Chapter 5: Ultimate Company

Naruto sighed as he, Kyuubi, Barret, Cid and Nanaki stood in the shed with the old man's son. Gaara and Vincent had come down from the Highwind and Slipstream was also present.

The man shook Naruto's hand vigorously. "Thank you! Thank you so much! Because of your bravery and help, we are still alive," he said, his face positively beaming at everyone.

Naruto scratched the back of his head while smiling, embarrassed at all the thanks he was getting. Kyuubi had her arm around his waist, holding him close and smiling happily. Barret and Cid were also smiling, both content with the entire Shinra ass whooping they dealt out in the past 3 hours. Gaara, Vincent and Nanaki were all smiling softly, thankful that the battle was over. And Slipstream was smiling softly at Naruto, glad that his Taishou was smart as well as strong.

"I doubt the Shinra will attack now," said the man before a loud crack resonated through the shed, making everyone instantly alert for trouble. The whole gang ran outside only to gasp in shock and awe at what was happening.

The massive bird perched on top of the reactor was staring intently at the large egg next to it. Looking closer, Naruto saw that the egg was hatching. Suddenly there was a bright light and a massive sphere of energy engulfed the reactor. A torrent of flames erupted from the egg and expanded inside the sphere. Soon the whole sphere was alight with fire. Then from the centre, a shadow appeared. It arrived inside the sphere in a swirl of dark golden fire. The shadow expanded until the shape could be determined. It was a bird of some kind. Large wings spread out before the sphere disappeared, releasing the flames inside. They rushed toward the group and Naruto brought his hands up to shield himself, but felt surprised when an amazing warmth washed over him. Then it disappeared as quickly as it came. Naruto looked up in time to see the condor screech loudly and tumble backwards, falling down the mountain with a loud crash. Then the egg cracked open with a small light sparkling inside.

Naruto, Kyuubi, Gaara, Nanaki, Vincent and Slipstream all jumped up the side of the reactor to see what had come out. The light was coming from a piece of materia. And from the egg was a baby condor. It was preening its feathers at the moment, not bothered by the small group of people. Naruto walked up to the materia and realised that it was a summon. Looking closer, the shape inside looked like the shadow of that bird from the flames.

"Kyuubi," Naruto turned to his girlfriend. "You recognise this summon?"

She walked over and slid her arm around him as she looked over his shoulder. "That's a Phoenix summon. The phoenix's use Sacred Flames to attack. The fire can also revive people who have been dead for less than a minute," she answered.

"I see," Naruto said before realising that he had no more space in his sword for more materia. He went through the list of people in his head before deciding who to give it to. "I'll give this to Aeris," he said before slipping the materia into one of his pockets.

A sudden wind picked up and everyone turned to the baby condor. It had started to flap its wings, trying to fly. After a few tries the giant chick hovered in the air before swooping over their heads and flying away.

They stayed on the top of the reactor for a few moments before Naruto turned to Slipstream. "Thank you for your help Slipstream," he thanked. Slipstream bowed towards Naruto. "The pleasure was ours, Taishou," he said before vanishing in a puff of smoke back to the summoning realm.

*********

"Everyone, thanks. I really mean it. Thanks," said the old man. Everyone was clustered around him including Yuffie and Cait Sith. The small cat was sitting on top of Yuffie's head when she had come down from the Highwind. Naruto scrunched up his eyes, trying to remember where he'd seen something like this when it hit him. The cat was sitting just like Akamaru sat on Kiba's head. Idly, Naruto wondered how everyone was going back home.

The old man slid the case with the Condor Huge Materia inside across the table. "I believe this is now yours. I wish we could give you more, but-" he was cut off by Naruto.

"No need for anything more than this old man. We were happy to help," he said with the group nodding collectively.

The old man smiled widely. "You'll always be welcome here anytime."

Naruto smiled before turning to his comrades. "So what now? We've got the two pieces of Huge Materia," he asked.

"There's one at the Junon reactor. The reactor itself is underwater," said Cait Sith.

"Well that's definitely a future destination but I think we should go see how Cloud's doing."

Everyone nodded, agreeing that checking up on Cloud, Tifa and Aeris was a good idea.

*********

Nothing had changed about Mideel. Though Naruto expected this, he thought at least some small thing would change. Naruto turned to the side to see Yuffie walking next to him. The cat was still curled up on her head.

"So Yuffie, thought of a name for this little guy?" he asked as he reached up to scratch the cat behind the ears. The cat purred, enjoying the treatment.

"Oh! I'm so jealous!" whined Kyuubi inside his head.

"Um... I'm not sure what her name'll be," Yuffie answered.

"Her?" asked Naruto, trying to concentrate on what Yuffie was saying since Kyuubi was asking in the cutest voice imaginable if she could have an ear scratch. And the voice was really distracting.

"Yeah, it's a girl."

"I see," mussed Naruto before he got an idea.

'Hey Nibi? You there?' Naruto asked by projected his thoughts.

'Yeah! What's up?'

'Any thoughts on what a good name for a girl cat would be?'

'Hmm... how bout Jess?'

Naruto relayed the suggestion to Yuffie.

"Oh yeah! That sounds like a great name!" She reached up and brought the cat around so she was looking at it. "You hear that? From now on your name is Jess!"

The cat rubbed her head against Yuffie's cheek in agreement. Yuffie smiled widely before placing her back on top of her head.

By this time Naruto and the troupe had reached the clinic. There they were greeted with an unusual sight. The doc and his nurse were outside, peeking through the window.

"You alright there doc?" asked Naruto. The doctor looked from whatever he was looking at inside to Naruto and smiled wearily.

"Well about half a day after you left, your two female companions started bickering about who was better for your sick friend. They threw us out when we tried to calm them down. They've stopped but only because they now have sore throats but every time we try to come back inside, those two would glare at us."

The nurse nodded with her sempai. "That's right and those glares that they give us. *shudder* I'd rather look into the eyes of the Midgar Zolom."

Naruto sweat dropped heavily at this statement before smiling amused, and turned to the group. "Well let's go see..."

Everyone had backed away from Naruto.

"...them?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"...you're all a bunch of pussies." And with that he walked through the door.

'Heh, it can't be as bad as having a staring contest with Iruka-sensei while his demon head jutsu is activated,' thought Naruto as he walked from the first room into the second. He was then bombarded with extreme killer intent. He looked for the source and locked eyes with two very pissed women.

"Ah... hi ladies?"

*********

"So, let me get this straight. You both love Cloud and have been arguing almost since we left?" Naruto asked once they had calmed down.

Both women nodded.

"Well have you thought about what Cloud might want?"

"Of course. We're just waiting to ask him after he wakes up," said Aeris.

"I have a suggestion. How about you refrain from asking him until this whole ordeal is over. The last thing he needs now is the monumental decision of choosing between you two. He doesn't need that dilemma running through his head in a critical situation."

"I never thought about it that way," said Tifa before she turned to Aeris. "I think we should make a truce until this war is over. Then we'll ask Cloud and whatever he decides we'll abide with it. Deal?" she asked as she held out her hand. Aeris nodded. "That's just what I was thinking. Deal!" and she shook her hand.

"Great! Now that that's dealt with…" Naruto began, only to look around wildly as the whole place began to shake violently. "What the fuck is going on!" he yelled.

At that moment the doc and his nurse assistant ran back inside. "There are several jets of green energy shooting out of the ground and there's a huge monster flying above us!" yelled the doctor.

"Help us please!" screamed the nurse hysterically.

Naruto turned to the girls. "Aeris, get Cloud to a safe distance! Tifa, you're with me!" The two nodded. Tifa ran out with Naruto, the doc and the nurse while Aeris busied herself with preparing Cloud. As soon as Naruto and Tifa had left there was another violent shudder through the ground. One of the shelves began to topple over. Aeris was so busy with Cloud that she didn't see the shelf fall onto her head. Aeris cried out before blackness overtook her vision.

*********

Naruto turned his eyes to see humongous geysers of Lifestream energy shooting hundreds of meters into the air. There were at least eight of them. The liquid energy washed over the ground, creating new growth everywhere it touched. However in some places the ground was breaking apart and was beginning to collapse. Hovering high above the town was one of the weapons that looked like a huge dragon.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!!" Naruto roared over the noise and instantly 50 clones were standing in front of him.

"Ok, everyone start evacuating the townspeople into the Highwind!" he yelled. "HAI!" said all the clones and they then scattered to collect everyone.

Naruto then turned to Cid. "When everyone is on the airship, move everyone to the east until you think you're far enough, unload then come back for any stragglers!"

"You got it!" he said before running back to the Highwind to prep the engines.

Naruto then turned his gaze back to Weapon. The monster was definitely huge. Easily the size of the airship. "Looks like I'm going to use the same attack strategy I used against Shukaku until I summoned Gamabunta." Naruto then flipped through the same seals again and bellowed out, "TAJU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!!" A large puff of white smoke later and there was an army of 100 clones. Watching from afar was the rest of the gang, looking totally gobsmacked at the sight. Even Garra who had witnessed firsthand the damage Naruto's clones could do.

"Ok guys! Let's kick some ass!" yelled Naruto.

"OOHRA!!!" chorused the clones back. They then connected themselves to each other and formed a giant whip. The real Naruto then created another clone that was physically stronger than the others and ordered that clone to start the attack. The clone then began to whip the rope of clones around in the air before hurling them at Weapon. All the cloned then detached themselves and they all flipped through the same set of seals. They all brought their fingers to their mouths and blew in the direction of Weapon.

"KATON: HOSENKA NO JUTSU!!!"

Hundreds upon hundreds of red hot fireballs flew through the air until there were roughly 1000 fireballs in the air. From the ground it would look like a huge storm of bright orange, yellow and red projectiles that were racing toward Weapon. Naruto then spoke the name of his new move.

"Katon: Flare Barrage no Jutsu."

The thousand balls of fire slammed into the side of Weapon and exploded on contact. Before half of them had collided Weapon was engulfed in a black cloud of smoke. After several seconds Weapon soared out of the cloud and began to retreat. It was hard to see since Weapon's skin was mostly a dark grey colour but it seemed there was burn marks all over half of Weapon's body.

"Oh yeah!" yelled Naruto in triumph as the ground started to settle back down. The geysers also slowed down until they had completely died out.

"Whew! I'm glad that's over," said Naruto before he tensed up again. The ground had begun to shake violently again. "Dammit! Not again!" Naruto ran over to the edge of town where the rest of the gang were.

"C'mon! We have to get outta here!" yelled Barret as he and the others began to run toward the airship. Naruto ran alongside Nanaki. "Do you know if Aeris and Cloud have gone ahead of us?" he yelled at his friend.

"No, I haven't seen them. Cid'll know for sure!" he yelled back. Naruto nodded before using his ninja speed to jump through the branches. When he got to the airship he saw Gaara helping the townspeople up the ladder.

"Gaara! Have you seen Aeris and Cloud?" he asked.

"Not yet Naruto. They weren't on the first transport," said Gaara while using his sand to help an elderly woman up the ladder.

"Crap!" cursed Naruto softly. "Then where could they be?" Naruto thought for a moment before his eyed widened in horror. "They couldn't still be…" he turned back to the source of the shaking. "…there?!" As soon as the words had left his mouth he had activated his second level Kikangan and had shot off towards the crumbling town.

Several seconds later he was at ground zero. The town already looked like it had been hit by a massive storm. Most of the buildings were down or were just about to fall over. But that wasn't the worst of it.

The ground was full of cracks. In a few areas the ground was gone, leaving a hole where an eerie green light shone out of the hole.

'I don't have much time left!' Naruto thought to himself before he flashed over to the clinic. He kicked down the door and peered inside.

"Aeris! Cloud!" he yelled. The inside of the clinic was a mess. Books and equipment were strewn out on the floor. Medicine bottles were broken on the ground, their contents mixing with each other. Naruto, seeing that they weren't in this room, ran over to the second room. There, under a broken shelf, was Aeris and Cloud. Aeris was bleeding severely from the head and she looked to be completely knocked out. Cloud was still the same.

"Shit!" he swore before forming his hands into the correct handsign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he said, creating a clone. "You grab Cloud, I'll get Aeris!" he said urgently. The clone nodded and proceeded to sling Cloud over his shoulder. The clone then grabbed the Buster Sword that was lying next to him and walked out of the room, careful not to slip on any fallen objects. The real Naruto then proceeded to remove all the wood and glass that was trapping Aeris. He then picked her up, bridal style so as not to injure her worse before walking out of the room.

As soon as he and the clone had exited the clinic, the earthquake got more violent. More sections of the ground fell away. The two made a break for the edge of town when a large crashing sound exploded from behind them. Naruto looked back to see the clinic and the ground around the building rise up slightly before slipping sideways and collapsing downward.

"Oh shit!" yelled Naruto before continuing to run. As they passed the unofficial square of the town another huge sound blasted past them. Naruto didn't need to turn to know that the square was gone. They were almost at the end…

"Stop… please!"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. 'Kyuubi? Was that you?' he asked.

"No, I didn't say anything. Someone is projecting their thoughts into your mind."

"Please… this is the only way to save him. The only way for him to rediscover who he truly is!"

"There's that voice again…" said Naruto to himself before the ground below him shuddered. Naruto only had a split second to realise that he was fucked when the ground gave way beneath him and they all fell straight into the glowing lifestream.