NARUTO

Forbidden Chronicles

The Elric Brothers

Later that day…

Naruto and Chou-Un left the apartment they had hired out and took to the streets, the blonde shinobi leaving his scrolls in the room along with whatever gear his comrade was carrying with her. Together they decided to explore the city streets, walking down various market boulevards, entering several shopping malls, and sight seeing some interesting looking landmarks. All in all, it was a very strange and wonderful experience for them.

They visited the Central Command building, where the leader of the country was supposedly living. They also went to get some lunch for themselves, as well as dinner for tonight. Unfortunately, the two had a little bit of trouble adjusting to using the fork and knife concept and proper manner of this society, eating spaghetti and meat balls, as well as something the people of this country called lasagna, food similar to their fried noodles. They also visited the central park, as well as key buildings like the military headquarters, the library and the branch that was being reconstructed, and a couple of local bars. The city had a lot to offer them, and at the same time the pair was wondering if any of the news they'd been hearing about was going to happen to them today.

Unfortunately, this was to be a strange twist of fate. While the pair were enjoying a nice stroll through central park as well as the ice-cream they had bought, they were suddenly interrupted by an unexpected person.

"Hello!"

Naruto and Chou-Un glanced to heir right, where they saw a young man around his age, about fifteen or so, perched on a nearby lamppost. He wore a yellow jacket and white pants with sandals, and was armed with a Dao blade. Accompanying him was what appeared to be a ninja, dressed in black and grey robes and wearing what Naruto thought for a second was an ANBU mask. He was crouched at the base of the lamp post on top of a phone booth, a kunai in hand and eyes glaring at them through the holes in the mask. The whisker-marked boy blinked in surprise, while Chou-Un, who had her eyes closed at that moment, looked on with curiosity.

"Why would Konoha go through the trouble… wait a second," Naruto raised an eyebrow at the young man, who was smiling kindly down at him. "Hello…"

The man grinned down at him. "We sensed an unusual aura about you, strangers!"

"You two have very interesting energy," the other said, and Naruto was surprised to hear that he was in fact a young girl. He had no idea, since the mask did make her look like a guy. "The girl beside you is surprisingly powerful, while you…"

"You seem to have two energies about you; a strong aura surrounding your body, and another… darker one deep inside of you," the man continued, propping his sword on his shoulder and tilting his head at the pair. "So… the question is… are you two enemies… or friends?"

"Huh?" Chou-Un queried.

"Whoa… hold on a moment," Naruto said. "What's this all of a sudden? First you two, completely random strangers, unexpectedly appear and start talking about auras, and now you're asking us whether we're enemies or friends? What is this? Who are you guys?"

"Oh! My apologies! I am Ling Yao; I am the 12th Prince of the Eastern Nation of Xing!" the man exclaimed, holding a hand up in a supposed greeting. "You two don't look like you're from around here either! Who are you, if I may ask?"

Naruto and Chou-Un looked at each other briefly, before looking back up at the strange man.

"Uhh… we're just travelers," Chou-Un replied. "We came from across the sea, from the Land of Fire."

"We just came to this city to see the sights is all," Naruto stated.

"Oh! I see," Ling Yao exclaimed, twirling his sword around and grinning. "So in other words, you're demons from the Land of Fire that have come to spread your evil ways and pollute these lands!"

Naruto and Chou-Un were taken aback. "Eh… what?" they both said at the same time.

"Judging from that aura inside of you, you are the higher ranking demon. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're going to have to be vanquished…" the Prince continued. In a blink of an eye, the young warrior suddenly sprang from the lamppost and charged straight at the pair, specifically aiming for Naruto.

The boy freaked out and dropped his ice-cream, as did Chou-Un.

"WAIT! HOLD ON! WHAT?"

Ling slashed out at the boy, who pushed Chou-Un out of the way and at the last second, back-flipped out of the way. The young warrior, upon landing, gave pursuit, while his female bodyguard targeted Chou-Un, acting on instinct and following her master's lead in attack. Naruto growled and drew a pair of kunai, blocking a flurry of attacks from the older warrior as they were driven off of the footpath and down a small hillside, heading towards the lake.

"Argh! Would you knock it off already?" Naruto growled, leaping from side to side avoiding the swings from the young Prince, who was trying with great effort to attack the ten-year-old. Naruto brought his kunai around, slashing out repeatedly at him, only for Ling to swing around just as he had done, avoiding and blocking his strikes repeatedly.

Leaping back to put some distance between him and his opponent, Naruto took a defensive stance and prepared for another attack. At the same time, Chou-Un had engaged combat with Lan Fan. Throwing her ice-cream at the other woman warrior, who blocked it using her kunai, the silver-haired girl leapt back and took up her katana, still sheathed in its scabbard. When the masked warrior charged at her, the ten-year-old Ronin did not draw her katana, but instead began blocking the woman's kunai with her sheathed sword, avoiding her attacks and leaping around her strike range.

Back-flipping, Chou-Un took a firm stance, and watched as the masked girl reached into her belt, then toss a barrage of kunai her direction. With keen reflexes, Chou-Un effortlessly batted them aside, before charging at the young woman and kicking at her. Lan Fan leapt over her kick, dropped down and kicked at her foot, tripping the silver-haired girl, who landed on her arm, and using her momentum, spun her legs around and also knocked Lan Fan off her feet. Hitting the ground, the masked warrior drew another kunai and brought it down, aimed for the woman's chest.

Swinging her sheathed katana around, the young Ronin blocked the lethal strike at the forearms, holding it in place before pushing it off. The bodyguard ninja used this to leap off the ground, spin through the air, and then land perfectly in a defensive stance. Chou-Un leapt back to her feet as well, drawing her sword and sheathing her scabbard into her belt. Spinning her weapon around, she prepared to move on the attack against the older girl.

Naruto clashed blades with Ling, grappling with him for a moment before they both forced the other off of them. Leaping back, Naruto tossed his kunai at the young male, who blocked it with a simple swing of his sword and grinned at the boy.

"You've got some talent, young man," Ling exclaimed, despite the fact his opponent was very strong.

Naruto grinned. "You don't know the half of it!" Slapping his hands together, the boy formed a few hand signs, before ending with his hands held together in a bird seal. Ling, having never seen such a display before, prepared for the worst. "If you're so intent on killing me, let's see what you can do! I've been waiting for someone who can last longer then a few seconds against me!"

The water of the lake nearby suddenly rippled, and with a sudden explosion of force, an eruption of water shot forth high into the air in the form of a mass of water, moving, changing shape and splashing about. Ling gasped and backed away in shock, whereas Lan Fan and Chou-Un paused in their fight and turned to watch, both of them holding equal surprise on their faces. Naruto grinned as his chakra manipulated the mass of water, his opponent backing away.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

The fountain of water morphed into the shape of a dragon, and with a loud roar, charged Ling down. The foreign Prince gritted his teeth and leapt out of the way in an attempt to avoid the massive beast, but was instead smacked full on by the blast of water, and sent flying in land. The water pushed and propelled him crashing through several trees, before he landed, rolling violently across a small clearing in the central park to a stop against a brick wall. With a yell of pain, he sat up, clutching his arm.

"Damn… it… he got me."

"Young Master!" Lan Fan shouted, breaking away from the fight and rushing to his aid. Chou-Un, seeing her attention shift, did not give chase, but instead straightened up and sheathed her sword away. With a sigh, she relaxed and went over to Naruto, who was also standing up straighter and ending his battle with his older opponent.

"Maybe… you got a little carried away," Chou-Un said, glancing at her traveling companion.

"Nah… he'll be fine," Naruto replied, rubbing the back of his head and turning to take his leave. "In all honesty… he's a lot tougher then I expected…"

"How about this then!" a new third voice entered the scene, and Naruto and Chou-Un looked up in surprise. Suddenly, the ground exploded in front of them, and out from it shot a massive stone hand making a grab for them. Shocked, the two wanderers leapt out of the way, splitting up in their attempt to avoid the attack.

While Naruto flew off to his left and Chou-Un right, the massive hand ended up hitting the shallows of the lake behind them, stopping. But when they thought that was over, there was a sudden current of blue sparks of electricity that crackled up around the form of the giant earth arm, and in a blink of an eye, drill-bits formed from the structure, and shot out in the two warriors' directions. Eyes widening in shock, in the one second time interval Naruto had, he formed a series of hand seals and clapped them together, the water of the lake beside him rushing out and shooting up around him in a block shape.

"Water Release: Water Encampment Wall Technique!" Naruto shouted, the water from the lake forming a gushing, defensive perimeter around him.

The massive stone spikes struck the water shield instead of him, and were filed to pieces, while at the same time Chou-Un blocked the barrage of spikes flying at her, cutting them to pieces just as her comrade had done. All of this occurred while they were still in mid-flight within a span of a few seconds. By the time it was over, Naruto and Chou-Un skidded to a stop, each of them taking their preferred weapons, and holding them up defensively to the new comers, coming to aid the fallen Ling and Lan Fan.

The moment them looked back up towards the footpath they were driven off from towards the lake side, they saw not only the two that had attacked them back on their feet and ready to fight again, but two new guys. One of them was a really big guy dressed in silver battle armor, armor that neither Naruto nor Chou-Un had ever seen before. Assuming that it was the armor used by this culture as a primary battle wear, the person looked like a formidable foe. The second of them was a rather short young man around Naruto's age, but certainly a little bit taller, with blonde hair in a ponytail, wearing black trousers and top with white lacing, leather boots and a red trench coat. He also looked quite tough, just like Ling and his female bodyguard.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, kunai flashing in the sunlight.

"Who the heck are you guys? Why are you attacking us all of a sudden?" Naruto asked.

"Listen, you are making a really big mistake," Chou-Un called out.

"Yeah right!" the short one of the four exclaimed, pointing a finger down at Naruto accusingly. "You're the ones that are making the mistake causing trouble around here! You'll have a lot of time to think about it when you're caught!"

The blonde shinobi tilted his head at the older boy poking threats at him. "This guy seems like kind of a jerk…"

Slapping his hands together, the shortest of the four suddenly slammed them down onto the ground, the earth at Naruto's feet crackling with electricity before suddenly beginning to shake. The spiky haired shinobi caught onto movement in the ground and leapt out of the way just as another hand came up and made a grab for him from right under his feet. Leaping out of the way and landing crouched, Naruto tossed the two kunai he held in his hands at the small attacker, only to have them impale a wall that unexpectedly shot up in front of the boy.

Naruto flung his hands behind him, several shuriken appearing between his fingers. The boy gritted his teeth. "Damn! What kind of jutsu is this?" Without a second thought, Naruto tossed the shuriken at his other previous opponents, whom blocked them all by batting them to the side before making their attack on Naruto. They charged him, with blurring speed that the boy expected from the two.

Trying to focus on the three were difficult, as Naruto was a little concerned about the techniques the short one in red was using, and had to avoid these earth things suddenly jotting out of the ground. Bringing around his tanto, the whisker boy also charged up at the hill, straight at Ling and Lan Fan. They attacked him first, with him defending as he slipped and shuffled around them, blocking and avoiding their attacks with rapid succession. He swung around them numerous times as they lashed out at him, trying to stay n their blind sides to avoid getting hit, or engage them nonetheless.

Chou-Un meanwhile had to stay on the move as well as another attack came her way. She leapt into the air as a number of earth spikes shot out of the ground, when she did; she aimed for the one behind the earth wall that was performing the techniques. The silver haired girl descended towards her target, but was suddenly blocked off by the appearance of the armor clad warrior, who sent a punch straight up at him. She blocked it with her blade, a shockwave coming off of them from the impact, before she was forced back by the giant warrior. Flipping through the air, she landed in a defensive stance, bringing her sword back before charging at the large man.

She was a blur to him, but he was able to follow her despite this, and block her blade as it came round at his torso. Kneeling down, he forced her off again, slapped his hands together and placed them on the ground. A crackle of electricity, and a fist shot out of the ground at Chou-Un. The young girl gasped and leapt out of the way, the fist pursuing her. Quickly, she slashed out at it, slicing the fist off, and causing the rest of it to crumble.

Naruto continued avoiding and blocking Ling and Lan Fan's attacks, not wanting to attack them as of yet. Instead, he warded them ff, managing to back flip away. When he did, he tossed five kunai their way, only for them to block them and charge at him again. Putting distance between him and his opponents, Naruto leapt up into the tree and took cover in the shadows. Ling and Lan Fan pursued, sensing him out. The tree rustled and shook, with clangs of metal ringing out as the fight continued out of sight. Eventually, Naruto was thrown out, the boy hitting the ground hard and rolling down a small hill, before stopping in a crouched stance. He grinned up at the tree and slapped his hands together in a hand sign.

"Katsu!" he exclaimed, at the same time a massive explosion rocked the garden as the tree roared up in flames. Emerging from the smoke and fire, the two warriors pursued, scolded by the flames with their clothing slightly scathed, but still in fighting form.

The boy smirked and ran forward, ducking right underneath them as he changed targets. The short one that had been casting those strange jutsu charged at him as well, hands slapped together. Parting them, he ran them over his right arm, the material dissipating as well as his white glove, revealing a metal hand and arm underneath. Running it down the forearm, a blade appeared, alerting Naruto to a new danger. The young shinobi leapt over the boy when he struck out and landed behind him, only for the older boy to reengage him with lightning speed, his bladed arm lashing out at him repeatedly, Naruto blocking many of his strikes with his tanto.

They attacked each other with excellent speed and ferocity, while in the background Chou-Un continued to fight the man in the metal armor, both of them on par with each other despite the silver haired girl's superior speed.

Grappling with the other blonde boy, Naruto gritted his teeth and tried to force him back, only to realize his opponent had one solid foot in the ground, giving him a good position in this lock between blades.

"These people are dangerous! I don't think I can fight all three of them at once for too long!" the boy thought, Ling and Lan Fan suddenly appearing behind him. Gasping in surprise, Naruto ended his grapple by pushing off the ground and rolling over his opponent, causing him to trip forward. Breaking off, the young shinobi leapt through the air and formed his familiar crossed-fingers hand sign and smirked.

"Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted, bursts of smoke shooting up around him, clearing soon enough to reveal a horde of thirty or so copies. Landing amidst his horde of clones, which each drew a kunai to use, they prepared to attack. The real Naruto smiled watching as his opponents gawked at this strange, scary and unbelievable occurrence. "Perhaps this is best if I play it as a numbers game…"

Just then, in a blink of an eye and a flicker of slashes, Ling and Lan Fan suddenly appeared in front of the real Naruto, several clones suddenly going down in puffs of smoke. Naruto raised an eyebrow and blocked with a pair of kunai as the two warriors both came in and struck at the same time, the ten-year-old holding his ground as they grappled with him.

"Odd… these two can not only fight without needing to see me, they can also pinpoint my chakra accurately enough to know when my next attack is coming. No wonder they're so tough to fight." Smirking, Naruto forced them off of him and formed another hand sign, and he vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the pair amidst the clones that remained.

The groups of Naruto copies rushed in and started attacking them, Ling and Lan Fan moving onto defensive and counter-offensive as they were forced to defend themselves against one clone after another. Grabbing one, the Prince flung the copy into another, before slicing out at another one and taking him out, Lan Fan back-flipping over a slash attack from behind and dropping back down, cutting that clone down before reengaging with another furious assault. Then, just as they were in the midst of battling the multiple blonde warriors, a spark shot up within the horde, and they all went up in a series of explosions. The real Naruto knelt outside of the group, a smile on his face as his hands relinquished themselves from their hand sign.

"The old exploding shadow clone, leave it to mom to come up with the best improvisation of her technique ever…"

As the cloud of smoke rose into the air, Ling and Lan Fan staggered out, clutching their heads and a bit more scorched from the simultaneous attacks. They knelt down, coughing from the smoke and dust they inhaled. Naruto on the other hand had another thing to worry about, leaping into the air when suddenly, to slabs of earth snapped shut like jaws where he once stood.

Back flipping, Naruto reacquired his other target, landing behind him and lashing out with a kunai. The boy came back around, swinging his bladed arm and slicing the kunai in two, scratching the shinobi's hand. Resulting to hand combat, the whisker-marked boy huffed and shuffled around, ducking as the boy sent a kick at him. He retaliated by sending an upper-cut into the older boy's face, knocking him staggering back.

Growling, the boy with the auto mail arm lunged at him, lashing out with another attack. Naruto pivoted to the side, kicking out his front foot so that his opponent tripped over. Crashing face first, the attacker flipped back to his feet and, slapping his hands together, held a hand out and a spear suddenly shot out of the ground. Spinning around, the short boy lashed out, slicing Naruto across the cheek.

Yelping, Naruto staggered back, gritting his teeth. With his left arm, he reached under his sleeve and ran his hand across the seal he had tattooed under his wrist. A flash and a puff of smoke shot out from his sleeve, and when he spun around, lashed out with a spear of his own, with a red gauze cloth strapped next to the blade, slicing his opponent across the forehead. The boy yelped as well and staggered, but recovered quickly and took another stance, thrusting his spear up, meeting Naruto's tip to tip.

The two glared each other down for a few seconds, glaring into each other's eyes hard. Then, just as they were about to resume their fight, Chou-Un suddenly joined her comrade, back-to-back, holding her katana up as the big metal warrior she was fighting came along, wielding a sword as well. Within seconds, Naruto and Chou-Un were surrounded by the four again mysterious warriors, Ling and Lan Fan joining to box the traveling pair in.

Letting out a sigh, Naruto stood up straight, while Chou-Un remained in a defensive stance. Twirling his spear around him, it dematerialized in a puff of smoke, returning to his seal.

"Listen fellas, I don't know what provoked you to attack us in the first place, but we're not your enemies," Naruto said, holding his hands out, appealing to the four attackers. "This has all just been a big misunderstanding…"

Chou-Un nodded, while the four fighters surrounding them looked at each other, watching as the girl sheathed her katana and also held her hands up.

"We're just travelers from a different continent, exploring the world…"

"We stumbled across yours, and are in no way involved with anything to attract this much attention," Naruto continued.

The four of them thought for a moment, watching as the strange pair with unusual abilities stood in the midst of their four-corner box in. After a few minutes of consideration, they each lowered their weapons, Ling and Lan Fan looking over at their comrades.

"These two have very strange energy levels, particularly the cat-like one…"

"Cat?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, holding his hands up and imitating the claws of one. Chou-Un looked at him through closed eyes. After a moment of thought, she giggled, trying to suppress a big laugh when her thoughts came back to her. Naruto turned to the young Ronin. "What?"

"Now that I look at it… you do remind me of a cat…"

"Yes. The spiky haired boy there has more then one energy source inside of him. Not only that, but both of them are very strong," Lan Fan said. The other two newcomers looked over at each other, shrugged, and then turned towards their former opponents, now at a truce with them.

"So… where are you guys from?" the one in the armor asked, surprisingly revealing to the pair that he had the voice of a child, about the same age as Naruto.

"We come from a land ruled by shinobi… ninjas that influence the balance of events and are used as a prime military force," Naruto said, smiling at the boy in armor. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki; I'm a ninja… trained in the arts of stealth, martial arts and assassination. My friend over here, her name is Chou-Un; she is a wandering Ronin from the same lands as I am, trained in the arts of the samurai… a different branch of warriors from us ninja!"

"Oh… sounds very interesting," the boy in the armor exclaimed. He thumbed his chest proudly. "My name is Alphonse Elric; it's very nice to meet you!"

Naruto and Chou-Un nodded to him in greeting, before turning to the other, unnamed member of the four. The boy with the metal arm smiled at them and thumbed his own chest. "Pleasure! I'm Edward Elric, the elder brother and Fullmetal Alchemist!"

"Nice to meet you," Naruto said, bowing to him.

Later that day…

Naruto, Chou-Un and the run-ins soon put aside the events that had occurred earlier that day, and decided to have dinner together at a local restaurant. Of course, starved from the day's events, Naruto, Ling and Lan Fan ate like pigs, leaving Edward with a hefty bill, who had of course offered to treat the newcomers to a descent meal. Either way, when they were all done stuffing their faces, they all got down to talking.

Edward, Naruto and Alphonse became engrossed in a deep discussion with each other over where they came from, and talked about the lands and everything special about them. The blonde shinobi talked about his village of Konohagakure, the Land of Fire, its neighbors, and the basics of the things he had learned from all of his masters. Altering between people, Edward talked about Amestris and its neighbors, and also went into a detail about the people that have raised him and taught him too. When the young keeper of the Kyuubi asked the oldest Elric brother about his strange 'jutsu', as the whisker marked boy lightly put, Edward told him about Alchemy, and how it was all about Equivalent exchange, with the few taboos there were about it. Naruto understood this well, as there were also a few forbidden jutsu he was quite familiar with.

Also, when Naruto noted the fact that there was no chakra signature coming from Alphonse, and noting the absence of Edward's arm, the brothers then told him about how they attempted to use Alchemy to bring back their mother; human transmutation as it as called.

All the while, as the three boys talked, Chou-Un spoke with La Fan and Ling, with the fifteen year-old Prince hitting on the silver haired Ronin. Naruto's traveling companion politely nudged him away, saying she was 'interested in somebody else'. After which Chou-Un spoke with the two foreigners from Xing about sword fighting, where they received their training, and how they acquired their abilities to sense ki. Lan Fan then offered to teach her a bit, with Naruto also asking Edward whether he could learn how to use alchemy as well.

"Well…" Edward began, setting down his fork and rubbing his chin in thought. "You already are exceptional in close-quarter fighting, and obviously have the skills to survive. I guess I can give you a few pointers!"

Reaching into his jacket pocket, the Fullmetal Alchemist pulled out his notebook, with various tags and pages creased for later viewing. He handed it to Naruto, who also set aside his fork and knife for a moment to take a look at the book. Alphonse watched quietly as the shinobi flipped from page to page, with Edward smiling on proudly as the boy skimmed through it.

"In my travels I've taken many notes, especially on different Alchemistic techniques. It should be pretty straight forward to understand. It can definitely get you started," the teen proudly exclaimed, taking a sip of tea. Naruto smiled as he closed the book and tapped it with his finger.

"Do you mind if I get a copy of this… and maybe a couple of other books?"

"Sure thing," Edward said, leaning over. His look sudden became serious, as he looked the younger boy in the eyes. "But listen… you better not use this to make the same mistake my brother and I made or use it for selfish means. Understand…"

Naruto nodded, handing the book over to him. "This is simply something I'd like to learn, and I will take your experience to heart with it…"

"Good…" Edward exclaimed, leaning back and folding his arms over his chest. "If you want copies of basic alchemy and stuff made, then I know just the person you should see…"

Alphonse looked down at his older brother from where he sat across from him. "Wait… you don't mean…"

Edward grinned up at him. "Don't worry about it; I'm sure she doesn't have too much work on her hands…"

"SHESKA! WHERE ARE YOU!" Edward hollered through the piles of mile high books in the record department office. The amount of documents and books were in here meant that the small group had to make their way round like a maze. It also worried them, especially the Elric brothers, that Sheska could be lost in here.

"Oi! Sheska! Are you in here? Come on out!"

"Sheesh… what is it!" a female voice responded, her head poking out from a top of a stack of books they were passing. Looking up, Naruto, Edward and Al saw the girl sitting at the top of the pile, files in hand and a pen in her ear, indicating that she was a little busy. When she saw that it was the Elric brothers, she blinked, smiled and waved. "Oh! Hey you two! It's mighty nice of you to stop by!"

"Nice to see you too, Sheska!" Alphonse replied, before gesturing down to the spiky haired blonde standing next to him. "Uhh… if it isn't too much trouble… well… if you're not too busy…"

"Our cat-like friend here would like a little bit of help with something of your specialty, I believe!" Edward finished with a proud grin. Naruto frowned, glaring at Edward with a tick-mark on his forehead.

"Cat…"

"Sure thing!" Sheska exclaimed, taking a book at her feet and literally sliding down the pile on its incline. Getting to the bottom, she placed her stack of papers on a nearby, smaller pile and walked up to them, looking back at the stack she had just come down from, and dusting her hands. "Whoo… didn't know I could do that! So! Watcha need?"

"We need a copy of this!" Edward exclaimed, thrusting his book at the girl, who accepted it without a second thought. "…along with maybe a couple more books on basic, advanced and foreign alchemy! Not too much… enough to be able to put into notebooks like this one!"

Sheska, rubbing his chin, smiled and looked up. "Okay! I see… simple enough! I know exactly what you need. I'll have them done by tomorrow afternoon!"

"Great!" Edward exclaimed, placing his elbow on Naruto's shoulder and leaning against him, the young ninja looking back at the alchemist with a raised eyebrow. "That leaves us plenty of time to hang around!"

"So…" Sheska smiled down at the three boys, looking from one to another in turn, before glancing down at Naruto. "Who's your cat-like friend here then? Is he a fellow Alchemist you work with?"

"Seriously… why does everybody here keep comparing me to a cat?" Naruto thought. Letting out a sigh, he smiled up at the young brown haired lady and waved politely. "My name is Naruto, I'm just touring the countryside with a friend, and I ran into these two…"

"Oh… well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Naruto. My name is Sheska!" the girl replied holding out a hand to him in greeting. Naruto shook hands with her gentlemanly, both of them sharing a kind smile. "So… where are you from?"

"I came to this country from over seas… quite a ways from here, actually…"

"Wow… a long-distance traveler! Well! It is so nice to meet a new face! All I see around here are army guys and officers… but I still enjoy my work!" Sheska exclaimed happily. "I am really grateful for it!"

"She sure is!" a stranger's voice joined the four, this one making Edward, Sheska and Alphonse jump, whereas Naruto just turned to the source of it. Unexpectedly, a tall man wearing blue army garbs, glasses and black hair spiked back, popped out from behind a stack of books, and walked right up to the group. Seemingly exasperated at the man's sudden appearance, the Elric Brothers rubbed the backs of their heads and greeted the man in kind.

"Hey… Hughes!"

"How are you doing, Lieutenant Colonel?" Alphonse asked.

"Oh… I'm doing just fine. Work's been pretty busy lately though, what with everything that's been going on around Central," Hughes stated, hands in his pockets as he smiled down at his three comrades, as well as Naruto, who was looking up at the man with great interest. Noticing the newbie, Hughes raised an eyebrow and leant over, getting a better look at the spiky haired blonde, analyzing him from his eyes to the whiskers on his face. The young shinobi leant away slightly at the man's proximity. After a few seconds, Hughes smiled and straightened up. "So who's the cat?"

Naruto fumed instantaneously. "CAT?"

"Oh uhh… this is Naruto," Alphonse explained, pointing down at the boy who literally had steam rising from his head. "He's a friend of ours. We're just showing him around the place…"

"Yeah, we just popped in here to ask Sheska a favor, you know… just to make a copy of my notebook so we can give it to our friend as a memento of his visit here to Amestris…" Edward continued.

"I see," Hughes said, looking back down at the spiky haired blonde. "A foreigner huh? So where abouts do you hail from? By the looks of your garb… I'd have to say… Xing!"

"Oh no… he's actually from overseas…" Sheska intervened, raising her right hand in pointing out this fact.

"Ahh! Now that's interesting. Well… Naruto… it's nice to meet you!" Hughes exclaimed, grabbing the boys hand and shaking it firmly and… to be blunt, rather frantically that it shook Naruto up and down rather awkwardly. The boy had to readjust his hat when the middle-ranking officer was done. "My name is Maes Hughes, and as always, it is a real pleasure to meet a friend of the Elrics, especially a dynamic individual such as yourself!"

"Uhh… yeah… it's a real pleasure to meet you…too… umm… Hughes," Naruto replied in a nauseous tone, his head still spinning from the shaking.

"That reminds me…" the Lieutenant Colonel began, reaching into his coat. Seeing the movement resembling one of reaching for a weapon, Naruto leapt back and reached for a kunai, but was once again surprised by the man pulling out a slip of paper and walking right up to him, holding it up to his face. Edward, Alphonse and Sheska sighed and shook their heads, knowing full well what this meant.

On the piece of paper, Naruto saw that it was actually a photograph, one of a little, brown haired girl around three or four years of age, wearing a pink and yellow dress, hugging a teddy-bear twice her size. The boy blinked as he looked at the picture, before it was lowered showing a grinning Hughes.

"My little daughter… Elicia! Isn't she adorable?" Maes Hughes exclaimed hugging the picture to him. "She is turning three this year, very, very, very soon! Oh! She is such an angel! And upon seeing this picture, I bet you just want to see her! Am I right?"

"Uhh…"

"I thought so! You look as though you've been traveling a while, so I tell you what! Why don't you come over to my place and stay the night! Now don't worry, I have a couple of guest rooms, the misses won't mind, and Elicia will be so excited having someone over to play with! It'll be fun! What do you say?"

"Umm… okay… I guess…"

"Great! I'll tell my wife to put the kettle on and to get the muffins baking! You will not regret this, Naruto!" Maes Hughes went on, the joy in his voice and the happiness in his step being obvious.

Edward and Alphonse sighed and leant in to the blonde shinobi, who was still busy readjusting his hat and trench coat.

"Don't worry, Hughes is a great guy," Alphonse said.

"Just… be nice and you'll have fun," Edward also said. Naruto scratched his nose, looking between the two Elric brothers.

"Is he always like this?"

It only took a second of thought from the pair, before a decision was made.

"Yes."

"Oh… I bet Chou-Un is going to love this?"

"I'm sure she will," Edward answered for him, turning his head and snickering.

Eventually, the Elric Brothers, Naruto and Hughes accompanying them, left the room, leaving Sheska to carry on with her work, but not before the blonde shinobi went out of his way to thank her for her kindness. Closing the door to the record department, the four started down the hallways of the building, now with the idea in mind to head on outside and get some much needed fresh air. Along the way, passing by a couple of other Alchemists and military personnel as they went along, Hughes glanced down at Naruto and smiled, the boy looking back up at him from under his straw hat.

"So… Naruto… are you enjoying your time here at Central?" the Lieutenant Colonel asked. The boy smiled and nodded.

"Oh yeah! It's a very interesting city… way different from any of my villages and towns back home. Heck… this place is so big!" Naruto said, making gestures with his hands to show this. "I'm surprised I haven't gotten lost yet. And the people… well… let's just say that overall, your culture and society confuse me."

"I can only imagine," Hughes snickered. "It's a long way from here to the nearest coast… you must have gone through hell to get through to Central."

"You have no idea," Naruto laughed.

"Hughes!"

Stopping and turning, the group turned to see another face coming down the hallway, under escort as well by two more other familiar faces that Edward and Alphonse knew the moment they set eyes on them. When Naruto turned to look, the first thought that came to him was trouble. The man wearing blue military garb with a matching coat draped over his shoulders and with white gloves in his pocket, and had black hair with piercing eyes glaring at them, meant that this guy had to be one higher up then Hughes or Edward. Accompanying him was a blonde haired lady with her hair done back, and carrying a few documents (Lieutenant Hawkeye), along with a blonde haired man chewing on a toothpick (Lieutenant Havoc), both of which were wearing the same military outfit as Hughes. The three stopped in front of the four, with Hughes sharing a friendly salute, and Edward just glaring.

"Well, well… isn't this a pleasant surprise, Colonel!" Hughes exclaimed. "What brings you down the hallway at this time of the day, Roy?"

The Colonel sighed and shrugged. "I just got off of a meeting with the Fuhrer. Nothing big, it just gets a bit tedious, with him getting me to move my staff around, and approve this and approve that." Looking down, Roy Mustang saw the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward standing beside a newcomer, supposedly a friend of his, with Naruto looking up at him in quiet observation. Blinking, the man pointed at the young shinobi in question. "Who's the cat?"

Okay, now at this point, Naruto was tired of hearing this. In fact, he had half a mind to rip the tongue right out of this guy. However, he just clenched his fists and lowered his head, hiding his gritted teeth and the killer intent blazing in his eyes. Edward laughed at the boy's depression and nudged him in the shoulder.

"Oh… you mean this guy!" Edward exclaimed. "This is my good friend Naruto; I've been showing him around the city and introducing him to the folks. Don't worry; he won't bite unless you step on his tail by accident."

"Just keep pushing me… keep pushing me…" Naruto seethed.

"Hmm…" Mustang looked down at him with a raised eyebrow, a little suspicious of the ten-year-old. After a few seconds of analysis though, the man decided to push the issue of trouble aside, and just shrugged, smiling. "Well, it sure is good that you found a friend much smaller then you, Fullmetal. I bet it must have been very hard for you…"

This time, it was Edward's turn to develop a tick-mark on his forehead. Growling, the boy was about to tackle the Colonel, but was held back by his brother, who had little trouble restraining the boy as he yelled at his superior.

"WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING? YOU IMPLYING THAT I'M SHORT! AAAARRRGGGHHH!"

The Colonel chuckled and he waved, walking round and past the group. "Well… it was nice seeing you again, Fullmetal. Give your cat friend a pet for me, would you."

"THAT'S IT!" Naruto shouted, spinning around and charging at the Colonel. However, upon pushing past Hughes, he was grabbed from behind by Alphonse and held in place. Now holding onto both his older brother and the young ninja, the armored boy let out a sigh and shook his head as Naruto and Edward spat out strings of curses after the Flame Alchemist as he walked away.

"What a strange day…"

TO BE CONTINUED…

Power levels:

Battle of Central Park

Naruto:

Base: 160,000

Full Power: 280,000

Chou-Un:

Base: 155,000

Full Power: 270,000

Elric Brothers, Ling and Lan Fan:

Edward Elric:

Base (hand-to-hand): 130,000

Full Power (with Alchemy): 280,000

Alphonse Elric:

Base (hand-to-hand): 150,000

Full Power (with Alchemy): 280,000

Ling:

Full Power: 250,000

Lan Fan:

Full Power: 200,000

Author's Note:

For anybody who is wondering when Naruto will be returning to Konoha, it will be soon. I've already written up to Chapter 15 ahead of this story, and Naruto will be returning close to Chapter 18. He will not be as overpowered as everybody thinks, and there will be a lot going on, that I can guaratee. I just want to burn through his adventures as quickly as possible before having him return to Konoha and meet and get together with everybody else.

Oh, and the main reason I am having Naruto journey through the other worlds is so that I can get their villains involved. Basically he just meets with the good guys from the worlds he crosses, and when he returns to Konoha, he has the badguys following after him. basically after coming to these worlds for the first time, he won't return to them, only in passing.

Thanks for reading.