Chapter 4: A New World
"I've seen many friends die in the field of battle, most of them sacrificing themselves for me, but this is the most my heart has ever hurt. I don't believe in revenge, because that only leads to more hatred. I do believe in justice, and tonight these vikings will face justice."
- Naruto Uzumaki
Over the one thousand years that had gone by since the Gargoyles were turned into stone, Naruto has continued to live on. Keeping himself young with the power of the very Earth itself, constantly rejuvenating his body while continually trying to gain back more of his power. Over these years, Naruto has kept one single goal in mind, which was to free his friends from their stone prisons and help them thrive in this new world. He fought in almost every war since then. Naruto was there during the all of the Crusades, the Norman invasion of Ireland, the Mongol Conquest, the Hundred Year's War, both World Wars, the Revolutionary War, the American Civil war, and just about every war in history, even some that weren't mention.
During the time that he wasn't fighting, Naruto had set up his own business, sometime after the first World War and had managed to keep it alive. It all started out as a construction company, to help with the damages of war, but it slowly began to grow. After a specific amount of years, Naruto would fake his death, leaving a will to his "son". No one really questioned it and this allowed him some room to move, then, some time in the last ten years, Naruto mentored a young entrepreneur named David Xanatos. David Xanatos was a young businessman who was founding his own company, which began by selling a rather old coin. Within only a matter of years, Naruto and Xanatos had pulled their companies together to create Xanatos Enterprises, a business shared by the both of them.
In fact, Naruto was just now arriving at Xanatos tower, showing up in his private limo. Stepping out into the slightly powerful gusts of wind, Naruto had abandoned his old robes in favor of a black suit with a burnt orange undershirt, a black tie and a cane that was strangely familiar to his old staff. Still looking as youthful as ever, Naruto walked into the building and boarded the elevator, taking him up to the top floor, where David was waiting for him.
"Mr. Uzumaki, may I take you coat?" asked the ever stoak Owen Burnett.
"No thank you Owen, I'm just here to speak with David about our most recent construction project," said Naruto, waving his fellow blond off before opening the doors to David's office, which was rather large, perhaps too large.
"Ah Naruto, I'm glad you arrived safely," David said with a grin on his face, getting up to shake Naruto's hand before the two men moved to look out the large office window.
"I take it that the construction has been completed and the statues are all in place?" asked Naruto, earning a chuckle from his business partner. Gazing out at the bright city, even if there was a storm on the horizon, Naruto still felt amazed than mankind could now build above the clouds.
"Indeed, I was just about to head up there and watch the show. Care to join me?" the rich smooth talking businessman asked, motioning towards the door.
"I've been waiting a thousand years for this moment David, I wouldn't miss it for all the gold in the world."
Following David out of the office, both men began to ascend the steps to the very top of the castle. Naruto almost felt like he had gone back in time, knowing every inch of the castle by heart, even if Xanatos had made some improvements to it, to make sure that it didn't fall of the top of the building.
"You know, five years ago when you told me how old you really were, I never would have believed you without proof. Yet here we are, ascending the steps you once walked. How does it feel?" asked Xanatos, noticing how Naruto ran his free hand along the cold stone, his eyes closed yet never missing a step.
"Like Christmas morning David, it's like Christmas morning."
Arriving at the very top of the castle, Naruto ran his hand along Goliath's stone winds, just as the sun began to set, sinking New York into the black of night. Naruto's heart was currently pounding in his chest, some part of him thinking that it wouldn't work and that all of this had been done for nothing.
"Come on Goliath, don't disappoint me after so long," Naruto whispered to himself as a cold wind blew past both men.
Then, just as Naruto's hope was about to leave him, the stone around Goliath began to crack. The rock suddenly exploded off of him and Goliath roared into the night once more, followed by several others below the. Apparently Goliath hadn't noticed the two humans behind him because he glided down to the lower levels to great what was left of his clan. Casually turning around, both humans walked down a few steps while listening to the Gargoyles celebrating being alive and together again. Then they saw the city beneath them and became horrified.
"Amazing, isn't it Goliath?" asked Naruto walking out of the shadows.
"Naruto?" the leader of the Gargoyles asked, his tone wary just in case this was some sort of trick being played on them.
"Hello old friend, we should all go inside, I suspect that you have many questions."
After arriving in what use to be the great hall, where Naruto had defended Goliath and his mate from the princess's ignorance, Naruto introduced them to David Xanatos. By just looking at the large gargoyle, Naruto could see that Goliath didn't trust Xanatos, and that it was only Naruto's word that kept Goliath from taking back his home, by force if necessary. The traitors of the past had almost completely shattered Goliath's faith in human beings, although Naruto learned that it is simply human nature, with a few exceptions of course.
"How long has it been Naruto?" asked Goliath while the two humans stood by the rather large fireplace, allowing the heat to warm them along with the entire room.
"This may come as a shock old friend, but a thousand years has gone by since that night," Naruto responded walking away from the fire and back towards his old family.
"Naruto here approached me ten years ago when I was just starting my company. He then later told me of your story and his goal of one day freeing all of your from that spell. With a little money and some elbow grease, we completed the restrictions of the spell and now here you all stand," said David casually, although Naruto knew him well enough to know he was extremely fascinated with the ancient creatures before him.
"Restrictions?" the oldest gargoyle among them asked, stepping forward only a few steps.
"The spell was said to end when the castle itself raised above the clouds, not an easy thing to do, even with my own power," Naruto responded.
"What about the eggs, are they safe?" asked the slightly red gargoyle.
"Safe the last I saw of them. The princess told me of Goliath's wish for her to care for them. I stayed behind to make sure no harm would come to any of you while you slept," the old sage said, letting out a tired sigh.
All of this excitement reminded Naruto of the more chaotic times of the last thousand years. That's when Naruto heard it, even if it was still several miles away, a helicopter was currently making its way towards the building and the old sage could even sense the malicious intent from this distance. Someone was coming to take something that didn't belong to them, and David already seemed to be aware of this fact. Naruto didn't much care about what Mr. Xanatos did in his free time, since he was just too old to care, so Naruto would allow David to have his fun.
"Naruto, how have you survived for so long?" asked Goliath, drawing Naruto out of his deep thoughts.
"Roughly three years after that night, I had finally regained enough of my original power to take in natural energy properly, or energy from the Earth itself. By doing so, I was able to slow my aging even more, almost to the point that I don't age at all. In fact, after a thousand years, my body has really only aged about one hour of a normal human," Naruto explained, earning a shocked look from his family.
"So you've, like traveled the world or something?" asked a little yellow gargoyle.
"Indeed, your gargoyle way of protecting others has apparently rubbed off on me. I've spent the last thousand years protecting innocent people and helping those who need it. It wasn't easy to live for so long but it has finally paid off, I now have my family back," Naruto finished, placing his hand on Goliath's shoulder while the large creature of the night did the same.
"Naruto, are we expecting company?" David asked, hearing the sound of a helicopter approaching.
"No," Naruto responded before he suddenly walked out of the room, followed by Xanatos.
"You all would be safer if you stayed in here," said the billionaire said honestly before he continued after Naruto.
The group of gargoyles didn't even have to look at each other to know what they would do next. As one, they walked out to find men in armor pointing strange weapons at both Naruto and David Xanatos. The growl that rumbled out of Goliath's throat was the only warning that these strange people had before the possibly last clan of gargoyles attacked. Goliath was the first to attack, using his powerful legs to launch himself high into the air before landing almost right on top of three of them. One of the strangely dressed men began to fire his weapon at the grey gargoyle, only for Goliath to drop down on all fours and trip the man with his tale.
Naruto himself was casually sidestepping bullets being fired at him like it was nothing. Sure doing this would make him weak for a few hours after the fight but it was great to demoralize your opponent. To make them think that no matter what they do, they can never even hope to stop you. Well this man was no doubt thinking that but Naruto's cane connected with his face put an end to his thoughts, at least until he woke up. In the haze of battle, something that the sage hadn't experienced in some time, Naruto noticed Xanatos get one of the attackers weapons and began firing back at them. Sadly, one of them tackled the man which cause the red beam to hit part of the castle, blowing off rather large chunks of stone, which fell freely to the streets below.
"Goliath, look out!" Naruto yelled, just before a red energy beam blasting the ground right out from under Goliath's feet, sending the creature over the edge and to the streets below.
Running over to the edge, Naruto was glad to see Goliath had caught himself and was now climbing his way back up the building. Having enough of this fight, Naruto's cane suddenly seemed to transform into his old staff and he slammed in harshly into the ground, sending out a familiar invisible force that sent the intruders flying back. This seemed to be just what they wanted because another one of them, who had managed to slip away during the fight, ran out of the castle with a familiar old book, before climbing back into the hovering helicopter, followed by his fellow armed strangers.
"What the hell was that all about?
"Gah, I've never seen weapons like that before, and that flying creature that carried them off!" the brunt red Gargoyle groaned, the fight having taken much more out of him; not to mention they were fighting an enemy that they had no idea how to handle.
"A dragon, without a doubt," stated Goliath's former leader and long time friend.
"I'm afraid you're quite wrong. Humanity had advance much since you were frozen in stone. That was a machine, created by humans, that allows them to travel through the skies with more ease than even a bird," said Naruto as he adjusted his clothing while walking over to his old friends.
"Thank you, all of you. Without you then who knows what those thugs might have done," Xanatos said, his words were a cleaver lie that didn't go unnoticed to Naruto and were barley even believed by Goliath.
"Someone I once trusted said the same things to me and then destroyed my people," it had just occurred to Naruto that, to Goliath, the Gargoyles had no concept of time while they had been stone statues.
"Hm, I can see that I'm going to have to work to gain your trust."
"That being said, David why did those men attack you?" asked Naruto as he turned to face his partner and, in a way, student.
"You should know this by now Naruto, the richer you are the more enemies you have. I'm a very rich man," David said with a bit a arrogents in his tone, only to find himself on the receiving end of Naruto's icy glare.
"Putting all of this aside, Goliath this is your home as well as where I shall be living once more. I hope you'll stay," said Naruto with no lack of hope in his tone; it wasn't every day that you get some old friends back after all.
Goliath paused for a moment, looking around at what had become of the castle his clan had sworn to protect, before looking back down at his second oldest friend. Many things had no doubt changed since they'd gone to sleep all those years ago, but that look in Naruto's eyes was just as it was a thousand years ago. The leader of the Gargoyles had made up his mind in an instant.
"This castle is our home, no matter where it has been taken. We will stay here!"
"Wonderful, I know you've been used porley by men in the past but all that's about to change," David declaired with nor shortage of joy in his voice, but Goliath did not trust the man in the slightest.
"You helped Naruto break the spell that was bound to us and for that we are grateful, but aside from Naruto we shall never trust another human again."