I do not own Naruto, Steven Universe, or Perfect Cell's theme as they belong to their respective owners.

"Believe in Steven!" normal speech

"Believe in Steven!" thought/mind speak

"Believe in Steven!" demon speech

Chapter 25: Enter Zircon

*Konohagakure; Namikaze Estate*

Night had fallen on the Namikaze Estate as Ruby stole a glance inside Naruto's room with an uneasy look on her face. The vision she and Sapphire had last night as Garnet did disturb them as even though they had looked at the different paths, there were just too few to simply prevent his return.

Naruto…Ruby thought as she looked at her adoptive son/grandson while letting out a quite sigh.

"Still thinking about that vision?" said a voice as Ruby turned to see Sapphire approaching her.

"Yeah…" Ruby guiltily admitted as the two of them were disturbed enough to not be able to hold their fusion for too long, "What really burns me is that he and Steven are going to be forced into this!"

Sapphire frowned a bit as she saw her lover dangerously tightened her fists. The two of them cared so much for Naruto with Ruby being the protective side of Garnet while Sapphire was the side that provided wisdom for their child. It wasn't right for either Gem to see the young boy they loved so much being forced into something that he didn't like.

"…and there's nothing we can do without risking lives." Sapphire sadly said as she looked at the different paths…unfortunately they WILL have to handle a corrupted Gem at a mine and risk his return.

Ruby saw the saddened look on her lover's face and walked towards her before embracing the Gem in a loving hug.

"Hey Sapphire, please…" Ruby gently said as she carefully rocked said Gem in her embrace, "It'll be alright. We just…have to hope that this vision is wrong."

"Like how we revealed to Steven our ability to see future possibilities?" Sapphire asked with her baby blue eye shining behind held back tears.

Ruby cringed a bit before she then said, "Y-Yeah…but this time, it will be a good thing to be wrong this time!"

Seeing Naruto shift around a bit in his bed, Ruby gave Sapphire a loving smile as she then said, "Now how about we go check on our little boy?"

Sapphire smiled as she sat at the head on the bed and caressed Naruto's hair while Ruby just laid right next to the blond as the small blue Gem gently hummed at small tune to help provide comfort for the sleeping Naruto.

*Road*

The night had passed as Pearl and Garnet were heading towards the location of their mission. Garnet was still thinking about last night and deeply hoped that she would be wrong about Zircon's return and that Naruto and Steven would be alright.

"Garnet?" Pearl asked as her voice interrupted Garnet's train of thought, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah…" Garnet said as she looked Pearl, "I just want to focus on getting this mission done as quickly as possible."

A bit surprised by the Gem's sudden impulsiveness, Pearl stepped a bit to the side to give the fusion her space.

"I'm sorry Pearl," Garnet said with a twinge of sadness on her face, "I'm just worried about Naruto and Steven. I fear that he might return."

Pearl gulped as she then said "I know Naruto can be a bit reckless at times, but even he wouldn't fuse into Zircon, even if Jasper were to return; Naruto would rather release Kurama than fuse into Zircon."

Silence hung in the air briefly before Pearl then said, "Still…Naruto did promise to take me on a romantic date to make up for making that repulsive jutsu after this mission."

Taking the hint, the two quickened their pace in hopes of preventing Zircon's return.

*Konohagakure; Stadium*

Naruto and Steven walked into the stadium after and ANBU had appeared after Amethyst left with Lee. The ANBU told the two about Tsunade wanting to help train them in dealing with certain opponents…possibly Sasuke since he would likely improve under Orochimaru's tutelage.

"You don't think this is about Zircon, do you?" Steven asked cautiously as he walked next to the blond.

Naruto didn't answer right away as Tsunade had asked for them to fuse into him yesterday and how he had kicked her out the other day. He had a bit of a gut feeling about it, but Naruto didn't want to assume that out of the woman. Tsunade has to be reasonable enough to understand that Zircon is just too dangerous to even face. Even talking about that fusion made the blond uncomfortable.

Before another word was said, Naruto and Steven arrived in the arena where not only Tsunade, but all of the squads that made up the Konoha 11 were there…waiting for them. As they reached the center, Naruto and Steven quickly turned around as the sound of doors slamming shut to find the senseis standing at the now closed doors of the arena.

"What's going on here?" Naruto angrily asked as he then looked at Tsunade, "You set this up, didn't you!"

"Yes Naruto, I did," Tsunade admitted as she stood her ground, "but this is also part of the training I mentioned."

"What do you mean?" Steven asked as he gulped at being surrounded by professionally trained ninjas.

"You both had to have went up against an enemy that was too difficult to handle alone and even difficult for the Crystal Gems to handle as well." Tsunade answered as Naruto went into a stance and looked at his friends.

Both Naruto and Steven thought back to when they first met Jasper as she was indeed strong. The orange Gem was equally dangerous as she was strong when it was shown that Jasper was strong enough to go toe-to-toe with an enraged Naruto in a Four-Tailed Blood Cloak and only taking MINOR burns on her hands from the acidic chakra.

If not for a Rasengan combined with Jet Mode, Naruto thought as he only remembered Garnet falling to pieces before finding himself in a space station with the need to go rescue Lapis, Jasper probably wouldn't be in space right now.

"Can't say we haven't," Naruto admitted with a scowl, "but even then we wouldn't fuse into Zircon if we knew he would be too dangerous to handle."

"Look Naruto," Tsunade began with a slightly softer tone in her voice, "I honestly don't want to do this either, but you and Steven need to understand that there will be times when you can't just wait for others to come aid you. Your enemies will be getting stronger and stronger with each passing day, if not with each passing hour, and they WILL force you into a situation where you have no choice but to cross that line and do what you don't want to do! They're not going to wait until you become strong enough to face them! They WILL strike while the iron's hot and when they do, you won't be able to stop them then!"

"I know that!" Naruto countered whole heartedly, "But you NEED to understand that Zircon isn't your average unstable Gem Fusion! The moment we form into Zircon, something causes us to lose all control of him and he goes on a rampage! We don't know HOW to control him, let alone steer him!"

"Tsunade-sama told us about how you guys only fused into him once and that was all it took to ultimately decide never to form him again!" Sakura countered, "This isn't the Naruto I remember; He would go through so much reckless abandon to just get down the most simple of training exercises! Did you really let that one moment scare you into something like this?"

"I'm not scared!" Naruto barked out, "However, I am smart enough to understand that Zircon's just too wild for me and Steven to handle at the moment! This isn't something that and easily be fixed with training!"

"How would you know!?" Tsunade countered, "You refuse to even try again! You were able to get the Rasengan down within one WEEK where it took the inventor, your OWN father, THREE YEARS! Now you're not going to try and control Zircon again, just because of one slip-up?"

"Look Naruto," Tsunade then said with a calm tone in her voice, "I just reinstated Sakura not too long before your return; she's still a genin! I had refused to let her become my apprentice after I took her shinobi status from her. If you do this for us, I will help her by teaching her a few important jutsus that will benefit her in the future. There's also one other important detail…"

The wind blew ominously as Tsunade then said, "Sasuke is not the only one you have to worry about as the Akatsuki are after you due to you being a jinchuriki. You're only here to protect everyone in Beach City from both of them, but what's stopping them from attacking your loved ones. You're putting Garnet in danger, your friends here in danger, your friends in Beach City in danger…what about Pearl?"

Naruto let out a small gasp as the Godaime then said, "How do you think she will react when she finds you dead by the hands of the Akatsuki? What are you going to do if they kill her? Look, this hurts me as well to make you do this, but you have to understand that with the number of threats towards you, we need to know about all of the aces in our sleeves so that we could be prepared for them. I know this upsets you and the Crystal Gems, but we have no other option."

"Enough!" Konohamaru called out as he and his friends headed towards the closed doors, "I think this really isn't a good idea as we're forcing Naruto-nii and Steven into this. Maybe we should find something else for them? Maybe teach them a cool new jutsu?"

"Konohamaru…"Naruto quietly said as he then began to think about what Tsunade has said.

If Sakura just now got reinstated as a ninja of Konoha, then the rosette wouldn't be strong enough to face any dangers. Although he was still on the fence due to what Sakura had done to him, Naruto still cared for her and didn't want the worse to happen for her.

And then there was what Tsunade had said about Pearl. Naruto was confident enough that his girlfriend was capable of handling a few tough opponents, but this was the Akatsuki that he was thinking about. He wouldn't ever dream of putting Pearl in either situation and he wouldn't know what to do if Pearl was destroyed. He'd never forgive himself.

"Dammit…" Naruto said as he got out of his stance, getting a shocked look from Steven, "…you win. We'll fuse into Zircon…but don't say that you were never warned."

"But Naruto," Steven said with reluctance, "what about-"

"Steven!" Naruto suddenly said sharply, causing said boy to jump a bit, "They're right. I'm already risking the lives of not just everyone in Beach City and Konoha, but I'm also risking the lives of the Crystal Gems…our FAMILY! I couldn't bear it if Mom or Pearl-hime got hurt because of me."

Dust danced around Naruto's feet as the blond then said, "I don't like this either, but we really don't have much choice since I doubt we couldn't leave without having to fight through everyone. I guess we should give them what they asked for…"

Steven saw the saddened and anger look on Naruto's face before sadly nodding in agreement to the plan.

The Konoha ninja present watched as Naruto and Steven crossed their wrists in front of them, gems brightly glowing, before stepping in place as if they were mimicking riding a horse. Naruto then brought a wrist over his head and had it move around as if the blond had a lasso. Steven then went into a different movement as he had his knuckles to his sides while his legs oddly kicked around until he was behind Naruto. The blond then began to blush as he then moved his hands to his sides and did pelvic thrusts. Naruto then done a quick full twist while Steven slid against the ground on his belly through Naruto's legs before a bright light fully enveloped them and melded them into the form of a giant red fox's head.

The light then exploded of the figure with a huge pulse of power rushing right past the Konoha ninja, stunning them while traveling even further than the village.

*Beach City; Boardwalk*

Everyone in the city were going about their day-to-day lives when an ominous rush of power flew right past them.

"Holy crap!" Buck said as he and his friends flinched in fear of what this power meant, "Zircon's back! Run!"

Mr. Smiley ushered everyone into the arcade before slamming the gates shut as he did NOT want a repeat of the last time Zircon was around.

*Big Donut*

Lars was frantically trying to bar the doors with tables and chairs as he said, "We can't let him near this place! Near ME! I can't survive another one of his games!"

Sadie looked out the glass window as she said, "What possessed you two idiots to bring him out?"

*Mayor's Office*

Mayor Dewey solemnly looked out his window as he said, "Even with all they had done to you, Naruto…I wouldn't ever wish for anyone to meet the likes of Zircon."

The mayor quickly closed the curtains and took the best course of action: hide under his desk and wait for Zircon to leave.

*Crystal Temple*

Greg, Connie, and the Maheswarans looked out the window as they knew that Zircon was back.

"Will they be okay?" Connie asked her parents as she was deeply concerned for her friends, especially Steven.

"We can only hope so." Connie's mother said with concern for both boys' safety.

"I'd just hate to be whoever is on the receiving end." Connie's father added as not even the other Crystal Gems could handle Zircon.

Greg looked at the picture of his beloved wife and said, "Please keep the boys safe Rose…they mean a lot to so many people."

*Otogakure; Sasuke's Chambers*

Sasuke was looking at some of tools that Peridot had brought with her along with some of the notes about the Crystal Gems that were given to him by both the green Gem and his ROOT spy.

"These tools do appear to be quite useful," Sasuke said as he was looking as what looked like a giant tuning fork with some sort of stone hovering between the rods, "however they seem to work differently on this, Steven Universe, or on Naruto."

Before he could go any further with his studies, a rush of power blew right by him and sending Sasuke into alert as he stood up and drew his rapier from his gem.

What was that? Sasuke thought to himself until Peridot entered the room and kneeled before him.

"Lord Sasuke," Peridot said as she projected a map of the Elemental Nations before the young man, "I have detected a huge source of power within the location marked on the map you see."

Sasuke looked to see a cross-shaped mark on an area that was in the Land of Fire just southwest of Otogakure and knew where it was.

"Konohagakure." Sasuke said as he was contemplating on heading towards his former home as he had an idea of who was behind that kind of power, "So you are back…"

"Don't think about it." Bloodstone said as he held his host's body in place, "Something about that energy isn't…natural…it's too unstable. It would be a waste of time since we have other matters to attend to."

Sasuke thought for a moment before he looked at Peridot and said, "We'll let Konoha handle their own problems for the time being; I'm too busy with a jutsu that could benefit me and I could use your help."

Peridot watched as her superior left the room and followed him, briefly ignoring the warnings that were shown on the map before it had vanished.

"What is it that you need help with?" Peridot asked as she saw a masked ninja hand Sasuke a scroll.

Sasuke unrolled the scroll before unsealing the contents, revealing bags of blood, and said, "Creating soldiers that will benefit us as they will possess powers similar to our own."

"A kindergarten?" Peridot asked as she then said, "Forgive me, but I'm unsure if we could be able to create any of the injectors with the limit resources at hand."

Sasuke sternly looked at the green Gem as he then said, "I have something much more…effective than those machines."

Peridot was handed the bags of blood and noticed that the bags had either Naruto's name or Steven's name on them as she then asked, "What do these have to do with your plan?"

"Orochimaru had discovered something within the blood samples my spy had acquired for us." Sasuke explained as he went down a different hall with Peridot following him, careful as to not drop or bust one of the bags, "The blood collected possesses a unique energy that is much purer than chakra. The energy revitalizes the blood and even reconstructs the dead cells into newer, stronger cells. I believe that this is the key for the jutsu to work as I planned, but we must insure that it works. I have convinced Orochimaru to grant us some prisoners to experiment on as I want you to record everything that happens. Understood?"

"Of course." Peridot said with a serious tone, "I shall get the preparations ready at your command."

*Konohagakure; Lee's Dojo*

Amethyst and Lee were working out with the Gem wearing a purple outfit similar to Lee's.

"This place is awesome!" Amethyst said as she was doing push-ups like Lee and somehow easily catching up with the ninja's regimen, "I have got to show this place to the others!"

"I am very glad that you like this place, Amethyst," Lee said solemnly behind a false smile as he started on one-handed push-ups with said Gem following him, "I built this place myself after I returned from one of my missions."

What Amethyst didn't know was that Lee wasn't exercising as hard as he used to as he was still thinking about what he was doing. It didn't feel right to trick the girl that he liked so that his comrades could force Naruto and Steven into doing something that they don't want to do.

I am deeply sorry everyone, Lee thought as he had a saddened look on his face, but I must do this.

Amethyst saw Lee quickly get to his feet and saw the saddened look on his face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" the Gem asked as she got to her feet, "I thought you'd be happy with a sparring buddy like me."

"Amethyst…" Lee said as he looked away from the girl he liked, "I…I must confess something to you."

Amethyst looked in confusion as she saw Lee get down on his knees and bowed towards her.

"I was only sent to distract you while the others…" Lee said with tears falling from his eyes, "…made Naruto and Steven fuse into Zircon! They knew how I felt about you and had me take you away from Naruto and Steven, but-"

"WHAT!?" Amethyst angrily roared as she grabbed the taijutsu expert by his vest and pulled him to her face, "You idiot! Don't you realize what this means for all of us!?"

A powerful wave of power rushed past the two, causing Amethyst to drop Lee while said ninja looked in fear in hopes of finding the origin of the shockwave.

"No…" Amethyst said as she grabbed the ninja and dashed madly out of the building, "We'll talk about this later as we need to try and hold Zircon off as long as we can!"

I wonder how the others are doing? Lee thought to himself as he quickly got to his feet and guided Amethyst to where everyone was.

*Stadium*

(Play Perfect Cell's Theme)

Everyone watched in anticipation as the light had died down to reveal a gruff man with a tanned complexion wearing dark blue jeans, a brown, leather belt with a star-shaped buckle, thick black boots, a black leather jacket that had the sleeves ripped off and was opened to reveal his muscular body and a multicolored gem placed in his naval, fingerless gloves that were cut off below two multicolored gems at the man's wrists, and dark sunglasses. The man's blood red hair was in the form of huge, bulky spikes as it traveled all the way down to his feet.

"Oh man, that feels great!" said the man as he stretched and twisted back around, letting out a few loud pops and cracks, "I've been waiting for two longs years to stretch my legs. Can't tell you how torturous it's been just waiting for a moment like this."

"Zircon, I presume?" Tsunade asked as she approached the man, noting just how powerful he appeared from sight alone.

"Got that right." Zircon said as he grabbed his head, "Give me a moment; need to take care of this crick I have in my neck."

*ker-rack!*

*ker-rack!*

Everyone flinched and covered their mouths as the sickening snaps echoed through the arena.

"That felt good." Zircon said as he rolled his neck around, unfazed by the sickened looks, "Now then…guess you lot wanted to see just how powerful I am?"

Tsunade blinked before she then said, "Th-That's right. We'd like to run just a few tests on you before you defuse. Now, if you would follow me."

"No dice, Ms. Tits." Zircon said with a chuckled as Tsunade's eyebrow twitched at what the fusion had called her.

"What was that?" Tsunade ordered with growing agitation in her voice.

"You see, Titzilla," Zircon said, again chuckling at the look of agitation on the Godaime's face, "you and the others all gathered here to see how strong I am and what better way than a good ol' fashion brawl. Me against the lot of ya."

"You would severely be outmatched as it would be 16 against one." Shino stated as he pushed up on his glasses, "How do you expect to defeat us on your own?"

"By kicking your asses." Zircon said with a trivial voice, "Simple as that."

The fusion then flexed his bare arms to make them bulge with power before flexing his body into different poses as he said, "I can take out anyone that challenges me with this gun show."

Zircon then pointed to the Konohamaru Corps. and added, "But not those brats as they really didn't have the heart or guts to go with your little plan. Plus it's really not any fun fighting someone who isn't going to give it their all."

Konohamaru and his friends carefully bowed towards the fusion as Zircon then said, "Maybe the next time I'm around, we could go out for a bite to eat? On me!"

The young children nodded before rushing out the door, hoping to find one of the other Gems for help.

"Sweet kids." Zircon said before he turned his attention to the group before him, "Too bad they'll be missing one helluva show."

"I wouldn't be so arrogant if I were you." Kakashi said as he and the other jonin were ready for a fight, "We are a few of the top jonin in the village while Naruto was freshly made chunin with Steven being a genin."

"You're kidding me, right?" Zircon said as he made his pecs twitch, "Did you not feel the amount of power that shockwave had when I arrived here? Or were you too busy imagining yourself in one of Pervy Sage's books?"

"If we can get back on track," Tsunade said as she approached the fusion, "all we are asking is a demonstration of your skill and power. Once we see what you can do, then you'll just have to defuse."

Zircon looked at the woman before as he said, "Alright, I'll give you a demonstration of what I can do. As for the defusing part, allow me to offer this as a rebuttal."

The fusion took his pointer finger and thumb before aligning his hand to the diamond-shaped seal on the Godaime's forehead and flicked it.

What happened next shocked everyone as Tsunade was somehow launched clear through one of the stadium's concrete walls. The dust soon began to settle and clear as Tsunade pulled herself out of the hole while holding her head where Zircon had flicked her.

"Not so great when you're on the receiving end, right?" Zircon said as he chuckled when he saw the other ninja approaching him with caution.

"Zircon!" called out a voice as everyone looked to find Amethyst and Lee rushing in the stadium.

"Well, well, well…" Zircon said as he looked at the purple Gem, "if it isn't Purple Puppy and Gai's Mini-Me. What brings you here?"

"I'm here to stop you!" Amethyst said as she got into a stance, "Just make this easier for everyone and separate back into our favorite little guys as you're never really yourself."

Zircon pulled his head back and began to laugh heartily, much to everyone's confusion and Amethyst's annoyance.

"What are you talking about, Little Ammy?" Zircon said with a manic smirk, "To quote Sugilite, "I AM myself!" because I refuse to EVER be either of those weak and pathetic LOSERS! I am far more stronger than either of those two and I have waited for two long years for a moment like this! I'm stronger than Sugilite, faster than Star Sapphire, and even more agile than Opal. I am Zircon…the Demon Gem!"

Tsunade watched with stunned shock as the fusion roared with laughter as she then had a thought enter her mind…

What have I done?

(End Song)

Now that Zircon has finally arrived, what will happen to Amethyst and the Konoha Ninja? And what exactly does Sasuke have planned? Don't forget to rate and review!

Ja ne.