I do not own Naruto or Steven Universe. I do however own my OCs such as Bloodstone and Topaz.
"Believe in Steven!" normal speech
"Believe in Steven!" demon speech
"Believe in Steven!" thought/mind speak
Chapter 16: Changes and Spars
*Beach City; Boardwalk*
Naruto and Neji were walking towards the Crystal Gems' temple with the blonde carrying three boxes of pizzas in his arms. "So Neji," Naruto asked as he lead said Hyuga in the right direction, "how much has Konoha changed?"
"A lot actually," Neji said as he held the cup of soda Naruto had gotten, "everyone in the village knows about you having the Kyu…Kurama sealed inside of you after the Civilian Council was disbanded and later executed. Then Lady Tsunade revealed the fact that you are the son of the Yondaime."
"I bet some of those villagers had heart attacks for attacking the Yondaime's son," Naruto chuckled with Neji shaking his head at the blonde's antics, "I was told by the Lions that the Yondaime was my father. I was pretty upset at finding out that my OWN father was responsible, but eventually I got over it. So what else had happened?"
"Sasuke had vanished from the village," Neji said with a cringe on his face, "We don't know how as Sasuke's chakra was sealed and that Curse Mark was removed." Naruto scowled as after what he had gone through to get the Uchiha back was all for naught. "I understand how upset you are with Sasuke escaping from the village," Neji said as he placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder, "I'm equally upset as I had nearly died along with Choji; We had almost given up our very lives for a person who had allowed himself to be corrupted by his own jealousy and hatred, only to watch him slip away from our fingers."
"How's Kakashi-sensei handling it?" Naruto had to ask as he still cared for the neglectful teacher.
*Konohagakure*
Kakashi was standing before the Memorial Stone as the wind danced around sadly through his hair. "Hey Obito," the jonin spoke with lamentation, "how have you been doing?" Silence was his answer as Kakashi then said, "Yeah, I know. I'd be mad too if someone that I had taught my own beliefs had preached about it to their students while spitting on those beliefs at the same time. Now look at me: I have a student who has gone rogue, a student who was stripped of her rank before being reinstated just last week, and a student who had vanished off of the Elemental Countries…and that student was Sensei's very own son." More silence pierced Kakashi's heart as he continued, "I now wonder what could have happened if I had trained Naruto instead of just leaving him to his own devices. Why did I have to let the Council intimidate me to just abandon Sensei's own son like that? Still…"
Kakashi looked up at the clouds rolling by as he said, "Would things have been different? Would it have been Sasuke who was missing and Naruto going rogue? Would those two be in the reversed situations because of favoring my connections to those I have lost? Sasuke reminding me of myself while Naruto…I could actually believe that you and him could be brothers with how much he reminds me of you. I really can't say that Sakura reminds me of Rin with the exception of being overly attached to the prodigy." The jonin looked at the stone and let the silence echo through the wind.
"I'm still a sensei as Sakura was just recently reinstated and now I have some former ROOT kid, Sai I believed his name was, to teach. But…" Kakashi said as he lightly hung his head in shame, "It wouldn't be the same…not without Naruto." Kakashi tightened his hands into fists as he made a vow, "Once I find him, I shall swear on both yours AND Minato-sensei's graves that I will become a better teacher to him. It will take some time, yes, but it's time that I act how I'm supposed to act for my students."
Kakashi released his fists and turned away from the Memorial Stone with a lighter heart. "Thank you for our usual talk Obito," Kakashi said with a genuine smile under his mask, "If you happened to see Rin, tell her that I just wish that there could have been a way to prevent what had happened so long ago. Ja ne." The jonin vanished via shushin with renewed spirits.
*Beach City; Crystal Temple*
Naruto and Neji arrived to see Team Gai, the Suna Siblings, and the Crystal Gems sitting around the living area of the temple. "Who's hungry?" Naruto asked as he set the pizzas on the counter. Everyone grabbed themselves a paper plate and a slice or two of the pizzas until everyone had their fill. "Man," said Kankuro as he was patting his full stomach, "those slices hit the spot."
"You said it," said Amethyst as she was picking her teeth, not noticing Lee stealing a glance towards her before looking away and taking a drink of the soda that was provided. She's so beautiful, the chunin thought as he swirled the soft drink in the cup, More beautiful than Sakura had used to be. Tenten looked over and saw her teammate steal a glance towards Amethyst before looking back at his cup as she thought, Lee's never been this quiet around others like this. Is he okay? Is the pizza not agreeing with him? Looking closer, the weapon specialist saw the small tinge of pink on Lee's face before realization donned on her. He's…he's crushing on Amethyst! Tenten thought as she couldn't help but mentally squeal to herself, Maybe with the right push and a few changes to his look and attitude, I might be able to help him.
"Say Naruto," Gai asked as something had donned on him, "where is your hitai-ate?" Naruto brought a hand up to his protector and said, "I have it in my room inside the temple. This was a gift from Mom after that little incident three years ago, to show our bond with each other."
"May we see your room?' Gaara asked as the other shinobi looked at Naruto. The blonde looked at Garnet who then nodded and said, "As long as they stay together and in your room, I'm alright with it." Naruto got up and motioned everyone to follow him to a door that had a star with five different gemstones on it. The blonde pressed his fists together with the amber gems glowing along with the two gemstones on the upper corners of the star. The door was soon covered in golden, jagged blocks before glowing brightly to reveal the entrance way.
Everyone filed in and they had a mixture of confusion and awe on their faces. "Are we…" Temari asked as she saw the blue sky above them, the vast grassland, and the nearby forest before her while wind was blowing through her hair, "Are we outside?" Naruto chuckled a bit as he said, "Believe it or not, we're still inside the temple; I use this area for training." Naruto lead everyone into the forest until they found a clearing that had a bed, a desk, and a dresser that was all made from wood. "This," said Naruto as he faced everyone with a smirk at some of the stunned faces on his friends, "is my room."
"But how is it possible that we're still in the temple?" Neji asked as he examined the trees, "The sky, the grass, even the trees are real so how is this possible?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders and said, "Guess the temple had read my thoughts for how I'd want my room to be perfect for training while giving me a nice place to stay. I mean, it's not like someone could just make this room appear out of thin air…unless we're in Rose's room. Pearl and Amethyst's rooms have waterfalls, so why not a forest?" I can only imagine what would be next, Neji thought as his eyebrow twitched, a talking pink pony that can defy all sense of logic and reality?
Approaching the desk, Naruto pulled out one of the drawers before reaching inside to get his old hitai-ate out. "I've kept it with me as even though I was banished," Naruto said as he looked at the metal plate that had Konoha's symbol, "this has so many memories that I couldn't just let go that easily." Everyone saw Naruto glide a thumb over the symbol before the blonde set it back down on the desk. So many memories, Naruto thought to himself as he closed his eyes, yet so much hurt. The blonde felt something on his shoulders and looked to see Pearl giving him a comforting look that showed Naruto that he wasn't alone and that he had someone that he could turn to for comfort.
"Say Naruto," Gai asked as he got said blonde's attention, "If you don't mind, I'd like my squad to have a small spar with you and your friends." Naruto looked at the others to and saw the looks on their faces: Steven was excited as he gets to see how other ninjas fight, Amethyst had a confident look as Naruto knew about her moonlighting activities, Pearl had a conflicted looks as it was forbidden for Crystal Gems to use their powers on humans, and Garnet had that contemplating look on her face. After much thought, Garnet looked at Gai and said, "While we are not allowed to use our power on whatever species we protect…I guess we can overlook it at the moment. But I must ask why though."
Gai nodded as he said, "Well you see, we have obtained information that Danzo, a former Konoha Shinobi and one of the ones responsible for Naruto's banishment, had gotten his hands on a powerful gemstone that is said to absorb both chakra AND the life force of any living thing. Now there is someone who can absorb life out of anyone along with other forms of powers because of Danzo's actions." The Crystal Gems froze in pure horror as Garnet whispered, "Bloodstone's back!"
"Who's Bloodstone?" Temari asked as this piece of information could also be vital to Sunagakure. Naruto looked at everyone and said, "Bloodstone is a rogue Crystal Gem that used his powers to try and rule over everyone long ago after getting exposed to the blood of Kaguya Otsutsuki. My ancestor, who was also a Crystal Gem, was able to weaken him with the help of my other Uzumaki ancestor who later became her husband and founder of the Uzumaki Clan. If Bloodstone's back, then that means…" The Crystal Gems nodded as they understood the hidden message as Naruto looked at Team Gai and said, "We'll gladly accept your spar."
Everyone walked out of the forest with Steven and the Suna Siblings sitting near the edge. Naruto and the other Gems summoned their weapons and got into their fighting stances as Team Gai done the same. "I shall referee this spar," said Gaara as he floated upwards using his sand manipulation, "If you cannot continue the battle, I'll pull you out of the area." Everyone nodded as the Kazekage raised his hand into the air before pulling down, "BEGIN!"
Almost immediately, Gai and Garnet rushed towards each other trading blows and blocks in a rapid flurry after sending a shockwave of power from their initial clash. Tenten had tried to rush towards the two in hopes of aiding her sensei, but she was intercepted by Pearl when the Gem tried to slash at the kunoichi. "Interesting weapon," said Tenten as she unsealed her own spear, "Let's see how good you are." Pearl smirked as she charged towards her opponent as she saw Amethyst rush wildly towards Lee. The purple Gem jumped over the taijutsu specialist to avoid a sweep from him before Lee dodged a haymaker from Amethyst.
"Naruto told us how good you are without the ability to mold chakra," Amethyst said as she crossed her arms to block an attack from Lee. "Naruto-san does speak the truth," Lee said before flipping backwards to avoid Amethyst's whip, "Even though I cannot properly mold chakra to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, I strive to become the best taijutsu master and overcome all obstacles." Amethyst and Lee soon found themselves in a grappling deadlock as the purple Gem said, "That's quite a goal you got yourself. I can't use any of that chakra stuff either, but I can still be strong without it!" Lee and Amethyst smirked at each other before the purple Gem then said, "The only thing Naruto never did tell me was how cute you looked." Lee blushed before his weakened grip allowed Amethyst to jump over him and toss the taijutsu expert a good couple of yards.
Naruto and Neji were staring each other down as their teammates were busy with their opponents. "You know Neji," Naruto said with a chuckle in his voice, "this actually reminds me of our match during the Chunin Exams." Neji smirked as he said, "Indeed. But this time, you and I a stronger than we were back then…Hope you are prepared this time." Naruto rushed towards the Hyuga with his claws ready to slash him, but missed as Neji performed a quick substitution with a log. "Gotta thank the Almighty Log," Naruto joked as the log showed the slash marks on its bark. Neji soon appeared behind the blonde with a palm strike ready, but he missed as Naruto quickly spun around and grabbed the Hyuga's wrist before throwing him over his shoulder. Twisting his body around, Neji threw some shuriken towards Naruto as the blonde held up an arm and deflected the throwing stars. "I see that you've kept up your headstrong style," Neji said with a smirk as he slid on the ground. "What can I say?" Naruto countered as he formed a familiar seal, "It's my style. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Neji saw that he was surrounded by many copies of Naruto and chuckled as he thought, Same old Naruto.
Garnet slid back and swiped the spit and blood from the corner of her mouth as Gai stood before her, both of them standing strong. "You're pretty strong," Gai admitted as sweat was forming on his brow, "No one has been able to match my speed and I haven't even opened any of the Gates." Garnet tightened her knuckles, cracking them in the process, and said, "It pays to have been around for hundreds of years and been through many battles." The jonin smirked as he said, "Spoken like a true warrior. Time to take it up a notch; Gate of Opening!" Garnet watched as Gai rushed her as a quicker pace as she continued to go on the defensive while trying to deliver a few counter attacks herself. Gai quickly went in for a leg sweep, but missed as Garnet jumped into the air and delivered a kick during her backflip.
It was soon Gai's turn to be on the defensive as even though her large gauntlets have hindered her mobility a bit, Garnet's attacks were strong and fast. She's quite the conditioned fighter, the taijutsu expert thought as he continued to deflect Garnet's attacks while overhearing Steven cheer for the Crystal Gem, She's an exceptional leader as her strength proves it! Gai was unable to see the uppercut as he was launched into the air before Garnet grabbed his ankle and tossed him into the ground. "Seems like I've underestimated your taijutsu skills," said Gai before he flipped onto his feet and gained some distance between him and the Gem, "Gate of Life!" Garnet saw the shinobi's skin turn red as she tightened her knuckles, ready for what Gai could throw at her.
"Whoa," said Amethyst as she saw Gai quickly vanish while Garnet had taken a few hits that were faster than what the purple Gem could see. "Go Gai-sensei! Show her the power of YOUTH!" Lee cheered for his sensei until he felt something wrap around his waist and saw that it was Amethyst's whip. The Gem gave the whip a powerful jerk before she was spinning around with Lee flying through the air before she let go, causing the chunin to land roughly onto the ground. "Guess I shall join Gai-sensei," said Lee as he opened the Gate of Opening before rushing towards Amethyst. The Gem was unable to avoid the kick as Lee had sent her high into the air until the taijutsu specialist was somehow behind her. "What the?!" Amethyst said as she soon found herself wrapped up in bandages before getting spun around with the ground getting closer and closer. "Primary Lotus!" Lee roared before the two crashed into the ground with Lee landing away from the small crater, unfazed from the attack.
The dust settled to show the lower half of Amethyst's body as the Gem was kicking in the air before planting both feet onto the ground. After pulling herself out of the ground, Amethyst shook the dirt off of her face as she face Lee and said, "That was some attack; I'm actually seeing a few stars. Naruto wasn't joking about how good you were with taijutsu alone." Lee smirked and said, "Thank you Amethyst. I also must say that you're quite good yourself with your whip. I can only imagine how strong Naruto-san and the others are." Amathyst flexed her shoulder as she said, "You should see the fusions; they're really strong. Maybe you'll see them one day, handsome." Lee blushed from the comment and shook his head before jumping around to avoid Amethyst's onslaught of attacks.
Pearl was going into the offense against Tenten before tripping the girl with her spear before striking Tenten's spear away from the girl. "Good thing I have more," Tenten said as she flipped away from Pearl and unsealed another spear before throwing some kunai towards the Gem. Pearl deflected them before quickly blocking an attack from Tenten before getting hit in the side when the weapons specialist quickly twisted around and smacked her with the broadside of the spear's blade. "Not bad," said Pearl as she held her side, "You're pretty good with a spear, Tenten. Of course, I've also learned a few tricks thanks to Naruto."
Pearl created a holographic image of herself before slashing the light as the Pearl duplicate charged towards Tenten. "Interesting clone technique," said Tenten as she quickly disposed of the clone with it vanishing in a bright light, "Too bad it wasn't strong."
"Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" said Pearl as she launched a blast of water from her mouth, surprising Tenten as the attack hit her with enough force to send the girl a few yards. "How…" Tenten asked as she quickly got to her feet, "How are you able to use jutsus?" Pearl swiped her mouth and said, "I've unlocked my chakra years ago and before Naruto arrived, I had no idea how to use it as it was similar to magic but more rigid. Now I can use jutsus thanks to learning chakra control and those scrolls Naruto got from Jiraiya." The Gem launched another water blast towards Tenten as the girl was now on the defensive from her mistake of underestimating her opponent.
With the Suna Siblings and Steven, Temari stole a glance at Steven and asked, "I'm guessing all of the Crystal Gems can use chakra?" Steven saw Naruto launch some spikes towards Neji and said, "All but Amethyst as Kurama has been helping us with our chakra control exercises. He even helped Pearl, Garnet, and Naruto learn what there elemental natures are: Naruto's element is Wind, Pearl's is Water, and Garnet's Earth and Fire with a touch of Lava. I don't know what my element could be as Kurama says it's a bit too advanced for me at the moment."
"What do you think your element could be?" Temari asked as she saw said blonde wrap Neji with golden chains before throwing the Hyuga a good few feet. Steven continued watching the fights as he said, "I hope it's something really cool like Naruto's or even the ability to control ice like Haku!"
"That's kind of a tall order," Kankuro said as he saw Pearl launch another water bullet towards Tenten, "While it is possible to learn jutsus from different elements, some elemental jutsus will be quite difficult without a special elemental kekkei genkai like the Ice Style, although I have heard of shinobi who can use certain elements through either preexisting elements or through some hardcore training."
"I know and everyone has their own ideas of my element." Steven said as he saw Peal corner Tenten to the ground with the tip of her crystal spear pointed towards the kunoichi before Gaara used his sand to carry Tenten to the sidelines, "Amethyst and Jenny's family want me to have Fire while Pearl, Lars, Connie and her parents hoping that I don't get Fire. Dad wants me to have Water or something else except Lightning while Sour Cream and Onion hoping against Water. Lars, Connie and her parents are also hoping that I don't get Lightning while Sadie doesn't want me to get either Wind or Earth with Buck, Mayor Dewey, and Mr. Smiley agreeing with Sadie about not having Earth."
"Tough crowd," Kankuro said with a whistle as Pearl was now jumping in to aide Naruto with his fight, "although it seems like there's not a lot of people against you having a Water affinity or even Wind for that matter. I would be kind of surprising that you could use all five elements, but that is INCREDIBLY rare as the only one that I can recall to have mastered all five elements was the Third Hokage. Too bad he's dead as he was held in really high regards as either the Professor or even as far as the God of Shinobi."
*ker-rash!*
Everyone saw Pearl get slammed into a tree after being launched from an attack by Neji before she slid down upside down onto the ground. "Neji's quite the opponent," Pearl said as she rolled right into a sitting position next to Steven while massaging her left arm and leg, "Naruto was right with cautioning me about Neji's power, I can't feel my arm or leg." Tenten moved next to Pearl and used her knowledge of medical jutsu to heal the Gem as she said, "Neji's no pushover when it comes to the Hyuga Style Taijutsu, especially since his uncle has been training him these past few years. Still…Naruto did beat him during the Chunin Exams with that surprise knockout hit." Pearl smiled as her body was slowly healing itself with the aide of the kunoichi while watching Naruto's spar, silently rooting for her boyfriend to win.
With Naruto's fight, the blonde was still going strong as Neji was dodging the chains Naruto was throwing at him. "Your girlfriend was quite the opponent to have defeated Tenten like that," Neji said before using a quick Rotation to deflected some of the chains, "She could have easily made Chunin."
"That's Pearl-hime for ya," Naruto said with a smirk, "Smarts, beauty, and elegance rolled into one girl. Sure she can be a perfectionist nag and we do have our disagreements, but I still love her with all my heart as our song proves it." Neji soon went into the offense as he said, "She must be quite tolerant towards your headstrong and inattentive personality. Hinata-sama will be sadly disappointed as she had adored you in such a light with her crush on you."
"Wait," Naruto said as he in avertedly dropped his guard, "Hinata liked me like that?" Before registering what had happened, Neji was suddenly right in front of the blonde as he whispered, "Yes Naruto, she likes you like that as you were quite oblivious to it." Naruto soon found himself upside down at the base of a tree from the sudden attack as he then said, "What the hell just happened?" Tenten helped Naruto get to a more comfortable position next to Pearl as she said, "You just gave our Jonin the win with that huge opening." The blonde looked to see Gaara nodding towards him before hanging his head as he let out a sigh of defeat.
Garnet shook her head at her son dropping his guard that easily before having to block a powerful kick from Gai as the taijutsu specialist continued with the onslaught of attacks. "You have trained Naruto well," Gai said as he was impressed with the blonde's skills from what he had seen, "but he still has much to learn." The taijutsu specialist the opened another gate as he ran towards Garnet with afterimages following him and began a new onslaught of attacks.
The Gem at first had difficulty keeping up with Gai as she was launched back with a powerful kick to the face. Garnet tumbled on the ground a few times before bouncing onto her feet and stood before Gai. ""You're pretty good and I wasn't even really going at it," Garnet admitted as her glasses began to crack down the middle, "Guess the time to hold back is over." Everyone watched as the Gem's glasses broke and fell from her face to reveal her closed eyes and something on her forehead. "Time to take this seriously!" Garnet said as she opened her eyes as her third eye was now opened before she charged towards Gai.
The shinobi were now amazed as Garnet was somehow fighting a taijutsu specialist who had opened the Gate of Limit on an even field. "Mom's the coolest, isn't she?" Naruto said as he ignored the shocked looks on the shinobi, "She can keep up with Bushier Brow-Sensei thanks to her cool eyes."
"You're not fazed about your adoptive mother having three eyes?" Kankuro asked incredulously, "Is this because of her being a Crystal Gem?" Naruto crossed his arms as he watched as Amethyst took advantage of Lee's and Neji's shock and said, "The answer to that…is a secret for Mom to tell ya."
The fights continued until the ground began to shake as a large fist erupted from the ground, causing the fighters to jump away when a large gorilla with iron grey fur, pale stones on its back, and a pale gemstone at the base of its throat jumped from the hole and began pounding its fist into the ground. "A Lunar Gorilla!" Pearl said in shock as everyone got on the defensive, "What's one doing here?!"
"No matter," said Garnet as she pounded her knuckles together, "Time to show it who's boss!"
ENTER NEW CHALLENGER!
Sorry, just couldn't resist. I know having Naruto getting beaten like that wasn't what one would expect but you have to consider that 1) he's going up against a Jonin ninja, and 2) until in the Pain Invasion in the canon, Naruto was completely oblivious to Hinata's feelings so being told that a girl from a family in a huge (in name) clan would no doubt be a massive double take for Naruto. I'm actually going have a poll on what element Steven should have and I will go with the two that have the highest votes. The choices are the five basic elements: Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water so choose two of them.
On a final note, don't forget to rate and review!
Ja ne.
