sheamus made a long throaty noise at his words.
Naruto really could not believe or wrap his head around crystal swords. Yeah sure he remembers Guren but her weapons came from her Shoton. So how in the hell... Ah whatever, probably best he didn't know.
"Well," the bald man looks at his watch; "You've been at it since this morning, I say you're off for the day."
"Thanks" The shinobi nodded in gratitude before his hands and faced with a wet cloth. He gathers his things and bids farewell to the smith. It was time to go for a drink.
He smiled at the sight of the neon sign with the words '7th Heaven'; he's been coming often ever since he met Tifa. The brawler was fun to hang around with; she was upbeat and had a strong demeanor. Not to mention a mean right hook as their sparring matches had quickly taught him.
It had been an idle talk a year ago when Tifa first asked him about his fighting style; she got all excited when he said he was a shinobi. Saying she never fought one before and wanted to test it out, their occasional sparring had since then become a friendly relationship.
Coming inside the bar, the blond was greeted by a warm smile and a wave from the beautiful buxom brunette barkeep; "Hey, done working at Sheamus?"
"Yep," Naruto takes a seat at the bar; "So how goes the day for you?"
Already getting a glass of her friend's usual, she never even had to ask him anymore since he always had the same thing. The put down the glass was the open the bottle of whiskey; "Was busy earlier."
"Oh?" Naruto asked as she filled with glass.
"Eh" She shrugs. "Had to run some errands" The red eyed young woman said disinterestedly. "I won't bore you with the details"
The blonde merely accepted her answer and drank from his glass. He grunted as the whiskey burned down his throat. "You've got those armlets you wanted?"
"Nearly have enough for them" Tifa smiled cheerfully, she flexed a toned bicep and patted it with one hand. "Once I buy that beauty, these babies will punch like explosions"
Certain gear was enhanced with materia engraved on them granting the user several perks and abilities, such as enhanced strength and speed. His barkeep friend had been talking a lot lately about a pair of armlets that would increase her physical strength and harden the muscle mass for greater resistance against physical damage.
But in the young Sennin's honest opinion Tifa was already a bad ass. Whoever this master Zagan is taught his friend well. But eh, as the ninja code goes; 'if you're not cheating you're not trying.' "Heard some more news on those AVALANCHE folks," the blond brings up; he didn't notice the buxom brunette stiffen for a microsecond. "They're getting bolder."
"What do you think of them?" Tifa asked honestly. A part of her had been debating in telling him Naruto the truth about that and her being in with them.
"First I'd call them idiots," the former Anbu said bluntly.
Tifa looked at him wide eyed. "W-Why so?" She stuttered.
"You wanna save the planet? Fine… But getting people caught in the crossfire is not the way to do so in my book" The blonde grunted in disapproval as he downed the rest of his glass.
The buxom brunette repressed a wince, it was true that some of their operations had... more collateral damage than they would prefer, which was none at all. Not to mention the repercussions. But Shinra was an empire that ruled the world with an iron fist; they were the most powerful political and economic entity in Gaia. And their activates were slowly but surely killing the planet. There was no other way to achieve their goals of weakening Shinra's hold on the world other than to use brute force to disrupt their activities.
Tifa truly wished there was another way... but there just wasn't. She only hoped the heavens understood they are trying to do what is right, and stop the planet from dying. Her thoughts were interrupted as Naruto spoke again; "Fighting evil with evil, will only bring more evil. This can bring forth hate, and only more violence. And lose those you love most."
How hollow his eyes were when he said that, how soft and mourning his tone was. While the two became friends a year ago, he had been quite the mystery she had been trying to figure out. Tifa knew he lived in sector 5 slums, and since he came had been tearing through bandits and monsters down here.
She never got bored hanging out with Naruto, and he is handsome in a roguish way. But still doesn't know much about him. Nor why he always has his right arm and hand bandaged.
The brawler suspected he had gone through some rough stuff, she could feel it in the way he spoke and how he acted sometimes. Like he had lost something precious, Tifa knew very well that kind of pain, she was intimately familiar with loss. And she had seen it in other people like Barret. She was curious of course, but Tifa didn't feel she had truly earned the right to ask about his background if he didn't feel comfortable sharing. Tifa felt it was unfair of him, to ask him when she herself couldn't bring herself to share her own pain. So she respected their privacy, Naruto's, Barret's and others.
So she let it go, it was none of her business.
As the duo got in a quiet comfortable silence. The saloon door swing open violently as a young teen wearing a plain shirt and jeans looked around frantically; "Is Naruto here?!"
The said blond and brunette barkeep look over; "I'm here." the tall blond soon leaned back as the teen was inches in front of him.
"You got to come help us at the Train graveyard! Some weird monster showed up and it attacking everyone!"
"Calm down kid" The blond stood up from the stool, holding up a hand and trying to get the boy to settle down. "The train graveyard is always empty, how did you know a monster is there?"
"We were-!" The teen cut himself off as soon as he started talking; he fidgeted, looking around nervously.
"You were...?" Tifa prompted with a wave of her hand.
The boy finally sighed and slumped. "My friends and I smoke and drink there so our parents don't find out..."
Both brawler and shinobi gave the kid a deadpanning look. "Really man?" Naruto sighed. Oh, to be a dumb teen. Sometimes he missed it. But then he looked back at things and, well, he could have been smarter about some of his choices.
"Look, we were just chilling there when this... thing came out of nowhere! We were lucky we get away alive man..." The poor young boy was trembling; he had to take a seat at a nearby table.
"It's okay, calm down" Tifa gave him some water. "What did this monster look like?"
The young man slowly caught his breath as he moved his hands; "It looked weird. Front part looked like a horse, but the rear had wheels and attached to that looked like some kind of a man from the waist up. But it only one red eye and it's face looked skull like. And there was this blade on top of the horse head."
Both blond and brunette give each other a look; "You ever heard of something like that?" the Uzumaki asked.
"No, always heard tales about the graveyard but never saw anything there but broken trains. Alright" Tifa nodded. "Naruto, you stay here and look after my bar" The brawler popped her knuckles as she made her way to the doors. "I'm gonna take care of this" She said in an assertive tone as she exited the saloon doors.
"Got it" Naruto nodded... before blinking in confusion. "Wait, what just happened?"
"The human with the big breasts just told you to watch over her stuff" Kurama informed him. "Why did you agree, though?"
'I don't know...' Naruto mentally shrugs. 'She just sounded so sure, couldn't help but agree with what she was saying...' He was used to being bossed around by assertive women.
"So" the fox drawled. "You're just gonna stay here?"
'Well I don't want her to get mad at me for not watching her bar'
"Kit" Kurama snapped.
'Okay, okay, okay, I'll leave a clone. Jeeze...'
The young teen boy nearly jumping out of his seat as a Kage Bunshin appeared. "Look after the bar and him," Naruto pointed to the teen as he ran off.
"Got it boss," the clone salutes. Hearing a thud he saw the teen had fainted off the chair and onto the floor; "Rough day huh buddy?"
XxX ~ xx ~ XxX
Dashing past the train-stop, Tifa ran into the graveyard. Aptly named given the number of derelict engines and freight cars that littered the area. Going for higher ground, the buxom brunette used a ladder on one of the engines to stand on its roof. She froze seeing Naruto already standing there; "What kept you?"
"How the hell did you get here so fast;" The red eyed woman asked before remembering another more pressing matter. "Wait, you're supposed to be watching my bar"
Naruto choose not to answer her question on how he was technically still watching over it. "You realize going off to face a demon by yourself is a pretty dumb idea right?"
"What's dumber is me leaving my bar without anyone watching it, which is why I told you to look after it" She once more accused with an angry tone and crossed arms.
The blonde sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, the bar is okay. But trust me when I tell it's safer to face a demon when you're with a group"
Now standing beside him, Tifa was about to retort till the words Naruto said got her attention; "Demon... Why are you calling this monster a demon?"
Naruto surveyed the area for a minute before talking; "you can't feel it? The air around this place is usually calm. Close your eyes and just feel your surrounds."
Blinking for a moment, the beautiful brawler did as her friend asked. Steadying her breathing, a light breeze soon passed over her. Her brow narrowed as she felt something... Something out of place.
Kurama let out a light throaty growl; "It's clever, but it can't hide its blood lust."
'It feels like it's everywhere,' Naruto noticed Tifa opening her eyes.
"What... Is this..."
"Killing intent" Naruto explained. "Bloodlust and desire to kill so strong it's projected outwardly to the point other people can feel it" He turns to her. "You must have felt it before, against bandits or monsters. When you felt threatened, felt how they wanted to hurt you"
"Y-Yeah" The brawler nodded stiffly, looking over the rows of old trains. "But it felt like I perceived it with my instincts. This thing..." She struggled to find the right words. "It's like... being under water, it weighs you down, makes you feel..."
"Like you're suffocating" Naruto finished for her, he knew firsthand the killer instinct of some of the worst killers he encountered throughout his life. Zabuza, Orochimaru, Pein, Madara, each brought their own flavor of terror. Though none of them could compare with the sheer force of destruction that was the Jyuubi, Kaguya's bestial form, that thing acted on the instinct of destroying everything in its path.
Demons were like that, many of them existed solely for the purpose to destroy. And this demon was just... filled with so much rage.
"It makes you think" Kurama mused to himself. "Usually demons are born from their world, they are manifestation of the planet's pain and anger... You've tried meditating and using senjutsu outside Aerith's home. The mako reactors suck out the life from nature and reduce it to a husk"
It made Naruto feel sick; when his senses reached out to feel the world around it he barely felt whispers of natural energy. It was pretty much impossible for him to use senjutsu in Midgar; there just wasn't nature energy to draw.
"The planet is suffering, boy;" The fox gravely said. "And in retaliation to protect itself, it will spawn hordes of monsters and demons to destroy what's hurting it"
'In other words...' Naruto realized with dread. 'Things like this one are born just to kill humans'
As a sage, the mako reactors were an abomination against nature by stealing its very life force and twisting from its original design. He did not fault the planet for being understandably angry for this. 'But the planet knows not every human is at fault for this right?'
"Does a canine or feline care for the fleas causing it discomfort on its skin," Kurama rhetorically retorts back. "Those reactors have been causing this planet tremendous amount pain. This demon and no doubt others are the action of blind absolute rage."
Naruto's knuckles popped as he clenched his fists; "We have to stop this demon here before anyone is harmed."
"I'm all for that," Tifa offers as she gazed out at the broken trains; "But where do we start looking for this thing? The malice coming off it is making it hard to track." Especially since she could feel it all over the area and not centered in one place.
"This will be tricky kit," Kurama warned his friend; "You can't use Senjutsu in Midgar and no doubt using too much of my power might attract unwanted attention. Never mind explaining to chesty here about me."
Ignoring the label Kurama had given Tifa, Naruto pondered for a moment to think what would be the best course of action. Perhaps they could try to corner it in between a couple of the abandoned trains.
"Yikes" The brawler exclaimed. "That one wasn't like that before" She pointed at a particular freight car. Naruto recognized it as a somewhat intact train where they would often spar over it. Only now it had been completely flipped over and torn in half, jagged plates of metal had been rend apart as if something had burst from one side and gone out the other.
...Alright, perhaps cornering the demon wasn't possible if it could cleave through metal like paper. The trains wouldn't give them any advantage with the exception of hiding from its sight, assuming the rest of its senses weren't strong enough to pick up their presence.
"We're going to have to fight this thing carefully," Naruto groaned as he took a deep breath. They were going to have to get crafty fighting and maybe Naruto might not have to use a lot or any of his partner's chakra.
While Tifa might be a good friend, he has not confiding in her about how he really came to Gaia. He trusted her, but not at the point explaining some deity tossed him into their reality. He just was not at that level of openness just yet with the busty bar owner.
"You still want to sleep with her though," Kurama pointed out.
Naruto had to muster all of his will not to make a physical reaction to the old fox's offhanded comment; 'Not helping furball!'
"It's called stress relief with humor brat."
...Well, least it was better than most if not all of Kurama's normal jokes. Gods he had a morbid sense of humor.
The two walked over the abandoned freight car, keeping their eyes open for any movement. At least from atop the metal contraptions they had a better vantage point to spot the creature. And given the damage that thing was capable of it had to be of great size, so finding it wouldn't be difficult.
Despite the size of the graveyard, there was no way something like the demon that had been causing trouble would be able to stay hidden.
Naruto's trained ears perked up as her heard something. "Listen" He held up his hand, stopping Tifa in her tracks.
They heard a metallic screech on the distance, the sound of metal tearing and twisting. It was getting louder, closer.
Around sixty meters from their position they could see various abandoned cars moving, toppling over as something tore through them with great force and speed. The sound of the metal being trashed couldn't hide the sound of... hooves?
Then they heard the neigh of a horse, along with an unnatural roar.
Both the ninja and the brawler shared a look. Just what was that thing that could make those sounds?
They didn't have to ponder for long, as closer train cars which stood close to small cleared section was pierced through by the creature.
"...Okay," Naruto muttered; "That is one fucked up looking demon."
Like the young teen had told them, the front part it's body is a horse with a bladed helmet on its head. But horse part stopped half-way and what started was a metallic serrated back with old carriage-like wheels. But what got their attention was the humanoid figure donning a sort of plate-like armor and helmet.
Both saw a black skull with a single glowing red eye glaring with both anger and hate in their direction. It let out a loud guttural roar which sent a wave of killer intent flooding the area.
The horse neighed, its blade-horn shining brightly as it swiftly charged at them.
"Shit, move!"
Naruto and Tifa jumped over the beast as it cleaved through the engine they stood on like a hot knife through butter. They landed on the ground and watched as the creature stopped and drifted to face them what's more.
"Think I heard about this thing" Tifa grunted as she adjusted her gloves. "It's an Eligor. It can go fast and has a really, really bad temper"
'Gee, ya think,' Naruto mentally retorts as Eligor turns itself back to its prey; "Anything else about this guy?"
"Uh...," Her red eyes widen as the single eye of the Eligor began to glow; "Get down!" She grabbed her blond friend by the arm as a beam of light fired slicing through several freight cars. Lifting their heads, both blink as they look behind them seeing the top half of the car sliding off; "How about that?"
"Seen a few demons who could do that," Kurama growled in annoyance.
The Eligor roared once more, and its steed half charged on a warpath. It was outstanding how fast the beast went from being stopped to being on a high speed charge. They barely had time to react its wheel let out sparks as it stopped to perform a devastating doughnut on them. They thought they had managed to move back just in time, only for its arm to swing at them, painfully sending both against severed train behind them.
They collided with such force their impact made dents on the metal. They landed on their knees, and groaned with effort as they stood up.
"That thing shouldn't be able to move so fast..." The blonde ninja growled in a mixture of pain and irritation.
Tifa rolled his neck, popping the bones as she grunted. "I say we take out the horsy first"
'Did she really just say horsy,' the young Sennin groaned as he pulled out a scroll, unfurling it he summoned his katana. Unsheathing the blade, he threw the scabbard aside. Glancing to his friend, he saw Tifa taking stance. He put his scroll back into his pocket.
"Let's go motherfucker," Naruto roared.
He jumped with great dexterity at the beast. The horse's bladed head parried his strike while the large clawed hand of the upper body swung at him. Naruto stood over the horse's body, deflecting the demon's sharp claws. Then the horse neighed violent as it trashed, making him lose his footing.
Tifa charged in, one fist raised high as she got close to the horse. But the beast's trashing made it difficult to get a clear shot at its head.
The Eligor began spinning in place at such speed that Naruto was sent flying away, he managed to regain his balance and land on top of another train. Tifa waited for the beast to stop its movement and jumped when she saw her chance, driving a strong left hook at the horse head. The horse roared painfully but swatted her away with a kick from its hooves.
She landed in front of the freight car Naruto was standing on. The horse appeared stunned, but the demon's eye glared at her with rage. It began shining more and more when suddenly a highly concentrated beam was shot.
Tifa gasped, she could barely move to escape the beam. A blur of movement in front of her later, and Naruto was standing between her and the attack, deflecting the beam with his sword. He grunted as he was pushed back, praying his blade would hold on, it wasn't meant to resist this kind of damage, even with the seals reinforcing it.
He tried to reflect the beam right back at the demon, and managed to get the ray of pure energy to scorch over the ground up to the horse's feet. It managed to hit the beast's right hoof, causing its flesh to be burnt horrible. The Eligor threw its head back, roaring in agony as it stopped his attack. The horse roared as well, trying to support itself with only one leg as the other was too wounded.
Naruto sighed with relief as the pressure of the beam was gone. He looked back at Tifa to see if she was okay; the brawler only stared at his hand.
Confused as to what she was looking at, he held up his blade to inspect the weapon... and found himself with a broken hilt, as the metal had melted and the rest of the blade had fallen off.
"Oh son of a..."
Oh Saito-Otooji would tan his hide if he saw this. Ugh, never mind reforging, he'd just have to make a new one. Throwing the broken sword aside, Naruto growled as he went into several quick hand seals; "Hope you like fire!"
The shinobi inhaled deeply, channeling chakra from his midsection to his mouth while molding it into a raging violent force. Fire bloomed from his lips in torrents, forming a great fireball which engulfed the demon with hungry flames.
He had expected to hear cries from the monster, instead the creature seemed to trash even less than it did when its hoof had been wounded by its own attack. The ground shook with the sudden stomp from the horse, creating a shockwave of wind which cleared the flames.
To the shock of the blonde and the brawler; the horse's head blade was alight with flames, as well as its hooves. The demon's metallic plates shined with heat, and its claws burned with a hot white color. The wheels at the side of the demon were now on fire, the ground scorched underneath them.
"Well, what you know" Tifa deadpanned. "It does like fire..."
'How the hell was I supposed to know it was keen to fire,' Naruto mentally grumbled while he heard Kurama snort. "You got any ideas hun?"
"How about not using flame spells?" The buxom brunette commented dryly.
"...Dutifully noted smart ass..."
The Eligor roared and the air itself seemed to ripple with shockwaves. Naruto and Tifa had to shield their faces from the strong blast of wind.
The chariot monstrosity charged, leaving a trail of flames on its path. The horse's head-blade seeking to impaled them. Shinobi and Brawler leaped out of the way, the freight car behind them was cleaved in half perfectly as the head-blade somehow cut the metal with sheer energy without coming close to the other parts of the freight.
The demon swatted away the pieces of the train like toys before coming to a halt and drifting to once more stare at the prey. Naruto and Tifa charged right at the beast, jumping to meet it head on.
With a blindingly fast movement of its arms, white-hot claws pierced their chests, making their bodies go limp. The demon didn't have time to relish in satisfaction at the feeling of another prey felling at its claws, for it was startled when their bodies suddenly burst into smoke so dense it couldn't see anything.
Tifa choose that moment to charge in, Naruto's... clone things (ninja stuff, she wasn't going to question it much) had provided a great distraction. She clenched her right fist, channeling the energies of the special materia-engraved leather through her limb. Her arm muscles flexed and rippled. The brawler growled through gnashing teeth as she poured all her ferocity into this strike.
Her fist connected with the horse head, the force of the impact so great it created a shockwave that cleared the smoke. Bones shattered under her blow as the horse's neck twisted horrifically to the side, tendons and muscles tore, and the spine snapped and burst from underneath the skin.
The horse part fell to the ground, dead, and the rest of the Eligor roared in agony, trashing about as half of its body no longer responded.
"Now!" Tifa called out.
Naruto jumped from over the wagons, a shining blue Rasengan charging on his hand. On a last moment of defiance, the Eligor snapped its gaze at him and fire its eye-beam. Beam and orb classed in a shower of energy, but Naruto pushed through from the air, reaching closer and closer to the demon's head.
The Eligor roared, either in rage or fear, as the Rasengan now stood mere centimeters from its face, his eye-beam pushing with everything it had. Naruto growled and with one burst of chakra, his attack burst through the beam and collided with the monster's head.
The Rasengan tore its heads to pieces, and all that remained was a headless slumping corpse. The only thing that held it up was the fallen horse body and its chariot wheels.
Both soon sighed in relief as they saw the demon began to turn into ashes and vanish. Tifa slumped down onto her knees while Naruto sat cross legged beside her; "Okay that was fun," he groaned as he turned his eyes to his friend; "And you are a bad ass."
Tifa lightly blushed; "Thanks."
"For future reference I'll be keeping an eye on the graveyard for now on," Naruto popped his neck as he looked at the destruction from the Eligor. 'Aerith will freak out hearing about this'
XxX ~ xx ~ XxX
Naruto sighed in relaxation as he lay on his back on Aerith's and Elmyra's garden, in a shirt and sweat pants, pretty much the only place he could feel any semblance of natural energy in this metal-clad city. It was a personal place of comfort for him.
Fighting the demon had been tough, more so when not using some of his greater arsenal like Senjutsu or Kurama's chakra, but he'd rather not get to reliant on them. He found overreliance to special powers instead of honing his skills and mind to be incredibly detrimental; he sometimes hated the fact that it took the Sage of Six Paths to give him and Sasuke a power-up to defeat Kaguya. Granted, the mad woman was beyond their scope to defeat, but he wondered if perhaps they had been more skilled or smarter they could have still defeated her. Made him feel he had become too reliant on others' powers. Anyone could be defeated with the right tools and strategy. Regardless, he should be glad the mad goddess was defeated without any permanent damage being done to their world.
"Hmm..." Kurama hummed in thought, his tone had a certain discomfort. Perhaps brought on by his own thoughts and memories about Kaguya; "Stealing the worlds' life-force... much like the Shinju once did"
'Something bothering you, buddy?'
"With Shinra draining the planet's life-force via those Mako reactors of theirs. And the planet's spawning those demons as its defense. Who is to say the variety those demons is more exotic..."
Well that was a cryptic response. Crossing his arms behind his head the blond sennin let those words settle in his thoughts for several minutes before slowly his cerulean orbs widen in a chilling level of dread crawls up his spine as he was praying his friend was not alluding to. 'You don't think the planet made beings like the Bijuu?'
Kurama narrowed his eyes; "I wouldn't outright rule it out. If the planet is as angry as I believe it is kit, who knows what is out there?"
Naruto picked up something in his tone. 'Are you... worried?' Kurama hardly worried about anything.
"Let me paint you this picture, boy" The fox began. "I was not spawned from our world, I am pure natural power hijacked by a parasitic tree that came out from space. My essence comes from the power absorbed by Kaguya, and given thought and shape by the old man sage. My power is not even a fraction of all the energy an entire world has. You follow me?"
'Yeah...' The blonde slowly nodded, curious to where his partner was going with this.
"My birth was not an act of the planet; I was not supplied power by it directly. Only given a portion, a big portion granted, of the power the Jyuubi had. Now" Kurama suddenly got serious. "Imagine Mother Nature, as everyone knows a woman, a mother, is... temperamental. And Mother Nature is nothing if not grumpy. What with earthquakes, tornados, all the fun stuff. So now picture a mother nature so royally pissed at her 'children', they are slowly killing her and stripping her bare of her capacity to support life. She's running out of options and her mood is worse than an Uzumaki woman on her period-"
Naruto shivered with dread at the thought.
"So she spawns these 'defense mechanisms', she creates droves and droves of monsters and demons. Beings so full of bloodlust they want nothing more that they want to destroy those who are harming the planet. Humanity" Kurama says with a touch of theatric drama. "They are varied; each has their strength and weaknesses... But imagine the world pouring titanic amounts of energy into one of these creations. So much their power far outclasses any other monster and become a league of its own. What I'm trying to say kid, is that the planet has more than enough power to spare to willingly give birth to multiple existences on the level of Biju... Perhaps even the Jūbi"
Oh by all the gods above he prayed the planet did not create a Jūbi. Or hell something at Kurama's level of power. Those two thoughts alone were beyond terrifying in any words he could ever vocalize. 'If we ever leave Midgar we will have to pay close attention to everything won't we?'
"Better than getting killed," Kurama huffed.
A shadow soon loomed over the blond Uzumaki as his cerulean saw Aerith. Wearing her pink button dress, minus the coat, with her arms behind her back leaning forward and looking down at him; "You know; normal people usually rest in a bed after facing a powerful monster."
"Good thing I'm not normal," he smirked while she pouted cutely. "I'll be fine, not my first scrap dealing with a demon, I'm just pissed I have to make a new sword."
Now that earned him a dry expression from the brunette's emeralds; "Seriously..."
"My uncle Saito had that sword made for me. He'd kick my ass seeing how it was turned into a scrap of tin."
"Maybe next time you'll take better care of it;" The young woman quipped humorously.
The blond shinobi grunted; "Wasn't my fault..."
"Course not;" The fox deadpanned. "You just wanted to act cool and deflect a high intensity demon laser with it. You couldn't have foreseen that backfiring in any way"
'Oh shut up you'
"On the bright side Mr. Sheamus has plenty of metal to help make a new one," Aerith shrugged trying to think positive. "Maybe you'll take better care of this one" the brunette smirked teasingly.
"Are you giving me a reason to prank you?" Naruto eye twitched as he looked up at his friend.
XxX ~ four months later ~ XxX
With huffed breaths and fast steps, the wild red haired Turk darted through an alley. The building's colorless grey steel was tall enough that not a ray of sunlight shined through. He jumped over fallen dumpsters and made quick turns at the corners, Reno gave it his all to keep the pace with his target.
As he turned on the last corner, he saw the end of the alley leading to the street. A silhouette was making its way towards it, into the pedestrian filled streets. They couldn't let him be lost among the crowd or then he'd disappear completely.
"This is Reno," He spoke with a hand on his ear, communicating through his radio; "Target's entering market district 4, Eighth Avenue!"
"I see him," Emma's voice rang in his comm; "Engaging pursuit."
The lazy redhead of the Turks winced as his ear comm made a loud feedback sound. "What the hell was that?!"
"...Trap," the wheezing voice of the blond Turk responded; "how did he set that up so quickly?"
'Least it's not on me for once,' Reno mentally mused as he kept running.
Dashing through sidewalks and back alleys, Naruto rushed passed pedestrians almost like a blur. He did have to give the Turks credit they brought their runners this time. While he had no clue on the blond Turk woman was, he knew Cissnei was leading this bunch. And the petite redhead has been on his case whenever she took the mission to either come for him or Aerith.
Honestly you flirt one time with a woman and she wants to kick your ass. That seemed to be the main theme with most the women in his life...
Not missing the awareness of the people around him, the blond Uzumaki leap over several people just as Rude was going to strike at him. Front flipping and landing to his feet, Naruto kept going as he waved back; "Sup Shades!"
The bald Turk grunted and continued on the pursuit. Passing by a cafe, Naruto snatched a wet napkin from an empty table and dropped it to the ground. He didn't turn to look if it would work; he just hoped his luck would hold.
"Shi-," Hearing the sound of someone slipping and colliding with the cement walk in painful fashion was enough to make him laugh. He honestly didn't think that would work. But alas, the best pranks were sometimes the simpler ones.
Reno managed to catch up to his partner. "Come on pal" And helped him stand up by pulling his hand. Rude walked off the pain on his back and readjusted his shades, once more sprinting off to apprehend their target.
Naruto for his part turned on a corner to the left, the street filled with various clothes shop and the like. Windows which displayed mannequins with the latest fashions, purses, jewelry and more.
His instincts screamed danger, the sound of air being cut by a flying object reached his ears. He ducked as a large shuriken of particular designed sliced the head of a mannequin standing on the street.
The weapon soared though the air, returning once more to its wielder. Naruto's gaze shifted between the severed head of the dummy and the red haired young woman. "That's gonna get cut down from your pay I bet"
"How bout I cut something off of you and we call it even?" the way Cissnei said it just gave the young Sennin a shiver down his spine.
"Uh no thanks cutie," thus resuming his running, now with various dodging from Cissnei's shuriken while she ran after him. Damn the little lady was a bad ass. "WHOA," Naruto leaping over the red shuriken as it nearly sliced him between his legs.
"I said 'No'!" He shouted, as the shuriken returned to her hands. "Take a hint!" The shinobi took on a fighting stance, looking ready for a bout. People standing on the streets slowly back away from the two dangerous individuals, feeling the tension rising to dangerous levels.
Cissnei followed suit, making sure to channel the materia in her clothes. The ninja was highly skilled and filled of dangerous surprises and tricks matched by his clever mind and tactics; she couldn't take any chances with-
"By the Gods, what's that?!" He pointed behind her alarmed.
The Turk turned in response, her eyes carefully scanned the surroundings, trying to find what had the shinobi so alarmed... then she realized the stupid mistake she made, and immediately turned back with an angry scowl on her features.
He ran away... That bore repeating, he ran away. The suddenness and stupidity of it all just let the Turk in a state of temporal stupor.
Cissnei then realized he had once again played her a fool, and with the cheapest and most childish of tricks. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, feeling ashamed with her own incompetence.
"I. Will. Kill. This. BASTARD," the petite redhead seethed as she dashed like the wind for the blond. Be damned if Hojo wants this guy for his experiments, she was going to get her pound of flesh!
Pedestrians gave the angry young woman a wide berth as they swore they saw fire in her eyes. In her rage however she did not notice Naruto sitting at a cafe table reading a paper as she barreled by. Slowly a very vulpine like smirk formed on his lips.
A high pitched squeak made him lower the paper as he saw Cissnei had fell in his trap. The sound of her shuriken dropping onto the cement ground while the beautiful petite redhead was hanging upside down via ninja wire. This also triggered a bucket of water being dumped all over her. Well not really water given it was dissolving the redheads clothing. But at least the former Anbu could say its non-toxic to humans.
'Maybe that was too much,' Thought for a moment of sympathy.
"Nah," Kurama responded cackled evilly.
"Huh" The original Naruto muttered to himself as he saw part of her clothing, namely her shoes, gloves, underwear and bra remained intact. "Weird those are still intact" He mused, unbothered by the mortified squeaking of the tied up woman and the flashes of cameras and cellphones.
"Must be materia infused" The fox noted. "It's handy, I'll give it that"
Naruto looked over from his perch at the corner of the street. "And there comes the other stooges..."
Reno and Rude arrived at the scene, "Cissnei!" The redhead shouted. "Did you run into-WWWWOAH!" The Turk exclaimed as he noticed the current state of undress his superior was suffering from, and could not help but grinned goofily at the sight. Rude merely rubbed his nose and muttered something along the lines of 'He was here alright...'
'That ugly ass suit really does hide that cute wineglass figure. Hmm, 30C, not too big not too small, fits her body,' the blond Uzumaki paused before face palming; 'Damn you Ero-Sennin!'
Kurama only rolled his eyes while his partner saw another clone being chased by that blond woman, Em… something or other; "Honestly kit you could remember her name. You don't forget that little redhead's. She has been chasing you and Aerith for a year with the other stooges."
'Eh' He scratched his hair. 'She's a bit too serious. Ain't seeing anything interesting about that one. You meet one like them, you've met them all' the only reason he bothered to remember Rude's name was because the guy wasn't as serious as initial appearances suggested... and because Itachi's voice coming from that guy creeped him out so much...
"She shot you once with those 'guns'" Kurama pointed out. "And it hurt you like hell, I think you'd remember that"
'I do...' That was a huge eye opener on the whole 'guns' thing. 'But even when she did it she was boring...'
It also came to Naruto's attention that the Turks weren't just after Aerith, but also him as well. No doubt something that lunatic professor Hojo's order. Ugh, just what he needed again, Orochimaru and Kabuto were bad enough till he, Fu, and Octopops killed them.
If this nut job wanted to give him more reasons to kill him besides whatever the experiments he did to Aerith and her biological mother, he'd gladly send Hojo to hell gift wrapped for the Shinigami.
His darker thoughts are interrupted as he heard a gunshot; 'Oh goodie blondie brought her toys.'
XxX ~ xx ~ XxX
While Rude was in the process of untying Cissnei, Reno had his hand on his earpiece. "We heard gunshots, what's going on?"
Emma was quick to reply. "I'm following the target on Mindoir Street; he's going into the alley."
The goggles wearing Turk pauses, confusing written on his face. "But... Mindoir is on the opposite end of the street, we just had contact with him around here" How did he get there so quickly?
Cissnei, fueled by rage and humiliation, clenched her teeth as she covered herself with Rude's coat. "He's using his copies..." She replied, having heard the conversation. "He's playing us for fools again..." Time after time that ninja had made a mockery out of the office. Already it was bringing great displeasure to president Shinra.
"You're gonna need clothes" The bald Turk said.
"Says you..." Reno muttered to himself, he gulped when he saw Cissnei's murderous glare.
Rude immediately entered the clothing store, he stood before the stupefied clerk, who had taken cover behind the counter ever since the whole mess started. "Turks" The operative announced, brandishing his badge. "I'm requisitioning your wares" His tone left not room for arguments
Before most could blink, and much to Reno's disappointment. Cissnei now wore sweat pants with a shirt with a Chocobo being ridden by a moogle. Her red brow twitched as she and the others heard rousing laughter on the other side of the street. The trio saw the blond menace pointing at the Cissnei; "Now you do look adorable Dattebayo!"
She could not have gotten her Rekka fast enough as she was about to throw it at the jerk till seeing he was gone in a puff of smoke. Reno and Rude both wisely stepped back as their seething commander stomped off to Emma's location.
No longer from earshot, Reno pulled out his phone grinned perversely. Rude only sighed as he shook his head; "She'll kill you if she sees that."
"'If," He stressed silently. "Keyword"
Cissnei sighed to herself, swallowing the shame she felt. She put her hand on her ear and contacted the other Turk. "Emma, is the target you're following the real one?"
"I'll find out once when a bullet hits"
XxX ~ xx ~ XxX
The said markswoman eye twitched seeing her target deftly avoid another bullet sent his way; "Not on your 'A' game huh blondie!"
Naruto turned a corner missing several more rounds sent his way; "Still missed!"
The shinobi turned his head in time to see the Turk pull out a pair of guns with large magazines from her outfit. Oh he had had previous experience with those types of weapons before... "Oh crap"
Swiftly looking for a good place to hide, Naruto didn't have to think about twice.
A middle aged man was carefully arranging various ceramic pots outside his shop, neatly putting them on display to catch the eyes of potential customers. He took great pride in his shop after all, and was certain these pieces, despite being of lower quality and material (he wasn't going to put his best stuff on display) would certainly do the trick.
Then he saw a blonde man jumping through the window and into his shop, breaking the glass to hundreds of little pieces and knocking aside various pieces of expensive pottery which fell to the ground in tatters.
And THEN another blonde, a woman this time, proceeded to shoot into the store with a pair of semi-automatics. Bullets flew in blurring darts of light as empty casing fell to the ground by the dozens. The bullets flew with poor accuracy but compensated with their overwhelming high number.
The sound of gunfire couldn't hide the sound of ceramic being destroyed upon impact by the bullets. Works of art of such delicate make fell to the ground as broken pieces of rubble.
Thirty years of honest hard work turned to rubble... all his pots he either handmade or bought shattering to pieces via a hail of gunfire. The small shop he purchased, being turned to kindling.
Having taken cover behind the cashiers table Naruto stays lower as several bullets pierced through his cover. 'I hate guns...'
"Just imagine those little toys back home," Kurama pointed out.
'Trust me I have furball, and we know the outcome,' it would be a damn bloodbath if some warlord or to bit thug with a chip on his shoulder got their hands on a gun. "Okay this is getting annoying..."
"Let me ask you;" The fox began. "Why are you tacking cover?"
'Oh, I don't know' He sarcastically replied. 'Maybe me not wanting to get hit by little projectiles that travel half as fast the speed of sound may have something to do with it' Bullets were NOT easy to dodge unless you moved as fast as you could, anticipating them and reacting fast enough.
"But why;" The fox asked in confusion. "You're just a clone; you'll just be gone in a 'poof'"
'...That hurts my feelings'
The blond clone blinked as the shooting had finally stopped; 'okay either out of bullets or she is getting crafty.' He paused on that thought before giving a dry look; "Right, forgot who I'm dealing with."
The clip from her Uzi hit the ground as Emma re-loads a new magazine. Walking passed the catatonic shop keeper, she slips a card into his free hand; "Turks business..."
Walking through the broken window the blond female scanned the area with her weapon at the ready. Nearing the cashiers table she swung around ready to fire, only to find no one but a door to the back open. "Tsk..."
The shop keeper slowly blinked as his mind restarted now seeing his shop in ruins. "I fucking hate blonds..."
XxX ~ xx ~ XxX
Running out of the shops backdoor and into an alley, Emma briefly saw the red coat from the ninja always wears turned a corner. Quickly on pursuit and turned the corner only to shriek as she fell into a hole in the ground.
She painfully stood up, pain spreading through her limbs as she rubbed her neck. "When the hell did he get time to dig this?" It was at least 9 feet deep and... Covered in some sort of slime, she tried climbing it but she only slipped.
"Well when you put enough effort into your pranks" The ninja's voice came, and her guns were already on her hands aiming outside the hole, but he was nowhere in sight. Smartly staying out of her barrels' sight; "You find ways"
"Oh yeah, by the way; Watch your clothes," Naruto whistled the tune 'twisted nerve' as Emma heard the whistling vanish.
Blinking with confusion at his words, Emma's sapphire eyes soon widen as her Turks suit began to disintegrate till she only in her panties and bra. Looking down from the roof, the real Naruto smirked upon hearing a high pitch shriek that echoed throughout the area. "Seriously, she has a killer figure like that, and hides it in that ugly ass suit." Eh, Cissnei was cuter. "Call it a day partner?"
Kurama chuckled evilly.
XxX ~ Gaia: εγλ 0008 ~ XxX
His vision blurred as the noise echoed in his head, each sound felt like the painful banging of drums on his ears. He saw figures, soldiers, and a man in a lab coat
"This one here... intriguing, most intriguing!" That voice... "He'll make a fine test subject!" The man, the doctor, he was... standing in front of someone unconscious.
He couldn't see very well, only a familiar uniform, and stands of spiky blonde hair.
Darkness overcame him.
There was silence, only silence and blackness.
"You call yourself SOLDIER?"
The words were accompanied with a blur of white. A feather…
Then came a wing, it looked like an angel's wing, but he knew it wasn't.
The wings came from a man, a figure he knew all too well. Long dark hair, a stubble chin, fierce eyes. A great blade on his back.
'Angeal...' He tried reaching out to him, his strength slowly returning. But it was so hard, he couldn't keep going. Not after everything that happened...
He just wasn't strong enough
It was like Angeal knew what he was feeling; his eyes looked at him with condemnation and disappointment. "You tarnish the SOLDIER name"
The SOLDIER turned away. Eyes widened in disbelief as hands banged on the crystal of his prison.
"Angeal, wait!" He called for his mentor in desperation. He couldn't leave, not again, not after all this.
Angeal took flight and disappeared from his vision, the bubbles of the pod blurred his gaze until suddenly only light remained.
He then found himself standing on an ocean of blue, almost like water, staring at the equally blue skies. The sun was so bright.
He looked longingly at it, wanting to reach it so badly.
A single feather fell. He'd give everything just for one of those...
"Those wings..." Zack spoke with melancholy and forlorn desire. "I want them too"
To have that strength, the strength to fly and be free at last. To take hold of his fate once more and live according to his ideals.
It was when the feather fell that Zack realized how foolish he had been, he was just about to give up, just let everything go... but he couldn't. His wasn't the only life on the line. Aerith and his friends in SOLDIER, the people that still suffered because of Genesis's actions...
No... He couldn't give up, that wasn't what SOLDIERs do. It wasn't what a hero would do.
His dream shattered like glass.
XxX ~ xx ~ XxX
Writing on his pamphlet, a young man in a lab coat with glasses walked through the area of the underground laboratory of the Shinra mansion. 'This place always creeps me out; I don't know why we bother since these subjects are...' The man's thoughts stopped as he saw broken glass on the floor and one of the test subjects now fully awake starting to stand.
Before him could even sound the alarm, Zack's fist slammed into his chin sending him into dream land. Taking several deep breaths, the young SOLDIER looks around at his surroundings. Turning around, a small smiled graced his lips; "Let's go..."
XxX ~ Shinra building ~ XxX
Standing in front of the desk of president Shinra, Tseng reads through a folder with a file inside; "Are you certain of this sir?"
The head of Shinra crossed his fingers in front of his mouth. "Tell me something Tseng; do you know which Shinra's strongest weapon is?"
"I... sir?" The leader of the Turks replied in confusion.
"Control, Tseng. Control" Though his tone was patient, there was a tinge of disappointment in his words. "Mako, technology, our research and our forces, they are all a means to an end. And that end is 'control'. It is through our control that we lead this world to prosperity through progress" He turned in his chair, facing the window. "This last few years... our control has been slipping from our grasp. Once loyal SOLDIERS going rogue, the fiasco that was Nibelheim. We lost our strongest operatives in the span of just two. Years." He punctuated the words for emphasis
Tseng said nothing.
"If we look weak, we start losing control. The people begin questioning us, thoughts and ideas of dissent spreads, our hold weakens further. And then everything" He lifted a hand, gesturing in the air. "Is chaos..." He stood up from his chair walking towards the window. "Shinra represents order and stability, for that we must project that order through everything we do" The blonde haired mustached man took a deep breath. "Tell me Tseng; do we look like we are in control when our agents betray us and slaughter the civilians? Do we look in control when our operatives constantly fail to apprehend an unknown that has been making a mockery of his pursuers?"
The leader of the Turks bristled under his comment and grunted. The president wasn't happy in the least with their lack of progress in capturing that ninja, made worse with all the recent failures the company had been facing.
He stared once more at the file in his hand. But to go this far... To actually assign someone like 'her' to their unit.
"It has become clear to me your operatives cannot handle this unknown on your own" Shinra spoke with disappointment. "So she'll be added to your unit. You'll find she is quite capable, she's been trained to make up for their loses of our best agents after all."
A 1st Class SOLDIER in the Turks... The company had finally had enough with their lack of success, now they were bringing the big guns.
Closing the file, Tseng gave a nod to his boss; "Understood sir," By Gaia, why did it feel something bad was going to happen if these two meet?
