Chapter 11: Revelation and Resolution
It was his fault. That's what she told herself. It was his fault that her beloved was dead. If only he hadn't run away from his fears like a frightened little child and faced them head-on, then perhaps none of this might've happened. Konoha wouldn't be in ruins, Shikamaru wouldn't have died, and she would've lived out her life peacefully, rather than the pathetic half-existence she had now.
But she was finding it increasingly difficult to get angry at him about... well, anything! It shouldn't be this hard! She'd held onto the grief, the pain and anguish, for a thousand years or so - it was a wonder she hadn't become a fiend with all that malice bottled up inside her! So why couldn't she summon up that vengeful wrath when she needed it most? Why couldn't she feel the way she wanted to when the object of her ire was sitting in front of her, looking like someone had killed his puppy!?
Perhaps that was it? Because he looked so downtrodden and dejected, she felt sorry for him? The anger she desired was replaced with pity?
Maybe that idea had some merit, she thought, as she looked over his hunched form. She had always remembered his hitai-ate worn proudly upon his forehead in Konoha, but now it hung loosely from his neck, allowing his sun-kissed fringe to tall and shadow his eyes, though not enough to hide the sudden glimmer as the afternoon sun struck unshed tears.
Maybe it was something about a crying man that seemed unnatural, or because the tearful person in question was renowned for his bright and sunny disposition, but she felt the sudden and inexplicable urge to wrap her arms around him like a mother would her child who'd scraped their knee. She held back, of course. This was the same man whose cowardly actions had turned this shy, introverted little bookworm into the kind of cold-blooded person who thought of murder in the name of vengeance! She couldn't show him sympathy now!
She let the knife slip from her fingers and it impacted the earth with a dull thud, quivering as its blade fixed firmly in the soft soil. Naruto looked to her, and then to the knife. He laughed, and Shiho felt something break. Maybe not in her, or in him, but something shattered under the weight and volume of the sheer absurdity of such a cold, hollow, empty laugh from such a bright and exuberant individual.
"Seems like," he started, turning his cold gaze back to the olive-haired doctor, "I have a knack for making people want to kill me." She growled bestially and rose to her feet, each step striking the ground with a heavy thud.
"I just wanna know why," Shiho hissed furiously, resting a hand on her hip as she loomed over the blonde Uzumaki. "Why'd you run away? Why'd you disappear off the face of the earth when we needed you the most!?"
Naruto lowered his head silently.
"Why did you vanish and let Tobi win? Why did you go and let the village that loved you and heralded you as their hero and saviour get torn apart and buried?" Shiho felt the tears fall from her own eyes and spill down her cheeks, leaving scarlet streaks on her pale skin. "...Why did you let the people who cared so much about you, and believed in you the most of anyone, die for you? Why did you let him die?"
She knew that Naruto understood her. They'd never met, and yet still the name 'Shiho' had struck a chord in him the moment she'd told him. Shikamaru had told him about her, obviously, just as he'd told her about the great person he'd grown up with that was Uzumaki Naruto. What sat before her, however, was a frightened little boy, not the fearless hero that played lead in each of those wonderful stories.
"I can't tell you that," he muttered quietly. His head snapped to the side and stayed there, caring nothing for the stinging pain in his reddened cheek. Shiho retracted the hand that had struck him - those whiskers made for an excellent target - and curled it into a tightly balled fist.
"Don't give me that bullshit, Uzumaki Naruto!" she shrieked. "Because of you, my boyfriend died and I'm stuck here playing doctor! Don't you think I deserve an explanation!?"
"Doesn't matter," Naruto snorted callously, staring off into the tall grass. "I won't tell anyone if I can help it. This secret belongs to me and me alone now."
With an exasperated cry, Shiho grabbed a hold of the dagger's leather-bound hilt and wrenched it free, jabbing its silvery blade at Naruto's nose threateningly. He glanced at the weapon sceptically, as if to say, 'is that all?'
"You are literally stuck between a knife and a hard place, so stop running!" Shiho cried, her furious tone wavering for a moment. "I know... You're afraid of the consequences, aren't you? Maybe something will happen that can never unhappen, and that scares you, doesn't it?"
"I'm not afraid!" Naruto roared all of a sudden, leaping to his feet. Shiho felt like a little girl compared to the taller, more powerful boy, but she refused to give up even an inch. But the way his eyes had shifted from that deep, melancholy blue to a fervent, smouldering scarlet made her knees quiver uncontrollably. It was akin to staring headlong into the depths of hell itself!
"Then show me, you coward!" she found herself screaming back at him. The way his muscles tensed up and his eyes narrowed, the thin sliver of crimson still visible burning ever brighter, she feared that he might take her up on that offer in a more violent manner than she was prepared for. She hated the gutless little deserter, but she'd never deny that he was probably the strongest ninja in the village when he'd vanished, and she was sure he'd only gotten more powerful since then. She held no illusions of being able to defeat him head-on like this.
"Fine then," he answered, his voice abruptly low and quiet so his words came out as a throaty growl. His eyes drifted closed for a moment, and when they opened they were a brighter red than ever before, and his rounded pupil had morphed into a thing black slit, sharp as a blade.
The transformation washed over him like someone had thrown a bucket of water over his head. Those triplet sets of thin, whisker-like scratches grew thick and dark, almost like deep gashes torn into the sensitive skin of his cheek. The teeth he bared in a furious snarl lengthened into vicious, dagger-like fangs that gnashed together in anticipation, and the nails hidden within his fists grew out into claws that pierced the flesh of his palms, forcing him to relax his fingers. The messy, untamed mop of golden blonde grew thicker and wilder until it resembled fur more than human hair and shifted in a nonexistent breeze, and finally a hazy cloud of scarlet bubbled up from his stomach and spread over his body like a suit of armour, wrapping around his limbs and torso and turning the air around him into a veritable furnace. Seriously, it was getting hard just to stand near him!
The cloak of red chakra surrounded his entire body, forming large clawed paws at his hands and feet and a pair of long, rabbit-like ears from the top of his head. Similarly, a single long, thick tail of chakra swayed behind him dangerously, spouting from the small of his back. Those three things, where the cloak didn't match the shape of Naruto's body, were made of denser chakra than the rest, and each one felt eager to rend and tear at the slightest provocation.
She'd seen something like this once or twice. The first time was in a history book, telling of the Yondaime's sealing of the Kyūbi no Yōko.
The second was when Naruto had fought with Pein in the crater where Konoha had once stood.
"Do you know what a jinchūriki is?" Naruto asked, his voice a guttural growl twisted and demonised by the malevolent chakra swirling about him. He didn't wait for an answer, because he already knew what it would be. "That is the term used for a human being who has a tailed beast sealed inside of them."
"A tailed beast sealed... So then you...?" Shiho managed, stepped back slightly. Naruto frowned, thinking that it was out of fear or disgust, but in reality the bookish doctor was just finding it difficult to remain standing under the oppressive chakra pushing down on her shoulders.
"That's right," he ground out. "On the tenth of October, the same day that I was born and that the Kyūbi attacked Konoha, the Hokage sealed it into me." He threw an arm out to the side, and where his flesh limited its flight, the chakra claws were not so restrained. A thick limb of pure red chakra leapt through the air and clenched its digits around a large boulder, lifting it into her air with ease and bringing it closer to show Shiho. "Tobi belongs to an organisation called Akatsuki. Their goal is to gather all the tailed beasts together and use them to take over the world. Naturally, the kind of power Kyūbi has makes people do crazy things to get it."
"Like bury a village?" Shiho remarked dryly.
"Like bury a village," Naruto repeated, nodding. "When Sasuke and I fought him, I managed to injure him with Kyūbi's help, so he missed with one of his jutsu and ended up sending me to Zanarkand for the next seventeen years."
"So then, you're saying that the whole reason you vanished and Tobi attacked Konoha..." Shiho started, gritting her teeth. This all seemed too coincidental, it made the whole tale sound ridiculous! And if it really was just a mistake on Tobi's part, then it was her who'd look the fool! "...was because of an accident!?"
"I'd like to say that was true, but I was the one who made him lose his focus and teleport me, so it is still technically my fault," Naruto droned, looking stern. "So if you still want to take revenge on me, then I won't stop you."
He waited for the knife to come, but instead received only a dull ache as something hard collided with the top of his head.
"I-Itai...!"
"Don't be an idiot, Uzumaki!" Shiho yelled, pulling back her fist to punch him again. "How could I possibly go about blaming you for something so stupid, huh? That'd make me look like a total idiot!" She screwed her eyes shut, refusing to let her tears fall anymore. Idly noticing her rapid descent to the unsettled dirt below, the proud, bespectacled young woman drew her knees in close to her chest and held them, hugging herself into a tight ball. She wouldn't show him that she was crying, she demanded of herself, pressing her face into her kneecaps to stem the unending flow of salty sorrow and muffle her sobs against the milky flesh of her legs. "You should just go," she moaned, rubbing her face into her thighs until the skin burned with friction. A sharp cry, wavering under the weight of her sobs, tore from her lips as Naruto's hand grabbed roughly at her shoulder and wrenched her body skyward, his strong digits digging into her flesh painfully.
"Don't you dare throw your life away!" the blonde ordered in a vicious snarl, bringing her face close to his. "You think I'll just be okay with you leaving yourself here for the fiends!? Don't be ridiculous!"
"I wouldn't be here if I gave a damn what you wanted!" Shiho cried, struggling in vain to pull away from Naruto's vice-like grip. "I've lived far longer than I ever should've already! Everyone I knew and loved is dead, and the only thing that's been keeping me going for the last thousand years has been ripped away from me! At this rate, I'll be a fiend myself!"
"And what makes you think that's alright? Do you think anyone would want you to let yourself just die? Do you think Shikamaru would want that?" Shiho felt her anger boil and flare at that. How dare he say his name and claim to know what he'd want of her! Her arm jerked to life and rocketed upward, but before it could make contact with Naruto's cheek, the skin still red from her last slap, Naruto's free hand fled from his side and caught the open palm. She squirmed against his grip, but his powerful hands simply squeezed tighter on her shoulder and hand.
"God, why won't you just leave me to die in peace, you stupid jackass-!"
"Tobi's still alive."
Shiho felt her body lock up. Had he really...?
"Wha...?"
"He's missing, but alive. I met Uchiha Itachi a while ago, and he told me so."
Shiho swallowed heavily, feeling the lump build in her throat. She didn't know whether to be overjoyed or terrified. On one hand, it meant that she could finally get her revenge and be at peace. On the other, the madman that was Tobi was still on the loose and her instincts told her to stay as far away from that hellish power as possible.
"There're lots of reasons for you to keep living," she barely heard Naruto say as she snapped herself from her thoughts. "Just don't let your revenge be the only one."
Shiho felt his fingers falter on her collarbone and limply trace over her shoulder as his arm fell to his side, and she could have cried at the relief as he did the same with her hand. As she cradled her bruising left hand in her right, the ex-cryptologist looked up at the suddenly silent Uzumaki. His eyes were overshadowed by his hair again, but she could see no tears: only cold, hard determination His eyes were solid and steely, like two narrow pools of ice, and his twitching upper lip gave a glimpse at his gritted teeth.
"I... I have a score to settle with Tobi as well," he ground out, fingers clenching into fists at his sides. "Just like you, I've lost a lot to him as well. He's killed my friends, my teachers... even my parents." Shiho bit back a gasp. It was no secret that Uzumaki Naruto was an orphan, and it shouldn't really be a surprise to think that even orphans must have had parents at some point. But for them to be killed by the same man that stole the lives of everyone you knew... Shiho nodded slowly to herself. Her slender fingers brushed against Naruto's balled fist and gently eased the fingers apart, sliding her soft skin over his calloused palm. Naruto barely flinched as she wrapped her hand around his comfortingly.
"Well, if I'm going to continue travelling with you..." she began, rubbing the pad of her thumb soothingly over the back of Naruto's hand. He looked up at her words, eyes awash with confusion. "Then we might as well look for Tobi together, hm?" Naruto blinked slowly, but didn't say a word. Shiho smiled. "You can't just forgive and forget your way through life, Naruto. Sometimes, people need to pay for what they've done. You never know, maybe a little vengeance might do you good." She took his hand in both of hers and shook it emphatically, while the blonde just stared at her dumbly. "Guess this means we're partners, huh? I'll do my best, so you'd better make sure to do the same!"
Naruto nodded, and a moment later jerked to life as he shook himself out of his stupor. He glanced at the descending ball of golden orange over the horizon, soon to be eclipsed by the tall grasses, and frowned.
"S'almost sundown," he grunted. "I'd better get a move on if I'm gonna win this damn hunt!" He pulled away from Shiho and moved to race off into the grass, pulling both Aoshiira and Sasuke's Kusanagi from their respective sheaths and gripping them at his sides. Shiho shook her head and laughed, leaping after him.
"You're still worried about that!" she called in mirth, struggling to keep up with the seasoned shinobi. "You're just as much a child as I'd imagined!"
The two sped across the Plains, Shiho watching in no small amount of awe as Naruto dispatched countless fiends without breaking a sweat, especially after the battle she'd just witnessed, both ignorant of the blinking green sphere floating along behind them in its silver cradle.
"What are you doing?"
The individual in question was perched atop a wooden crate, his knees drawn up near his chest, while he shielded his eyes from a sun that had long since set. His sole remaining eye blinked owlishly as he returned his companion's stern look.
"I'm trying to get a good look at that guy, whaddaya think I was doing?"
Gippal hopped down and leant against the crate, crossing his arms.
"I've never seen that guy before," he said, gesturing to his unwitting quarry. "How 'bout you?"
"He doesn't look familiar," Baralai returned. "But that's not really surprising. No one can say they've met everyone in Spira, it just doesn't happen."
"True, but no one gets to fourth place in this thing without making a name for themselves first, y'know?"
Baralai inclined his head in agreement, though reluctantly. He couldn't fault that kind of logic. He hadn't heard of someone getting such a high rank in the Fiend Hunt without first having garnered some renown amongst the general populace as a fighter with a moderate level of skill. But the man - boy, really; Gippal's prey looked like he was only in his late teens - was an unknown. He'd appeared from nowhere.
"So?" Baralai asked, gesturing for his comrade to continue. "So what if you've never seen him? Don't tell me your pride's hurting because a kid like that almost beat you."
"Tch!" Gippal scoffed. "No! I'm just curious, that's all! I mean, aren't you?"
Baralai closed his eyes and let his head drop a little. "I suppose I am a little curious myself," he drawled, opening one eye and fixing it on the blonde. The actual recordings of the hunt were off limits to the contestants and spectators alike - only the judges had access to them. But for a kid with a couple of battered old swords to run in and not only not get his head bitten off without a moment's notice, but to beat his fellow Crusaders, and almost Gippal? It was preposterous. But he trusted that Meujoux knew what he was doing and the decision was just and fair. If anything, that only made the situation even more interesting.
He also found it hard not to notice the kid in fourth place exchanging a slew of suspicious looks with Lady Yuna. It was difficult to miss her among the crowd, considering she was flanked by a near seven foot tall Ronso and Sir Auron, who cast an impressive countenance himself.
"Forget about him," Nooj's deep baritone sheared through the mist of his thoughts like the sharpest of blades. Behind the pair of them, the tallest of their group rose from his seated position and started off walking in the opposite direction of where the boy was receiving his congratulations from fellow contestants. "We still have a job to do. We can't afford to tarry here any longer."
Baralai nodded in understanding and followed after with a stern look at Gippal.
The Al Bhed clicked his tongue in irritation as his companions carried on without. His eyes lingered on his fellow blonde for a moment longer until he too followed after Nooj and Baralai, leaving the Fiend Hunt behind in silence.
"Congrats, brudda!" Wakka lauded, clapping a hand down on Naruto's shoulder. His body shook with the impact, but he smiled abashedly nonetheless.
"Hey, I didn't do all that great," he effaced. "I didn't win, did I? I only came fourth."
"That in itself is quite the achievement," Luzzu retorted, disallowing the blonde's modesty. "For someone so young to achieve such a high ranking is almost unheard of, especially considering you can't have had a great deal of combat training yourself."
"Sir Luzzu's right!" Gatta cried exuberantly. "Those three that beat you were all Crusaders, and pretty good ones too! If you'd managed to come even higher than them, then Maester Kinoc would be after you in a heartbeat!"
These praises meant nothing to him, unfortunately. All this talk of Crusaders and Maesters was beyond him; he had no knowledge of the system that Yevon operated under, and he really didn't care that much. If they wanted to think he was a battle prodigy, then let them. It wasn't as if he could tell them where he'd learnt to fight, after all.
"I mean, even Sir Wakka only came in ninth, and he's been a guardian for a while!"
The sight of Wakka doubling over in defeat as that cruel blow slammed into him brought a small smirk to Naruto's face. It was only logical that Wakka wouldn't do as well, though; he was a support fighter at his core. How much damage could one really do with a thrown blitzball?
"Which reminds me," Luzzu cut in. "I believe we had a wager, didn't we?"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Naruto assured him. "It was just for fun, right?"
"It would be dishonourable not to give you what you deserve, Sir Naruto. You did come in fourth, while I was fourth, and Gatta was seventh. You won fair and square." The Crusader captain gestured to his underling. "Give him his winnings."
Gatta grabbed at Naruto's wrist and forced a green-blue sphere not unlike the ones he'd seen nestled inside the ARCspheres into his palm. It glowed with an ethereal light, and little specks of colour darted around inside of it like tiny fish in a bowl.
"This sphere's used by the Crusaders to help with combat training, and each one's got a different lesson. This one's on advanced swordsmanship," Gatta explained, pointing out a set of small controls on the sphere's outer ring.
"You've done well thus far, but only because you've been using such a small weapon," Luzzu continued, eyeing where Aoshiira and Kusanagi were sheathed together. "I noticed you picked up a new sword. Something that size will require a bit more finesse to wield properly. You'll only end up tiring yourself out if you swing it around wildly." A look of thought flashed across his face, and his hand delved into a pouch at his belt and returned with a thin silver chain hanging from his fingertips. "You beat both of us, which I wasn't expected at all. So here, an extra prize. I found it in a store in Luca, and… well, I suppose it called to me."
"This wasn't part of our agreement…" Naruto tried to rebuke, but the words died in his throat when Luzzu tossed him the chain and he caught it in his right hand, feeling the silver pendant between his fingers. It shimmered in the light as if it were liquid, and despite being entirely metallic it barely weighed anything, but that wasn't what halted him. The pendant was dangerously spiky, each of its three points curling around like a fishhook, and was shaped like the letter 'J'.
It was Jecht's symbol. His surrogate father's symbol.
He wanted to refuse, to send the pendant away. He wanted nothing to do with the memory of that man; that man who had, for the first few years of his second life, been the father he'd always dreamed of but never had, but had frittered the life he had with his wife and adopted son on alcohol. And for what? Because he was fed up of his life of fame and luxury? His fingers clenched around the sharp pendant hard enough for them to dig into his flesh, with half a mind to crush the offending item altogether, but he relented. He released his grip, taking up the thin chain and hanging it around his neck next to the emerald jewel of the Shodaime. He gave his thanks to Luzzu with a silent nod, and walked away without another word.
"Why'd you accept it? Why didn't you give it back?"
"Because Jecht is the reason I'm still alive. If it weren't for him, I'd probably have died the day I showed up in Zanarkand," Naruto answered automatically, not really caring who he was talking to. "And… because I hate the kind of man he is, the kind of man that would waste everything he had - a loving family, a celebrity blitzer's reputation, everything - because he thought that he had it hard."
"You're just like he said you'd be," Shiho laughed, walking beside him. "Shikamaru always said that you hated it when people acted like they'd had a rough time and got all mopey and angsty, because no matter what you knew you'd had it harder and still managed to smile through it." She fell silent for a moment, hesitant. "That was what happened with Sasuke, wasn't it?"
Naruto didn't answer verbally. His increased stride and stiff facial expression, however, told her quite effectively that this conversation was as good as over.
The situation likely couldn't have been more awkward if she'd tried.
After the exchange at the Fiend Hunt's final ceremony, the group had returned to Rin's Travel Agency in silence. No sooner had they stepped through the front door than Naruto was tossing coin to the Al Bhed proprietor and heading up the staircase to his room. Yuna herself wasn't entirely sure what had gone on, except that whatever it was, it had involved Luzzu in some way and, apparently, the doctor.
The doctor who had become exceedingly friendly with Naruto ever since he'd returned from the plains.
Of course, Yuna would never say that she was jealous, oh no. It wasn't proper for a summoner to actively pursue a relationship with a man, especially not one of her own guardians. It would only lead to more problems when… later down the road. Besides, she couldn't say that she'd even known him that long; a couple of weeks maybe. She quite neatly skirted around the fact that the doctor herself had known him for even less than that.
She couldn't explain it. It was something of a feeling. Ever since that fateful day that Naruto had burst into the Cloister of Trials and faced her, she knew there was something special about him. Maybe it was because he'd been able to hold off a simultaneous assault from both Lulu and Kimahri, or maybe because he'd had the gall to go against Yevon's teachings and breach the Cloister when he'd learned that she might be in danger.
There was no doubt that the latter notion had a certain air of… romance to it. A ruggedly handsome and godly powerful man spurning the overbearing edict of the church for the sake of a girl he had never so much as laid eyes on, throwing himself into untold peril to ensure her safety above all else; it was a fairytale plot if ever she'd heard one.
In the issue at hand, however, such romantic ideals were not helping at all, for that same man was sitting beside her, on a cliff top overlooking the vast blue oceans that glimmered with little flashes of orange light in the beautiful sunset, surrounded by flowers.
Another fairytale situation.
It didn't help that this man was still remaining stoically silent, and she didn't think she had it in her to ask about what had happened earlier. It was obviously something very personal, and she really hadn't known him very long.
"Pretty."
Scarlet flared in her cheeks.
"H-Huh!?" she squeaked timidly, mismatched eyes thrown wide like a frightened hare. Why had he thrown that compliment out so carelessly, without any indication as to what he was referring to? Was he talking about her, or that doctor, or what!?
"The sunset. It looks really pretty."
With a deep, relieved sigh, Yuna forced down the blush across her nose and forced herself to look away and off into the distance. Indeed, it was a very picturesque scene. The sun's amber rays struck the rippling ocean waves and cast an array of multi-coloured lights against the cliff face, and the aging ruins of ancient machina stood fast and firm against the tide as the dying sunlight coloured their millennial rust a dark coppery brown. It truly was a picturesque scene.
If anything, though, that realisation made the whole thing that much harder to stomach. To have such a stunning backdrop while sitting with a boy was not something Yuna could say she'd done, especially not one she already sorta-kinda-maybe liked. Boys of her age were in short supply back in Besaid. Well, just about everything was in short supply in Besaid. It was one of the smallest settlements in Spira, and many a debate had been had in Bevelle about why such an insignificant, out of the way location had such a prominent landmark as a Temple of Yevon. It was somewhat offensive that they referred to her home as 'insignificant', but there was little she could do to change that.
Yuna shook her head feverishly, trying to rid herself of those thoughts. It wouldn't do to become so side-tracked. What if Naruto had tried to speak to her, and she hadn't noticed because she was too busy pondering the reputation of her home? That wouldn't be good at all! Finally, Yuna nodded her head in agreement. Indeed, it was very pretty.
"I wish I could live in a place like this," said Yuna, smiling peacefully. "It would be so nice, to live with a smile on my face every day."
"Well, you can, right? Just after you beat Sin?"
Yuna's smile faded, and the corners of her mouth took a sour turn.
"But then a new Sin will be born anyway."
She heard the sharp intake of air, not quite a gasp, as Naruto registered that information. Of course, he hadn't known up until now, but he had to have suspected, right? He'd known that Sin had been defeated by the joint efforts of her father, his father, and Sir Auron ten years ago, and yet Sin was still terrorising the shores of Spira today. He had to have realised that Sin would regenerate, no matter how many times the Final Summoning sent it away.
"Every time a summoner defeats Sin, there is a time of peace called the Calm. It lasts until Sin reappears."
"I thought it was a little weird. Didn't make much sense until now," Naruto replied.
"Please, don't say it isn't worth it. Even for a little while, people can sleep in their beds without being afraid. That kind of time is worth anything."
"Hey, I believe you. If there was even a little chance of sending Sin away for just a little while, then I'd stop at nothing to go through with it. And if that does happen, then you can beat it again, can't you?"
Yuna was pleased to hear him say such inspiring words, but her mood dropped even further.
"I only wish I could."
"If anyone could do it, you can. I haven't seen a better summoner than you!"
A small smirk twitched at the corner of her mouth. He'd been in Spira for all of three weeks: how many summoners did he think he'd seen? Still, the praise was more than welcome, and she didn't even try to hide the soft red tint on her cheeks that such an embarrassing outburst had brought on. She edged closer a couple of inches, then fell still.
"Yuna, why does Sin keep coming back?"
"Sin is our punishment for our vanity," she answered formally, as if it were scripted. She'd been explaining that very concept to the children of Besaid since she herself was old enough to understand Yevon's teachings. "It will not go away until we've atoned."
He didn't seem satisfied with the answer at all. A strange cross between a pout and a frown crossed his face, and he looked as if he were deep in thought.
"Atonement, huh?" He spat the word, as if it were a curse. "What did people do that was so bad in the first place?"
Yuna started to speak, but the words died as she realised that she didn't really have an answer. The teachings dictated that it was the overuse of machina that had sent Spira into the downward spiral it was trapped in today, but was that really such a bad thing? That people used machines that made their lives easier? It sounded… bitter.
"It's strange," she whispered, barely loud enough to hear. "Ever since I was a little girl, I've never questioned anything I was told. But when you ask me what was so bad… I can't answer that. There are many things I don't know about the world."
"Then I guess that makes two of us," Naruto laughed, lying back against the grass with his arms crossed behind his head. "Should you really be thinking like that, though? Isn't it against Yevon, or something like that?" A mischievous grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Such thinking is very unbecoming of a summoner!" he wheezed anciently.
Yuna stifled a laugh behind her hand, but couldn't help the bright smile that followed.
"You're terrible!" she cried. "But, you're right. I'll… face it later."
"After we beat Sin," Naruto agreed. "When you've got nothing else to worry about." The thoughtful look returned, and he bit his lip. "Hey, Yuna? How are you supposed to defeat Sin, anyway? I mean, we've fought some pretty big things already, but Sin's on a whole 'nother level as far as I can tell."
"With the Final Summoning," she answered formally. Another question she'd been answering for as long as she could remember. "It's the only way to defeat Sin. With it, I can call the Final Aeon, and complete my pilgrimage. The Fayth of the Final Summoning lies in the far north, waiting to greet the summoners who've made it that far."
"At the end of the world, in Zanarkand."
Howzit?
Been a while, I know (almost four months!), but this chapter did not want to be written, evidently. I got the first part - Naruto & Shiho - down with relative ease, and the last part - Naruto & Yuna - was only written in the past couple of days. It was just that middle bit that, while short, was really quite difficult to word. It really doesn't mean much, but I didn't want to skip right out of the Fiend Hunt because I put it in of my own volition and I didn't want to seem like I was trying too hard to stick to canon.
Plus, I like Nooj, Baralai and Gippal.
To summarise: Shiho's not mad at Naruto anymore - well, not as much, anyway. She's gotten over her hatred of him for the most part as he's explained what happened, and she's shifted her focus onto Tobi, who is still lurking out there somewhere. For now, she and Naruto have joined forces in their collective vengeance. At the same time, Naruto has received his prizes for the Fiend Hunt: Sasuke's Kusanagi, a sphere on swordplay from Gatta, and Jecht's necklace. He's not Tidus, but he's still really mad at Jecht for his own reasons, and it only gets worse when Shiho likens the situation to Sasuke. Later on, Yuna reflects on how she met with Naruto, and how she feels about him thus far, and Naruto asks her about Sin, 'cause he hasn't really learned a whole lot.
Review Corner
kurokamiDG: I like using characters that don't get a lot of screen time. I mean, look at the thousands upon thousands of stories about Hinata, or Sakura, or god knows who else. With small variations, they're all pretty much the same, because they've had so much work put into them already that no one wants to write a story where they're any different. It feels like going against diktat. Whereas the few stories I've read that include Shiho have her completely different in each one. That's what I like. The Nine Tails Chakra Mode is just another of Naruto's techniques that I'm including, but it's still not overdrive. Overdrive, in my opinion, should be something unrelated to the Narutoverse, since it is original FFX territory. Up until now, the only non-Naruto tech he's used is the Magun, which I've already stated isn't overdrive. I'm really sticking to the idea that Overdrive is based on emotional distress, like pain, anger, sadness, despair, etc. Naruto hasn't reached that yet, even against Sasuke. I've been looking over the wiki on FFX, and I've worked out a bit more of the story, so Naruto is not going to go overdrive yet, but it will be very closely linked to his ultimate place in the story.
Guest 1 - "That's it I'm done at first it started out well. But everything else happened,I mean really where should I start! Okay like last chapter why is lightning jutsu's Ineffective to Sin but Lulu's magic is elemental wise they are no different and just feels like you pull that out your ass just to handicap Naruto. Another thing that's stupid is why does he have to prove ANYTHING to them their Yuna's gaurdans so it's her decision whether he becomes a gaurdan or not and just drags the narrotive. It's even so so SO MUCH DUMBER, when it's reveled that Lulu knew HIS FUCKING FATHER! Doesn't that contradict everything she has said and done past this point and just has her come off as a shallow character for not only jerking around the son of the person she was just to prideful to just ask are you seeing someone"
I never once stated that the reason Naruto's techniques - ninjutsu techniques, I might add - were ineffective against Sin's armour was because they were of the lightning element. I did not pull it out of my ass to handicap Naruto. There is a reason that Lulu's magic works against Sin and Sinspawn but Naruto's ninjutsu, for the most part, does not. I simply haven't seen fit to tell you yet BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO RUIN MY OWN STORY. I simply cannot abide people who claim that I've done something stupid without thinking - I realise I do that a lot, but this time it's for realsies - because I haven't explained myself, when the real reason that they don't know the meaning behind each aspect is because to reveal them would be massive spoilers. Why on earth would I want to do that? Not everything's gonna be laid out in the first few chapters, jackass. If you want it that way, don't read a story that's fixing to be a long one. Same with Lulu and Minato. It's all going to be explained, just not right now.
Guest 2 - "Great, now we have two annoying and cliche OC, who will, OF COURSE, join the team... A stupid ultra cliche girl, and a stupid ultra cliche doctor, whoopie-fucking-doo !... Personal preference or cliche aside, what really bother me, is that when Naruto use the Magun, he faints just after... your Naruto is Powerfull, well, continue to make him powerfull ! Using the Magun of even having it just don't make any sense, not only because he faint just after using it, but because Naruto is more than enough powerfull without using a power that make him faint !"
Essentially the same review as the previous one, but based on a different part of the story. Neither of those characters are OCs, by the way. They both exist in canon. Which canon, I will not say. Also, calling them stupid ultra cliché characters, despite the fact that they aren't really cliché at all - how on earth is being a doctor cliché? - annoys the fuck out of me. Yes, Naruto fainted after using the Magun, and why not? He's just called a monster from an alternate dimension using a piece of technology his body isn't familiar with! You'd be messed up too! I will agree that Naruto is powerful, and the Naruto I write even more so, but that doesn't change the fact that he is a shinobi! He is powerful when using shinobi techniques! Look at it this way: he's got tons of power in the way of chakra and ninjutsu, but he's pathetically weak in terms of MP and magic. Spira functions on different rules, and Naruto's body hasn't adapted to them. He's a strong ninja, but a weak Final Fantasy character, so having the amount of energy needed to summon an Esper like Bismarck or Belias ripped out of his soul would naturally put him on his ass faster than you can say Yunalesca. I put a lot of emphasis on the fact that Naruto is not from Spira, and he doesn't know much about Spira, even the magic they use. He's been living as a shinobi for over thirty years now, since as far as we know there's no magic in Zanarkand, and he's not gonna become a FF god just like that.