In the following weeks, Reks took time during meals and when it was too dark to train in order to teach Naruto what little he knew about the areas surrounding the city of Rabanastre. The Estersand and Westersand were easily explained, especially considering Naruto knew quite a bit from traversing the wastelands for several (hundred) years.

To the north was the land of Nabradia, recently conquered by the Archadian Empire. Rumors had stirred shortly thereafter that the capital, Nabudis, had been entirely abandoned and left to the wild beasts of the area.

To the south were the Giza Plains, home to wandering nomads. Reks explained that the Plains had two seasons, dry and rainy, that cycled every few months. The nomads settled during the dry, living off the cockatrice and weaker beasts that thrived there.

"The Giza Plains are an entirely different place during the rains," Reks had said. "The rain is so powerful that the landscape changes. The nomads are forced to retreat into the mountains during the rain to avoid their homes being washed away. But the biggest change are the monsters that appear during the rain. The hyenas and cockatrices hide away while elementals and giant toads and tortoises roam."

Of course, Naruto had already taken down an Entite, and had nothing to fear from any toad (except perhaps Gamabunta) or tortoise. Still, Reks convinced Naruto to avoid the area during the rain, if only because Naruto figured he would find more clues to his Sage Mode problem during the dry season.

While information on the Giza Plains had been Naruto's main desire in asking Reks to teach him about the surrounding lands, he realized that he did need to learn more about Ivalice in general. Several hundred years of roaming the desertlands without knowing a thing about any of the bordering lands was pathetic in Naruto's mind. He had even told Reks that awareness could be a shinobi's greatest asset and yet he was blindly unaware of what had been stirring in Archadia.

Immortality had made Naruto complacent. Being unable to die had dulled his senses, preventing him from caring about the world outside of himself. Something about Reks tugged at Naruto, made him empathize with the boy. Perhaps it was the loss of his family, albeit through entirely different circumstances (though Reks was not yet aware of that).

Reks' own training had progressed smoothly enough. Naruto now had him practicing against the local wildlife along with Shadow Clones. He had learned to predict the patterns that the clones would take, but the wild beasts were a new wild card for the boy. Even then, it didn't take long before Reks was bringing wolf meat and pelts back to the camp. The meat was nice to have, what with being stuck in the desert and the pelts fetched a nice price whenever they stopped if the few towns scattered across the wasteland.

Reks had also mastered the academy three and had quickly jumped into working on his elemental composition. Usually nature transformation took many years for a shinobi to learn, but Reks already had a good grasp on how to use magic. In fact, one of the spells that Reks already knew was Thunder, so that put him even closer to Lightning jutsu according to Naruto. While chakra and magic worked very different, the method for turning the energy into electrical power remained very similar… as far as Naruto could tell from the little that Reks could tell him about magic.

Magic in general was still a very distant subject for Naruto. Being unable to use it, he cast it aside, preferring to stick with the chakra techniques he had been taught since birth. Reks knew very little about it, and the few elders Naruto had spoken to in the desert villages could not explain very much either. As far as most people knew, magic just… happened.

Unfortunately for Naruto, one of these village elders had told Naruto that the Giza Plains were currently enduring a record-setting rainy season. This prevented Naruto from travelling there to investigate Fukusaku's claim about the natural energy that had accumulated there.

The desert sands remained very dry, however, and the heat pounded on their backs all day long. It had been several months since the assassination of King Raminas and Reks was beginning to tire of being constantly surrounded by sand and heat. He suggested travelling north to the deserted land of Nabradia since the beasts of the Estersand were no longer providing any challenge.

"It'll be much better than sitting out in this sunlight all day, Naruto," Reks reasoned. "Do you have any idea how bad sunlight can be for your skin?"

Naruto shot the boy a deadpan look before sighing. "I suppose a change of scenery wouldn't be too bad." 'There's no telling when Giza Plains will return to the dry season. It'll be good to get Reks fighting some different enemies. Maybe some enemies that use elemental attacks...'

"Let's stock up on food when we get near the border," Reks suggested as they started packing up camp. "We have no idea what kind of monsters have moved in since Nabradia was deserted."

Naruto was honestly surprised. Even he hadn't thought of that. "Good thinking, Reks."

So far the country of Nabradia had been exactly as Reks had described it: deserted. The Mosphoran Highwaste, known as the entrance to the land of Nabradia, was devoid of any signs of life. Reks had heard tales that visitors were not so uncommon in the Highwaste; despite the strong monsters that roamed the hills it contained rich minerals useful in the development of cities and nations.

Not even the monsters known to roam the Highwaste impeded Naruto and Reks as they journeyed through the area. Even the plantlife seemed to be attempting to hide itself as if it were terrified to even be seen.

"I had heard rumors about the destruction of Nabudis," Reks muttered, "but I had no idea it was this widespread."

"What exactly happened here?" Naruto asked.

"I don't really know. There was never a public report released. Just one day we got news that Nabudis had literally been blown off the map."

Naruto's eyes widened. 'Can magic really be that destructive?'

Without any guides to ask for directions, the two ninja were left to their own devices on how to reach the capital. Many of the pathways seemed treacherous on foot, but Naruto simply scoffed at Reks' concern and walked directly up the side of a nearby cliff.

"How-"

Naruto looked back down and slapped his forehead. He had forgotten to teach Reks anything about wall-climbing or water-walking. "I'm using chakra to stick the bottom of my feet to the rock face," Naruto answered. He jumped back down and landed deftly in front of his student. "I actually meant to teach you, but I kind of forgot. There aren't a lot of cliffs to practice on as far out in the desert as we were."

The pair spent a few hours working on chakra climbing before setting up camp. Darkness came sooner in the mountains than it had in the low-lying desert. It turned out Reks had been very smart to suggest stocking up on food since the local beasts were nowhere to be found.

The next morning, Naruto awoke to find Reks standing sideways on the cliff face above him and grinned at the boy. It truly surprised him how quickly the younger boy was learning. 'It may not have taken more than a day for me to learn chakra climbing,' Naruto mused, 'but I had been using chakra for years by then. Reks has only been at it for a few months. He might actually surpass me for the most unpredictable ninja soon…

'Okay, maybe not. But his pace is pretty remarkable, especially by my standards.'

After traversing the hills of the Highwaste, Naruto and Reks discovered a path that led into a thick forest.

"Naruto."

Naruto stopped in his tracks at the sounds of the Kyuubi's voice echoing in his subconscious. Reks quickly noticed and stopped as well, wondering what was holding his teacher back. 'What is it, Kurama?'

"The woods here are saturated with a wicked magic. It's unlike anything I've felt since we returned to this land." Even though Naruto was on good terms with the beast sealed inside him, it was rare for the Nine Tails to warn him of anything, especially after all his years.

'So what are you telling me?'

"Naruto, what's the hold up?" Reks wondered.

"Just a moment, Reks."

"I would recommend against trying Sage Mode here. The forest is usually a good place to gather natural energy, but this place is giving me a bad vibe."

'No Sage Mode, got it. Not like I could use it for the past few years anyway.'

"Naruto?"

"Sorry Reks, let's get going."

"Wait, what was that?" Reks persisted. "I've never seen you just stop like that before."

Naruto sighed. "I was talking with the nine-tailed fox demon that has been sealed in my stomach since birth 'cause the forest freaked him out a bit."

"Oi."

Reks paused.

"No really, Naruto, what was that?"

Naruto just laughed. "Remember what I told you, Reks?"

"When my training is over, right." Reks looked away, once again denied an explanation for his teacher's odd behavior.

The Salikawood hosted a fair few creatures within its trees, more than the desolate Mosphoran Highwaste, anyway. Just as the Kyuubi had said, the forest was rich with magic. The few beasts that attempted to attack the two travellers were quickly subdued by Naruto once he noticed they were moving a bit too fast for Reks to catch. Once he caught them however, Reks was able to take them down rather easily.

It was while defeating one of these creatures that Reks noticed how the surrounding area was affecting his magic. Reks didn't use magic very often anymore, wanting to focus on learning the shinobi crafts that Naruto had been teaching him. He still found use in them however, since his only other option was physical attacks.

"Naruto, the forest is replenishing my magic power very quickly after I use it," Reks noted.

Not exactly literate on the workings of magic, Naruto was confused. "What do you mean by 'magic power?'"

"Um, well I don't know very much," Reks admitted. "I do not know that magic can't be cast indefinitely. Everyone has a certain amount of power than they use to cast spells before they run out. Once it runs out, no more magic."

"Hmm, something similar can happen with chakra," Naruto explained. "Except if you run completely out of chakra, you die." Reks looked shocked by this. "It's usually really easy to tell if you're running out; just don't use any more once you get to that point as nothing bad should happen."

"Anyway," Reks continued, "that magic power usually returns steadily over time after you use it. I've heard you mumbling once or twice about the concentration of magic in the air." Naruto arched an eyebrow at the boy. "Awareness, Naruto." The shinobi just smirked at his student. "Like I said, mana usually returns at a pretty slow pace, but I can feel it refill almost immediately here in this forest."

"So what could cause something like that?"

"It probably has something to do with the lack of monsters here and back in the Mosphoran Highwaste."

"And that probably came from whatever destroyed the capital city," Naruto guessed.

"That's what I was thinking."

"Well it's not really affecting my chakra from what I can tell, and your magic comes back faster, so I say we roll with it."

Reks held an arm out to signal for Naruto to stop. "Hold on a second, I want to try something."

He brought his hands up to form seals and then conjured a group of regular clones. By now, Reks could recognize the drain of chakra that the technique required, but he quickly felt that energy refill as well, though he did notice the process was slower than it had been with magic.

"It seems like my chakra returns super quick, too," Reks explained.

"Really?" Naruto had never heard of anything like that. Sure, he remember soldier pills having a similar effect, but those forced the body to create more chakra, and using too many of them back-to-back could cause chakra poisoning and even kill a person. "Ivalice is just full of surprises, huh?"

The two shinobi made their way through the Salikawood without much trouble. Naruto had even let Reks handle a few of the monsters on his own. He struggled with them quite a bit, but eventually prevailed. Reks knew that Naruto would have stepped in if things had gotten to rough, so he pushed himself to the max on each encounter. The fact that his mana and chakra refilled insanely fast after each fight helped with that choice as well.

As they exited into the area near the capital, Naruto could start to feel a sinking feeling in the pit of his gut. He had chalked it up to the strange magic in the air, since Reks didn't feel right about it either. The thick fog in the air wasn't helping either one feel better, but they could see well enough to walk and no monsters appeared before them or made any noise in the nearby area.

The capital was just as barren as the Highwaste had been, which unnerved Naruto greatly. Reks was simply disappointed that he didn't get to fight any more monsters.

Upon reaching the entrance to the main fortress, the sinking feeling that Naruto had became much worse when the fog thickened to what reminded Naruto of his first run in with Zabuza in the Land of Waves. He reached out to grab Reks in order to turn them around and leave, but words stuck in his throat when he saw a high-powered energy blast heading for the two of them.

The entrance to the capital city was entirely obliterated as Naruto reappeared some distance away. Looking around, he could see a faint glow permeating the dense fog surrounding him. He could neither hear nor see any sign of Reks.

'I really hope Reks is alright, but I have to take this thing down fast. The magic in the air probably affects it, too.'

Naruto dodged another massive blast from the monster before creating a huge Rasengan in his right hand. He dashed forward, hoping to interrupt the thing before it could fire off another of those dark blasts. As he closed in, Naruto he see better through the fog before finally noticing that his opponent was a pitch-black entite, floating just inches off the ground but taller than Naruto.

"Eat this you overgrown chakra reject! Supermassive Rasengan!"

The enormous ball of energy slammed into the entite, grinding to a halt instead of bursting through it as Naruto had expected. The entite was about the same size as the Rasengan, but Naruto could push against his energy to give it more power, whereas the entite was just enduring with its own might.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as his Rasengan began shrinking, the energy being sucked into the entite and making it even stronger. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Naruto groaned. "If only I could use Sage Mode."

"Naruto, use my power!"

While Naruto wasn't exactly happy with that idea, he had to do something fast. "Alright, Kurama, let's go!"

The cloak of power fell over him in an instant and he could feel his fingernails lengthening into sharp claws while his teeth morphed into deadly fangs. His hair became even wilder than before as it whipped around in the wind caused by the influx of chakra. A massive cloak of red chakra veiled Naruto, sprouting three tails behind him.

"That's plenty, now let's wreck this thing!" Naruto shouted. He quickly formed a Rasengan in each hand, combining the technique with the Nine Tails' chakra to empower them. Each orb hovered just above the cloak of chakra covering his hands.

"One more time, you ugly sack of shit! Double Nine-Tailed Rasengan!" The massive power from the two spheres tore through the entite with ease, dispersing the magic that formed it into the air.

The technique faded from Naruto's grasp and the cloak of energy receded, leaving him feeling more drained than he should have felt. He supposed the emptiness had doubled because of Reks' death. It had been the boy's idea to travel up here, to get some more intense training, and Naruto had let him. Naruto had felt how wrong the capital was as soon as they had left the forest. Kurama had even warned him about the thick magic in the air, but they just kept walking, moving right until to a young boy's death.

Naruto thought back to what the Nine-Tailed Fox had told him months ago. 'I guess Fate really did catch up to-'

"Uh… hey Naruto."

Naruto jumped up from the spot on the ground he had been punching in anguish. Standing there, looking no worse than he had five minutes ago, was Reks. Naruto looked back to the caved-in entrance to Nabudis. "But, the blast-"

"Ninja," Reks explained with a smirk.

Chapter 5 End

YES, there is a reason Naruto does not use the 'Jinchuuriki Mode' he acquired while training with Killer Bee. No, I will not tell you just yet. The reason is pretty easy to figure out and will be revealed in the next chapter regardless.

I hope I did some justice to the Nabreus Deadlands. I barely ever set foot in them in Final Fantasy XII, and I have never ventured anywhere near the Nocrohol of Nabudis.

After next chapter, I should start getting into the real meat of this story. I know I said that before, but I felt like extending the training longer than I should have.