Naruto - Jaded Harbinger of Peace

Well, here we are, the final chapter of this story. I do hope that you enjoyed this story, even if it was rather rushed or even terrible to begin with, but I am glad that it recieved so much support, I thank you for that.

Not really that much to say, so let's just head right into it, shall we?


Chapter 14 - The Finale

Neo was bored. Plain and simple. She sat around idly, waiting for anything exciting to happen, either to her or from her partner in crime, someone who she used to be loyal too when he first found her and gave her a purpose. However, now, she was loyal to Naruto and to Naruto only.

Finding him finally filled that blank space within her body, something she never could fill by herself, and it was all thanks to that chance finding of the simple and rather crude necklace of a snake fang when she was wandering the streets of Vale one night, trying to find Roman.

If she could giggle, she would have, as she found the necklace in an alleyway, near the large trashcan that Roman somehow fell into.

Apparently, he was trying a new escape technique called 'Dumpster Diving', and after that incident, he never did it again. She was glad as well, he stunk for the next two days, even with the absurd amount of showers and deoderant he used, the smell lingered about.

DING

The little notification disrupting her little video, she was about to ignore it, just to spite the person who messaged her whilst she was watching a video that she found rather amusing, however, she took a glance at it, and saw that it was from Naruto.

That instantly made her pause the video that she was watching, a small smirk on her face as she managed to pause it at a rather funny time with the person pulling a face that looked rather amusing and odd and almost unnatural. Tapping on the notification, she decided to read and see what Naruto texted her for.

Naruto: Hey, Neo. I was hoping to know if you were free right now, and were able to come and pick me up to take me to where I need to go. I'm at Beacon Academy and will be at the landing docks.

Re-reading the text a few times, Neo blinked a couple of times - her eyes shifting in colour each time - before they eventually settled and they were both were pink in color, meaning that she was either curious or interested. It was one of the easier ways to tell what Neo was feeling, the simple changes of her eye color. As the text settled in, she took a mock thinking pose.

Since Cinder was gone, as she hadn't returned yet or heard anything from by the near non-stop complaining that Roman did when it concerned 'Fire Bitch', she then remembered that she was the one that took the airship back after the little fiasco was finished at Beacon and was still around, meaning that she could indeed pick Naruto up. She just wondered where he needed to go.

Quickly tapping on the screen with speed and grace that would put most to shame, she read the message in her mind before nodding to herself and sending it to him.

Neo: Yes, still have the airship from when Fire Bitch decided to 'infiltrate' and force me along. Where did you need to go?

At this point, Neo was walking in the direction that the airship was located. She didn't need to look where she was going, this had been Roman's base of operation for a few months, so she knew this place like the back of her hand.

Hearing another ding, she looked at her scroll and nearly dropped it in shock, both her eyes turning stark white to convey her emotions.

Naruto: Ah, you know, the Land of Darkness, I need to do something there.

Opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish, she tried to comprehend why the hell Naruto would want to go there. She had heard of it of course, where there were Grimm crawling out of the very ground, along with it being unknown territory. All she knew that Cinder was going to and from there all the time, and if what Cinder was talking about was correct, then another group of people were there. Dangerous people.

With all of that, he still wanted to go to that place, and she was concerned about him. He was important to her in her previous life, and during the past life, she was there for him. With that in mind, she steeled her resolve before tapping away and sending another message.

Neo: Uh... sure. Can you divulge why you want to go there?

Standing still she watched as three small bubbles appear on her scroll screen, which meant that Naruto was typing his message, and true to the fact, moments later, a new message popped up.

Naruto: I just need to talk to Salem, and hopefully everything will go on from there, and maybe some sort of peace can be brought to the world.

Reading the message brought a smile to her face and her eyes turning a warm, chocolatey brown color as she gazed at the message. Same old Naruto, always wanting peace to be felt throughout the world, and having it not done by force, but rather through emotions such as love and kindness.

Neo: Alright. I'll be there soon. :)

With her little message sent, she pocketed her scroll and started skipping down the hallway, not even caring for the odd looks she was recieving from some of the thugs that were still around and working with Roman. Hell, she didn't even mind when she skipped right past Roman, who was about to stop her, but didn't even get the chance to as Neo skipped right by him, not even looking in his direction.

Blinking owlishly, Roman scratched the side of his head, looking in the direction that Neo skipped down with a confused look plastered on his face, "What's with her?" He questioned, confusion and curiosity clear in his voice.

"I don't know. She just got all happy all of a sudden. It was quiet creepy." One of the thugs said, also looking in the direction that Neo headed down, before shrugging his shoulders and going back to the card game that he was playing with another few thugs.

"Women. Never would understand them." Roman muttered out, shaking his head at that thought.

Now that he had some free time as that pesky and annoying 'Fire Bitch' wasn't around, he could actually take some time off for himself rather than being on the move all the time.


It seemed to have happened in a mere blink of an eye. One moment, Naruto was enjoying the scenery that the landing docks provided. Since it was on the edge of a rather large cliff, it did provide a view that could put most others to shame.

Then, before he knew it, a lone aircraft was making its way over to the landing docks, and he saw Neo was there, flying the large machine with ease, almost as though it was her job... whatever her job really was.

After a small exchange of pleasantries, they both boarded the aircraft, with Naruto taking a seat on the co-pilot seat as to keep Neo some sort of company while she was flying him to his destination.

Although the ride was relatively silent, it was a comforting type of silence, one that allowed someone to reflect upon certain actions of the past or to think up something that could be used for the future, which in Naruto's case, he was going through a few different possibilities that could happen once he meets Salem again. Some of them were good, others... not so much.

If she wanted to hurt him or torture him for a while, unleashing all of her pent up emotions again, he would allow her to do that. It's not like he could die or anything like that, and it would probably alleviate some of Salem's stress and anger that she must have been bottling up for centuries.

However, during the trip, Naruto made sure to keep some small talk going with Neo, while it wasn't the most ground-breaking conversations they had, it did allow for more time to pass quicker, and from the emotions coming off of Neo, he could tell that she appreciated the concern or the thoughtfulness to talk to her, even if she could only give some form of gesture, either by hand or shoulders or by her body language.

However, there were a few more emotions that he was picking up from her, and those included; Fear, concern and even love, an almost scary amount of love coming from her, to the point that he would say it was near possessive.

It might have been brief flashes of that particular emotion, but he had to take a guess and say that she was just happy to find him... or more like her soul was singing out and was happy that he was found by her.

Eventually, the bright blue skys and the smooth blue ocean below eventually changed. Changed from being a large ocean to something of the desert, and the beautiful and cheerful sky turned into a deep and rather terrifying haze of blood red, even the clouds weren't spared from the color, as they too were a bit lighter in color, and it was safe to say that the only normal thing about this place was the shattered moon, it looked to be the most brightest part of this terrain.

From what Naruto could see down below when he gazed out the window of the passenger side of the aircraft, he could see hundreds of purple crystal-like things sprouting from the very ground itself, which made the already rocky terrain of the place look that much more terrifying, although, he had to question in why the crystals were here, and how they came to be.

He then spotted other things along the ground, turning his attention to them, he had to hold back a grimmace at what he saw.

There, in a weird black pool with some sort of substance in it, spawned a singular Grimm, he then saw that the next blackened pool a few feet away from that one spawn another Grimm.

Even when inside this aircraft, Naruto could sense the absolute darkness coming from the very pools itself, and the Grimm were drenched in the foul substance. From what it looked like, if people truly wanted to get rid of all the Grimm in the world, then they would have to come here to destroy the many pools of inky back darkness, as it seemed that they gave 'birth' to the Grimm somehow.

It was honestly kind of twisted, how could something like that create a creature that only had a goal to destroy everything man made, or kill anything that had an aura... a soul.

Maybe Grimm were not like the mindless beasts everyone thought them to be. Maybe it was that black pool that they spawned from corrupted them to their very core, rewrote anything that it didn't want, only leaving behind creatures of complete darkness and hatred... maybe that was why they could sense negative emotions so well, maybe that was why he seemed to be a beacon to Grimm, even if his very nature was overwhelmingly positive.

Now, with that in mind, he just had to test it out when he got back to his little sanctuary in Forever Fall forest. If he could somehow overwrite the sheer darkness and absolute hatred that spawned from the blackened pools of darkness, then maybe the creatures would change for the better.

Feeling the aircraft lower towards the ground, Naruto took a deep breath. It would be the first time in who knows how long that he had talked to Salem, and with it being after the way everything turned to shit, he just hoped that Salem would be willing to listen to him, along with accept his apologies. He would do whatever it takes - in his power of course - to mend the bond they once had.

Looking out of the corner of his eye, he saw Neo sitting there, although he could see that she was trying to be strong, even though he could tell that she was feeling a multitude of different emotions, with fear and nervousness being one of them.

Smiling to himself, he placed his hand upon her shoulder and manipulated the natural energy into her. The effect was instantaneous as Neo's body language shifted into a more relazed and comforted state, along with her emotions calming down and her fears coming crashing down to a halt, "Hey. It's fine, everything will be OK." He reassured her, giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze, "Do you want to stay in the aircraft? Or come with me?" He questioned softly.

Either way would be fine with him, if she chose to stay in the aircraft, Naruto would put a barrier around it so she could be safe and only people or other beings would only be able to enter if their intentions or purpose was pure, that basically meant that every single Grimm wouldn't be able to pass it, let alone sense Neo within the aircraft within the barrier.

Thinking for a moment, Neo shivered at the possibility of being alone in this sort of place, so she turned to face him and pointed at him.

Nodding his head at her choice, Naruto was about to exit the passenger side door, however, before he could do so, he felt Neo's hand come into contact with his own, making him look her way to see what was wrong.

Almost as soon as he turned around, he once again had the feeling of someones lips against his own. All though, this time instead of tasting a hint of caramel, this time, he had the hint of ice-cream invade his senses.

'Well... should have seen this coming.' Naruto mentally thought to himself, with the way Neo's emotions kept on shifting and changing and most likely adapting to Anko's unknowingly, he should have expected this to happen.

Seeing Neo pull away, with an almost shy facial expression, she played with a strand of her pink hair, her face flushed a light shade of pink as both of her eyes changed to her cheeks color. Although, when Naruto really concentrated, he noticed two things, one of which was that she looked extremely pleased with herself as the emotion that was rolling off her in waves was happiness. The other thing that he could see - only just - was the slight rippling of a pinkish-sheen.

He knew that was the effect of his 'curse' kicking in, why else would someone have that sort of thing happen to them after kissing him on the lips.

Smiling towards Neo, who was looking at him with all the love she could possibly muster, Naruto chuckled at the look, she was so deadly and was a great tracker, yet seeing her like this, it was funny to say the least.

Hearing him chuckle at her, Neo pouted rather cutely, and if she could have made any noise, she definately would have huffed to go along with it, "Love you too, Neo." He said, before lightly nudging her, "Come on, let's go." Gesturing to outside the aircraft, Naruto hopped out of his seat and exited the flying vehicle, with Neo following suit, although, she quickly made her way over to his side, where she felt the most safe and protected in this cold and barren land that spawned Grimm.


Staring off into the distance through the old and large glass windows that was behind her throne, Salem was waiting, her face was blank and being reflected from the windows to anyone behind her. While she may not have personally been in any sort of fights herself for a very long time, she was still able to sense others, so when she 'felt' new arrivals in her lands, she expected them to be weary travelers that somehow got lost, but when she focussed on the feeling, she managed to sense who it was that made it to her lands.

It was Naruto, and from the looks of it, he brought someone else along with him.

"My Queen, there has been a aircraft spotted in the lands. Shall we take care of it?" A rather deep and baritone voice of one of her subordinates spoke out suddenly.

Turning her gaze away from the window, she shifted it onto the person who was talking to her, and to her amusement, instead of finding Tyrian kneeling before her, she instead found Hazel kneeling down on one knee to her.

Hazel is a tall and muscular middle-aged man, standing at a towering 8', which made him someone that had very high intimidation tactics, along with being very powerful in unarmed combat. He wears a two-tone olive green coat over a black 3/4 sleeve shirt, and a large belt. His pants are black, with a pouch strapped to each pants leg, and his boots are brown with white fronts. His hairy arms have some scars near the edges of his sleeves, showing that he had been in dangerous fights before hand.

She just wished that he could change his outfit, or better yet, change the color of said outfit, as those shades of green were not only terrible to look at, but they just didn't belong on articles of clothing to begin with. It was almost as bad as Naruto's obsession with orange when they first got together.

Yet, no matter how many times she suggested for Hazel to change the color of his clothing, he just wouldn't do it, saying that it was one of the few things that he had left of his late sister, as her favorite color was olive green.

"No, that won't be necessary." She merely stated, however, a small idea did enter her mind, and it made her smallest of smiles with her lips twitching upwards, "Actually, I would like it if you brought them here, straight to me."

"Yes, my Queen." Hazel respectfully answered, bowing his head down one more time before standing up to his full height and started walking out the large double doors, ready to complete the task that was given to him.

Hazel was a man of few words, but when he talked, it was likely that everybody listened, not only due to his intimidation factor, but he also could be a man with some wise words to spread to the little group they had. Since he was one of the oldest members of this generation, he had the most experience when it came to these things.

They might be down a couple of members now, most notably Cinder, who never came back after her visit to Vale, where she foolishly went after the Fall Maiden once again, who was under constant supervision at Beacon Academy, but at a place who know had Naruto, who she knew was very strong, dangerously so.

Now that he was here and Cinder hadn't come back or even attempted to contact her meant only one thing; she had been killed, and most likely had lost the maiden powers back to the original maiden.

With Cinder gone, poor Emerald, a foolish young woman who was completely attached to Cinder for whatever reason up and left, having been concerned with the lack of updates from Cinder, and when the possibility of Cinder being dead came through, she simply vanished. For all reasons, that was a particular lose that they might not recover from, as her semblance was rather useful with creating illusions, but with her gone, it still wasn't too bad. She was rather weak after all, but she did have potential, just never bothered to even attempt to reach it.

Shaking her head from those thoughts, Salem saw that Hazel was now gone from the room, and turned her attention to back out the windows, where she continued to stare out into the barren wasteland that was her home, all the while many different thoughts running through her head, some of them were good, others not so much.

She still remembered that day, that one day that caused everything to fall apart.

Now, she wouldn't say she was in the wrong, in fact, neither of them were in the wrong. While she might have had a different perspective on the incident, everyone truly had a different perspective with the way things played out and the events leading up to or after the event.

With Ozma's new reincarnation, and as a Ex-husband in a new body - no matter how odd or wierd that sounded - reuniting with his old wife, and probably knowing that everything that once was there, was no longer there, and for the fact that after humanity was wiped out and she was left alone, and eventually turned into this, she had moved on.

FLASHBACK

Salem sighed blissfully as she enjoyed the small breeze flowing through the open window of her small abode. Watching the wildlife around her small cottage was something that she had missed dearly when she felt lost and alone all those years ago, it just made it even better that she could experience it with the new love of her life, Naruto.

Someone who came into her life rather suddenly, but since then, she had grown used to his shenanigans and upbeat attitude. He was someone who didn't care about her appearance after taking the plunge into the pools of darkness when she tried to counter the curse the God's gave her, but instead, he spoke about how it made her look even more beautiful and unique than any other woman he saw.

He never once looked at women the same way he did to her, something she appreciated greatly. Sure, she did catch him giving passing glances, but nothing past that.

Eventually, the bond they shared just kept getting deeper and deeper, before one afternoon, he proposed to her.

Looking down upon her ring, she couldn't help but still marvel its beauty and uniqueness every single time. Running her finger along the smooth surface of the ring just felt right to her. It was a sheer black ring, but the item that stood out the most was the most beautiful gem that she had ever seen.

She suddenly shivered when she felt something coming towards her and her finace's small abode in the forest, just on the outskirt of the town.

It was something that Naruto had made, and she had no idea how to replicate it. If something entered the barrier that wasn't a human, they would be alerted. In Naruto's sense, he could simply sense it, for her, she got a small shiver.

Placing her half empty cup of tea down upon the clean wooden table, Salem straightened her clothing, getting rid of any and all creases and made her way to the door, ready for anything to be on the other side of the door.

While break-ins or anything like that was rare, it was still a possibility, even with her curse of immortality she still was careful when it came to things like this.

Taking a small breath, she opened the door to the home that she and Naruto lived in for the past couple of years, and when she was able to see what entered the range of the house, she was met with someone she had never seen before.

The man stood at a rather average height and looked like he worked around a farm, he had tanned skin that sharply contrasted against his white spiky hair that was rather messy and had green eyes, he was wearing a rather untidy creamish-white singlet and brown working pants that had a few patches in them, on his arms were a pair of elbow length brownish-red gloves. He also had a small pendant or a simple necklace around his neck which looked to be made of a shoe string with a simple green item attached to it.

She looked confused as to why he was here, but upon further inspection, she suddenly felt something familiar about him. Something that she hadn't felt for the last couple of decades, she didn't know how long precisely, time kind of lost all meaning to her, "Ozma?" She slowly questioned, taking a few steps back in shock.

It was obvious the man recognised her, as he slowly made his way up towards the porch, his eyes glued on her form as he was making his way towards her, almost in a trance. His gloved arm reaching out with his fingers outstretched, Salem eventually did the same thing.

Interlocking thier fingers together, it was then that the ex-wife and ex-husband reunited again, after so many decades.

"Salem." He chocked out, small tears forming in his eyes. He moved his gaze at her hand, and his face fell a little when he noticed the ring upon her ring finger, he knew that deep down she would have moved on, but it was still hard to see it actually come to fruition.

Without warning, he hugged Salem, with all of his emotions running rampant, and for finally meeting someone that he knew in this harsh new world that was so different from the one from before his untimely death.

Salem on the other hand looked a bit surprised at the sudden hug, but she eventually returned the hug, wanting to comfort him in his emotional turmoil that must have wieghed him down for so long.

The hug lasted a while, before Ozma pulled away, wiping away stray tears from his face as he gave a rather embarrassed smile for that situation, "Sorry. Just overwhelmed to see something that I know of again." He admitted, before giving a quick peck on the cheek.

It wasn't anything serious or like that, however, the small reunion was suddenly cut short when they heard something coming from behind them.

"What the?"

The sudden voice made them both turn - in Salem's case, looking over Ozma's shoulder - and they both pailed at what they saw. Ozma more so, as he looked like he just got caught doing something that he wasn't meant to, 'Oh no.' He thought to himself, taking in the expression on the mans face before him.

Salem, however, was looking like her skin had become a few shades lighter as she took in Naruto's rather blank expression. In all of her time in knowing him, he was rather open with his emotions, and this was something new to her as well.

FLASHBACK END

Shaking her head clear of that memory, Salem extended her senses, and she smiled lightly as she sensed that Hazel was approaching Naruto and his guest that he brought with him.

Turning on her heel, she decided that she would head to her private quarters, to freshen herself up a little and look presentable to Naruto and his little guest. For the first time in a long time, Salem was happy and even excited to meet someone. She just hoped that she could keep her cool and not lose herself to her overwhelming emotions.


"Well, this place is just swimming with negativity." Naruto spoke out, looking all around the current area, and seeing nothing but the rocky terrain with those large crystals sprouting from the ground. He still didn't know what the purpose was of those things, he couldn't sense anything coming from them, so maybe they were just there as minerals.

However, one thing was for certain. It felt almost depressing out in this area, like every single negative emotion was just waiting to escape to join with the rest of the negativity. He couldn't even fathom how one place could be in such a state, surely even the God of Darkness had some other emotion in him besides a pit of emptiness and hatred for everything to do with life.

Feeling a shift atop of his head, he glanced upwards, spotting the shaky legs of Neo, who seemed to be having a hard time being in this place, it was easy to tell because as soon as she left the aircraft she basically leapt onto Naruto's shoulders like she was recieving a piggy-back ride and hadn't left that position since, "It's alright, Neo. Think of positive things and ignore the drowning sorrow you feel."

He couldn't do much other than that piece of advice, even when he tried to use his nature chakra to bring out the positive emotions, they were met with equal force from the sheer negativity of the place, so at best it was making the damage mitigated rather than making it better or worse. So the only real way to counter it was to just ignore all the negativity and focus on the positives, no matter what it is.

Sensing someone nearby, Naruto squinted his eyes and took a look around, he idly felt Neo stiffen upon his shoulders as she must have felt him come to an abrupt halt. It was very annoying to see red and purple as far as the eye could see, as those were pretty contradicting colors and was hard on the eyes to stare at, but eventually, he could see some form of green mass and tanned mass coming in this direction.

Keeping his guard up in case of something unwanted, Naruto travelled towards its direction, if it had come from that way, surely something else would be in that general direction.

As the green and tanned mass was steadily getting closer and he was getting a clearer look at it, he could see that it was definately a person, or something humanoid in that sense.

Although, Naruto swallowed a mass of saliva when the man was getting gradually closer to their position. He was massive, a mountain of a man so to speak, easily towering over himself and having the muscles of a workout fanatic, and he was certain that he could pack a powerful punch when needed.

The sudden weightlessness made itself known as Neo briskly jumped from her little perch atop of his shoulders and landed with some grace in front of him, and from the emotions that he was sensing, he knew that she would risk her life for him, which was kind of pointless considering that he was immortal and so was she, but she just didn't know that yet.

"Step aside girl. I'm not here to harm either of you."

In Naruto's mind, his voice matched perfectly with his physique, along with his height. Seeing a man that absolutely towered over anyone that he has ever seen, both in this world and in his own world, it made it perfect for intimidation, and seeing just how short Neo was in comparison towards the man was also something else to note. She barely came up to his chest, 'I bet Neo is a little off-put.' He thought to himself, taking a glance at Neo, who took a few steps back and still had to crane her neck upwards to look at the man directly in the face.

"Neo, it's alright." Naruto stated, making Neo turn around and look at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face. He could even see that her eyes were purely white from fear at this man. However, seeing Naruto's unwavering gaze, she nodded her head slowly, before backing up towards Neo, although she was keeping her eyes on the new man that nearly was two of her put together.

The man merely watched the little exchange with a raised eyebrow, getting someone to do that either required a large amount of trust and faith in another person, or for the fact that the person stating it was stronger than they looked.

Without even trying, the strangely dressed man managed to already get a notch of respect from him, and that didn't come very easily.

"Sorry about her. She has been very skittish ever since we entered this area." He apologised to the mountain of a man in front of him.

Raising his eyebrow even further, what he just said clearly implied that arriving here had been no mistake, as no one in their right mind would even think about arriving here, "I see." He grunted out, "Is there a reason to why you came here?" He inquired further, merely thinking that they were after the gigantic crystals located her that could make them a fortune... and possibly crash the market along with it.

Then again, why would Salem want them to come to the castle if that was the case?

"Oh, I'm here to talk to Salem, and Neo here didn't want to be left in the aircraft alone." Naruto answered, patting Neo on the shoulder and not even caring for the fact that she was glaring at him for spilling that part about her, "I'm Naruto, if you were wondering." He added on, sticking his hand out in means to recieve a handshake.

Staring at the outstretched hand, he swiftly ignored it, "Hazel." He greeted out, before turning around and started to walk back in the direction he came from, "Follow me, I will take you to Salem." With that being said, he continued on his walk.

Frowing at the lack of reciprocation for his gesture, Naruto looked to Neo who merely shrugged her shoulders and leapt upon her little perch on Naruto's shoulders once again, still weary of Hazel, "Well, better follow him." He muttered out, before jogging at a light pace to keep up with him.

For a large man, he certainly moved quickly.


After a riveting journey - note the sarcasm in that - Naruto managed to follow Hazel through the barren wasteland that was the Land of Darkness and traverse past all of the black pools that smelt of tar and spawned different species of Grimm. Neo was a in a weird state of awe and disgust as she watched that process, which was kind of odd.

This little journey from Vale to the Land of Darkness made Naruto experience a whole range of emotions from Neo that he thought were impossible, but he was proven wrong. He was glad that Velvet didn't find out where he was going, he doubted that she would have been able to deal with the oppresive feeling this place was giving off. She might have been interested to see where the Grimm actually spawn from, but that was probably it for her.

Still, it wasn't everyday that you saw a Grimm spawn from a pool of tar, or actually travelled to the Grimm's own little area.

Now, they found themselves at a rather large deep purple staircase that was located near a large cliffside, and as the rather long and unnatural staircase kept on going up and up, located at the top of said cliff, was a large castle, one that looked both mystifying, mysterious and above all else, terrifying.

He didn't even know how both himself and Neo managed to miss it when they were trying to spot anything of use before Hazel came down and guided them here.

Speaking of Hazel, he was a quiet man and didn't speak many words, unless it was necessary for himself or it was beneficial for anyone, however, that was not the case, as Hazel didn't find it of any use to give some history as to why he was here, or what Salem was up to besides the entire collecting the power of the maidens and relics.

Naruto still didn't find out what was so unique and special about said relics from the brief history that Ozpin told him about.

Shaking his head clear of those thoughts, he continued up the large staircase, not wanting to waste anymore time or to worry Neo with his constant stopping and losing himself in his thoughts.

As he finally made his way up the staircase leading up to the large double doors to enter the castle, Hazel simply took a glance over him and pushed the doors open, allowing Naruto to see the inside of the castle for the first time.

Both himself and Neo were instantly assaulted with the colors of red, purple and black, with a few hints of other darker colored shades, although, once he took a look around, he did see that the deep red color was leaking through the large stained window paines near the ceiling of the castle, there were also many different chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, all burning with a few lit candles, making the entire feeling of this place eerie or even old-fashioned.

"Follow me." He heard Hazel's voice grunt out again.

Tearing his gaze from the entire look from the ceiling and the bleeding colors of the aesthetic of the inside hallway of the castle, Naruto followed behind Hazel, who was leading him a little deeper into the castle.

After a few odd minutes of silence, Naruto was already growing a little bored of this place, and he could bet that Neo was too, as everything was the same and just blended together, making it rather boring to look at as there were no variety in the color or aesthetic. Salem really needed to change some things up in the castle. He also wondered how many others thought the same thing but wouldn't dare speak it out.

"We're here. She will be inside." Going off to the side, Naruto watched as Hazel stood with his arms crossed over his chest and was eyeing him like something that he didn't want around or like he wasn't worth his time.

Looking at the double doors that would lead him to his estranged fiance, Naruto took a couple of small paces closer to the door, before glancing upwards and seeing Neo still perched upon his shoulders, "Thank you, Hazel." Naruto said, flashing Hazel a slight smile which made him roll his eyes before he stalked off back down the corridor, "Neo, I think it would be best to stand besides me." He stated to the petite girl on his shoulders.

Naruto could practically feel the nod that Neo just did before she quickly hoped off her little perch and stood by him, her eyes filling with fear and she placed a hand on her chest to calm her erratic breathing down.

"Alright, this is it." Naruto muttered to himself, before raising his hand and knocking upon the wood of the door.

KNOCK

KNOCK

The simple sound of the knocking almost felt like it echoed down the empty and bland halls of the castle.

"Enter."

The sound of the voice that he hadn't heard in so long, yet he could already tell the difference in tone. It was definately Salem's voice, but still, with how her voice used to be, he didn't expect it to sound so cold and nearly lifeless now.

Taking a glance over at Neo, he saw her give a shaky nod, she was ready to have the doors open and meet someone who was capable of scaring Cinder into silence.

Placing his hand upon the handle of the door, Naruto rotated it, with it making a small clicking noise as he pushed the doors open slowly.


Taking a few steps into the room with Neo gently grabbing onto his clothing, also staring around the room with some form of discomfort, mainly due to how weird the room felt with the overbearing pressure that would send others into silence and complete obidience.

It was a very tense couple of moments as Naruto shifted a little on his feet, out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Neo was shaking like a leaf in the room, so he put a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave it a small squueze of reassurance.

Naruto's eyes then travelled to the other occupant in the room, and he had to say, he didn't expect Salem to have changed so much.

Gone was the flawless deathly pale skin that contrasted so well with her grayish-white hair that used to be let down, gone was the red eyes that were so full of life and love, and gone was the rather shy and modestly dressed girl that he knew so long ago. Instead, in its place was someone who had a domineering aura about her, her eyes were shining a deep, angry red in color and were only converying hatred and anger. Her hair was now bleached white and styled in a large bun with multiple offshoots that also suspend different obsidian ornaments, the flawless pale skin was gone, and in its place was a more deathly colored skin with clearly visible purple veins that are located all over her skin, and finally, the modest dress style she used to have was replaced by a rather alluring style of dress that allows some of her cleavage to be visible.

Salem was now dressed in a long sleeved, black partially exposed 'cold shoulder' robe, ending in middle finger loops, with a red trim flowing from the raised collar, bordering through a vertical window which exposes some of her bust, to the sides of her hips and three crimson stripes flowing all the way down to the bottom hem of her robe. To put even more outlandish style to her choice of clothing, she also has ornate, gunmetal-colored bone-like arm cuffs on her upper arms, and an elaborate brooch with a rhombus-shaped ruby gemstone atop of her clavicle, closing her outfit over and forming a slightly wider diamond shaped window, to top it all off, she even wears a black cape with a matching red trim, with additional red gemstones hanging from her bun.

Naruto also idly noticed that on her shoulder, was a small nevermore, one that looked too small to be out in the wild, and it was perched ontop of her shoulder much like a normal bird would.

"So, finally decided to come back, huh?" Salem's voice was even colder to Naruto, to him, it was nothing like the sweet and rather caring voice that he remembered. Now, it was basically devoid of any happiness or any care in the world.

Taking a step forward, Naruto suddenly jumped back when a large and almost demonic looking, deep red rune appeared on the ground, and creepy and almost deformed hands blasted up from the rune, trying to grab onto anything they could touch. Shaking his head, he made sure to avoid anything that won't be neccessary anbd took a step back, "Listen, Salem. I'm sorry."

That probably wasn't the right thing to say, as the almost invisible pressure seemed to have intensified, making even the slightest of actions hard to make. He could even hear the many windows in the room start to crack under the pressure.

"Excuse me?" She snapped at him, before the sound of heels pitter pattering on the ground caught his senses, forcing his head up and fighting the pressure, he saw that Salem almost seemed to be gliding over towards him, her eyes glowing a deep, menacing red.

"I said, I'm sorry." He repeated yet again, looking up towards her, displaying no fear despite the heavy pressure that she was creating around the room, "All those years ago, what I caused. I took time to deeply reflect on everything and I'm sorry for all the pain I caused both you and Ozma."

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he glanced upwards and saw Salem's face nearing his own, and he could even guess that a blind person could see the anger clearly written on her face, hell, he could practically taste it flowing off her, "Do you know... how much pain you caused me?" She seemed to whisper it, but the entirety of that statement seemed to travel around the room like she shouted it.

Shaking his head in the negative, he grit his teeth in pain as he felt her sharp finger nails did into his skin, "Centuries. Centuries of pain and loneliness. The bond that we had, nearly shattered, someone who I loved disappeared without a trace and practically went off the face of Remnant. Ozma, gone as his ideals clashed with my own." Every single important word seemed to be emphasised by Salem, and it caused her nails to puncture his skin, and he could even feel his blood dripping down his arm.

"Not only did I lose my fiance, but I also lost the important person to me in my old life, in the old humanity. The very person who first gave me the taste of freedom. All because of a misunderstanding."

Gritting his teeth, Naruto grabbed hold of Salem's arm that was digging into his skin, before unleashing some of his natural energy full blast, causing it to have a reaction with all the negativity in the room.

Instead of the crushing feeling of doom, it instead was replaced by seemingly nothing. No pain, no emotion and no sound.

Neo couldn't tell, as she was in a near catonic state from the blast of darkness she took when Salem got angry.

"I know. That was something that I was reflecting about, and I want to fix it. Between all of us. You, Ozma and I. We may not be able to have the same ideals, but at least we can all be together and somehow be on even and neutral ground." Naruto spoke, looking Salem in the eyes, seeing her eyes dim a bit, and seeing her lips twitch like she was about to speak, he quickly interupted her, "I know that I caused a lot of pain. We all have, Ozma, myself and most importantly, you. Do you know how I know the old you is still in there, wanting a chance of freedom again?" He asked.

"How?" She snarled out, basically glaring daggers to Naruto, who managed to stand on his own two feet once again.

"It's because of this."

Looking down at what he was pointing to, she saw that the engagement ring that he proposed with all those years ago, "If you truly wanted to forget about me, then you would have destroyed this, but you kept it instead. It means that some part of you, no matter how deep down it is, you want things to be the way they were before." He spoke out, before extending his free hand out, his palm facing upwards, "Just try. It can be baby steps at first, but we have to get onto even ground with everyone. If needed, I can have Ozma come here as well."

Looking down at the outstretched hand, Salem so desperately wanted to take it, but she just couldn't. Not with everything she has done, not with all the pain that she had caused to countless people and all the families that she had torn apart, "I... can't. I'm too far gone down this path. I can't change."

As she tried to back away, she felt Naruto grab onto her, and held her in a vice-like grip.

"No, I have done this before. In my old world, I could get people to change their ways, even someone who was so far down the path of hatred. All they need to do is let go, and forgive themselves of their actions. If the world turned agains them, I would stand by their side. I will do the same for you, I will do the same for Ozma. Not everything is black and white, sometimes, it is in ones actions and feelings in what they do."

Feeling tears start to enter her eyes, she turned her attention to Naruto once again, before burying her head into his chest and allowing all of her bottled up emotions to leak out, "I... I'll try." She muttered out, before her chin was gently grasped in the hands of her fiance, before it was lifted up and he was staring at her with all the love in his eyes.

"That is all it takes." He said, before kissing her on the lips, for the first time in centuries.

In that moment, Salem truly felt alive once again. Being in the hands of her love and experiencing his love again after so long without it. It felt like it gave her the courage to do anything that she thought of.

As the chaste kiss ended, Naruto pulled away, using his thumbs to wipe the stray tears off of her face. He blinked in surprise as he noticed the purple veins all over her skin start to dissipate and vanish back into her body, "Shall we start now? Call Ozma over here and to work things out between us and about everything, because as far as I am aware, we are all cursed with some form of immortality, meaning whatever happens, happens for the rest of eternity, until we are put to rest by the God's themselves."

Taking a small breath, Salem smiled lightly,"Yes. It will be a long road."

"Indeed, but everything starts with baby steps, it only takes one soul to change everything-" Naruto said, grasping Salem's hands in his own as he walked her over to Neo, who was starting to get out of her daze when she felt everything return back to her, "-and it takes only one, to cause a spark that ignites and unites everyone."

Crouching down, Naruto let go with one of his hands, before extending the hand towards Neo, who took it with a small smile.

END STORY

Alright guys, that is the story finished. Thank you for sticking around with it and with me through all the ups and downs of the past couple of months and through all the hiatus' that I have been going on.

Sorry if this chapter isn't that good, I am not that great with writing mushy-mushy stuff, but I will try to improve upon it.

Now, it is time for the Mini-Series to take over before I start on some larger projects which will take up most of my time, and Determined Knight will come back soon. Just want to take some time off of writing for now, I'll be back soon with new chapters and stories.