Tonto moved a couple boxes around before heading back downstairs. The Indian man stood at a tall height of six foot two. He lived in a small house away from any village or town. He preferred his solitude. Besides, he wasn't home much as he liked to travel the world in his boat to search for rare and unique items. A knocking sound at his door made a curious look appear in Tonto's eyes. He opened the door to find four individuals waiting outside.
A blonde haired man with a black face mask covering the lower half of his face and wearing a very intimidating outfit stood in the doorway. "Hello. How may I help you?" asked Tonto remaining calm.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and these are my companions. We heard that you are a collector of rare items," said the man.
"That's right. Is there something you need?" smiled Tonto. A customer who had heard of his reputation.
Naruto nodded. "Have you ever heard of a place called the Temple of Ancients?"
Tonto stepped outside and closed the door. He smirked a bit. "Yeah, I have heard of it but it is nothing but a myth. A fairytale about the Cetra leaving behind some temple that contained a whole bunch of their secrets." A laugh escaped Tonto.
"We are searching for it."
"Well good luck. But before you go searching for it you will need the Keystone." Naruto and the others looked at Tonto curiously. "The Keystone is the rare item that supposedly opens the Temple of the Ancients. I used to have it up to a couple days ago. That manager of Gold Saucer came around here. Name is Dio I think. I really didn't want to sell it, preferring to add it to my private collection, but he really isn't the type of guy you say no to, know what I mean?"
A nod came from Naruto despite not knowing what Tonto meant. "Arigato." Naruto turned around and looked at the others. Tonto watched as they left heading in the direction of Gold Saucer. What a strange bunch.
Gold Saucer
"Wow. It's amazing," gasped Aeris looking out the tram window at Gold Saucer.
"What a beautiful sight," smiled Tifa.
"It's so cool," gasped Yuffie.
"Shit. Got to admit that is impressive," grunted Barret. Gold Saucer is basically a huge super structure that is designed for one's entertainment. Only way to reach it is by taking a tram as it was surrounded by quicksand on all sides.
Cid flicked his cigarette out the window. "First thing I am doing when I get there is hitting the tracks." The man leaned back as the tram slowly made its way up the lines.
"Naruto. Can we have some fun please? The Temple of Ancients isn't going anywhere," begged Aeris grabbing his arm. She leaned into his side and gave him a puppy dog look.
Tifa grabbed his other arm, "pretty please Naruto-kun?" Naruto felt his blood pump faster at having both women lean into him. Cid mumbled something about lucky bastard and Barret grunted in agreement. Vincent continued to stay silent. "Uh ok," Naruto said. Both women beamed before kissing him on each cheek. Good thing he wore that mask or they would have seen a large blush on his face.
The tram pulled into the station and the group exited. Naruto bought tickets for everyone and the group entered. They found themselves in the opening area. There were transportation tubes that led to a different part of Gold Saucer. "Catch you all later. I am going to the track," waved Cid heading over to the tube labeled Chocobo Racing.
"I'm heading to the tracks as well," said Barret. "Hurry up and get that damn stone key."
"Come on let's go on the roller coaster!" yelled Yuffie grabbing Vincent's arm and dragging him off. The former Turk had an uncomfortable look in his eyes as Yuffie dragged him away.
Red yawned, "I think I will go check out the battle arena."
That left Naruto alone with Tifa and Aeris. Both women smiled widely at Naruto who looked at them curiously. "Come on Naruto-kun," smiled Tifa grabbing his hand.
"Yeah, we are going to the game area and then maybe we can go see a play," smiled Aeris grabbing his other hand.
"That sounds like a great idea," smiled Tifa. Naruto's instincts told him it would be best not to argue. And, tell the truth, he really liked the idea of spending some alone time with Aeris and Tifa. It would be nice.
Break
"Oh I want that one!" laughed Tifa pointing at the large stuffed Chocobo.
Naruto tossed the baseball at the bottles. The man at the stall felt his jaw drop as Naruto threw every single ball and never failed to knock all the bottles off the tables. He even had to dive for cover as a couple bottles were hit so hard they almost hit him. Tifa beams in delight as Naruto handed her the stuffed Chocobo. "Thank you Naruto-kun," smiled Tifa hugging it to her chest.
"It's so cute!" smiled Aeris holding her own stuffed white bear with a heart in the middle of the chest. Both women giggled as they dragged Naruto over to the next game stall. Like at the last one, Naruto won the game with ease. Tossing rings onto bottles, making a ping-pong ball stick on top of a bottle, using darts to pop balloons, etc.. he did it all with incredible ease.
By the end of the hour, Tifa and Aeris were laughing and smiling as they carried all the prizes that Naruto had won for them. Or more like Naruto had his arms full carrying a bunch of prizes that he had won for them while they merely carried the stuffed animals he had won them earlier. Aeris squealed, "oh Naruto let's go on the Gondola!"
"That sounds like fun!" beamed Tifa.
"Ok," nodded Naruto. He tossed all the prizes into the air. In a blur he pulled out a scroll, bit his thumb, and swiped the blood across the kanji. He then swung the scroll up in the air and in a large cloud of smoke all the prizes were sealed away in it. Naruto put the scroll in his pouch and looked over at Aeris and Tifa. Both women giggled earning a curious look from him. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing," they both said before giggling some more.
"Naruto!" All three turned to see Red running towards them. He came to a stop in front of them. "I found the Keystone. The manager has it on display in a museum besides the Battle Arena," said Red.
"Perfect, then we can go get it later," smiled Aeris not wanting to end their time here. At least not yet.
"That isn't all. The Turks are here and Shinra troops are stationed at the tram. I notified Barret and Cid, but couldn't find Yuffie and Vincent," finished Red.
Naruto gained a pensive look. So the Keystone is here after all. He suddenly had an idea. Creating a cross-shaped seal, and two clones popped into existence. The clones then ran off. "My clones will quickly go to the tram and pose as the Shinra Troops. We will allow Shinra to find the Temple of Ancients for us. I'll call Barret and Cid to let them know the plan. You find Yuffie and Vincent." Red nodded and ran off. Naruto started to talk to Barret over the phone for a few minutes before hanging up.
"Naruto-kun, how will we get to the Temple? We don't have a plane or anything. We won't be able to reach it if it is on another continent," frowned Tifa.
Aeris nodded in agreement. "My clones will take care of that." Naruto then shifted nervously. "Um, would you like to go to the roller coaster? It looks like fun," he said unsure. It was silly and he knew they probably wanted to do something else.
A surprised look appeared in each woman's eyes. Soon smiles settled on their faces. That was the first time that he had actually requested to do something other then do whatever they wanted. "Of course we can," smiled Tifa.
"Mhm, why didn't you tell us you wanted to go on it?" beamed Aeris.
"I figured you didn't want to go and just wanted to play more games," shrugged Naruto wondering why they were giving him those looks. It made him feel warm inside. Yet he had no idea what emotion they were displaying. "Don't be silly. If you want to ride the roller coaster then let's go," Tifa grabbed Naruto's hand. Aeris grabbed his other hand and all three headed towards the tube that would take them to the roller coaster.
Break
Barret yawned as he woke up from his sleep. Damn he had a major headache. All that drinking last night from winning at the races may not have been a good idea. He looked around to see he was outside. "The fuck? How the hell did I get out here?" grumbled Barret.
"Naruto had to carry you out here. Cid as well," said Red.
"Where are we?" grumbled Barret. The man groaned as a banging sound went off. He looked to see Vincent had killed a monster.
"Keep that damn noise down. I got a major fucking headache," yelled Cid before wincing at his own volume.
Vincent put away his gun but didn't apologize. "Ugh, I need to piss," groaned Cid. Aeris and Tifa shook their heads at the vulgar man. Yuffie crinkled her nose not wanting to know that piece of information. Cid stumbled over to some trees.
A frown graced Barret as he looked around. How did he go from Gold Saucer to a dense forest? And were those a pair of boats? Were they on the beach? The fuck is going on. "What the fuck is going on? Did we get captured by Shinra or something?"
"No. Contrary to what you may believe, it is not the morning. It is the middle of the afternoon. Naruto-san's clones stole a pair of boats from Shinra and we left Gold Saucer seven hours ago," explained Red. "Next time don't drink so much."
"Damn. That was some heavy shit I drank," smirked Barret before wincing as another banging sound went off. Vincent had killed another monster. "So where are we? And stop firing that fucking gun!"
Naruto landed down in front of the group. "The Temple of Ancients is ahead. The Turks headed inside. If we hurry we can still sneak in. The Keystone must remain on the altar in order for them to exit leaving the entrance wide open for us." He then glanced at Barret and then at Cid who fell to the ground holding his head. "You two are unfit to travel. Vincent can you stay here with them while we go check out the temple?" Vincent nodded his head.
"I am staying as well," shouted Yuffie. "I rather not go through some dusty, creepy old temple."
Cid spit before pulling out a cigarette. He put it in his mouth as he looked for his lighter, "We'll move the boats to a better hiding spot. Don't want them spotting us from the sky." Naruto nodded in agreement. Red, Tifa, Aeris, and Naruto all left leaving the other four behind to call them if any more Shinra showed up.
Temple of Ancients
Red looked upon the temple with a look of amazement. Never in all his life had he seen such a magnificent piece of architecture. The temple was a pyramid that dwarfed the forest. "Amazing."
"How long did it take them to build something like this?" gasped Tifa.
Aeris went to run ahead but Naruto grabbed her wrist. She looked at him curiously. He gave her a hard look. "We stick together. Too dangerous to wonder alone." Slowly, he released her wrist.
She smiled, "it's ok. I just want to get closer to the Temple. I have never heard the planet so clearly as I do now." Naruto frowned behind his mask as she ran across the rope bridge. Aeris ran right up to the steps of the temple and kneeled down. A large smile appeared on her face as she placed her face down on the steps. "I can hear it." She frowned. "It is trying to warn me. Something about grave danger."
"Aeris!" yelled Tifa. A man in a black cloak charged towards Aeris having just come out of the temple. Aeris had wide eyes as she fell back to her butt. Naruto appeared in front of her and stabbed the man right through the chest. He then tossed the man off his blade and crouched down prepared to fight more.
The body tried to move, but fell limp. "Black Materia." Those were his final words.
"Who is he?" asked Red.
Naruto sheathed his blade. "A clone of Sephiroth." The group turned to look at Naruto who had a hard look. "I read about it in the books that I took from the basement of the Shinra Mansion. Professor Hojo tried to recreate Sephiroth and made a series of twelve clones." He walked over to the body and ripped off the sleeve of the cloak over the right arm. There on the right arm the Tattoo 6 stood out in black ink.
Red frowned, "I have the tattoo thirteen. Have I been turned into a clone as well?"
"I doubt it. Remember he wanted to breed you with Aeris. You were just another experiment to him. An expendable one at that," said Naruto burning the body.
"Does this mean Sephiroth is here?" asked Tifa.
"It's possible. The Temple was warning me against some type of danger, but I couldn't fully understand it," frowned Aeris.
Naruto looked at the temple. A feeling of foreboding came over him. All his instincts were telling him to not go inside. However, he knew that Aeris would want to go in no matter the danger. So for once, he would have to ignore his instincts. "We stay together. No running off, no matter what," he said firmly. They all nodded and started to walk up the hundreds of steps.
It took them about ten minutes to make it to the top. Entering the temple, Naruto made sure to have a tight grip on his ninjato as he led the way. Red took up the rear while Tifa and Aeris walked in the middle. Naruto walked up to an altar that had a stone in the shape of a key on it. The Keystone. He placed his free hand over it and started to channel his chakra into it. A blue light shined from the Keystone and the ground beneath his feet started to shake. Naruto tensed, but relaxed as it slowly started to descend downward. It seems that this would constitute as an elevator a thousand years ago.
Slowly the group was lowered down. Aeris, Tifa, and Red's eyes went wide at the sight. The whole inside of the temple is one giant maze. There were at least two dozen flights of stairs that went in every direction and even overlapped one another. "Naruto-kun?" asked Tifa.
"Don't worry. I'll place seal markers so we don't get lost," said Naruto. Tifa nodded as the ground finally reached the bottom. The group hopped off and it rose back up.
Aeris ran down the narrow pathway and stopped at the edge. She looked at all the winding stairways. Her eyes scanned everywhere. "It won't tell me where to go," frowned Aeris.
"Then we will just have to find where to go on our own," replied Red confidently.
"Right," nodded Tifa giving Aeris a reassuring smile.
Elsewhere inside the Temple of Ancients
Tseng looked at the tapestries on the wall with a critical eye. He had no idea what they meant, but it didn't take a genius to make a guess. A great ball of fire in the sky. People running in fear. The final picture showing a destroyed planet. It was obviously a depiction of the end of the world.
His cellphone started to ring and he pull it out raising it to his ear. "Report," he ordered.
"Sir. We managed to find an exit in the clock room. It is the doorway directly across from the one that leads to where you are," said Elena.
"Good. Wait outside for me. I will be coming out shortly," said Tseng. He closed the phone and turned to face a small alter. Tseng walked up to the alter and looked at the black materia that floated over it. "B.L.A.C.K. M.A.T.E.R.I.A." That is what it read beneath it. He tried to move it, but it only caused the entire temple to start shaking.
The ancients obviously didn't want anyone to have it. If he removed it from the alter then the entire temple would collapse killing him. Quite a fail safe. But not good enough. There were plenty of expendable people in Shinra that could be manipulated into removing the materia. Then after the temple had collapsed they would just have to dig for the materia. As long as they kept it out of the hands of Sephiroth. That is what mattered.
He turned around and froze. Fear crawled up his spine as he looked to see a silver hair swordsman looking at the tapestries. "Sephiroth," whispered Tseng. He went to reach for his gun, but stopped. There was no point in reaching for his gun. If Sephiroth could be so easily killed then Shinra would have killed him already.
"It is almost time," spoke Sephiroth completely ignoring Tseng.
Tseng frowned, "time for what?"
Sephiroth turned his head and smirked. Tseng didn't like that look one bit. It reminded him of that insane look that Hojo got in his eyes from time to time. Except coming from Sephiroth it was ten times worse. Sephiroth suddenly vanished into thin air. Tseng's eyes widened and blood spurted from his mouth. He looked to see Sephiroth standing in front of him and a sword through his stomach. "Tseng!" Sephiroth and Tseng turned to see Aeris, Naruto, Tifa, and Red enter the room.
Naruto jumped in front of Aeris preventing her from going any further. Sephiroth smirked as he reversed his grip on his sword and swung it towards the group. Tseng flew off the blade and hit the ground grunting. Blood poured profusely from his wound and Aeris quickly rushed to his side. "Rejoice. Soon he will be reborn as a part of me," smiled Sephiroth.
Red growled and Tifa got into her fighting stance. "The time is coming. Soon I will be reborn and become a god," smirked Sephiroth raising his hands up.
"How do you plan on doing that?" asked Naruto. If he could stall for a bit maybe he could come up with a plan to take out the former SOLDIER Commander.
Sephiroth smirked, "by using the ultimate magic. Do you know what happens when the planet is wounded? It gathers spiritual energy to heal the wound. Now what would happen if the planet suffered a wound so great that it would threaten the life of the planet?" Sephiroth started to laugh insanely. "Imagine how much spiritual energy would be gathered. And I will be at the center of it."
"You would kill the planet?" gasped Aeris. "If you did that all life would die."
"No not die. It would return to the planet and since I would be at the center of it all, everyone and thing would reborn as a part of me. I will be a god!" Sephiroth continued to laugh insanely.
"A wound that would threaten the planet? Is that even possible?" growled Red.
Sephiroth pointed to one of the tapestries that depicted a large comet the size of the moon coming right down at the planet with people running away in fear. "Look upon the Ultimate Black Materia, Meteor." Tifa and Aeris's eyes went wide in horror. Tseng gritted his teeth barely managing to stay conscious. Sephiroth looked right at Naruto before sinking into the ground. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he felt Sephiroth's presence vanish.
"We can't let Sephiroth get hold of the Black Materia," said Aeris. She continued to heal Tseng.
Naruto walked over to the materia, but stopped when Tseng started to speak. "Wait." All turned to look at Tseng who panted heavily. "You can't remove it. It is tied directly to the Temple. Anyone who removes the Black Materia will be crushed by the Temple. The Temple will collapse on top of us," finished Tseng coughing up some blood.
In a cloud of smoke, a second Naruto popped into existence. "My clone will wait for us to exit the temple before taking the materia." Naruto kneeled down and picked up Tseng. "Do you know the way out?" Tseng nodded as he allowed Naruto to help him walk.
"Yes," nodded the Turk. The group started to leave. Or at least attempted to, but the moment they left the room. They found something waiting for them.
Naruto, Aeris, Tifa, and Tseng dodged out of the way as a burst of super heated flames destroyed the spot where they had just been. A loud roar filled the air and a dragon landed on the ground in front of them. It had dark green scales and didn't look to pleased. "Is this Sephiroth's doing?" asked Aeris.
"No. Another added protection that the ancients placed within the temple," said Naruto. His hand started to glow blue and with a wave fired several ice spells at the dragon. They scored direct hits but didn't do much damage. Tifa jumped up and went to kick it in the head, but the dragon rose on its hind legs and backhanded her away with its arm. A cry came from Tifa before she hit the ground and formed a small crater.
Red charged forward glowing a dark red. He jumped up slamming right into the dragon's chest. It stumbled backwards a bit. The ground started to shake and rise up causing the dragon to lose balance and fall forward. Aeris smirked and Naruto didn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation. Naruto swung his ninjato that glowed a toxic green and opened a large gash on the dragon's neck. The ninja then tossed four kunai empowered with his wind chakra that pierced the dragon's right wing. It roared in pain before blowing out another stream of fire.
Tseng took careful aim with his gun and pulled the trigger. The bullets barely caused a scratch on the dragon's scales. Red jumped on the dragon's back and started to use his claws to rip through its left wing. A roar came from the dragon as it reached backwards, but was unable to reach Red. Tifa's hand started to glow a brown color as she raised her fist up and then slammed it down on the ground with all her might. A huge fissure split the ground. The dragon too busy trying to get to Red, fell into the crack becoming stuck.
Aeris started to gather her magic. Electricity started to surround her and she pointed her staff right at the dragon. Five bolts of lightning rained down from above. A loud roar of pain came from the dragon. Burnt marks and blood covered its body. The dragon fell face first to the ground barely alive. "We should get going," said Naruto helping Tseng up. The others nodded as they left. No point in killing the dragon as that would happen anyway once the clone took the black materia.
Outside
The Temple of Ancients which had stood for over a thousand of years as one of the few remaining connections to the past, started to crumble. As if someone had removed a crucial piece from its architecture. Naruto, Aeris, Barret, Tifa, Red, Cid, and Vincent all watched as the temple fell in on itself. Tseng had left after being helped out. It was his way of saying thanks for saving his life.
Once the temple had been completed destroy, all that was left is a square shaped crater. The group began their search for the Black Materia. "Damn this shit is going to take forever," grumbled Barret.
"Construction work. This is for grunts, not the best pilot in the world," sighed Cid lighting up another cigarette.
"Not even I would do all this for materia," sighed Yuffie picking up a stone and tossing it aside.
"Quiet you three. This is no time to be messing around," glared Tifa. All three nodded vigorously being deathly afraid of that look in Tifa's eyes.
Naruto and Red stood next to each other. "Gatsuuga!" Twin tornadoes started to drill through all the debris. The two continued to use it for the next ten minutes before taking a break. Red panted heavily and lied down for a rest. Naruto felt a bit of strain on his chakra but was otherwise fine. "I found it!" shouted Aeris.
They all turned to see Aeris standing in front of the black materia. She went down to reach for it but froze when a silver hair swordsman appeared in front of her. Her eyes went wide in fear as he thrust his sword forward. A squelching sound filled the air. Sephiroth smirked. Aeris looked up from her place on the ground. "Naruto!!!!!!!!!" she screamed.
Naruto stood in the spot where Aeris had just been. His eyes were clouded over in pain. Tifa screamed in horror as she saw over half of Sephiroth's sword sticking out of Naruto's back. Sephiroth smirked as the Black Materia floated up into his hands. Naruto raised his hands grabbing the blade, but they never touched the blade and his mask filled with blood as Sephiroth yanked his sword free. He fell to his knees his vision growing dark as blood poured down all over his chest. The last thing he heard was a familiar dark laughter before the darkness swallowed him up.