Summary: She found him on the beach of Besaid when he was on the verge of dying. She sheltered him and nursed him back to health, despite not knowing who he was. Whata man like him could do to repay such kindness? Become her guardian, shield her from dangers and blast Sin's head off if it tries to go near her, simple.
"Naruto" Normal Speech.
'Naruto' Normal Thought.
"Rasengan" Jutsu/Power/Technique.
"Naruto" Demonic/Dragon Speeches.
'Naruto' Demonic/Dragon Thoughts.
A Fishcake Guardian
Arc 2
Operation Mi'ihen
Chapter 9
The Attack
The search for Auron continued. Naruto and the rest of the party walked around, searching for the legendary guardian and asking the people around them every once in a while. Everyone knew Auron, so it wasn't hard for them to spot him among the crowd, which was the reason why Yuna had been able to hear he was in town in the first place.
Eventually, after an hour of searching, Naruto and Yuna arrived at a giant bridge that would lead them from the stadium into town, with Kimahri and Lulu trailing a short distance behind them. There were many people around the area at the moment, every one of them discussing about the upcoming games excitedly. The bridge itself was made of a light stone, which had been inlaid with mosaics of the teams' symbols, with their banners hanging from poles lining the barrier of the walkway.
"Man, how are we supposed to find a man in a city like this?" Naruto questioned as the party entered the square, looking around as he tried to spot anyone who stood out from others. From a shopkeeper, he knew Auron was a man with black hair wearing red outfit with sunglasses and carried a massive sword on his back, giving him the appearance similar to a ronin from his world, but that didn't mean he was the only one doing that around the city. Apparently, he had fans everywhere and many of them came to the Blitzball tournament wearing the same outfits as he did to impress the ladies, making it very hard for Naruto to find the man himself. Even if he created a whole bunch of clone and searched every corner of Luka, he wouldn't be able to tell which one of them was the real Auron, because he had no idea what he looked like exactly, something only Yuna and Kimahri knew.
"Do you know Luca is only the second largest city in Spira?" Yuna told Naruto while walking beside him.
"Seriously? Then what's the largest city?" he asked in interest.
Yuna smiled, as if she'd known he would. "Bevelle," she told him before continuing "You see, towns are usually not that much bigger than Besaid or Kilika, they're pretty much the same," Yuna's steps became slow as she said "because when a lot of people start to gather..."
"Sin comes?" Tidus took a wild guess, but he knew full it was also the answer to his question. Yuna nodded her head and smiled sadly. "What about Luca here?" he asked, looking around "It's not safe here as well, isn't it?"
"Yes, it isn't any different," Yuna admitted honestly while shaking her head "But the stadium's here. The Crusaders fight to protect it with all their strength."
"They only protect the stadium?" Naruto asked "Wouldn't it be more important to protect the people around?"
"I guess it's because Blitzball is much more important, mentally and spiritually. It's really the only entertainment that we have," Yuna shook her head sadly. "Spira's a little short on fun these days."
"Wouldn't it be better if I try to find Sin right now and blow its head off, would it?" Naruto asked in a low tone, more to himself than to Yuna as he looked at the sea. He then turned back to Yuna and declared brightly "Well, let's return back to our search for Auron, shall we?" Nodding her head, Yuna followed Naruto and entered a café, which was the only one that was still open, as the others had already closed early so their owners could leave and watch the Blitzball games.
Naruto looked around, seeing no one met the description of the legendary guardian. "You see Auron?" He turned to Yuna and asked, to which she shook her head in slight disappointment. "Alright, why don't we ask around?" Yuna suggested then walked ahead and blended into the crowds of people minding their own businesses around the café. Naruto was about to follow the young summoner, but before he could take a single step, a large figure stepped in front of him. Looking up, Naruto widened his eyes when he realized the one who was blocking his way was actually a very intimidating Ronso, with another one standing beside him. They were both taller and a lot bulkier than Kimahri.
"Hey, it's Kimahri." The Ronso with grey fur spoke up as he spotted Kimahri, completely ignored Naruto. Kimahri stepped forward, but said nothing in response "Why not talk Kimahri?" He demanded in a deep growl, "Not see Yenke for ten years! Say something! Kimahri forget Yenke? Forget Biran?" Kimahri said nothing, but he growled quietly in suppressed anger. Naruto leaned his body to the side and saw Yuna talking with some people, who she was asking about Auron. Seeing him looking at her, Yuna gave him a question look, before silently asking him why he didn't come with her. Naruto simply responded with a smile and told her to wait just a second, raising a finger as he did so without making a sound.
"Leave Kimahri, Yenke," Biran told his companion "Kimahri is small Ronso. Kimahri so small can't see Yenke and Biran's faces."
"Kimahri forget Ronso friends? We taught you much!" Yenke went on, sounding angry, "Biran taught Kimahri to be strong Ronso."
"Maybe taught too much," Biran growled. Abruptly he shoved Kimahri on the shoulder.
The younger Ronso gave another growl and tightened his fist. However, before he could do anything, Naruto stepped in between them and said wisely.
"Now, now gentleman, or Ronso, there's no need for you to cause a scene here?" He declared with a wide grin, making Kimahri and the other two Ronso look at him questioningly, with the latter wondering who he was. "Let me do that for you." With that, Naruto turned his body around and gave Yenke a solid uppercut, sending him out of the café through the front door and fell face first on the solid ground.
"What the…" Biran said in surprise and snapped his head to look at Naruto, but before he could do anything, Kimahri gave him a square punch in the jaw, stunning him but not enough to take him out like how Naruto did to his companion. Biran tried to attack him with a hook, but Kimahri swiftly moved his body to the side with speed and grace that surprised the other Ronso and sent his fist into the Biran's stomach, knocking him back, before raising his foot and kicking him with so much force he sent the taller Ronso out of the café and crashing into his friend, who was trying to get up.
"Kimahri, why don't we take this outside?" Naruto declared and grinned maniacally while cracking his fist. Kimahri crossed his arms on his chest and followed Naruto as the two of them made their way out of the store. Lulu, meanwhile, merely sighed and turned her attention back to Yuna to keep her eyes on her summoner. "You mess with my friend, you mess with me, got it?" Yenke and Biran stood up, growing angrily at the small human companion of Kimahri, who remained impassive and walked closely behind the blond, with his arms crossing on his chest as the two of them approached their opponents.
"Kimahri's friend will pay for that." Biran snarled "Biran is going to beat Kimahri's friend up."
"Naruto would love to see Biran try." The blond stated mockingly before charging into battle against two giant Ronso with Kimahri.
"Ah, please don't mind them. They are just having fun." Yuna waved her hand and assured the owner of the café, who was looking at the chaotic fight outside with a worried expression on his face. "Now, I was wondering…"
However, before she could finish her question, a group of men from Al Bhed Psyches gathered around her and Lulu completely blocked the young woman from Lulu's field of vision as she tried to ask them to step aside. The smile on her face disappeared as she looked at the one who appeared to be their leader, who was the tallest and bulkiest of the group, as he stepped forward and reached his hand out toward her, demanding firmly:
"Lady Yuna, please come with us." They spoke in Al Bhed Prime, which she could understand perfectly
"Wha… who are you people? What do you want?" Yuna asked and stepped back nervously, trying to avoid being grabbed by the man. When she turned her head and saw Lulu on the other side of the room, trying to force her way through several men wearing the same clothes as the ones grouping around her did, she knew they only wanted trouble.
But before his hand could reach Yuna, another hand shot out and grabbed him around the wrist, surprising the psyches members. They turned they head and widened their eyes in shock when they saw Naruto standing beside them with a smirk on his face.
"Now, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Do you seriously think that I wouldn't notice you idiots following us around? Next time, try to not stand out so much and do it quietly." He said, tightening his grip around the man's wrist so hard it started to hurt him "Told you I would keep my eyes on you." Naruto turned to Yuna and gave her a broad grin, making the young summoner nod and smile in relief.
"Wha… how…?" One of the men in the group asked, pointing his hand between Naruto and the one who was fighting with Kimahri outside. "There are two of you?"
"Yeah, don't you know I can do that?" Naruto asked, smirking widely before taking his hand back and punching the man square in the face. "I can do this too." His punch was so hard Naruto broke the man's jaw and sent him flying across the café before crashing into the wall, leaving a huge crater in the process. "Sorry, I will make sure to keep the destruction as minimum as possible." Naruto turned to the owner and told him. "Now, which one of you idiots is ready to lose some teeth before telling me what is that you want with Yuna?"
The entire team of Al Bhed Psyches looked at Naruto nervously, but they could only hear the sound of knuckles cracking next before going through an entire world of pain.
[Later]
"Well, that's the last of them." Naruto said as he dusted his hands and looked at the unconscious, beaten up members of the Al Bhed Psyches. Kimahri and Lulu had joined the fight shortly after it broke out when Yenke and Biran finally decided to retreat with their tails between their legs and Lulu finally decided she had had enough of their nonsense and basted them away with a massive ball of fire, which was much larger and more powerful than the ones Naruto had seen so far. While beating them up, Naruto had found out that they had been trying to kidnap Yuna so that they could force Wakka and his team to lose, even paying Yenke and Biran to make a scene so that they could remove Kimahri, the one they thought was Yuna's strongest guardian.
Still, with their combined efforts, the party managed to defeat every one of them just in time for them to see Tidus, Wakka and the other members of Besaid Aurochs triumphed victoriously inside the water sphere on the TV scene in the café.
"Hey, we won!" Yuna exclaimed excitedly while clapping her hands and holding her wizard rod closely to her "We finally made it to the final this time."
"Hmm, it appears that Wakka took a beating from them, but I guess he will make it." Looking at Wakka, who were wincing painfully as his teammates gathered around to hug him, Lulu said simply before turning her head to look at Naruto, who was pickpocketing the leader of the Al Bhed Psyches "What are you doing?" She continued to watch as Naruto pulled out some Gil from the pockets of the unconscious thug "You're going to steal from them?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hey, don't blame me." Naruto grinned as he moved to the side, finding some more money from the other thugs, as well as a couple of items, such as Potion and Ether. He had no use for them, but the other members of the party might need them later "Fiends drop money when they disappear, these guys don't disappear so I will have to collect them myself." He explained before standing up "Serves them right for trying to pull that bullshit on Tidus and the others. I really hate people who play dirty like this to win."
Lulu nodded her head in understanding, and she did not pursue the conversation further after that.
"Everyone, I guess we won't be able to find sir Auron like this." Yuna then stepped forward and informed them "Let's head back to the stadium. The next match is going to be the final. We should be there to cheer for them."
"Your choice, Yuna." Naruto grinned and paid the owner of the café for the drinks as well as the damages they had caused before leaving with the party. Looking at the massive screen near the stadium, Naruto saw it playing highlights of the match between the previous matches as well as broadcasting the results of the other games. The first game had been the Kilika beasts versus the Guado Glories, with the latter triumphing over their opponent in the end before going on to play the winner of the second match, which were the Goers after they had destroyed Ronso Fangs. It didn't take it long for them to beat the other team, and earned themselves a shot at the final against the Aurochs.
They went to the team's locker room to congratulate the team for their victory over a very strong team, as well as to tell about what had happened during the match.
"Seriously, can't believe some Al Bhed try to capture Yuna?" Wakka muttered in annoyance while holding his rib. "Good thing that we have you there to make sure she's safe, Naruto." The blond grinned and gave him a thumb up in return.
"You sure you okay captain?" Datto asked anxiously.
"The game starts in a few minutes," Letty added.
"We're playing the Goers too," Jassu looked scared stiff by the thought.
Wakka sat up slowly, "No time for warm-ups then," he chuckled then looked at Tidus, "Ready?"
Tidus made a fist, "Lemme have them," he said with a bloodthirsty grin.
"All right," Wakka sighed and stood up "I've something to tell you boys, after this game...I will think about retiring." The team looked shocked and started to protest but the captain went on: "I promised myself this would be my last tournament. Win or lose, I'm quitting Blitzball to become a full-fledged guardian." The then continued with a massive smile "But you know...since we're here, we might as well win!"
"Yeah!" the Aurochs shouted in unison.
Line Break
"So, this is our seats?" Naruto asked excitedly as he made his way toward four empty chairs among the crowd of people sitting at the stands and watching the match between Aurochs and Goers in the stadium with Yuna, Lulu and Kimahri. The match had already started and players were swimming in the water sphere at great speed, trying to get the blitz ball into the opponent's goal as soon as they got the opportunity to do so.
"I believe it is." Yuna nodded her head and checked her tickets for the final time to make sure they didn't get it wrong. The group sat down and Naruto cheered as Tidus scored another goal for their team.
"Yeah, go Tidus. Give them hell!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs, causing the people around them to turn and look at him strangely. Lulu gave him an annoyed look with both hands covering her ears because she was sitting right beside him at his right. Yuna simply broke out into laughter before she cheered alongside her guardian. Meanwhile, Kimahri kept his stoic expression and watched the match in silence.
"I thought you didn't like Blitzball." Lulu asked him when Naruto finally sat down.
"Hey, not knowing how to play has nothing to do with me not liking the game. It's kinda exciting, you know." Naruto grinned. "You don't like Blitzball?" Naruto asked when he saw the faraway look in Lulu's eyes when she turned back to watch the match.
"Chappu played the game too." She gave a short answer, but that was more than enough to let him understand.
"Popcorn?" Naruto offered with a grin, holding the popcorn bag in front of the busty black mage.
"Where did you even… you know what? Forget it." Lulu shook her head in defeat before reaching out and gathering a handful of popcorn in her hand "Thank you." She gave him a small smile before looking away, knowing that he was trying to cheer her up yet again.
"You're welcomed." Naruto turned back to the match and exclaimed in annoyance when the goalkeeper of the Aurochs couldn't stop the Goers' player from scoring a goal for his team "Hey, the hell are you idiots doing!? Defense, defense, defen…" But he suddenly stopped and abruptly stood up, snapping his head around with his eyes widening in shock.
There, standing near the top of the stadium, was a tall man in his mid-thirties, having black hair with gray streaks held back by a gold ribbon. He had a scar over the right half of his face and over his eye, very similar to the one Kakashi had, covering by black sunglasses.
For clothing, he wore a red haori closed with a black and blue strap with two brown belts wrapped around it. The man tucked his left arm into the front of his haori, making it look as though his arm was in a sling, with a black armored gauntlet on his right hand, and an armor brace on his left forearm. In addition, he also wore black pants and shoes that have brown straps and triangular metal plating, with a black shirt with a high gray collar, a brown shoulder pad on his left shoulder intricately decorated with tan, green and blue patterns having a beaded ornament dangling from it.
"What is it Naruto?" Yuna asked curiously as she looked at Naruto and then at the direction he was looking at "That is… Sir Auron?" She exclaimed in surprise and stood up as well.
"That's Auron?" Naruto asked, looking at the summoner before turning back to the man "But he…" However, at that moment, screams filled the air, but they were born from fear rather than excitement. Naruto snapped his head around and saw a dozen aquatic fiends, reminiscent of huge fish with sharp teeth, swimming into the water sphere and surrounding the players.
"What the hell?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise as he grabbed Yuna by her head and pushed her down before crouching down as well to avoid the claws of a huge lizard type fiend that lunged at them. Around the stadium, other fiends were appearing in hoards as people tried to run for their life, with flying beasts dove around the stadium from the sky, lashing out at people with their claws and fangs.
"Go Naruto!" Yuna told him, and the blond had no reason to do otherwise. Nodding his head, Naruto leaped into the air and threw two shuriken at two flying beasts, eliminating them without a trace. Grabbing onto another one when it shot down at him from the sky, Naruto pulled out a kunai from his back pocket and sharpened it with his chakra before slicing the fiend's throat open as he dropped down to another horde of monsters.
On the other side, Kimahri and Lulu were also holding their ground against the fiends, protecting Yuna while she was healing those who were injured and defending every person that they came across. Using a very powerful version of her usual blizzard spell, Blizzara, the busty black mage took out a group of flame flan that were trying to attack them, opening a path for Kimahri to charge forward and leapt into the air, pushing his spear down to increase his jump even higher before crashing down an Epaja, killing it before it could even realize what was coming.
Meanwhile, Naruto crashed into a massive behemoth with his Rasengan, grinding the swirling orb of energy into its flesh, before blasting it away calculatedly without hitting anyone and taking several smaller monsters with it. Satisfying with his result as the monster dispersed into pyreflies, Naruto dashed across the stadium, bringing down monster after monster, faster than the members of the Crusader could do at the same time
"This boy…" The man, Auron, muttered as he and many more looked at Naruto, trying to keep up with his speed and movements as he took down several powerful fiends all by himself. His weapons, while small, emitted an aura that allowed him to cut through the armored fiends like a hot knife through butter, a feat not even his weapon and his swordsmanship could archive, before finishing them off with a powerful technique from the palm of his hand.
After a moment of studying the young man while he was keeping several people safe as they made their way to the exit, Auron turned back to the fiends approaching him and removed the sword from his back, holding it with only one hand. The armoured fiend lowered its head with an animalistic growl and Auron wasted no time to get into position for a counter attack. Freeing his left arm from his red overcoat, Auron brought his sword down from his shoulder, holding it with both hands, allowing the weight of his weapon and his own strength to cut through the fiend's neck, killing it instantly before it had the chance to hit him.
Without looking at the monsters as it dissolved into pyreflies, Auron snapped his body around and performed a series of strikes that took down every monster that tried to attack him, causing the people around him to look at him in awe and amazement. However, he knew there were more monsters than that, and when he heard a low growl on his left, Auron turned toward that direction and brought his sword up, blocking the claws of the fiend and countering with a strike from below, sending it crashing into the near stand before disappearing. Another flyer came and attacked him, but Auron was quick to dodge and killed it with another swing of his weapon.
But before he could raise his sword once again, another fiend lunged at him, a type that was very well known for its quickness. Auron braced for the attack, but it could never reach him and the monster itself was kicked away by Naruto, who appeared in a swirl of leaves and sent his foot straight into its abdomen, with such force it did not even have the chance to crash into anywhere and disperse right in the spot.
Naruto then landed on his feet, but immediately snapped around when he realized he and Auron were being circled by a horde of Dingo and Dinonix. Back to back, the two said nothing and merely turned their heads to look at the other, before snapping back and making their moves at the same time, attacking the monsters around them relentlessly and taking them out of the battle faster than anyone could ever hope to match them.
"Are you Auron?" Naruto questioned.
"You're Yuna's guardian." The samurai replied, to which Naruto nodded his head.
"I know what you are. You're not supposed to be here." Naruto said shortly as he jumped over Auron's head and kicked the monster that tried to attack him directly from the front away.
"And how do you know that exactly?" The legendary guardian asked calmly, his expression remaining unchanged even though inwardly, he was wondering how the boy could notice such thing from him.
"I can feel it." Naruto told him and threw his kunai without looking, killing a fiend halfway across the stadium right on the spot.
"Interesting." Auron made a small smirk under his collar as he looked at Naruto under his black sunglasses. "Please to make your acquaintance, young man."
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said as he took out another kunai from his pocket.
"I'm Auron." The guardian of Braska nodded his head. Just when Naruto was about to deal with the next fiend to come his way and intended to tap into Kurama's chakra to handle every one of them at the same time, he heard a collective gasp from the crowd. An alluring sound echoed around the stadium, and it was the sound of a summoning.
Naruto looked at Yuna, expecting her to summon Valefor from the sky, but instead, several pillars of ice fell down from above, crashing into each other behind a young woman who was making her way down from the top of the stadium. She was a breathtakingly beautiful woman with long pink hair, fair skin and yellow eyes. She wore a revealing pure white robe with widened sleeves that revealed the top of her impressive bust and her tone belly, the bottom being an elongated loincloth with gold pattern on the front, leaving her legs and the sides of her hips bare. She also had a horned accessory on her head and wore pink heels with white socks.
With a smile on her face, she raised her staff and said loudly "Come forth!" Behind her, a sparkle appeared in the air, growing as it descended and entered the icy pillars, taking on the form of a woman, whose cold beauty was undeniable. Wreathed in a set of clothes that clung to her figure and revealed so much that they looked more like underwear and proper outfit, the Aeon then opened her silver-blue eyes and shattered the ice around her to set herself free. Her pale blue skin shone with an effervescent sheen under the sun, and her blue hair, done up in braids, gave her a queenly appearance as she floated behind her summoner and caused the temperature to drop significantly.
With a smile on her face, the Aeon Shiva raised her hands, generating several icy spears from thin air and gracefully swiped her hands around, sending the spears at every monster within the stadium, impaling into their fleshes and cleanly ending them without leaving a trace behind. Several behemoths tried to attack her and her summoner, but the Aeon merely raised her hand and blew an icy breath at them, freezing them right on the spot before they could even do anything. Within seconds, every fiend in the stadium was taken care of, leaving Naruto and many others to look at the summoner and her Aeon in awe and surprise.
"Wow!" Naruto admitted honestly as he looked at the fiends erupting into pyreflies "That is amazing."
"It's Shiva. She is one of the most powerful Aeon, but also the hardest to gain complete control over." Auron nodded his head and answered calmly "This is my first time seeing that Aeon. Not even Braska was able to call for her aid in his journey, and yet… there's a summoner capable of doing so." Naruto whistled in amazement while looking at the beautiful Aeon as she floated around in midair. Her summoner, meanwhile, was looking at a certain half-Guado standing on the large balcony above the galley, who were also looking at her with a small smirk on his face, but the look in his eyes told them that he was annoyed. Seymour had previously tried to summon his Aeon, but failed to do so because the pink haired summoner had made her move first.
Then suddenly, Shiva turned her head and looked at Naruto's direction. Naruto could swear she was looking directly at him, but the moment their eyes met, her physical formed started fading away. She soon disappeared completely moment later in a thin mist of snowflakes and pyreflies. With that, the summoner turned away and silently made her way to the exit, leaving without saying anything to anyone.
"I guess that's the end of it." Naruto said finally as he turned to Auron, "Now, in case you're…"
"YOU!" However, Naruto was interrupted when Tidus stepped in between the two of them and pointed his hand at the older man, crying out loud "Who the hell are you anyway?" He asked in frustration "You knew my father, didn't you!?"
Auron nodded his head slowly "Yeah" was what he said in response.
"Uhm… I think I will leave you two to each other for now." Naruto spoke up "However, don't you think this is over, we will have a nice little chat about what you are later, got it?" Naruto asked and turned around to walk away as Auron simply nodded his head in response.
Naruto quickly made his way toward Yuna and the rest of the party as they sat down to rest after the battle, with the young summoner using her white magic to take care of Wakka's wound while he sat on a chair beside her, spinning his blitz ball on the tip of his index finger. It appeared that he had been injured during the match with Goers, and his fights with the fiends inside the water sphere had taken a great toll on his body.
"You guys alright?" Naruto asked, looking at his friends to check for any injuries. To his relief, they didn't appear to be hurt.
"We're fine, thank you." Yuna told him with a smile, her wizard rod glowing with healing magic "What about you?"
"Yeah, I'm fine too, don't worry." The shinobi grinned before turning around and pointing his hand at Auron, who was talking to Tidus "So… that's Auron." He said, and his words came out more as a statement than a question.
"Yes, that's him." Yuna nodded her head with a bright smile.
"So that's how it is…" The blond muttered in a low tone as he looked at both Tidus and Auron. Lulu, meanwhile, was studying Naruto in silence while feeling a bit unsettled. She knew the look on his face. It was the same look he had had when he decided to tell her Mika was an unsent.
"Still, where do you think those fiends came from ya?" Wakka asked in curiosity "There were so many of them I didn't even bother to count."
"Beat me." Naruto shrugged.
"So you're saying that you didn't know they were coming?"
"Maybe I didn't pay that much attention to my surroundings during the match, but surely I should have been able to sense at least some of them before they arrived to attack us. There was literally a small army of fiends there." Naruto answered Lulu's question "If you're asking me, I will say that someone here let them out right here."
"Naruto does have a point," Kimahri spoke up with a nod of his head.
"That's a scary thought." Wakka admitted with a nod of his head "Still, did you see her, that summoner, handling all those fiends?"
"She's so amazing... to be able to summon Shiva and defeat them all like that." Yuna commented as she finished healing Wakka and stood up, gripping her wizard rod tightly in her hand "I wish I can become a strong summoner like she is."
"I'm sure that you will." saying that, Naruto placed a hand on Yuna's shoulder, smiling encouragingly.
"Thank you, Naruto." The young summoner smiled and nodded her head.
"Ya, I guess it's time for us to leave." Wakka said as he stood up, stretching his arms and shoulders "The sooner we return to Yuna's pilgrimage, the better. The match is ruined anyway." He said but didn't sound that disappointed.
"You are really leaving Cap?" A young member of his team, Datto asked as he and his teammates lowered their heads sadly.
"Come on look sharp," Wakka told them with a small smile "The blitz season has just started. Playing like today and you guys will be just fine on your own." He stepped forward and patted Datto on his shoulder, making him smile before nodding his head. The other members of the team followed, as they all cheered for their captain as well as their short timed teammate, who was making his way back with Auron following shortly behind him.
"Sir." Yuna lowered her head to the man who had accompanied her father on his pilgrimage to gain the Final Aeon to defeat Sin, wearing a smile on her face as looked at him. Standing around her, her guardians except for Naruto, did the same thing to show respect to the man who had brought them the Calm with Braska and Jecht, who was possibly Tidus' father, ten years ago.
"Yuna." Auron greeted her before continuing rather straightforwardly "I wish to become your guardian on your journey." he told her calmly "Do you accept?"
"Are you serious?" Lulu asked in surprise.
Auron gave her a blank expression before replying "You refuse?"
"No, no," Yuna interjected quickly while shaking her head "We accept. Right everyone?"
"O-of course," Wakka added enthusiastically "No problem."
"But…why?" Lulu asked, giving the man in red a probing look. Auron turned his eyes and glanced at Naruto who continued to look at him suspiciously, knowing full well he was also wondering the same thing.
Auron gave a light smile before giving Yuna his answer "I promised Braska," he said simply.
Yuna put a hand to her mouth subconsciously, "You promised my father?" She whispered emotionally before bowing her head to the legendary guardian yet again "Thank-you Sir Auron. You're welcome to join us."
Auron nodded his head and shot his hand out to grab Tidus by the collar of his shirt. "I would like for this guy to come too." saying that, he pushed the blitz player up to stand in front of the group. "This one, however, I promised Jecht." Auron informed them as Tidus crossed his arms and looked away.
"Yes." Nodding her head at Tidus, Yuna then looked at him, "Is Sir Jecht alive?" she asked hopefully.
Auron paused "Can't say. Haven't seen him in ten years," he said, making Naruto narrow his eyes to look at the man suspiciously, doing that obviously enough for Auron to see that he didn't believe a single word he was saying. "I'm serious." The man added calmly, readjusting his glasses.
"Nah, I don't believe you." Naruto said final while waving his hand.
"We'll meet him eventually, I'm sure."
Yuna smiled and nodded her head "I'll look forward to it," she replied.
Auron looked down briefly then up at Lulu, immediately marking her as the sensible one, "What's our itinerary? Where are we headed?" he asked
"Djose Temple, sir." The busty black mage answered with a nod of her head.
"Off we go then, the sooner we get there, the better."
"Don't forget to smile everyone!" Yuna said enthusiastically before leading her guardians out of the stadium, stopping at a couple of shops for Naruto to restock their items and distribute the spheres he had been able to collect during the battle at Luka Stadium, allowing every member of the party except himself to increase their powers further, even Auron who received his fair share of the Sphere from the young man who had not ceased to amaze him with his abilities.
"You should get used to it, sir." was what Lulu had told him. "I will tell you more when we get to the temple."
The group quickly made their way up the second flight of stairs leading out of the city. Naruto put his hand above his head and took a moment to look at the road in front of them, seeing a long winding dust road, fringed with green grass, with old ruins and pillars along the verge. There were many people wandered along the road, stretching away from either side, rolling green plains extended beyond what the eyes could see.
"Hey, isn't that…" Tidus suddenly said as he pointed his hand to the person who was standing next to one of the pillars on the road, with a hand on her hip and the other holding a magic rod while her foot tapping impatiently on the ground.
It was the summoner from before, the one who had summoned Shiva.
"Is she waiting for someone?" Wakka asked while scratching his neck.
At that moment, the woman suddenly turned her head and looked directly at them.
End of Chapter 9
Yagami's note: Yep, that's the end of this chapter! Hope you have had a fun time reading.
As you can see, the summoner who summoned Shiva in this story will replace the unsent summoner Belgimine's role in this story of mine, since Belgimine originally didn't have much character development in the canon. She will have her own background, character developments and a more important role in Naruto and the others' journey across Spira than Belgimine. I will also make it that Shiva is a unique Aeon, similar to how The Engulfing Silence portrays Shiva in his story The Legend of the Gaia's Senin.
So, we're approaching Operation Mi'ihem, and the first battle between Naruto and Sin is near, within two chapters or so. I won't mess up like the last time, and make it as epic as possible... well, for Naruto anyway.
Next chapter will be out soon.
As usual, READ and REVIEW
I will see you in the next update.
Ja ne!
P/S: In case you're trying to picture the new summoner, she's based on the true appearance of Veritas of the Light from another FF game, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Her name is Citra, so look her up. She is a character that I recently come to like a lot, along with the other characters of Final Fantasy.