Chapter 15: Snow Trekking

Four days after leaving the Forgotten City, Naruto and his friends finally arrived at the remote ice village known as Icicle Inn. The journey ended up being twice as long as it needed to be, thanks to the abrupt appearance of snow as they left the Coral Valley and entered the Snow Fields. Blistering cold winds and almost thigh-high drifts of snow had slowed them considerably. Frequently they had to stop and warm themselves up; else they would have frozen and died in the bitter cold.

The Icicle Inn was built at the peak of a long, snowy slope in the middle of the Snow Fields. The village began its life many years ago as a single inn, built for travelers who were heading further north for expeditions into the Great Glacier and the unknown mountains beyond. Over time travelers who gave up their trek settled down in the icy plain and built homes around the inn, turning it into a village.

Naruto and his friends were filled with relief as they entered the village. They spotted the inn almost immediately—nestled between a small house and a large house on the east side of the village. They all crowded inside, shaking off the snow that had pilled up on them all. Aeris caught sight of Naruto and she started giggling. Cloud, wondering what she was laughing about, looked at Naruto and also started laughing. Soon everyone was laughing themselves silly. Naruto, sick of everyone laughing at him, spotted a mirror and looked at himself. It only took a few seconds for him to notice. In his hair, the ends had frozen solid. But the most noticeable thing was two icicles growing out of his nostrils. He couldn't believe it. He never felt them. He turned around to look at everyone as they were all set off again.

"Well it's fucking cold! What did you expect! And you can't laugh Barret! I could ice skate on that head of yours," he yelled, pointing to Barret. Indeed he had a thick sheet of smooth ice on his head.

Afterwards they all huddled around the large fire near the entrance, absorbing its warmth. Unfortunately they could not afford to stay at the inn this day as Naruto's money had been used at the Golden Saucer. Still Yuffie glanced back at the fire a few seconds longer, a hopeful gaze in her eyes, before she finally dragged herself out the door and back into the cold.

The village's only exit lay to the north at the top of a slope leading into the northern mountains. A man stood guard at the top of the slope, walking briskly back and forth to keep warm. He looked up as Naruto and the gang approached, wondering what they were up to. When he saw them begin to walk past and head into the snow, he ran over and stopped them.

"No, don't!" he shouted, his voice muffled through the thick woolly scarf around his neck. "It's a steep downgrade, past here. It's dangerous, please don't go!"

Cloud stopped in his tracks and glared at the man. "I'm still going!" he snapped, the cold wind making his temper short.

"Cloud, be nice," said Naruto. He turned to the man. "I'm sorry. The cold has made my friend short-tempered,"

The man nodded. "It happens to the best of us," he said. He looked over Naruto's shoulder toward the village entrance. "What the? Who are those people over there? Looks like trouble!"

As the man spun and dived into the trees for safety, Naruto and the others turned to face the entrance as a number of figures approached the village. Shinra soldiers, clad in their blue and silver uniforms, marched through the snow toward the village. At the head of the company was Elena, her blue suit dark and damp with the snow. Her short blonde hair was clammy and strewn across her pale face and red cheeks.

Elena entered the village first. She sighed in relief as she saw the warm glow of fires coming from the houses. The look of relief turned to one of surprise as she saw the group standing in the middle of the village, watching her. Turning to face her soldiers, she shouted "There they are, hurry!" in her most commanding voice.

"Yes, ma'am!"

The soldiers stuck close to Elena as she ran toward Naruto. Naruto and the group made no attempt to run out of the way—there were only a small handful of soldiers after all, and although Elena was a member of the Turks, they did not see her as a major threat. When Elena finally stopped she put her hands on her wet knees and panted heavily, out of breath even after a short run.

"Man, you are really unfit," said Naruto.

"Naruto … huff… wheeze…" she breathed, her voice hoarse from the cold, "I won't let you go any further!"

Naruto sweat dropped. Not for the first time he wondered how Elena had managed to get into a group such as the Turks, for all the use she was. Brash, impulsive, foolish… she did not show any of the skills that Rude and Reno had. Did Elena even have any skills? Turning away from her, Naruto pointed toward the slope.

"What's down there?" he asked.

Elena pushed herself up and looked at Naruto with a haughty smile. "It's a SE-CR-ET," she said smugly. She truly reveled in the fact that she knew something that Naruto and his friends didn't. "Anyway, were going to get you this time!"

Realizing that Elena would not back down, Naruto sighed. "Oh, man…" he groaned. Elena crossed her arms and tapped her foot thoughtfully in the snow.

"Looks like talking alone won't cut it," she said. Nodding to herself as she made up her mind, she clenched the fists once more and raised them in a clumsy martial fighting stance. "You're going to have to feel some pain!"

One of the soldiers behind her stepped forward. "Just you… and me!"

"No," Elena interrupted, thrusting out one hand to block the soldier, "I can handle him!" She locked gazes with Naruto. "There's no way he can avoid my punch."

The soldier looked at her dubiously. "What? Yeah…" Though his face was invisible, Naruto got the impression that he was inwardly laughing at her. After sharing a mocking glance with his fellow soldiers he stepped back, giving Elena leeway to punch Naruto. Elena smirked and raised her fists.

Naruto watched as the young Turk prepared to strike. He could see which direction the woman was preparing to strike from. Her weight was heavily pressed on her right foot, which was behind her. Her right fist was slowly being pulled back, and a flicker from her eyes told him instantly that she was planning a frontal attack on his face.

Naruto waited until the moment when Elena shifted her weight onto her left foot before acting. Just as Elena's fist came swinging forward, Naruto reached up and caught her fist. Elena was shocked as Naruto looked straight into her eyes. He suddenly smiled and pushed her backwards. In her inexperience Elena could not stop herself as Naruto pushed her back. Her thinly soled boots slid on the snow and she jerked forward.

Elena waved her arms frantically, fighting to keep from falling over. She tried to reach for Cid, who was nearest to her, but he stepped aside. "Sorry!" he said with a smirk. She lost the fight for balance and tumbled over into the snow. Falling backwards, she was caught by the gradual decline of the hill and began to roll. She continued to roll over and over until finally she disappeared over the edge of the slope leading out of the village.

The soldiers, bewildered, continued to stare even after Elena had disappeared. "Ele… Elena!" one soldier finally cried, and the company charged right past Naruto and his group and vanished into the trees, chasing after their tumbling commander.

"Well, at least we know that we're going in the right direction," said Naruto happily. He was right. Though Elena had been guarded with her information, she had involuntarily let slip the fact that they were heading in the right direction. The Great Glacier… That was surely where Jenova and Shinra were headed.

First there were a few preparations to make. As the man guarding the slope had so rightly warned them: it was a steep decline into the mountains. With any luck Elena's soldiers would catch her before she fell too far. But down that slope was their only route. They had to get down somehow.

A young boy in the village found a way to solve this problem. The boy had recently bought a snowboard, but lost interest in the hobby after injuring his knee riding down one of the small slopes in the village. He was thankful to get rid of the board, along with his fretful mother, who threw in the goggles as an extra thank you.

The others found their own solutions to the traveling dilemma. Barret, after promptly refusing to ride a snowboard of any kind, settled with a middle-sized sledge he found propped against the weapon shop. The girl inside the store told him it belonged to her grandfather, who was too old to sledge now, and as she had no interest in sledging she gave it too him. It was a little too small for his bulky frame, but after some maneuvering he managed to get into a sitting position.

Cid and Vincent, after some searching, found some more snowboards that were willing to be given away. Tifa and Vincent claimed those. Yuffie bought a pair of skis from the large house on the east side, as well as producing a map of the Great Glacier. Deciding that she would do better on skis, she swapped the board for Yuffie's skis. Cid found another sledge, which he shared with Cait Sith after a debate over whether the stuffed Mog body should be left behind.

The debate was settled after Barret called the Mog 'useless baggage', which provoked Cait to hurl his megaphone in Barret's direction and then force himself on Cid's sledge. Nanaki, reluctant to ride on any contraption, eventually settled himself awkwardly on Barret's sledge, his back paws dug into the wood and his front clinging to Barret's back. The hound refused to slacken his grip even as Barret yelled in pain. Naruto and Gaara used their hover boards.

When everything had been obtained the group gathered at the top of the slope. The man who had been guarding the slope had returned from his hiding place among the trees and was watching them prepare for their departure with a sheepish expression on his face. Once he offered to help them prepare, but was politely turned down.

Cloud bent over and checked the straps that were fastened around his front foot. The straps, designed to fit larger snow boots, left quite a gap under his smaller ones. It took some amount of readjusting to get the straps to fit over them, and even then Cloud felt they were a little slack. He couldn't remember the last time he'd snowboarded. Probably back in Nibelheim, when he was a child, when winter's snow fell over the hills around the town.

Naruto looked around at his friends. Nanaki still clung to Barret's back, his sharp claws digging into the big man's skin and lightly tearing at his shirt. Cid was trying to ignore Cait and Yuffie's excited babble. Vincent was silent, as usual.

"Are we ready?" he said loudly.

Everyone nodded slowly. There were flagged checkpoints marking the path down, but they would not matter once they started moving. Naruto took out his phone and selected the song "The Chase of Highway by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children OST" The fast mix of rock and choir blasted out of the small phone speaker. "Be careful!" the man behind them called, just as they pushed themselves away from the edge.

Before him the slope was a sea of white. The sky, the ground, everything was white to his vision. He could only just discern the ground from the sky, and could only just see the brightly coloured flags that guided his path. Bright bullets of red, blue, yellow and green zipped on either side of his vision, barely visible. Naruto whopped in excitement.

The first turn appeared before Cloud knew it was coming. He suddenly saw the blue and red blurs turn sharply to the right, and Cloud only just shifted his weight to the right in time. The board delved into the snow as it turned steadily, only just missing the rocky grey-white wall of a cliff. Naruto, however, just used his hover board to skim across the cliff horizontally and overtake Cloud.

"Eat my snow dust!" Naruto called over to Cloud.

A blur of colour zipped past him, and Naruto saw Yuffie's blurred form suddenly glide past him. The young ninja was having the time of her life, gliding down the slope with ease and leaning forward to gain extra speed. She cried out in joy as she passed Naruto, cheering how she was in the lead. "Yahoo!" Yuffie shouted as she sailed forward. "This race is mine!"

"Oh yeah? I haven't given up yet!" cried out Naruto as he pushed his weight forward for more speed. Yuffie leaned forward some more, and her skis sped up. She knew this was not a race, but she was so caught up in the thrill of snowboarding that she forgot what they were supposed to be doing. She moved almost expertly down the hill, tilting her body against the rushing wind and feeling it scrape across her skin as she took turn after turn in her stride.

"Wait up!" called Naruto. The ninja could no longer hear him, however, and she disappeared beyond one of the Y-turns. Naruto tried to tilt his board toward the left turn. He turned too late and had to swerve back to the right to avoid hitting the cliff face. He sailed down the right path, separated from Yuffie.

Behind him the others were having similar problems. The sudden Y-turn caught them off guard, and each turned different ways to avoid the collision. Barret and Nanaki swerved to the right, along with Cid and Cait. Tifa, Cloud and Gaara turned to the right to keep Naruto in sight. Vincent followed them, making his mind and turning right at the last second.

Naruto risked a glance backward to the slope behind him. Through the hurtling snow he saw Tifa, Cloud, Gaara and Vincent behind him. He could not see the others, which meant they had turned left instead of right. Naruto focused his attention back on the path in front of him.

The slope was leveling out. The path opened up into an open plain filled with sudden rising slopes designed for jumping. Naruto shot off one of the jumps and bent his knees so that the back tip of the board touched his own back. "Backscratcher!" he called out as he landed. The four behind him just shook their heads at his antics.

Tifa, close behind Cloud, was finally getting used to the feel of skiing. On the slender skis she had first fought to stay upright, especially at the first turn where she tilted too far and almost fell over into the snow. Now she had gained most of her momentum she tucked the handles under her arms and was gliding forward with ease, her knees slightly bent and head forward to face the wind.

She was feeling so courageous now that she decided to try one of the jumps. Swerving to the left, she headed up one of the middle-sized slopes. When she leapt off the edge, she kept her feet together and kept the skis at a secure angle, arms fixed by her sides as she glided through the air. When she landed, she landed with ease, her skis landing almost smoothly back into the snow.

Elsewhere on the mountain slope, Yuffie was continuing to have the time of her life. She had left the snowy slope now and was boarding rapidly through a tunnel made entirely of ice. She cheered loudly as she sailed across the icy floor, her voice echoing off the rugged ice walls.

Somewhere behind her, the parties on the sledges were having a difficult time directing themselves through the mountain slope. More than once they grazed the cliff walls, and more than once Nanaki howled in fright and clung to Barret's back, making him almost lost his grip on the sledge. Cid and Cait eventually took the lead, with Cait shouting back directions through his megaphone.

At the foot of the slope, the path became thin and sloped suddenly upward, heading up into the air above a long drop. It was one of many drops, each ending in different places across the mountainside. Naruto spotted the jump at the last second, and braced himself for the jump.

The board reached the edge and sloped upwards, sliding off the edge and sending Naruto up into the air. Gaara was right behind him. Naruto looked down and was startled to see the height of the drop beneath him. Directly beneath him was a large clump of trees, surrounded by snow.

"OHHHHH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Naruto hit the top of the trees first, his board skimming across the tip of the canopy. He sailed past the tree and dipped beneath the leaves, landing on the ground with a thump. The force of the landing caused him to finally lose his balance and he toppled backward. Turning onto his side, Naruto skidded and rolled across the snow. He could not see anything as he rolled over and over apart from flashes of white and brown, which meant nothing to him. He was eventually stopped when he slammed into the side of a cliff, forcing the air from his body.

For a few minutes Naruto did not move, lying half-buried in a drift of snow piled up against the cliff. Naruto rolled onto his back. His body ached all over from the landing, though thankfully the cold numbed his body enough that he did not feel the pain much. The hover board lay at his feet. Naruto looked up at the sky in silence, breathing deeply.

When he caught his breath Naruto slowly sat up, groaning as his body ached. The cold hadn't numbed him totally. Near to where he landed, Tifa, Cloud, Gaara and Vincent were also climbing to their feet, covered in snow but appearing otherwise unharmed.

"Owww…" Naruto complained. He staggered away from the cliff wall, brushing the snow from his arms and clothes. "Everyone all right?"

"Yeah, somehow," Tifa replied. Her skis lay in a shattered heap by one of the trees, Tifa having unclipped them seconds before she crashed into the trees.

"So where did we land?" Naruto asked, looking around at their surroundings. They appeared to be at the edge of a small forest. There was no path as such, other than one made from natural grooves in the ground where the falling snow dipped slightly. Naruto could see more patches of snow beyond the forest. Looking above, he could not see the slop they had jumped from. "Looks like we've jumped pretty far…" he surmised, shielding his eyes from the glaring sun.

"Oh yeah, we got the map right?" asked Tifa. "Let's look at the map."

Naruto nodded and pulled out the map, which he had liberated from Yuffie's possession before setting off, an act for which he was thankful for now. When he pulled it out he rubbed his arms vigorously. The air was colder down here.

"Fuck! Its so friggin cold," he said. "We'll be meat popsicles if we stay here any longer."

The others nodded. Even in Cid's jacket, Tifa could feel the cold nibbling at her skin. Vincent's face was impassive, though even he must be feeling the awful cold. Cloud was shivering and Gaara, well…. Naruto opened up the map and looked down before beginning to lead the way through the forest and, hopefully, to somewhere warmer than where they were now.

The three did not get very far before the cold became too much for them. Soon after they left the sheltered forest and stepped out into the windy open plains of ice and snow the temperature decreased rapidly.

Tifa was the first one to fall victim to the cutting cold. They were halfway across the first icy plain when she suddenly collapsed, falling onto the hard ice floor. Cloud tried hard to rouse her, shaking her and rubbing her face and legs to warm them up. But Tifa would not wake. Eventually Vincent wrapped his cloak around her for extra warmth and lifted her up, carrying her across his back through the snow.

Naruto was the next to fall. They had just crossed a large pool of heated water when a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea overcame him. His vision faltered and he staggered with each step. The next thing he knew the ground was rushing up toward him and he could see Vincent's feet running toward him.

Then his vision went black.

Naruto finally awoke to the invigorating scent of hot coffee and ginger biscuits. A bright ray of light streamed in through a small window, landing right in his eyes. Grimacing, he raised a hand to shield his eyes. When he finally gathered his senses, he realised that he was not in the Snow Fields anymore. It was not a patch of cold, hard ice he was lying on, but rather a thin sheet of cloth sprawled out on a wooden floor. Thrown across him was a heavy blanket of wolf's fur. The underside of the blanket made his arms itch, but its weight and furry texture had done the task in warming his frozen body up. But how did he get here? And where were the others?

"You awake?"

Naruto looked up as a middle-aged man entered the room via a set of stairs close to where he had been sleeping. The man had been looking at Gaea's Cliff through a frosty window when he heard Naruto awaken. In the man's hands were a mug of hot coffee and the spicy ginger biscuits Naruto had smelled upon waking.

The man reached the bottom of the stairs and walked over to Naruto, looking the young man over as though to check he was fully warmed through. "You collapsed at the Great Glacier," he explained briefly. "It's a miracle you're all right. My name is Holzoff. I've been living here 20 years now. If you are planning to head North, you'd better listen to my story." Taking a sip of his coffee, he gestured to a door behind Naruto. "Why don't we go into the next room and sit down?"

Before Naruto could stop him, Holzoff walked past Naruto and went through the open door. Naruto stared after him in bewilderment. He'd never even had a chance to ask about the others. Suddenly he heard Cait's voice, loud and piercing, from the next room, followed by Barret's hearty laugh. Naruto sighed in relief. They were all okay.

"You ever hear about those who challenged the cliff?" Holzoff asked once everyone had settled in the living room. Mugs of coffee and ginger biscuits had been handed out to everyone who could have them. Now they were all in front of Holzoff, waiting to hear his tale.

Naruto shook his head. "No, I haven't,"

"There's an old legend that something fell from the sky here a long time ago," began Holzoff. "That's what's supposed to have pushed the land up and formed this cliff. 30 years ago, Yamski and I took this cliff on to see what was on the other side. But we weren't prepared for it. We did expect the temperature to be low, but… On that cliff, there's always a biting cold wind. The cold air lowers your body temperature.

"Yamski was below me. He cut his own rope… …And I didn't even notice…" Holzoff paused for a moment in remembrance of his friend, and took a sip of his coffee. The group waited until he could continue. "Ever since then, I've settled here… continuing to challenge this cliff, and provide warning and shelter to my fellow climbers."

Now Holzoff looked around at the group of eight before him, a very serious look in his slowly aging eyes. "If you're going to climb the cliff," he told them sternly, "there's two precautions you'll need to take. First, check your route… It's hard to find because of all the snow. Second, once you get to a ledge, make sure you warm yourselves up. Understand?" He fixed his gaze on Naruto.

"Yes," said Naruto. He'd had a taste of the cold air of the Great Glacier. Up Gaea's Cliff it was going to get colder. They needed to be as prepared as they could get. After gulping down the rest of his coffee and checking that he had everything, he nodded to the others. His friends finished their drinks and stood, preparing to leave.

Holzoff watched them get ready. "You must've used up a lot of energy getting up here…" he observed. "Better get some rest before you head out." There was an almost wistful look in his eyes, remembering the strength he had had in his youth.

"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" asked Kyuubi, her voice laced with worry.

'Yeah, I think so. I wonder why I wasn't worse off though.'

"It's because you are a hanyo. You are more resistant to the elements. The reason you passed out was a mix of the cold and stress,"

'I'm stressed?' Naruto wondered.

"Yeah. You shoulder much responsibility and it's been getting to you. Find some time to take it easy."

'Thanks Kyuu-chan. I'll try.'

The companions said their thanks to Holzoff, who in turn apologized that he was not able to lend them any of his old equipment. His ropes were frayed now, he said, and his cloaks were tattered and useless against the cold wind. Besides, he had added with a chuckle, he only had enough for one person, not eleven. The companions had laughed with him before leaving the man's house and stepping back into the snow.

The wind had not died down since they were last in the snow. In fact it had increased into an even bitterer chill. The warmth of Holzoff's fire and coffee fled them in an instant and they began to shiver once more. The eleven friends huddled together in the wind, their gazes turned to the mountain before him.

Gaea's Cliff loomed before them. The tallest mountain on the planet, very few had managed to climb it all the way to the top. Those who did rarely returned, and those who did had often gone mad with the cold. Holzoff was wise in the way he warned them—the wind was bitter even here. Tifa hugged her chest and hopped from foot to foot, trying to keep only one not bothered (much) by the cold was Cait Sith, though some instinctive reaction made him want to shiver too, and strangely enough, Aeris, who was probably using her more adept magic skills to generate heat as well as help circulate the heat.

"You know, I've been thinkin'…" said Barret suddenly.

Cloud gave him a sideward glance. "What is it?"

Barret jumped slightly. "…Seein' a place like this, makes you realize how awesome nature is," he said. "But, if anyone told me to live here, I'd tell them to… you know…" He scratched his head. "I tell you one thing, though," he continued, "if I did have to live here, I'd change things round 'n' make it better. I guess the total opposite of this would be… Midgar. When you think of it that way, Shinra don't seem so bad…" Barret stared for a moment before throwing his hands into the air and waving them madly. "Uuuuuurrrrrgh! What the hell am I sayin'! The Shinra, not bad!"

Yuffie giggled. Naruto smiled and said, "Barret, were I come from there are worse people. People that make Shinra look like charity workers," Barret looked at Naruto as if to ask if he was serious. The look in his eye told him all he needed to know. He shivered again, but not from the cold.

Naruto signaled to Cid and Vincent, and the three of them stepped forward from the rest of the group. "We'll secure the route," said Naruto to the others. "Gaara, you guide the others, ok?" he asked the red head. He nodded saying, "Leave it to me. Good luck Naruto,"

Cid turned away and looked up at the mountain. The peak of Gaea's Cliff was clearly visible beneath the afternoon sky. All the way from the bottom, it looked like a long way up. Which it was. "Damn!" Cid breathed, absently scratching the strap of his goggles. "If I could just get back in the air, this cliff would be nothing!"

Naruto wished he did have enough strength to create a cloud big enough for everyone to stand on but sadly he would have to do this the hard way. He was broken from his thoughts when a small, furry hand patted his arm. He turned to find Cait behind him. The cat was playing with the end of his red cloak. He was also looking around nervously, as though he was afraid of being watched.

"This is secret info, but…" the cat said. "Rufus's going to arrive here, too."

Naruto smiled warmly at the cat. "Thank you. I knew I made the right choice in believing in you." Cait smiled happily at him. Naruto looked to Cid and Vincent, who were a waiting a little ways up the path that led to the base of Gaea's Cliff. Turning back briefly, he waved to the others before running to catch up with them.

"Goddamn, it's cold!" Cid complained. "I'd give anythin' for another mug of that guy's coffee. Or Shera's, for that matter. Even if it is as weak as water." He rubbed his bare arms vigorously. "I wouldn't give my Tiny Bronco, though," he added as an afterthought. "I wouldn't give my baby for anything." He looked up the cliff. "Y'all still owe me a new plane, ya hear me?" The air pilot stood on the ledge eight feet below Naruto and Vincent, stopping just for a minute to warm himself up before continuing the climb. He seriously missed his jacket and gloves now.

"You're bringing that up now?" said Naruto who was wishing there was a door around so he could access Kyuubi's clothes room for something warmer. For even though he was a hanyo now, he came from a place where it rarely got below 20 degrees Celsius. And that was only on rainy days. He then wished that he had thought of this earlier when he was at Holzoff's cabin.

Speaking of Holzoff, the guy had not been joking when he said the wind blowing around the cliff was a biting one. The three had been surprised by the iciness of it and had to keep moving to prevent them from freezing to the spot.

Trying to ignore the biting wind, Naruto looked over the side of the cliff again. They had travelled pretty far up the cliff, already the trees at the bottom were beginning to look small. He could see Gaara and the others, too, gathered at the bottom of the cliff and looking up at them.

"I'm just sayin'," said Cid. He jumped slightly from foot to foot to restore the circulation to his legs. "Once this is all over and done with… When we've defeated Sephiroth or Jenova or whatever and sent his sorry ass back into hell or the Lifestream or wherever the hell it's from… you guys all owe me a new plane. And not a cheap one, mind you!"

"Yeah, yeah…" mumbled the blonde.

When Cid could feel his toes again he stepped up to the cliff and grabbed the rocky wall. The snow-covered rock was as cold as ice, and inwardly Cid half betted that it was ice in disguise. He pressed his boot against the edge of the rock and pushed himself up, beginning to climb up toward the next ledge.

"I want a real nice one," Cid continued as he ascended the wall. "A big one too, with an engine big enough to hold an army, if need be. And by the wheel, my own fridge to hold my beer. There's nothin' beats a cold, frosty one on a hot—"

He stopped suddenly as he heard a loud click coming from above him. Looking up, he saw Vincent standing at the edge of the ledge, his short-barrelled gun pointing straight down to where he was climbing. One of the gunman's red eyes was closed as he took a careful aim.

"Hey, hey!" Cid protested. He almost lost his grip in his panic. "Watch where you're pointin' that thing, Vince! I was just saying!"

Vincent said nothing. He just looked down the sight of his gun, where he could see Cid and a small outcrop of rock behind him. He waited until the last possible moment before he pulled the trigger.

Cid flinched.

The bullet never hit him. Instead a piercing, pained screech came from behind him. Cid snapped his head round in time to see the grotesque, gaudy form of a monster slip from the wall and tumble from the ledge. The bullet landed in its circular, razor-tipped mouth, going straight through until it came out of its scaly back. The monster flailed its four spindly legs as it fell, before crashing on the ledge below. It twitched once, and then stopped moving.

The monster defeated, Vincent spun the Shortbarrel in his hand before flipping it back into its holster. With a flick of his cloak he turned away and began to ascend the cliff to the next level. Naruto breathed out silently and turned back to the ledge. Leaning over, he offered his hand to Cid, who was almost shaking with fright.

"I thought he was gonna kill me!" the pilot said shakily. He reached up and grasped onto Naruto's outstretched hand. Naruto tightened his grip and pulled, digging his heels into the rock. He pulled as Cid pushed himself up, until finally the pilot was able to climb onto the ledge.

A smile spread on Naruto's face. "He wouldn't do that to a friend, but maybe you should keep your complaining to yourself," he said. Cid scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, while Naruto turned back to the cliff and began to climb after Vincent. After a moment or two Cid began to follow them, climbing quicker so as not to fall behind again.

After a while of climbing the three came across a dark entrance leading into the mountain. They marked the entrance with a small red flag they borrowed from Holzoff before leaving—to let Barret and the others know when they caught up that they had entered the mountain. They had few of these flags and had to use them sparingly. Yuffie's advanced tracking skills would allow them to follow easily enough. The inside of Gaea's Cliff was made entirely of ice, so Naruto summoned his sword and using Kyuubi's flames, melted markers into the ice.

There were several twists and turns inside the mountain, and more than once the three nearly ended up lost. The caverns and paths looked identical after a while of searching, and though the ice was almost opaque, it had a mirror-like quality that reflected the openings of tunnels and doorways. The floor was also incredibly slippery in parts, which meant they had to walk carefully else they would slip on the sloping paths and break their necks. Well Cid and Vincent had this problem. Naruto however just used his chakra to hold him to the ice.

After navigating their way through the catacomb of icy tunnels they ended up outside again, faced with another long climb. In the shelter of the mountain they had almost forgotten about the cold wind, which hit them hard as they stepped out into the open air. Pretty soon they were chilled to the bone again, and had to pause for several minutes rubbing themselves over to warm up before attempting the climb. They also noticed that it was beginning to get dark quite fast, losing track of time during their treks in the snow.

This climb was longer than the last one, with the gaps between ledges steadily increasing. The were no more of those beasts, much to Cid's relief, though he swore that once he saw a Blue Dragon flying around the west side of the mountain. Naruto and Vincent said nothing and continued to climb, focusing more on reaching the ledge and warming up than dealing with a possible dragon.

The next doorway lay just ahead, at the top of a steady climb. Naruto figured this was the highest anyone attempting to climb the cliff had ever gotten, since he could not see any coloured flags marking the path after this point. There was another doorway a little further up, but the wall was too steep and there were too few hand and footholds to climb with. He reached the ledge first and spent the next few minutes as he waited for Cid and Vincent rubbing his arms. He wondered how the others were doing. Had they started their ascent?

Naruto and his friends were disappointed as they entered the mountain and stepped into the cavern. There was only one cavern with only two exits, both of which led back out into the cold. The exit to the right led straight into the cold and wound its way upward. The left exit was inaccessible, blocked by a large pool of icy water. A number of holes filled with water were scattered throughout the cavern.

"Well, looks like it's back into the cold," said Cid, crossing his arms. He nodded his head toward the right-hand exit. "Where d'you suppose that there door leads?"

Naruto walked across the icy cavern and peered out of the door. The wind seemed harsher here, and flakes of snow stung his face as he looked out. He saw the path cut into the side of the mountain, saw it flow to the outer wall before turning abruptly upward and heading back toward the mountain. He stepped back into the cavern and looked up at the ceiling. There was an upper ledge near the ceiling, with a small doorway, and a lower ledge crossing the length of the cavern to another exit behind them. Four giant icicles hung above them.

"There, I think," said Naruto, pointing to the doorway above them. "The left path leads to the door we saw outside." Naruto flashed through a few seals and called out, "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" He shot several fireballs at the huge icicles. They collided and breaking it free of its hold on the ceiling and sending it crashing down toward the ground. The first icicle landed in one of the open holes, sending the water beneath its surface crashing and spiraling. Its force partially emptied the pool blocking the left-hand door, revealing a small icy pillar. The rest followed suite. Soon all four of the giant icicles had been broken down from the ceiling and now lay still in the holes built into the ground. The water in the pool had been drained away, and four tall pillars of ice now led the way to the door. A few bats lay dead on the cavern floor, after flying down to feed when the icicles fell away. The three jumped across the ice pillars and left the cavern through the exit.

As Naruto had thought, the path outside led back into the cavern from above, and that in turn led back outside the mountain through the other open doorway. When they stepped outside the three stopped to peer briefly down the side of the mountain to see if they could spot Tifa or the others climbing the mountain. They did not stare too long—it was a long way down to the bottom now.

Once more they began to climb the mountain wall. The wind was still blowing, though if it had gotten any colder since they were last outside they could not tell, for their bodies were too chilled to notice anymore. Even Cid was too cold to complain about his plane anymore.

Just when they were about to collapse from exhaustion, they reached the final ledge before yet another open door. As they stopped to warm their bodies, they looked up. The mountain peak was very close now—it was no more than thirty, maybe forty feet above them. Naruto leaned against the wall, his breath coming in short, white gasps.

"We're almost there," he breathed. His voice sounded quiet and dull in the frosty air. Though he did not say it, he could feel the air around them beginning to thin out the higher they climbed. He had to take deeper breaths to replenish the oxygen he lost in normal breaths. Cid and Vincent could feel it too, he guessed, for they were breathing more deeply than normal.

They headed into the mountain again. They were in a smaller cavern this time. It was a slender cavern that seemed to stretch across the entire width of the mountain. There was only one exit to the east of the cavern. A large number of icy blue crystals grew like trees along the walls, gathering around a small pool of glowing mako in the middle of the path.

Naruto knelt beside the pool and gently dipped his hand in. The mako was pure and untainted, flowing freely within the mountain itself. Its surface barely even rippled when Naruto touched it, it was that pure and thick. The mako was warm to the touch and made his fingers tingle. He lifted his hand from the liquid and wiped it on his shirt. It was best to leave this pure pool of mako alone.

The three headed on through the door and entered a long tunnel. The moment they passed through the doorway a pain-filled cry echoed throughout the tunnel, making them stop in their tracks. Instinctively they drew their weapons.

Seconds later another anguished cry filled the tunnel and a dark figure suddenly spiralled through the air, appearing from the exit on the other side of the tunnel. Naruto recognised him instantly as one of the Black-Caped men they had seen in Nibelheim and the Temple of the Ancients. The man crashed to the floor with a sickening crunch, and slid to a stop in the middle of the tunnel.

"Ugh… Errgaahh!" the man moaned loudly.

He tried to stand, but by the time Naruto and his companions ran forward he had fallen again. They did not need to check to see if he was dead. Before their eyes, the cloak surrounding the man began to fall, as though the body inside it was slowly disappearing. Within seconds there was nothing left but an empty cloak, and then that too vanished into nothing.

As the last remnants of the cloak disappeared, the tunnel suddenly shook violently. Naruto, Cid, and Vincent gripped their weapons in their hands and faced the doorway, waiting to see what creature had slain the black-caped man.

A head peered into the tunnel. One head, and then another. Two heads, one with red scales and curled horns, the other with white armour across its head and muzzle, both joined by long necks to the same body. The shadow of a large body blocked the entrance to the tunnel. Two short, thin arms reached in and gripped the wall as the heads loomed in, both hissing and screeching as they caught the scent of prey. As it eyes fell on the three in the tunnel the heads roared loudly.

At a sign from Naruto, Vincent whipped out his gun and quickly aimed four shots at the creature's twin heads. He fired in quick succession. He moved too fast for the creature's heads to react, and they recoiled in pain as the bullets were shot directly into its eyes. The two heads began to snake out of the tunnel.

"Now!" shouted Naruto, raising his sword and charging forward toward the monster.

Cid, taking Naruto's lead, hefted his spear onto his shoulder and ran forward to join Naruto in his assault. The monster, blinded by blood and bullets, could not see the attack coming. In a desperate attempt to defend itself it jabbed its two heads forward, snapping its jaws hungrily.

Naruto and Cid dodged the biting jaws and skidded to a halt in between the monster's long necks. Together the two thrust their weapons forward, stabbing spear and sword into the thick, rubbery flesh.

The monsters roared loudly as blood spurted from the wounds, struggling to move and free their necks. Naruto pulled his sword out of the right side head and quickly brought the sword down, attempting to severe the head from its body. The sword sliced almost cleanly through the monster's head and it fell to the floor, writhing and slithering.

Instantly Naruto turned and brought his sword down on the other head. The monster was already pulling back after feeling the pain from its other dying head. When Naruto brought his sword down it struck the hard metal from its white armour, making a huge dent before cutting through into its skull. The monster died almost instantly, choking out a gurgle before finally dying.

The body of the Schizo, devoid of life, began to tumble back away from the tunnel entrance. Its clawed hands lost their grip and fell from the tunnel as its large bulk fell backward over the ledge. The last the three saw of the monster was its body as it fell from the mountain, crashing into the wall and rolling down the rocky slope toward the ground far away.

The three stood at the edge of the tunnel, looking down as the monster disappeared from view. When the monster was gone they lowered their weapons and began to head out of the tunnel and back into the cold. They were just about to step out of the tunnel when a familiar voice called out to them from somewhere behind them.

"Hey!"

The three turned to see Yuffie, Gaara and the others walking towards them. "Glad you could make it. Though you're a little late if you wanted a bit of action to warm yourselves up," said Naruto.

They were very near the top of Gaea's Cliff now. The peak was just ahead of them, no more than twenty feet above. The eleven friends, now finally gathered, were close to their destination.

They began to climb. Naruto led the way, using whatever footholds and handholds he could see, since there were no flags to mark his way. After about ten feet the mountain wall turned inward and began to level off, sloping just enough that they could walk on it.

Naturally, Naruto was the first to reach the top of the mountain. He climbed onto the ridge and ran forward to reach the mountain peak. When he reached the top and looked over the edge he stopped, his jaw falling open in awe. Moments later the others ran up beside him and they also stopped, their own mouths falling open. Naruto opened his mouth to voice what everyone was thinking at that time.

"Holy shit…"