I do not own Naruto, Steven Universe, or Castle of Glass. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Rebecca Sugar, and Linkin Park respectively.

"Believe in Steven!" normal speech

"Believe in Steven!" demon speech

"Believe in Steven!" thought/mind speak

Chapter 8: Moonlight Love and Toads

*Beach City; Crystal Temple*

It was late at night as Naruto sat on the head of the statue that was carved into the mountainside that served as the Crystal Gem's temple and home. It's not the Hokage Monument, Naruto thought with a troubled mind, but it'll have to do. Steven and Amethyst had already gone to bed while Pearl and Garnet were looking over some old notes for possible future missions, leaving Naruto able to sneak outside and climbed to the top of the statue's head.

Why would my father seal Kurama inside of me? Naruto thought as he watched the moon's light glistening off of the water's reflective surface, Why would he use his own son to seal something as dangerous as the Kyuubi? Did he know about the secret of the Uzumaki blood? These and many more questions plagued the blonde from the hopeful possibility that the Yondaime had somehow knew that Naruto was the only one who could contain the Kyuubi to even the Yondaime simply not wanting him and used Naruto just as a scapegoat like the villagers had done. It bugged the blonde to no end as he was now thinking about what his real mother was like: Was she a kind sweet woman, or was she just some woman that the Yondaime had slept with?

Not knowing about the slender shadow behind him, Naruto heard a song in his mind that he had heard some time ago during his stay and he couldn't help but take a page of Steven's personality as the song formed in his mind with the words coming out of his mouth…

Take me down to the river bend,

Take me down to the fighting end,

Wash the poison from off my skin,

Show me how to be whole again.

Fly me up on a silver wing,

Past the black where the sirens sing,

Warm me up in a nova's glow,

And drop me down to the dream below.

'Cause I'm only a crack,

In this castle of glass,

Hardly anything there,

For you to see.

For you to see.

Naruto, Pearl thought as she listened to the blonde's melancholic voice echo in her head. She knew that Naruto was thinking how the man who sealed Kurama inside of him happened to be his very own father. The Gem had heard the song before on the radio in the kitchen area and she was surprised that it was sung by one of the groups that normally have loud vocals, but to hear it from Naruto…she felt more pain from the blonde than ever as she silently listened.

Bring me home in a blinding dream,

Through the secrets that I have seen,

Wash the sorrow from off my skin,

And show me how to be whole again.

'Cause I'm only a crack,

In this castle of glass,

Hardly anything there,

For you to see.

For you to see.

Naruto paused for a moment as he looked back on his life back in the village how things were. Back then, no one had ever asked him why he was always so happy and if they did, he'd only lie to them saying that it was a good day for him to be happy. Close to the truth, yes, but no one had ever delved deeper and questioned his smile…that big, STUPID, ear-to-ear smile that hid years of pain and a fragile mind. He really didn't have many friends in the village aside from the two at Ichiraku's, Iruka-sensei, Konohamaru and his friends, the Sandaime (though he was beginning to question the elderly man now), and some of the others that made up the Konoha 12. His teammates clearly didn't care about him as Sasuke had almost killed him and Sakura smashing his arms into oblivion. Kakashi…Naruto was doubtful about his jonin sensei as all he did was focus on Sasuke with the last encouraging words from the man was that he was proud at the amazing progress that Naruto had made before everything had changed.

Deciding to get his mind out of the past, Naruto went back to finish the song without knowing that he was being watched by a concerned Pearl…

'Cause I'm only a crack,

In this castle of glass,

Hardly anything else,

I need to be.

'Cause I'm only a crack,

In this castle of glass,

Hardly anything there,

For you to see.

For you to see.

For you to see.

Pearl slowly approached Naruto and gently said, "Hey Naruto, are you okay?" The blonde jumped a bit in surprise before he saw Pearl sit next to him with a concerned look on her face. "Not really," Naruto sadly admitted as he let out a sigh, "but how can I after learning that my father was the one who sealed Kurama inside of me. I had always kept thinking that my parents had died protecting me during the Kyuubi Incident and the Yondaime had somehow saw this immense amount of untapped potential inside of me before sealing Kurama inside me." Naruto looked down to the water's edge as his eyes were shaded by his blonde hair as he continued, "Now…now I'm wondering why the Yondaime, my own father, had done that to me? Didn't he think about how the villagers would treat me, or how I would feel about learning that he had cursed me since my birth, or…if I ever wondered if he even loved me?"

Pearl swallowed a lump as she saw the tears building up in the blonde's eyes before Naruto blinked them away. "Naruto," Pearl said as she placed a gentle hand on the blonde's cheek, "I'm not sure about what to say, but I know one thing…" Naruto turned to see Pearl looking at him with a loving smile as the moonlight danced in her eyes and upon her beautiful pale skin. "You are a kind and caring person and you will always be loved by those who see you as someone that they can count on to bring a smile to their face," Pearl said as she slid closer to the blonde while blushing, "So even if your father was the one who sealed such dangerous beast inside of you for the wrong reasons, there are people who care for you, Naruto…just like how the others and I care for you. I'm not sure if you remember, but when we thought we were going to lose you, I felt so frightened that I-"

Pearl was interrupted when Naruto placed a finger on her lips before resting his forehead against the gemstone upon the Gem's forehead. "Steven had told me about how you feel about me, Pearl-chan," said Naruto as he felt warmth in his chest, "and I've had the same feeling, but I wasn't sure if they were what they were. That kiss…that accidental kiss that we had showed me that those feelings were true: I…I love you." Pearl felt her heart race at how close the blonde's face was as she said, "I…I love you too…Naruto." The two then went into a kiss as the moonlight created a beautiful scene for their lone watcher hidden behind the lighthouse. Garnet smiled as she was proud of not only her little boy finding love but Pearl as well. Thank you Pearl, Garnet thought as she headed back towards the temple, Naruto can now begin to heal with those who love him dearly at his side.

The two ended the kiss as Naruto then said, "Once I'm not grounded anymore, you want to go on a date?" Pearl giggled at the blonde's playful smirk before she said, "I'd like to, but I hope you don't mind being patient for a little while. I still want to help you get over your pain, but I'll take you up on that offer then." Naruto chuckled as he said, "Normally I'm the impatient type, but for you, Pearl-hime, I can wait for however long it takes, my Beautiful Gem." Pearl smiled as she leaned her head against Naruto's shoulder as the two watched the moonlight dance across the ocean water below them. The two of them thanked the great beings above them for bringing them together tonight and allowing them the opportunity to confess their love for one another.

*Naruto's Mindscape*

Inside a hidden seal within the seal that held Kurama's cage shut, an image of an older version of Naruto without the whisker marks on his face appeared. "Naruto, my son," said the Yondaime as he stood in the dark sewer that made up his son's mind, "I hope you can forgive me for what I have done and know that I am proud of you and that I do love you as you are the only one that I can trust with such power and mine and your mother's legacy." With a smile on his face, the Yondaime vanished back into the hidden seal as he thought, Thank you, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Steven, for helping my son with his pain. I hope that we can meet one day.

*Beach City; City Hall*

The next few days had passed with Naruto nervously sitting in the leather chair next to Garnet as the two of them were called by Mayor Bill Dewey to meet with him. The blonde was wearing a blue flannel button up shirt over a white t-shirt and black dress slacks and he had never been this nervous before; sure, he was nervous during the Chunin Exams, but this was completely different as who knows what could happen. I probably should have tried to help Steven find that G.U.Y.S. toy he was desperately looking for, Naruto thought as he eyed the possible escape routes through some of the blonde bangs in his face as he didn't have his hitai-ate from Garnet. "Don't even think about it," said Garnet as she was wearing a red suit with her hair down instead of her usual afro, "I know you're nervous about this, but we must go through this. It's not going to be that bad."

She didn't want to say that she was nervous as well for both herself AND Naruto, but her position as the leader of the Crystal Gems and as Naruto's mother had made Garnet keep her stern and stoic face. Garnet knew that there had been a bit of trouble involving her and the others, mostly due to Steven or Amethyst, and there might be a chance of actions she wouldn't dare think of at the moment. She had to be strong for the both of them.

"Not that bad?!" Naruto whispered a bit loudly, not wanting to cause too much of a scene, "What if they decided to take me away from you and the others? What if I'm forced out of Beach City? What if I'm locked away somewhere and treated like a monster?" Garnet gently placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder and said, "It'll be alright; I'll be here with you." Naruto smiled a bit as he said, "Thanks, Mom."

"Ms. Gemm. Mr. Uzumaki," said the secretary as she opened the door, "The mayor would like to see you two now." Well, Garnet thought as she and Naruto got up and headed into the office, here goes nothing…

*Beach City; Town*

In the town, two small toads, one red and the other yellow, wearing blue vests were hopping through Beach City. "This place is pretty amazing," said Gamakitchi as he and Gamatatsu hopped around the town, "I've never seen anything like this! I mean, look at the chariots here!" Gamatatsu, however, let out a small belch as he said, "I kind of like that girl with the glasses that had that bread ring." Gamakitchi sighed as he knew that all his brother was thinking about since they got here was snacks…although he did like the jelly-filled piece of bread. "Listen, Bro," said Gamakitchi as he got his brother's attention, "I know those snacks were good, but Pops sent us out here to check out where that energy wave was coming from. We can go sightseeing later." Gamatatsu groaned but wished that the girl with the glasses would give him more treats later.

On her way home, Connie had sneezed as she carried a small bag of groceries towards were her home. I wonder who could be thinking about me? Connie thought to herself as she wiped her nose on a small handkerchief as a small blush formed on her cheeks, I hope its Steven. He's cute and so caring. Connie continued to walk as she hummed a small tune, happily thinking about Steven.

Naruto and Garnet were walking through the town after taking care of a few things. "Glad that's over," Naruto said as he unbuttoned the shirt to expose the white t-shirt underneath, "I wasn't sure how much longer I could have stand being in there." Garnet chuckled as she held a file in her hands that held all the legal information about Naruto Uzumaki's adoption by one Garnet Gemm. It wasn't too bad, Garnet thought as she smiled at her son's antics, but I can already tell that things around here are definitely going to change. Mayor Dewey had allowed Garnet to have custody of Naruto in exchange for letting the mayor hold a campaign event in the next re-election speech and let Naruto explain the truth about him. Naruto and Garnet were both scared at how people will react to hearing that a thirteen-year-old boy has a powerful being that has power that could rival a nuclear power plant (whatever the hell that was in Naruto's point of view). After the meeting, Buck arrived and apologized about his father learning about Naruto and his unique gift, but the blonde easily forgave the teen saying that his secret would have been revealed sooner or later. The rest of the day wasn't as bad as Naruto had to go to the hospital to get a check-up and some shots, much to the blonde's chagrin.

I hate hospitals, Naruto thought as he could still feel where the nurses had gave him all those shots, I'm just lucky that the mayor covered us for the expenses. "At least a few of those nurses were nice looking," Kurama said from inside Naruto's mind. Shut up, the blonde thought back until he saw two small, familiar toads, No way.

"Gamakitchi and Gamatatsu?" Naruto said as the two small toads looked towards him and Garnet. "No way!" said Gamakitchi as he and his brother hopped towards Naruto, "I can't believe that we actually ran into Naruto!" Garnet watched as the small red toad jumped onto Naruto's head while the small yellow toad just sat on the ground. "Do you have any more snacks?" the yellow toad asked casually. "Gamatatsu," said the red toad as he jumped down next to the yellow toad, "we finally found Naruto after like a month and a half and you still think about snacks?" Garnet chuckled a bit as the two small toads had just reminded her of Pearl and Amethyst in a way.

"Mom," said Naruto as he showed Garnet the two small toads, "meet two of the Toad summons, Gamakitchi and Gamatatsu. They've helped me out a good few times when I needed them." Garnet squatted down and said, "It's nice to meet a couple of my son's friends." Gamakitchi blinked in confusion as he asked, "Mom? Son? What's going on here, Naruto?" Naruto chuckled as he then said, "Well, Gamakitchi, this is Garnet Gemm, my new mother. I'm now officially Naruto Gemm-Uzumaki and I'm very proud to have a mother like Garnet!" Gamakitchi smiled as Naruto finally has one of the things he had always wanted: a mother that will love him.

*smack!*

"Ow!" said Naruto as he held his head, "who the Hell threw…that…" Naruto, Garnet, and the two Toads looked to see small plastic spheres raining from the sky and inside those spheres was a small plastic man. "I'm pretty sure that it's not natural for toys to rain from the sky," said Naruto as he and others rushed over to where a small pillar was. The two arrived to see Pearl and Amethyst standing on a pile of the spheres and on a much larger pile stood…Onion?

"What's going on?" Garnet asked as she and Naruto approached the two. "Garnet, Naruto, we're so glad you two made it!" said Amethyst as she then saw the small toads on Naruto's shoulders, "Are those frogs?" Gamakitchi jumped down along with his brother as he said, "We're Toads, lady."

"This is ridiculous!" said Pearl as she was so many spheres of those small toys appear from the small wand that the boy had in the air, "How did he get my Replicator?!" So that's what's going on? Naruto though as Amethyst had said something before getting smacked in the face by one of the toys. "Somehow I'm thinking that Amethyst deserved that one," Kurama said as Steven popped out of somewhere underneath the pile.

"Could you please explain this mess?" Pearl asked with a scolding voice. "I traded that Replicator for Ranger GUY," Steven said as he pulled out a small toy cowboy. "Couldn't you have replicated Ranger GUY?" Naruto asked as Steven then smacked himself in the face. "Let's move!" said Garnet as she, Pearl, and Naruto jumped into action while Amethyst fell into the pile. "How do you move around in this?" Gamakitchi said as he tried to get his balance while Gamatatsu just sank into the pile without much of a care. "Try and be like a rich duck," Steven answered before diving into the pile. "I'm a Toad, not a duck," the red Toad said with an agitated look as he tried hopping through the chaos.

The trio landed at the base of the pile and started to climb to the top where Onion was. Onion gave the three a look before Garnet held out her hand and said, "Hand it over; it doesn't belong to you!" Onion then pointed the wand towards the three as toys flew straight towards the trio. Pearl and Naruto took cover as Garnet summoned a gauntlet to shield the group from the oncoming attack. "Onion!" said Naruto as he had a smile on his face, "If you give that Replicator to me, I'll show you a cool magic trick." Onion stopped briefly as he watched and saw more Naruto's appear out of thin air. "See," said Naruto as he held out his hand, "now give me the-"

The blonde froze as he saw Onion blast a nearby car and thought, Oh crap! The little boy pointed the wand at Naruto and the Gems again, but this time, a car was now falling towards them! "Get down!" said Garnet as she pushed Pearl and Naruto into the pile before she caught the vehicle and tossed it aside. Naruto poked his head out in time to see Garnet get hit by a duplicate of the car. "Mom!" Naruto shouted as his mother was smashed into a nearby pile. The blonde let out a sigh as Garnet pushed the car aside to show that she was safe, at least until three more cars smashed into her. Naruto saw another car coming towards him and he quickly dove into the pile to avoid getting hit. A pang in his head alerted Naruto that his Shadow Clones were crushed by many copies of that car as he now had the feeling of getting ran over by a flying car.

He dug around until he stopped hearing the sound of crushing metal above him. Is it over? Naruto thought as he poked his head out at the same time Pearl had. "I'm never letting Amethyst borrow anything again," Pearl said angrily as she stared at the Replicator that was now out of Onion's possession…at least before Garnet stomped on it. "I'm not cleaning up this mess," said the Gem as the duplicated items began to vanish.

Steven then looked at Onion and said, "I think I understand why to took my Ranger GUY, Onion. I bet you get pretty lonely waiting for your dad all day." Onion nodded as Steven continued, "I bet you get pretty bored too, and because you missed your dad, you took my Ranger GUY, which is a symbol of the relationship I have with my dad." Onion shook his head negatively before nodded as Steven mention that it was just for the first reason. "Here," said Steven as he handed the smaller boy the toy cowboy, "you need him more than I do." Onion took the toy with a smile before running off into town.

"Let's go," said Garnet as her suit had small tears in it. "Yeah," said Naruto as he held his head, "I need to get an ice pack. I feel like I just got ran over by a giant toad again." Plus, Naruto mentally added as he felt exhausted, I've had a very long day…bed sounds nice right about now. Garnet looked over and saw a tired Naruto and asked, "You want me to carry for until we reach the temple?" The blonde smiled as he climbed onto Garnet's back and rested his head against her shoulder. "Get some rest, little one," Garnet quietly said before she began to hum a gentle tune as she carried Naruto with a bright warm feeling in her heart as she carried her son proudly while the others, along with the two Toads, followed her to the temple.

*Konohagakure*

A few days had passed after learning about Naruto being alive as Sakura was now standing in the Hokage's Office with the Konoha 9 and their senseis, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade watching her. "So," said Tsunade as her voice betrayed the peaceful pink flower in her hair, "mind telling us why you had revealed this secret or how you even learned of Naruto still being alive somewhere out of the Elemental Countries?" The rosette gulp as she remembered how she got here in the first place…

Flashback

Sakura was taking a break after doing some research on dowsing and trying some old techniques to locate objects when she saw Sasuke in the market place. While she still cared for the Uchiha, Sakura was still wary of him as Sasuke would sometimes have this hateful scowl on his face or even bare his teeth in anger towards their lost teammate. "Hey Sasuke-kun," said Sakura as she knew that there were ANBU members keeping an eye on Sasuke, "Have the others told you about Naruto?"

"Of course not," Sasuke growled towards the rosette, "but I know that they're hiding something. There is no way that THAT dobe is dead; he's just faking his death so he can gloat that he had defeated ME, a mighty Uchiha, an Elite!" Sakura flinched at how loud Sasuke was as the Uchiha was still enraged at his loss towards Naruto. "You were never told?" Sakura asked like it was the most obvious statement ever told, "Naruto is alive as I heard the Hokage and Lord Jiraiya trying to think of ways to try and find him. I didn't hear much of the conversation, but Naruto is in fact still alive somewhere outside of the Elemental Countries."

"I KNEW IT!" Sasuke roared violently while baring his teeth angrily, scaring the poor rosette before him, "I KNEW THAT THAT BASTARD'S STILL ALIVE! WHEN I FIND HIM, I'LL MAKE HIM RUE THE DAY HE DARED TO DEFEAT ME!"

Flashback End

Sakura could still hear Sasuke ranting while the ANBU detained him and took the Uchiha home before any damage was done, but not without one of them saying that Tsunade was going to hear about that event. "Well?" Jiraiya asked with great authority in his voice, "We're waiting." Sakura sighed in defeat as she said, "I was coming to speak to the Hokage to see if there was a way for me to become a shinobi again when I overheard her talking to Lord Jiraiya about Naruto and ways to hopefully finding him. I had done some research about dowsing, but unfortunately I couldn't get much done as I've tried to find something of Naruto's as a means to track him by using chakra. I…I know that what I've done is unforgivable, but I want to apologize to him and get things back to the way they were."

"With the exception that Naruto may never be able to be a shinobi again, Haruno-san," said Lee with disgust and disappointment, "How would he be able to mold chakra without the use of his hands? Even with prosthetics, Naruto-san's life would never be the same and here you are, wanting things to go back to what they once were." Sakura flinched at how Lee spoke to her, but she knew she deserved that. How could anyone speak to you after you robbed someone of their very livelihood because of something ridiculous?

That's another admirer I've lost because of my stupidity, Sakura thought as she saw anger and betrayal in the taijutsu specialist's eyes. After learning what Sakura had done to Naruto, Lee was depressed to where he couldn't even train without thinking about what had happened to the blonde. Even Neji was deeply concerned as his teammate was acting completely out of character for a whole two weeks with the most shocking thing that Lee had done was telling Gai to shut up when the very man Lee looks up to was preaching about the Flames of Youth. Thankfully, Lee had recovered after getting a scolding and a wake-up call from Naruto in a dream and things were almost right with the world…all that was left was Naruto being a part of the group to make the Konoha 10.

Sadly that was just a dream for now…

Before another word was said, two plumes of smoke appeared before Tsunade to reveal a small green toad wearing a blue yukata and a small white slug with three blue lines running down its back. "Pardon the interruption," said the slug with a soft, refined voice, "but we have a very important message from the Pride King." Annoyed, Tsunade said, "I'm in the middle of something very important, Katsuyu and right now I-"

"Did you say the Pride King?" Jiraiya interrupted with surprise in his voice. The toad turned towards Jiraiya and said, "Yeah. The Pride King is going to be holding a meeting with all of his allies somewhere in the future and he wanted the recent summoners to be present as well." Tsunade looked at her old teammate with a questioning look as Jiraiya then said, "We simply cannot refuse something from the Pride King, especially since the Lions haven't had a summoner since the Shodaime!"

"My grandfather had a contract with summons?" Tsunade asked with complete confusion, "My grandfather had never mentioned being able to summon." Jiraiya nodded as he said, "Sarutobi-sensei told me that your grandfather actually wanted the Lions to see if our sensei was worthy of summoning them, but that was before Sarutobi-sensei sign the contract with the Monkeys. The only reason that the Shodaime changed his mind was that both the Lions and Monkeys had some issues going on and if those two had the same summoner, it would have been a Summons War for rights of the summoner."

"So what happened?" Shikamaru asked curiously as there had never been anyone who could summon lions. "You can thank that vile being AND the rest of this village for showing us that Konoha isn't worthy of our contract and power," said a voice as everyone turned an adolescent lion dark green fur and a small light green mane wearing bindings on its paws. Everyone stepped back in fear of the lion while the toad and Katsuyu bowed towards the beast. "You humans fear me," said the lion as he observed the group, "even though I, Kusabue, am just a messenger for the Pride King, I was also sent here as a scout to see if anything had changed since Naruto-sama's banishment."

"How did you know about Naruto's banishment?" Tenten asked as everyone else was wondering the same thing. "You seriously didn't think that the Hokages before her already had that crystal ball to use," Kusabue said with a challenging voice with a glare to back him up, "That and knowledge of how to use it was given to Hashirama for successfully mastering Sage Mode. Not only our scouts have watched every now and then, but our Sphinxes as well, to see if this village had changed since learning the truth about Naruto-sama…but unfortunately we still see those who would rather teach their cubs about believing that Naruto-sama is the demon instead of the container." Sakura looked at the lion as she asked, "Why are you giving that baka such high respect? As far as-"

*ker-BAM!*

"You DARE speak ill about the jinchuriki that had actually wounded one of our most feared Lions, Chimamire, in combat!" Kusabue yelled as his roar violently shook the building while he held the rosette against a wall with his foreleg. Everyone saw that the lion was somehow standing on its hind legs like a human in a threatening manner. Sakura stared fearfully into Kusabue's hazel eyes that showed pure anger and hate, regretting about disrespecting Naruto. "You are lucky that the Pride King had sent me instead of Chimamire," Kusabue threateningly said as he fell down back to all fours, letting Sakura fall to the floor, "He would not have been so merciful."

The lion shook himself to compose himself and said, "I shall take my leave and report to my king about the atmosphere that still lingers here. Katsuyu-sama, Toad-san, May the Suns Gods be with you. Please relay the same message to your boss summon, Toad-san." Kusabue then disappeared in a plume of smoke before Katsuyu and the toad let out a held breath. "Well Konoha's not going to be getting the Lions anytime soon," said the toad as he crossed his arms in disappointment, "and it's thanks to Pinkie and others like her." Sakura soon saw glares pointed towards her and honestly wished that she would have kept her mouth shut.

Today was just not a real good day for Sakura Haruno…

Now that Gamakitchi and Gamatatsu are now with Naruto Beach City, how will things play out? What do the Lions have planned out for Jiraiya and Tsunade? Don't forget to rate and review!

Ja ne!