It's that time again. Welcome back to the story, and the first chapter that isn't a rewrite of something shitty. EDIT: Added the Q and A at the bottom I forgot to do this chapter.
Chapter 4: Traveling to Canterlot
Naruto groggily opened his eyes to find the sun had already risen in the sky. He looked around and found that both Gyuki and Kurama must have already woke up, considering they were not in the tent. He threw on his signature pair of pants - he had to go shirtless because his shirt and mesh undershirt had been destroyed in the fight with Sasuke - and shinobi sandals and headed out of the tent to see what was going on. He took a long draw of the fresh morning air, then exhaled it out through his mouth. Definitely a lot cleaner than back home, that's for sure.
As he stepped out of the tent, he noticed the group had split into two distinct units. All the females of the group, plus Gyuki and Hagoromo, were on one log, and Minato, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, Shukaku, Isobu, Son Goku and Saiken were on the other log. They all looked up at Naruto as he yawned, closing the tent flap behind him. "Morning, sleepyhead. Want some breakfast?" Minato spoke up as Naruto walked toward the logs.
"Sure, I'm always starving in the morning. Thanks, Dad." Naruto went to sit by Isobu as he took a bowl and spoon from Jiraiya's hand and got a look at what he was going to be eating... Yeah, he could accept eating oatmeal, he just hoped it was the tasty kind and not the cheap grits the general stores in Konoha sold. He took a bite and hmm'd for a moment before deciding he approved of the taste and eating with more gusto. Jiraiya chuckled at the boy's picky taste in food before polishing off his own bowl of oatmeal and setting it on a cloth that would hold the dishes to be taken to the lake for cleaning.
As the rest of the group finished their own breakfast, Minato teleported to the lake with the dishes to get them washed. While that was being done, Hagoromo got the group's attention. "Alright, since this Princess Celestia has given us a reason to leave our little hideout for now, we should take a few days to visit Canterlot and get the lay of the land."
Naruto whiplashed his head around at Hagoromo's more than passing attempt at modern dialect so fast, the group could hear his neck cramp. "OWW!" He fell to the ground, clutching his neck in pain. The others had a good laugh, and Hagoromo himself chuckled at Naruto's reaction.
"Yes, Naruto, I am more than capable of speaking in the modern tongue. I chose not to in my old age for the simple reason that it was a mental test. Those who could decipher the method with which I used the vernacular were proven to be sound and secure of mind. But now, I am in the physical form I took when I first gained the Rinnegan, so such cryptic speech is no longer necessary. I won't be speaking in riddles, as you're so fond of calling it, at least until you're having your midlife crisis."
Naruto managed to extricate himself from the ground, still rubbing his complaining neck as he finally carefully nodded. Jiraiya was still laughing at Naruto's little episode, but Hiruzen got him in line by taking a wooden staff out of one of his storage seals and smacking the man upside the head. "Man, pick on an old man, why don't you?"
"I am older than you, boy, and you were my student, so don't refute me." Jiraiya grumbled in displeasure, as he was wont to do, while everyone chuckled at his predicament.
"Back to the matter at hand." Hagoromo cleared his throat, returning everyone's attention to him. "We need to get the lay of the land so we are not walking around blindly with our feet in our mouths. Thus, we will travel to Canterlot, where we will be staying for a few days while Naruto and Minato learn about the country we have found ourselves in."
Minato had finished washing the dishes at this point and had returned to the group, and Naruto and Minato's faces reflexively contorted in horror, Naruto because reading, and Minato because paperwork. "Hey, Super Gramps, what's this about?! Why can't someone else do the reading?!"
Hagoromo raised an eyebrow while Gyuki and Kurama chuckled at Naruto's response to what was basically the bane of his existence. "Because, Naruto, if one day you find yourself willing and needing to protect this country and this world, you will need to learn what it is you are protecting so you can plan how best to do it. And Minato because he has a key balance of speed and strength to respond to any threats the may appear at a moment's notice, as well as learning the politics of this country in the event we need to ask assistance of the country's denizens." Naruto and Minato, as much as they hated the idea of anything to do with words on paper, couldn't refute the Sage's logic, and reluctantly nodded their heads.
"Now, we should start packing to prepare for our trip. We will not be using our chakra unless absolutely necessary, as I do not know how the ambient energies of this dimension line with our own. I hope within the week, I will be able to figure that out, but until then, chakra is an emergency-only resource. That also means we will be walking around the base of the mountain at a civilian pace." The others nodded, Naruto, Minato, Jiraiya and Hiruzen because it made sense - they were in an entirely different dimension now, and couldn't risk doing something stupid and losing access to their chakra permanently - and the others because they couldn't risk using their youki in the first place anyway, as even though their reserves replenished naturally regardless of their environment, they did not know how the corrosive nature of their brand of chakra would affect the environment around them.
The group nodded, acknowledging Hagoromo's wisdom regarding their situation, before setting out to get everything squared away for their journey. Later, as the others were finishing packing the tents, Kurama approached Hagoromo, who was meditating on a rock near the lake. "Hey, Old Man, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course, dear Kurama. What is it you request of me?"
"Well, it's more of an inquiry than a request, but I wanted to know... are we technically even Biju anymore? We've been given human bodies that are just as flesh and blood as you or Naruto, and our youki has even been adapted to the same internal system that you possess." Hagoromo was not unaware of the slight inflection in Kurama's voice that indicated she was rather apprehensive.
"I cannot provide you the answer you desire, as you will have to seek it out on your own, but for now, this less than detailed answer will have to suffice. For all intents and purposes, yes, you and your kith are now humans, and that comes with everything that entails. Žiara could have chosen to remain in her state, as she is a descendant of the gods, but chose to take human form instead." Nor did Hagoromo miss the almost unnoticeable flicker of relief in Kurama's eyes at his less-than-satisfactory answer.
He wasn't the only one curious about Kurama's sudden shift, either. From a hundred feet away, Gyuki, helping Shukaku, Isobu, and Son Goku with their tent, overheard the conversation. What is your devious mind planning, Kurama?
The group had been walking for a couple hours before a distant roar grabbed all of their attention. They all nodded to one another before advancing forward toward the direction the roar had been perceived in, all of them on guard. As they got closer, the roars got a little louder and sounded a little more often, until they broke through the treeline and found a creature with a lion's head and body and a bird's tail trying - and badly failing -to hold back a pack of wolves that looked like they were literally made out of wood.
As the creature tried to defend itself, it looked in their direction unknowingly, its eyes showing its acceptance of its fate as it finally stopped struggling. Naruto's eyes widened, before he ran forward and shattered one of the wolves' face with a single punch. The other two turned to the intruder as their comrade's headless body bonelessly dropped to the ground and had about enough time to growl before they were kicked so hard in the stomach, they came off the ground.
The wolves landed on their feet and charged at the intruder, but failed to do any damage, as Naruto has sidestepped their attacks and drove a fist through one's stomach, dropping it to the ground, then turned and grabbed the other by the neck with almost inhuman reflexes, slamming it into the ground so hard he upset the dirt beneath his feet.
The head of the first wolf suddenly regrew itself, and the wolf jumped back at Naruto, who barely managed to dodge before he got bit. He drove a knee into its stomach, and went to finish the job, but before he could, he felt himself dragged back to the group, and saw Hagoromo use his Ninshu to light the wooden creatures on fire, and the wolves did not get back up after that.
Naruto broke free of his captor's grip and ran over to the creature, who tried to scare him by roaring at him, but its voice was weak and Naruto was not going to back down anyway. It tried to swat him away, but he took the hit and winced in pain as the creature's claws cut a gash across his hip.
"Naruto, you need to be careful!" Kurama yelled after him, and Saiken ran forward to pull Naruto back to tend to the wound he had just been given. The second he went to grab Naruto, however, he found his arms swatted away and a shadow clone standing in front of him, shaking its head with a menacing glare, arms crossed in defiance.
"Naruto, get back! That thing could kill you! You-"
Gyuki tried to reason with Naruto, but almost as soon as he had started, Naruto's voice cut across in a dangerous undertone. "NO! I'm not just going to stand here while this creature dies and let it happen! After what I've been through, I can't! If what you guys said about having read my memories is true, you know that! Sasuke almost died fighting Zabuza! We both almost died fighting Orochimaru! Chiyo sacrificed herself to save Gaara after he got killed by Akatsuki! Pein killed Jiraiya! Hinata nearly died in front of me! Neji sacrificed himself to save Hinata, who was going to sacrifice herself to save me! Were it not for Kurama, I would have died because of Sasuke!
"I can't..." Tears started falling down Naruto's face, his body shaking. "I have to find some way to make up for what I've failed to do... I couldn't save my friends when it mattered the most..."
Gyuki stopped in his tracks, taken aback by Naruto's heated exclamation. The others had varying degrees of reaction, but Kurama's was far and away the most extreme. She stopped, her hands slapped over her mouth in shock. Tears started falling from her eyes as she fell to her knees. I can't believe we... we were all so insensitive... He's been through something no mortal should ever have to go through... and somehow he managed to keep a hold of himself... How strong does he have to be to not let the grief show...?
The creature's eyes softened at the display of emotion Naruto showed regarding its own survival. It leaned its scratched head forward and softly licked his cheek. Naruto froze, before a small smile showed on his lips. He gently hugged the creature, whispering promises of health. Hagoromo stepped forward, ignorant of the others staring at him for a brief moment, before approaching the creature and placing his hand on the area where he sensed its heart to be. The marking at the center of his forehead seemed to become brighter for a brief second, and the Rinnegan in his eyes flared, tomoe flickering into existence for a brief moment before dissipating. Suddenly, the creature's wounds were gone as if it had never been attacked.
Hagoromo forcefully pushed the butt of his staff against the ground, and leaned against it, taking a few heavy breaths before returning to his previous posture. "Naruto, kindly refrain from allowing your emotions to get the better of you the next time you are presented with such a situation. That took an inordinate amount of chakra, the majority of which I won't see again for the next month. Acts of God were meant to be performed by God, not a pretender."
Naruto profusely thanked Hagoromo for saving the creature. "It is no issue this time, Naruto. The main reason I chose to use the power of one of my Paths to assist this creature in its state is because I have sensed the connection that has been formed between the two of you."
Naruto looked at the creature for a brief moment, before recognizing such,nodding to Hagoromo. Suddenly, he realized his wound had closed without help from anyone. "Wait, what happened to the gash? It's gone!"
"My guess is your connection with Kurama left you with a large enough sliver of her youki to amplify your natural Uzumaki healing factor." Hagoromo said after a moment of thought.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Back when Obito ripped Kurama out of my mom after I was born, she still had enough strength to restrain her while Dad sealed her into me. Or at least that's what I'm told." He looked to Minato, who nodded in confirmation at the accuracy of Naruto's statement.
"I think we have delayed long enough. Let us continue our journey to Canterlot." Hagoromo had fully recovered physically from the use of his Path to heal the creature, and the group, accompanied by Naruto's new friend, got up and started heading in the direction of Mt. Canterhorn.
And so Chapter 4 comes to an end. Gyuki remains suspicious of Kurama, Hagoromo demonstrates once again why he is known as the Sage of Six Paths, Naruto's internal struggle is finally brought to light, and the group gains a new traveling partner and friend.
I was a bit irate last night, because right as I finished updating my profile and went to publish the changes, FanFiction brought its login server down to perform a hardware upgrade. While I understand it was necessary to provide all of us authors here with a faster and more reliable experience, they said it was only going to take about five minutes, and it ended up delaying my progress by over a half hour, and by the time I got home an hour later (my class had just ended) I had completely forgotten to check the state, resulting in everything being a day late. So sorry about that.
Question and answer time.
Gyuki is a sneaky bastard. Hope to see more soon.
Happy to oblige, and here you go! Also yes, Gyuki is very sly, just like in the anime. He had to be to stand Bee's rapping.
This chapter is so deep on plot and I would love Celestia to be very powerful. (rest cut out for length)
Wouldn't say there was much plot there, other than giving the group an incentive to leave their new hidey-hole and figure out exactly where the hell they are. And don't worry, I have my plans for Celestia and later Luna (yes I just confirmed Luna will be in the story at some point).
I'm going to head over and get the rest of MSL Chapter 1 rewritten and then throw that up, so see you guys again soon!