Yo, Crazy7634 here! Sooo, I know that this chapter is incredibly late (heheh, as usual eh?), but I can explain. First of all, my school year's ending, so things had begun to get hectic as the teachers tried to get everything done before the end of their quota. Second, I had writers block. Yeah, bad thing to have when your update schedule is like mine. Third, TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! Yeah, I had been planning on putting this up around two days back, but early parties kinda got to my head and I may or may not have forgotten. Thank you to those who have followed, favourited and reviewed this story. Now, because this chapter was late and that it's December 6th, I have made this chapter super long. The total amount of words on this chapter (not including this author's note and the disclaimer) is... ready? A WHOPPING 10,504! You guys better be happy, and as usual, if you see any mistakes or know of any ways that I could improve this story/chapter, feel free to tell me. Whether by private message or review. Have fun! :3
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, especially Naruto and Steven Universe.
Chapter 7 – Secrets
[Outside of the Crystal Gem Temple]
[With Garnet and Amethyst, 1:12 p.m.]
A square-haired lady watched over the figures playing on the beach from her perch on the house's porch, a white-haired woman stood at her side. They had small smiles on their faces as they shook their heads in mirth at the antics of the three "children" below. A curly-haired child stood atop a large nine-tailed fox's head as it chased after a tall, blonde-haired man. The three ran barefoot on the sand, throwing paint balloons and laughing at each other's paint-covered forms.
"Hmph, I thought that you would be down there fooling around with them." The sunglass-wearing woman smiled as she supervised the tomfoolery happening beneath them.
"Are you kidding me? I know what's to come once they're done with their role-playing. I don't want to take one of those things…" the shorter female gave the sunglass-wearing woman an incredulous look, muttering the last sentence when she was reminded of her horrible first-hand experience…
"Will you at least help me with handling them?"
"Eh… why not? I got nothing better to do. Would probably be fun." the two grew small grins on their faces when one of the figures got hit on the face with a balloon.
[With The "Children"]
"Gahahaha! FEEL OUR RIGHTEOUS FURY!"
"NO, PLEASE!"
Naruto "tripped" on a hidden rock and fell in front of many full, open, paint tins. He was currently wearing a pure black shirt and dark-blue cargo shorts along with his usual mask and dog tags. He rolled over so that his front was facing the two figures towering over him and "cowered in fear" as he continued to "plead" for mercy; a grin was underneath his mask and he snickered as he did so.
"You are in trouble for stealing mine and Kurama's bacon from this morning. How does the older brother plead?" Steven giggled. He gestured for Kurama's tails, which were holding a very large paint balloon, to lift the object over the blonde's head.
"Please, sire! It was not me. It was them!" Naruto said dramatically, eye-smiling as he pointed to the Gems who were watching over them and smirked when he heard snorts of amusement. "I plead innocence!"
"The King has listened whatever you said and finds you… GUILTY!" The short boy yelled, pointing at his gem brother's head. "Sir Kurama, choose his punishment!"
Said fox grinned manically, "By the order of Lord Steven Quartz Universe, you are hereby sentenced to… Death by "Sibling Dogpile"!"
Once he finished his sentence, Steven's fox older brother smashed the paint balloon onto Naruto's head and followed through with a belly flop onto the orange shinobi. The ninja guffawed out a "Nooo!" as Steven and Kurama along with three shadow clones of the fox dogpiled on top of him, causing the stack of paint cans behind him to topple over and spill their contents onto the messy trio. Garnet sighed, deciding that they had had enough fun, she started to walk down the stairs to break the news to the brothers. The sunglass-wearing Gem glanced at Amethyst, who nodded at her after summoning two whips, and spoke.
"Alright you three, that's enough fun with paint for the day. Now, due to your current situations, you know what time it is. Don't you?" She sighed at their clueless smiles, not looking forward to their reactions to her next sentence. "…It's time for you to take a bath."
The three froze and their grins disappeared, looks of sheer horror replaced their joyful faces as their minds processed what Garnet had said. A few seconds later, they snapped out of their daze, and quickly got up to their feet, dashing away as fast as possible into the direction of Beach City. Naruto flinched as his sixth-sense for danger acted up, he leaped to the side and looked back, happy that he had done so as he saw a whip coil on itself where his legs would have been if he had not jumped. Unfortunately, Steven was not so lucky and tripped as Amethyst had managed to stop him using her second whip before wrapping the whip that failed to capture Naruto around Steven's legs. The blonde skidded to a stop, not wanting to leave a brother behind.
"STEVEN!" He cried wanting to run to the boy to help him get away from the horrors known as baths. Kurama managed to drift to his side and kept the ninja from going back using his tails, both sending worried gazes to the fallen half-gem.
"No, don't. GO! SAVE YOURSELVES!" The chubby boy yelled as the whip dragged him back to the house. The blonde reluctantly forced himself to hold still and the bijuu released him at feeling his struggles lessen. Naruto sent a devastated look at the drag-marks imprinted onto the sand, not paying attention to anything else but where Steven had once been. Kurama's ears twitched, his eyes widened and he shoved the paralyzed Naruto away.
"MOVE!" He yelled, tilting his head upwards and saw Garnet about to grab him with her summoned gauntlets. "Ah, damn it…"
He grunted when she held him at his sides and wrestled him up into the air, intending to bring him back to the house. The fox squirmed in her grasp, attempting to escape the grip that restrained him. After a few tries, he looked at his younger brother who watched his struggling from his position on the sand.
"Naruto, snap out of it already! Me and Steven will be fine, go take care of yourself." Garnet hurried quickly to the direction of the house, rushing in case the fox somehow managed to wriggle himself out of her grasp or if the masked gem decided to help him escape. As she was about to leap away, the bijuu managed to snap the blonde back into the real world. "RUN, NOW!"
The Uzumaki shook his head, his mind back to focusing on the problem at hand. He hopped back onto his feet, running away while pouring chakra into his legs, causing him to leave a large cloud of sand in his wake. For three minutes, he ran towards Beach City, stopping just before he went completely past Beach City's "Sea ya later!" sign. He frantically twisted his head in all directions, checking if anyone had been following him, letting out a breath of relief when he saw no one and used Hiraishin to get to The Den.
[The Den]
The teleportation's bright light disappeared, revealing Naruto's orange-covered form sprawled out on the cold, cave floor. He kept still for a minute before flipping himself over to his back, letting out a sigh as he relaxed.
"I will never take one of those nightmares they call "baths" without a fight…" He said softly, his eyes closed and a calm smile on his face.
"Oh, really? Well I guess it's good that we prepared for one then."
'Gah, Damn it!' Naruto's eyes snapped open, his lax posture was now an alert one. He jumped to his feet, and hopped to the side, barely dodging the dark purple whips that had been aimed for his legs and torso. He twisted his body to face his assailants and flipped backwards to avoid the gauntlets that were about to capture him in their grip, skidding as he landed with his feet on the ground. Naruto gave a nervous smile as he kept his sight on the stoic-faced Garnet cracking her knuckles and the smirking Amethyst tightening her grip on the two whips in her hands.
"Uh… can't we just talk about this?" the blue-eyed man really didn't want to take a bath. He never did know why, maybe it had something to do with his mindscape's previous sewer appearance? He never did like that look, it always reminded him of when he was a child. Back then, if he didn't go into the mindscape willingly, then he must've been harmed in the physical world quite harshly to have had his consciousness be forced to retreat deep into the recesses of his mind. He pulled his head out of his thoughts and flinched when he saw the two in front of him twitch. Slowly and discreetly, he made chakra flow through his legs once more, his feet ready to take him as far as possible if the need arose. Tense seconds ticked by, the jinchūriki's panicked eyes kept switching from Garnet to Amethyst and back again. The skeptical Uzumaki made his form look as if it was getting lax, but once he did so, the white-haired gem in front of him instantly spun her whips at him in an attempt to catch the paint-covered male while he seemed to be off guard. Naruto hastily pushed off of the ground using his left foot and kept it airborne as he spun on his other one. The weapons passed him harmlessly and hit the air with a loud cracking sound before recoiling back to Amethyst. He stomped his airborne foot onto the Den's concrete floor to break his body's torque and pivoted to the left, avoiding a grab from Garnet. With what the two wanted his capture for, his brain took the situation seriously and slowly changed his mentality to combat mode. Naruto's pupils dilated from warm cerulean into ice-cold blue, rapidly moving from side to side in order to keep watch on both attackers.
'I will not take one of those… baths" He thought in disgust, "Hmm, let's see… they've secured my left and right, which means the only way I can go is forward, back, up or down. If I jump, Amethyst would probably use her whips again and Garnet would be ready to grab me should I dodge. Backwards… oh, there's a wall there. I guess that's out. Downwards is out as well unless my aim was to reveal my ability to use ninjutsu. Heh, with those out for the count, I guess the only way to go is forwards!'
Just as he made up his mind, the three-eyed gem and her whip-wielding accomplice moved to tackle him into the ground. The shinobi swiftly crouched down and placed a palm against the hard floor before rolling forwards, evading their advance.
"Stop being such a baby. It's just a bath, take it like a man!" the tank-top wearing gem cried out at the back of the kneeling young man, stomping her foot on the spot where he had just been, a vein on each of Garnet and Amethyst's foreheads throbbed in their frustration.
"I am sorry Garnet, Amethyst. But if I have to take a bath to be a man, then I prefer to stay as a baby." His head curled upwards slightly from his position as he smirked from underneath his mask, he glanced back slightly and stared at the spot where his palm had been laid flat before his roll.
'Kai'
With that one word, a small, invisible sealing matrix beneath Amethyst's foot glowed and made itself known, causing the figures above it to look down and inspect the shining symbols curiously. The distracted duo jumped slightly in surprise when the seal suddenly flashed even brighter before releasing chains made of blue energy, the restraints wrapping around their bodies. Garnet tried to squirm her way out and found herself unable to do so. She tested her limbs individually and found that they were immovable. Seeing that Garnet, one of the strongest gems she knew, couldn't even move the constrictions encasing them by a single centimetre, Amethyst started to panic and squirm in an attempt to escape to no avail. The ninja's electric-blue eyes switched back to warm cerulean when his warfare mindset dissipated and was replaced with his usual childish nature.
"Heh, good luck trying to get out of those! Now, if you excuse me, I will be going elsewhere!" The blonde cackled evilly as he walked to the Den entrance, turning back once more to the captured gems. "Those will last for a couple of hours, I guess won't be able to come after me in a long while!"
Naruto opened the massive cavern's doorway and spun around on the balls of his feet. He was about to simply waltz out of the doorway when he was halted by a familiar sensation. A guttural sound reverberated in his throat as a finger scratched his covered cheek, and in an instant his tense posture turned lax. Through his half-lidded eyes, he managed to turn his gaze from the end of the entrance tunnel to the one causing this abrupt interruption of his departure.
'Of course it was her…'
"Pearl!" the gems cried out in relief at seeing their third female member while the gem in question just sighed. Naruto plopped down onto the ground, Pearl now running a hand through his hair to calm him.
'How did she know what was going on? She was supposed to be out on a solo mission…' The blonde wondered until he saw his two brothers sitting by the special Hiraishin kunai connected to the Crystal Gem Temple, furiously shaking themselves as they tried to get rid of the small amount of water that was making their hair/fur wet. '*sigh* Right. I forgot. Those two wouldn't take a shower by themselves, Pearl probably got back in time to see the two restrained and covered in paint somewhere in the house when Garnet and Amethyst went after me.'
"Honestly, can't I leave you guys alone without having to come back and clear up a messy situation?" Pearl sighed, turning to the shinobi who was currently putty in her hands and stopped her ministrations. "Now come on you. Regardless of your hatred towards baths, you definitely need one. I'm surprised that the paint is still wet after all this time, but it is best that you wash it off before it dries and hardens."
"But Pearrrrrl…"
"No buts Naruto."
The whiskered gem stared at the peach-haired gem with the same expression as a kicked puppy. Pearl flinched at the enlarging azure orbs that started to pierce through her willpower, her resolve started to crack until she shook her head to clear the doubts that had formed in her mind once she had realized what was happening.
"Come on you big baby." She breathed out in slight exasperation. The pale woman grabbed the back of his now half-orange black shirt. She dragged the man over to the Hiraishin kunai nearby and teleported them both back into the Crystal Gem Temple with Steven and Kurama following after them. After a three-hour battle, Pearl managed to shove the stubborn ex-Konoha resident into the bathroom; not letting him out until he had taken a bath. Unfortunately, they had forgotten one very important thing when they left the Den.
"Uhh… Guys? Hellooo!" Amethyst yelled, still wrapped in Naruto's chakra chains. Garnet just sighed and stayed quiet while her fellow gem kept crying out complaints at the metal weapon hung on the wall, as if it had the ability to transmit vocal messages like how it transported people. "Aww, COME ON!"
[Crystal Gem Statue Hand]
[2:18 a.m.]
Naruto sighed, relaxing as he laid against the cold, crystal warp pad and was staring once more at two photos in his hands. The same ones he had been gazing at two years ago. A cool gust of wind blew past the washing machines close by and went on his face, causing his shoulder-length, sun-kissed hair to cover his face; filling his nostrils with the scent of the shampoo he had used eight hours ago when his "handler" forced him to wash the paint off. Naruto grunted as he stood up. His joints, which had not been used for a few hours, creaked with every movement. He walked over to the edge of the stone hand, settling back down on the space between its pointer finger and thumb, facing the sea. He smiled when a bright light flashed behind him and felt a very familiar presence make itself known.
"So this is where you went off to. I must admit, I was quite confused when Kurama said that you weren't at the Den." Pearl smirked, making her way towards the unmasked male.
"Heh, you know, I'm getting a sense of Déjà vu right now." He chuckled out, his eyes still focused on the photographs in his hands. The ballerina-like gem sat down next to him, curiously peeking at the pictures he was looking at with melancholy.
"So, who are those people?" She asked, resting her head on his shoulder. A smile appeared on Naruto's face and there was a twinkle of happiness in his eyes. He placed Team 7's portrait over the one depicting the Konoha Genin Teams.
"This one is of me, my friends and our teacher years ago. We had just passed our initiation test and took a photo to commemorate the event."
"Initiation test?" Pearl curiously asked. "What was it for?"
Naruto stopped and debated in his mind whether to tell her or not. A few minutes later he spoke up.
"You remember back when me and Kurama were convincing you three to train Steven, we revealed that wars were quite common in our old home and countries would train children into hardened soldiers at a young age?" Pearl nodded. "Well, there was this ranking system going on where we were from and there would always be some kind of test to see if you were deserved to get ranked up. From lowest to highest, it would go from academy student, genin, chūnin, tokubetsu jōnin, jōnin and Kage. Academy student is pretty much self-explanatory, they're children from around the age of 6-15 years old, still learning how to throw a kunai properly at the least. Genin is when an academy student successfully graduates and are given their forehead protectors which have our home's symbol to show that they are a soldier of our nation. They are considered the greenhorns and are placed in teams to higher their survival rate. They are not allowed to leave Konoha without their supervisor, which is always someone whose rank is at least at jōnin. Chūnin is when you pass this difficult ranking exam, the challenges in which differs and depends on the location it is held in-"
Naruto paused when he saw Pearl's inquiring look. "Our old home was called the Elemental Nations. It is called this because while there were definitely many countries, five of them stood out the most as they held the most power and had the strongest military forces. Their names were Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Sunagakure and finally Konohagakure; the one me and Kurama lived in. Anyway, the Chūnin Exams would be held at a different nation each year and if you managed to pass, your rank gets higher and you get a flak jacket as proof… well I guess you guys would call it some kind of armoured vest. You're still treated kind of like a genin by those ranked higher than you but at least it shows that you're getting somewhere. Jōnin is, again, when you have to pass a specific test. But this time it is set by the leader of your country. This rank is the second highest rank you can get, with Kage being the first. It basically means that you are an experienced fighter and should not trifled with. They are also given the job to teach the genin about our way of life. The tokubetsu version of this rank means that you are skilled enough in an art that it can get you recognized as a jōnin level, but you would still need either gain a lot more field experience or more mastery in other abilities before you can be an official jōnin. Now, Kage? That is the highest rank that anyone could get. This rank is reserved for the leader of the country. To be able to qualify for this rank, you would have to be very skilled, have had lots of experience in the battlefield and, most importantly, are able to prove to the previous leader that you have the resolve to protect the nation with your life. Every decision you make as a Kage affects your country as a whole."
"Wow. What rank were you?"
"I was only genin when I left Konohagakure. I might have had a chance at becoming chūnin should I have completed the exams, but unfortunately a traitor to Konoha decided to instigate a war against us during it."
This made Pearl's eyes widen in shock. "You were part of a war?!"
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, sweatdropping as he turned his head back towards the sea to avoid the look Pearl gave him. 'Maybe I gave out a little too much information…'
"Well… yeah. Didn't kill anyone though, I just helped fight in it. After all, it's what I was raised to do. There were some casualties of course, but nothing too serious happened." He forcing a slight smile, managing to hide the pain he felt when sadness pierced his heart at being reminded of the Sandaime Hokage's death.
"Okay… so from what I have heard, am I correct in assuming that these friends of yours are your teammates, with the masked man being your supervisor?" The pixie-cut gem asked.
"Yes. If it weren't for that system, most of us genin would not have survived our first few minutes outside the safety of our country's walls."
Pearl hmmed in thought and stared at the Team 7 portrait again. Naruto was easy to identify with his sun-kissed yellow hair. He was much younger than he was now. The twenty-three year old was wearing a neon-orange jumpsuit at the time the photo was taken, he had an annoyed expression on his face and was scowling at a black-haired boy whose hair looked similar to that of a duck's butt. The pale boy in question was wearing a high-collared, dark-blue shirt and was giving the camera an intense glare. In between the two was a pink-haired girl who had a cheerful look on her face, she was wearing a red dress which seemed to have white circles at the sides of the short sleeves and looked to be oblivious to the animosity her two male teammates had. Behind the three was a tall silver-haired man who gave the camera an eye-smile. He wore his forehead protector slanted so that it hid his right eye, had a lazy stance and odd gravity-defying hair. There was an armoured vest worn over his chest and was covering the bottom half of his face with a cloth mask.
'Well, now I know where he got the mask idea from…' She smirked in her head. Naruto smiled melancholically as he held the photo out for Pearl to examine.
"Our team was called Team 7 or Team Kakashi. The black-haired boy's name is Sasuke Uchiha, the girl is Sakura Haruno and the man is Kakashi Hatake. When we first had to work together, we didn't get along too well; it's actually quite obviously shown. But, as we began to spend more time with each other during training and doing jobs assigned to us inside the village, we started to become closer. Before I left Konohagakure, our team was so close that we even thought of each other as family." Naruto chuckled hollowly at the bittersweet memories. "Yet, it seems that things were not meant to be and fate didn't really favour us all that much…"
Pearl looked at him worriedly and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "What happened?"
Naruto sighed. "During the exams, the traitor I told you about earlier had infiltrated the testing area. Let's just say that he did something that caused our little family to have a falling-out."
Ten minutes of silence happened, the two just sitting under the moonlight, enjoying each other's company. A small, serene smile made its way onto Naruto's face. The jinchūriki grunted slightly when stretched his arms and spine out before laying his back against the stone hand's palm. The woman next to him raised an eyebrow in amusement before doing the same.
She turned to the blonde with a raised eyebrow. "Hmm, this is the first time you have ever said so much about your past…"
"Well, while we all have our secrets, I thought that I should start showing mine. After all, you guys have already shown me quite a lot about yourselves. It's time I start returning the favour." He said, sending a grin at her direction.
The pixie-cut woman blinked in surprise before giving him a small, gentle smile in return. "Well that's good, after all these years we still don't know that much about you. So, what about that other picture? Who are the ones in there?"
Naruto perked up, twisting his head to face the woman beside him and passed the image to her.
"Ah, now those guys are the other genin teams, they took the Chūnin Exams along with us. In fact, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here right now." The jinchūriki chuckled slightly at her disbelieving look, nodding to confirm that she had indeed heard correctly. "Yeah, the traitor focused on my team specifically. But unfortunately for him, Konoha ninja stick together. No matter how important the objective is, even if it was crucial for our country during a war, it is better to have failed the mission with everyone surviving rather than succeed in completing it with most of the squad dead. If it weren't for this lesson being drilled into our minds during the academy…"
Pearl's eyes slid back to the thin object in her hand. She noted that he had said "Konoha ninja" and held the photo up so that it was in the middle of them both. "So, what were their names?"
Naruto smirked, pointing at each person as he said their name. "This man is Asuma Sarutobi, he is the leader of Team 10 which consists of Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara. They were a capture and interrogation squad. The woman is Kurenai Yuuhi, she leads Team 8. Her team has Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. They were being trained to be tracking specialists. The one with the green spandex is Maito Gai, he teaches Team 9. In it is Neji Hyuga, Tenten Higurashi and Rock Lee. They're all close-quarter fighters."
Pearl brought a finger to her chin in thought. "Hmm, well, you've said what the other teams were being trained in for the future. What about Team 7?"
"Team 7? We were a jack-of-all-trades, heavy-assault squad. Basically, we were a squad of those soldiers that you would send to the front lines first when in search for a quick and easy victory. Kakashi-sensei did have quite a hard time dealing with us when our team was first formed, our distrust towards each other affected our teamwork heavily. But regardless, we did have our fun times during the months before we saw each other as family. Like this one time, we had had enough of our teacher's tardiness and set up a prank for him when he arrived. Needless to say, the jōnin meeting our chicken-like sensei had after our training session wasn't all that enjoyable for him that day."
Naruto chuckled at the memories while Pearl giggled with him. "Heheh, well that certainly would have been a sight to see… did anything else happen?"
The blonde beside her nearly split his face with the impossibly-sized grin he grew after hearing her sentence. "Oh, you have no idea! This one time, we wanted to see what was under his mask…"
[The Den]
[Self-Regenerating Training Room, 9:45 a.m.]
"...so far, we've done a pretty good job at keeping his suspicions away from Beach City. How is negotiating with those two coming along?"
"Pretty good. At least Kami and Shinigami gave us that summoning circle to bring those spirits here without needing to summon them to do it for us. Speaking of spirits, they haven't changed their decision about what they want us to do in exchange for their help; but I'm sure that we can do what they have in mind. The only problem is what are we supposed to tell the Crystal Gems? We'll be gone for quite a while, chakra-enhanced speed or not."
"I'm sure that we can think of something. For now, let's just focus on Rīfu. His activity has grown the most at this month than it has in the past years. He's getting frustrated at our constant evasions from capture. He has become so paranoid about our whereabouts that if we aren't careful and make one tiny slip-up, then he will find out about Beach City; not to mention Steven. Rīfu will exploit anything that will seem as a weakness to us and won't hesitate to attack those who we are close to. While Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst will be fine against his soldiers with their battle experience and regeneration abilities, Steven is half-human. We don't know what would happen should he get any serious damage, and I don't want to test it out." Kurama sighed, Uragirimono really was a pain in the butt. "While I'm not saying that we should kill him, don't you think the way we are planning to deal with him is not only taking way too long but is also a bit too much?"
It was Naruto's turn to sigh. He was on his feet, slouched over a map that pinpointed the places that Rīfu's contacts had caught him and Kurama "sneaking" around. He placed a hand on the table he had created for the map's placement and ran his other hand through his hair.
"I must admit that it is a lot of effort for one civilian, but remember, he was like a brother to us all those years ago. This could be the way to bring him out of the pit of darkness he has fallen into and return him to his old self. I've lost a brother before, I don't want to go through that again…" He muttered, his eyes spinning into blood-red ones while the tomoes inside spun lazily before the orbs transformed back to their usual crystalline blue.
"*sigh* Alright, I see your point. Enough about Rīfu, how is Steven's training going?"
"He's doing alright. Turns out that he can actually channel the mixture of chakra and gem energy he has inside him. It isn't good enough for elemental jutsus, but he should be able to use the basic genin moves like bunshin and, with enough time, water-walking. Kid's been doing well on tree-walking, not so good on tree hopping though." Naruto chuckled as he remembered young Steven's face-plants. The reactions the other gems had to his ability to walk on walls were quite amusing as well. "Let's go. Steven should be awake by now and the others should be out of the temple."
The two gave one last glance at the map before Naruto sealed it and the table underneath it, the duo disappearing in twisters of gold and red flame.
[Crystal Gem Temple]
"…You know, this seemed like a better idea when we first thought of it." Pearl blinked, feeling slightly nauseous at the sight of the unhealthy "breakfast". Even Amethyst tried hard not to gag at it.
"I think we should just eat pizza." The white-haired gem suggested, tearing her eyes away from the plate.
"Mm!" Garnet nodded in agreement with Pearl and Steven. The four members of the Crystal Gems flinched when spinning fire caught their eyes, all sighing in relief when the blaze dissipated and revealed Naruto and Kurama.
"*Whew* Dang it, you two! Don't do that." Pearl placed a hand on her chest, trying to calm down after the fright they had given her. A few minutes later, she managed to regain her composure and stared at the two charred, ash-covered spots on the ground. "Also, could you please choose an element that won't damage or create a mess inside the house? If you keep using fire, the house will burn down at some point in time due to your method of transportation."
Naruto and Kurama had the decency to look a bit guilty at what they had inadvertently done when the "breakfast" that the others had created appeared in their peripheral vision.
"What is that thing?" The quartet turned back to the pancake stack and shivered slightly in fear, the memory of the giant food-monster from earlier affecting their view on the food.
"Well it was supposed to be breakfast for all of us, but... we just lost our appetites for the thing."
Naruto's eyebrows rose in interest.
"We'd be happy to take that off of your hands if you aren't going to eat it."
"Please do."
Kurama coated the end of a tail with wind chakra and cut the meal cleanly in half. Using the same tail, he picked up the plate and brought it to him and Naruto. The others cringed when the brothers each took a bite out of their halves without vomiting.
'How are they able to eat that monstrosity?' was the thought that went through their minds. The siblings smacked their lips as they finished the last bite of their shares, patting their full stomachs in satisfaction.
"O-Okay, so what are you guys doing here? Usually, you'd be in the Den doing something secretive." Amethyst asked, swallowing the bile that had begun to escape her stomach. Naruto walked over to Steven and ruffled the child's hair.
"It's time for Steven's training again." He smirked.
Steven flinched and looked up at his brother. "We're not going to practice tree-jumping again, are we?"
The young boy huddled himself in a corner with a rain cloud above his head when Naruto nodded, an evil twinkle in both his and Kurama's eyes.
"Let's go kid!" The red fox cackled evilly as the two ushered the still-depressed boy outside, the female Crystal Gems sweatdropping at the sight; praying for the boy's health and sanity.
[Two Hours Later]
[Outside of Crystal Gem Temple]
"COME ON STEVEN, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!"
"I'm TRYING!" The curly-haired Universe yelled back, running as fast as he could on the water while dodging a pouncing Kurama and multiple water bullets at the same time. To the boy's dismay, the off-worlders had prepared a… little assault course beforehand. It consisted of small hoops that he HAD to jump through (lest he got a fireball instead of a water bullet shot at him) and a path that had devices which shot disks at any sign of movement placed on the side-lines. There were also other ridiculous puzzles such as mini-mazes and targets placed in the horror trap before ending with a long platform. It was set up with large, swinging, yoga balls on its path and springing, cylindrical, boxing-bags that shot out of the ground at random moments. Needless to say, going through all these obstacles did not give the young boy any form of happiness at all.
"C'mon kiddo, you can do it! One more run through the platform and you're done. Remember, we've got something to give you should you finish this exercise!"
At the mention of his mystery prize, the tired boy perked up and got his second wind. Dashing straight through an opening in the yoga balls' circuit and evading the jumping bags, he stood triumphantly at the beach with his arms up in the air. He was covered in a mixture of sweat and seawater, a huge grin on his face at his accomplishment. Steven managed to stay upright for a few minutes, before his fatigue caught up to him and he fell flat on his face.
"Ow…" The child tried to push himself up, his arms shaking in effort, but was only able to flip himself onto his back. He glared at his older brothers who stood above him, it was obvious that they were amused at his pain. "I don't know why the others still allow you to do this. I always return to the house nearly half-dead after every single training session with you guys."
"Aww… if that's how you feel about us little bro, then I guess that you don't want this custom-made board eh?" Naruto grinned behind his mask, unsealing a pink and gold hoverboard from his tattooed arm and held it out for the boy to see. Steven's pupils were replaced with stars once again as he stood up, his energy tanks refilled by his excitement.
"NO WAY! Is that really for me?" Steven's grin nearly broke his face clean in half when he saw them nod. He immediately pounced on the two, his momentum throwing all three into the sand as he hugged them as tightly as he could. "THANK YOU!"
"Heheh. We know that you've always wanted one ever since you saw Naruto's. Plus, you still can't move as fast as the gems can and to be honest, we don't know if you actually can. After all, you are half human. So, to help you with your manoeuvrability during escapes or emergencies, here ya go." The fox stood up, shaking the sand out of his fur while Naruto patted his clothes clean of the small particles, handing the boy his gift. Steven held it in front of him, his starry eyes glowing in amazement at the sight of it. The board was made in a surfboard-like shape. It was pure pink with two gold lines on the centre, it was long enough to carry two people and had two thrusters attached to the back. The youngest male hugged the board to his frame, his eyes closed in delight and his grin somehow grew even more.
"Though here's the catch kid. You'll have to practice integrating the board into battles before we'll let you use it in actual fights. Which means, it's also being added to your training." The Universe nodded absentmindedly, still embracing the form of transportation.
"Okay. We were originally planning on starting your hoverboard training today; but considering how you felt just a few minutes earlier, we might have to delay that till until a few days later. When you're fully energized-"
"NO! I'm perfectly fine. Let's go!" Steven interrupted, placing the object on the ground and hopped on it. The half-gem had not thought of the repercussions of his actions and fell on the sand as he accidentally urged the hoverboard to move forward at high speeds.
"He could've at least waited for us to give him instructions…"
"Yeah."
[A Week Later]
[Under The Cherry Tree, 11:25 p.m.]
Naruto was once again laying with his head on Pearl's lap, low purrs rumbled in his throat as she ran a hand through his scalp. The peach-haired gem smiled gently down at the male as he relaxed in her presence. A cheeky idea came into her head and she stopped her ministrations, causing the Uzumaki's previously closed eyes to slowly start opening. But before they could, she quickly scratched his uncovered cheek. Naruto's eyes snapped open in surprise before closing again in bliss. Pearl giggled as his low purrs increased in volume and his head instinctively leaned into her hand as she fiddled with the sensitive whisker marks on his cheeks. A few minutes later, Pearl couldn't take the adorableness of the blonde's situation and covered her mouth with her hands as an attempt to block out her laughs. Naruto's azure orbs lost their glassy look and he shook his head clear. He looked up at the female beside him, an eyebrow raised and a "Really?" look on his face.
"Was that necessary?" He asked, waiting for the spear-user to calm down.
The ballerina-like gem took a few moments to calm herself and responded after a little while. "Your reaction to that is just so cute. It's like you're really a fox kit as Kurama calls you. Besides, if you didn't like it, then consider it your punishment for a few days ago during the Frybo incident. I swear, your tendency to not wearing shirts is influencing Steven…"
Naruto snickered at the memory of Steven not wearing clothes in public, having forced to use his articles of clothing as a mini-army. "Ahh. You blame me for that? It was the kid's choice, not mine."
"He looks up to you, the fact that his role-model doesn't like to wear specific items of clothing has probably affected his mind in some way which caused his earlier lack of embarrassment to his nudity." Pearl deadpanned.
The gem began to run a hand through Naruto's golden locks again, continuing to do so thirty minutes after he had fallen asleep. She flinched when she heard a loud thud along with an "OW!" from Steven's ledge. "I better go check on him…"
She gently moved Naruto's head off of her lap and stood up as quietly as she could, slowly tiptoeing her way to the exit of the Temple and silently slid out of the door. Regrettably, she had forgotten that her presence was the only thing that kept the twenty-three year old's warped memories of the past away and after a minute Naruto had started to squirm from his position, shouts emanating from his mouth. The door heading into the cherry tree area slid open and Garnet hurried inside when she heard the yells. She rushed in the direction of the tree and was shocked to see a struggling blonde.
"What the…" The square-haired gem muttered. The gauntlets she had summoned before entering disappeared in wisps of light. She cautiously made her way closer to the troubled blonde. The sunglass-wearing woman tried to shake him awake, but no matter how hard she shook his shoulder, he would not wake. "What is going on with him…"
Garnet activated her third eye, intending to look into the future in case there was a timeline that would show her what was making the young man feel so much discomfort in his respite. She knew that the attempt would most likely be as futile as her past tries, but she just had to check. The powerful gem was oblivious to the tendril of red chakra that had attached itself to the blue gem located on the palm of her hand which still held onto Naruto's shoulder. When Garnet used her future-vision, she had not expected the next sequence of incidents proceeding her choice of action.
[Unknown Area]
The tall gem was on her knees, one hand was flat on the ground to help keep herself steady while the other was clutching onto her head. Garnet blinked behind her shades to clear the bright spots of light that had filled her vision. She stood up and surveyed her surroundings. There was nothing in the background of the area she was in, it was all pitch-black darkness. She took a step forwards and instantly tilted her head down in surprise when she heard a clack. The floor she was standing on was made of grey, stone bricks.
"What is this place?" She muttered to herself before the ground tremored continuously when objects began to materialize around her. Run-down buildings begun to form as they fell down brick after brick from the sky, the moon and stars lit up the area as they spun into existence and Garnet had to close her eyes and focus on steadying herself as trees emerged from below the stone bricks-turned-dirt. After what seemed like hours, the Crystal Gem forced her eyes to open when the shaking had stopped. Her eyes widened in confusion. Garnet now found herself standing in the middle of the entrance-way to an alley located in what seemed to be a slum. Her eyes scanned the mossy bricks and broken windows around her when the sound of flesh hitting flesh along with the sound of a child's cries reached her ears. She spun on the heels of her feet and gasped in shock at what she saw in the end of the alleyway.
"PLEASE STOP! You said you just wanted to give me some food!" Someone cried out as teenagers and adults alike kept beating him into the corner of the dead-end. She couldn't see the person's appearance, but the voice confirmed that it was a male, a young child at that.
"Shut up, DEMON! Beasts like you don't deserve kindness." A brown-haired man growled out. None of the people halting their maltreatment of the child in response to his plea, if anything it only encouraged them to harm him even more. The boy cried silently, trying to fold himself into an even smaller ball, as if doing so was going to make him teleport away from the older civilians. Garnet was frozen on the spot at the sight, a situation such as this was foreign to her. She shook her head out of her daze a few minutes later and the confusion that had previously been in her three eyes converted into pure, unbridled rage. Quickly summoning her gauntlets, she hurriedly made her way towards the scene. A young woman turned to her when the gem's movements caught her eye.
"Ah. You must be here for the fox hunt too, right? Don't worry, the devil-brat should still be healthy enough for you to be able to get a few hits in." The blue-haired female turned her gaze to Garnet's weapons. "Nice. Those will definitely teach the monster a lesson."
The Crystal Gem's fury reached its peak and her anger-filled mind made her punch the human into a wall, the human's collision creating a sizable crater in the structure. The commotion made the others stop and turned to where the sound had come from, only to have jolts of foreboding creep up their spines at the sight of their unconscious comrade imbedded into the worn bricks. They gaped at the imposing gem, utter horror was portrayed in their facial expressions as they stared up at her.
"Leave. NOW." Garnet growled out, all of them immediately following her command, no one questioned her in fear of receiving the same treatment as the woman. The square-haired female huffed in annoyance, her head began to clear as the humans went farther and farther away from the alley. She took a deep breath to calm herself and turned to face the young child. She kneeled down around a meter away from him and confronted the frightened boy. The poor kid looked up to see why the pain had stopped only to bury his head back into his legs in fright, his arms stiffened around the top of his head, acting as a make-shift helmet. Garnet's expression softened at this, he looked to be no older than six years of age and yet he had to endure this kind of treatment.
"Hey, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." She spoke as gently as she could, not wanting the scare the child even more. Garnet stood still for three minutes, calmly waiting for the youth to calm down. Her patience was not wasted. The youngster tentatively brought his head up slightly, staring curiously at the strange woman before him through his legs and wondered why she hadn't hurt him yet.
"See? I'm not like those… others. I just want to help you."
The boy blinked at her and slowly removed his arms from his head. After straightening his bent knees, he slowly stood up on shaky legs, placing a hand against the wall he was up against for support and grunted in pain as he did so. Garnet hurriedly stood up and moved to help the injured kid when her breath hitched in her throat at his appearance. He was barefoot, his shorts were in tatters and there was barely anything left to cover his torso. His arms were covered in bruises, his legs and face were cut up and bleeding. There were also three clean, straight lines on each of his cheeks. But that wasn't what shocked the powerful gem, what caught her eye were two very distinct characteristics that he had. His eyes were a stunning cerulean and his hair, when you disregarded the dirt that coated it, was a bright yellow. Garnet had only seen these two traits on one other person before; the very same person she had been trying to figure out in the past three years.
"N-NARUTO?!" the child version of the blonde flinched at the volume of her yell and looked as if he was about to bolt out of the small area when the once dark and dreary slum was encased in a light-azure flash of light. All the shabby buildings and the half-dirt half-concrete floor disappeared and was replaced by lush trees and grass while the black sky turned into a beautiful pale blue. The moon reconstructed itself into the sun and the few stars changed into fluffy clouds. Garnet examined her new surroundings in awe, flinching when she suddenly remembered who she was standing in front of. The previously-damaged blonde was in a much better shape than before. His wounds were gone and he now wore a black shirt with grey shorts and navy sandals. There was no longer an expression of sheer terror on his face and now had a large, cheerful grin instead. Young Naruto giggled mischievously before sprinting in the opposite direction of Garnet, his form slowly disappearing into wisps of light at every step he took. Garnet noticed that the whole area was dissolving into thin air as well.
"W-What's going on?" She kept spinning around, trying to keep track on what had been disappearing. Soon enough there was nothing left but pure white. "Hello?"
The square-haired female was forced to close her eyes when a blinding glow nearly destroyed her vision and was surprised to see that she was standing in front of Pearl and Naruto when she opened them. Her fellow gem was rubbing the male's cheek soothingly, the look in her sky-coloured orbs portrayed her worry over the mysterious blonde.
"…I'm sorry Kurama, after I heard Steven fall I guess the reaction his subconscious would have to my presence growing farther away slipped from my mind."
"It is alright. I guess I am to blame as well, I was woken up when the kid's face made a collision with the ground. I should've spoken up and went to check on him instead of you." The movement of Garnet's foot got Kurama's attention. "Ah, I see you're finally out of your little journey."
Pearl tilted her head away from Naruto when she heard the old fox's last sentence. "OH! Garnet. I was concerned when I came back from Steven's room and saw you standing there in a daze. Kurama said that you were just having a little experience with your future vision. Are you alright?"
Garnet nodded silently, twisting her head to the red quadruped. "What was that?"
"Always straight to the point as usual, eh?" the Kyuubi sighed. "To put it simply, when you tried to use your future vision while you were still in contact with Naruto, I altered your power a bit. So instead of looking into his future, I… gave you a glimpse of the past. I take it that from what I showed you, you now understand a bit of why he is so reclusive to others?"
The Crystal Gem leader could only nod again, staring at Naruto's now serene face. Her respect for the blonde rose now that she had seen the treatment that he had to grow up with. "How can you still smile after something like that?"
[Two Days Later]
[Dining Table, Crystal Gem Temple]
Naruto and Kurama sat at the table having an eating contest with an enormous stack of pies that they got from who knows where. The blonde shoved one last pie into his mouth before triumphantly standing on his chair, pointing at his older brother.
"I WIN!" He gloated, but as he and his older brother tried to jump off of their respective chairs, a stab of pain went through their bloated stomachs, causing them to fall to the ground clutching their massive food-filled bellies.
"Owww…"
"Next time either of us suggests to have an eating race of one hundred versions of the same food, promise to hit that brother on the head?"
"Urgh… promise of a lifetime."
The two laid sprawled on the ground for a few minutes until the pain subsided. The female Crystal Gems peering conspicuously through one of the house's windows made them raise an eyebrow each and they walked towards their direction, their swollen guts somehow returning back to normal as they took one step at a time.
"What are you guys lookin' at?" Naruto asked, his question was answered when he followed their line of sight. They were spying on Steven as he interacted with an unknown girl who seemed to be around the same age as the Universe. The five's eyes trailed the half-gem as he sprinted all the way back to the house. He opened the door and immediately turned around to close it once he entered. He let out a surprised shout when he noticed the five sets of eyes fixated on him.
"GAH! Don't do that you guys!" he breathed out, placing a hand on his chest to calm his rapidly beating heart. "What are you doing standing around there anyway?"
Amethyst raised an eyebrow. "Actually, we wanted to ask why, out of all the available places in Beach City, you wanted to take a bike ride on the sand. Who was that girl anyway?"
"Uh- uhm, er…" Steven stuttered out and blushed, failing to come up with a reply that wouldn't shove him into a storm of teasing. "I didn't know you guys were watching… sh-she's just a girl I know, but she doesn't know me though. We-we've never really talked."
Naruto and Kurama's eyes widened at this and mischievous grins grew on their faces.
"So, my little brother has a crush, eeeh?" Naruto teased, purposely drawing out the last word and gave the embarrassed half-gem a noogie.
"Gahaha! Who's the lucky lady, brat?" Kurama guffawed, unable to contain himself from rolling on the floor in his amusement with Naruto joining him a few seconds later.
Steven's blush became a deeper red and he shoved his blonde older brother off of him. "SHUSH! I don't know what the big deal is. So what if I like her? I like everyone."
His comment went straight through Pearl's head and a large smile stretched on her face. "Ohh, this is so exciting! Let's set up a play-date. We'll need to plan out what you guys are going to do, think up of how to ask her… OH, we need to figure out what her favourite food and drinks are!"
"Heh. Yeah, alright! How are we going to do all that?" Amethyst asked, joining in on the fun. Steven clenched his eyes shut and pressed his hands against his ears as tightly as he could, trying to block out all that was said about him and the girl. The kid's face was now so bright red that you would think steam was going to start flowing out of his ears.
"Ignore them Steven. Just go talk to her." Garnet spoke up in her usual, emotionless voice and fiddled with her visor. The quartz gem perked up at this, his eyes snapping open and his hands were quickly moved away from his ears.
"At least Garnet isn't saying anything embarrassing…" he thought.
"Okay, I'll try that." Steven nodded at Garnet. "But you guys can't watch this time. At least now I know who was messing up my funky flow earlier."
Steven ran to the fridge and grabbed what seemed to be a red glow-stick bracelet from the freezer. Amethyst, Pearl and Naruto stared at the boy with comically confused expressions and their heads tilted slightly to the right. "Funky flow?"
"Oi, what's that kid?" Kurama asked, the glowing item catching his eye.
"NOTHING!" the Quartz-Universe yelled, rushing out the door before any more question could be asked. As he was about to hurry down the stairs however, Naruto grabbed his shoulder and led him to the left side of the door outside, away from peering eyes and listening ears.
"Hey, slow down there kiddo. Listen. I know why you brought your bike down when you were going to talk to that girl for the first time, you wanted to impress her, eh? Here's a tip, don't act like anyone else but yourself. If they don't like you for who you are, then I suggest you give up on her. Never make yourself seem as if you're someone else just to get her to like you, understand?" He said, remembering the infatuation he had with Sakura in his younger years and the time he had transformed himself into Sasuke.
Steven blinked up at him and a small smile appeared on his face. "Yeah. I understand."
"Good. Now if you really do like her, then start small. Be her friend first rather than just go straight for a relationship. While you are kinda too young for this, it's your life. I can't control it. Have fun ya troublemaker." He chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair when he walked back inside the house. The Crystal Gems left in the temple stared at the half-human as he slowly disappeared from their eyesight.
"You know, I can respect the agreement we have of not watching him while he talks with a new friend," Naruto started, turning to the females beside him. "…but are you sure that it's alright to leave him alone while whatever is causing these tremors is still running amok?"
"What do you think we're doing while he's away, sit here wait for him all day?" Garnet rhetorically said. She quickly spoke again when she saw the gem off-worlder's mouth open to respond. "Of course not. We'll be looking for the creature that is causing all this quaking while he's gone."
Naruto closed his half-open mouth and mumbled out, "Alright."
[Hours Later]
[Crystal Gem Temple Porch]
"What are we going to do? Wherever we look, the thing that's making all these minor magnitudes still eludes our grasp." Kurama grumbled, laying on his stomach while Pearl and Naruto leaned against his side, guttural sounds reverberating in his throat as the ballerina-like gem scratched the his ears gently while Naruto laid his head on her lap.
"It's already night-time. We'll have to search for it again tomorrow, it will be easier to spot in the morning. But first, we have to look for Steven. It's getting late." Garnet spoke, both her and Amethyst smiling inside at the sight of the three. Naruto's peaceful look disappeared when he suddenly stood straight up, his ears twitching.
"What's wrong, Naruto?" the shinobi didn't answer, his eyes widening when he brought his arm up to his eyes. Steven's controlled seal was glowing orange with a light-blue outline.
"I think Steven just found what's been causing the quaking." He stated, his now-extended senses proving his claim. The others were instantly on guard and followed the ninja when he hopped off into the boy's direction. Luckily he wasn't that far away from the temple and they got to his location in two minutes. They had appeared quick enough to see the mutated gem they had been looking for retreat back into its crystal. The young half-gem was standing in front of a broken part of the pier, a hand held up clutching the bracelet he had taken out of the freezer earlier while his other hand was intertwined with the girl he had been stuck in a bubble with for the past couple of hours.
"STEVEN! Are you alright?" Pearl inquired, a concerned look on her face. "What happened?"
Steven opened his mouth to answer, but was stopped by Naruto placing his hands on his shoulders with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and leaned his head to Steven's right side while Kurama leaned over to his left.
"Heh, sooo… you gonna introduce us?" Kurama drawled out.
"Yeaaa, it would only be polite if you did." Naruto added.
"C'mon Steven, intro-" Amethyst was cut off when Garnet grabbed the back of her tank top while Pearl did the same for Naruto while grabbing one of Kurama's tails.
"Let's go you three. We don't want to mess up his funky flow." Pearl sighed out, her and the square-haired gem beside her dragged the individuals in their grasp back to the temple.
"Uh, funky flow?" the girl turned to Steven confusedly.
"Don't worry about that, Connie. They're just messing with me." Steven chuckled nervously as Connie stared at him with a raised eyebrow, unconvinced by his reasoning.
[Unknown Time]
[The Den, Self-Regenerating Training Room]
A figure sat in the middle of the grassy area. They sat cross-legged, focusing on the task at hand. His eyes were closed, wind blowing his hair backwards as an odd power flowed out of him. Its colour flashed from blue, to red, then purple and back again. The semi-sentient, mysterious energy moved itself and formed three different beings in front of the man, all associated with one of the colours the aura changed to. When it was red, the energy warped itself into what seemed to be an armoured, red-eyed, animalistic quadruped. When blue, it turned sculpted itself into a masked human which had a long, blue, serrated blade attached to its back. When purple, the aura built what seemed to be the same man from when it was blue. Unlike the past formation, the figure now wore metallic, dark-purple armour. Its outfit's design seemed to be based on the scarlet figure from before and it held the same jagged sword from earlier. A few meters away, a blood-red fox stood; carefully inspecting the man's actions.
"Heh, your control on which form to take is getting better." Kurama grunted, sitting on his hind legs. "You've pretty much mastered choosing which of the two halves to use when you're in calm conditions, but I guess combining them will have to wait. For now, we'll leave that one alone and instead will work on incorporating those two other crystal things in combat situations. "
"They're not "crystal things" Kurama." Naruto sighed, not bothering to look at his brother and continued his current exercise. "Their name is Ku-"
Naruto paused and his eyes snapped open while Kurama's head perked up. Their moving ears flinched when a yell came from the entrance of the Den.
"YO NARUTO, KURAMA, C'MON! STEVEN REALLY WANTS TO GET TO THOSE TEACUPS AT FUNLAND!" Amethyst shouted from outside the training room. Naruto's eyes immediately widened and he managed to force the energy to dissipate into the air just before Amethyst barged into the clearing. "There you guys are! Let's go, I want to get to Funland already!"
"Yeah, hold on! We're coming!" He called back. He and Kurama both sighed in relief.
'That's one secret safe for a little while longer…' Naruto thought, pushing himself back onto his feet and ran straight towards the exit of the training room with Kurama in tow.