Disclaimer: There is no disclaimer. Or spoon. Or ownership of Naruto or World of Warcraft. Mittens.
Here's the next installment of The Legend of Uzumaki Naruto!
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"Who's Illidan?" Naruto asked, suddenly, to Tyrande as they made their way towards the Temple of the Moon.
Tyrande stopped suddenly and looked at him, eyes wide. "Where did you hear that name?"
Naruto frowned. "I was in the grove earlier, and I overheard that Fandral guy talking with some other druids. He was talking about you and your husband and someone named Illidan. I figured you would know him, since he mentioned you." He noticed the intensely sad look that had appeared in her eyes, and realized that he maybe had said something he shouldn't have. "If you don't wanna talk about it…."
She shook her head, trying to smile, but failing. "No, it is alright. It is something that I should probably speak of more often." She sighed. "Yes, I do know him. Or did. He is Malfurion's brother. Illidan Stormrage; an enemy of the night elves."
Naruto blinked. The words were spoken with a bitterness that Naruto hadn't believed Tyrande capable of. Her eyes were downcast, and she even slowed in her usual long, unbreakable stride. But the look in her eyes told him that he would soon know that source of that bitterness. He couldn't decide if he should be excited or feeling guilty for dredging up memories that Tyrande most likely didn't wish to delve into. He was excited, and yet a little troubled, too. Tyrande rarely spoke of anything so personal to her. In the time that he had known her, she spoke of nothing but her love for the city and her people. She left almost all detailed mention of her husband, Malfurion, out of conversation. Naruto knew why, and he was smart enough not to pry any further.
But as they walked, and she prepared to talk about something that she probably hadn't talked about in years, Naruto couldn't help but wonder what this would reveal about Tyrande.
"Let us find a quiet place to sit. I shall tell you all there," she said, softly.
Naruto nodded.
It had been some time, weeks Naruto guessed, since they had arrived in Darnassus, and had begun their efforts to win over the elves. Again, he had no real idea how long it had been. The days and nights blended together in endless violet, and all passage of time, for Naruto, seemed to stop. The only thing that he had judge how long they had been there was progress.
When Naruto had returned from his walk with Tyrande, that night after the Council meeting, Kira had been up and ready, waiting for Naruto to return. Sure enough, as Naruto had expected, she had come to the very same conclusion that he and Tyrande had. She was delighted that Tyrande was so interested, and knew that her involvement would make everything much easier.
But, she had said, 'It isn't going to be easy. We might stay here for quite a while, you know. Be prepared for some very tedious days.'
She hadn't been wrong.
Initially, Kira and Tyrande had all set up assignments for them. Because each of them had a different area of specialization, and could teach better about certain things then others, Kira had decided that in order for this to be most effective, they had to each choose the best area to work on. Kira's had been simple—being a medical expert, and master of priestly arts that vastly differed from the night elves', she planned to teach and to heal those who needed it. She said that if she could get the local apothecaries to help make and sell the medicines that she knew of then the night elves would be able to cure their plague of diseases faster.
She took to her art as easily as one might expect. Taking her box of Forsaken medicines, and all the knowledge on medicines and healing jutsu that she had ever known, as well as Kylia's remarkable skill in mixing poisons and medicines, she went around to the many apothecaries scattered about the city. On her first time, Tyrande accompanied them, allowing the shopkeepers to get to know Kira and her handmaiden, and be able to trust them. She spent every day simply talking to a different shopkeeper, helping them make and write down the traditional cures that she knew, and then breaking apart and analyzing the cures that the Forsaken had developed. The night elves were amazed by the complexity, and ingenuity of the Forsaken cures. Kira was interested too. As much as Faranell, the Master Apothecary, had bothered her, she had to applaud the genius of the concoctions he developed. Some of the things she found in the cures could only be found in distant lands, and others looked completely synthesized.
Human apothecaries, she realized, would never have thought to develop their own ingredients for cures. She guessed that the ingredients were hybrids or chimeras of certain medicinal plants and herbs. The results had some of the effects of the plants used, but also new ones created from the hybridization process. The night elves needed no explanation for this. They were master botanists, and as soon as Kira had helped them completely break down the cure, they would set off to find or duplicate the ingredients.
That was one thing that amazed her. Thanks to the druids, they could have almost any plant they wished.
Using their control over the forest and wood, they could cultivate plants that could grow in only the harshest of climates, in their own forests. As long as they had seen it before, and knew its properties, they could create seeds and coax it to life. She could see how they believed they didn't need anyone.
But all the while, she sought to change that.
Kira spoke to them of dozens of things that they could learn. She told them of the medicinal techniques that she had only begun to learn in her training. She told them of the Forsaken and their medicine-making skills, and the tauren and their healing abilities. She did it as subtly as possible. She slipped in a fact here, an anecdote there, anything to make the people more receptive to races that they had not usually dealt with.
She told them specifically of the trolls, and their abilities to duplicate their own regeneration with troll's blood potion. Some of their potions also were said to have some much more potent effects, even going so far as to heal nigh-irreparable internal damage that jutsu couldn't. Unfortunately, the night elves had initially ignored her on this account. They detested trolls, pure and simple. Tyrande had later explained that among the theories that explained the night elves' creation, was that they were the earliest trolls, transformed by the power of the Well of Eternity. Most night elves took offense to that.
Kira worked hard every day. After an entire day of talking and working with apothecaries, she would return to the inn, eat a little dinner, then drop immediately to sleep. Even after working just as hard, Kylia still have enough energy to worry that she might be working too hard.
Kylia spent her time both with and away from her mistress. She would accompany her to every apothecary, and would help in the mixing process of every medicine that Kira knew of. She had learned to mix her own poisons since she was very young, and had developed many shortcuts and techniques. Many of those techniques could apply to medicine making. Her knowledge of plants and poisonous animals helped quite well, too. She knew the minute difference in dosage between helping and hurting someone in certain toxic plants, for in very small doses many such plants could help. She was extremely pleased that she could be of such help to her mistress and her dream.
Kira was pleased that Kylia could be of such help, too. She was amazed at how skilled she could be at times, and at others could be so hopelessly clumsy.
Naruto and Kira saw each other often enough, though. While Kira spent her time in the city, with the normal, everyday people of Darnassus, Naruto spent his among the warriors.
Such a thing would normally be exceedingly difficult. The Sentinel training compound was banned to all but night elf females, and therefore under normal circumstances, Naruto wouldn't have been allowed in. Thanks to Tyrande, he was able to get in, but only the training yard, where most of the sparring and exercises took place.
The building was very near to the main entrance, right in front of a place called the Warrior's Terrace. It was a large, white building with a single, two-doored entrance. Inside, there was a large courtyard, surrounded by long colonnades which hid the entrances to many other training rooms, none of which Naruto had ever had a chance to see.
Because he was not allowed to go anywhere else, Naruto guessed that anything beyond the courtyard would be a pervert's dream. He could picture Jiraiya peeping around in this place, and ending up impaled on a pike with a note attached saying "Pervert's Beware!" written in his own blood. The image was comical, yet sobering. He didn't even try.
Within the training yard, Naruto did two things. First, he bore witness to the complicated and incredibly draining exercises that every Sentinel had to do every day during their training. For hours they would constantly move. They rarely stopped to rest, doing everything they could to keep their hearts thumping, and their blood rushing. They learned this way not only to build their stamina up, but to increase their strength and muscle power. With their perfectly proportioned bodies and incredible balance, coupled with this training, Naruto could see how they could be considered so strong.
The second thing he did was fight.
Every day he was subjected to fighting a different Sentinel. He was forced to fight trainees, who could hit fast and hard, and seemed to have almost perfect aim; he fought journeymen, fresh from their first few months in training at Feathermoon Stronghold; he even faced a full-fledged Sentinel, nearly six thousand years old.
In terms of raw power, they didn't compare to him. Their chakra levels were high, but his own still vastly dwarfed them. But in skill, they easily had him beat. They were superb. The senior Sentinel that he fought could've killed him, easily, he knew. While he was sure that if he went all out, he could defeat her, she had far more control over her own abilities. Naruto learned quite a bit from that fight.
But so did they.
Every time he went, he taught them. He was no good at that with words, and even if he was, he doubted they'd listen to a kid like him, so he did it with actions. He demonstrated, at different points, every technique he had learned since he had come to this world. He fought his hardest, and told them of his previous fights in the world. He told them of his battles against non-humans like the Ventursaurus Rex, Gyth, or Mekgineer Thermaplugg's armor suit. Then he told them of his fights against Captain Blood and his crew of pirates, Cyrussian T. Venture, and Rend Blackhand. They could scarcely believe that a child had done all that.
But he did not always talk of his fights. He told them of his experiences with each race he had come to know. He gave them the side they had never seen. They had always seen the Horde in battle, on their opposing side. They had never seen what they were like out of battle. Naruto showed that to them. He showed them training techniques that he had learned from them, and told them stories of his times in Orgrimmar. The younger elves were enraptured by the tales of things that they had never seen and rarely heard about; the elders were given a new perspective on their former enemies.
Unconsciously, Naruto was making friends. Hearing the tales of a young man like Naruto began to inspire the younger Sentinels into training harder, and faster. The veteran Sentinels, however, too found inspiration. But it was not in his words or his actions; but his relationship with their High Priestess, Tyrande. They saw the Tyrande that had led their people for over ten thousand years, after the Sundering. Naruto had brought back the Tyrande that fought; the strong-willed woman that they had all loved. Naruto and Kira had given her a reason to fight, and were right by her side as she fought. They found nothing but respect for someone who could do that.
Neera went with him almost every day. The elf girl was beyond impressed; seeing him fight confirmed the almost impossible to believe stories. She sparred with him often, too, leaving him impressed. She did have talent; she was light on her feet, almost impossibly so, and was an expert marksman and hand-to-hand fighter. But that was not what truly impressed him. It was her drive. She trained as hard as she could, every day, leaving only when her hair was sticky with sweat, and her muscles burned with exhaustion. She did it all for Tyrande, in the hope that one day she would be able to see the world and its people. She wanted to see that which had been nothing more than a distant dream to her in the past. Now that it was laid about before her, she wanted the Alliance to be formed just as much as Kira.
Their friendship grew. Neera loved to listen to Naruto talk about the world, no matter which one it was. She loved hearing about her own, but the prospect of another seemed just as enticing. She also loved teasing Naruto. Naruto quickly found out that her childish personality, coupled with her extreme beauty, was a very good weapon. She could make Naruto blush and stutter any time she wished, with but a simple gesture or word. It was quite a lot of fun. For her anyways.
Naruto enjoyed talking to Neera too. Despite her teasing, they got along quite well, and shared similar interests. One happened to be (and Naruto was seriously wondering by this point if Fate had determined everyone he had met so far in this world) a type of ramen. The elves called it e'nmara. The only difference between it and regular ramen was that the noodles were blue. The grasses and grains were all a bluish color, so when they were processed into noodles, they retained their azure pigment. It was a little weird eating blue ramen, but it tasted good nonetheless.
When Naruto wasn't in the Sentinel compounds, he was in one of two places: either in the Cenarion Enclave, amongst the many trees, finding a quiet place to train alone, or walking with, and listening to, Tyrande.
The Cenarion Enclave was a large portion of land surrounding a large hill. Atop the hill was a circle of trees in which the druids had many meetings and spoke of things that only those in their order, the Cenarion Circle, should know of. Beneath the hill was the Rogue's den, where the members of the Rogue's Guild schemed. There were few of them left; with the steady peace that had come to Teldrassil, there wasn't much need for their skills anymore. Tyrande still kept them active, however. One never knew when they might be needed.
Naruto spent his time around the hill. The trees were immense, and there were plenty of clearings for him to practice in. Everyday, after he spent time in the Sentinel compound, he went there. It was quiet, and he could spend his time revising his techniques, and thinking up as many variations to them as he wished. He continued to get stronger.
The Kyuubi was silent. It neither spoke to him, nor alerted him to its presence the entire time Naruto trained like this. The blonde thought that odd; especially since the creature seemed to have taken an interest in goading Naruto into using its powers whenever it could. He didn't dare attempt to tap into its powers. He felt like the creature was lulling him into a false sense of security. Come the next real battle, Naruto knew that the creature would be howling to be let free.
It was unnerving how strange the Kyuubi had been acting of late. More unnerving was the ease with which Naruto was using its power. After fourteen or so years of imprisonment, the Kyuubi was becoming extremely restless; and Naruto didn't like it one bit.
But not only that, looking back on every major battle he had fought, Naruto would have lost without the Kyuubi's power. It angered him a little. Rexxar's words continued to ring through his mind. He would train his own abilities, and not use the demon's chakra anymore, unless it was a last resort. He wanted to build up his own strength. He couldn't rely on the demon.
Tsuwabuki came with him every time, training alongside him. They worked on creating coordinated attacks, which neither were very good at. Both had a tendency to think up their own ways of attacking, and neither preferred to defer to the other. But they were both willing, and worked as hard as they could in order to improve this weakness. When the fox wasn't with him, she was wandering the forests, hunting and enjoying herself. She could do little to help; she was a fox, and the only one that understood her was Naruto. Naruto enjoyed the time he spent with his spirit animal.
Naruto also trained with his sword. Tyrande's explanation of talents had given him a renewed surge of energy in using the blade. He couldn't wait to find out what it was. Each time he practiced with it, images of the blade glowing with fire, or surrounded with icy vapor, or crackling with electricity or even growing impossibly large, danced through his head. Each vision made him work harder.
But he did not know how to awaken the talent. He tried pushing his chakra into it, which was hard, and that didn't work. He tried using the Kaenhira a few different ways, imbuing the blade with fiery chakra, but found that he could apply a similar technique to his own kunai and shuriken. Other than being indestructible, and light as a feather, he couldn't possibly think of what its talent might be. At times it frustrated him, but he never dwelled on it for long, and would always quickly return to his exercises.
His progress reflected in other ways. He managed to finally summon a single undead creature that did not attack him—a banshee, whose named was Matilda. He had planned to summon something smaller, but when he had tried, she popped out instead. Rather than try and attack him on sight, she seemed a little amused by it. She had heard from the others, as well as Sylvanas herself that a human had been gifted with the power to summon her kind.
"You're the first person after the Champion of the Forsaken to be honored with that privilege. So I figure you can't be that bad. Now that I've gotten a chance to meet you, I'm impressed. Summon me if you're in a bind, okay? The Dark Lady wouldn't give out something like our scroll so flippantly. I recognize your skill. I'll put in a good word, okay?" she had said, before vanishing in a wisp of smoke.
Naruto had rejoiced at his victory, and would've continued, before he was struck with the thought that the night elves might not be so happy to have anything bigger than a banshee appear on their island. He wisely stopped, confident that whatever he summoned in true battle would listen to him.
At times during these training sessions, druids would come and watch. They rarely spoke to him. They simply watched; their presence made known by their glowing eyes, which he could always see out of the corner of his eye. Sometimes, they would talk amongst themselves, as if he weren't there. Sometimes they would approach him; with a word of advice, or a simple praise. A lot of them, despite being loyal to Fandral, were not unkind. Naruto talked to them as often as he could, usually while he continued to train.
He made a few friends, that way, or at least he thought he did. He saw Fandral hovering about often. The Arch Druid never spoke to him, and generally ignored him. He would act like Naruto didn't exist, never stopping in his current conversation even if he walked a little ways away from Naruto's training. This was how Naruto had been able to hear the name of Tyrande's husband's brother, Illidan. The very name that had led him to the current topic of conversation with the High Priestess of Elune.
Tyrande stopped walking. They had long since entered the temple, and now stood in the darkened moonwell room. The pool in the center still glowed with a lunar light. The soft sound of the water falling from the basin clutched the statue, along with the buzzing of insects and chirping of birds, made it seem more like they were in the middle of a clearing in the forest than a great marble building. The room was otherwise empty. The Sisters, Tyrande explained, always had duties to attend to in other parts of the Temple and city. Unless Tyrande had called them there, they rarely spent their time in the moonwell.
Tyrande took a seat on the edge of the pool, her eyes once again lost in another time. Naruto waited patiently, plopping down on the soft grass in front of her.
"Illidan," she finally said, "was nothing like his brother. Where Malfurion was generous and humble, Illidan was selfish and boastful. While Malfurion followed the path of the druids, and was especially gifted in that area, Illidan followed the path of sorcery. He used the abilities granted to him by the Well of Eternity to great effect—as much, in fact, as the very Highborne that we fought.
"Illidan was not cruel, though. He was just misguided; at that time, he was young and rebellious, and despite Malfurion's warnings, he continued to draw on the power of the Well. He craved it. Therefore, despite all he did to convince Illidan to stop, Illidan eventually betrayed us.
"So tempted was he by the powers of the Well, that he couldn't bear to be without them. While we plotted to destroy it, he warned Azshara of our intentions. He did not want it destroyed as much as they, and hoped that by alerting them, the Well would be spared. By doing this, he lost us the element of surprise, and many elves were killed for it. To make matters worse, instead of fighting alongside us, he fled, taking some water from the Well with him, so that one day he might create another Well, and bathe in its power once more.
Naruto clenched his fists tightly. This guy sounded like a real bastard; he sounded almost like Orochimaru—always in pursuit of power. People like that disgusted him.
"After the destruction of the Well, we found him on the top of Mt. Hyjal, where he had poured the water of the Well into a lake there. The Well was easily corruptible, and those who were addicted to its power could unwittingly unleash the Burning Legion again. That is why Malfurion was disgusted by his treachery. I was too. I felt as if the Illidan that I saw atop the mountain that day was the murderer of the Illidan that I once considered a friend and ally. Therefore, I wanted nothing more than for him to pay.
"His punishment was one of the most severe every inflicted. He was imprisoned, deep beneath the Earth, for over ten thousand years."
"Ten thousand years in prison…?" said Naruto, stunned. "Why so long?"
Tyrande gave him a little smile. "By now you should know that time once had little meaning to us. And many were simply terrified of what he would do if freed. The power of the Well, we believed, had corrupted him beyond hope. So there was little point in freeing him." Her face suddenly became hard, and her eyes seemed to shine a little brighter. "Even so, I wanted him to remain in that place. He deserved such a punishment, for what he did. The reasons for why he did it were all the worse. Power!" She scoffed, making Naruto jump at the intensity. When Tyrande got angry, it was as terrifying, perhaps even more so, than when Tsunade got angry. Luckily, the anger was directed at him, allowing him to settle back down rather swiftly.
Then she sighed. "For ten thousand years, Illidan remained imprisoned. And then…I was forced to free him."
Naruto cocked his head to the side, frowning. "You did?"
She nodded. She didn't continue for a few seconds, instead reaching back and dipping her fingers into the cool, ethereal waters of the moonwell. This seemed to soothe her slightly. She lifted her hand out, letting the water drip off her hand. Naruto didn't ask her to continue. He knew she was just thinking of the right words to say.
When she began again, she said something unexpected.
"He shared one thing in common with Malfurion, however."
Naruto leaned in, intrigued.
"He was in love with me."
Naruto recoiled a little, blinking in shock. "He was?" He said it with disbelief. Maybe the guy wasn't so much like Orochimaru after all….
Tyrande nodded. "Yes. From what I was told, he had since our first meeting.
"But," she said, eyes downcast. "I didn't love him. Since I can remember, it was, and always has been Malfurion. For a time, Illidan was a trusted friend. But he was jealous of Malfurion. Everything he did seemed like a contest of strength. He always sought to win my approval, in all the wrong ways. It never worked, obviously. I loved Malfurion. The reasons were not because he looked better, or was more powerful; it was just him. He had a kind and gentle soul, and he lived in harmony with others, instead of against them or above them. He possessed an inner strength that Illidan, no matter how much power he acquired, would never be able to match. That is why I chose Malfurion. Illidan did not know that.
"Even with ten thousand years of imprisonment, his feelings remained unchanged. He loved me, if possible, even more than he had before. When I came to free him, it was not because I wanted to see him. It was out of necessity. The Burning Legion had returned, and we needed his aid." She suddenly looked more melancholy than Naruto had ever seen her. Her eyes were drawn to the floor, and she slumped over.
"Malfurion opposed this decision. He did not believe Illidan was necessary. But I thought differently. So I freed him. The first thing he did when he saw me was smile." She shivered. "It was a devil's smile. He said that he would do anything for me, and agreed to help against the Burning Legion.
"And help he did. For a while, at least.
"He destroyed many of the gates that the Legion was using to move throughout the world. He was utterly merciless, and for once, I didn't care. He inflicted an enormous amount of damage to their forces alone.
"But then he disappeared." She looked up this time, into the light that shone down from the ceiling. She didn't speak again for a few seconds. "When he returned, he had changed. He had done something that I still believe unforgivable." She shook with rage, gripping the edge of the moonwell so hard that Naruto saw them beginning to dig in.
"He sacrificed his soul for power. He consumed a demonic entity that turned him into a creature that was neither demon nor night elf. When I saw him that first time after he had gained this power, I believed that Illidan Stormrage did not exist anymore. His soul had become so blackened with desire that he had become nothing more than a well of desire, rage and power.
But far worse than that, he had cut the very thing that I believed could be his salvation—in accepting the demonic power into himself, he removed the very ties that he had to us. He shattered the bonds that held him and Malfurion as brothers. That bond, I think, may have been the only thing that could have saved him. He cut it, callously, almost without a thought, and neither Malfurion nor I have ever forgiven him for that. That, in my mind, is why he deserves the title Betrayer.
Malfurion banished him from the night elves. He would never return to our lands."
Naruto looked at Tyrande in surprise for a while. She sounded less like the kind, yet passionate woman that he had come to know, one who held the same almost boundless hope that Kira did. The words struck him in a particular way; he knew the feeling that she had experienced.
Yet, behind that disgust, there was a touch of sorrow, of disappointment, maybe.
So Naruto felt he had to ask the question.
"Did you hate him?"
Tyrande looked at him, blinking a few times. "Hate him?" Then she shook her head. "No, I did not hate him. For even when he had become that thing…even when he had sacrificed himself for power, he still loved me. That was something of a reminder of the old Illidan—the one before power had corrupted his mind and judgment. I saw, much later, that this tie he did not cut. There was one last thing binding him to me and Malfurion: his love for me.
"After Archimonde's destruction, we received a message from the elf who had kept Illidan imprisoned all those years—Maiev Shadowsong. She had engaged Illidan in a place called the Broken Isles, far to the southeast, between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. There he had been seeking an item called the Eye of Sargeras—a weapon of immense power that could easily tear apart entire kingdoms. He had allied himself with the naga; the very creatures that attempted to destroy us eight years ago. When Malfurion and I arrived, we fought him, and eventually defeated his forces.
"He escaped…" she finished. "And he told me, just before he left, that he didn't want me harmed. He simply wanted to escape. That was the first time that I saw he was not as gone as I had thought. He still cared for me.
"I truly saw it much later. I was attacked and nearly beaten by a swarm of Scourge in the Eastern Kingdoms, after pursuing Illidan there. He fought and destroyed them all, saving me. But that was not the shocking part. After saving me, he returned me to Malfurion.
"I saw then that Illidan was not completely gone. He was just lost."
She sighed again, lapsing into silence. Her eyes fell to the floor again.
Naruto finally probed her. "What happened to him then?"
"He vanished. He told Malfurion that he wanted to end their feud, and simply vanished into a portal. I did not know then, nor do I now, where it went. He vanished, and I have heard nothing of him since." Her face sunk a little more. "It was probably best. I do not think that anything good could come of him staying here. He was no longer a part of our kind." Then, she shivered, recalling a memory with disturbing clarity.
"His last words to me were 'I'll love you always, Tyrande.'"
Naruto looked at her. Her hair covered her face, making it difficult to discern her expression. But he didn't need to see it. Her next words painted the portrait.
"But with those words, and the smile that accompanied it, I saw that he had slipped a little further into the madness that was slowly consuming him; a madness that would eventually take him completely."
Naruto looked at Tyrande a little while after that. She didn't appear to have anything more to say.
"Thanks," he said.
She looked up at him, a question in her wise, luminous eyes. Naruto smiled at her. "For sharing all that. I know I probably wasn't easy, but you did it anyways." He scratched the back of his head, suddenly nervous. "Nobody's ever really told me something that personal just because I asked. 'Sides, I got to learn a bit more about you, even if it was mostly about that guy. So, I figure I should thank you, you know?" He stumbled over the words, making him blush a little. He didn't know why he was suddenly so bashful. This talk had been different from the rest. Tyrande had told him a little more about herself, and her life.
Tyrande smiled kindly at him, the sadness disappearing almost at once. "Do not mention it. It felt good to speak of this matter. You are the first that I have actually told." She dipped her hand again into the pool, making circles in the water. "Confiding in someone does help, doesn't it? I should do it more often."
Naruto grinned at her.
"It is getting late," she went on. "It has been a long day. Get some rest, okay?"
Naruto nodded, before blinking. "How can you tell it's late?"
She smiled impishly. "It's a benefit of being a Priestess of the Moon. I know its location at all times. It is just barely in the sky, now, meaning that it is night. And you must be feeling tired, anyways, right?"
Naruto nodded. "Guess so." He smiled at her again. "Thanks again! Seeya tomorrow!"
She bowed her head slightly, smiling her kindest smile as Naruto got up and left.
As he departed the Temple of the Moon, his thoughts strayed to the man called Illidan. He realized something, too.
He was the same as Sasuke. When Naruto had seen him, transformed into that horrible winged monster, Naruto knew that he had cut all ties with his team. To turn himself into a monster like that, simply because he wanted power, had infuriated Naruto beyond anything else. It still infuriated him.
Yet, unlike Tyrande, Naruto wasn't going to give up on his brother.
He wondered if Malfurion felt the same way.
But, deep inside him, he felt something was not quite right about that assessment. It occurred to him that Illidan was not just like Sasuke. There was someone else whom Illidan reminded him of.
Illidan had someone he wanted to protect.
Even as a monster, he had a precious person.
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He reached the hotel a little later. He bid a good night to the innkeeper, a bearded, older-looking elf with pale green hair and dark purple skin. He gave a nod and a word in Darnassian in return. He ascended the stairs, and at the top was surprised to find Kira, sitting on the top step, waiting for him. She smiled when he reached her, and stood.
"You're pretty late," she said. "Your talk with Tyrande must have been pretty important for it to have lasted so long."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, it was." He told her briefly what it was about, but didn't reveal much else. He didn't believe it was his place to tell her, anyways, and if she wanted the whole story, she would have to ask Tyrande. Kira accepted this. She told him that she needed to talk to him. She then beckoned him, and returned to her room, where Kylia was waiting.
When he stepped inside the room, she whirled on him. She looked a little nervous, and seemed to want to tell him something. This set Naruto's rather active imagination off. He had no idea why she wanted to meet with him, especially when both were so tired, but it must have been important, and a little personal, for her to have such a look.
She sucked in her breath, slowly, and for some reason, Naruto's heart wouldn't stop pumping. Finally, she said something.
"Do you think everything's going well? I mean, do you think we still have a chance in doing this?"
Naruto's nervousness was banished after the first sentence. He almost laughed. Of course it would be about something like this. He sat down on one of the wooden chairs that seemed to grow from the floorboards.
"Of course it is! We're doing great, don't you think? I mean, it's taking a long time, but you keep telling me that not all battles are fought with swords and stuff, right? We just gotta keep at it, and I'm pretty sure that the next time we approach those bastards on the Council, they'll agree. I mean, we've done a lot, haven't we?"
Kira nodded, and some of her nervousness appeared to vanish. She heaved a great sigh of relief, and sat on the edge of her bed.
"I suppose so. I was just getting a little worried. Tyrande said that from what she could tell, we've been here almost a month. I know that we can't rush it, but I'm always afraid that something will happen before the Alliance is formed. And we would never know until after we got back…" she mumbled, slumping a little.
"Oi!" Naruto said, glaring at her. "Stop acting like that! You just gotta believe, okay? Acting like this has never helped, so you just gotta keep your attitude up! We're close, and you don't wanna mess this up, do you?"
She glared back at him. "Of course not!" Then she sighed, and a little smile appeared on her face. "You're right, of course. I guess I was just having a panic attack."
"Girls usually do." He nodded twice, his arms crossed, as if to cement the validity of his statement.
Kira raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh?" she said, a little hotly. "I can give you a panic attack, if I wanted to."
Naruto squinted at her. "How?"
Kira reached into a satchel that she had set on the bed, and pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid. She held it out in front of her, smiling a falsely sweet smile.
"This is called elomisus extract. The plant only grows in marshes down south, but thanks to the druids, we were able to cultivated it here. It's got a very special property, that I'm very interested in." She didn't say anymore, waiting for Naruto to question her.
Warily, Naruto did so. "What is it?"
"It vastly increases the chance that you'll get pregnant."
Naruto opened his mouth, closed it, then connected it with something she had said in the previous sentence, and would have passed out if Kylia hadn't given him a sharp rap on the skull. "W-what! W-why do h-have that!" He feared the answer.
She smirked, returning it to the satchel. "Told you!" she said, impishly, her eyes shining with mirth. Behind Naruto, Kylia giggled, a rather foreign sound coming from the usually quiet girl.
Naruto blushed, slouching in his chair. "Fine, you got me. What do you want that for anyways?"
Her smile faded a little. "The apothecaries and I have been working on a new potion, one that has the properties of this plant, only without the potential side effects. The night elves really need something like this, you see. If they don't get it, they might die out in a few generations."
Naruto sat up, alert. "What? Why?"
"For ten thousand years, none of them aged, and very few died. Very few new elves were born, because the majority of the males were sleeping beneath the World Tree, and wandering the Emerald Dream, and there wasn't a real demand for them, anyways. If they procreated that much, and none of them ever aged, they'd have vastly overpopulated the area, anyways.
"But it seems that despite not aging, or seeming to change in any big way, they did. I would even go so far as to say that they evolved, somehow. The point is that because they went so long without making any new children, their bodies didn't believe it was necessary anymore. So when the World Tree was destroyed, and the elves lost their immortality, they suddenly found it extremely difficult to procreate. They were lucky at this point, as the ones that did gave birth to more than usual, but it's still a problem. With the elomisus extract, we intend to help the night elves' population grow at a much faster rate. Eventually, they'll get back the pregnancy trait, but it can't be left alone."
Naruto nodded. He cared about the safety of the night elves, and their children, but he didn't like talking about things like this. He hadn't known that babies came from women until he was nine, and that was only by accident. Besides, he didn't like talking about things he couldn't relate to, like pregnancy.
"Tyrande's going to help me educated everyone in this respect," Kira said, sitting back, her eyes fixated on the ceiling. "She's a great speaker, isn't she?"
Naruto responded with a nod, in complete agreement with the young princess. Tyrande Whisperwind was easily the best public speaker than Naruto had met so far. Not even the Third, or Tsunade, could match the speeches that Tyrande could do. Both Kira and Naruto agreed that no matter how hard they worked, whether it be making medicines and helping cure the sick, or teaching others about battle and making friends, they could never match the influence Tyrande could have over her people.
She spoke publicly almost every day, in different parts of the city. She spoke of the world, of its people, and of the night elves themselves. She told them what she thought of their isolation, and what could happen if they joined this new alliance. Her words were of the utmost beauty, like flowers in full bloom, yet not nearly so delicate. They were strong, durable, and they reached everyone who listened to them. She did not seem to make speeches so much as to weave stories; beautiful ballads that described seemingly impossible things in distant, fairy-tale lands.
But everything she spoke was the truth.
Kira was in constant awe of her abilities. Because she would one day become the queen of Stormwind, she would need an ability like that. She listened to the words even better than anyone else, despite being already convinced of their meaning.
Naruto listened closely too. After all, he was going to Hokage, and would like to be a better public speaker than Tsunade, with her blunt words and almost perpetual scowl.
Of course, she had other ways to motivate her people….
"You talk with her a lot," Kira suddenly said. She sat up straighter, looking at him almost slyly.
"So?" Naruto said, frowning.
Kira shrugged. "I think it's good. She'll probably have a good influence on you." Then she yawned, and said, "We're all tired, let's get some rest, okay?"
Naruto nodded, standing up. He bid good night, and on his way out, he stopped, and turned back to the two girls. He flashed a smile at Kira.
"We're close, Kira-chan. Let's make this alliance and kick that Lich King guy's ass, okay?"
Kira blinked, before a smile spread across her features as well. She nodded.
"Let's."
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Far away, in the distant lands that Tyrande spoke of every day, Kira's plans were becoming reality, more and more everyday.
Orgrimmar was nearly back on its feet. The repairs were going splendidly, with nearly all of the Valley of Strength and Valley Honor being repaired. Orcs, tauren, and trolls worked everyday, reforming the tight relationships that they had once had in addition to repairing the great city of the orcs. In the few months since the attack, Orgrimmar seemed even greater than before. A phoenix rising from the ashes.
Trade boomed. The roads in the Barrens were packed with caravans and carts, taking goods like leather, iron, grain and wood from Orgrimmar to the Crossroads, then to Mulgore and Ratchet. From Ratchet, where much of the trading was already done, goods traveled down to Stranglethorn. Grom'gol, the main trading camp for the Horde, just north of Booty Bay, had been repaired and was back in use, mostly by Vol'jin and his trolls. They used it to store all the materials and goods that they needed to expand their villages, which grew larger everyday. Grom'gol was already twice as big as it had been before, and the zeppelin tower was in use every day.
With the Venture Co. broken apart and no longer a monopoly on the more common materials, iron and coal, oil and wood, the races were able to find more buyers. They began trading with those they had not needed to trade with before, such as the goblin continent, the Undermine. New businesses flourished, and indeed, things had never seemed better to them.
But more importantly, people were happy. Happier than they had been in years. Businesses that had been shut down after the Horde had fallen apart, because the owners had been of different races, were started up again. Friendships, even more intimate relationships were started again. Orgrimmar never seemed more active, or stronger and the people loved it. To them, it was heaven; they had a booming economy, repaired alliance, and a peace never before achieved.
From the newly repaired Grommash Hold, Thrall heard all of this, and smiled. Every day he could see that things were returning to what they had been before, and would probably continue on after that.
It was common knowledge now that they were to be entering into an alliance with their former enemies. At first, Thrall had been skeptical that they would accept it. Many bore grudges against the former Alliance, and he didn't think that those grudges could be easily forgotten.
But he was wrong.
Because they had housed a human for several months, and that human had played a great part in the creation of their current happiness, they were quite accepting. They didn't seem, for the most part, to care for their old grudges. If it meant that they could live like this forevermore, than they could stomach having to spend time with gnomes, dwarves, humans and elves.
Thrall knew that Naruto had been the result of that change of opinion. He saw that because of the relationships Naruto had formed when he had stayed here, they would accept this seemingly impossible to believe alliance, as long as there were those that believed it that brat and the little princess.
He didn't much believe it himself, but every day, Nazgrel came with news of everything that was happening in the city. He told of the rise in morale, the booming businesses, the state of the repair operation, and numerous other things that no matter how tedious or insignificant, served to remind Thrall that his people were happy. To a ruler, nothing was more nourishing than that.
"…aside from the usual drunken brawls, there has been little for the Grunts to break up. Things are, for the most part, peaceful, my lord. There isn't anything else to say," rumbled Nazgrel, lifting his deep black eyes to stare at Thrall's electric blue ones.
Thrall nodded. "Thank you, Nazgrel." Then, he cocked his head to the side, and asked, "Is there any news from Sylvanas? She has not yet contacted us."
Nazgrel made a face, and shook his head. "No. There has been no news from the Banshee Queen." His tone seemed to imply that such an answer was obvious.
Thrall sighed. He had been expecting some sort of word, even if it was just news that she had killed Naruto and Kira for some reason or another. The thought was horrible, but not entirely impossible. Sylvanas had a hair trigger temper, in his opinion, and he had lost a messenger or two that way, especially when he had first extended a hand to her, back before the Horde had split up. Naruto was, in his opinion, not exactly the person to hold his tongue, especially in front of people of power. Her silence reassured him that she had not yet killed him.
"I can see that you expected her to have replied," Nazgrel said, raising an eyebrow at his lord.
Thrall chuckled. "I did. Either she is working them to the bone as I might have, or she has simply forgotten to tell me that she had them killed. I believe that Naruto would likely have convinced her not to kill them, but I cannot help but worry."
"Save your worries, fool. The boy lives, and here is your word." The words came so swiftly and so hauntingly quiet that Thrall believed at first that he had imagined them. But he had not, for their speaker was suddenly there, in the room with them.
Sylvanas stood at the very entrance to the throne room, her deep robes of black, her bleached, pale eyes and grey skin in complete contrast to the warm, earthy colors around her. The light of the torches seemed to dim as she entered the room. She had not changed outwardly, and still had the same sardonic, superior smirk on her face. She never left home without it. She was alone.
Nazgrel stepped back in shock, his hand flying to the wolf-claw weapons at his side. "You! How did you…?"
"Your guards are so easily fooled it is borderline between amusing and sad. I am the Banshee Queen, orc. It is not simply a title." Her eyes then flicked to Thrall, and she smiled curtly. "I could have had you killed anytime I wanted, Thrall. You'd best invest in some better guards."
Thrall stood, letting out a low rumbling laugh. "If I was a woman, Sylvanas, I'd feel inclined to invest in as many guards as you. Thankfully, however, I am not."
She walked forwards, the barb passing through her as if she were a ghost. She spoke in the same, superior drawl that she always had. "This place has not changed. Still disgustingly dusty, hot, and full of sweaty creatures that smell like dung heaps. I'd invest in a proper sanitation system, while this economic boom lasts."
Thrall tilted his head to the side. "A fine idea. I'll get back to you on it, I promise." He looked at Nazgrel. "Leave us, we have much to discuss, I dare-say."
Nazgrel gave a grudging nod, and left without a word.
"I assume you are here, then, to discuss the terms of this alliance?"
"What else?" Sylvanas said lazily, walking to the middle of the room. Thrall descended from his throne, and met her there. His hands moved into a seal, causing the floor to shoot up, forming two makeshift stools. Thrall took his place on one, while Sylvanas brushed hers off, and sat down too.
"How are your people?" Thrall asked, calmly.
"Well. They are not in the midst of such a time as yours, but then again, we don't need it. We are self-sufficient."
"And the brat? Where is he?"
"Likely amidst the Kaldorei. I knew that they would have some trouble in convincing them."
"For how long have they been there?"
"A month or so."
Thrall looked impressed. "They were able to convince you in such a short time. I am impressed. I would have thought that you wouldn't have believed it possible."
"I believe in nothing," she said coldly. "It is useless to make predictions about something like this. If it succeeds, then I will benefit. If it does not, then I will still be in the prime position to tell the boy that it failed, and tell and the girl 'I told you so.' I will wait and see what occurs, and react accordingly."
"Wise words. I knew you would think that," said Thrall. "But nonetheless, you have changed."
Sylvanas raised a gorgeous eyebrow. "Oh?"
Thrall nodded once. "I feel as if I am speaking to the true Sylvanas Windrunner. I do not know what it is the boy did, but the masks you had whenever we last met are now gone. It is nice to meet you, finally, by the way."
She smiled a slightly strained smile, her eyes curving into deadly crescent moons. "Clever. For a giant green pig, you have quite the wit. But then again, I knew that."
Thrall rumbled with laughter again. Unlike before, trading barbs with Sylvanas now seemed to have more feeling to it. It was yet another effect from Naruto's presence. You couldn't help but change after meeting him. When he had first allied with Sylvanas, she had insulted him or his ruling whenever they met. But trying to retort had been like trying to trade insults with a patch of fog. Now, he enjoyed the reactions she gave, however slight.
She was not as cold and unfeeling as her title suggested, he realized.
She went on. "The brat brings change. It is not possible to meet him, I have come to believe, and not be affected by him. He has sharp eyes and instinctually knows when change is needed. Though I would never tell it to his face, the brat might do something for this world. Something permanent."
Thrall nodded in agreement. "Perhaps. I have high hopes for him. As do the others."
"I have no such hopes. There are only possibilities. It is possible he could just be forgotten in the long run. Who knows? It doesn't matter now, anyways."
They sat in silence for a while. Then Thrall snorted.
"Hmph," he rumbled. "In all this excitement, I have forgotten to inquire as to why you came here yourself. Don't you usually have one of those ambassadors come for you?"
She nodded, an amused look crossing her face. "Usually, yes. But he has other duties to attend to. I sent him to Dun Morogh. He is to meet with the gnomes and dwarves, along with his body guard."
Thrall nodded. "I sent one as well. He was reluctant to leave, but I said the change of scenery would do him good, and he is a sensible person, who would not start a conflict without due reason. Perhaps he will meet with yours."
Sylvanas smiled again, even wider this time. "For his sake, hope he doesn't. Fen can only be tolerated by certain people."
Thrall chuckled again. "I'd forgotten how witty you can be."
"It'd be better for your piece of mind not to again, Thrall. Let us discuss what I came here to, then, shall we? I have little time for dawdling."
"Of course."
And as they spoke, the world continued to change.
---------------------------------
Golbarn liked to have plans.
They gave him a sense of security and purpose. If he had a plan, then he knew exactly what to do. If he stuck to the plan, then most of the time, the outcome he had wanted would be achieved. Of course, there was generally a certain amount of leeway, and he always planned, especially since meeting Naruto, for someone to do something wrong, or something to happen that he didn't expect. So long as he planned it, it was fine. A plan was necessary, in his eyes, for every major, and minor, action one could take.
For example, he had planned that upon arriving in the barren wastes and biting cold of Dun Morogh, he would head straight for Ironforge. The Zeppelin tower got off nearer to Gnomeregan, but he had no desire to test the defenses that the gnomes had likely set up; the machines would likely destroy him before he got close enough to wave a white flag. Besides, Ironforge was where King Magni was, and that was part of his mission and hence his plan. He had to gain an audience with the King of the Dwarves, and discuss the terms of the alliance that was to be set up.
It seemed simple enough. He planned to lay down all of his weapons when he got there, as a sign of peace, and speak what little Common he knew to make his intentions clear. He only hoped that the dwarves on duty would think before acting.
But he had plans for if that happened, too. If they attacked, he would defend, but not counterattack. He would show them that he meant no harm. Eventually they would see that he wasn't a threat, and he would tell them in broken common that he was "part of the alliance". If what Naruto had said was true, then they would likely understand, and let him in. He planned to simply follow them, and act as submissive as possible. Humiliating, yes, but it was part of his plan, and the end result: a meeting with King Magni, was what he desired.
Yes, he had plans for everything. He had even planned for some other events, such as meeting a troupe of hunters or guardsmen along the way. He'd do the same thing with them. Act submissive, and say that he was heading for Ironforge for the alliance.
He planned for a little more unlikely things too. He had planned that he would fight if he met a group of dire wolves, or a small group of Scourge. If he encountered some of the troggs that were said to wander the snowy mountains, then he'd fight then as well.
Unfortunately, what he didn't plan for, amazingly, was meeting two Forsaken along the way. Now, normally this wouldn't be a problem. They were on his side, and therefore he shouldn't have minded if they tagged along with him, especially since they had the same mission as he.
What he didn't plan, however, was that one of them was easily the most annoying person he had ever met in his life. Not even Naruto could compare to the constant jabbering and only vaguely witty comments of the Forsaken called Fenritt.
He'd met them soon after he had gotten off the zeppelins, trudging through the knee-deep snow. He heard them long before he saw them-- one of them was singing something that might have been vaguely catchy if he had the talent to sing. When he spotted them, one dressed in green furs and the other in all black, he had the distinct impression that he was going to lament their meeting.
He was right.
The one in green called out to him cheerfully, immediately introducing himself in Orcish. Th other didn't, so Fenritt did it for him.
"We're heading to Ironforge," said Fenritt, grinning at him. "You?"
"Ironforge," he replied a little tersely. The Forsaken looked pleased and declared that they should go together.
And so they did.
And Golbarn, every step of the way, wondered what he had done to deserve such a curse. He seemed to attract loud, annoying people. He could bear Naruto's blabbering in general, but Fenritt's was almost impossible. His partner, Myrdraxxis, must have had the patience of a saint to deal with him. The other Forsaken hardly spoke, and Golbarn felt that he could get along with him. They both enjoyed their silence.
They reached the edge of the forest a day later, where the massive mountain of Ironforge loomed above them. Golbarn saw little movement near the entrance, but didn't stop to consider what to do next. He had his plan.
The Forsaken trailed after him, with Fen whispering oohs and ahhs at the sight of the City of the Dwarves. Myrdraxxis hid whatever surprise he might have had. He might have seen it before, for all Golbarn knew.
As they trudged up the slope, Golbarn's eyes rested only briefly on the large gun turrets on either side of the road. They looked freshly cleaned off, despite the last night's heavy snowfall.
'Maybe they expected us,' he thought darkly.
All three were very much surprised (though Myrdraxxis once again didn't appear to be) when the only thing they encountered at the entrance was a lone, rather old dwarf. He was sturdy looking, with a gnarled face, a single black eye, and a scraggly grey beard. Golbarn, Fenritt and Myrdraxxis stopped a few yards away from him. Despite their good intentions, there was still a slightly hostile air between them.
Golbarn couldn't count the time he had been in this very position; but unlike those other times, he held no blade in his hands, and wished no death upon this dwarf. Nonetheless, he felt incredibly strange meeting something that he had always considered an enemy on terms such a this.
The dwarf looked at the three of them without expression. Then, he spoke in a gruff voice, in heavily accented Orcish.
"Messengers?" he grunted.
Fen grinned and nodded, and spoke back in Common. "Yep." He jerked his hand at Myrdraxxis and himself. "We're from Lady Sylvanas. He is a representative of the orcs, trolls and tauren."
Golbarn didn't understand much of what the Forsaken said, but nodded in agreement.
The dwarf once again looked them over. His age identified him as a hardened fighter. He had likely been in the same position as Golbarn. But the orc noticed that he did not view them with revulsion or hate. It was possible that he was just concealing it, though.
"Right then," the dwarf said finally. "Come on in; King Magni's been expectin' yeh. Been waitin' for word from yehr leaders fer some time. Come on then."
Fen started forwards at once, his partner following a second later. Golbarn had only understood a few words, due to the accent, but followed anyways. It seems that Fen hadn't been as useless as he had thought.
Fen fell into step alongside the dwarf, appearing nonchalant. "They must be pretty confident to send such an old dwarf to meet us. I mean, you look like you might keel over any second old-timer."
The dwarf looked up at him, a strange look coming over his face. It appeared to be shock at first, then anger and annoyance, before it petered off into the stony gaze that he had held when they had first met him.
Then, he grinned.
"This comin' from the lad who's skin is sloughin' off his bones. Yeh sure you'll be able to get there without turnin' into dust?"
Fen laughed.
Myrdraxxis, had he had eyes to roll, would have done so.
Golbarn, who did not understand the words they were using, all too well understood their meaning. He smiled too, which couldn't be seen by the others.
Those minute gestures; a laugh here and a joke there, signaled change. He would've never thought something like this possible.
But here he was. An orc, two Forsaken, and a dwarf, brought together by a group of humans, to represent an alliance that would span the whole world.
It sounded like a bad joke. Only they weren't walking in to a bar.
But they were laughing nonetheless.
---------------------------
It took almost all of Naruto's strength to keep himself upright when Shandris Feathermoon's three-bladed shuriken-like weapon crashed onto Magni's Pride, causing the air to ring and sparks to bloom. He focused chakra into his feet, and jumped as far away as he could, landing almost a dozen yards away from the Commander of the Sentinels.
Around the edges of the courtyard, underneath the long colonnades, all the young trainee Sentinels watched. They were quite surprised when Lady Shandris had appeared that morning, interested in seeing how their training was progressing. She saw Naruto sparring with Neera, and after they had finished, she casually requested a match with him. After all, she had been interested in fighting a little with him since she had heard of his deeds. This seemed like the perfect time to do so.
She had begun the battle explosively. One moment, she stood nearly twenty feet away, and a second later, she was there, in front of him, her three-bladed weapon slicing through the air towards him. Without thinking, Naruto's hand had drawn his sword and parried the blow; but he was astounded by her strength. He leapt away at once, reeling from the blow, his arms slightly numb. It was all he had thought to do.
Now, Naruto stood trying to recover from the attack. He didn't have long, for she ran at him again, moving faster than Naruto could believe. He met her half way, this time, using the Kazaashi to bolster his own speed. They struck at each other at the same time, and once again Naruto nearly toppled from the force of the hit. She was amazingly strong!
Thinking quickly, Naruto blurred away, weaving his fingers together as he did.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" he hissed, almost to himself. His body became six, and in another instant, all had surrounded the Sentinel Commander.
Shandris' eyes flicked to each of the clones she faced, a smile touching her lips. The technique was strange, and though she couldn't tell which was the original, she figured it didn't matter. She'd let him come to her.
The clones didn't rush her, however. Instead, they blurred away, and began to circle her at Kazaashi speed. She was surrounded by a blur of black and orange, with hints of blonde and flickers of silver now and then.
'Clever...' she thought. But their action broadcasted their next move, which was a sudden storm of shuriken flying from all sides. Shandris leapt high into the air, avoiding the deadly iron, her eyes flicking down, only to discover that her attackers had vanished. All that remained of their presence were the shuriken that had missed.
She landed a few yards away from her original position, frowning.
Her eyes scanned around her. The boy couldn't have gotten far, but for the life of her, she couldn't see him.
But, a second later, she heard a very slight, almost silent footfall directly behind her. Her ears, large as they were, proved to be not just for show.
She spun on her heel, parrying Naruto's blade as it appeared from seemingly nowhere. The boy grunted in frustration, the black markings of the Kagesui fading from his face and neck. She pushed him off and continued her attack, her weapon twirling as she slashed it through the air. Naruto's blade, amazingly, was there to meet hers every time. It was impressive, as Shandris had been sure the boy was a purely offensive fighter. Apparently, she had thought wrong.
It was almost a purely physical battle. The terms had been decided as that, seeing as it was a spar, not a true fight, and neither wanted to cause undue harm to each other or the courtyard. Abilities like the Kazaashi, Kongou, and Kagesui didn't count, seeing as how they were physical based abilities.
Suddenly Naruto planted his feet into the ground, and hardened his body with Kongou just as his blade met hers. Now possessing the mobility of a stone wall, Naruto didn't move and inch, and as Shandris pulled back from the attack, and struck out, kicking her in the knee. She lifted it up, avoiding the kick, only to have Naruto shoot off the ground, and ram into her, throwing her backwards. His head struck her in the stomach, his body still as stiff as rock, making the attack far more effective.
Despite the air rushing from her lungs, Shandris leapt away, surprised once again at the boy's ingenuity. He was making use of the abilities he had learned quite well. She was even more impressed at how quickly he was able to react, and to think on his feet. It was the mark of a very skilled warrior to be able to counterattack as effectively as he had.
But, the battle was awakening a rather competitive streak in her. She found her blood boiling, her heart racing. She didn't want to lose this fight, even if it was merely a spar.
Holding her shuriken out to the side, she began to channel her chakra into it. The blades began to glow, long spikes of chakra surrounding each one, extending out almost a foot from their tips. Smirking, she hurtled the weapon at Naruto, who was already moving.
The blonde dodged to the side, and rushed at her with the speed of the wind. As soon as he reached her, however, she moved away, not meeting his attack.
Puzzled, the blonde turned to head after her, when his eye caught a glint of steel. He whipped towards it just in time to bring his blade to meet the shuriken weapon, which struck his with a resounding clang. But rather than bounce off, it continued to push, as if guided by an invisible hand, even stronger than Shandris'. He gritted his teeth as he was forced to take a few steps back, as the weapon continued to push.
Suddenly, Shandris appeared at his side, delivering a wicked fast, and amazingly powerful punch at his jaw. Or rather, it would have been at his jaw, if Magni's Pride hadn't suddenly moved the slightest bit, so that her punch struck the very end of the guard. Her eyes widened briefly at the slight, expert move, and Naruto took the sudden opening to kick her in the stomach, and blur away.
Shandris grunted in pain, but at the same time snatched her weapon out of the air. She watched where Naruto, panting heavily, landed.
'I didn't think he was that good with the sword...or maybe he isn't.' She thought, frowning.
Naruto himself was having a hard time trying to understand why he had suddenly become so good at blocking. He rarely took the effort to block, seeing as how he could heal quite fast. But it was as if the weapon itself was doing the blocking, not him. He recalled a similar experience during his fight with Mograine.
He couldn't wonder long. Shandris was back, her weapon twirling again. Naruto avoided the attack this time, as one hand dug into his weapon pouch, bringing forth a kunai. He leapt away again, hurtling the dagger as he did.
Shandris snatched the blade from the air, and then pulled back and through her weapon, still glowing with chakra, at Naruto. The chakra blades cut the ground as it flew, and Naruto grunted as Magni's Pride parried it again. One of the chakra blades had stopped just over his head, neatly splitting one of his tufts of hair. Any further and he would have been killed.
Shandris rushed at him again. Clutching the kunai tightly, she rushed straight for the blonde. She thrust up with the kunai, fully expecting him to dodge.
He didn't.
The blade struck his Kongou hardened flesh, but did not pierce through. He let go of his sword with one hand, and grabbed her arm. He kicked at her again, this time much higher than before, but she twisted her body neatly out of the way, and grabbed her chakra enhanced weapon, applying even more force onto it. At the same time, one of her incredibly long legs swept Naruto's legs out from under him, and pushing with all of her weight, she smashed him onto the ground.
Neither moved for a few moments. Naruto lay panting, a slight trickle of blood running down his forehead. The deadly chakra surrounding her blades had moved down slightly during the fall, just enough to cut into the top of his head.
"Well," she said, smiling down at the blonde. "I think we might have found that blade's talent!"
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"Super blocking ability, huh?" Naruto muttered, staring at his sheathed blade a little later, as he and Neera exited the Sentinel training building. They had trained a lot longer that day, so it was much later than usual, and Naruto was dead tired.
"It sounds cool," said Neera, yawning widely.
At first, Naruto hadn't been too thrilled with his ability. But Shandris, who seemed to find the ability utterly unbelievable, explained to him its benefits.
"I think that the more you use it, the more effective it will become. You saw how you were able to block my punch, using just your hilt? I bet the more you train with it, the more connected it will become with your chakra. Eventually, I imagine that you'll be able to use it block almost anything; chakra attacks, projectiles, anything you can think of, really. It might not suit you, but from what I saw, the blade did the work for you. You like to attack, and with that, you won't nearly be hit as much."
Naruto had warmed to it after that. Shandris had warned him not to rely too much on the weapon, because they still didn't know the limits of its ability. She guessed that every time it parried, it drained some of his chakra, so he had to be careful in that respect.
He was also curious as to why this hadn't happened before. He'd had the sword for quite a while, and it had only recently begun to show signs of its talent.
Shandris had shrugged. "Maybe it was because you didn't have the proper skill in using it. Maybe because it had to take some time to get used to you. Dwarven blades are so well made that many of them bond with their user. Normal iron and steel weapons bond quickly, so I imagine Adamantium take a little longer than normal. Now that the blade is able to sync with your body and chakra, I imagine it will come to you much easier."
It also explained, Naruto realized, why he hadn't been able to discover it by himself. It seemed to only react to real attacks, and he guessed that no matter how hard had he tried, it wouldn't have worked. The ability was still a little disappointing. The visions of white hot blades that could cut through anything or spit electricity or grow a hundred feet long vanished.
Still, he knew it would grow on him. He couldn't wait to figure out how to develop it further, and incorporate it into his attacks. Neera had promised to help him train it.
Neera yawned again, before patting her stomach. "I'm hungry. Let's go get Princess Kira and get something to eat. I'm starving."
Naruto nodded in agreement. Then, frowning, he looked over across the lake, in the direction of the Temple of the Moon.
"I actually wanna see Tyrande first. I haven't seen her all day," he said, starting off for the bridge.
Neera sighed, but followed. "You're spending a lot of time with her, these days."
Naruto blinked, realizing that she had just said the same thing Kira had a few days ago. "So?"
She shrugged. Then, she adopted a sly look. "Could it be that you like her?" She drew out the word "like" in a long, singsongy, teasing tone, grinning impishly at him.
Naruto answered in a surprising and resounding "No!" He didn't even blush. The idea that he could like her as Neera was suggesting seemed almost creepy.
Neera blinked at the forceful denial. "Oh?"
The blonde nodded. "Yeah. She's just fun to talk to. And I get a nice feeling when I'm with her, like I can talk to her about anything. She, I don't know, makes me feel sorta safe. She's kind and generous and wise, too. I just like spending time with her, you know?"
Neera mulled this over. "That makes sense. Kinda like a mother."
At this, Naruto stopped, staring wide-eyed at the elf girl. Mother? He hadn't even considered her like that. She was just a friend.
But he had never had a mother, so he couldn't really deny it. Did he treat her as a son might a mother? He had no idea. He just liked talking to her and spending time with her. He felt as if she had an answer for almost everything, and that if he needed trouble, he could just ask her. He made frequent use of this, whenever they met. It was what had sparked him to ask her about Illidan. She was a font of knowledge, and seemed to enjoy answering his many questions.
Was that the feeling one got from a mother?
He puzzled this over, his head cocked to the side, as they walked across the bridge.
Did he think of Tyrande as a mother?
--------------------------------
Tyrande lay in her room, high in the Temple of the Moon, her eyes staring up at white marble, covered in vines, above her. The day had been incredibly tiring, with her speaking several times all over the city, and having a meeting with her Sisters of the Moon in the moonwell room. Yet, she found it hard to fall asleep. Her mind was abuzz with what had been happening in the past few weeks. Everything was changing, and she couldn't believe it.
Her initial doubts had been blown away. Everything was going so well that it seemed impossible. Her people, gradually, were becoming more receptive to the idea of an alliance. Through hers, Naruto's, Kira's, and Kylia's efforts, they were inspiring her people to look beyond their own shores, to the distant lands that many hadn't seen for years, or even at all.
Kira's work with the apothecaries was amazing. Though she was teaching (and even learning herself) about plants and brewing all sorts of potions and elixirs, she was showing her people that they couldn't do things alone. She continually told them that she knew little of the plants in the world, and if they went out and searched for themselves, they could find and develop cures that hadn't even been developed yet. They could find plants for all sorts of illnesses and healing. There were so many possibilities that it was staggering. All of it could be found. They just needed to look.
Kira was also telling them that they couldn't do everything by themselves. No matter how many plants they could grow in a different habitat, no matter how many cures they themselves developed, they would never reach their full potential without aid. She was proving this point by working with them, and showing them techniques and skill that they had never known before.
And Naruto. Naruto wasn't just teaching them about fighting. He was telling them about the world. But he was also making friends. Not allies, but true friends that would help him in any situation. Naruto had that spectacular ability to make friends with no matter who he was with. It was an ability that would aid him much later in life, and could be the cornerstone of this alliance.
After all, it was because of his friendships that this alliance was possible.
Tyrande loved spending time with the blonde. He was simply a joy to be around, and was always surprising her. He was easy to talk to, and despite his age and apparent naivety, he was incredibly wise. He viewed the world as it was, and applied his morals to every situation. Tyrande was amazed at what he was doing, and even more at what he could do.
Finally change was happening.
And yet, it wasn't happening enough.
As much as they were doing, and as many people who came to their speeches, it still all fell on the decision of the Council. She hoped that by showing them that if a group of humans could do so much for them, then think of what the rest of the world could do. She hoped that they would change their opinion, as they saw their people changing too. She hadn't spoken with any of the elders since the meeting, nor with any of the druids. She only hoped that they had been watching.
She was tired. At some point, her thoughts became clouded, and she no longer thought of the world around her. She stopped thinking about her people, and what was happening, and began to dream about the person she missed the most in this world.
Malfurion. Her beloved Malfurion.
She dreamt of him every night. She knew they were only her fantasies. Malfurion had more important things to do, and couldn't be bothered seeing her every night.
Yet she so wished it were him.
She missed him more than anything in the world. She wished she could see him, standing before her again. She wished she could touch him, smell him, even taste him. She wanted the musky, delightful smell of the wild in her nostrils, and wanted to feel his strong arms around her.
She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to hear him speak her name, just her name.
"Tyrande..."
She wondered, somewhere in the back of her mind, if she was dreaming. She wondered if that voice was real, or if it was just something her head had invented.
"Tyrande..."
It came again, louder, with more feeling. It was his voice. His strong, deep earthy voice, the one that she had been longing to hear for ages.
"Tyrande...come, Tyrande..."
She sat up.
Malfurion's voice still rang through her head. Now she was sure it hadn't been a dream. Her heart beat wildly. Was it him? Was it really his voice?
"Tyrande...come..."
"Where?" she whispered into the air. "Come where?"
She suddenly saw something in her mind. A beach. A long, sandy beach in front of the looming trees of Teldrassil. She recognized the beach. It was the one that she walked along on occasion, because it was the closest to the city, just west of the Temple.
"Come, Tyrande..."
The voice was loud in her thoughts now, and she found herself suddenly running. She bolted from the room, and down the long hallways towards the moonwell. She descended the stairs in a hurry, and then into the entrance hall and finally outside. She passed a few Sisters, who blinked at her hurried movements, and nearly stopped when a Sentinel called out to her, asking her where she was going.
"A walk," she said, trying to appear composed, and never really stopping. "Just a walk."
The Sentinel peered after her, a little confused, but shrugged. She could take a walk if she wanted to, and there was little that could harm her on the island.
Tyrande was running through the woods, then. She ran as fast a she could, so fast that she saw nothing on her sides, only what was in front. Everything appeared a blur, and she was deaf to the usually soothing sounds of the forest. For her mind was only on one thing.
Malfurion.
She reached the beach a few minutes later, her eyes searching desperately around her. The waters were calm, and the tide was down. She could feel the moon above her, through the impenetrable cloud of purple mist. She saw several sand crabs skittering away into the sea, and could smell the salty sea air, and feel the sand beneath her bare feet. She could hear the sounds of the forest, distant, almost drowned out by the sounds of the sea.
But she did not see, smell, feel, or hear Malfurion.
She was panting, almost breathless. Her heart hammered in her breast, as she desperately searched for any sign of her beloved. It couldn't have been a dream. It just couldn't have.
Then, she did feel something.
It was a cold prickle on the back of her neck, which soon ran down her spine, making her shiver. Abruptly, the sounds of the forest stopped, and even the sea seemed to quiet. For a second, all Tyrande could hear was her own breath.
And then a voice.
And he appeared.
The shadows parted for him, kowtowing to the being far greater than they. They slid from his dark purple skin, embroidered with tattoos glowing a demonic green, and sank to his feet in reverence.
He was smiling a devil's smile, just like he had been when she had released him from endless darkness.
"Hello, my beloved Tyrande," said Illidan Stormrage the Betrayer.
-------------------
Bam! Illidan!
Got you!
HAHAHAHA!
You have no idea how much pleasure it gives me to reveal this chapter. None of you were expecting it. Granted, that might not be a good thing, and I probably should've given you a few hints earlier, but in any case, it turned out like this.
Surprised?
You should be.
Those of you who thought the naga were going to be the main badguys, too bad. Their mentioning was just like Hakkar the Soulflayer's in the Troll arc. They were just part of a back story, and won't be making an appearance until later. But, if I had written this chapter a month or two earlier, you guys would have been right.
From the very beginning, I wanted Illidan to appear in this arc. He just had to. He's Illidan, and a huge part of the elf back story. He just couldn't not make an appearance. I had planned to have him show up at the end of the arc, but my first ideas for this arc resembled that of the Gnomeregan arc a little too much. I wanted something different. There's no huge battle, just Illidan. So I took away the naga, and just put Illidan in. He seemed like enough.
Next chapter-- Illidan, Illidan, Illidan. I hope to make those of you who don't know him love him, and those of you who do keep loving me. His character may or may not be character that you guys were expecting. Who knows.
I would like to thank my brother, Nozdormi, for correcting my lore, as there is a lot of it. We bickered a bit about the back story, but I hope I got it right, and it is clear enough for those who don't already know it.
By the way, like Naruto's blade talent? I figured since it was a "shield sword" type, or a kodachi, this would fit. It's not flashy, but its going to be damn useful, as you might be able to tell from his little scuffle with Shandris.
Naruto's relationship with Tyrande; I figured that it was about time he needed a mother-figure. He's never had one, in this story or in canon (Tsunade is a big sister type, not a mom) and I decided that since Sylvanas is not the type of person for the job, Tyrande might be. She seems kind and gentle enough, and Naruto would definitely like her, and probably look up to her a bit too. I hope its a little believable, and I hope to expand on it as the story goes on.
Well, that should be it. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
General Grievous
