"Midna..." Naruto started, staring at the clear, flowing water in front of him after having come to terms with the new 'whisker' across his face.
"Naruto..." Midna replied, looking away from the blonde.
"You just teleported us out of the desert...and back to Lake Hylia..." The blonde stated, slowly turning towards the Twili.
"Yes..."
"Which means you could have teleported us out of the desert...at any time..." He took a very, VERY deep breath before exhaling very slowly.
"..."
"Which means we REALLY didn't have to nearly get ourselves killed from lack of sleep or lack of water..." Naruto stared at the imp with large, strained eyes as she refused to meet his gaze.
"Midna..."
Silence.
"MIIIDNAAA?!"
"SO I HAD A BRAIN FART! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T SAY I WAS PERFECT SO SHUT UP!" The flustered imp retorted hotly, her face burning up in embarrassment. Naruto gave her a WTF look.
"But you took that bridge piece back to the Lanayru province...HOW DID YOU NOT THINK ABOUT THIS!?"
"SHUT UP ALREADY!"
WOOF!
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WOOF!?" Naruto repeated, Midna staring at him for a moment before they turned to the side where a small, golden wolf stood. "Oh! It's you!" Naruto's face split into a grin as he walked over to the wolf, patting it on the head. "Good! I was thinking I'd need to see them soon." He then pointed a thumb back towards Midna."Can she come too?" The imp stared first at Naruto in shock, then back to the wolf, who turned his head sideways before turning around, motioning Naruto to follow him."YES!" Naruto fist-pumped as he started running after the animal, Midna quickly following after, trying to keep up with him.
"What's going on?" She asked, confused with what had just happened. Last time she had seen the wolf, it jumped at Naruto, there was a flash of light, and then Naruto was unconscious on the ground. Naruto kept an unblinking eye on the wolf as he quickly hopped after the quick creature, chakra speeding him out of Lake Hylia and out onto Hyrule Fields.
"I told you back in the temple that I needed to get stronger...and that I would need to meet my teachers again, right?" He saw Midna nod out of the corner of his eye as he hopped over a large boulder. "Well, I also said that one day you would need to meet them too."
Naruto stopped as the wolf leaped out into a chasm, the blonde not thinking anything about it and following after him after Midna melded with his shadow. Naruto quickly found out that the wolf had jumped and landed inside of a hollowed out tree, the blonde quickly sliding around through its trunk before being tossed out into a forest. A forest that he instantly recognized as Faron Woods. The wolf stood in front of another hollowed out tree, where inside a small fountain trickled through the side of the tree into a nearby stream. Walking past the fountain, Naruto's eyes widened as he stumbled upon that sacred place where the Master Sword had waited. The wolf walked over to the pedestal and put it's paws on the stone before disappearing as Midna slowly crept out of Naruto's shadow, looking around the sacred grounds nervously. Naruto lightly pat her on the head, grinning brightly.
"Relax. You're not going to get hurt here." Quickly tsking at the blonde, Midna floated over to the pedestal, where Naruto unsheathed the Master Sword, the blonde quickly following her over to the stone. "Hope this works." Naruto stated as he flipped the sword around before stabbing it into the pedestal. A bright light erupted around the area, Naruto and Midna shielding their eyes. The distinct tick of a clock echoed around the area, Naruto pulling his arm down before noticing they were no longer at the Master Sword's resting place.
"Where are we?" Midna asked, confused. The entire area seemed almost white, the distant horizon covered by a heavy fog.
"Well well, I wasn't expecting you to bring a guest, Naruto." A voice said, catching their attention, Naruto's face instantly splitting into a smile.
"Yeah, but I kinda promised her I would...Dad." Midna stared wide-eyed at the blonde-haired man who had come out into the clearing they were at, wearing an olive flack-jacket and long blue pants, with blue sandals on his feet. Minato smiled as he turned to Midna, his long white coat flapping lightly in the small breeze.
"Then it's a pleasure to meet you, miss Midna. I'm Naruto's father , Minato. My son has told me quite a bit about you." He said smiling, the Twili silently wondering whether it was good or bad. A series of spotlights suddenly flashed to life behind the blonde man as a large cloud of smoke appeared. Midna stared at it wide-eyed before the fog began to clear, a tall man with white hair appearing in its midst.
"And I, my little chickadees, am known far and wide for my power, my grace, my ultra-cool moves!" He started speaking before spinning around and hopping on one foot. "I am the holy sage of mount Myoboku!" He raised his arm in a high arch before slamming his foot down, his hands in a strange position. "I am the MIGHTY-
"Pervy Sage, knock it off." Naruto deadpanned, the sage slipping and landing on his face. "You made it WAAAY too long. It needs to be short, sweet and to the point!" Naruto sneered as he crossed his arms. "All THAT does is piss people off!"
"YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT!" Jiriaya roared, grabbing Naruto and putting him into a headlock. "I was just about to finish!"
"Yeah! Next year!" Naruto retorted. Minato laughed uneasily next to Midna as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid these two are always like this." Midna merely smiled as she crossed her arms.
"I see where he gets his enthusiasm." The blonde smiled warmly to the Twili.
"All right, enough playing around you two." The 4th Hokage said, clapping his hands twice, the two ninjas glaring at each other. "Naruto didn't come here to fight with Sensei, right?" The blonde swordsman glared at the toad sage one final time before exhaling slowly.
"Yeah...I need help."
"Suigetsu kicked your butt huh?" Jiriaya poked fun at the blonde, sending off several tick mark's across the blonde's head.
WHACK!
"Now now, we're here to train, RIGHT?" Minato smiled darkly at Naruto and Jiriaya, the Toad Sage holding his head in pain after the Hokage had hit him. The two nodded their heads meekly under the stony gaze of the 4th leader of Konoha.
"Naruto..." Jiriaya started, finally turning serious. "You have it, right?" Naruto looked at him and nodded, pulling out the scroll Gaara had found inside of the Arbiter's Grounds. The red-headed rogue had dropped it by the mirror and left without taking it, and since it showed a frog on the scroll, Naruto figured it was something for Jiriaya. "Good. It's time you re-learned your Sage Techniques." Naruto began quivering in excitement. He was finally going to re-learn his most powerful techniques! "Open up the scroll." Jiriaya said smirking, knowing what was about to happen.
Naruto quickly unraveled the scroll, seeing the marking that said SEAL on it. He quickly bit his finger enough to draw some blood before smearing it across the seal. "Repeat the hand signs I'm about to show you." Jiriaya stated, quickly flipping through the hand signs for summoning creatures. Performing the hand signs, Naruto grinned as he shouted out,
"SUMMONING JUTSU!"
POOF!
WHACK!
WHACK!
"YA GOTTA BE JOKING! THA BOY-O'S FORGOTTEN HIS OWN SAGE TECHNIQUES!?" A short, talking frog began shouting, smacking both Jiriaya and Naruto across the heads with a stick.
"Eh?" Naruto took a look at the elder frog as he rubbed his head. The smoke disappeared and the frog's cloak fluttered down, covering a coded message burnt onto his back. "I...I think I know you..." The blonde started. The frog took a deep breath, sighing.
"You really did forget...YA EVEN FORGOT MA'S COOKIN!?" Fukasaku shouted, shocked. Naruto didn't know why, but his stomach suddenly felt really sick.
"Uh..." Naruto groaned as he put a hand to his stomach. 'Maybe it's better I DID forget...'
"Well that's no good..." Fukasaku sighed. "Looks like I'll need ta train ya some more..." He smirked. "Hell, if ya did it once, I'm sure ya can do it again." Jiriaya snapped his fingers, a strange spring appearing next to the group.
"This place we're at is very special...it can make things just as we know them." Jiriaya stated as he and Naruto walked over to the spring, Fukasaku smiling as he hopped over to the spring and dipped his hand in it.
"Well I'll be darned, it's a spring of toad oil! This'll make things much easier." He chuckled as he shook his arm.
Midna stood off to the side, shocked at the series of events that had just occurred. "I'm sure you must be shocked." Minato said, smiling. "There are probably a lot of questions you have about Naruto...so I guess it's up to me to explain a little." He chuckled as he waved Midna over to a small bench. The two sat down, Minato smirking as he watched Naruto take off the majority of his armor, leaving only an undershirt and some pants. "Naruto, as you've probably guessed, isn't from this world. He actually came from another world, where the three of us come from." Minato started.
"I don't really need to know about his past." Midna stated, Minato quirking an eyebrow.
"Not even about the fox thing?" Midna's eyes widened a bit before quickly narrowing.
"He'll tell me about it when he's ready..." She said quietly. Minato raised his eyebrows in surprise before he settled into a warm smile.
"I'm glad he found someone like you." He said simply, Midna quickly looking over to the man. "It's not very often someone pushes away the chance to hear another's secrets. I can see why he wanted to bring you here." He leaned back a bit before suddenly hopping forwards and turning to the Twili. "Now, we can't have you just sitting around here doing nothing, because despite him having learnt Sage Mode before, it will still be awhile before he fully regains control over it." He said pointing a thumb to Naruto, who was suddenly smacked over the head by Fukasaku before yelling back at the toad, Jiriaya simply enjoying the sight of Naruto dealing with the same shit he had to.
"So...what exactly will I be doing?" The Twili asked as Minato led her away from the trio.
"Well, honestly, I kinda want to spar with you." He finally said, turning around to face the small imp, who stared at the blonde in shock.
"Wait...you...want to fight me?" She pointed to herself in shock, the blonde Hokage grinning in excitement.
"Well, ever since you first saved Naruto from that dark clone, I've been interested to see what other abilities you have. And now, since he's going to be busy for at LEAST several hours, we might as well kill some time." He said tossing a three-pronged kunai up and down repeatedly, sometimes twirling the blade before tossing it back up. Midna quirked an unamused eyebrow.
"Are you really sure about this?"
"Naruto lasted all of five minutes." Minato suddenly stated, spinning the kunai in his hand before glaring at the Twili mockingly. "Think you can last longer?" He chuckled evilly before suddenly tossing the Kunai straight up into the air. "My name is Minato Namikaze, better known as," The kunai hit the ground, Minato disappearing in a flash of light. "The Yellow Flash!"
Midna glanced around the now deathly silent clearing, several kunai suddenly flying at her from the side. The Twili glared at the daggers before catching all of them with her hair, which suddenly gripped the weapons tightly, several chunks of metal falling to the ground.
"So...you think you'll beat me that easily huh?" She suddenly began cackling, excitement shivering down her spine. "All right then, bring it on!" She shouted, her spear suddenly appearing in her hand. "But don't underestimate a Twili!"
Minato grinned from his hiding place. "This...will be fun." He grinned as he placed his fingers into a cross-shaped handsign.
"You ever wonder what he's doing?" Moegi asked, looking out to the Kakariko Spring.
"Huh? You mean Naruto?" Inari asked, looking up at the red-head. He slowly ran a small knife along a large stick, fashioning a spear out of it. He wasn't going to be caught so easily next time. Konohamaru felt the same.
"Yeah, I mean, he used to be Asuma's ranch-hand, but when he came to rescue us, he was wearing that weird armor. You gotta wonder why he suddenly started wearing stuff like that." Inari smiled as he looked out to the middle of the road, where yet another dual was taking place.
"Well, like a certain somebody we know, he had to change to protect us."
CRACK!
"Hmmm..." Moegi hummed as she looked back over to the two in the middle of the street.
WHACK!
"Even though it feels like it's only been a few months, both of them have changed a lot." Inari smiled as two legs slammed against each other.
"What are you talking about?" Moegi humphed. "You've changed the most." Inari stared at the girl for a moment before looking down at himself, smiling.
"I...I guess I have..." He grinned, chuckling lightly. He quickly spun the spear he made several times before tapping it against the ground, putting the knife back in its sheath on his side. He tossed the finished weapon over by a pile of other fashioned spears, ready to be used in case the village was ever attacked again. Inari quickly jogged back over to the Shaman's house, a sword and shield clanking against his back. It was time to train some more.
"Come now Konohamaru! You must put more youth into your attacks!"
"I'm gonna show you plenty of 'Youth' AFTER I KICK YOUR ASS!" The short, brown-haired boy jumped high up into the air before slamming down into an empty spot.
"Is that all? With your scarf always in the way, you will eventually get captured again, quite easily in fact." Rock Lee smirked as he landed a few feet away from Konohamaru's landing spot.
"Heheheh...Naruto taught me a few things you know..." Konohamaru cackled as he held up his hand, clenching said scarf. Rock Lee looked down to see the scarf had been wrapped and secured around his leg. "AND WITH IT I'M GOING TO-
YANK
SPLAT
"As I said, your scarf will only hurt you with it's length." Rock Lee sighed as he walked over to the brown-haired boy whose face was currently having a conversation with the ground. He untied the scarf around his leg and helped the boy sit up, chuckling lightly. "Now now, no need for tears." He used the scarf to help wipe the boy's crying face. "Here." The young martial artist wrapped the scarf around Konohamaru several times, shortening how much the scarf was out. "This way, you'll still have your scarf, but not get trapped with it so easily." He grinned, his teeth sparkling. Konohamaru scrunched his face up in determination.
"Let's go again! I'm not done yet!" He shouted.
"That's the spirit!"
"How many times have they fought now?" Sakura asked, walking out of the building and over to Moegi.
"I lost count after about two hundred." She sighed. "Do boys always have to be strong?" Moegi suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Sakura stammered, completely caught off guard.
"Do boys always have to be strong? Do they always have to be training or doing stuff like that? What are they trying to prove?" Sakura smiled, thinking of the blonde.
"Well, what if it's not trying to be strong, but trying to keep someone safe?" Sakura asked. Moegi turned to the pinkette, curious.
"What do you mean?"
Sakura sat down next to the red-head, pulling her knees up to her chin. "Well, you know Naruto changed because he wanted to save all of you, right?" She slowly nodded her head. "After he saved you guys, he found other people who needed to be protected. People he became friends with." She smiled. "Wouldn't you want to help someone you know?" Moegi stared out at Konohamaru and Rock Lee, the two cracking legs against each other, Konohamaru panting in exhaustion. Her eyes widened as he glanced over to her before grinning, jumping back into the fight harder than he had been a few moments ago.
"I...I think I get it now..." She said quietly, Sakura smiling.
"I'm sure even now, Naruto's getting stronger, trying to protect the people he cares about."
WHACK!
WHACK!
WHACK!
"Nyeh, Nyeh Nyeh, Nyeh NYEEEEEEEEH NYEEEEEEEEEEH!" Jiriaya giggled, making faces at the blonde. "WAAHAAAHAHAHAHAAA! YOUR FACE LOOKS HIDEOUS!"
"..."
"I'd say the boy's made progress." Fukasaku smiled before bashing Jiriaya upside the head. "And that last comment was not called for Jiriaya-boy."
"Well, you told me to keep making fun of him until he stopped reacting to it, so I just made sure I went the extra mile." Jiriaya smirked as Naruto stood deathly still in front of him, his legs crossed and his hands folded into a relaxed position between his legs. "And I'd say that he's finally let it all go." He grinned as a few birds flew in from out of nowhere and landed on his head and shoulder. One bird hopped over to the blonde before hopping onto his knee, lightly scratching the blonde, a light amount of blood escaping from the wound. Not a single twitch came from the blonde.
"Good, good. He's been able to re-learn "Don't Move". I'm glad we started with THAT this time." Fukasaku chuckled. "And where's Minato-boy anyway?" Jiriaya smiled as he turned away from the blonde.
"He said he wanted to talk to the young lady. I'm assuming he wanted to check something with her." The elder toad nodded before turning back to Naruto.
"I know you heard us boy, and I can tell you're anxious, but you need to relax." Fukasaku smirked as Naruto's eyes were now opened and he was visibly twitching, trying not to move.
"B-but..."
"WAHAHAHA! Relax Naruto, you're dad's not going to hurt her. There was something we noticed about her when she first came here with you. Your dad's going to see what it is and if it's hurting or helping her. That's all." Jiriaya assured him. Naruto tightened his mouth, holding back the retort he wanted to say. He knew his dad wasn't going to hurt her. He was just worried about the explosion or two he felt from what seemed like far away. He was hoping it was something in the real world. Something that did NOT relate to Midna.
"Now, once you've calmed down a bit, we'll pick up with step two of three."
"Step two of three?" Naruto repeated in confusion.
"Yes. You've got three steps to complete, starting with "Don't Move" which you've just barely gotten. So we'll do a trial run to see if you really HAVE gotten it before moving on to step two, drawing in Nature energy."
As Naruto groaned before agreeing to do so, Jiriaya turned towards where Minato and Midna were. No doubt, something came up.
"Well, I'll admit, you DID do better than Naruto." Minato smiled at Midna's furious face. "By about ten seconds." He grinned as Midna lay sealed on the ground, several kunai stuck in the ground mere centimeters from her hands and feet, binding her to the ground.
"Motherfucking blonde shit-stain LET ME GO DAMMIT!"
"Hahaha! Don't worry, it won't hurt you." He said walking over to the imp and pulling out the kunai near her head, all the seals and markings surrounding the Twili disappearing. "Now, why don't you tell me what's going on. Hm?" Minato smiled as he squat down next to the Twili, who was glaring at him in spite as she sat up.
"What the hell are you talking about?" She grumbled quietly.
"How did you get cursed?" Minato said seriously, causing Midna to freeze. "Naruto doesn't know...does he?" Midna slowly looked away from the Yellow Flash.
"He doesn't..."
"I see..." He nodded. "If you don't mind, I'd like to know how you got to this state..."
"How did you even know?" Midna asked quietly, Minato giving her an uneasy smile.
"YOU can't tell, but while we were fighting, you seemed sluggish, like something was holding you back." He put a finger to her forehead, her eyes widening as a gust of wind erupted around the two. When she could see again, there were two glowing orbs in front of her, one which was chained to the other. Minato walked over to her, two orbs also appearing in front of him. "Do you see the orbs in front of you?" She nodded. "The one to your left, the orange orb, is your magic. That's your special energy source that lets you use your spells and teleport." Several chains adorned the orange orb, and it was connected to the second orb. Minato pointed to his own orb, which was blue in color, though it did not have any chains.
"My orb, while different in color, is similar to your magic. Mine is another energy, called Chakra." He then pointed to his other orb, yellow in color. "This is my life essence, it shows the status of my health." He then pointed to Midna's second orb, which had a large crack on it. "Your life orb isn't stable right now. The crack is proof enough." He then looked at the chain. "And looking at this chain..." He glared at it. "It's probably what's causing your sluggish movement." Midna stared at the chain in hatred, knowing exactly what it meant. "And because of this chain, your magic has been weakened. It might be what's causing your current form and your restricted movements." The small Twili glared at the chain in fury. She wanted to smash that stupid chain, to break it and go back to how she used to be. Not some tiny imp in a tiny body, back to how she used to be...
But...then again...if she hadn't been turned into this form...she wouldn't have met...
"Would you like to go back to how you used to look?" Minato suddenly asked.
"That's..." Midna started, her eye widening as she snapped her head up to the blonde-haired Hokage. "Can...can you really do that?" Minato smiled apologetically as he squatted in front of her, resting his arms on his knees.
"I can teach you a way to go back to how you used to look for a limited time, but I can't break the curse on you. You still won't be able to use your magic the way you used to before you were cursed, but you CAN change your shape." Midna stared at the ground for a moment in thought.
"So...it's just an illusion?"
"An illusion wouldn't be able to slap my son across the face." He chuckled, straightening up. "First off, lets do something to at least loosen the grip of that chain."
"Well I'll be, you picked up on this much faster than I thought you would." Fukasaku smiled as he looked up at the two sages. Naruto quickly popped a clone out before hopping off of its back, slamming a fist straight into Jiriaya's waiting hand.
"But you're only this strong?" The toad sage smirked. "You're not the same as you used to be." Naruto grit his teeth in annoyance, knowing full well that he wasn't as good as his past self. The blonde glared forward, taking a deep breath before reaching behind him, pulling out the sword he received from Rusl. Jiriaya quirked an eyebrow at the blonde as the two landed back on the ground.
"I know very well that I'm not as good as I once was..." He said looking at the sword. "But that was a different me!" The blonde spun the sword in his hand before leaping towards Jiriaya, the sage quickly whipping out two kunai.
CLANG!
"Then let's see what this new you can do, shall we?" Jiriaya smirked. As the two began their second round, this time Naruto using something a little more familiar to him, Fukasaku smiled. What Jiriaya said was true. Naruto was not the same as he once was. As Naruto slashed after the old sage, slightly nicking him, he didn't notice Jiriaya's grin wasn't playful, but nervous. Naruto was nowhere near where he used to be at this age. He had passed his physical limits quite a while ago. It might have been the goddesses' doing, but this Naruto was faster, stronger, had a keener sense of smell. Everything about this Naruto was better, aside from his grasp of Ninjutsu, which was to be expected. But just like his old self, he was quick to master the skills given to him, showing an adaptability unlike anyone he had ever seen before.
The blonde jumped high up into the air, letting out all of his frustrations as he slashed down at Jiriaya. The blonde landed softly, breathing heavily as the red rings around his eyes disappeared, his yellow sage-mode eyes returning to their normal blue color.
"Ya might have struck a bit too hard there boy-o." Fukasaku stated, Naruto looking first up to the old toad in confusion before turning to the sword in his hand, his eyes widening in horror. The blade had been cleanly snapped in half. He spun around, staring at Jiriaya in shock as the old man slowly stood up before he began laughing hysterically. Did Jiriaya seriously break Rusl's sword in half!?
"Who would have thought your Sage Mode strength would have freaking broken your own SWORD in half!" He laughed, Naruto's eyes widening as he looked down at his hands in shock. Jiriaya smiled as he turned around, his headband snapping in half before falling to the ground. The perverted sage reached a hand out, carefully catching the other half of the blade as it fell from the sky. "You've gotten a lot stronger since you first came here. Might even be able to beat your dad." He grinnned as Naruto looked down towards the handle of the sword. "Well...maybe...but now you can at least stand a better chance against Sasuke."
"But won't the Master Sword break if I use it with sage mode?" Naruto panicked, still dumbfounded over the fact that HE was the one who broke the sword.
"I really doubt it boy-o." Fukasaku said, hopping over to the blonde. "If that there Master Sword is known as The Blade of Evil's Bane, I don't think you COULD break it." He smiled. "Besides, if'n it does, it might just repair itself at one of them springs you've been to."
"So I'll take it the training went well?" Minato said, walking back to the group.
"Better than we could have hoped for. How did your end turn out?" Jiriaya said, turning to his student. Minato scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Umm, not as well as it could have been." He admitted in guilt. Naruto quickly spun around before running over to his dad, gripping his flak jacket.
"What happened? Is she okay!? Where is she!?"
"Calm down, dork..." Another voice said behind him, causing Naruto to glance over the now smirking blonde's shoulder. His eyes widened considerably as he saw a tall, orange-haired woman with pale skin walking up to the group. She wore a garment with a similar design to Sasuke's cloak that stopped just above her stomach, and a long draping skirt that was slit all the way up to her hip on her left side, allowing a LOT of leg to be seen.
"HUBBA HUBBA! HELLOOOOOOO FOXY LADY!" Jiriaya immediately said, snapping two thumbs up. "We have stumbled upon a SEXY little mistress..."
WHAM!
Naruto stared wide-eyed as Jiriaya twitched on the ground, a giant orange hand having smashed him into the ground, the hand stemming from the woman's hair. If there was any doubt Naruto had as to who the woman was, it was gone now.
"Oooh, SASSY...I like it." The muffled sage said underneath the giant hand as he flipped another thumbs up towards the woman, who glared at the man in hatred as she lifted the hand up before smashing it back down.
"Say it again...I DARE you..." Midna growled at the pervert.
"So this is the young lady from earlier, is it?" Fukusaku said smiling. "Quite a beauty that was hiding behind that form."
"What was even more surprising was how quickly she was able to mimic the transformation technique with her own magic energy source." Minato smiled. "While we couldn't exactly fix the main problem, we DID manage to let her access more of her sealed magic." He turned to Naruto, who was still staring at Midna before he noticed his dad's gaze. "Kind of like how Naruto got sealed by Orochimaru before Jiriaya-sensei un-did the seal." The blonde stared at him in utter confusion. "Ah, right...memory loss..." Minato laughed uneasily. "Don't worry about it, needless to say, she can use more magic than before now, and learned a variant of the transformation technique." Naruto stared at him with bigger eyes, still confused. "Oh...you forgot about that too...ummm...well, this is awkward..."
"Don't worry about it." Midna sighed as her hair returned to normal, flopping down towards her front and draping down her well-endowed chest. "Think of it as a precaution in case I need to look human." She said flipping her long hair back over her shoulder. Naruto once again found himself staring at the orange-haired woman. He wasn't sure why he was staring at her though. Was it because he still couldn't comprehend that she was Midna? Was it because the way she looked right now contradicted so much with the imp he'd come to know? Was it still too great a shock to him? wait, WHY THE HELL DID SHE LOOK LIKE THIS NOW!? WHY DIDN'T HE FIRST MEET HER LIKE THIS!?
Wait, what if she was undercover, trying not to let Zant know about her whereabouts? But if that was the case, then why in the world would she change into an imp? Wouldn't that make her stand out MORE!? The blonde held his head in confusion. He just didn't get it.
Midna caught the blonde staring at her, the Twili blushing a bit before smirking. Slowly stretching her arms upwards, she let out a tired but sexy sigh, Naruto's face immediately turning red. "Geez, stop staring so much. What, can't you handle this version of me?" She smirked as Naruto quickly looked away, trying to hide his sudden nosebleed.
"Hell no I can't..." He mumbled, the Twili still catching what he said. The blonde suddenly remembered several events where the imp was giggling on his back, and even when she had done her victory dance not long ago, only now he imagined her in her current form. Midna slowly crept over to the blonde, whose face quickly began turning more and more red, before she lightly touched his shoulder.
"Thinking of me?" She whispered seductively, the blonde shrieking before disappearing in a puff of smoke, reappearing a good ten feet away, his face practically aflame. The Twili immediately burst out into laughter, falling on her butt and holding her stomach. "Oh my gosh, you're face! HAHAHAHAAA! OH MY STOMACH, HAHAHAHAAAA! IT HURTS TOO MUCH! BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!" She laughed, rolling around on the ground as Naruto began breathing heavily as he glared at the woman, his face having turned bright pink in embarrassment.
"Well, her body may have changed, but it looks like her personality's still the same." Minato sighed, shaking his head with a smile. "All right you two, it's time you got back to finding the pieces of the Mirror of Twilight." He said, Midna finally calming down from her laughter and Naruto begrudgingly coming back over to the group. "Oh, and Naruto." Minato said, holding up a fist and pushing it out towards Naruto, who stared at the fist before bumping it with his own. "Tell Kurama and Bee I said, Konoyaro, Bakayaro." He grinned, both Naruto and Midna staring at him in complete and utter confusion. With a flash of light the two found themselves back at the Pedestal of Time, the Master Sword waiting patiently.
Naruto turned around to find that, yes, Midna was still in her human form, so with a quick spin back around to hide his blush, Naruto quickly hastened over to the Master Sword, trying to focus on simply pulling the sword out of the stone. Finally alone with the blonde, Midna cracked a grin, creeping over to the blonde for one more scare, only for the blonde to take a deep breath.
"I...don't know why you were an imp the first time I met you..." He started, causing Midna to freeze mid-prank, guilt hitting her like a train for not having told the blonde. "But..I guess its divine punishment for not telling you I came from another world." He turned around, blush still present on his face, but staring straight into the orange-haired vixen's eyes. "I'm not going to pry into your past, wanting to know what kind of person you used to be or how you became an imp...you'll tell me if you want to." He suddenly cracked a mischievous grin. "After all, I got enough dirt on you to last me a lifetime..." He said as he mimicked the pose she made after fighting the Stallord. "BELIEVE IT!" He cackled as Midna's face flushed pink in embarrassment.
"NAAAARUUUUUTOOOOO..." Midna growled as the area suddenly began shaking, the Twili's face darkening over as several veins popped across her forehead. Naruto began running towards the entrance, giggling like a schoolgirl as several magical spears appeared around the woman. "YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!" She roared as she began flinging the spears at the blonde, who cackled out of the forest, dodging the spears with the Twili hot on his heels.
And there you have it folks! Naruto has re-gained his Sage Jutsu, (though the real question is if he'll have the time to gather the energy to use it) Midna has re-gained more use of her magic and a humanoid form (though it doesn't last very long, so you won't see her in it that much) and the two are back on track! Next up is Snowpeak! (Hope my explanation with Minato and Midna about her being cursed/having most of her magic sealed away made sense...)
As you might have already noticed, this second arc, I've decided, isn't going to be following so strictly with the gameplay from the game as in earlier chapters, as it wouldn't be an actual NARUTO crossover, and more of a "Let's Play" with a different character.
I also plan to, sometime in the future, go back and edit Ch. 32, Kubikiri Boucho, so that I fix the name of the sword Suigetsu uses, as since I've been going back to double check the names (at the behest of a reader) I realized that I have seriously screwed up the name of the famous Executioner's Blade. My apologies, as I had first read about it as Kabukiri Houcho from the english anime from Toonami and didn't pay much attention to it in some of the fanfics of old. The actual name of the weapon is Kubikiri Bouchou. (Kabuki is puppet, like Kankuro's puppets...I'm so ashamed I didn't notice this...but I originally thought since Kiri means 'cutter' {Temari's Kirikiri no mai for instance} it meant the first part was okay. It was not.)
ANYWAY! I hope to at least get near the end of Snowpeak by Christmas, as I've already gotten the basic outline of how the area will progress, but even still, thanks for reading!