SPEAK

BALANCE MUST BE RESTORED

Yes

yes

Yes

AT WHAT COST

YOU FELT IT

You feel it

EXISTENCE ABOVE ALL

threatened

Preservation

We

WHATEVER IT TAKES

Yes

yes

Yes


The sunlight filtered through the crevices above, the rays bathing his still form in a comforting warmth. Before even opening his eyes, he was acutely aware of the dull, throbbing pain wracking his entire body; no doubt the damage from the impact still in the process of healing. Reluctant as he was to do so, Naruto remained still, deciding to use the moment of reprieve to survey his surroundings as best he could from his restrictive position.

It didn't take very long to figure out someone must've found him while he was unconscious.

There was a small fire crackling nearby. A clay pot hung from a makeshift, wooden tripod above it, steam rising lazily from its simmering contents. The jinchūriki figured if whoever found him was relaxed enough to prepare a meal without first restraining him, they most likely weren't hostile. With no immediate danger to worry about, he relaxed, closing his eyes and focusing his attention inward, somewhat surprised his partner wasn't already gloating about saving his life yet again.

'Give it to me straight, doc', will I ever walk again?' he jokingly asked the tailed beast.

He expected to hear at least the usual snide retort, but received no answer.

'…Kurama? You there?'

The lack of response shouldn't have been worrying; more often than not, the fox was either asleep or chose to outright ignore him when he was particularly cranky… but something about that silence didn't sit well with Naruto.

As if in answer, a searing pain suddenly lanced through his abdomen.

It took only a moment for the dots to connect, and an unsettling feeling began to mount in the pit of his stomach when they did. Ignoring his protesting limbs, he forced himself upright, his movements becoming erratic and panicked as dread began to flood his system.

Usually deft hands fumbled with the zipper of his jacket for a moment before ripping the tattered fabric apart altogether and revealing the seal inscribed upon his stomach.

It was open.

The usual swirl pattern was replaced by a black circle, the magatama on the bottom now resting above.

His mind began to race.

How? Why? Why was the seal open? Could it even be open with him still alive? Where was his partner? Before he knew it, his breathing became rapid and shallow, his heart nearly beating out of his chest as the edges around his vision began to blur and –

'No.'

He couldn't allow panic to take hold of him; not now.

Just as he had been taught, he began to impose his will on every last cell of his body, forcing his shallow breathing to even, his rapid heartbeat to slow and his shaking hands to still. The glade around him ceased to exist, only his self remaining.

'Calm down,' he ordered himself, 'breathe.'

In…

…out.

In…

…out.

In…

"You are awake."

A voice cut through his meditation; distinctly feminine with an odd, metallic ring to it.

The jinchūriki whirled around, dumbstruck by the sight that greeted him. It was a woman, though it seemed more like a statue of solid silver come to life. The entirety of her body seemed to be a glossy, grey metal hidden for the most part behind a white suit, the fabric of which seemed just as exotic as the rest of her. She stared blankly at him, her face betraying nothing as she folded her arms and shifted her weight to her right leg in an eerily accurate display of human mannerism, speaking once again in that ringing, matter-of-fact tone, "The physical trauma from your fall was extensive; some confusion is to be expected upon regaining consciousness."

Naruto, who was still trying to process who or what this person was, failed to offer an intelligent response, "No- I... what... who...?"

The response went ignored as she knelt down next to him instead, beginning to examine his body without any warning or explanation. The warmth of her touch belied her metallic skin as she tentatively raised his right arm, testing its range of motion, "Remarkable. My calculations suggest you fell from a height in excess of a hundred-and-four-point-two-three-three meters, but your body has already recovered from the multitude of injuries it suffered upon impact."

"Seemed a lot higher than that," Naruto muttered absently, recalling the event in question, blurry though it was. A poke to a particularly sore spot brought hit attention back to the strange woman, and he took the opportunity to briefly examine her as she was him. While she seemed to possess intelligence and sentience, Naruto could tell she wasn't human. His ears picked up the faint humming sound of whatever mechanisms allowed her to move as she felt along his limbs.

Then she raised her head, having finished examining his injuries, or surprising lack thereof. Their eyes met, and he noticed the stunningly intricate, mechanical pattern spreading from her pupils into her silver irises. "Regrettably, I am unable to calculate the exact height of your fall as the duration is unknown to me. If you are able to recall the approximate duration I can offer a more accurate account of the event."

Her face was uncomfortably close to his, prompting him to back up slightly, "That's... all right. Who are you exactly? And where are we?"

"Introductions, yes; humans value them upon their first meeting," she seemed to tell herself, before rising to her full height once again.

"I am the Empire's forty-seventh Imperial Armament, created by order of the late Emperor Erasmus Constantine Velencei Var Gyula Vas Istvàn, first of his line, victor of the Battle at Felstone Pass, father of the forty-eight Imperial Armaments, sword and shield of the Thousand-Year Empire."

She bowed gracefully, "I am Magna Mechanomai: Athena."

Naruto was glad he caught at least something akin to a name in all that gibberish, "...Uh-huh... Nice to meet you... uh, Athena? I'm Naruto."

"Likewise; it is my pleasure to meet you, Naruto."

With her baffling introduction finished, 'Athena' moved to the fire burning a few paces away from them. Naruto watched as she began lading the contents of the simmering pot into a wooden bowl as she spoke.

"To answer your second query, we are currently in the Slumbering Glade; by the accounts of several scientists and alchemists who spent years studying the rich variety of flora and fauna it has to offer, a marvel of nature."

She turned to offer the bowl to Naruto, leaving him no time to think on her answer as to their whereabouts.

"Drink this. While your body has shown remarkable resilience and regenerative capabilities, it still requires calories and nutrients to function properly and efficiently."

Feeling positively ravenous and failing to see any flaw in her logic, he accepted the bowl... and grimaced. The smell rising from it was less than appetizing, something Athena seemed to be aware of.

"The taste may not be entirely agreeable to the human palate, but its nutritional value is extremely high."

"I... see. Say, what exactly is in this?"

"The broth contains bone marrow, several animal organs, medicinal herbs and roots including bloodwort, garlic, maidenhair and coralroot, cambium harvested from birch and tamarack, four different types of-"

"Forget I asked," Naruto's face paled slightly with each ingredient Athena listed, and he decided he was better off not knowing just what else was in this. 'Just imagine a nice, hot bowl of miso ramen,' he thought, steeling himself before downing the piping hot bowl of god-knows-what in three big gulps.

A great shiver passed through his entire being after downing the vile broth, but a hot meal was a hot meal, and he wasn't about to be ungrateful for it; not to mention this was probably the healthiest thing he'd eaten in a long time. "Thank you, uh, Athena."

While setting the bowl down he took notice of the carefully arranged pile of leaves below him, forming a makeshift bed. "Have you been looking after me this entire time?"

She'd seemed pleased for a second, but it was hard to tell. "Yes. For the past three days, twenty-one hours and seven minutes, to be exact."

'Nearly four days, huh?'

None of this made any sense.

Parts of his memory leading up to the fall were missing, and trying to recall those moments rewarded him with a pounding heachache. All the information Athena had dumped on him during the past five minutes didn't exactly help in trying to remember or make sense of all this. The Slumbering Glade? The Empire? The Emperor? Imperial Armaments? Of course, Athena herself was a complete mystery, too.

All of this seemed like a bad dream he would awaken from any moment now, but he knew better than that.

He needed answers - answers he was sure Athena could provide.

Before that, however…

"...Athena, do you mind if I rest a little longer?"

She shook her head, "Not at all – please do. I will be right here should you need anything."

Naruto didn't understand her apparent eagerness in helping him, but decided not to dwell on it right now.

The jinchūriki lowered himself onto the bed of leaves below him and shut his eyes, letting himself slip into a deep meditation. When he opened his eyes, it was no longer a rocky ceiling and leafy canopy that greeted him.

The state of the corridor he now stood in made him cringe.

Cracks spiderwebbed along the floor, walls and the ceiling, chunks of concrete littered the ground, and the usually ankle-deep water reached up to his knees. The pipes running along the ceiling were leaking heavily, deep dents and cracks running their length.

With slow, listless steps he began walking, and it wasn't long before he arrived at his destination.

The seal was in shambles. Sections of the gate had been torn off and littered the ground along with large chunks of the wall and ceiling. What remained was bent and warped, as if someone had crumpled it like a piece of paper.

Beyond the mangled bars lay nothing; inky black darkness reaching for ever. A small part of him hoped he was hiding in the shadows, waiting to reprimand him for his stupidity and complain about the state of his 'room'. Unsurprisingly, no such thing happened even after standing there for several hours.

Naruto walked up to the gate, gently placing his hand against the cold metal.

The slow dripping of water resounded across the hall, all but a single droplet originating from the pipes above him.

He quickly wiped an arm across his eyes.

"I'll find you, Kurama."


Father's Note: Hello, my dear children, I come presenting a new chapter. Yes, yes, I know; it's very short and there's not much "meat on the bone", as it were. Look, I want to see if anyone is even interested in this story before I sink my precious, valuable time into it. I already have everything mapped out; from the first act to the third, and even the epilogue. I just need to type it down, dress it up, all that jazz. It's like a dessert, you know? I could just give you a doughnut, but the instant gratification you get from that will only last – you guessed it – an instant. But you deserve better than that, my dear, sweet child. I'll bake you a beautiful Paris-Brest Gâteau; beautiful hazelnut praliné; airy, light pâte à choux; rich, creamy, decadent praliné mousseline; all combined into a gorgeous, positively divine dessert that will leave you begging for more. Yeah, need a cold shower after that one, eh?

Anyway, let me know what you think, kiddo. Any suggestions? Shoot. Criticism? Yes, please. Unsolicited dessert recipes? You spoil me. Offering to proof-read this hot mess? Sure, I don't judge.

Until the next time, my lovelies.