(Snowstorm Survival Training – 2 Years ago)

"Are you sure about this?" Armin asked, as he shivered from the cold. The snowstorm was merciless. Armin already couldn't feel his fingers and the harsh wind nipped at his exposed face. He hugged himself tighter in an effort against the cold.

"Well nobody's watching," Naruto said with a shrug. "And even if they were I doubt they would see anything. I mean, I can't even see you and you're right next to me!"

"Just do it already Naruto! My ass is frozen!" Eren snapped loudly as he struggled to be heard over the howl of the wind. He wasn't as affected by the cold as the others for some reason but he still felt it in a bad way.

"Quit whining you baby!" Naruto teased as he gathered his chakra and slammed his hands against the snow covered ground, erecting a dome structure of earth to surround the siblings and shelter them from the unforgiving snowstorm.

"Earth Style: Instant Earth Igloo!"

"That is so not what that jutsu is called," Eren commented as he sat on the ground with a heavy thud. "And it's dark. I can't see anything."

"Is whining all you can do?" Naruto groaned as he gathered some of the firewood from his pack and set it on fire with a low powered fireball technique that bathed their little igloo in a warm orange light. He didn't really have to call out the names since it was more of a mental thing anyways. The louder you shouted the name of whatever technique you were doing was supposed to convince yourself mentally that you were pouring your all into the technique. The technique he had just used was an earth dome. What mattered most was the level of control you exhibited, although Naruto couldn't deny shouting at the top of your lungs as you released an awesome fireball was well, awesome.

"Can you blame me? I'm exhausted," Eren replied as he shrugged off his winter cloak.

"Mikasa and Armin aren't complaining," Naruto pointed out.

Eren raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Mikasa can handle the cold and won't complain anyways and I think Armin isn't complaining because his mouth is frozen shut."

Naruto turned to smaller boy and raised an eyebrow at the his worried face while Armin ignored the added attention and removed his winter cloak before quickly inching closer to the fire where he tried to warm his hands.

"What's with that face Armin?" Naruto laughed as he shed his own cloak and placed their water supply next to the fire to warm it up before they drank some.

"I-isn't this cheating?" Armin asked.

Naruto shrugged, "Meh. Shadis did say we had to pass this survival test using any means necessary and return to the camp by next week. This is well within the parameters."

"I don't think he meant this," Armin protested, "The other groups are probably freezing right now."

"That's their problem," Mikasa interrupted as she began to arrange their sleeping mats around the fire.

"Yeah, and it'll thin down the weaker members too." Eren added as he crawled on top of his sleeping bag.

"You guys don't really care do you?" Armin sighed heavily. Mikasa he could understand, she didn't care much for those outside their family, except maybe for Annie. But then again Annie didn't need anyone to worry for her, especially if she could throw Reiner around the way she did. Armin unstrapped the military pack he had been carrying and threw it near the sides of the earth igloo, seeing no need to have it so close to him with the warmth the fire was generating in an enclosed space.

"I want to sleep," Eren grunted. "And worrying about them doesn't mean I can help them right now so I'd rather just forget it. And honestly, it's better if some of them quit before training kills them. They don't really care about keeping all of us cadets alive. The less of us they are the less food they have to provide."

"What he said," Naruto nodded sagely.

"Naruto." Mikasa called out and the whiskered boy turned to face a slightly irate Mikasa.

"What did I do?" he protested immediately as he began recounting his recent actions. He was pretty sure the most random things, which he tended to overlook, annoyed her when they were out of place and his eyes scanned around their small shelter. He found nothing out of place however and raised an eyebrow at her.

She gave him a deadpan look and pointed upwards.

"Ah," Naruto said stupidly as he looked up and noticed that the smoke from the fire had begun to gather at their ceiling. He proceeded to create an opening at the top of the igloo for the smoke from the fire to escape. They would suffocate in their sleep otherwise.

The whiskered boy's eyes twitched in annoyance however when a loud snore reached his ears. Eren was asleep already!? It hadn't even been a minute!

"Armin wake him up. We haven't even eaten yet," Naruto groaned as he unpacked a few cans of vegetable soup.

The small boy crawled over to Eren and poked his cheek lightly. "Um, Eren?" Armin whispered.

Naruto ignored Armin's half hearted attempts with a roll of his eyes as he popped open another can and added it to the pot which he then began to stir. They were going to have soup for dinner. It wasn't much, but it didn't taste bad and that was more than they could ask of military rations. It was nutritious too, which was a good bonus. His tongue snuck out of his mouth as he focused and searched for the small pieces of meat he had taken from the kitchen. This would make the taste far better. And not to forget, noodles! There was no food better than this! He had tasted the wonder in the Underworld of all places and had gotten addicted to the heavenly taste almost immediately. Nothing could compare to the wonder that was ramen! The noodles definitely hadn't been part of their rations, but Naruto had stored quite a bit of them from a storehouse he had raided.

Armin on the other hand was still occupied in trying to wake Eren. He prodded his slumbering brother in the ribs and gave him a light shake as he repeatedly called his name.

"Being gentle isn't going to work on him," Naruto laughed as he gestured for Mikasa to take over the stirring. From the corner of his eye he saw her taste the soup and grimace before she began to add and mix in a different array of her own spices. Naruto wasn't insulted that his cooking wasn't the best, he was grateful that they had a better cook around for better food. The smile died a moment later and Naruto pouted pettily. His cooking was good thank you very much. Okay maybe not that good but it wasn't bad!

He glanced down at Eren and grinned. Oh well, might as well have some fun while he was at it. Eren deserved it anyway for falling asleep so fast and refusing to wake up, and because his cooking wasn't the best. That last reason didn't make much sense but Naruto shrugged and stomped down with his foot onto Eren's exposed side.

Mikasa gave off an angry hiss and Naruto grinned sheepishly ins response and scratched the back of his head.

"Five more minutes," Eren grumbled and grabbed Armin as he rolled over to his other side. Armin gave out a surprised squeak as he was pulled and used as a teddy bear.

"Help!" He pleaded.

Naruto sighed and his eye twitched. Was he serious? Naruto grabbed a hold of Eren's leg and lifted his brother upside down and began to shake him vigorously.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!"

"I can't hear you!" Naruto shot back as he began to shake harder, unable to hold back his laughter as he did so. It served Eren right in his opinion. If he wanted to ignore being woken up, Naruto wanted to ignore his brother's demands to stop. Simple logic really.

A soup ladle clanged off Naruto's head a moment later and he dropped Eren to massage his own head and shoot a glare at the culprit.

"Dinner time children," Mikasa said simply with a small smirk as she withdrew her arm.

"Headshot," Eren laughed in a mix of pain and humour as both boys clutched their heads, Naruto from getting a large spoon thrown at him and Eren from being dropped on his head. He stopped laughing when Naruto shot him a look that meant he was deciding whether or not it was worth stomping on him again.

"Naruto. I said dinner," Mikasa interrupted, "Or no noodles for you."

"Okay okay!" Naruto surrendered as he trudged his way to the fire and sat down with his arms crossed and in a pout, one which brightened up immediately when Mikasa handed him a bowl.

Mikasa whacked his hand with a wooden spoon a moment later and gave him deadpan look. "I know this is your favourite meal, but stop slurping it and have some manners."

Naruto rolled his eyes and pointed at Eren who was doing the exact same thing and Mikasa's eyes twitched as she banged their heads together. In some things the two knuckleheads were just too much alike. In the silence that followed there was a barely audible slurp and Mikasa sighed as she turned to Armin, who had also been copying her brothers. He shot her an apologetic look.

"What am I going to do with you three?" Mikasa groaned.

"I can't find my spoon," Armin said sheepishly.

"Here you go!" Naruto offered happily at the spoon Mikasa had handed him and he returned to slurping down his meal.

Armin accepted it and gave Mikasa another apologetic look as he dug into his own hot meal. The only female of the group rolled her eyes and accepted that maybe some things were too hard to change and just better to leave be. She settled down and picked up her own share of the meal. She swirled the steaming broth in the bowl for a moment and bit her lip as she felt temptation overcome her. It wouldn't hurt would it? She slurped her first sip. Oh that was good.

She opened her eyes to see two wide eyed pairs of eyes staring straight at her and she blushed suddenly before she turned to Naruto who was giving her a knowing smirk. She picked up the axe from her pack and pointed it at him.

"Not a word," She said slowly before she returned to slurping her own soup unrepentantly. She had enough decorum not to make a sound as she did so however.

Her three brothers shared a look and all gulped. Armin and Eren turned to one another and shrugged as they decided that maybe there was no need for utensils tonight and laid them down.

Their dinner was a quiet affair afterwards, with the only noise being Eren's noisy and hurried slurping before he made his way to his sleeping bag. He collapsed into another dead sleep almost immediately. Naruto kind of envied that particular ability of Eren's, to be so carefree and simple. It probably came with having no responsibility. Armin followed suit soon after, though he did at least clear his bowl.

"I'll have next shift," Mikasa said as she gave Naruto a goodnight kiss on the cheek and snuggled into her own sleeping bag, leaving Naruto to watch over them. They had agreed to always have one person awake so that they would have ample time to respond to any threats, even if the likelihood was rather low.

Naruto filled his bowl once more, intent on having no leftovers. He didn't really enjoy leftovers, and it was a crime of the highest order to leave leftovers of such a glorious meal anyways! The soup was actually fairly flavorful if he was being honest with himself, even if his delicious cooking had been tampered with. Okay, maybe he was still a little bitter about it but the food did actually taste pretty good. He would never admit it tasted better than his own cooking though.

His eyes roamed over his sleeping siblings, all fast asleep with how exhausted the hike had made them. Even Naruto had struggled somewhat, though it was mostly because he had been plowing through two feet of snow so that his siblings would have an easier time walking in his path.

This was his chance.

He was apprehensive about what he was about to do, for multiple reasons. He didn't have their consent for instance. It was a pretty big thing for him in the Hell that was the Underworld since most of the crimes involved consent. You steal or kidnap, you don't have consent to take. You murder, you don't have consent to take their life. You rape, still no consent.

Furthermore they all had to be asleep for it to work so that they would be caught unawares. If they knew what he was going to do however, it would affect their performance and Naruto wouldn't get accurate results.

He sighed as he tucked away his bowl and readied himself for the technique.

It was a higher level illusion technique left in Hiruzen's scrolls, but he wasn't doing this just for the sake of testing it. He genuinely needed to know how his siblings would react. This particular illusion didn't fool the senses into thinking there was something there, instead it required the caster to envision a scenario in his mind and then draw other minds into mindscape to experience it. It was like a simulation of sorts, although in it you could still have all your five senses triggered as if in the outside world.

It didn't have much combat application since other minds could not be forced to enter the virtual space, they had to enter the created mindscape willingly. Once they entered they would even have full knowledge that they could exit any time they wanted. It was an illusion designed for sharing detailed plans that you couldn't quite explain using words, by literally showing others what you had in mind. The user just had to envision it. He could hear the thoughts of the other minds, and they could even have some measure of control over the mindscape. For his purposes however Naruto wouldn't let them have any control or hear each other.

But his siblings didn't know about the technique. They were also asleep and unaware they were about to be plunged into an illusion, therefore had no way to resist it. Even if they realize something was off, they did not know how to exit it. For all intents and purposes it was going to be a completely realistic simulation. Naruto also liked to think he had a very good eye for detail. Most importantly however, Naruto would be able to see into their minds and hear what they thought in the situation he was about to plunge them into.

What would they do without him?

Naruto was not arrogant enough to think he would always be there for them, or to think that he was invincible. On the chance something did happen to him, he wanted to reassure himself that they would be fine.

He opened his eyes, his motivation resolute as his hands ran through the seals and he drew their minds into his simulation.


(Mindscape Trost)

"What the hell!?" Eren yelled as spun around in desperation, trying to make sense of his surroundings amidst the chaos going on around him. He didn't even know where he was, much less what was going on.

"Eren!" he heard Mikasa yell.

Eren turned and sighed in relief when he saw Mikasa forcing her way towards him, a frightened and equally confused Armin getting towed behind her.

"Where's Naruto?" Mikasa asked immediately as she reached Eren. Her eyes darted back and forth around them, observant for any immediate threats or for a flash of gold.

"Right here!" Naruto reassured them as he dropped down from a roof to land next to them. "But we got bigger problems!" He pointed out as he pointed to the massive head that was towered over the huge wall menacingly.

"Where are we?" Eren asked desperately as he tried to make sense of the situation. Weren't they only trainees? What were they even doing here? Where was here?

"We are in Trost," Naruto grunted as he shoved his siblings into an alley to avoid getting trampled by people. "We were just restocking our food rations after that stupid trip in the snow last week!" He explained roughly.

The golden haired boy had to set the scene somewhat, and Armin was smart and would figure out it was an illusion rather quickly if he wasn't careful. He was confident in the events occurring around him however, even without giving it too much thought. This wasn't really Trost district after all, it was Shiganshina when the wall first fell. Naruto just made sure to remove the obvious landmarks that his siblings would recognize, but otherwise everything was real from his memory. He had run across Shiganshina to the orphanage during that attack after all. The heat, the smoke, the panic, the screams, the overbearing smell and everything was from Naruto's memory.

The siblings huddled together out of reflex as the ground shook with a thunderous boom and they winced a moment later when a massive remnant of the wall demolished the house next to them, crushing a few people underneath its weight.

Naruto grimaced. Even if this was from his memory, when he had been running through Shiganshina he hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on around him. This was his first time experiencing it properly and it was traumatizing to say the least. He turned back to his siblings to gauge their reactions to the scenario so far.

Eren was wound up badly, his body filled with so much tension it would snap at the slightest touch. He was frustrated and angry, his mind a whirl of thoughts and waiting for any order from Naruto to unleash his energy. He was dedicated to keeping his siblings safe, but wasn't sure how he could do that without orders from Naruto. The golden haired boy worried a little about that, Eren trusted Naruto to order him around and didn't want to think for himself. The green eyed boy clenched his fists and glared at Naruto, as if he would attack the golden haired boy if he wasn't ordered to do anything.

Mikasa on the other hand was on a similar boat as Eren, waiting for an order to be carried out. She wasn't as lost in her emotions as her brother however. Her mind was still clear and she was alert, keeping an eye for any more falling debris and her eyes would glance back expectantly at Naruto for an order every few seconds. She wasn't trying to make sense of the situation either or even question where they were or what they were going to do, she was simply in a reaction state. She was worried for their well being, but trusted Naruto to make the right call for them. Naruto worried about that as well. It was like he had two attack dogs, one straining to be let off its leash and the other just waiting for a target to commit itself against.

Armin's mind however was going a mile a minute, doing its best to rationalize how they had ended up in Trost of all places. His thinking wasn't clear or structured however. It was a multitude of many different thoughts, unable to produce one coherent thought in its panic as Armin attempted to simply cover his ears and drown out everything that was happening around him. His breathing quickened and Naruto shook him, afraid Armin might faint.

So far Naruto didn't like how dependent they were on him. They were all capable on their own and just didn't realize it. Naruto wasn't done yet however.

"Armin! Focus! Stop thinking about how we got here! What do we do now!?" Naruto yelled at the boy. He couldn't risk letting Armin conclude that there was no explanation for how they were suddenly in Trost when their training took place nowhere near here.

Naruto had to marvel at the way Armin's mind worked. The structure and pathways of logic that fired inside was a wonder for him to experience. Naruto was much better at on the spot plans and decisions but Armin placed pieces around his head as if they were all pieces on a chessboard and he was three steps ahead. Where most people could only see what was in front of them as a chess piece, Armin usually could see the whole board. From the jumbled mess it had been earlier, after Naruto's order Armin had taken that one premise and began to expand it. How would they get out of here?

Who are we? Trainees. What can we do? We can use gear to fight or escape. Do we have gear? No. Where do we get gear? Headquarters. Where is HQ? Middle of Trost. How do we get there? Run through the northern district, danger of titans but less people to run through. Titans would be delayed by the vanguard and they had Naruto on the off chance there were titans and less people so they could afford that risk. Would they be allowed for gear? It was a probability, not entirely guaranteed. Did they have other options? They could join the civilians. Was it better for their survival? Probably not, since they wouldn't be able to control the flow of events. There were higher chances for escape if the battle didn't go well with the gear. Could Naruto just get them out of the city using his skills? Certainly. How? He could carry them and climb the walls and let them escape. Why not? Their brother's ability would be revealed. Limits? He could only make one clone and would leave someone behind. Would Naruto allow that risk? Nope. Therefore their best chance was the gear at the moment.

Armin explained his plan and the siblings all nodded in response as they made haste towards the Headquarters. Naruto smiled at that. If there was anyone else Mikasa and Eren trusted blindly and without question it was Armin. The only issue was Armin usually didn't trust himself.

A stray titan grabbed at the siblings and Naruto flipped over its outstretched hand and jumped onto a wall. He stuck onto it with chakra and ran vertically upwards before he leapt and flipped onto the neck of the titan where he then used chakra to root himself in place. He drove his hand into its nape and the titan convulsed slightly before it collapsed onto its face with a heavy thud.

"Keep moving!" He ordered.

They arrived at the Headquarters sooner than Armin had anticipated, though it probably had to do with Naruto clearing titans and them running with no delays. The place was even more chaotic than the battlefield they had just run through with panic-stricken and frenzied soldiers who were rushing back and forth and yelling at each other. The siblings took stock of what was happening and Eren grimaced.

"Naruto no one's gonna listen to us like this. We can't just ask for the gear now!" Eren growled as a soldier shoved him backwards forcefully.

"Armin, what now?" Naruto asked urgently as he turned to their strategist.

"If no one is going to listen then we just have to get the gear ourselves. There's going to be mobility gear near the gas supply chambers. That's usually where they are kept. We just have to find them, they should be on the bottom floor though and it's where the supply teams are entering and exiting to supply gas to those in the vanguard."

"Got it! Let's go," Naruto ordered as they rushed towards the entrance.

"Who are you kids? Get out of here and join the civilians!" yelled a garrison soldier on duty at the entrance. Both he and his partner were guarding the gate.

"We are 104th training regiment cadets! We need some gear so we can help!" Eren yelled back.

"Beat it brats! All the gear is either with the soldiers or the ones supplying so there's none left, you don't even have any identity papers." One of the guards shouted.

"And why would give our spares to a bunch of brats when we could use it ourselves to get out of this hell!" His partner added furiously as he raised his arms and slammed the butt of his gun into Eren's jaw, knocking him backwards.

The siblings were initially surprised by the brutality and fear shown by the soldiers, but that didn't stop Mikasa however as she closed the distance with the soldier and ripped the gun out of his hands and used it like a club as she crashed it into his head. His partner had no time to react as Eren grabbed him by the throat and battered him against the brick wall.

"A tad violent," Naruto commented with a laugh as they rushed indoors.

Unfortunately what the soldiers had said was true. There was no mobility gear left in storage.

"What now Armin?" Eren asked this time.

"There's a bunch of soldiers flying around with gear," Armin pointed out with a shrug.

"I like it!" Eren declared as they took their places and hid, ready to ambush a few soldiers who would inevitably come for a refill of their tanks.

Unfortunately their plan hit a snag when the building began to shake.

"Am I the only one who thinks that's not good?" Naruto joked.

The supply tank chamber was suddenly flooded with fear-ridden soldiers all constantly yelling to shut all the doors because they were completely surrounded. There was no longer any semblance of order in the chaos of frightened men.

"We won't be able to single out anyone like this," Mikasa observed with narrowed eyes.

Armin chose that moment to slip and lose his balance on the rafter beam he had been positioned at. The panicked soldiers quieted for a moment as they gave Armin confused looks.

"Civilian!" One of them yelled and pointed his rifle at Armin.

Eren and Mikasa dropped down on either side of Armin and took protective stances, gazing at the other soldiers challengingly. Naruto on the other hand chose to land directly on top of the man who had drawn his gun on Armin, driving him to the ground where he then sat on him.

"Pointing guns at people isn't nice," Naruto said with a grin.

"Civilians!" Another man shouted as he also raised his gun. "Civilians are forbidden in the building! Leave!"

The other soldiers all followed suit and the siblings frowned.

"Are you serious?" Eren asked. "There's titans out there and you're sending us out? Aren't you supposed to protect us?"

"And we aren't civilians either. We're part of the 104th training regiment!" Naruto added.

"Leave or we will open fire!" The man threatened anyways. "No civilians in this building!"

"It's no use, their rationality is blinded by fear." Armin muttered as he looked around them. "We may actually have to go out, but we will be fine if with Naruto. It's a lot of pressure but we can still survive out there. There's nothing left for us here."

"Yeah, that's a lot riding on me." Naruto replied. "But if we can make it to the walls then yeah we'll be fine. Eren and Mikasa know how to run on the roofs, I'll carry Armin till we get to the walls."

"Sounds good," Eren agreed and he glared at the soldiers, "Hey you assholes we're leaving so stop pointing those at us!"

"Don't rile them up Eren," Naruto sighed as he pulled Armin to his feet and raised his arms passively to show he wasn't hostile. He then began to walk towards the exit. His siblings followed his lead a moment later.

"Titans!"

The siblings looked forward them and their eyes widened in fear at the swarm of three and four metre titans that began to stumble clumsily through the entrance. The only thing in between the soldiers and the titans were the four siblings who had found themselves trapped.

"Ok now what!" Eren asked and gulped.

"We don't have gear," Mikasa answered with grit teeth, "And this chamber is too small to use it in anyways."

"Even the soldiers can't help us now. Their guns are no use against those titans," Armin assessed fearfully and turned to Naruto. "You're our only hope now."

"Is it a good idea to reveal what I can do Armin?" Naruto asked seriously.

"We don't have a choice Naruto. There's going to be no need to hide a secret if we're dead."

Naruto nodded at his sibling and cracked his knuckles and loosened a few kinks in his neck with a pop. "Oh well, might as well get some practice."

The golden haired boy fed chakra to his legs and ran along the brick pillars to angle himself properly before he bent his knees and shot off the wall like a rocket. With a fist covered in earthen rock Naruto knocked off a titan's head before he flipped over an outstretched hand from another titan and spat a wind drill through its nape. He rolled to the side when he hit the ground, just as a three metre dived at him. Naruto grimaced and held up a hand that shot a bolt of lightning into its gaping mouth. He moved his head aside in disgust as chunks of titan meat splattered all around him.

The small titans were annoying mostly because they were agile and hard to safely dispatch. The bigger titans were usually slower and had blind spots as well as a lot of stuff to hit. For the titans to gather like this in a place too small for them to use mobility gear meant that soldiers would get massacred.

More and more titans began to pour into the room and Naruto decided to give up dispatching them one by one. He didn't like using his fire release even if it was his strongest element. It was ridiculously overpowered and he tended to lose control over the intensity and he had no idea why. He didn't have a choice now however and looked at the wave of titans as he sucked in a deep breath.

"Katon: Goukakyou!" (Fire Release: Grand Fireball)

The resulting flames that spewed outwards caused everyone to cower behind anything they could find to shield them from the intensity of the heat. The titans on the other hand could do nothing other than watch with their stupid grins as a sea of flames washed over them, consuming them until only their skeletons remained. When Naruto finally ended his technique, the entire doorway was charred black and smoking from the punishment it had taken. The place reminded him of a graveyard but with supersized skeletons.

Naruto gathered his breath and turned to search for his siblings. "Guys, let's go!" He called out as he turned once again and began to head towards the door.

"Monster!" One soldier cried out suddenly. Like a dam that had burst, the soldiers who had all witnessed Naruto's actions unloaded their weapons with a deafening chorus of gunfire.

"Naruto!" Mikasa screamed, held back only by Eren as blindly tried to rush towards their eldest.

The golden haired boy stumbled slightly and coughed up blood after the barrage of gunfire ended. He gave one last look to his siblings before the life left his eyes and he fell forward in a puddle of his own blood, unmoving.

Now that he wasn't actively participating in the simulation Naruto could watch his true plan unfold. How would they react to his death? What would they do now? Could they function as a group without him in the equation?


Mikasa took a while to realize that the screaming that was ringing in her ears was her own. Even then all that she could do was watch helplessly as Naruto's body collapsed like a puppet that had lost its strings. She could do nothing as his once vibrant cerulean eyes dimmed once and for all as the life left them.

She slowly made her way towards him and dropped to her knees and stared at the fallen body, waiting for it to burst into smoke as a clone. He was good at that wasn't he? This was just a trick? She poked it after a moment, reaching for his wrist as she checked for a pulse and remained completely ignorant of her surroundings. This whole thing felt surreal. Naruto was strong wasn't he? Only the strong survived in this cruel world. They preyed on the weak. She was strong, stronger than she had been when she had been ignorant of the way the world worked. She was confident in her strength. But much more than that, she had been confident in Naruto's strength. Even titans did not match up well to his power. Was he really this fragile?

He couldn't just leave her like this, not like her parents. Not like Carla. They were weak. Naruto couldn't be killed by mere men. No. And he had promised her. He had promised her they would see the world together. It wasn't the promise he had given all three of his siblings. This promise had been between them. How dare he!? Of all his promises to break, it just had to be this one. What was she supposed to do now? Survive? And for what? Naruto himself had been the one to distinguish merely surviving was different from living and enjoying life. He had been the one to tell her to make the most of what she had been given in life. But how was she supposed to do that now that what she had been given was taken away just as suddenly as he had arrived?

She heard Annie's words in her head in that moment. Her friend only wished to find anything of interest in life, and Annie had said that Mikasa should let her feelings be known. Opportunities in life were rare and she should jump on them. Mikasa regretted it now. She foolishly thought that she had time. That she could tell Naruto anytime that she didn't feel like just his sister. She thought she could have told him whenever she felt like it that what she wanted was for them to be something more, even if she didn't know what. She hadn't wanted to lose what they had however. She was already content. She wouldn't have minded having more, but there was a chance he did not feel the same about her and it would make things awkward. She had treasured what they had and would have been fine with it for a few more years.

But now he was gone. How would they go outside the walls without him? What would even be the point of trying if they were all just going to die anyways? What would be the point of exploring if he wasn't there to enjoy it with them?

Naruto was gone, and she hadn't even told him that she loved him. And now he would never know. What would she do now?


What the hell? This couldn't be happening. How could his plan have fallen apart this badly? He had joined the pieces, calculated the variables, and they should have all worked out. They should have been safe.

But his plan had ended up with Naruto dead.

Their greatest asset was gone. Armin had based all their plans around him. He had trusted Naruto to play his part, and Naruto had done admirably. He had followed Armin's instructions to the letter. And that was what had been his demise. Armin hadn't accounted for the deranged animals that fear could turn humans into. He hadn't accounted for their fear of the unknown. He hadn't accounted for Naruto being unable to dodge bullets. If he had predicted it then he could have at least warned Naruto. But he hadn't.

He remembered Naruto's trust in his plans. Once Armin decided, Naruto would carry it out without question. Naruto had died with that unbelievable trust in an incompetent dreamer like him. Was that all he was? Was he just a dreamer that got others involved in his stupid visions and desires to see what was outside the walls? Eren only wanted to see outside the walls because of him. Mikasa would follow Eren anywhere, and wherever his siblings went Naruto was sure to follow. They were in this situation because of him.

He could've just told them to go to the walls earlier. He could've had Naruto carry him towards the wall with Mikasa and Eren running on the rooftops alongside him. Then Naruto could've run up and down the wall three times to get them to safety on top of the wall. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier? He just had to risk them in HQ on a half baked plan with no assurances. Then when there was no gear, it had been his idea to ambush the soldiers. This was all his fault. And like three blind mice his siblings had followed him here, and they were all going to die. There was no way the soldiers would let them leave. The soldiers would probably kill them anyways just in case they were monsters too.

But Armin didn't care anymore. Would Naruto forgive him when they met in the afterlife? What would happen to the people that were under their care in the Underworld? If they died their blood would be on his hands too for being irresponsible and stupid. Just how many people had he gotten killed with his stupid decisions?

Forget Naruto, even if they did survive Mikasa and Eren would never forgive him. Much less trust him to come up with anything again. He looked forward at Mikasa's despondent form next to Naruto and he couldn't hold it in anymore. He just wanted to die.

Armin held his head in his hands and began to scream.


Eren was confused. That wasn't anything new as he found himself in this position more often than not, but Naruto had just been taken out of the picture like some normal human. How did his brother not see that coming?

He didn't dwell on it too much however and his eyes flew back to the current danger. The titans had been taken care of for now, but the soldiers behind him were anything but. They were all reloading their guns in a rush, having emptied their chambers at Naruto. He swallowed the rage that had threatened to over come him and he felt his fingernails dig into his palms painfully.

He had to retain control.

Eren didn't have dreams of his own. He never really did. He lived more for moments of excitement and didn't care how they appeared, as long as he had fun. His desire to venture outside the walls was because it was Armin's dream, and the biggest obstacle had been titans. Since the Recon Corps had been the only ones tackling that particular obstacle Eren had deduced that to join them would help him clear out the titans. It was Armin's dream that he had taken for his own. Afterwards he wanted to kill all the titans, but it was because they were a danger to not only Armin's dream, but to Eren's immediate family as well. His mother had died because of them. And that led him to Naruto's dream, which was to keep his siblings safe and realize their own dreams. Naturally Eren resonated with that dream as it gave him purpose. And right now he knew it was both what Naruto wanted and needed from him. He needed to get them all out safely. Eren successfully managed to bury his rage for the moment, appreciating the disappearance of the haze that had been giving him tunnel vision.

Eren heard Armin scream and he gritted his teeth. He had to act quickly because soldiers wouldn't take long to reload, even in their panic. Some of the soldiers had even rushed towards them with swords to buy the riflemen more time.

He threw his fist at the first soldier that had been approaching his siblings, not caring to restrain his strength as he sent the man flying. Eren didn't care if it killed him. He had one goal, and right now these men were nothing more than mini titans to him, albeit with weapons. Eren ducked under a sword swing and reached for the man's head. Once he had a hold he flung the man into another of his comrades, ignoring the sickening snap of the man's neck. Eren then picked up the sword the man had dropped and impaled the dead man to his comrade so that they would no longer get up.

Eren then turned and grabbed the back of Armin's shirt and threw his brother behind some pillars nearer to the wall so that he wouldn't get trampled on or shot by a stray bullet.

"They're monsters too! Kill them!"

Eren swore and dived towards his other sibling, barely managing to push Mikasa out of the way as the soldiers resumed to fire at Naruto's prone body. He pulled himself up and tried to shake Mikasa back to her senses. If she had a clear head she was their next best chance for somehow getting out of this mess.

"Oi Mikasa snap out of it!" He yelled at her face and grimaced as he quickly realized that she must have been in a state of shock or something. No matter what he did her eyes remained unfocused and her body limp. He swore again and launched her towards Armin's position. It would be easier to guard one spot instead of two. He then rolled to one of the bodies he had left behind and held up the man as a human shield while he disarmed the man and took the gun for himself. He then lifted the man as a shield and used him to reach his siblings behind one of the pillars. It was unsettling how the soldiers were so willing to shoot one of their own.

With some breathing room Eren finally took a moment to breathe as he assessed the situation. Oh how he wanted to avenge his brother so badly. It wasn't fair that it had been ignorant assholes to end his life. Worthless animals. True sheep. He agreed with Annie on this one. Naruto was the one with a heart of gold which he would only shut off if his family was in danger, Eren had no similar restraints. He was pretty sure Naruto would be killing these soldiers himself if he was alive. Maybe it just hadn't sunk in for him yet. Actually he refused to believe Naruto was dead. Nothing could kill his brother. Maybe this was some sort of test? Either way, if they had indeed killed his brother Eren would kill all of them. Every single one.

He then turned to his two siblings who seemed nothing more than deadweight at the moment. Naruto wouldn't forgive him if he was reckless and something happened to those two. He could kill them all later, when his siblings were safe. Family safety had always been Naruto's priority, and without him that fell to Eren. It should've been Mikasa, but Eren had already seen her like this once before. On the night her parents had been murdered and she had been kidnapped.

How the hell was he supposed to get them out of this though? Outside this chamber were more titans and they had no mobility gear and no Naruto. Though if they stayed here they would eventually be overrun.

"Dammit Armin you should be the one doing all this thinking!" Eren snapped. He flinched a moment later as their pillar suffered another bombardment of bullets. Chunks of destroyed bricks dislodged from the pillar cascaded around them in a shower of dust and debris and Eren held back a sneeze.

"They were with the monster!"

"He killed Scott and Stiles!"

"Maybe they are monsters as well!"

"Kill them!"

Eren didn't think twice and aimed the gun he had snatched and used it to blow the head off one of the riflemen before he took cover again as he reloaded the rifle. Why did this thing have to be single shot? It didn't even have that many bullets in the first place. He scowled as his second shot flew wide. He didn't have the marksmanship that Sasha had after all. And now he was wasting bullets. Brilliant.

"B-but my plans just get us killed," Armin whimpered finally.

"And if you don't think of something we are gonna die anyways!" Eren bellowed and cursed as he wasted yet another bullet.

Eren didn't bother wishing for more than what he had however and managed a lucky shot on another of the rifleman but bit back a shout of pain as a bullet landed in his side. He ignored it however and returned to his task. It wasn't much but he could buy time for Armin to think of something. At least he was talking.

He was getting a few more lucky shots in, but it was partly due to the soldiers getting closer and closer to them. Eren frowned as he noticed something. They were circling around him on both sides and eventually he would be fighting a battle on two fronts.

A moment later Armin screamed loudly, but this time it was from pain and Eren turned back to him wide eyed.

"Just my fucking luck," Eren cursed as he inspected Armin and saw that the boy was bleeding heavily from both his shoulder and thigh. Eren swore again when he realized he couldn't really aid Armin in the situation they were in as a bullet found its way into his own back and he stumbled from the force. He ignored the blood pooling under Armin and looked at Mikasa.

"Now would be a good time to do something dammit," he grunted. If they didn't do anything soon Armin was going to die of blood loss. Mikasa on the other hand remained catatonic.

Eren's fears increased when a few of the soldiers with blades finally dared to rush towards them and Eren grabbed the wrist of a soldier about to remove his head and twisted it, so that the man dropped the weapon. Eren then spun and tossed the man into another soldier approaching from the other side of the pillar. The soldiers were now getting too close to effectively use their rifles without injuring each other, but Eren noticed that a few had remained far behind presumably to wait for an opportunistic shot.

He grimaced and fired off one last shot before he roared and threw caution to the wind. He no longer had any choice. He rushed out and stabbed a soldier through the gut and then grabbed both the man's blades from his mobility gear and began to slash powerfully. As long as he kept close enough to the melee soldiers, the riflemen wouldn't be able to get a clear shot at him.

Unfortunately he noticed too late that some of the other soldiers had ignored him and had instead gone around him in a wider arc. He could do nothing but watch as Mikasa was kicked violently against the wall with a sword to her throat while another soldier placed his boot on Armin's wounds, enjoying the boy's pained cries.

Eren felt so many things in that one moment. Despair, hopelessness, rage, fear and so many more. He couldn't hold it inside himself anymore. He wanted his siblings to live, the ones he had left anyways. It was his only desire in a world he was quickly losing control of. Time seemed to stop for him as he finally gave in to the urge that had been building up inside him since the beginning and Eren let loose everything he was feeling inside into the loudest shout in his life for something, anything to happen. A plea to whoever or whatever as he let the world feel his despair.

He did not see the bolts of yellow lightning that burst from his body and struck his unsuspecting siblings.


Mikasa was momentarily disoriented as her eyes suddenly focused, but something felt different. Everything had a reddish hue in her vision and her eyes darted around to take in every tiny detail of her surroundings. Everything was surprisingly vivid, as if someone had just applied a lens to her surroundings that enhanced everything. Everything was also moving slowly, and there were trails like afterimages which she then realized were some sort of predictive sight of where something would be. It was amazing.

She was a little lost however, and couldn't quite remember what she had been doing a moment earlier and she looked around her clearly in a battlefield of some sort. Someone was about to decapitate her, Armin was getting tortured, Eren was fighting for his life, and Naruto was… not moving. All of this happened within less than a second but once Mikasa remembered, she could not help the pain that threatened to burst out of her chest. She was unable to control the sheer burning hatred that was consuming her, but she didn't care. Something wanted to be let out, and Mikasa let it.

To the outsider her eyes had suddenly changed colour with three spinning tomoe within the the blood red irises.

Like a viper she reached up and grabbed the wrist of the sword that had been about to take her head off and twisted it, forcing him to drop the blade which she caught in her other hand. She didn't release his hand as she rose to her feet however and instead she swung him hard enough into the wall with a sickening snap and felt no small satisfaction as he crumpled to the ground like a puppet that had lost its strings. It wasn't enough. They had to pay back the blood they had spilled.

She evaded another swipe at her neck and leapt up into the air to deliver a kick that snapped a man's neck before she kicked his body into another soldier hard enough to send them both flying. Within a second Mikasa appeared with both men and proceeded to bisect the both of them with one powerful swing. They killed Naruto. They had no right to breathe. Why should pathetic excuses of humans like these have any right to walk? If they were so willing to take lives, then they should be just as willing to give up theirs.

The sheer hatred in her burned brightly as she caught sight of the multitude of soldiers that surrounded them. She did not know who had fired shots at Naruto, but they were all attacking her and her siblings. They were all guilty, every single one. They were murderers. The penalty was death, and she was the executioner.

She did not even realize that her speed and strength were no longer human and that this was a massacre. No, nothing else mattered. If they were all dead then Eren and Armin would be safe and they would never again be a threat. Then maybe, just maybe it would satiate her desire for vengeance. But until then, she did not care how much blood she caused to flow. Only the strong survived in this cruel world, and if Naruto wasn't the strongest then she definitely was.


There were too many voices echoing in his head and Armin was pretty sure none of them were his. Much like yelling in a crowded room with everyone shouting, Armin couldn't hear his own voice. What worried him was that this was all in his head. The sudden chaos in his mind drowned out the noise happening around him, not that he had been paying much attention. He had been trying to avoid participating in his surroundings actually.

He held his head in pain and opened his eyes at the man in front of him and Armin felt the murderous voices slowly ebb away and he could hear only one other thought aside from his own.

'I must kill this beast before it does anything!'

Armin's eyes widened when he realized the man wanted harm him and he shut his eyes again as he yelled hopelessly for the man to stop. He opened his eyes a moment later and checked himself hurriedly for any injury aside from the one in his leg and shoulder. When he found none he looked back up at his would be assaulter in confusion. His eyes narrowed further when he noticed that the man had seemingly frozen in motion. Armin would have believed that time had stopped if he couldn't see the same confusion and strain as the man's face as tried to move to no avail. Armin could even hear the man's thoughts, voicing his own confusion.

Armin wasn't one to believe in coincidences and he scanned the man further.

"Hold out your right arm," Armin whispered. His voice wouldn't be heard by anyone, especially in a battlefield, but it didn't matter as to his amazement and the other man's horror, the soldier raised his right arm as if he had done it willfully.

Armin would've experimented more but the sudden painful throbbing of his current injuries distracted him as the pain threatened to overwhelm him. This wasn't good. He was losing too much blood. His control over the man slipped in his lapse of concentration and the soldier immediately took advantage of his freedom to finish his goal of killing the small blond. Armin reacted on instinct and wasn't entirely sure what he had done, but the man collapsed lifelessly on top of him.

Armin let out a horrified gasp as he shoved the man off his body and scooted away, as much as he was able to anyways. The man's eyes had rolled to the back of his head and he was frothing at the mouth, his body still giving off spasms. Armin tried to reach out to the man but he could no longer feel the man's thoughts at all. Had he killed him? It was like someone had fried the man's brain from the inside. Whatever he was doing now was dangerous, but maybe he could use it to help his siblings somehow?

He crawled over to the pillar and leaned back against it so that nobody else would sneak up on him as he looked around, trying to get a sense of what was going on after the episode he had just had. He couldn't help it, he understood that. But for some reason it was easier to detach himself from his emotions now. It was almost as if he had stored them away for later. It was strange, not having doubts or anxiety. He caught sight of Eren, who seemed to be handling himself alright despite his injuries. His wounds were giving off steam however, which was weird but unimportant unless his brother had set himself on fire. Eren wasn't that stupid.

Mikasa on the other hand, Armin struggled to see her. She was a literal blur of motion. It was like watching a phantom shadow. What Armin could see however, was the bodies she left behind. That was some freakish power. For a teenager Eren could already put many grown men to shame, but even he wasn't able to do this. He could understand her drive, even if he was unsure whether it was for revenge or simply the only way out of this situation that she could see. He agreed with it even, if Mikasa could kill all of soldiers here then they could give him some much needed medical attention before they got out of this freaking hellhole. But if his siblings were so busy fighting he had to help somehow. But how? They wouldn't be able to hear his plan, even if he did come up with one. Eren might struggle to comprehend anyways and Mikasa didn't seem like she was in any mood to listen. They were strong, but as they had just seen they were still human and fragile. All it would take was one mistake.

Armin did not like those odds.

He looked at his hands as he considered just somehow ordering everyone to self destruct like he had the unfortunate man. He immediately deemed it too risky. He couldn't separate the voices in his head. He was already struggling to hear his own internal voice, how much harder would it be to find Eren and Mikasa's sound? It would be counterproductive if he just fried every brain in the room and ended up with two more dead siblings.

Maybe he could start to control them, one by one. It wasn't terribly effective, but it was a start. He reached out for a man near him and the man froze suddenly as Armin felt his control over the man strengthen. The man was filled with confusion and fear, not that Armin could blame him. He just didn't care. It was almost like he had a puppet to play with actually. He smirked and sent his new found toy after his unsuspecting comrades. Armin felt the man resist once he realized what his body was forcing him to do but Armin narrowed his eyes and strengthened his hold.

"Reus?" One of the remaining rifleman asked at the soldier walking towards him with a blank face. He didn't manage to react in time as his friend shoved his blade into his chest. He could only look stupidly at his chest and back at his friend as darkness encompassed his vision.

"Reus what the hell!?" Some of his other horrified comrades yelled at him.

Armin suddenly had a rather sadistic thought and gave into temptation. He retained control over the man's body but he let him speak freely.

"Boyd! Run! I can't control my body!" Reus yelled desperately as his body involuntarily leaned forwards and charged toward his friend.

"What bullshit is this!?" Boyd demanded as he parried the blow and tried to restrain the wayward soldier.

"Boyd, listen! You have to kill me!"

"I don't know why you're suddenly crazy, but like hell!" Boyd yelled back as he struggled to hug the other man's arms to his sides.

"Do it!" Reus cried desperately as he felt one of his arms break free and prepare for a killing blow.

"No! Snap out of it man!" Boyd pleaded.

Boyd was startled when he was deafened by a gunshot near him and gaped at the blood blossoming over the uniform of Reus. He turned his eyes towards the unrepentant gunman.

"He was a liability and a danger. Someone had to do it. We need to focus on those two monsters!"

Boyd snapped and leveled his own gun at the other man.

"Wait-"

"Suck it." Boyd uttered as he pulled the trigger.

Armin raised an eyebrow. He had meant to cause mental anguish, but dissension among the ranks was a pretty welcome side effect as the soldiers began to attack everyone indiscriminately. It was pandemonium, almost like a messed up free for all. Armin shrugged and moved his puppet to attack another soldier since the man wasn't quite dead yet. Armin himself wasn't a very capable fighter, but when you watched people fight around you it was impossible not to pick up a knack of what someone should be doing from a third person perspective.

He frowned however when Mikasa passed by and rendered his puppet useless without a passing thought as she carried out her slaughter. That wasn't nice. He shrugged however and instead searched for his next target, he would need one with the increasing amount of soldiers. Where were they even coming from? He steeled his resolve however as he buried all of his other unnecessary emotions.

Let them come. He was getting better at his ability, they just had to hold out for a little longer and then they would be free.


Naruto was horrified.

His siblings had initially reacted very badly to his death, with Naruto being surprised that it had been Eren with a level head. Now however, they were murderous beings. He had felt the power that had transferred from Eren. He had no idea what it was but it had not been a part of the simulation, of that he was certain.

Whatever had been in that command Eren had given had awakened something within the other two. He didn't know if they were latent abilities or if Eren had given them to his siblings, but he had felt the transfer of power. What concerned him was after Mikasa had achieved her ability, the murderous intent he often associated with Eren was dwarfed in comparison by her hatred. He knew Mikasa well enough to expect her to be upset. But he had never expected to get burned by the hatred she now possessed. It was like she was a different person. Was it a side effect of whatever happened to her eyes? Or were the eyes the side effect? Naruto had seen through them and wondered what it was. Everything had been moving in slow motion, and he had seen predictive trails indicating the people's next moves. The attention to detail had been startling. Looking at it from an outsider's eyes however, Mikasa was merely a blur as she hacked away at the forces. She had somehow gotten stronger too, unconsciously forming chakra to enhance her speed and strength somewhat. Everyone had chakra, but most people just hadn't been able to access it and manipulate it.

Armin on the other hand, had unconsciously ripped control of the simulation from Naruto when the small boy had screamed earlier. It was the only reason Naruto hadn't ended the simulation just yet. It was also why more and more soldiers kept arriving as reinforcements when all three should have figured out that they didn't even have that many soldiers in Trost. The situation worsened when the building collapsed under titan assault and they were now left fighting against soldiers and titans. This was getting out of hand. All sense of realism had begun to leave the equation.

Naruto turned to Eren as the missing piece of this phenomenon. What freakish ability did his brother have?

With all the voices in his head and his focus on certain people, Armin wasn't thinking straight. Mikasa on the other hand was hell bent on her killing spree and Eren was focused on staying alive despite the hopelessness of the entire situation.

Armin could enter and control minds and bodies. That explained how the control had been taken from Naruto. They didn't even know they were in a simulation. The only reason he could think of why Armin couldn't hear his voice was because Armin was probably convinced that Naruto was already dead.

In the chaos Eren was suddenly grabbed by two titans and his arms were ripped clean off. The boy screamed in pain and anger and he didn't notice as his arms began to smoke violently and two new arms immediately sprouted to replace them and he launched himself back into the fray. The chaos was too extreme that he hadn't even registered what had happened.

Naruto didn't know how to end the simulation now that he wasn't in control. He had seen what he needed to see earlier in how they would react, but if these were true abilities they weren't babies he could babysit anymore. In fact he had to teach them control, somehow. He'd figure it out later. He had to get them out of this first.

The only way Naruto could try now was to somehow convince Armin that he was dead. Maybe if the small boy believed he had lost his own life it would break his hold on the situation and Naruto could finally get them out. Naruto took a deep breath as so many things could go wrong at the moment, but he had to focus. He transformed himself into a sword and with a little direction, flew into Armin's stomach.

The boy stared at his wound stupidly before he looked back to his remaining siblings. It didn't take him long to realize that unlike his earlier wounds, this one was far more fatal and even if they did get out of this mess he wasn't going to make it. The realization sobered him and he began to search the voices in his head for those of his siblings. He smiled a little as he found Mikasa's voice, demanding vengeance of some sort, and Eren's voice which was simply angry.

"Hey guys," He mumbled weakly into their heads, "I guess this is it for me."

He coughed a little and winced in pain. "Get out of this for us okay?"

Mikasa and Eren's heads shot up, their rage getting doused by ice cold water as they broke away from their fighting to search for Armin. They turned in horror to see Armin slumping over lifelessly.

Naruto smiled in satisfaction as he felt the simulation begin to undo itself. This had been a crazy experiment gone wrong.

He froze suddenly however at Eren's roar of pure rage and agony. The roar chilled Naruto to the bone and he turned wide eyed to his brother in fear. Yellow lightning burst out in all directions and Naruto was forced to shield his eyes. What had Eren done this time?

Eren couldn't help it. He could no longer hold it in. This was too much. The pain in his chest was killing him. He could feel it bubbling outwards, as if it wanted to burst. When he could no longer keep it buried within himself he looked to the sky and just yelled as loudly as he could, unaware that it came out as a deafening roar that shook the ground. All these soldiers, they had to die. They killed Naruto. They killed Armin. They weren't going to stop until he and Mikasa were dead. Didn't they see the titans? Why kill them? They did not deserve to live. Protectors of humanity? No, they were wild beasts.

THEY MUST ALL DIE.

All the numerous titans in the vicinity froze, then as if ordered by a single command began to tear apart the soldiers. Naruto couldn't understand it. They no longer stumbled and lumbered around blindly like children. Instead the titans rampaged with brutal efficiency and sleek movements, unburdened by their size and weight. They moved with the sole purpose of eradicating the soldiers. Like a well oiled war machine, they stomped and slapped soldiers left and right as if they were flies.

Naruto turned his eyes to the boy causing all of it who looked like he was standing in the middle of a hurricane as his clothes and hair whipped around wildly. That roar wasn't human. It was shaking the very ground. Simulation or not this mindscape was an expression of what they could do.

What kind of monster was Eren?

Naruto then witnessed Eren raising his hand to his mouth as if to bite it and decided he had seen enough. He wasn't willing to see what else Eren might be able to pull off and he immediately ended the simulation. This was enough nightmare material already.


Naruto didn't even get a chance to register that they were back in the crowded igloo when he was assaulted by an enraged Mikasa. Luckily he reacted fast enough and raised an arm to catch her fist that had been about to take his head off. He grunted in pain at the force behind the blow before he immediately held up his other hand to immobilize both her wrists. She snarled at him in frustration as she struggled for freedom and glared at him, both her eyes still blazing red. Naruto raised an eyebrow at her behavior and threw his head forwards, crashing their skulls together. For a moment he had almost been hypnotized by the spinning black tomoe.

Both of them recoiled from the blow and held their heads in pain. Naruto really hoped that had worked because he wasn't quite ready to hit his head again anytime soon.

Mikasa opened her eyes and it took a moment for her to realize that she was no longer in a battlefield and fighting for her life against soldiers she was fighting to kill, but instead in a comfy little dome. It took her even longer to register that the person swearing in front of her was Naruto.

"Your head is really hard did you know that? Ow, dammit!" Naruto complained as rubbed against the sore spot faster, as if the pain would recede faster if he did so.

Mikasa slowly raised a shaking hand to his face, not daring to believe that he was alive. She had seen the body. She had felt it. She had seen the life leave his eyes. The wound was far to fresh for her to forget, and yet she could not deny that this was the spitting image of him alive and well. He seemed to realize what she was doing and his eyes softened as he placed his hand over hers and guided it to his face, where she could feel his whisker marks. They were ridged, raised slightly above the smooth skin but undoubtedly there. No one could fake that.

"It's me Mika-chan," Naruto said tenderly as he leaned into her hand.

With his identity confirmed, Mikasa couldn't help herself as she buried her head into his chest and began to sob. Naruto sighed and wrapped his arms around her gently, to try and reassure her further that this real.

With the oppurtunity available, Mikasa didn't waste any more time lest she regret it again.

"I love you."

"Believe me, I know." Naruto uttered back as he tightened his grip on her. "I love you too Mikasa."

Mikasa didn't believe he knew the extent of what she meant, or if he even meant what he had just said in the way she wanted. But it didn't matter, she had said it and he was here with her.

Off to the side Armin was feeling around where his wounds should have been in confusion. He even raised his shirt to look at his belly when he could feel none of the pain.

"I have no fucking clue what's going on," Eren admitted as he looked around him in confusion, a little dizzy with the sudden change of settings.

"I probably have some explaining to do," Naruto sighed and absentmindedly began to caress Mikasa's hair. "Though I guess Armin's new abilities make this easier. I'm not sure if you guys have noticed or not but we can hear each other in our heads."

"I thought that was dream," Armin said slowly as he attempted to process what had happened now that his mind was clear.

"Just show them my thoughts Armin, I'll make it easy and just think about it."

"Naruto I have no idea what I'm doing. I might blow up your minds remember?" Armin cautioned.

"Nah you'd never do that to us," Naruto laughed as he tried to reassure the boy.

Armin made a face at him and turned to Eren asking for help to make his point.

"Well that's why accidents are called accidents," the green eyed boys pointed out. "But you're also already in our heads and they haven't blown up yet either."

"Whose side are you on?" Armin whined. He had gone from nodding to shaking his head in one breath. "I can't even turn it off!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and once again drew them into his illusion. This time however they were still within the igloo, the only difference being that where the fireplace had been was a hologram of the events that had transpired earlier but through Naruto's perspective. In it, the siblings witnessed Naruto's purpose for making them undergo the horrifying simulation as well as his assessment of their actions. They experienced everything, every thought. It was also strange to be seeing themselves from someone else's perspective. They remained silent as they absorbed everything, understanding what had Naruto so worried. If Eren hadn't done whatever it was he had done they would have died.

"That was a dick move man," Eren grumbled with his arms crossed. "I actually thought you died and that everyone else was going to die. Oh yeah, probably because that just happened." He added with a glare.

"You performed the best though Eren," Naruto pointed out.

The green eyed boy tried not to react. He really did. He couldn't help it however and suddenly beamed back proudly.

Armin rolled his eyes with a scoff and looked back at Naruto.

"But it was necessary, especially if Mikasa and I reacted that badly. And also because now we know that Eren has some something supernatural about him that is strange, even for us. Whatever it is Eren just did to Mikasa and I, we still don't know but it seems it's permanent. I mean Mikasa has slow motion predictive vision-"

"And it's very vivid too," Mikasa interrupted as she shivered slightly. Her eyes had spared her no detail of her experience.

"And that. Then I have this mind thing which has to do with literally getting in people's heads, controlling bodies or making brains explode."

"When you say it like that, I suddenly don't want you in my head." Eren laughed, only half joking however.

"And finally Eren. We don't know how you activated this. But if what we saw is true then you can not only give or awaken these powers, but you can heal very fast and you can control titans. Where did you get that? How did you get that? We don't know enough about this and I think we can all agree that until we know if this has drawbacks or limits then we must either not use them, or at least practice them somehow. Preferably safely. We can't just go back to camp this volatile. What if Eren starts giving everyone abilities? Chaos. We don't even know if he can. And controlling titans? What and How?"

"How come only the three of you get powers. Can't you give me some too Eren?" Naruto complained.

"Were you even listening?" Armin sighed.

"Ow! Okay! Okay! I was just kidding sheesh!" Naruto quickly apologized at Eren's deadpan look and when Mikasa pinched him.

"What more could you even want to do?" Eren asked as he settled more comfortably into his sleeping bag once again.

"Well I can't read brains, Mikasa's eyes are badass and I'm pretty sure I don't heal as fast as you do." Naruto joked.

"You can read Mikasa's mind," Eren said with a roll of his eyes.

"That doesn't count," Naruto pouted.

"But you can throw around the elements like toys and walk on walls and make clones and teleport," Mikasa said sarcastically before she pinched him again. "And I don't count? Really?"

"I'm gonna headbutt you again." Naruto threatened.

"Try it I dare you," Mikasa challenged as she looked up from his chest and locked eyes with him.

"And who're the kids now?" Eren teased.

"You want a headbutt? Get your ass over here and I'll headbutt you too!" Naruto growled.

"Bring it!"

"You're all children! Okay now that we have that settled can we get back on topic?" Armin tried as he raised his voice. His eye twitched when all three ignored him.

"Hello! B.M.E.D. right here!?" He tried again even louder.

His three siblings shot him curious looks. "B.M. what now?" Eren asked.

"Brain Matter Explosive Device," Armin replied with a straight face. His siblings shared sheepish looks at each other and motioned for him to continue.

"Where was I?"

"How Eren was a walking power giftbox?" Naruto said helpfully with a grin.

"Oi!"

Armin cleared his throat before they got out of hand once again and managed to retain their attention. "But anyway in all seriousness, we don't know much about this so we have to do some serious work. I can't just keep appearing in anyone's heads all the time for example. Matters of privacy and personal space aside, we risk discovery or me accidentally blowing people up. Mikasa can't walk around with glowing red eyes for obvious reasons, and Eren you can't just go granting powers left and right even if we don't know how you do it or why. So here's the plan. We won't return to the camp until we have these under some semblance of control. Naruto can make four shadow clones to take our place. For now we train."

His siblings all nodded in acceptance.

"Um, there are certain female only sessions," Naruto protested with a light blush.

"Oh. Yeah they are female only for a reason," Mikasa nodded after a moment.

Eren looked to be deep in thought for a moment and out of curiosity Armin found himself looking into Eren's mind. He flushed a dark shade of red a moment later and sputtered out protests at Eren. He then turned to the remaining two siblings and saw Mikasa staring straight at Naruto's face, daring him to react to what they had just seen. His whiskered brother was doing a remarkable job of keeping a straight face. Armin was impressed, he himself unable to remain without reaction to seeing such a perverted scene.

"Okay, I think we are all decided that this is a good plan. But these female only sessions aren't fully regular anyways so Mikasa can stop by for those in person," Armin decided out loud. He rolled his eyes once he realized that none of them were fully paying attention. He shrugged for a moment. It wasn't like they were in any sort of rush anyways. This snowstorm was going to last a while and he was genuinely exhausted both physically and mentally now. He then smirked a little as he thought of a way to get back at them.

Since everyone's heads were connected anyways, it wasn't hard for Armin to direct all of their thoughts to one particular moment which had been overlooked in their review. In particular it was Mikasa's confession and her feelings.

After he lit the spark Armin hid a smile as Naruto and Mikasa's eyes widened at one another almost comically, cerulean blue into pitch black. All their thoughts and feelings rose to the surface unbidden. Normally they would have held it in, but Armin had taken away the barrier that was communicating by simply being in all their heads. It was a frenzy of thoughts in all their heads for a full minute as both parties began to process the other's feelings that they had buried for so long.

Mikasa saw herself in Naruto's eyes. Snapshots and precious moments of treasured time alone with her. She saw just how deeply his care for her went, enough that he had prioritized what he had thought was her happiness at his own expense. She saw just how much she brightened his day, just how much she helped him relax. It wasn't even anything she was actively doing except being herself. She did not have doubts about how much he cared for her but seeing this hidden side of him not only assuaged her fears, it refreshed her to see that he valued her and her feelings above his own. It was a warm feeling that she had not known she had been anticipating for the longest time. He had meant it when he said it earlier.

Naruto on the other hand was experiencing something similar. The only difference was it highlighted his own foolishness in assuming he knew what Mikasa wanted. Only now did he fully understand just how much she depended on him not just as their protector, but as her emotional partner. He had his own reasons for avoiding this road with her, but Mikasa's reason had been far more simple. She did not want to risk losing what they already had. He could understand that, but he found it hard to comprehend that she enjoyed his presence as much as she did. Even if he did not speak with her or interact with her, as long as she felt him near she was happy. If that was her baseline, he could only imagine the exhilaration she must be going through right now. To be fair, he was probably in a similar state himself.

Mikasa's lips crashed against Naruto's a moment later, with no resistance on his part.

"Well that was long overdue. Well done you sneaky rat," Eren commented as watched the pair like an eager child. "Was this a good idea though?"

"Oh grow up it was bound to happen sooner or later," Armin replied. He was able to properly gauge how Eren felt about this entire situation and he was pleased to note that Eren had been rooting for the pair for a while as well. He had been worried there would be a bad reaction there and he was a little disappointed in himself that he hadn't thought about it earlier. "I just got tired of them dancing around each other."

"Oh yeah totally," Eren nodded in agreement, "But we're kind of in the same igloo thingy. This is weird. Aaaand we can hear their thoughts." He added.

Armin's smile faltered.

"I think they're ignoring us though, not that I'm complaining. Still weird. But heh, this is kinda cool."

"Eren stop looking!" Armin cried out. "That's creepy!" He said as he turned away, yet even he was unable to resist taking a peek.

"Dude, we can see what's in their heads even if we don't look. This is your fault by the way, so I don't know. Can't you just turn it off or something and let's get Naruto to make another room for us?"

"I can't control this yet. I don't even know how to turn it off," Armin whined. "And it's not like we have a manual for this since you just dumped this power on me!"

"Hey it isn't that bad," Eren laughed as he made himself comfortable in his sleeping bag and stared at the ceiling. "It just means we're gonna have no secrets from each other for a while."

At the mention of the word secret all three boys froze suddenly as all the things they had been keeping secret from Mikasa suddenly bubbled to the forefront of their thoughts, clearly visible for Mikasa to see as well.

Naruto sucked in some much needed air as Mikasa finally pulled away and glared at him with her newly found sharingan. They didn't need to be able to see inside her head to know that she was pissed.

"Eren, couldn't you wait?" Naruto sighed hopelessly as he held up his hands guiltily in the face of the woman in front of him.

"Underworld?" Mikasa said slowly. Naruto put on a sheepish grin in his defense and scratched the back of his head in reflex.

"Um," Armin managed to let out before Mikasa turned to him and pointed to the spot next to Naruto. "Yup, guilty accomplice on the way to death seat." He chuckled nervously as he crawled over next to Naruto.

Mikasa then stood and walked over to Eren who also had his hands up.

"I didn't know what they did there!"

"But you know they went there, frequently?"

"Um-"

Mikasa hauled him out of the sleeping bag and threw him next to the other two and glared at all three of them with her arms crossed.

"No secrets right?" She asked dangerously. "Well we can start now."

"You're eyes are beautiful right now. Just the right mix of gentle and pretty with a dash of nightmarish danger," Naruto complimented.

"Thank you. Now talk."

"I love you."

"I love you too, now talk."

"Ah crap," Naruto sighed as he looked at Armin.

"Hey this isn't my fault! He gave me this ability!" Armin protested and shifted the blame to Eren.

"I wouldn't have given it if someone didn't choose to fake his death!" Eren pointed out as well when Naruto turned to face him.

Realizing that this was all his fault anyways and that this was going to be a long night Naruto just sighed and looked back up at Mikasa.

"Ah crap."


A few kilometers away Annie lay awake in a branch as she watched Reiner, Bertholdt, and Sasha sleep in the little cove they managed to use as shelter. Her body tensed suddenly as she heard a demonic voice in her head, ordering her to massacre every soldier in Trost. She managed to resist the urge, barely. She had no reason to follow that order, whoever it came from.

She was glad she checked on Reiner and Bertholdt immediately afterwards as they had been raising their hands to their mouths in their sleep and Annie had been forced to crystallize them in place. She was also really glad Sasha was a deep sleeper, when there wasn't food around.

Whoever had sent that order didn't affect just her.

Near the city of Trost despite it being dark, thousands of mindless titans threw themselves relentlessly against the wall, determined to follow the one order they had been given. The garrison soldiers panicked and every cannon on their side of the wall was brought to help thin down the titan numbers as they had begun to pile onto one another in their frenzy. Luckily they were stopped from forming a pile of bodies that would have spilled over the wall.


(Present time - Siege of Trost)

Naruto shook his head free from the memory as he leapt over the wall to overlook Trost in search of his siblings. After a brief scan he caught sight of them in a rather large group. He was a little confused why only a few seemed to be moving and was about to leap towards them when he caught sight of something that made him hesitate for a moment.

That was most definitely the armoured titan barreling its way towards the inner gate.

The whiskered boy grit his teeth in frustration. He wanted to help his siblings. He really did. But if the armoured titan managed to bring down the inner gate that would cause a whole load of problems, and not just for him. It would greatly affect those under his care in the Underworld for instance, it may even start a civil war. His siblings on the other hand seemed to be handling themselves alright anyways. Considering that Armin was with them he was sure they already had a plan in motion that didn't involve him coming to their rescue. Armin wasn't that dependent on him anymore.

And he trusted them. Well, there were still accidents that could happen, but he trusted them not to die for a few more minutes while he dealt with the bigger problem. Cannons and blades didn't work on the armoured juggernaut so Naruto was pretty sure that the soldiers wouldn't be able to stop it from charging straight through the gate like it had done in Shiganshina.

He sighed as he leapt off the wall in a free fall. It was still near the centre of the city so that was good. There wouldn't be too many witnesses. Aside from the large group his siblings were a part of there wasn't really much of anyone left in Trost anyways.

It didn't take long for Naruto to find himself staring at the behemoth almost face to face as he stood an adjacent roof. Unfortunately it also completely ignored him as it rushed past, dead set on the innermost gate.

"Do I look like just another soldier to you?" Naruto asked with an annoyed eye twitch. Sure he was in uniform but still, getting ignored was annoying.

"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!" (Earth Release: Great Impact)

The armoured titan lost its balance and crashed head first into the pavement from the force of the giant boulder that had crashed into the back of its head. It let out a furious roar as it pushed itself to its feet and turned to its assailant. It also didn't have a single scratch from the hit it had just taken, reaffirming Naruto's theory that cannons didn't quite work on this thing.

He also couldn't be sure, but he felt almost as if he saw recognition in its eyes. Which would make absolutely no sense since the one time Naruto had seen it before today, he had been on a boat filled with hundreds of other bodies.

"Gonna notice me now big guy?" He taunted.

The armoured titan turned to the inner gate, then back to Naruto, then back at the inner gate once again. It then made to turn, apparently having made its decision.

"Okay you know what, now I'm irritated." Naruto growled. He didn't want to use fire. It was his strongest element, but he also tended to lose control of it the easiest. It was his last resort if he couldn't get through the armour somehow. He was pretty sure he could cook it inside those armoured plates.

"Raiton: Gian!" (Lightning Release: False Darkness)

Naruto opened his mouth and unleashed a stream of lightning at the titan's nape. It certainly dealt damage as the armoured stopped in its tracks as it felt the armoured plates at its nape clatter uselessly to the ground. It raised a hand to cover the back of its neck and turned to glare at Naruto, realizing that if it left its back exposed Naruto would make him pay for it.

"Have I got your attention now?" Naruto asked innocently.

The armoured titan roared in response and charged towards him. Naruto opened his mouth and fired another bolt of lightning which the angered behemoth batted away with his spare hand before he threw his body at the building Naruto had been standing on. Naruto merely leapt to another roof which was then also demolished by the armoured running straight through it.

"You know that destroying these buildings aren't really gonna help you right?" Naruto teased as he leapt to another roof, marveling at the path of destruction the armoured was intent on leaving behind as it leveled the block of houses. "I mean, I don't really need the mobility gear so you aren't really achieving much. Honestly I thought you were going to be so much more of a challenge. I realize now that if old man Hiruzen wasn't so old, he would've kicked your sorry ass."

Naruto knew he wasn't supposed to be playing around but he couldn't help it. He dodged a fist that slammed into the ground and jumped up onto the extended arm. He ran along it and pumped chakra into his arm to form a fist of rock which he then used to punch the armoured behemoth straight in its face. Its head snapped back from the force as the armoured plate covering its mouth flew off.

Naruto flipped backwards as a menacing row of teeth almost cut him in half. He skidded on the ground for a bit and substituted with a few bricks to avoid getting stomped on.

"You know, the only thing you've got going for you is your size." Naruto commented conversationally as he substituted with another block of bricks, frustrating the titan even further.

"I mean I have to admit you're pretty smart, making sure you're always facing me so I don't get your nape. But without your armour you're just another big dude. Well, really big. But point stands."

The titan roared at him again in response and stomped furiously on the ground, ensuring that the space around him was now clear of buildings and so it could see around itself better. His opponent also now had less places to hide.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, my siblings need me." Naruto admitted when he remembered the other battle he had been meaning to go towards. "So forgive me if I stop messing around."

Naruto channeled his wind chakra into the blades of his mobility gear, having discovered that they reacted to chakra very well. They started to hum as his chakra began to move in both ways like a dual chainsaw. The extended reach of the swords were invisible, but obvious from the grooves they were making into the ground. The armoured titan sensed the danger and took a fearful step back wards.

"Oh you're not going anywhere," Naruto laughed as the ground broke underneath the titan's feet and hardened up until his knees, trapping him in solid earth.

Before the titan could use brute force to free himself Naruto ran towards him and severed the tendons behind the knees.

The armoured then brought both of his hands to his cover his nape as he was left standing helplessly. Naruto didn't worry too much, now that he was sure his wind chakra enhanced blades were capable of slicing through the armour as if it were a normal titan. He walked up the side of its body, relishing the look of fear in its eyes as he made his way to its head.

"Do feel how helpless you make everyone feel now you brute?" Naruto said conversationally as he walked. "How does it feel to be completely at the mercy of something you don't understand?"

Naruto gazed back down at his knees and noticed them steaming as they repaired the damage. He wasn't healing as fast as the other titans, but Naruto supposed it was because the energy it had was focused on its armour. Why focus on healing when you didn't need to heal in the first place? He shrugged as he sliced open the underneath of the exposed armpit, making one arm fall down uselessly to the side.

The armoured titan realized suddenly that all Naruto needed to do was render its other arm useless then Naruto would have clear access to its exposed nape. In desperation it gazed down at the confident boy walking across its chest with a stupid grin on his face and the armoured titan opened its mouth to breathe out a breathe of scalding hot steam.

Naruto recoiled from the heat and leapt away with a groan as he made distance. His exposed hands and face had been badly burnt from the heat, but he healed fast. That didn't mean he wasn't angry now though. He checked his hands and watched as the skin slowly grew over the burnt areas until unblemished skin was left. He narrowed his eyes at the titan that was now shrouded in boiling steam.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)

The blast of wind was usually enough to level almost everything in its path. It didn't disappoint. The debris from the battle was blown away and all that was left was a fifteen metre armoured titan, now without his protective shroud of steam. Naruto channeled wind chakra into one blade and lightning into the other. One would slice off the remaining hand and if Naruto didn't reach the nape, he would stab straight through it. He leapt directly at the armoured titan, intent on finally finishing it.

A flash of red eyes distracted him for a moment from the surrounding wreckage and Naruto couldn't resist gazing into the red of the sharingan.

"Mikasa?" He asked in confusion. Wasn't she supposed to be fighting another battle?

Naruto felt his surroundings shift as the titan in front of him disappeared and Naruto snarled he brought his hand into the ram seal and released his chakra in a burst to dispel the illusion that had been cast on him.

That hadn't been Mikasa.

Unfortunately he had dispelled it too late. He had no time to react to the giant fist that slammed into him full force and turned everything black.


Reiner was terrified. He had suspected Naruto to be a shinobi from the very start. He had known what shinobi were for far longer, but he had never met one in person. He had heard the stories of course, their entire homeland feared both the titans of The Order and the shinobi that hunted them down. It was why they were here according to some prophecy that would allegedly help them turn the tide of battle and save their race from extinction.

But this was terrifying. Naruto had been toying with him the entire time. He could now understand why his people were afraid. Reiner was pretty sure he was supposed to be dead if whatever had distracted the shinobi at the last second hadn't affected Naruto.

He didn't want to admit it to himself, but Naruto was now officially a threat. He was an enemy. He was a dangerous enemy that was too risky to leave alive. This was the only chance he was going to get to remove him from the equation. It was unlikely that whatever had distracted the shinobi would work a second time. Reiner focused the healing to his legs, allowing him to break free from where they were buried and he sprinted to where Naruto had crash landed. His punch had sent the boy through many buildings, quite a distance out of the clearing actually, and Reiner wasn't even sure if he was alive. He had to be sure however.

Naruto was his friend, but the shinobi were not. His home took precedence over his own feelings. This was what it meant to be a warrior. The hope of his people rested with what they were doing here.

He grimaced as he found the battered body of the golden haired boy a moment later, motionless with his entire chest caved in. He shouldn't even be alive. But he was still breathing. Reiner sucked in a breath and raised his foot. Shinobi or not he doubted anyone would live after getting squashed. He threw his foot downwards with all the force he had available to him. Even if he was the enemy, Naruto was still his friend and he would make it quick.

He was thwarted however by a layer of indestructible crystal that suddenly manifested around the boy's body. For all his power Reiner was unable to even scratch it and he stumbled backwards in pain as his knee shook in pain. There was only one person with them he knew could form that crystal.

"Annie," Reiner growled out as he caught sight of her staring back at him with those cold blue eyes. "Move away. You know what he is."

Annie didn't react other than to raise her hand to her mouth as she continued the stare down with Reiner. She opened her mouth and paused as she waited for Reiner's next move.

"You would fight me? For him?" Reiner said disbelievingly. "Actually, since you were here the whole time why didn't you stop him when he was going to kill me?"

"I do not care about you," Annie replied simply. "Back away and carry out your stupid plan to find the power you are looking for, but leave him alone."

"He is a threat to us Annie! Can you not see that?" Reiner bellowed in disbelief.

"He is a threat to you," Annie corrected simply. "He is a threat to your plan, a threat to your village, a threat to whatever cause you are fighting for. But he is not a threat to me."

"What do you want Annie? You never did care about anything did you?" Reiner spat. "You were only here under orders and now you throw it all away. This is treason! What would your father say?"

Annie's eyes hardened even more and Reiner held back a flinch.

"That man is not my father. I have no home. I have no people. You think I ever cared about anything? All I ever knew was how to fight. I knew nothing else. I had no purpose other than to fight. It is what gave me joy. It is what gives me joy. Everything else is boring." Annie admitted, "But you know that. I only go along with your stupid plan of breaking walls because it is temporarily interesting."

"Then why save him? If you really care about nothing else other than fighting then why save him?" Reiner bellowed.

Annie raised an eyebrow at him as she answered with a question of her own, "So that maybe I have an excuse to fight you?"

Reiner stepped back at the admission and momentarily worried that Annie would go through with it before he realized something. "You lie," He accused.

"Oh?" Annie asked with feigned interest as she crossed her arms once again.

"If you really wanted to fight me you would have by now. Nothing is stopping you." Reiner pointed out.

"Maybe I just think you are not worth my effort?" Annie replied.

Reiner's titan took a step forward and Annie didn't hesitate to raise her hand to her mouth.

"See?" Reiner said victoriously, "You do care for something."

"And how does that help you?" Annie asked in annoyance, "If anything you now know you aren't touching him."

"What I want to understand is how. How did he interest you this much?" Reiner asked in genuine curiosity. "For someone who cares only about fighting, why show interest in someone who plays family?"

Annie replied with a shrug. "He was different. And he made me a promise that he hasn't fulfilled yet."

"Planning on joining their little family then?" Reiner said sarcastically, "Do you really think they have space in there for you? You know as well as I do that they have their own little world."

"You are mistaken again Reiner," Annie said slowly. "I am already a part of it, and I have been for a while now. None of us are related by blood, but Naruto said that love holds us together. I admit, I do not know what love is. It is still a foreign concept to me. But let me ask you Reiner, would you fight for your father?"

"That's exactly why I'm even here in these walls!" Reiner snarled.

Annie finally gave a small smile. "Then you understand me, and what I am doing now."

Reiner froze as the ramifications of what Annie had admitted hit him. "He's your father? That doesn't even make sense!"

"Can you not see us Reiner? Our family does not start or end in blood. It is by choice." Annie declared. "If Naruto is the heart, Armin is the brain, Mikasa and Eren are the right and left arms, then I am their sword and shield. So if you want to harm my family Reiner, feel free to try."

Annie bit her hand and in a flash of yellow lightning, her titan stood defensively over Naruto with its hands raised in Annie's signature style.

Reiner swore as he weighed the risks. He knew he couldn't beat Annie. But maybe she couldn't defend Naruto as they fought. He just had to be careful not to fully commit fully on his attacks where Annie could use his strength against him. He was an inferior fighter, he was aware of that. But Naruto was too dangerous and Reiner could not let this opportunity slip him by.

He was forced to reevaluate his decision a few moments later as he lay on his back. His body hurt everywhere and Annie hadn't even moved from her spot. It wasn't like he could just go around her either, she was faster than him and more agile.

"You are very dedicated in eliminating threats Reiner. Have you considered yet, that you are the threat to me at the moment?" Annie asked in titan form. "Maybe I should learn something from you for once, and begin removing threats permanently?"

Reiner's eyes widened and he scrambled backwards in fear as a sword and shield of crystal manifested in Annie's hands. He knew Annie had never seen them as comrades but this was the first time he was fully convinced she wasn't idly threatening. He thought he knew how Annie's mind worked, and this whole encounter was just proving him wrong.

"Naruto doesn't like killing," He said as he tried to appeal to Naruto's ideals.

"He doesn't like senseless killing," Annie corrected. "I believe I am fairly justified considering you want to kill him."

Reiner grit his teeth. He knew when he was outmatched and he just hated how Annie had been put on their team. She was a liability. She never contributed anything. She didn't even believe in their cause. The only reason she had been placed on their team was for her abilities, which were now being used against him. Yeah Grisha had some brilliant foresight when he built this team alright.

"If I leave now, will you let me?" Reiner asked reluctantly. It hurt his pride, but he had to give up Naruto now to at least break down the inner gate. One shinobi wasn't worth abandoning their mission.

"Will I?" Annie asked coldly.

"You bitch," Reiner spat.

Their conversation was interrupted suddenly as an oppressive aura exploded behind them. It caused both shifters within their titans to choke and swallow under the pressure. Even Annie felt her knees buckle as she struggled to stay standing and she gazed behind her with eyes wide in fear. She almost didn't recognize the golden haired boy who was gazing back up at her with slitted red eyes. It was like looking at a wild animal. His hair was wild and fluttered around wildly from the force of power rushing out of his body while the rest of his features had turned feral.

He roared at her and Annie's titan could only raise her crystal shield in response before she felt herself get blown backwards with immense force. She could only register that her feet were no longer on the ground and she was flying.

Reiner shielded his face from the shockwave that resulted from Naruto punching Annie and his mouth hung agape when he lowered his arm and caught sight of her titan. She wasn't moving and her shield had cracks in it. A shield made from the crystal of the Leonhardt clan had suffered damage after just a single hit. Annie had also been blasted further than Reiner could have ever thrown her. His breath caught in his throat when the feral Naruto noticed him and seemed to grow even angrier as he remembered the opponent that had almost killed him. Some sort of red energy began to bubble around his person and Reiner had a very bad feeling from in his gut as Naruto's presence seemed to grow even more suffocating.

Naruto disappeared from sight and Reiner raised his heavily armoured arms in reflex. The next thing he knew he was missing one of his arms and he was airborne. He could not take another hit.

He felt his body slam into the ground and fought the wave of nausea that threatened to break free from his throat as he shook his head to free himself from the unconsciousness about to take over. He ignored Mikasa when he spotted her on the roof and immediately shed his remaining armour and pushed himself to his feet and begun to sprint. He was far faster without the armour, and the armour wasn't much use anyways against whatever Naruto was. He could worry about the prophecy another day, but he had to survive today first. He could still enter the Military Police with Annie and Bertholdt. That was far safer than trying to go up against this menace. Reiner decided then and there that he wouldn't try to break any more of the walls. He was just going to get himself killed.

He also couldn't help but notice that he wasn't the only one rushing away from the scene. Ahead of him many of the mindless, driven by instinct, were stampeding back towards the breach. Reiner couldn't blame them, and if their instincts feared Naruto well Reiner decided to listen to them. Animal instincts were usually there for a reason.

He glanced back worriedly, just in case Naruto was following him but instead witnessed Naruto attacking his siblings. He breathed out a sigh of relief. If Naruto was even attacking his siblings then it was dangerous for anyone to remain anywhere near the vicinity. At least he was distracted by them, it gave Reiner more time to get away. It didn't make him a nice person, but he had long accepted that anyways.


(Naruto's Mind)

"Why are you all staring at me?" a seven year old Naruto asked fearfully as he descended the stairs of the orphanage slowly to see all the other children glaring at him. Why were they always like this? What had he even done? They had always been like this for as long as he could remember.

It hurt. No matter how much he tried to hide it behind a smile he couldn't bear it for long.

The children all vacated one of the tables in their dining room, preferring to cram into the other tables as long as it meant staying away from him. Naruto would have preferred it if they would have just ignored him, it would have hurt less. But their hate filled glares did not leave him, instead they watched his every move like hawks with their heads turned to him at almost unnatural angles.

"I-iruka?" Naruto asked slowly as he reached out his hand to his favourite caretaker. "What happened to you?"

The man was covered in bandages with his arm wrapped in a sling and he walked with a limp.

Naruto recoiled when the man threw a punch at him and Naruto fell to the floor, his eyes wide in fear as he stared up at the furious face of the man. "This is all your fault! Why couldn't you be normal! I suffer this way because of you! Why are even here? To make me suffer? I just want to do my job fairly but no, you have to make my life hell by being a freak!" He snarled.

Tears pricked Naruto's eyes as he stumbled backwards, only to bump into a wooden rocking chair. He turned and saw the familiar clothes of the one person who could save him from this hell. "Old Man!" he shouted cheerfully. Even if the whole world turned on him this person wouldn't.

"What have you done now?" The old man sighed wearily as he smoked his pipe, not even bothering to turn around and face Naruto. "This orphanage doesn't exist to have everyone adjust to you. This is for the orphans of those who lost their parents to titans. But you, no one even knows who you parents were. They surely weren't soldiers. So why are you here? Living off our resources like a leech. We cannot live in peace as long as you reside here, sullying us with your disgusting presence. You are like a cancer, a weed that must be thrown out and separated so the garden can grow."

"Old man?" Naruto asked as his voice broke.

"Take him out of here and make sure he doesn't get back in," Hiruzen ordered to the other caretakers. He lit his pipe again, and relaxed as if forgetting Naruto was behind him.

"Old man look at me!" Naruto pleaded as his arms were grabbed by one of the caretakers that had no trouble picking up a seven year old kid despite how much he struggled. "Old man please! You don't mean that!"

"You have no idea how happy this makes me, or how long I've waited for this," Mizuki breathed maliciously into his ear before he threw Naruto out of the front door of the orphanage.

Naruto landed harshly onto the dirt pavement, wincing as he felt the skin on his palms and face tear upon contact with the dirt. But it was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling inside as he looked back up at the door, only to witness Iruka smirk at him and slam the door shut. Almost immediately after the door was shut Naruto heard laughter and joy burst out and resonate from within the orphanage.

"Out of the way!" A passer by yelled as he kicked Naruto in the ribs, forcing him aside.

The small boy gasped in pain and looked up to see everyone else on the street either looking on at him in distaste or outright averting their gaze from him. He looked around him with frightful eyes as he huddled against a wall and tried to make himself seem as small as possible.

"Hey are you okay?" A gentle voice asked.

Naruto's head shot up in hope at the green eyed who seemed familiar and Naruto forced himself to stand and offer the boy a shaky smile.

"Yeah, my name's-" Naruto's head rocked back from a punch and he felt himself get thrown against the wall before he could do anything.

"I wasn't talking to you freak!" The green eyed boy snarled as he pulled a smaller blond behind him as if to protect him from Naruto. "Let's get out of here before he bites us or something," he spat before he turned and dragged the smaller boy behind him.

The black haired girl behind them paused and stared at him with an expressionless face for a moment and Naruto dared to hope once more that at least one person would acknowledge him positively.

"Freak," the girl muttered simply.

Naruto stood to protest and plead that he wasn't a monster but the girl raised her foot and stomped on his already injured chest, sending him back to the ground.

"Just disappear. No one wants you," the girl said cruelly with a sneer before she ran off after the other two boys.

Naruto didn't move from his spot on the ground where he had landed, no longer having any will to get up as sobs wracked his body. She was right. No one wanted anything to do with him. Why was he even here? He should just disappear. Everyone would be happy he wasn't making their lives worse. He was useless, worthless, and just a waste of food. He had no one. He was alone. He was completely and utterly alone. The loneliness was all consuming.

Oh god how it hurt.


As Naruto lost himself to despair, two massive blood red eyes opened in amusement as he felt the seal holding him back weaken further and further every minute. For the first time in many years he tasted freedom, and he wasn't going to let go. Nine monstrous tails swished slowly behind him, a cruel grin etched on his maw as he watched the boy suffer.


A/N: Sorry it's a little late hehe. Totally my fault, I clicked a series and Binged around a 100 40 minute episodes. Then I rewatched it for good measure.

But well I hope this chapter answers some questions and made some new ones, I suppose a few of you already have an inkling of where this is going and feel free to guess hehe. And do keep reviewing, some are really encouraging and others also help to point out where there may be mistakes. Sometimes I forget that I haven't shown the full picture which is why it may get confusing so do voice them out. Some grievances are real genuine plot holes while others are simply because we haven't addressed that particular issue just yet but it will be later on in the story.

So Yeah do review and keep 'em coming! Not sure when the next chapter will be out but earliest is two weeks and latest is a month. My issue is these chapters start with an 8k word plan then somehow go all the way to 20k. In retrospect maybe I should have split this chapter to make it easier to digest but oh well.

Laters!