This is Ryu Kotei saying that I do not own Naruto, Steven Universe, or Wake Me Up When September Ends.
"Believe in Steven!" normal speech
"Believe in Steven!" thought/mind speak
"Believe in Steven!" demon speech
Chapter 20: Spring Mission and Revelations
*Beach City; Fish Stew Pizza*
Naruto, the Crystal Gems, and the Konoha shinobi were at Fish Stew Pizza to have a meal before leaving Beach City, at the insistence of both Ino and Choji.
"This food is AMAZING!" Choji cheered as he ate another slice of the pepperoni and cheese pizza that was brought to his team's table.
"Thanks," said Kiki with a smile on her face as she sent a wink towards Choji, "I'm really glad that you like it; you should have seen Sunny when he had his first pizza. I'd never seen anyone chug an entire jug of soda like he had. I'm kind of glad to meet a few of his friends."
As Kiki was sitting and talking with Team Asuma, Kakashi was sitting at the same table as Naruto and the Gems with an awkward tension in the air.
Both Naruto and Kakashi were trying to find something to talk about without bring up any bad memories. Naruto wanted to ask Kakashi about Sakura and Sasuke defecting, but he really didn't want to talk about either of them despite wanting to know about his old team. Kakashi wanted to ask the blonde about how the past few years had treated him, but he wasn't sure what to ask first as a few years could drastically change a person in such a short time.
"So Naruto," Kakashi began as he tried to break the tension, "you said that Garnet-san is your mother?"
The blonde nodded and said, "That's right, my name's Naruto Gemm now. Mom has taught me so much: my Gem heritage, how to use my powers, and even how to be a leader."
"Impressive," Kakashi said as he felt a pang of regret as all he had done was teach Naruto how to climb a tree and about getting a better diet, "your father would be proud of you."
The jonin then looked at Garnet and said, "I really have to thank you for everything you've done for Naruto. I know that he can be a handful at times, but Naruto never had an easy life considering…"
"Of course, Naruto can be an annoying brat" Garnet calmly said as she then smiled, "but he's my annoying brat and I love my son with all my heart."
Kakashi gently smiled as Garnet gave Naruto a kiss on his forehead and thought, I'm sure that Kushina-san would be very happy for you Naruto for finding a wonderful mother in Garnet.
Kakashi then saw Choji running outside with a complete red face while Amethyst was on the floor laughing and mention something called fire salts.
I am happy for you as well to find such great friends as well…
*Otogakure*
Orochimaru was in his office since he still had to keep his little side project going as even he had to deal with accursed paperwork. Although he could have Kabuto watch his village for him, he thought that it would be best to be present at his own village to keep moral to those who had moved into Otogakure through their own volition.
The door suddenly opened to reveal Kabuto as the young man seemed rushed for some reason.
"Pardon the intrusion, Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto said as he quickly kneeled towards the Snake Sannin, "but we have a visitor…one that you have to see milord."
"Bring him in." Orochimaru ordered as a young man with skin slightly less paler than his own, long green hair with red highlights that almost looked like veins, and his eyes were similar to that of Kakuzu's but inverted as the individual's eyes were red like the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan walked in with a cane that had a large red and green gemstone at the pommel. The young man was wearing black shinobi pants, dark blue shinobi sandals, and a long sleeved black shirt similar to what Kimimaro once wore that was opened at the front just enough to reveal the gemstone that Orochimaru had once seen three years ago.
"Greetings Orochimaru," said the young man with a cool voice, "I haven't seen you since you helped Danzo with giving me my new power."
"Sasuke?!" Orochimaru said with pure an utter shock in his voice, "How is this possible?! I saw you DIE!"
"What you saw on that day was a part of the power that was given to me by this gemstone," Sasuke said as the gemstone heart glowed in a smooth rhythm similar to a heartbeat, "I can regenerate a new body should this one become too damaged and I possess an increased healing rate."
After running a hand through his hair, Sasuke then said, "My appearance is mostly because of the gemstone once belonged to a powerful warrior, but because his spirit was separated for so long, his previous body couldn't be reformed. So mine was altered as it was appropriate as once Itachi was slain by my hands, the Uchiha Clan will be no more as I am Sasuke Kyuketsuki."
"Well then, Kyuketsuki-san," Orochimaru said as he studied Sasuke's look with an evil smirk, "allow me to properly welcome you to Otogakure."
*Beach City; Crystal Temple*
The Crystal Gems and the Konoha ninja were walking back to the temple at the insistence of Garnet and Ino. Garnet had mentioned that a mission had appeared that required some attention.
"So what's the mission Garnet-san?" Choji asked as the mission was just a spur of the moment.
"There's trouble at Rose's Spring." Garnet said, getting a shocked gasp from the other Gems save for Lapis.
"We have to go now!" Pearl said with great urgency, "If anything happens to Rose's Spring, we're done for!"
"What's so important about a spring?" Shikamaru asked, "I'm sure that there are thousands of other springs for someone to claim."
"Actually this spring has the same healing powers that Rose Quartz, Steven's mother, possesses." Naruto said with seriousness, "Although Steven has those same powers, his healing isn't reliable at times even though it is incredibly powerful…and it's also gross considering that it's spit."
"Ew…" Ino whined as a shiver ran up her spine at the image of someone licking her injuries like that.
"Sorry about the detour in your mission," said Steven before Kakashi chuckled.
"Don't worry because we're going to help." the cycloptic jonin said to the shock of everyone.
"We are?" Shikamaru asked as he saw Kakashi's look, "Troublesome, but if this spring is really as powerful as you say, then we should probably help."
"You guys sure?" Naruto asked as he remembered the last time they had to go there, "We had to fight a bunch a bramble just to unclog it. We were really cutting it close since Amethyst's gem was cracked."
"Amethyst's gem was cracked?" Ino asked with confusion, "I'm sure you could have taken her to a jewelry store to have it repaired or something."
"It's not that easy to just repair a Gem's gem like that." Naruto said as he and the Gems approached the warp pad, "Now hurry up as we don't have much time!"
The Konoha ninja followed and as they got on the pad before everyone vanished in a bright light.
*Rose's Spring*
The warp pad glowed as the Crystal Gems and the Konoha ninja appeared with the ninja, save for Naruto and the two jonin, to stumble off.
"Don't worry," Naruto said as he and the others helped Team 10 get onto their feet, "you get used to it."
After shaking the cobwebs out of their heads, the three chunin looked to see the entire place covered in brambles that had sharp thorns. The branches also seemed to move around as if it was weakened or in distressed.
"Be on guard." Garnet said as she brought her fists up as everyone following her example.
A screech echoed as a large green bat-like creature with a lone ruby gemstone acting as its eye and a tuft of light blue fur surrounding its neck. In its teeth were a bunch of brambles that were covered in the creature's saliva before the bat swallowed them.
"What is that thing?!" Ino shouted out as the bat creature spread its wings and lifted itself up into the air.
"Trouble!" Naruto said as his gems started to glow, "Gem Style: Hooking Claw!"
A golden kunai attached to a golden chain shot out of the gemstone as Naruto shot his fist forwards. The kunai opened up to reveal that it was a barbed claw before digging itself into the creature's belly as it flew into the air.
"No you don't!" Naruto said as he wrapped the arm that the chain was attached to with the chains a few times before grabbing the chain with his other arm and began pulling, "Get down here!"
"Partial Expansion Jutsu!" Choji roared out as his arms grew to a massive size before grabbing the chain and giving it a mighty yank, making the bat creature slam into the ground.
"Nice one!" Amethyst said with a great cheer before the dust settled to reveal the bat creature was still standing.
The creature let out a screech as everyone covered their ears while the bramble moved around until they formed human-like creatures. Once the bat-like creature stopped, everyone looked to find themselves surrounded by the bramble creatures that were ready for a fight.
"That Winged Screech is using the bramble to fight us!" Pearl said as she summoned her spear, "We need to take it down!"
The other Crystal Gems summoned their weapons with Lapis summoning her water wings while the ninja brought out their kunai knives before charging through the army. Garnet dove into a few of them and began to pummel a few of the bramble creatures, but saw that they were able to easily repair themselves before changing their hands to mimic Garnet's gauntlets. Naruto was fighting a few bramble creatures that had somehow mimicked his claws and attacking him furiously, making the blonde jump back.
"Watch it you guys!" Naruto called out as he observed his damaged gauntlets, "These things can mimic our weapons and they're really strong too!"
"Guys!" Steven called out as he held his shield up to protect himself from a few bramble creatures that had turned their arms into spiked clubs. The creatures continued their attack until they froze and went into a weird pose, courtesy of Shikamaru as his shadow was stretched out and was connected to the bramble creatures'.
"Shadow Possession complete." Shikamaru said with a smirk, "Now Choji!"
"Human Boulder!" Choji roared as his body was now a giant sphere before the Akamichi bowled into the creatures at a high speed before returning to his original shape as he had briars sticking into his body, "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
"Steven!" Naruto called out as he tossed a rolled up scroll towards said person, "Catch!"
Steven ran by the bramble monsters while bashing a few of them to the side before catching the scroll.
"Good job!" Naruto said before quickly slashing a few of monsters with his claws, "Unroll it and add chakra to it!"
Kakashi quickly dashed towards Steven while slicing the bramble monsters with his kunai as he said, "I'll hold them off while you get whatever that is ready!"
Steven nodded as he unrolled the scroll to reveal three matching writings and applied chakra to the writing, causing three plumes of smoke to explode from the paper. The smoke soon cleared to reveal three humanoid creatures that looked like Steven with the major difference was that the small creatures look like watermelons.
"Are those the watermelons that Steven grew?" Pearl asked as she dodged a few thrusts from the spears the bramble monster had created, "I thought they all left!"
"I sealed some of them before the whole fight started!" Naruto said as he blocked and attack from one of the bramble monsters that tore a few of the spikes off.
"Where did you learn how to seal?" Ino asked as she slashed a few of the bramble monsters with her tanto.
"Fight now, answer questions later!" Amethyst roared out as she used her whip to grab a nearby boulder before smashing a couple of bramble monsters with it.
The Steven-Melons saw the bramble monsters going to attack Steven and the Steven-Melons hissed threateningly before jumping towards the bramble monsters into a tackle. Despite their small stature, the Steven-Melons were able to throw the bramble monsters while protecting Steven before one of the bramble monsters had smashed one of them into a mess of watermelon bits.
"We need to do something!" Pearl said before she saw Naruto get thrown into the wall of brambles, "Naruto!"
Naruto got to his feet but the vines on the walls had somehow grabbed him by his arms and legs before pulling him into the wall.
Dammit! Naruto thought as he had to bite back a scream of pain as the thorns dug into his body, These things are stubborn! Guess I need to borrow your power!
"Alright," said Kurama from inside Naruto's mind, "just don't go overboard!"
The Konoha ninja felt an ominous aura and looked to see Naruto slowly being covered by a bubbling red cloak of chakra as Kakashi and Asuma knew this feeling all too well.
No! Kakashi thought in horror as he remembered how Naruto had tapped into the Kyuubi's power back during the mission in Nami, He's tapping into the Kyuubi's chakra!
Feeling the ominous aura, the chunin of Team 10 looked from their positions to see the vines that bound Naruto burn away from the cloak, freeing the blonde from the wall and allowing him to shake the thorns off.
This is the same power he used during his match against Neji, Ino and Choji thought as they remember that match clearly, such insane power!
Naruto lowered himself onto all fours as his red eyes shone with bloodlust while his whisker marks became more curved and threatening.
"Hope you're ready to be ripped apart you filthy weeds!" Naruto roared out before he dashed towards them and began to slash them apart mercilessly.
Garnet saw the look on Kakashi's face and said, "Don't worry Kakashi, Naruto and Kurama has come to an agreement that the fox would only give Naruto a certain amount of power that Naruto has earned. Even though, it's only a last resort in situations like this."
"He's used it before?" Kakashi asked with shock in his voice, "Has he ever lost control?"
Garnet was silent until she said, "Only once and that was enough for Kurama to place a limit on not just how much, but how long the power would last."
After destroying a large majority of the bramble monsters, Naruto looked at the bat creature as it was eating some of the bramble that made up the wall.
"I don't think so!" Naruto roared out as he dashed towards the monster and leapt into the air while forming a Rasengan in his hand, "Vermillion Rasengan!"
Naruto was able to slam the Kyuubi-enhanced Rasengan into the bat monster as the creature was slammed into the wall before the sphere erupted into a powerful blast that unintentionally destroyed a portion of the wall. Naruto landed on his feet as a large, fist-sized ruby fell onto the ground that signaled the monster's defeat.
Everyone watched with amazement as the chakra cloak vanished while Naruto's features returned to normal before the blonde picked up the gemstone.
"You were a lot of trouble, ya know that?" Naruto said as he encased the gem in a golden bubble before pressing on it to make it vanish.
The bramble monsters returned to their vine forms as they were no longer in control of the bat creature while Naruto fell onto one knee.
"Naruto!" said Ino as she and everyone else rushed to his side, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah…" Naruto said as Pearl and Shikamaru helped him onto his feet, "using Kurama's chakra always take a lot out of me so I only use it unless absolute necessary."
"Come on," said Garnet as she approached the entrance in the wall of barbed vines, "we need to check on the spring."
Everyone followed Garnet through the vines while Pearl helped Naruto walk with Shikamaru walking nearby.
"Damn Naruto," the Nara said with an amused smirk, "I knew that you were strong thanks to the Kyuubi, but never would I have imagined such a power."
Naruto chuckled as he said, "As powerful as it is, I really can't use it for really long as Kurama explained that demon chakra is insanely powerful and only those who can handle such a power can use it. I'm just lucky that I'm an Uzumaki and a Crystal Gem, but even with those two advantages, I tear my body up depending on how much I use and I risk becoming corrupted by it the longer I use it until I'm completely taken over."
"So the Kyuubi's power, or more correctly a Bijuu's power is a double-edged sword," Shikamaru commented as everyone continued to travel through the opening, "while it's strong enough to wipe out armies, you rip your body to shreds and slowly lose your mind at the same time."
After receiving a nod from Naruto, the Nara could only shake his head in slight amazement as this was just typical Naruto.
Ino saw that only one of the Steven-Melons had survived as it was sticking very close to Steven before she walked next to Amethyst and asked, "So what's with the watermelon and why does it look like Steven?"
"Well," Amethyst started as she remembered that crazy day, "Steven's mom had the ability to grow sentient plant life that acted as her protectors. Steven discovered his after having a watermelon seed spitting contest with his old man. There were so many of those little guys!"
"You said that Steven's mom could create plant life?" Asuma asked as he got a nod from the purple Gem, "Almost sounds like the Shodaime's Mokuton, a bloodline that allows the possessor to create plant life to use in jutsus. From clones, to trees, to even an entire village, the Mokuton was a powerful and most sought after bloodline as it could even hold the power of a Bijuu."
"Sounds crazy!" Amethyst said with an amazed smile, "I'm not sure if Steven or Rose could do any of that stuff, but it does sound pretty sweet!"
"So why is that one protective over Steven?" Choji asked as he saw how vigilant it was.
"As I've mentioned," Amethyst said as she moved a bang of hair out of her face, "Rose and Steven's plants are their protectors, so if anything is a threat to Steven, the plants will start attacking relentlessly until the threat's taken care of. We even had to fight them ourselves and we had difficulties with just HOW many there were!"
The sound of munch made Amethyst and Ino look to see Choji holding a busted Steven-Melon while juices were dripping from the Akamichi's fingers and mouth.
Seeing the disgusted looks on Ino's and Amethyst's faces, Choji blinked and asked, "What? You want some?"
Before Ino could voice her disgust, everyone stopped to see a giant fountain that stood in the middle of the room they were in. The fountain had a statue a woman with large curly hair and a star-shaped cutout on the stomach of her dress as water was pouring from the statue's closed eyes, giving it the appearance that it was crying.
"Wow," Ino said in amazement as she completely forgot her disgust, "this fountain's amazing!"
Garnet looked around until she motioned for everyone to follow her towards the fountain.
"The fountain's working properly from what I can see." Pearl said after letting Naruto go as the blonde regained enough energy to easily walk on his two feet, "Maybe it was just that monster threatening the statue?"
Kakashi approached the fountain and kneeled to examine the water before looking at the cut on his arm. The jonin cupped his hand and placed it in the fountain before pulling out some of the water.
"How does this work, again?" Kakashi asked as the water was slowly draining from his hand.
"Just apply it on the wound," Garnet answered as she applied some of the water on her injured leg.
Everyone watched in fascination as the gash on the woman's leg had closed up until it looked like it wasn't even marred. Kakashi soon followed Garnet's example and lathered the water on his wound and watched has his injury vanished while noticing the slight stinging twitch as the wound closed.
"So do we just take a bath?" Ino asked as she looked at the guys with a slight uncomfortable look.
"Not really." said Naruto as he pulled out a small rag and dunked it in the water, "Just get some of the water and apply like so…or just jump in real quick."
Setting down the busted Steven-Melon, Choji quickly got to the edge of the fountain before removing his heavy armor plate and jumped in. The Akamichi reached the surface and pulled himself out as he felt his wounds from the briars close up.
"I bet Tsunade would love to visit this place." Asuma said as applied the water on his shoulder, "She'd probably bathe in it herself in hopes of it restoring her youth. I've even tempted to drink it to see if it'll restore my lungs back to how they were before."
"They wouldn't be like that if you didn't smoke all the time!" Ino said as she crossed her arms, "Then again, you'd probably keep smoking even after this spring heals your lungs!"
Asuma sighed as he said, "Just like Kurenai…"
Noticing Pearl collecting some of the water in small vials, Kakashi asked, "What are you doing?"
After placing the water-filled vials in a medical kit before sealing in in a scroll, Pearl said, "I'm just collecting some of the water should we ever need it. There are times where we need to take care of some of our major injuries considering both Naruto and Steven aren't full-blooded Gems. But even if we run out, we can still have Steven use his powers to heal us if needed."
"But even that's on a chance." Naruto said as he took a small drink from the fountain, "Even with some of the training we have done, Steven's healing powers are still kind of a flip of a coin: it either works, or it doesn't."
Once everyone was healed up by the spring, they saw no need to stay any longer since Garnet couldn't foresee any oncoming threats and headed back towards the temple without any event.
*Beach City; Crystal Temple*
Night has fallen at the temple and everyone was asleep…well, almost everyone.
Kakashi was sitting on his sleeping bag as he was reading the latest Icha Icha while keeping his giggles quietly.
Hearing the sound of the door into the temple opening, Kakashi quickly lay down to feign sleep as the sounds of footstep quietly traveled before Naruto was seen landing at the door leading towards the beach.
What's Naruto doing up this late at night? Kakashi asked himself as he noticed the guitar in his hand, I should see what he's up to.
Kakashi carefully and skillfully followed Naruto until the blonde was had made it to the top of the hill that the temple resided in and sat on the smoothed part of the statue's head.
What is he doing? Kakashi thought to himself as he then hear the sound of guitar strings being plucked as Naruto adjusted the nobs on the guitar's head.
"Hope you're ready for this song my friend," Naruto sadly said as he caressed the smooth stone of the statue's head, "because it could possibly be the last one I sing to you…"
Kakashi carefully edged closer as Naruto played three notes in a smooth and repeated melody as the blonde soon began to sing…
Summer has come and passed,
The innocent can never last.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Like my father's come to pass,
Seven years has gone so fast.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Here comes the rain again,
Falling from the stars.
Drenched in my pain again,
Becoming who we are.
As my memory rests,
But never forgets what I lost.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Kakashi could feel the melancholy from Naruto's voice as the blonde before him played the guitar as if gathering his woeful thoughts. The jonin felt a sting of guilt as he knew that he wasn't the best nor had helped Team 7 really get along as even though their teamwork was amazing, they hardly socialize nicely with each other.
I bet those years away from Konoha felt like freedom for you, Kakashi thought as it pained him to see such a bright spirit like Naruto look and sound broken, We just had to rain into your life and bring back that pain you wish to forget.
Waking up to the sound of music, Ino looked around to find Kakashi missing from his spot on the floor.
"Where's that music coming from?" Ino quietly asked herself as she carefully got off the couch.
"I'd like to know that myself," Shikamaru said softer than his normal tone, "it's troublesome, but it sounds mournful…like someone had just died."
Nodding to each other, Shikamaru and Ino carefully stepped out of the beach to hear that the music was coming from above them.
"Over there," said Ino as she pointed to the top of the statue, "Is that Naruto?"
Looking closely, Shikamaru saw that it was Naruto as the blonde was playing a guitar and looking out towards the moon that shone over the ocean.
Summer has come and passed,
The innocent can never last.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Ring out the bells again,
Like we did in Spring.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Here comes the rain again,
Falling from the stars.
Drenched in my pain again,
Becoming who we are.
As my memory rests,
But never forgets what I lost.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Small tears slowly rolled from Ino's cheeks as she choked out a sob at just how meaningful the song sounded.
Shakamaru held his tears back as it sounded like Naruto was singing his pain away. The young boy had to think back at all the times Naruto was happy and had that face-splitting smile plastered on his face practically 24/7.
I wonder if he's been holding back his pain all those years, Shikamaru thought as the melancholic song had somehow repainted those memories of Naruto as a depressed individual with a constant raincloud hovering over his head that hid his tears every time the cloud had let loose some rain, but then again, the life of a jinchuriki means you're either a weapon or just given a life that no one could possibly live through without sacrificing their sanity.
The two then saw Pearl quietly exit the small house before shapeshifting into the form of a small dove and flew up towards Naruto. Pearl landed on Naruto's shoulder and nuzzled up against the blonde's whiskered cheek while Naruto decided to wrap the song up as it was getting late…
Summer has come and past,
The innocent can never last.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Like my father's come and pass,
Twenty years has gone so fast.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Wake me up,
When September ends.
Naruto let the last note echo through the night air as Pearl shapeshifted back into her normal form sitting next to the blonde while resting her head on the boy's shoulder.
"I couldn't sleep as we're heading back to Konoha tomorrow." Naruto said as he leaned his head against Pearl's, "I can only imagine just how everyone there will treat me…treat us."
"Everything will be alright, Naruto." Pearl said as she and Naruto then looked into each other's eyes, "We will be there for you as we love you so deeply in our own special way."
The two went into a kiss as the moonlight shone beautifully upon their skin before they both separated.
"I love you Pearl-hime." Naruto said with a loving smirk.
"I love you too my Handsome Rogue." Pearl said as they both lied on the smooth stone and stare off into the stars, unaware of Kakashi sending them a proud smile.
I'm proud at how much you have grown. Kakashi thought as he allowed himself to shed a small tear, You have become a fine young man and I wish I could have watched you grow up.
Now that Rose's Spring is safe once more, the Gems can head towards Konohagakure without much worry for the moment. How will Konohagakure handle Otogakure with Sasuke on Orochimaru's side? Don't forget to rate and review!
Ja Ne.