Kitsune Here. First off, I wanna say sorry for the long wait. There's an important Note in this A.N...so keep reading please. But first, the usual!
"Thanks, and Thanks again!" to all the reviewers, alerters, c2rs, and favers! I love you guys! This chapter's question is..."Do you prefer to read a manga version of a story, or do you prefer the anime version?" For me, it depends on the style, and how much farther the story is in the manga, and overall plot I guess...Like Pandora hearts manga is MUCH cooler then the anime, but I like Zombie Loan's anime better then the manga.
The important NOTE! Ok, some of you, a select few (like, maybe 3 or 4 of you, really) knew this already, but to everyone else, the reason for the wait was because I wanted to get the whole ending to this story typed up. That's right. I've written the end of "Truth Bites", which will be Chapter 31. Each chapter will be posted within a day or so, to allow me to do some final editing. Anyway, enjoy the chapter~.
It was late morning when the boys finally joined the adults in the large room that had been commandeered for the meeting. Naruto wasn't too worried about being late, however. Before they'd turned in for the night, Ed and Al had told him that Olivier had decided to split the group into two main forces, the 'train the crap out of Naruto' group and the 'find the assholes fucking with my country' group. Her words, apparently. So it wasn't like he was really going to miss anything important at this meeting, other than where the heck he was supposed to go for the next phase of his training, since he wasn't going to be allowed to help track down the guy responsible for bringing him to this place. The blonde did hope they waited for him before taking the bad-guys on, though. He was really itching for a good fight, and Kakashi had put his foot down on any good shinobi sparring matches for some strange reason. He wasn't twelve anymore, he knew better then to use Rasengan indoors! Though if he mastered the mini-Rasengan, he was sure it would be useful for mixing chocolate milk...
When Al politely knocked on the door before opening it, Naruto thought that maybe he would have been better off skipping the meeting all together. It was a really crowded room, with Kakashi Roy, Killer Bee, Olivier, Alex, Hawkeye, and a few people he didn't recognize but the other two seemed to know. He was pretty sure one was Ishballan, but then again, he was terrible at guessing, so he kept his mouth shut.
"Ah, about time you idiots showed up," Roy smirked, barely sparing them a glance as they opened the door before turning his attention back to the document he was studying. "We were just about ready to come and get you, fox-boy. Killer Bee wants to get the next phase of your training started as soon as possible, you know."
"The sooner you get gone, the sooner we can get rid of you." Grumbled Olivier as she poured over her maps. "Honestly, what's the world coming to? First homunculi, now Shinobi." She glared at Roy, "YOU! Tell Truth I don't appreciate him messing around in my country like this! It's unacceptable!"
Mustang just chuckled, "Somehow, I really don't think it cares. Who knows what that thing is really up to, anyway." He shook his head, placing the files he was looking at on the table and taking more from Hawkeye before turning to Bee, "But I'm sure Bee will deliver your message for you while we're there, right?"
"Her wish should be a real cinch. That creep never leaves that place, he should mind his own business, the waste space."
Al brightened, "Oh, so you're going to use Truth's white room for Naruto's training then?"
"What made you decide on that?" his brother asked.
"Wait, you want us to train WHERE?" Naruto practically screeched, "Nu-UH, not going back there!" He shook his head, "That guy is plain creepy! He's got no face, Octo-pops. No. Face. How does that even work?" The teen shuttered, "Besides, I don't have this key thing you asked about, anyway."
"Well," Roy put in, "That really shouldn't be a problem. After all, that 'creepy guy' is literally truth. So he probably has this key."
Kakashi looked up from his files, apparently he had been paying attention after all, "Come again?"
"Eh, I guess you could call it a god. If you believe in that kind of crap, anyway." Ed snorted, "The point is, That Truth bastard works on equivalent exchange, so if you give him something equal to this damn key, he'll probably give you the key." He shrugged, "Or, you could try summoning the toads again, but that worked so well last time."
"So why wait, this'll be a piece of cake!" Bee grinned, "We're bad-ass ninja, we've got to have something he'd want, ya?"
"Oh no. nonononononono! Kakashi-sensei! Please, don't make me go back there!"
"Sorry, Naruto," His treacherous teacher smiled, "We talked it over, and really, it's the safest place for you to train in case things get...out of hand. Without Yamamoto here, our options are a bit more limited than I'd like. I'm sure you'll be fine, though. You are aiming to be the next Hokage, after all."
Naruto just stared at him for a moment before sighing, "That was low, Kakashi-sensei. Fine. I'll do it, but I'm not happy about it. That guy reminds me of a G-ghost...I HATE ghosts!"
"Says the guy who spoke to his dead dad," Mustang muttered before continuing louder, slapping a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "All right then, people! You have your marching orders! We'll be back as soon as this sorry excuse of a shinobi's been whipped into shape."
Ed Snarked, "Preferably not the large, fur covered kind"
"Thanks, Ed, for that reminder. Good luck, and Godspeed." The Brigadier General saluted, a gesture the rest of the military personnel in the room returned before he half led, half dragged reluctant youth out of the room. The two were followed shortly by Bee who was sent running, dodging Olivier's knife. The blond could only assume that he'd attempted to get a goodbye kiss.
It was just a short walk over to an empty work room. The two shinobi eyed the large circle that was drawn on the ground in chalk with interest. It looked vaguely like some of the seals they knew, but it was like comparing a first year academy students work to a seal master's work. Neither had any clue what the lines meant. Bee leaned in and held out a hand, only to stop as he felt Mustang's glare on his back. He shrugged, instead settling for staring hard at the design.
"This is a transmutation array. Naruto's seen a couple already, but this one is a bit different. This circle is for human alchemy." The flame alchemist explained, "Human Transmutation goes against the laws of Alchemy. It's basically impossible to make a person out of nothing, or bring back the dead using Alchemic means. It doesn't stop people from trying, however."
"Of course not. There's a reason shit like this is forbidden, right?" The younger shinobi snorted. "People are stupid."
"That's one way to look at it." The adults shared a look, one that spoke of the naivety of youth.
"Not that this is a snore, but how we going to find that illusive door?" Bee asked
"That's what this is." Mustang explained. "As I was explaining, when someone attempts human transmutation, not only does it not work, it also has the added result of sending the person to what we call 'the Gate of Truth'. Very convenient for us right now."
"But...We can't do this Alch-crap thing."
"Al-chem-my, you blonde idiot." the raven-haired man sighed, "No, you can't but you can act as my ingredients, as it were. Which, experience has taught us, will have the same effect. So, stand in the middle of the circle. And don't touch ANYTHING." Both shinobi made a big show of carefully stepping over the intricate lines to stand in the middle of the circle before turning to stare at the Alchemist with matching looks of 'what now?' Mustang couldn't help but grin as he slapped his hands together, "See you at the gate, then," He touched the circle.
_*&*&*_THE GATE_*&*&*_
With a groan, Naruto wondered if he had forgotten to check the expiration date on his milk again. His stomach felt horrible. In fact, his whole body felt like crap. Then again, he didn't remember drinking any milk before going to bed last night. The last thing he remembered was..."Crud." A moan answered him from his left. "You guys dead?" He asked, eyes still scrunched shut.
"Nunn...maybe?" Answered Killer Bee, "Worse then Aniki's Sake. I feel hung over, can I get a do-over?"
"No...Do overs...I am not doing this. Any more. Then. Necessary." Roy wheezed out. "Fuck."
"I was wondering when you'd show up again, Mister Kyuubi-jinchuuriki, Mister Hachibi-jinchuuriki." A voice said a little too happily.
"Is that?"
"Nunn...Too loud. Go away, I'm too sick to deal with your freaky ass right now." whined the blond.
Truth, of course, ignored them, "And Mister Flame-Alchemist! I didn't think I'd see You again after you got your sight back."
Roy sighed, Naruto could hear him shifting, apparently getting up, he would lay there a bit longer though. "Trust me, I'd be happy to never see this place again. But you know why I'm here."
"Of course. To train the boy." He heard laughter in the voice, "But you have no key."
"I'll trade you for the damn key." Naruto growled into the ground.
He felt the thing's attention fix on him, "I didn't quite hear you."
The blond sat up, staring straight at the smudge-that-was-a-person "I said I'll trade you for the damn key. That's how you work, right? Ed said you were some kind of freaky scale-god, right? So, what the hell do you want?" The grin vanished from the non-existent face.
Both men looked at him in shock as he continued to stare at the outlined shape, "Scale-god? What the hell? Are you retarded or something?" Roy snarled as Bee just lipped the words 'scale-god' over and over again. "Of All The..."
Laughter interrupted him, "Scale...oh, that's great!" The grin was twice as wide as before, "Yes YES! That's it! That's it exactly! You figured it out, though the little former-alchemist helped."
Bee looked at Roy, "I'm confused." the Alchemist shrugged.
"That's great, but what's fair for this stupid key I need?" Naruto asked, ignoring them.
"You've already paid, Mr. Jinchuuriki." Truth answered, holding out its hand. A swirling mist floated to the teen and enveloped him. "I would never have thought that YOU of all people would have put that together."
Roy huffed, "What on earth are you two talking about?"
Both looked at him, grinning, but it was Naruto who answered, "Scale-God, right?" To the look of confusion, he elaborated, "Scales, you know, like the merchants or medics use? I bet you Alch-whatever people use them, too." He held out both arms, miming a scale, "Well, you guys said he'd do exchanges for equal stuff, which is kinda like the shopkeepers back home. But the crooked ones would thumb the scale, right? Like the guy at the ink shop. I thought if this Truth guy was a god, even if he was creepy as hell, no offence,"
"None taken."
"Then he wouldn't be a crook. He'd deal out fairly, right?" He gave his signature grin, arms now behind his head.
Roy turned to Killer Bee, exasperated confusion still on his face, "Did that make any sense to you?"
"He want's to buy ink with money is what I got." Bee shrugged, "But it doesn't really matter, because it made sense to no-face there." Bee looked at Naruto, "Alright, this is gonna be a real fight, we're gonna have you sit tight. Kyuubi is nowhere I see, so he's retreated inside, probably looking for a place to hide."
"Eh? Kyuubi's not here?" The blond glanced at his shadow and saw that it was normal, "Well, that's kinda weird...though I guess he sorta knows what coming, huh? Wait a second, where's yours?" He was a little shocked that he hadn't even thought of it until now.
"I'm right here, kid."
Naruto blinked in confusion at Bee, his eyes travelling slowly behind him, then up, way up into the eyes of Hachibi who loomed over all of them, grinning. "Oh. My. GOD!" He pointed up to the beast, "It's...it's..."
"See Bee. He's so overwhelmed by my glory he's speechless."
"It's a squid!"
Bee punched him on the back of the head, "Count the tails, you idiot! Eight! EIGHT! HACHI-BI. EIGHT. TAILS. NOT. A. SQUID."
