Sky Arcobaleno

by angelslaugh

...

2. Chapter 2

"Where are they?"

"Gone."

~:~

"She's going to be furious when she finds out we tricked her."

Checkerface glanced at Luce.

"I know. But it is for the best." He eyed the girl, who currently sat on the grass, looking sad. "I blocked the bond they have with each other the moment the pacifiers were given out."

Luce dropped a cup. Dark fury was in the usually gentle mafia boss's face.

"How could you?" Luce demanded angrily. "A Guardian Bond is delicate! You could-"

"She can Harmonize with other Skies," Checkerface interrupted. "I'm rather interested in who she might choose."

"Multiple?"

"She has all of the Elements. Therefore, three, considering she added another Mist to her Guardians, adding in that Sun child - so three, at the least, if she manages a Guardian Bond with him, and then her Guardian set will be complete." Checkerface was in deep thought. "She won't have a traditional outlook, and neither will get Guardians-she feels like she is the one who has to protect, rather the one being protected."

Luce hummed in thoughtfulness.

"It still isn't right," she said after a moment of silence. "It is a sacred bond and she is still new to Flames."

The former ninja turned Arcobaleno stayed in that position for a long time.

"Well, the good news is, she can still use her chakra."

Luce glared at Checkerface.

"Checkerface, you are a shitty celestial being."

~:~

Naruto lifted her tiny body, focusing on her chakra.

"You can still use your chakra," Checkerface had told her. "But you can't use your Flames that often or the Curse will backfire and suck you dry."

There was a pause.

"Wow, whoever designed this curse really wanted a generation of each type of Flame user dead, huh?" Naruto glared at Checkerface in a are you fucking kidding me kind of way.

"Not that I wanted them dead, per say… Plus, little Sky, you can't exactly die, can you?"

Naruto glared at him even more.

"I hate you."

~:~

Naruto enjoyed the breeze on her babyish face.

Her voice was high and Luce kept cooing at her during dinner, which was irritating enough, but Naruto wouldn't have to deal with it for much longer.

"I have decided," she said, "to travel."

Her announcement didn't seem to affect the mafia boss.

"Where?" Luce wondered.

"Well, first I decided to go see America."

Luce choked on her ravioli.

"Why that... uncivilized country?" Luce grimaced. Apparently any country not Italy was 'uncivilized'.

Naruto blinked at her.

"Because I've wanted to go to America for ages. Then England... then I don't know." Naruto shrugged.

Naruto was going to take this fresh start and run with it.

~:~

America was a… Place.

Yeah. A place.

Neither good, nor bad. Naruto had had to forge documents on the ship with the help of one of Luce's bodyguards who apparently knew about the Curse and pretended to be her dad. Why Americans had them go on a ship was beyond Naruto.

He didn't know English, which meant Naruto had to translate everything the American said, present their passes, and keep the fact that her 'dad' was carrying weapons that were more than likely illegal. Apparently Luce wanted the man to keep an eye on Naruto but not interfere.

Oh, and she had to hide her familiar, Kia, because apparently Japanese foxes weren't allowed onboard the ship.

Naruto just missed Aria, Luce's newborn daughter; Aria was a Sky, too.

Naruto sighed as the car drove them to their current living space, the American looking up as Naruto began to speak in Italian. The automatic translation ability Naruto had thanks to several demons in her head was giving the seventeen-year-old baby a headache.

"I miss Luce! Little Aria was so cute," she said, hitting the back of her seat with her head.

"Boss told me to follow you until I die," Claudio said staunchly. "And to murder those who –"

"No murdering," Naruto growled, interrupting her darling 'dad'. "I'm here to see what this country has to offer, not to murder people. That would just create a mess of things."

"Oh." Claudio actually looked disappointed. "Remember we can't talk about the mafia here. Omerta and all that."

"Tch, like I could forget, being Cursed as I am," the baby snapped back.

The American driver looked at Claudio. "Your daughter is a genius, being able to talk so young!"

"Don't talk to us," Naruto snapped, causing the driver to swerve and swear.

Naruto happily collected those swears and added them to her language collection.

~:~

"Arcobaleno, hmm?" An ocean away, a purple-haired child with an octopus for a familiar looked up from his drink, scowling. The stuntman had red-ringed eyes, indicating the child had been crying.

"Leave him alone," Ginger Bread said, manipulating his Sun Flames so that a copy of himself appeared that Ginger Bread could manipulate.

The mafioso simply raised his hands. "Look, I'm from the Carcassa Famiglia. Heard that some Arcobaleno appeared, figured I'd approach one of 'em. Where's your Sky?"

Skull scowled at the mafioso. "Not interested."

The Carcassa Famiglia were into dark shit, according to Luce.

"We have a contract with Vongola," Ginger Bread added darkly, producing the crest. How the child managed to get a contract with the Vongola was beyond Skull, but Skull didn't question it.

"Hey, just because you're part of the I Prescelti Sette, you think you're hot shit. Well, you're no better than the rest of us!" The Carcassa member declared, lunging at Skull –

-only for his hand to stop as a woman Skull knew by one ball shoved his face into the table.

"I wouldn't touch my Arcobaleno," Vongola Ottava said silkily, her red facial tattoos glinting in the half-light. "Also, if you think being part of the I Prescelti Sette isn't an accomplishment, you might need to learn your Italian again."

She released the Carcassa member, then stepped near Skull and Ginger Bread, who took a defensive stance next to the ex-civilian.

"I was actually coming to offer you a safe haven," she said, a twinkle in the older Sky's eyes, "as my temporary Cloud Guardian." She held up her hand to forestall his next words. "I know you have a Sky, but I have not heard anything that says your Sky is alive. I do not ask you Harmonize with me, simply take my former Cloud's spot for the time being."

"As long as Ginger Bread is taken in," Skull agreed sullenly. "My Sky would kill me if I let Ginger Bread loose."

Ginger Bread gave him a pout. Skull ignored it.

~:~

"Why did you try to take my place, idiot student?" Lal scowled at Colonello with no real heat, just sadness and inner rage boiling inside.

"Because I think you don't deserve to be cursed," Colonello smiled. "And, well, I didn't even know we were going to be cursed –"

"Or half-cursed," Lal grumbled under her breath.

"Or half-cursed," Colonello agreed. "Anyway, I didn't know, and even if I had, I would have done it."

Lal sighed. "Well, I guess there's no point in being mad."

Colonello's bright smile turned distant. "Do you think she's really dead?"

Lal frowned. "Of course, why would –" Why would Checkerface and Luce lie?

But Luce hadn't told them about the Arcobaleno curse, hadn't told them that they were next to be cursed. Careful praises, mentions of how great they were, had engorged their ego and made them all think that they were being forced to work together simply because they were the greatest in their respective areas.

And they all had just happened to be different Flame types.

Introducing Naruto, who was primarily a Sky, was strange; but the ninja was apparently the best in her land, and that in itself was an extraordinary feat.

Lal shook her head. "No," she said firmly, her other thoughts disappearing in the air. "I don't think she's dead. I don't think the Curse could kill her – remember when she told us she couldn't exactly stay dead, kind of like Skull?"

She conveniently forgot that Colonello hadn't been there.

"No," Colonello deadpanned. "I don't."

"Right, well, she can't stay dead. Something to do with a curse of her own on her." Lal shrugged. "Don't know. Anyway, if she was being honest, which – let's be honest, she usually was – she wouldn't have stayed dead even if the curse really had killed her. So, Checkerface must've lied, and muffled our bonds with her."

Which also meant Luce was in on it.

"We can't go to Luce," Colonello said, as if reading her mind. "Luce wouldn't tell us."

"Luce must be in regular contact with Naruto," Lal continued in that vein, "so she'd send anyone and everyone on a mission if we happened to be there, or ask Naruto to stay away in a way that doesn't seem like stay the hell away so I can keep a secret from you."

"And, if we know my Sky, she'll trust Luce."

"Your Sky?" Lal scoffed, folding her tiny arms under her chest. "Naruto is my Sky. We Harmonized!"

"Uh, no offense, Lal, but I kinda Harmonized with her after we rescued her." Colonello looked sheepish. "We Harmonized when she Harmonized with Reborn."

Lal furrowed her brows, and then a sort of understanding came over her. "A Sky with all Elements, bonding with two Elements of the same type…" Lal's eyes widened. "Naruto can Harmonize with two Elements of the same type! Must be because of her chakra."

"Chakra?"

Lal blinked again. "Right. You know what, let's go get a drink and I'll bring you up to speed, Colonello."

~:~

Reborn smirked to himself as he took the degree in mathematics. Well, at least he was utilizing the eternity he had until he died. His body may have been small, but he wasn't going to waste the new time he had on his hands dwelling on Luce's failed future she'd envisioned for the Elements of Naruto.

His smirk faltered for a second, then he forced it back on his face.

Do not think of her.

He had his own set of rules, and he was going to keep them.

Even if he had to force himself to forget.

~:~

Verde felt curious. Feelings that weren't new to him – loss, devastation – that he'd only seen in normal humans, the ones who weren't Verde and Viper.

So why he felt them right then was a curious question he was currently asking his new experiment, who just stared at him.

"You know, it means you're human," his experiment said flatly. "Human and experiencing loss."

"But I'm not a normal human, unlike you," Verde said reasonably, fiddling with dials.

"Fuck you, asshole. You look human and I'm pretty sure you can bleed, so you're human. Ish. Even the worst of scum can feel things."

Verde hummed to himself. "Thank you for your input."

~:~

Viper sat on a roof, contemplating things.

They remembered the dress incident with Naruto and thinking how stupid the girl must be.

Then, they'd run into Naruto after rescuing her from her home, drunk on poison.

Viper walked past Verde's lab, only to stop and silently look in.

Naruto was sitting in there, in one of Verde's chairs, holding a bottle that had 'nightshade poison' written on it.

Viper panicked, opening the door as Naruto literally took a swig of the stuff and stopped, freezing as Naruto looked at her, a healthy dusting of pink across his cheeks.

"You know, I wasn't always impervious to poison," he slurred, letting his head fall back again. "'t only happened when I was in the hosp'tal."

"Hospital?" From what Viper saw, her wounds healed extra fast. Why would she –

"Yeah, cuz when my birthday came 'round everyone liked to beat me up. Like, everyone in the whole village," the teen laughed. "So Gramps thought takin' me to the hosp'tal was a good idea."

He took another drink of the liquidated poison.

"The nurses din't like me all that much," the teenage boy confided, whispering like Viper wasn't the only person in there, his words becoming less pronounced. "So they tried to kill me with poison. Firs' few times, really got sick, but they kept giving me poison." Naruto shrugged, Viper feeling sick as Naruto continued. "Grew impervious, they tried to kill me with more."

He took quite a few gulps, nearly draining the nightshade. His face went a little redder.

"I totally understand," Naruto nodded sagely. "They were scared."

Viper hesitated, then put her hand on Naruto's shoulder awkwardly.

"But I didn't kill my dad and mom a few hours after I was born," the teen insisted, his words becoming a little clearer as he moved to sit up. "I was just born. How was – was I s'posed to –"

He hiccupped.

"Maybe that's enough alco- er, poison, for you," Viper suggested, moving the bottle out of his grip.

"I can't get drunk on alcohol," Naruto mused. Then he looked at Viper, drunk but serious. "Sometimes I wanna die, Viper. 'Cuz then I don't think anyone would care, you know?"

Viper's eyes widened.

"You're not allowed to die," Viper said, their tone dark. "Because then we'd all be sad."

Well, maybe not Renato, but he was a jackass. Verde, maybe. Fon? Probably.

Naruto looked at them with wide eyes.

"I wouldn't want anyone to miss me," Naruto said. "'Cuz if someone told me they would then I would do my best to keep them safe."

"You're drunk out of your mind," Viper said suddenly, standing up. "And Verde – if he finds out you drank most of his nightshade stash, he's going to try to kill you."

Viper herded Naruto out, stumbling and drunk.

The next day everyone was woken up by Verde's loud complaints about his missing nightshade. Naruto 'fessed up to drinking it and Verde railed at her before asking about the effects, ever the scientist.

Viper never once mentioned the conversation. Neither did Naruto.

Viper honestly didn't know if Naruto hadn't remembered, or if she just wanted to avoid any awkward conversations.

The Mist sighed.

~:~

Fon stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell.

The small assassin waited for a long moment, then used his normal voice. "Feng Mian, please don't be afraid. It's only me."

The door opened, and a beautiful teen who could have been Adult-Fon's twin appeared, her red eyes latching onto Fon uncertainly.

"I am an Arcobaleno," he said clearly, disregarding any eyes and ears. "Might I come in?"

Feng Mian moved aside.

Funnily enough, Feng Mian was Fon's twin. Older by five minutes.

"Why have you come?" Feng Mian asked, her eyes sharp and guarded. "Your Arcobaleno allies tried to kill my fiancé."

"My Sky is missing."

Straightforward, no hesitation. Fon didn't believe Naruto was dead. Not for a second.

~:~

Naruto had managed to use her chakra to make herself a believable age. There was no way anyone would assume that she was younger, baby-age.

She found her limit to her shapeshifting ability to be her previous age, seventeen, and even that took a considerable effort to maintain.

Exhausted, she let the illusion drop.

"We need a cover," Claudio told her in Italian. "A job to do."

"No murdering," Naruto sharply told him, glaring at him from her pose. "I don't care what you do as long as it's nothing terrible."

"Okay," Claudio said, leaving her to her training.

~:~

Naruto opened the bedroom door three months after she'd kept up training to demand something of Claudio, only to see the mafioso talking on the phone in accented American while a trussed-up American lay on the ground.

Claudio slammed the phone down and froze.

The girl whimpered as she stared at Naruto, KI leaking from the tiny 'baby'.

"Claudio," she said in perfect American, "I said nothing terrible!"

"I am a mafioso of the highest –"

"You are Luce's bodyguard!" Naruto shrieked, her chakra rising. "You aren't a mafioso any more than I am, you're just one of the more important boss' bodyguard!"

"I am her Rain Guard-"

"You idiot!" Naruto screeched, seeing the black mist start to form. "You just broke OMERTA!"

The American girl scrambled towards Naruto as the Vindice formed, wrapping chains around the idiot.

"Oh, and you're not Luce's Rain," Naruto added as an afterthought. "You'd be a lightning, not rain. Oi, Vindice!"

The bandaged, faceless mafia police turned towards her.

"If you can, tell Bermuda that I know what he is now!" Naruto beamed at them. "And that I'm gonna break this Curse if it's the last thing I do one of these days, ya know!"

The mafia police vanished with a screaming Claudio.

Naruto returned her attention to the pale American, who stared at her with huge green eyes.

"Okay, I have no clue what to do with you." Naruto tapped her chin. "I know! If I let you go, will you be my new bodyguard?"

The American girl hesitated.

Naruto held up her hands.

"I'm Cursed to look like a baby, not actually a baby, so… Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

~:~

"I have to confess something." Naruto swallowed. Luce kept sipping on her tea. Luce drank a lot of tea. Naruto closed her eyes. "I… I have a set of giant chakra demons in my head, thanks to the spirit of my soul-brother." He switched genders and folded his hands together, keeping his eyes closed and praying that his hands weren't as shaky as they felt. "It's why I can't die. It's why nobody can take my DNA."

There was silence, other than Luce sipping her tea.

"Really?" Renato was the first to break the silence. "So that's why you got up when I shot you for almost breaking omerta."

"YOU SHOT ME?!" Naruto threw him an offended look. "And here I had been hoping we'd been getting to be friends!"

"Then, hardly," Renato scoffed. "At the most, allies."

Naruto scoffed. "Jeez, is that all you're going to say? I just told everyone I have a set of giant chakra demons in my –"

Blackness swamped his vision as a weapon jammed itself in her head.

She opened her eyes to be looking at the ceiling; something was straight through her head. And there was lots of arguing.

"YOU JUST KILLED OUR SKY!" Skull shouted.

"Relax, she'll be up in a second," Renato lazily said.

Naruto dragged herself up, her eyes narrowing and eyeing Verde.

Only Luce seemed to see her as Skull and Renato argued fiercely.

"Verde."

Her single, icy word caused yelps of shock and disgust to cross their faces, not at the fact that she was still alive but at the pole in her head.

"Yes?" Verde asked, looking mildly annoyed.

"…I didn't want you to kill me," Naruto said, grasping the pole and sliding it out, feeling her head heal. "In fact…" Killing Intent, low-key and completely fake, was aimed at Verde. "You're dead now!"

Fon hit her, surprising her enough that she stumbled and tripped over the table, causing it to crash.

"Oh, fuck," Naruto said, her voice muffled by the pile of rubble.

(Luce seemed to have enough foresight as to take her tea and cup off the table.)

Skull coughed. "Are you alright?"

Naruto dragged herself up.

"Just… Rotten luck randomly decides to pick on me at the worst moments," Naruto replied.

"Really?" Lal seemed mildly interested. "How does that affect your performance with a weapon?"

Naruto blinked, then went a scalding red. "Um – it does- doesn't," the girl whimpered, hiding her scarlet face.

"Yes it does," Fon blandly commented.

Naruto groaned into her hands. "I'm not going to tell you guys. Too embarrassing."

"Can't be that embarrassing," Skull muttered, looking eager.

Naruto groaned. "It is the single most humiliating experience of my life, -ttebayo! I am not going to say a word!"

To their disappointment, they couldn't get a word out of her.

~:~

Skull scratched his ear, annoyed. This idiot just didn't. Stop. Talking.

"Timoteo, if you don't shut up, Donna won't be pleased," Skull snapped, shutting the heir up.

"You're such a –" Ganaunche brought up his gun, only for Daniela to enter.

The woman was getting older, as evidenced by her large amount of gray hairs.

"Timoteo, you've been Skull's ally for five years, don't piss him off."

Daniela glared shrewdly at the fool; Timoteo flushed and ducked his head.

Skull 'tch'ed' and sighed.

"Please tell me you have a job for me to do," he begged Daniela.

Daniela scoffed. "I want another Arcobaleno to come here before I die. One that's headed to London, so I hear."

Skull knitted his eyebrows together. "Do you want Ginger Bread to come with me? He can pass for my dad. I'd rather not have mini-asshole join me."

Ginger Bread looked up from his cookies.

"I can go!" he offered happily.

"Good," Daniela said. "And besides, it wasn't really me who asked me to bring her here." Daniela hesitated.

Skull deflated. "Great, so now I have to get Lal Mirch here? Or Mammon?" He had no idea if Mammon was even a girl or not.

"I don't know, brat," Daniela scowled.

Skull sighed and got up.

~:~

Naruto sipped her tea, blissfully ignoring any person who attempted to make a pass at her, calling her a bit young to be in a bar, aren't you? Need help finding your mother?

She looked ten, maybe eleven. Still not good.

The door opened, and a tiny baby figure entered.

"I am the Great Skull!" the purple figure cried out. "I am searching for an Arcobaleno!"

He said it all in Italian.

Naruto lost control and poofed into her baby form, her teacup smashing and making everyone look to her.

She was gone, having launched herself into the air and collided with the other, hugging the breath out of him and seeking comfort from his Flames.

"She told me you died," the Sky sobbed.

Her Cloud's Flames reeled from her for a long moment, running before choking them.

Naruto let him, knowing as a shinobi that if someone claimed to be someone that shouldn't be there right then, you should always cut off their power.

But soon enough the Flames settled, and Skull was hugging her back.

"I thought you were dead," he admitted hoarsely.

~:~

Skull's scream echoed throughout the house as the creature that hid her repairing arm moved.

"Oh, shut up, you stupid ningen," the creature snarled before turning to Naruto. "What's up, kawaii-hime?"

"Just wondering how long it's going to be until my arm grows back," Naruto replied blandly, eyeing the start of her elbow.

"It would go faster if you allowed their chakra to course through you," the white thing said.

"Um… Naruto, what exactly is that thing?" Skull eyed it like it might bite.

"Oh, nothing, just a sentient tree made from the First Hokage's cells. Mutation from his cells, the tree, and Madara," Naruto said blandly. She blinked at her stump. "And I thought the sun mark would vanish."

"It'll go onto the palm of your hand, just like the moon mark on your other one," the white thing said cheerfully.

Skull blinked, glancing towards her gloved left hand.

"Is that why you don't take your glove off?"

"Mostly," Naruto said, her eyes hooded. It was hard to believe she was seventeen, with how old she looked in her eyes just then.

The white thing wraps itself around her midsection.

Naruto shrieked and shoved it off.

(Skull learned an important lesson. Never touch her stomach. She looked afraid and in pain and angry all at the same time, all of it leaching into terror. It reminded the elder that this girl was just that – a girl – who'd been living as an assassin for most of her life.)

~:~

She didn't quite stop crying, instead taking to hiccupping and sobbing at the same time. The darling child-like teen had lived for five years thinking her Guardians were gone.

Skull felt like crying too, but he pretended to have gotten it all out within the first ten minutes of the whole sob-fest. They were on a plane and people were staring at them weirdly, but oh well. Skull could feel Naruto fall asleep on him.

When they got off the plane, Luce was there with Aria.

It was clear to both Naruto and Skull that Luce was going to die soon, despite her young age, and Aria was going to become the youngest Giglio Nero boss.

Once ensconced in Luce's mansion, in their old chairs, Luce spoke.

"Checkerface thought that keeping you apart was ideal," she said to them, folding her hands together. "With the amount of people you are bonded to, Naruto, he's paranoid that you'll upset the balance."

The words come out carefully, as though Luce was testing them, thinking before she spoke. It was much different from before, where it was quiet laughter and watching – not talking, not for Luce.

"In some ways, it was good for us to mature," Naruto said. "I think relying too much on Guardians makes the Sky weaker, because if a Guardian falls then the Sky is definitely weaker."

Her words were soft and uncertain.

Luce hummed to herself.

"You're right," Luce admitted. "It was also… It was also in hopes that you would truly see what a Sky would, without your bonds. And you have. You glimpsed it, didn't you?"

Luce looked right at Naruto, who looked confused.

"You glimpsed your future," Luce finally said.

Naruto went rigid.

"I can see many things connected to myself," Naruto told her quietly, guarded. "In neither one do I let a few of my fellow Arcobaleno know that I'm alive until after Mafia Land."

Skull and Luce stared at her.

"Hmm," Luce hummed. "I have no idea what Mafia Land is."

Skull did. It was a plan by the Vongola and backed by the Cavallone.

But it hadn't happened yet.

"Luce, you don't get… Specific visions, do you?"

Luce shook her head. "No. My visions are interpreted from vague colors, usually."

Naruto looked irritated. "Believe me, I wish my visions were less me-specific. I heard Mafia Land when I was choking down cupcakes in America two years ago and my brain connected it with the place Renato shot me at."

"Reborn," Skull said, wincing as he reflexively twitched away from Reborn's seat. "He goes by Reborn now."

"Does he still have those ridiculous sideburns?"

Naruto's odd twitch of her lips indicated she thought it was funny.

"Yes." Skull grimaced. "Why does everyone but you and I think it's cute?"

He recalled what Reborn looked like when they'd last seen each other. Childish, yet still lethal, and still with those damn sideburns. Half the mafia women were giggling over the sideburns!

"I know – knew – two people with bowl-cuts and these gigantic, bushy, bushy, eyebrows," Naruto grimaced. "I remained scarred for life after I saw their Sunset Genjutsu of Youth." She shuddered, turning into a boy.

"Maybe you should go to your village," Luce said, making them blink and return to the present. "Actually say goodbye to those you left behind."

Naruto hummed. "Eh, couldn't hurt. But why exactly did you call us here, Luce?"

Luce hesitated.

"I don't want you at my funeral," she blurted. "Feeling a Sky's death hurts."

And then – Skull puts together a piece of the puzzle, connecting something entirely different. His eyes widened, and he breathed the truth out.

"You knew about the Arcobaleno curse – you knew we were going to be saddled with it!"

Naruto tensed.

Luce sighed and hung her head. "Yeah, I knew," she said bitterly. "He thought about – after learning of your compatibility with all of the Sky Elements, Naruto, to give you the full burden."

"He should have," Naruto said, looking down and sad. "I have curses on me already, not like one more would make a difference."

She moved away, out of that room.

"I'm not coming back to this house," Skull said, "while you're alive."

His words were cold and he left, uncaring that Luce broke into tears.

~:~

Ginger Bread opened the door to the car, staring as Naruto got out.

"Naruto!" The taller teen hugged the tiny woman, who laughed in happiness.

Skull sighed and jumped out. "We do have a schedule to keep," he reminded Ginger Bread, who nodded and picked both Naruto and Skull up, setting Skull on his left shoulder and Naruto on his right.

"What are we doing?" Naruto asked, curious.

"Getting leave from Ottava," Skull said. "I think I need a break."

~:~

Daniela scoffed at Gabriele's words. "I don't particularly care about that. Fix the problem, Cavallone, or we'll have an issue on our hands."

A knock ceased their meeting as a sullen-faced Timoteo poked his head in.

"Ginger Bread is back with the brats, who are asking to see you."

Daniela flicked her hand. "Fine, show them in."

The door shut again.

"When will you give him the Trials?" Gabriele rumbled.

"As soon as I want," she snarked at the younger man. The Ninth Cavallone boss flushed as the door opened again, Ginger Bread entering with Skull and an unfamiliar Arcobaleno.

The intense, unfamiliar energy of the new Arcobaleno caused both to tense, but the child seemed unaware she was leaking such energy as the child beamed at Daniela.

"Ottava! You're looking… Old," the Sky Arcobaleno said bluntly.

Daniela glanced at Skull, who only smiled at her before jumping off of Ginger Bread. His tiny octopus partner jumps from Daniela's desk (Gabriele Cavallone shrieks in the most girly way) to Skull, who barely twitched as he landed on Daniela's desk, inches away from where his octopus partner once was.

"I'm taking a well-earned vacation. Naruto's coming with me."

Daniela glanced at Naruto. "After you come back, wanna work with the Vongola?"

"Ahh, maybe," Naruto smiled. "My work would be conditional, and if Skull and Ginger Bread stay then they're automatically allowed in."

There was that foreign power again, and Daniela's eyes widened as it seemed to balance out with Sky Flames. The orange pacifier around her neck glowed for a second.

"Alright, here you go."

Daniela handed the blue-eyed Sky the paper she'd handed Skull upon his entrance; a conditional acceptance into the Vongola. Timoteo couldn't burn it, only Daniela and Naruto could, as only Daniela and Skull could destroy Skull's contract with the Vongola.

The tiny Sky read and signed it.

"I'm asking for leave as well," Naruto said with a smile. "While I have… Adjusted, to my situation, I must go to my home to receive training."

Her eyes dimmed before lighting up again as Daniela waved her hand away.

"Go ahead."

Ginger Bread clapped his hands delightedly. "I get to see auntie's home again!"

~:~

There was little that could be done under the new reign of the Nanadaime, Sarutobi Konohamaru, that had to do with war. No, in fact, most of the ninja were sent on rumors now.

One particular group was rather bored. This group was far more dangerous than the ANBU, and had a collection of the village's most dangerous individuals more suited to tracking, killing, and leaving no trace before the rumors hit the Kage's ears.

This was the Hunter-nin group, relegated to guards. Village guards. But they were bored because no true threat had come upon the village that they protected.

One of the hunter-nin paused in their regular chakra-scanning.

"Taicho, I have a blip. Possible danger, permission to approach?"

Their taicho was silent, then spoke.

"Permission granted."

The team abandoned their posts, moving to apprehend the large chakra signature that matched one of their former colleagues.

Well, since she was still technically affiliated, they couldn't count her as an enemy. But the unknown beings with her, with her signature coiled around them, they were the possible threat.

"Wait, Skull." Her voice was annoyingly high.

Specter Two gaped at the scene in front of him.

"Guys…" Specter Two was speechless. "Guys, Naruto is a baby."

Specter Two wasn't one for exaggerations.

"I mean a fucking baby, tiny as fuck," Specter Two said, still in that stunned tone.

"Cut the chatter, Specter Two," Spectre One snapped… "Holy shit, Spectre Ten is a baby!"

"I hear you, Specters," Naruto snapped, looking up. Yep, it was really Specter Ten.

Specter Six broke rank and pulled the adorable child-Specter into a hug.

"Specter Ten! I missed you!"

"SPECTER SIX, GET BACK INTO FORMATION!"

"Really, Specters?" Naruto shoved herself from Specter Six, leaping and landing on the teenage boy's shoulder. "I come here and you all break formation? Bad form, Six. Bad form."

She may not have been Specter Ten or Specter One, but hey. They took to her scoldings like little ducklings.

Specter Six cleared their throat. "I am simply showing how much I missed our dear beloved Naruto."

"That may be so, Specter Six, but even so." A solidly built man appeared, looming impressively over the three younger (younger looking, in the case of Skull and Naruto) and Specter Six. "We have to take them to Hokage-sama."

~:~

Fon dodged Feng Mian's knives, carefully yet quickly.

"You're dragging, brother."

Fon eyed his sister. "These tiny bodies don't let me have the flexibility of my older self, Sister.

Feng Mian lowered her knives. "Same excuse that you've been dragging out for five years." Feng Mian blurred, catching Fon's chin right above his pacifier. The Storm's breath caught and he was slammed to the ground.

"You are Fon, the Unaligned Assassin of the Triads. Now act like it, or I'll kill you!"

Fon was beginning to regret his choice in allies now.

Nevertheless, he got up and readied himself for another bout.

His pacifier flared to life, causing Feng Mian to blink rapidly. It didn't flare gold, exactly, and not for long – a blink and you'll miss it moment – but there was definitely Sky Flame in him right then, as if his Sky was unconsciously feeding him Flame.

Fon felt instantly healed; for a moment he stared at his pacifier, wondering what the hell just happened.

But he didn't get a rest, and the thought slipped from his mind as his sister viciously attacked him, baring her strength.

The world seemed to slow, and Fon grinned.

~:~

Colonello stared at the Vongola Nono.

"You want me to be a guard for Mafia Land."

"The guard," Nono said, emphasizing the. "The sole guard."

"I got that impression, thanks." Lal was busy working in the new offshoot of the Vongola, the CEDEF, trying to track down leads on Naruto.

Colonello was beginning to have doubts she was alive. It'd been five years since they were cursed, and there was still no sign of Naruto being alive.

There was a flare, and Sky settled into his bones. Vongola Nono didn't catch the flash, but Colonello did.

He would do what must be done.

"I'll do it."

~:~

"I don't like people trying to buy me into their Famiglia." Reborn shot the Carcassa member.

(Little did he know it was the same one that, five years prior, when the Donna was still the head of Vongola, tried to recruit Skull.)

(He missed the flare of Sky Flames that made his pacifier glow.)

"I'm Vongola!" the other Famiglia member yelped, Reborn narrowing his eyes.

"Talk, and talk quickly," he ordered the Vongola.

~:~

For a certain green-haired scientist, he mixed a tiny vial of Naruto's blood with an experiment.

His eyes widened as the thing started to bubble violently.

The young scientist ducked behind a desk, expecting an explosion.

When none was forthcoming, he peeked over the item he was hiding behind.

"It worked?" he wondered to himself.

Checking it, it looked like it had indeed worked. Taking a risk, Verde dipped a finger into it and felt no resistance aside from a tiny sting, indicating its acidity.

Verde swallowed. If it melted him from the inside out, then he deserved it for being stupid.

He drank a little, gasping and stumbling as the liquid experiment made its way down his throat.

He set the experiment down a little hard, lightning arcing over his skin. It was the result of his Flames mixing with her blood.

An interesting side effect, then.

Nothing noteworthy.

Except…

It had worked. Maybe because he'd focused his Flame on it, focusing his Flame on the experiment, but – bit it'd worked.

His Flames sank back in his skin, and he trembled for a minute before jotting down his notes in his book of working experiments, then poured the concoction in a vial and labeled it 'Experiment 24'. His notes were in his own hand; with one look at the page an hour later Verde decided to not throw his Sky under the fucking bus and destroyed the page, but not before meticulously copying down what was on the other side of the page.

(He didn't know that at that moment his pacifier glowed with Sky Flames that could only belong to his Sky.)

There was such a fine line in the journal, that nobody but a woman with purple-blue hair would find it later.

Verde should have destroyed Experiment 24.

~:~

Viper – Mammon, now – hovered around the Simon Famiglia, their Mist preventing them from being seen.

They'd been contracted to watch them, but they were bored and the person was going to run out of money.

"This venture is no longer profitable," Mammon decided, leaving without hinting at their presence.

They passed an alley, where a young teen looked half dead.

Mammon felt Sky Flames impress themselves upon them, and in the only charitable moment in their life (at that moment) Mammon helped the young woman.

(Mammon didn't know that this woman was going to be one of their future Boss' mothers.)

~:~

Naruto burned Flames in brilliant color, using his pacifier as the focus.

Konohamaru looked impressed.

"I see. So you're cursed. Again."

"In a way, yes," Naruto said, letting his Flames die down. Skull remained silent. "Look, all I wanted to ask was for you to let me train. I'm still an affiliated shinobi, as the papers Tsunade requested me to sign said."

"Much has changed in five years," Konohamaru said, letting bangs shadow his face.

"My allegiances haven't," Naruto said, his eyes flashing red. "What of Momoshiki?"

"We assume he's dead," Konohamaru said, looking up at him after a moment.

"Bull shit," Naruto snapped. "You know as well as I do that Otsutsukis don't fucking give up." Naruto's fist clenched. "It was another one that cursed me."

Konohamaru stared at him, along with Skull.

"They don't die, they're apparently like rabbits, and they have lots of powers we don't know about." Konohamaru's eyes were sharp. "Technically, you are one of them."

"My soul is different from my body." Naruto gestured to his tiny baby's body. "You can't honestly say no to this face, can you?"

He closed her eyes and then opened them, peeking up at him with his large, large blue eyes.

"Pretty please?"

Konohamaru groaned. "Gods fuck me, I can't say no to those eyes. Fine, train with your Specters." He tapped his chin. "Will Skull-san be joining you, or Ginger-san?"

"Only if they can keep up with chakra –"

"Naruto, that's not what I meant."

Naruto tensed.

"Skull, Ginger Bread, please leave."

Konohamaru opened his mouth, only for Naruto to cough and jerk his head to one of the pictures on the wall.

"Technically your superior," he said, lifting her hands onto his hips. "Don't make me pull rank, dude."

Konohamaru jerked his head.

The two left, unsurely.

"Naruto, you can't –"

"Konohamaru, saying that I was technically an Otsutsuki in front of them is one thing," he said, his eyes hard. "Pointing that particular power out is something different. Flame users and chakra users are incompatible; introducing a chakra network into someone that's technically fully-developed so suddenly was one thing. Introducing a chakra network into someone who's both cursed and Flame-wielding? I don't think Skull or Ginger Bread would be ideal candidates."

"You, and according to this report, Matsuri, both used Flames."

"Matsuri…" Naruto sighed and sat down. "Matsuri was insane. She claimed to have a husband that died during Pein's invasion, yet she wasn't even present."

Konohamaru nodded, tapping his lips.

"She was highly experienced with puppets, so more than likely she was like Sasori and used his techniques, then created a fake persona for her."

"And you?" Konohamaru's question made her close her eyes.

"Checker-fucking-face. He appeared in my hideout and paid me a bunch of money to act as a Sky, and I thought I was merely acting," Naruto answered wearily. "Apparently, Checkerface – or someone – decided to fuck around with my powers. Flame and Chakra are incompatible, quite like chakra-users and Flame-wielders are incapable of producing children with chakra."

"If you were to mix them, theoretically?" Konohamaru looked intrigued.

Naruto hesitated. "Best case scenario, it gives 'em a boost," she reluctantly divulged, "while sterilizing their ability to have natural-born children. Worst case, they explode from the influx of power."

Konohamaru tapped his chin, opening his mouth –

"I'll tell them," she said, distracting him, "and I'll offer him a choice. But I swear on Inari, if he says no, then I won't risk him exploding, and that's final." Somewhere in this conversation she'd switched back to a girl and she hadn't even noticed. "And even if he does say yes and I power him up, doesn't mean he'll be one of us," she said, her eyes deadly serious.

Konohamaru looked taken aback by her words, but before he could speak, Naruto shrugged and hopped off the desk.

~:~

When Skull came to, he could feel that strange energy in his system. Naruto's blue eyes looked over him worriedly.

He found himself frowning when he sat up, still feeling the weight of the pacifier, but was definitely taller.

"Your height reset, somehow. Maybe the introduction of chakra?" Naruto looked worried.

Skull laid himself back down. "Right now, I don't think it's a good idea to move," he said out loud, his words coming out scratchily.

"Most likely the only thing you'll ever be able to do with it is augment your speed," she told him with a shaky smile.

Skull scoffed, accepting the glass of water Ginger Bread was handing him.

"That's acceptable," he admitted. "Like I need augmenting."

~:~

"Are you ready to see them again?"

Naruto shrugged, the helicopter hovering over a familiar middle school in Japan. "I think it's better to see them now, Bermuda. Remind me why you're here?"

The other child hummed. "I'm simply here to check out a case of breaking Omerta."

The Mist vanished, leaving Naruto on her own.

Thirty years had passed since she'd seen most of her fellow Arcobaleno.

Time to rectify that.

Naruto whistled. Kia jumped onto her shoulder, and Naruto jumped.

Right into a battle that was happening between two of her pupils.

The future Decimo, and the Varia.

~:~

I know, I know, it jumped. It's just… I don't think it was a good idea to continue along the tangent of what was happening in the years between the Curse and at the start of the series.

Okay, so I have two points I want to address.

ONE: The thirty year thing.

We all know (we should, I guess?) that Yuni is Luce's granddaughter, which would put the time between the Arcobaleno pacifiers given to Reborn and the others at the most thirty years, at the least twenty years, because of one person.

Aria.

In the beginning, Luce was pregnant with Aria. Even if Aria had Yuni at twenty – and yes, SPOILERS AHEAD – Yuni was at least a teenager during the anime series.

(I have only watched the anime series, I'm sorry!)

Either way, I would say about twenty-five years passed.

Next chapter will be heavily involved with the other Arcobaleno! Yay!

And yes, I DO have a reason for… Most of what I do in this fic. :D