Chapter 2
Title: Inhaler

"Naruto kun…"

A young Hinata ran through the woods; clad in a high collared sweater as she navigated her way through the snowing forest. Naruto followed behind also clad in a sweater of his, an orange scarf tied around his neck. Together they moved, both smiling without a care in the world.

"My world is yours" Naruto whispered.

He was happy here; he didn't care about how real the moment was. He couldn't say he knew everything about her, but deep down the feeling in his heart was genuine. She was a woman like no other, her beauty was beyond exotic, her eyes displayed the upmost care and affection.

"I love you Naruto-kun" Through the winter winds and falling snow, Naruto heard the angelic voice of his lover, it was but a whisper, but he would hear her voice even in her dreams.

"Let's run. Let's stay together ... Forever ... "Naruto whispered, his feet keeping the pace but it was begging to feel as if he was slowing down. He was starting to feel the cold winter breeze, it was getting too cold.

He couldn't continue any longer. His breath had become heavy and he couldn't stop himself from coughing uncontrollably. The cold was tearing deep into his skin. Hinata had stopped her running, a concerned look adorned her face as she held his hand and rubbed him on his back as he coughed.

"Naruto kun... Naruto kun" she uttered in concern. Naruto's face had lost all its color.

"You're going to be okay… You'll be okay "He closed his eyes to the pain while listening to her soft whispers. It was really cold, so cold that he couldn't breathe but Hinata was here with him, he was in her arms. Deep down he knew that she would keep him safe.

'Please don't go away' He could feel her presence begin to slip away.

Don't go… Don't go... Please stay… Naruto wanted so desperately to speak up, but the more he tried to, the more intense the cold became. He couldn't think of a way to lessen the pain, all he wanted was her. Where could she be going ...? Where have you gone? He tried desperately, summoning courage and power, and then a whisper finally came out.

"Hinata" Naruto's eye slowly opened to the real world. It was indeed cold. Drop after drop, he could feel rain continue to drench him. For the first time in a long time, he could truly feel what was real. The cold was real.

He shivered, his glowing blue eyes stood out in the darkness of the night, above him he could make out the outline of a woman. A very powerful presence indeed, but Naruto couldn't be bothered by that now. He felt so much pain, his body screamed at him.

He was in distress.

The skies were weeping, a familiar visage to last sights his world presented to him. A world of warriors that was conquered in a blink. Perhaps, if he held the powers of Sage of the six path's eye, things would have been different, but he knew he was clawing at a box of improbable realities.

'What's done is done' Naruto thought. The pain of losing his people stung even harder than quantifiable, he would forever be reminded of a world of hopes and dreams that faded like just faces through time.

Naruto felt cold, his heart was empty, it felt as if his reason and resolve were vanishing slowly as he breathed. He spent so much of his childhood trying to strengthen and solidify the bond with his friends. He chased after Sasuke for so long and now all he had was the warm embrace of his lover.

But even she was gone now…

Truly all alone in this new world.

Where had she gone?

"I will find you my love…. "Naruto whispered under the rain, the cold in his chest didn't let up in the slightest, after all, he was under a storm. The winds were unforgiving and they carried each droplet of the rain with a wicked force. It felt almost as if their beating against his flesh could result in a flesh wound.

Why was the rain so heavy though? It felt as if the skies were mourning the fallen comrades of his world.

"You should get up" The voice of the woman that stood over him rang out suggestively, but with a very commanding tone. For a brief moment he wondered who she was and why she felt so different. He couldn't quite wrap his head around her presence but even through the cold, he felt a bit obliged to answer her but he felt frozen.

The cold was deep inside his body, effects of the chakra absorption still plagued his body deep into his bones. Chakra absorption through sage mode was truly a fascinating ability with unceremonious drawbacks. From the unsettling feeling of being exceedingly powerful to being reduced to a comatose state.

But this power still flowed through his veins.

He squeezed his eyes shut in concentration, letting the chakra flowing through his veins take on a more heated nature resulting in the rise of steam from his skin as each drop of rain collided with his form. He felt warmer now, but on the outside, his skin raged to a boiling point so severe that the rain droplets became steam even before coming in contact with his skin.

This was the Boil Release.

Irene watched as Naruto slowly got to his feet, no look of surprise on her face as steam came off Naruto's body, he was shirtless, leaving his upper body visible and she would notice the change in him almost instantly.

Unlike a few seconds ago when he lay on the ground with a lost and faraway look in his eyes, now he had a little semblance to life. Perhaps it was because of the steam, she had tended to him during his comatose phase and felt just how cold his skin was.

The man felt dead and she knew his body was beyond repair. Yet after applying enchantments after enchantments, it seemed to have strengthen him enough to pull him out of his comatose state and as if she wasn't impressed enough, she watched as he seemingly grabbed a long bandage out of thin air, its entirety wrapping slowly around his right arm as he rolled the material down his shoulder to his fingers.

Perhaps someone else would be fooled but she knew this man was in excruciating pain.

She looked at him, a very amused look in her eyes as she wondered how he was going to respond what she had to say.

"You are in debt and Lord Spriggan tells me you have sworn alliance to his cause"

Naruto didn't seem too concerned with her words; he however noticed the impending danger approaching them.

"We might have to leave before the beast comes our way" Irene regarded Naruto. Truth to her words giant laser beams plunged almost immediately into the raining landscape from a distance away, scattering and tearing into the land. Naruto could feel loss as seconds passed, lives were being lost and even from the distance, he could almost make our screams of despair.

He stared down at the ground, looking intently at the space travel array that he had carved into the land all the way from Konoha, an array of complex seal matrixes that he had used to travel to this dimension, an experience that had left him on deaths door and yet he couldn't shake the compulsion he felt towards helping those that screamed in despair.

Naruto's eyes Narrowed, he could feel the very length and wide grip his intricate seal had on the land. The land was barred in it, spreading to several kilometers, he knew very well that whatever destruction was being wrought was within the radius.

This was spacetime Senjutsu created with bijuu chakra and nature energy and its was barred into the land. Just like his Fathers Hiraishin, Naruto understood that he could be present in any part of his seal giant seal matrix and in a split second, he vanished.

Irene sighed. She wasn't sure of what to make of the man that Lord Spriggan asked her to heal, she didn't know enough and care enough to bother for his safety, all she had to do was wait for his return after all The Beast as she had regarded it as was another pathetic attempt of Lord Spriggan ending his own life. Even if he was the most gifted Wizard she had come across, he had a habit of creating pathetic beasts. Sometimes they were mountain tall, other times they could be humanoid but the fact remains that they posed no threat to their creator, much less a wizard such as herself.

If she so much as glanced in its direction it would die screaming in agony, for this reason she decided to stay out of their way, that much she could do for Zeref.

"I'll be waiting for you here". She held her staff tighter. Watching the destruction in the distance didn't bring her pleasure or pain, but the rain drops and cold wind almost feel good against her skin.

'I'll be here'

Naruto materialized in thin air only to watch as a large wooden building would become engulfed in flames, a second later a white energy beam would obliterate it in its entirety. He immediately fell on his knees, coughing out blood as his body screamed at him for travelling in such a manner.

His senses alerted him to the heat and bloodlust permeating his surrounding, corpses littered the burning fields that he landed himself in, houses and people dislodged and dislocated in an unforgiving manner. He knew that there were almost no survivors of this onslaught and the thought irked at him and caused his fragile heart to beat rapidly as he extended his senses in search for even if just one living person.

No one

So much destruction. Naruto thought to himself, was there a misunderstanding? was there a meaning to this needless slaughter? He wished he had answers and as if a higher power had granted him his wishes, he would notice eyes boring into him.

Wiping droplets of blood on his lips, Naruto stood upright staring at the visage of a giant dark beast and when he looked into its eyes, he would see absolutely no meaning to its existence.

'Just a mindless beast' Naruto muttered in silence as the beasts opened up its mouth; a bright beam of energy rapidly forming inside as Naruto sighed. The impeding danger was apparent, cautioning him to prepare himself for whatever it could throw. His fists clenching as he looked up at the beast before him, the energy in its mouth glowing bright enough to illuminate the blood smeared sickening canines, its eyes glared dangerously and its face was almost humanoid.

'Hinata, we are in a new world, a world where monsters without purpose roam, one where there is a strange power in the air and beings with considerable power, and yet, I stare a mindless tool of destruction in its face…'

He stretched an arm out, a yellow ball of chakra forming just as quickly as the beam of light left the beasts mouth tearing through the distance between itself and Naruto and slamming directly into Naruto's outstretched hand.

A resounding impact could be felt all over, and yet no dust. Perhaps sense did not elude the gigantic monster because it stared dumbfoundedly at the strange scene. A murderous laser beam and a small ball of energy colliding and fighting for dominance and immediately, the laser beam would get sucked into the yellow ball. Now all that could be heard was just the sound of a swirling ball of energy being amped up.

Naruto grimaced, harbored in his outstretched arm was now a pale-yellow sparking and swirling ball of dangerously condensed energy. As Naruto stared at the beast, his vision wavered; he was beginning to see double.

Truly he wasn't in the best shape of his life. He could feel his heart beating, so unstable. All the power and will holding him together was now being concentrated in his left arm as he held on to the Rasengan.

He felt almost sorry for the beast at this point, weak as he was, and strong as he had ever been, he had taken out most of his enemies with a very familiar ball of energy, but most had been evil men. This was just a beast with no mind.

A mindless animal that had to be put down…

"I hope you don't feel pain" Naruto whispered right before another laser beam would threaten to collide into his form. He appeared directly behind the towering beast in an instant, away from its path of destruction, his free arm crossed into a ram seal as he muttered "Earth Style, Dark Swamp".

Quick as the words left his mouth, the beasts form began sinking into the earth, its struggles being all for naught as Naruto's power was indeed overwhelming. It receded straight into the earth swamp only stopping when its torso got to ground level.

Naruto stared at the beast, cutting the jutsu off to walk on the muddy swamp. He now stood close to the beast, a hint of sadness in his eyes as he saw it begin charging up another much bigger energy beam.

So much desperation.

The beast attempted to slam Naruto into the swamp with its massive fists only for Naruto to appear elsewhere. Its desperation paying off the wrong way as its hands got stuck in the swamp and no matter how hard it pulled and trashed around, they weren't getting out.

Naruto looked around, almost no traces of civilization could be seen anymore because he had indeed sunk the town with the beast, and what remained was staring down at him, with a glowing focused laser beam in its mouth, even after sinking its lower body, the beast still towered over him.

Naruto didn't feel the need to play another energy collision game, especially when the result of the previous game was resounding insanely in his right arm, and he didn't feel like his body will allow him.

'There's no need to fight anymore.' Naruto muttered, and immediately the beasts throat would spill open and blood would begin gushing out rapidly as the beast's screams filled the air even louder than the Rasengan in his hand. Naruto put his left hand down, wisps of yellow chakra vanishing from it.

He had cut open the beast's throat in the blink of an eye with wind chakra in his left arm. The laser in its mouth was now being fired rapidly in every possible direction as the beast wailed in agony. Naruto whispered to it,

"Humans, Gods, Monsters and the demons, I wonder which I am today, but what is clear…."

"Is what you are today "He pushed the Rasengan slowly into the beast's chest, listening as the screams of the beast died down into the overwhelming strength and noise of chakra colliding into flesh and ripping it apart. There was now nothing other than a large gaping hole in the chest of the beast.

And all that remained of the town was nothing other than the agony of dying that was plastered perfectly unto the beast's face.

A strange sensation overcame Naruto, his body on high alert as he felt a very powerful presence. He looked up towards the sky, his eyes widening as a giant eye stared back at him and before he could move a muscle, the skies had cleared up.

'Such a strange land' Naruto whispered to himself before getting on both knees and closing his eyes for a moment before whispering "Please find peace… "; and then he disappeared.

Immediately he appeared beside the red-haired woman. His breathing becoming faster and faster as he fell to his knees, his right hand covering his mouth as he coughed blood. His body was shutting down rather quickly.

'So pathetic' Irene thought as she looked down on his kneeling form, she could feel power circulating within this man's veins, and yet even a little show of it caused him to go through so much. And even as second passed, his strength and all that power were slowly receding.

His imprint on reality was fading slowly.

She held her hand out, contemplating on if perhaps lending some of her powers to aid him was worth the stress. She had done it once already, not because she was instructed by the Emperor, but because she wanted to see what Zeref found so intriguing about a mere mortal.

He didn't exactly meet up to her expectations.

"I guess this is where your story ends …. "Irene spoke, her voice was cold.

Behind the cold demeanor, deep down she wondered why someone who wasn't certain about his own survival would engage one of Zeref's demons. Did he know he was going to die? He could have simply let the beast continue its rampage. Ultimately, his humanity and empathy were his down fall.

So familiar and so human.

Irene smiled; she didn't know there were people with pure souls still out there. This man was a prime example. He had successfully reminded her of that woman that birthed the Dragon Slaying Magic because she wanted to protect her people.

Even if her existence now highlighted a recipe of destruction and disaster, she couldn't help but wonder if she would one day get to be human again. Humans were obviously not the purest of creatures; they scorned their own and turned their backs on those only trying to protect them but still; she couldn't stop the longing she felt to one day be human again.

To feel.

This stranger that she had been tasked with healing had managed to steer so many feelings without even uttering a word to her.

She was prepared to leave his side because deep down, this man reminded her of who she used to be before she became the Scarlet Despair. Nobody liked being weighed down by thinking of what could have been.

Perhaps if things played out differently, she would have….

It's pointless

She turned her back, staff in her hand, but before she could take a step, she heard the man speak.

"is this a fitting end for me, a man with the power to change everything and yet couldn't save his people…. Couldn't save her" Naruto's voice was weak.

She paused, taking in his words.

"Do you want a swift death?" She resonated with his words. At some point also, she wasn't able to do much while her people suffered. Perhaps she and this man held a connection through similar events but it doesn't change much. He was on his way to a swift death.

"Can I die?" Naruto answered, so unsure. He felt his chakra coils constricting so slowly as he breathed, his body was shutting down, but was he really going to die?

Irene on the other hand pondered, she slowly turned around and stretched her hand out again. This time she bent to her keens, running her fingers down Naruto's hair before touching his cheeks with her gloved hand.

Naruto's lips were red from coughing blood, he was week, but right now, he could only stare inside Irene's eyes. Her eyes reminded him of something so primal, and her touch felt weird. He was in the presence of an entity of unknown origins and he could feel her power as her fingers grazed his cheeks.

He could feel HER, ….

"Please, help me live …." Naruto whispered and Irene's eyes widened.

He brought his hand up to his face slowly, placing his hand on Irene's gloved hand. With a pained grunt, he applied wind chakra, ripping the fabric away from her hand to reveal scaly clawed fingers.

Irene could see the warmth in his eyes as he looked at her clawed hand.

Surely the man was different than any she had come across. Even more so than the Emperor.

She watched as consciousness left his eyes. His eyelids closed slowly as his skin became even paler. He was now no different from any other corpse. As she watched, she would hear him utter a final whisper.

"I don't want to die ".

"I …. "Irene whispered, unsure of what to say. She stared at her clawed hand feeling a little sting, parts of the glove fabric remained on her hand from its tearing, her fingers felt cold.

For the first time in a long time, she felt something from a human.

Perhaps maybe she and this man had a connection, after all, he reminded her so much of her humanity. Maybe for that reason she could help him wake up again. Maybe there is more to this human.

The strong and the weak. Irene pondered.

Life had always been about the strong, those who have the power to affect every decision and outcome, they who manipulated others' lives like a puppeteer. It didn't really matter how strong people are, an overwhelming force could change the tides of their lives in an instant.

There could be peace this moment, and the next moment there could be war.

A village was destroyed only few minutes ago, those people, dead and gone. Innocent as they were, it didn't mean a lot in the face of the beast. She had been become a rampaging beast several times already, raging and destroying property and life all in the name of the Spriggan.

Human live was fleeting, she could take it, she was in the process of giving it, but she could never have it given back to her.

So maybe for that reason ... Irene paused, "The Spriggan is everything to me now. But maybe having you around will give me a little something more to look forward to". She felt strange, whispering to a corpse wasn't something she went around doing all the time, but she needed this…

"I don't feel a lot of things, I'm not a human like you are, but" She touched his skin with her clawed hand feeling the smoothness.

"Maybe I can watch you … "Irene finished. Her staff glowing scarlet as an enchanted horse appeared to her side. She lifted Naruto's form and placed him on the magical creature. She looked around her, inspecting the land one more time before leaving.

It was cloaked heavily in Naruto's unique energy signature, and she saw him teleport kilometers across the field. She could only guess that he held some kind of ability to cover impressive distances by responding to the runes covering the land.

This was his field.

It probably wouldn't do anyone any good to battle a man on his own turf. Home advantage was sometimes overly exaggerated but other times, it proved to be just what it is.

Advantage.

"Very well then." She looked at Naruto's form on the horse, 'When you wake, you'll tell me what your name is, but…'

"By the way, I am Irene…"

"Irene Belserion … let me take you on a voyage to another land ".

Irene walked at a pace worthy of elegant praise, she didn't seem to walk too fast, neither did she walk slowly, but she covered great distances several times faster than any great mage under the Earth Land banner.

She tried to distract herself with the journey but her mind wondered to the implications of the blond man's arrival. Her eye glanced at his form, he was saddled on the magical horse she had summoned, clearly passed out, definitely in his own little world.

The man possessed human traits that she had long admired, he had a zeal to protect people against unnecessary violence. Earlier in her life, she wanted to protect humans and dragons alike, but that decision had caused her to device a method of slaying dragons.

Going down that path had turned her into the "Irene" of today, a woman who not only tried to protect what was sacred, but a woman who had been scorned by her own people. Her views on humans had drastically been altered ever since, but she always knew that there were few left, with a view and resolve so powerful, that it could shake the very foundations of reality.

The mother of dragon slayers, Irene scoffed. Doomed to walk this world as a cursed entity, no emotions, pain was her only partner. So perhaps, her efforts in Zeref's war can be excused because she felt nothing from it. She was neither happy, nor was she in sorrow as she struck down the Emperors foes. Her existence was truly cursed.

Such was the fate of all other dragon slayers. Their hearts become steel as they realize that their humanity is slowly slipping away. The joy they once had, the thrilling taste of food, the feeling and emotion attached to seeing another, the love and longing towards lovers.

How pathetic.

Irene could almost feel nothing. Even when she brushed her hand on the enchanted horse that carried the blond man, she barely felt the smoothness of its hairy mane. Her hands were almost like steel, clawed like the dragon that she had become, stronger than skin of the those she tried to protect. Almost a marvel, but she didn't want this, she had lost her softness, literally and figuratively.

Naruto was sweating now.

How strange, the weather had changed drastically, from the thunder clouds, to scorching heat. She couldn't really tell how hot, but judging from the beads sweat rolling down Naruto's face, she could tell that it was pretty hot but it wasn't really a bad thing because with the new development, she had become positive that she wasn't dragging a corpse around.

She wasn't sure if she could perform another miraculous enchantment in such a small time and heal Naruto back to health, not without some time to prepare and some trial and error, a very consuming process. But hopefully, she wouldn't have to bother with it, because she wasn't taking him back to Alakitasia. She was taking him to a different place entirely.

To the old world.

A place that almost no one knew about, except for its inhabitants. A place where humans would hardly be thrilled to venture into. The world of the dragon slayers that turned into beasts. They called it something else though.

"The waiting world ".

Why? Because they were all tired of being beasts, so every day they lived, they lived praying that "He" would one day stumble upon their location and rain down a terror so cataclysmic, that it would rid the world of their pitiful existence.

That was their dream, but while they wanted to die so badly, they also wanted to rid the world of "Him", so maybe they were doing the world a favor, or maybe they were cowards for not accepting who they were, but it mattered not to Irene. She couldn't take the high horse here, because even she was tired of her cursed existence.

But she wasn't here to die with the rest. She was here to find the Healer.

She placed her hand on her stomach, running her fingers in circles, and then she glanced at the sweating blond mystery.

"Perhaps we'll be lucky enough and He won't find that place out just yet, because If the black dragon stumbles upon us …." She paused, a grin spreading across her face.

"It may not be a very pleasant experience but regardless, this journey must be made".

From the weeping skies, to the scorching lands, the battle for Naruto's consciousness continues but he no longer fights alone. He doesn't know this woman, neither does he know the atrocities she has committed but he saw the look in her eyes, the loneliness is a scar that can be recognized by every familiar.

Goals and dreams are essential to existence, but in their absence, one must seek a more fulfilling source of sanity. Once upon a time Uzumaki Naruto had dreams and once upon a time, he was fulfilled by that alone but quickly as one feels at peace, the tides could immediately be changed.

Irene walked the path; the Waiting world was now in sight and Naruto's survival no longer seemed like a convenient tale told to children. She could feel the dark draconic presence saturating her vicinity and she immediately felt that something was wrong.

The further she walked, the more she heard the cries and screams of humans and dragons alike. She cursed under her breath and gripped her staff tighter as she came to a stop, her enchanted horse also stopping.

She couldn't have guessed that the black dragon would stumble upon the waiting world so soon. It wasn't exactly a place one finds on a whim, but perhaps, Dragons were the exceptions to that claim. Afterall, she had discovered its existence before so what could possibly stop another more stronger Dragon Slayer from doing the same?

The screams got louder and louder; the human screams were no doubt from the dragon slayers that never got the chance to transform. Dying without getting the chance to really fight. It seemed kind of surreal, for one being to go into a nest of Dragon Slayers, a nest of beings that had the ability to transform into Dragons when they pleased, this was an ability greater than what any one human could dream of.

"Dragon Slayer Magic" Irene uttered. "I brought on a very evil and sinister change to this world." She looked up noticing that the sun was setting, the path after her was densely hidden by big trees, so she couldn't tell what was happening. All she could hear and feel were the tremors, the screams, the terror.

When you become a full-fledged Dragon Slayer with the ability to transform into a Dragon, your life was no longer dictated by the rules that applied to humans. You no longer felt pain like you used to and most important, time becomes a new concept to you.

Perhaps you could say that one loses the ability to "age" but regardless, Humans, Dragons and everything residing the Earth knew deep inside them that death is unescapable.

Irene glanced to her back, maybe she could avoid a confrontation and walk away but she knew it, that was a childish thought because Afterall, the screams had died down. She could feel a powerful presence walking through the bushes, right in the middle of the dense cover of trees, and out emerged a being she had never had the misplaced pleasure of laying her eyes on.

A dark-skinned man with long dark blue spiky hair. The self-proclaimed king of Dragons.

Acnologia.