-NARUTO-
-Mugen-
A/N: Thanks for everybody's encouragements. I will, of course, try my best to finish this story. I don't have a clear end for it right now, but I'm sure something will come to me. After all, the story seems to write itself for me.
Gokujin: I'm sorry, that was a stupid mistake. I should've put Tidus's name first. Just to tell you, Jecht will be their last name, and the father will be known only as Jecht-san.
Loki: Laharl will be a ninja, but also a bad-ass demon. Since demons aren't welcomed in the shinobi world (e.g. Kyuubi), his family decided to pass off their demonic powers off as a Bloodline. And I'll be including most, if not all Disgaea characters, and that's including Priere. Probably not Marjoly, though.
Search and Seek and Destroy: Thanks, I was worried I made the crossover-ed characters too much like Mary Sues or something. I haven't gotten to Baal either… Just last week I got Marjoly.
Useless Person: Thanks for the encouragements and for following my story. I hope I won't disappoint.
Hells-fox: The Disgaea characters are going to come in chapter. Hope you like the way I portray them! I don't know Vincent very well, since I never got him in Final Fantasy VII, but if you can supply me with the basic details of his personality, I can probably work him in. Nobody's backgrounds in their actual games really matter in this story anyway.
Sorry I can't reply to the rest of the reviews, but if I do that too much, then it would buff up my word count. And that would feel like cheating. So even though I don't actually write it out, special thanks go out to all my other, non-mentioned reviewers!
Oh, and there will be mentions of a family called Triumphs. Meis Triumph is the hero of a game called Thousand Arms, and I'm not considering calling it a real crossover because he's not that important. (Right now anyway, that might change later though…)
The gates of Yumegakure were finally coming into view. Ramza smiled, it was good to see a familiar sight after so long. Naruto grinned wide, it would be awesome to visit another village!
"This is my village." Sora said to Naruto. "It's a great place, even though it isn't as big as your Konoha. But one day it will be!"
"Don't worry about him." Yuna whispered to Naruto. "He's too full of village pride. Most ninjas we've come across have been offended, but he doesn't mean it."
Naruto was unfazed, still smiling. Cloud came up from behind them, and opened his mouth.
"It's a good thing." Cloud said. "Village pride is a great thing to have. A lack of village pride is the number one cause of missing-nins, you know."
Naruto nodded. Village pride was what kept him going after all those years in the Leaf, after all. He understood.
Cloud nodded at him, and walked in front of the gates.
The double doors weren't as large as in Konoha, maybe half the height and three quarters the width. Two shinobi were posted outside, and both of them Ramza recognized. He pointed them out to Naruto.
"That's Jennifer-san, and that's Gordon-san." Ramza said. "Jennifer-san may look stupid, but she's a qualified genius ninja, and Gordon-san… Well, he's… well, not to be rude, but he's kind of touched in the head. But he makes up for it with pure skill and determination."
"What ho!" The brown-haired man, Gordon, Naruto realized, bellowed. "All who approach the gates of the Hidden Dream and wish to pass must first best the Defender of Yumegakure! After all, it is my duty!"
"Gordon, calm down." The blonde haired shinobi beside him said. She was Jennifer. She turned her head towards the group and smiled. "Please, don't be frightened by him. He's harmless. You're the group that was sent to Konoha, right?"
Cloud stepped forwards and nodded, while Naruto found himself having Gai and Lee flashbacks. Sora smacked him on the back of his head and he snapped out of it.
"Alright then. Sephiroth-sama is waiting for you." She said, and called over the door. A reply came from the other side, and the gates opened slowly. What followed was one of the more unique sights in Naruto's life.
Yumegakure looked like… Well, it looked like Konoha, but there was something magical about it. Naruto didn't know what it was, but there was this special quality about it that made it seem more bright and cheery than the Hidden Leaf. Naruto snapped out of his daze and ran up to rejoin the group.
"Where are we going?" He asked. Yuna, the closest to him, answered.
"We're going to see Sephiroth-sama." Yuna said. "He's to the Hidden Dream your Hokage is to the Hidden Leaf."
"Wow…" Naruto said. "He must be an important person, eh?"
"Of course!" Yuna said. "He was the person who made the Hidden Dream so much more powerful than the rest of the growing ninja villages. He single-handedly upped the education system in the Ninja Academy, and improved basically everything in Yumegakure! And it was only in his short reign of ten years, too."
"Ten years?" Naruto asked. "How old is he?"
"Sephiroth-sama is twenty-one." Cloud replied, and Naruto looked up at him. The stoic man had a different look in his eyes, it was one of… reminiscence. "He became the leader of the Hidden Dream when he was eleven."
"That's… That's amazing!" Naruto was shocked. Even the Yondaime of the Hokages only became Hokage when he was eighteen! This Sephiroth was good…
They suddenly heard an explosion, and the screaming of a young woman.
"GORDON! You're not allowed to bring explosive tags when you're on gate-guarding duty!" Jennifer's voice rang through the air.
"But…but Jennifer! How can I resist! They were on the table, staring back at me with those black markings! Irresistible!"
Ramza sighed, home sweet home.
Naruto grinned, he could get used to life here.
Yuna sighed, she would probably get called back by her father for Summoning lessons again. She wanted to spend some time with Naruto-san, get to know him.
Sora grinned, after this he was going to get a bowl of udon! And maybe he'd force Naruto to come as well, teach him the right path, y'know.
Cloud sighed, this was one of the most interesting missions in weeks. He was sad to see it finish so fast. Oh well, who would be the designated Jounin for the Konoha Genin team while they were at it?
Sakura grinned, maybe she could use this chance to apologize to Naruto and set things for the better!
"Sephiroth-sama is ready to see you two." A Chuunin said as they came in. "Only one of the teams may proceed at once. Who will go first?"
Naruto looked around, there were no volunteers. Oh well, he had always been the one to take initiative anyway.
"I'll go!" Naruto cried. "I mean, my team will go!"
"Very well, please come on in." The Chuunin said, and opened the door with a smile.
Naruto was taken back, and then he realized why the village was so different.
Nobody looked at him with cold eyes. Everybody here looked at him and saw one of their own.
He could definitely get used to this.
Suddenly, Ramza came forwards, gesturing towards Sakura and Naruto to enter the door. They went in, and found themselves in an office.
There was a large wooden desk, and some papers on top. Three chairs stood in front of the desk, and behind the desk was a window and the most impressive man they had ever seen in their lives.
He was large, and handsome. A full head of silver hair framed his face, and strands of it fell to his waist, maybe even more. It was hard to tell with him sitting down. He was wearing a black robe, with intricate designs on it. This man commanded attention, no wonder he was considered so important.
Naruto gulped. This guy's Chakra was on the level of those two Akatsuki guys that came after him.
Sakura dimly wondered why Naruto was so apprehensive. From what she could tell this guy was just an all-talk type. (She didn't hear the conversation between Yuna and Naruto, folks!)
Ramza saluted.
"At ease." The man, Sephiroth, Naruto guessed. "So you two are the Genins from the Hidden Leaf. I'm impressed." He looked over them, and Naruto felt like his entire soul was being scanned.
"Abnormally high Chakra, but you, however…" He glanced in Sakura's direction.
"…You need some help. No offence of course. We have great training facilities here, but perhaps not as good as Konoha's. Welcome to Yumegakure. My name is Beoulve Sephiroth."
Beoulve… So he was a part of the same clan as Ramza.
"Uzumaki Naruto, sir!" Naruto said, and grinned. Sephiroth stared at him for a little bit, and his lips curved upwards at the end, as if he was resisting the urge to smile.
"He—Haruno Sakura, of the Leaf." Sakura said, and the man nodded. She was a little lacking in confidence.
"Thank you." Sephiroth said. "As you are aware, you have been sent here from the Leaf as temporary shinobi. That means while you stay here, you will be seen as ninjas of the Leaf. But if you are to leave the village on a mission, you are to wear the Dream forehead protector. You do know why."
Naruto was confused, but Sakura knew instantly.
"While we are here, we belong to your village temporarily. But we are from another village, so there is a difference. That's why in the village, we are to wear our Konoha headbands." Sakura said. Sephiroth gestured for her to continue. "But while we deal with other villages and places, we are to be seen as shinobi of your village, that's why we have to wear the Yumegakure headbands, is that right, sir?"
Sephiroth was pleasantly surprised. So the girl was pretty smart. When he had seen the girl he had instantly written her off for a hopeless case, but it seemed his predictions were wrong. She was weak, right now, but with a bit of guidance, she had the potential to become strong.
"That's right… Sakura-san, is it?" Sephiroth asked. "You seem to have quite a head on your shoulders there."
Sakura blushed.
"Very well, that main reason I have called you here today is to make sure of your loyalties to both our village and yours." Sephiroth said. "But I don't see the point of that. If we are to ask you, being shinobi, it would be easy for you to lie. So we'll just get to the next thing, receiving your Hidden Dream forehead protectors."
He snapped his fingers, and called in a clear voice.
"Yuffie!" He called. "Come in!"
A young Chuunin burst in from the doorway, almost knocking over a vase on her way in. She flushed a little, embarrassed, but Sephiroth waved it off.
"Yuffie, supply the Konoha nins with our headguards." He said in monotone. Yuffie nodded happily and energetically.
"That's Yuffie." Ramza said to Naruto and Sakura. "She's the number one most energetic ninja in the Hidden Dream. That's why she stayed a Chuunin. She's too impatient in combat."
"Well, I'm happy where I am. Hi!" She said, giving both Naruto and Sakura their forehead protectors. "I've never seen ninjas from other countries before… Since you'll be staying here for a while, why don't we get to know eachother? My name's Yuffie Kisaragi, and yours?"
"Uzumaki Naruto! The future Hokage!" The blonde Genin puffed up his chest. Sakura shook her head.
"Haruno Sakura." She said, reaching a hand out. Yuffie shook it and giggled.
"Nice to meet you Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun!" Yuffie said. "I've got to go now though, I still haven't finished the paperwork that Sephiroth-sama asked me to do."
"I'm right here, you know." The silver-haired man said, right behind the energetic Chuunin. "You might want to finish that now. The deadline's tomorrow."
"What? I thought it was next week!" Yuffie cried, alarmed. She quickly scrambled out, leaving the box of forehead protectors on the table.
Sephiroth sighed as he ushered the Genins out of his office. Why did he keep that girl as his secretary anyway?
As Naruto walked out of the room with Ramza and Sakura by his side, he surveyed the Yumegakure headband. He had never paid attention to the symbol before, and now he was.
At first glance the symbol seemed to be a comet racing across the front, but if you looked close enough at it, there seemed to be some writing. It was pretty hard to make out, however.
Sakura gulped and tapped Naruto on the shoulder. It was now or never.
"What?" Naruto turned around, facing her. Ramza knew instantly that this was private, and turned his attention on navigating the hallways.
"Umm… Do you think, maybe, we can go and have some ramen later?" Sakura asked. "I kind of want to talk to you about… something."
Naruto blinked, "Ramen? Sure!" And he smiled that stupid fox grin of his, and Sakura felt her worries fall from her shoulder and onto the floor.
Sakura smiled. Well, there was one advantage being a friend of Naruto had over being a friend of Sasuke.
Naruto was much more forgiving.
Ramza smiled. Oh, he had tried not to eavesdrop, of course. But it was so easy!
Naruto walked out of the ramen bar, completely satisfied. The ramen here was almost better than Ichiraku, almost. He had patched up relations with Sakura, and the whole time Ramza was playing a card game called Triple Triad against another guy. He had won three cards, and Naruto had taken a peek at them. One of them had the image of a girl wearing practically nothing, and was labeled 'Succubus'. Another one had a picture of a little penguin thing, labeled 'Prinny'. The last card had a picture of a cat/girl hybrid, and on it was written 'Kit Cat'. From Ramza's happy expression, he could tell that they were pretty rare.
"Where are we going now?" It was noon, and they had just finished lunch. They had arrived in the village in the morning.
"Oh, we're going to pick up unique weapons for you two." Ramza said, looking through his Triple Triad card binder. "The place we're going to is the best. Even the Beoulve Clan goes there from time to time to get their swords fixed."
"That means they've gotta be pretty good!" Naruto grinned. He had gathered that the Beoulve clan was like the Uchiha clan, the best of the village. Except unlike Sasuke, who was a total bastard, the heir to the Beoulve throne, Ramza, was a total softy.
"Yeah, they're great." Ramza agreed. "Once, when the Chaos Blade got a crack in it and the demon souls were about to get out, only the Triumph Blacksmiths were able to fix it."
"They're called the Triumph?" Sakura asked.
"Well, that's their family name." Ramza said. "Meis Triumph took over the smithy last year. He's the best Triumph Blacksmith yet. Don't worry, you two. He'll be able to make something for both of you."
"If you say so…" Naruto said.
They came to a small building that looked deceptively run-down. A small crooked plate hang on the front door, indicating the 'Triumph Smithy'. Ramza pulled open the front door, and walked in.
They walked through the building until they came across a door. Sakura and Naruto both knew instantly it was something special. The door was new, and not as dirty and decrepit as the rest of the building. Ramza opened it, and they walked in.
Have you ever heard of one of those fairy tales where the ugly girl just gets turned into a beautiful princess? Yeah, Naruto don't want to resort to unmasculine stuff like that, but that was the only way to describe it.
The actual smithy, with the forge and the anvil and stuff, looked like something out of a palace. Everything was marble, silver, and gold. There was a boy who looked around two years older than them, who was utilizing a hammer and pounding punishing blows onto the axe that was laid across the anvil.
"Meis!" Ramza called, and the black-haired, goggled boy turned around and faced the group. He raised his goggles to his forehead, and gave a bright smile at the group.
"Ramza! You brought the Konoha nins, right?" He asked. "Sephiroth-sama already told me about you two, don't worry about it. I can find the perfect weapon for anybody."
"Yeah, they're here and ready to get started inmmediately." Ramza said. "Don't worry, it'll tingle a little, but nothing's going to happen to you."
"So you people ready?"
Naruto and Sakura nodded, and Meis grinned. He started making seals, and what followed was a long length of funny and different seals that Naruto had never seen in his life.
"Spirit Materialize no Jutsu!" Meis said, and did the last seal. Then he pulled out two blank scrolls and put them on the anvil. Naruto noted that his hands were glowing.
"Alright, come over here, fox-boy." Naruto walked forward. Meis put one of his glowing hands on the boy's chest. "This jutsu will scan your soul, and my left hand will automatically draw down whatever it is that my right hand feels."
Naruto nodded, and the blue Chakra on Meis's hand suddenly burst forward, and into Naruto. It didn't hurt, in fact, it felt kind of like… well, you know, when you wake up in the morning and don't feeling like getting up? Yeah, that kind of fuzzy feeling.
Naruto saw Meis's left hand start to move, holding a pencil. His hand went at an inhuman pace, scribbling on the page with demonic dexterity and speed.
After a few minutes, the blue Chakra returned to Meis's right hand, and his left hand stopped its insane drawing. Without Meis's hand in the way, Naruto could see what had been drawn down.
It was a sword, and guessing from the calculations made around the page, it was around three quarters the size of Cloud's Buster Blade. On the blade was an intricate design of a fox howling at the moon. At the end of the blade where the handle ended were two fox tails.
"I've never seen a design quite like this in my life…" Meis said, staring down at it. "A blade requiring organic parts. I can still do it, but where can I get the fox tails…"
"Do you have to add them?" Naruto asked. He really didn't want the image of Kyuubi affecting his weapon.
"Yes." Meis said. "Your sword is not complete without every single detail on this page. I'll go get one of my friends to do the designs… He's good at that…"
Ramza nodded to Naruto.
"Let Sakura go now."
"So, what does your weapon look like?" Naruto asked the pink-haired kunoichi as they exited the smithy.
"I got a rapier or something." Sakura answered. "There seems to be a lot of cherry blossoms on the design. It's supposed to be used for thrusting and stabbing."
Ramza nodded.
"Rapiers are foreign swords that can't cut very well. They are only sharpened at the tip, but they can be very deadly in fast enough hands." Ramza explained.
"Sakura can do it, she's fast!" Naruto said, grinning.
Sakura waved it off, embarrassed. Ramza smiled at the interaction between the two, before turning back to the road. There he stopped. Naruto and Sakura looked in front of him, wondering why they had stopped.
A blue-haired boy and a girl blocked their way. The boy was wearing shinobi clothing, except all the black was accompanied by some red. The girl was wearing an incredibly form-fitting kimono.
"Laharl-san, Etna-san, w—what a surprise to see you here!" Ramza blurted out. Naruto could tell he was nervous.
"Shut it, pipsqueak." The boy, Laharl, Naruto guessed, called. Faintly, Naruto wondered how much hair gel the kid had to use every day to keep it that way! "Your Jounin leader sent us here as messengers to tell you, he wants to see your team at Training Area 12."
"H—Hai, thanks you, Laharl-san." Ramza said, and steered Naruto and Sakura away from the duo. "Good day!"
They raced out of sight.
"God, what a wuss…" Etna said, taking her spear, the Longinus, from her back and making a few stabbing motions at where the trio had disappeared.
"That boy is not who he seems…" Laharl noted.
"Who? The Ramza kid?" Etna asked.
"No, the boy with the red Chakra so similar to our own Youki…" Laharl said. "He's hiding something, I can feel it."
A/N: Love it, hate it? No action this chapter… I'm just introducing some of the new characters and Yumegakure to you guys.
