A/N Hey all here's the next chapter of Maelstrom of Alageasia, hope you all enjoy :)


In the dead of night, the full moon played stellar witness to a meeting of dark whisperings. Within the dining chamber deep in the heart of UrĂ»'baen, Galbatorix stood, with his chin high gazing calculatingly at his guests, at the end of a long square table made of long slabs of granite, polished perfectly smooth. The table was draped with a red, silk cloth and decorated with ornate candlabra's and dining ware, seemingly a show of wealth. Standing to his left was Murtagh, and ever present scowl glued to his face. Across the table stood four men and a woman, the leader a man with tapered ears, fire red hair done up in a swordsman's knot. Behind him stood the other four, the one farthest back was a giant Kull, his horns reaching a foot high, Black armor covered his chest, arms and thighs, with a massive silver maul hanging from his back.

The next in line was a thin man who wore a set of chain mail, a red cloak flaring out from his shoulders, and two falchions crisscrossing across his back. The third was a man of medium height in mail backed leather armor and cap; an elegant bow was strung and held in place on his back. Two quivers were strapped to his waist with easy access to his many arrows and a short sword was strapped across the small of his back. The last was a woman dressed with a brown cloak, blocking view of what lay beneath it. On her head rested a helmet with a strange symbol engraved on the front.

"So you wished for an audience shade, and here I am, perhaps now you can explain your reasons, and the curious company you keep." Galbatorix said politely.

"You may call me Yakura your highness. These people behind me are my generals and my honor guard if you will. My purpose for being here is to..." He paused as is if searching for the right word, than continued. "Purpose an alliance, I am a powerful shade and will agree to follow your orders." He finished, sharing what he was willing to give.

"And the price for your obedience?" Galbatorix asked with a raised brow. He could tell this shade was more powerful than Durza had been and that meant he was a potential threat.

The shade grinned, his pointed teeth and yellow eyes giving him a demonic appearance. "I merely ask that you allow me to do as I please within your kingdom, it would make my life much easier if I wasn't constantly pestered by fools from your armies. "

Galbatorix's eyes narrowed slightly, "And what makes you think I want the help of you and your companions?"

Yakura looked into his eyes directly with a piercing gaze. "Aside from the fact that we're more than deadly even to an opponent of dragon rider caliber, I have some very good information that you will most certainly need if you are to defeat this new dragon rider that has appeared."

The king's curiosity was peaked at this point, "Continue." He said smoothly, yet an air of danger hung the air that warned the shade from doing anything but continue.

"Well this boy, Naruto Uzumaki, is more unique than an ordinary dragon rider." Yakura said cryptically, clearly not threatened by the king.

Murtagh snarled, "The king asked you a question shade, now answer more thoroughly and learn your place!"

Yakura's lip curled back as his gaze turned to the dark haired youth, "Quite vermin, the adults are talking and if you speak to me like that again I'll have your head, kings wiper or not." He insulted.

Murtagh tried to rise out of his chair but a firm hand held him in place, the Kings hand, his firm grip told him he would get lashings later perhaps worse. The four generals tensed and reached for their weapons, but were stayed by their leader's hand. "Come now, we must constrain ourselves. However, do go into more detail." Galbatorix cut in, giving Yakura a pointed stare.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible my liege, for I am not certain of exactly what I encountered, suffice to say I'm being as succinct as I can." The way the shade's words slithered out of his mouth made Murtaghs skin crawl.

Galbatorix nodded, and then a slow grin formed on his countenance, a dark evil thing. "I see, we have a deal Yakura, you may stay in one of the guest rooms for the remainder of your stay. Guards!" He called. Instantly four guards in full armor all polished to spit-shine worthiness, "See these men to the guest quarters, and make sure they have whatever they need." As they left Galbatorix allowed his grin to return. 'This shade will be a valuable tool, he will be swearing his oath to me in the ancient language soon enough.' He thought gazing at his dream world that was not yet realized.

Yakura grinned as he was led down the hall, 'The king is a delusional fool! This was easier than I thought it was going to be.' For one brief instant Yakura's normally yellow eyes flashed red with black slits for iris, returning to normal in the blink of an eye.

~Within Du Weldenvarden~

Naruto knelt down examining an almost non-existent game trail, stripping his leather traveling glove off; Naruto dipped his fingers in a small pool of blood in the center of a giant paw print. 'This is fresh, I wish Gideon were with me.' He had been on the trail of this animal for about a week now, leaving his dragon behind in a cave a few days ago. It was necessary if he was to catch the animal, the dragon was just too bulky too move through some of the thickly wooded areas. The print was only slightly smaller and was canine in origin, point towards the fact that it was built to be agile. It was the only way such a creature could traverse this place. The tree's branches, a mass of convoluting foliage and bark creating a thick shield between the ground and the sun. The trees seeming to crowd together as if trying to create an impenetrable bubble, Small beams of sun-light were all that pierced the canopy; casting a dull orange light in the place.

The day rolled on as Naruto ran through the maze of trees following the tracks of the wounded giant. He found said creature around dusk if his internal clock proved true. Lying in the middle of a large rock jutting out from the ground like a table, a fox the length of a young dragon, ebony in color with dark orange tipped ears and tail; perfect camouflage for this environment, lay on the table a deep gash running along its flank. Naruto walked out of the brush slowly, the noise instantly alerting the fox as it turned to stare at him with intelligent eyes. Reaching out with his mind, he was shocked to find intelligence of a sentient level.

'Were you expecting anything else from a creature like me?' A gravelly voice chimed in his head.

Naruto chuckled, "I guess not, will you let me heal that wound for you." He said out loud, speaking in the ancient language.

The fox nodded, and Naruto started forward to get his work of healing the fox started, as he did however an arrow shot from behind the trees and Naruto's survival instincts screaming at him were the only thing that saved him from a woody death. "Whoa, Whoa! I'm here to help!" He shouted, once again in the ancient language, apparently that was the wrong thing to say, as a blur shot towards him. Naruto leapt to the side only barely escaping being sliced in half. His attacker kept it up with an unrelenting assault, now that the person wasn't going at such an intense speed Naruto could clearly see it was a warrior clad in orange and black armor, obviously elf judging from the skill as small cuts already littered his arms. He was forced to keep back pedaling as the Elf pushed forth even harder. Curses flew from his mouth when he ran backwards into a tree.

Ducking quickly he dodged a decapitation, but not without getting cut on the shoulder, jumping to the right he got out of being skewered. 'Alright! Lets go!' As his feet hit the ground he drew Afli-Vatn and Vedr in the blink of an eye. Sparks flew as steel met steel. Naruto grit his teeth at the strength of his opponent, he was actually being pushed back while using both blades! Growling he danced to the left, as he let loose a barrage of bone shattering blows only to met with the elf's steel each and every time.

The armor clad warrior was effortlessly dancing around his leather armored frame like he was standing still. Soon his legs looked striped with the cuts covering them. The fighter was vicious and unrelenting in their assault and defense, Naruto had never been pushed so far in his life, he was inventing new blade moves mid fight to keep up with this elf, still it was no contest. Naruto flipped backwards avoiding a lethal slash before ricocheting of a tree and rushing her, swinging one blade in a deadly arc. As the two opposing blades clashed he used his momentum to roll over his attackers shoulder and try a downward slash to their exposed back with his second blade, but the fighter was too quick and Naruto took a metal boot to the face.

Naruto rolled out of the way of another skewer attempt. It seems this person really wanted a Naruto-kebob. Well he wasn't going to let that happen, hopping backwards to avoid being rent in two he quickly danced inside his opponents guard and smashed the pommel of both his swords directly on the helmet of the elf, a nice size dent appeared as the elf stumbled backward. Thinking quickly Naruto called upon magic to bind the elf's legs and ankles. However as soon as his magic was active he was blasted backwards by an incredibly powerful attack that sent naruto careening into a tree.

'Ugh! I am beginning to hate trees! They're too hard.' Naruto groaned as he stood back. Taking his swords and pointing them directly opposite each other and connected the pommel's via the built in device. He had time to little else as an arrow whirred past his head. He rushed forward with a battle cry, and spun his staff in a circle bisecting the incoming projectiles. When Naruto was within six feet he immediately lunged forward with a stab, but his attacker side stepped, Naruto grinned as he flowed from stab to slash and making his opponent jump back to avoid bloody death. For the first time Naruto was gaining some control of the battle.

'Alright let's see what you can do!' he thought bitterly as he kept up his attack flowing from when attack into the next forming an impenetrable barrier. He lunged, faked right, and slashed left, stabbed, swept low, stabbed high, never giving the elf more than less than a moment of time between attacks. Still he was unable to land a single blow and it was starting to frustrate him, 'Damn even after all this time, my best is merely holding a single elf off and not even landing a single blow! This is pathetic!'

That's when he heard, like a shadow in the back of his mind, a soundless whisper repeated over and over, "Use my power, you are too weak without." 'SHUT UP!' He cried mentally, the elf took his one moment of lax to land a mighty blow to his head, followed rapidly with him being kicked to the ground.

Discombobulated as he was, he could still feel the press of razor sharp steel against his neck. As he looked up all he could see were bright emerald eyes looking down at him with ferocious intensity. The green eyes narrowed and muscles tensed, just before his attacker could drive the blade further another voice, strong and yet somehow musical, resounded "Stop!" An old elf spoke as he jumped out of the trees with a stern look towards the other. "Let the human go!" The male commanded, He seemed old even for an elf, a mane of spiky silver hair draped down to his mid back in a loose ponytail. Looking more like a tail attached to his head than actual hair. The elf reluctantly withdrew their weapon and Naruto was once more allowed breathe freely, albeit in a strained manner, but hey he was still alive right?

The elder elf turned to the blonde then and offered a hand which naruto took the man's grip strong and firm. "I apologize, my young rider, for my companions' behavior, she hasn't had much interaction with her own people let alone human's. Thus she is a little bit wary of others, especially around one of the greater fox's."

Naruto was stunned; "She?" was all he could think to say.

The forest dweller tilted his head in confusion, "Surely you do not expect all elves to be male do you?"

Naruto shook his head, "Not at all, It's simply that… With how ferocious she fought I would have thought her male." He said in a state of awe. 'Never before have I seen such a skilled fighter, Not even Yakura would have been a match.'

"Do not talk of me as if I were not here human" The now identified female spoke acidly, her eyes icy beneath her helmet as she glared at him. For Naruto though, that blow to the head might be messing with his head, but her voice struck a chord in his veins he didn't know he had. Her voice was like springs first breeze after a heavy winter; energizing and full of life. At the moment he was only capable of nodding dumbly.

The aged man glared sternly at her, "How was Koji injured?" He asked firmly.

At this point the woman squirmed a little, as an errant child when facing a parent. "I was attacked by one of the cats." She mumbled meekly.

The elder elf went into a fit and giving her a good verbal beating for her, as he put it, childish incompetence. It was at this point Naruto realized something strange; these two elves were different from what he knew of elves. They weren't supposed to act like this and especially not in public. "You guys aren't like normal elves are you?" Naruto asked.

"How would you know what normal elves are like in the first place and secondly the only reason I haven't killed you for such blatant rudeness is because my elder here will not allow it!" The words spitting venomously at him in response.

"Aye, we do not act like most of our kind, and for good reason. As for you Anko, you will cease threatening a dragon rider! I will not have it, now go to see to Koji!" He commanded sternly, she huffed and stormed off mumbling curses on the elder elf, said elf then came over to Naruto and with a few words in the ancient language healed his battle wounds. "Sigh' that one is certainly a handful, and to think she actually leads a band of men, HA! Oh my where are my manners, my name is Jiraiya and that is Anko," The old man said, a hint of amusement afflicting his words.

Naruto smiled, "I am Naruto Uzumaki sir. Pleased to meet you. I was actually searching for the elves. You are not an easy race to find." He said sarcastically.

Jiraiya chuckled "Good it means were well protected. However, I am not a true representative of our race, the band of men and women we keep in company with are always wandering within the shadows, protecting the forest from dangers both known and unknown. Why were you searching for us?" He asked his curiosity as clear as day.

"For two reasons actually. Firstly, because I am a dragon rider and I need to learn more about what it means to be one, secondly because I hoped to learn more about the elf that raised me." Naruto explained.

"Ya know I think you're full of it human! No elf would raise one of your kinds and if by some crazy twist of fate it were true you wouldn't be so barbaric and rude!" Anko chimed in.

"Hush girl!" Jiraiya growled, "If you do not find it too intrusive, might I know the name of the elf that raised you?" he asked of Naruto after giving Anko one last penetrating look.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah his name was Kai, his dragon's Ruth." His tone must have been colored with emotion for Jiraiya seemed to pick up that he was using past tense not present.

"I see, it is a shame that old buzzard kicked the bucket. However, if it's training in the dragon rider arts and what the ideals and morals behind it, you need look no further. If my old master deemed worthy enough to train you, I certainly can't ignore the call." Jiraiya said with an air of authority.

Anko sputtered and looked back at them. "WHAT! How is he worthy of such an honor?" She cried in fury.

Jiraiya grinned, "For starters this mere human put you, an elf, on defensive. Were you human or he elven, he would have cleaned your clock young lady."

Anko growled at both insults, "I'm a hundred years old ass hole!"

"Yeah and still quite young for elven kind young lady" Jiraiya taunted, getting more amused the more frustrated and childlike Anko behaved.

Naruto shook his head, "Okay you guys aren't like ANYONE I've ever met."

Jiraiya laughed, "Naruto will you take us too your dragon? I promise to explain much to you on the way."

Naruto nodded for some reason, as odd as these two seemed, he found himself trusting them easily. If they proved to be traitors and try to kill him, he would have Gideon there to back him up at least. "Sure thing, the first thing I want answered is why you two are so crazy." He said teasingly.

Jiraiya laughed and agreed while Anko shot back, "We're not crazy you simpleton!"

The two men smiled at each other, Naruto was having fun despite just having a duel to the death, and it was strange somehow. "We're ready to go now Anko, that is if your quite finished patching Koji up!" he called haughtily.

Anko nodded as she approached Koji in tow. 'Yes I confess I am quite interested in meeting this young rider's dragon,' the fox's voice rang in Naruto's mind and, he assumed, in the other two's as well.

Jiraiya nodded, "Then let us be off, and Koji you know better than to listen to her half baked ideas of glorious challenges. I swear she's smoking the Jubari plant with some of the idea's she comes up with!" He scolded.

The fox simply looked at him and said to everyone, 'Meh, her ideas always prove to be fun.'

"Yeah way to have my back Koji," Anko cried joyously pumping her fist in the air. Naruto laughed at the spectacle whereas it sent Jiraiya off on another rant.