Good morning my peeps, this is Salem52 signing in.

Wow, that last chapter got a big reaction. What's interesting is that: I post last chapter at Ten PM, and I have 8,100 views. I get up the next day, look at the views and it's 9,400. So anyway, I was a little surprised and happy to see that.

So, with that said, let us get on with the story.

"Tell me Sensei," I asked, "is revenge a science, or an art?"- anonymous.

Naruto opened his eyes, his rest disturbed by a large bang. In the sky, a green tail of smoke streaked from behind a metal flare. The flare rose for about two hundred meters before detonating above their heads. Naruto's eyes were distracted from the flare, by another flare. Only, this one wasn't fired from the group. In front of the group, perhaps a kilometer away, the great wall Maria rose into the sky. A flare was quickly shooting up into the sky from the top of the wall. Although, it wasn't the wall they were going to, instead it was an outcrop of the wall, a large half circle of stone housing an entire city of people. The wall around the outcrop was teaming with people manning guns, repairing the wall, and all of them were watching for those of the Recon Corp.

It had been three days since they had gone into the Ravine. That night, the strikers that had been with him came up to him, and kneeled in front of him, thanking him profusely for saving so many people of the Recon Corp. One of them had actually offered Naruto his dinner. Naruto refused the man, saying that "it would be a waste to save someone, only for him to die of exhaustion the next day because he didn't eat."

Despite the death of eight people, the group was in relatively high spirits. According to Jarod, the cart driver, it was the least amount of deaths he had ever seen in an expedition back to the Wall. Naruto had lost his mount in the Ravine, so he had been riding with Jarod for the last two days. It was bumpy, but at least he had good company.

Naruto got up from the back of the cart and climbed up next to Jarod. Jarod looked at Naruto before shrugging, not really minding Naruto's company. Jarod was large barrel of a man. Long days of driving the cart had given him large muscular arms that he used to expertly guide the team of horses in front of him. He had a dark complexion, his skin being a dark brown. His face was usually bore a look of indifference. He had a short, unkempt beard and hair that was deep brown, nearly black. His most prominent feature was his eyes, or rather eye. He had lost his left eye when he was in the northern scouting legion. One of his comrades had been messing with his flare gun when it went off and struck his left cheek. Now the left side of his face was a scarred mess of skin and bone.

Jarod reminded Naruto a lot of Ahiah. He was a veteran of the Recon Corp. he didn't speak much, and when he did he got to the point. Naruto looked up at the outcrop attached to wall Maria. It truly was a massive thing, stretching high into the sky. The earth started to turn brown around the outcrop, and there was now a beaten path for the group to follow.

They were now on the last stretch before reaching the wall. The flare that had been launched in front of the group was shot so that the garrison on the wall would know to open the gate. Even from a kilometer away, Naruto could see the great gate of wall Maria.

All the land around the outcrop of the wall, for maybe two kilometers, was completely desolate. Only sparse patches grass here and there. Jarod had told him that a hundred years of titan blood falling on the ground had made it unfertile. Any trees that may have been there had been knocked down by canon fire many years ago.

Naruto heard a large explosive noise, much larger than the flare guns. He looked at the wall and faintly saw one of the canons smoking. It was pointing to the left side of the group. Naruto looked in that direction, and saw a single titan heading towards tgen. The ball that was shot by the canon struck about seven meters off. Another shot rang out; this one was much closer, missing by only three meters. Another final shot rang out, and this one struck the titan in the torso. The ball then exploded and the titan's torso was completely destroyed. After that the group slowed down, and when they were about a hundred meters from the wall, the gate started to open.

The gate was different than most Naruto had seen, instead of being made of wood; this gate was made of stone. Several large pieces of stone that were held together by long strips of steel, constituted the majority of the gate. Three massive chains were attached to the top of the gate, connected to three equally massive winches at the top of the wall. The winches were spewing out steam as they lifted the gate. The gate had the scouting legions "Wings of Freedom" emblem painted onto it.

The gate wasn't lifted to its full height, instead only lifted enough to allow mounted riders through. Naruto, being on the cart, was the last through the gate and not a moment had passed since he went through, before the gate came down behind them.

They were now in a large tunnel going through the wall. Not only was Wall Maria tall, it was extremely thick, having to be at least twenty meters. The gate that guarded the entrance was only about five meters thick. The tunnel was lit by torches placed at even intervals along the wall. At the end of the tunnel was another gate exactly like the one at the front, so that if the titans managed to get through the first one there would be a second one to keep them at bay. The second gate was kept up most of the time, but it could be dropped at a moment's notice.

The tunnel was pretty stuffy, and with the torches there taking the oxygen, it was not exactly pleasant. About half way through the tunnel, Naruto started to hear bells ringing. When he came out, he saw people lining the main street of a large city. Naruto hopped off the cart, wishing to stretch his legs. When he landed,, his feet made a squelching sound, and when he looked down, he saw the waste of close to fifty-five horses. He sighed, before trudging forward, his boots serving their purpose in keeping his feet clean. He saw many people around the entrance, not really cheering, but there to watch.

He looked around for a moment more, before closing his eyes and activating their true ability. He opened them, and saw the world in a new light and shade. His pupil was still red and slit, except that it had three ringlets around it. He looked around, trying to get a rough layout of the city. When he had his ability on, his eyes allowed him to see chakra, and buildings contain chakra. The chakra of buildings was usually a dull green, earth being green and the materials for buildings coming from the earth, it would only be natural that the buildings be a similar color.

When he started to look around though, the people started to quiet down wherever his gaze was directed. He knew he had this effect and after a moment, stopped looking at the buildings, and started looking at the people instead. Each person was a bright blue dot in a sea of other bright blue dots. Some were brighter than others, and some had chakra tinted with green or red. It was quite interesting thing to see. As he was passing a group of people, he saw a little boy, probably no older than ten whack a man on the head, before being grabbed by another small child. The chakra of the children was brighter than the other adults around them, although they had less of it. That was quite normal, given the fact that they had rarely seen the harshness of the world.

Naruto gave a small smile, thinking about the innocence of children. After that, he refocused back on the buildings. To the east he saw a large river with many boats attached to large metal pulling devices, similar to the ones on top of shiganshina's wall. The boats went through one of two entrances into the main area of Wall Maria, the first being a large gated hole in the wall where the water of the river passed through. The second one being an entrance that was, more or less, an exact replica of the one he had passed to get into Shiganshina except there was only one massive wall instead of two, slightly less massive, walls.

In the center of the city, there was a large building that looked like a huge stone fort, or a small castle, with walls twenty meters high and a central building that was thirty meters tall with a large canon at the top of it. All the major roads in the city met at a crossroads at the large building. To the west of the building, there was a market district and all around the city, there were residential houses.

Naruto, deciding that he had walked through enough horse dung for one day, hopped up next to Jarod and took one last look around the area before deactivating his eyes and going to the task of scraping the crap off his boots.

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Naruto and the group were on the main road, so they were obviously heading toward the large fort. By the time they had reached it, the crowds that had been watching them at the main gate of Shiganshina had all but dispersed. Naruto looked up at the large fort and was impressed. The bailey of the fort was made of solid limestone mortared together for stability. Each stone was carved so well and fit the other so easily, that they probably didn't even need the mortar to hold it together. The bailey had four entrances to accommodate the four roads that intersected there; each entrance was guarded by a massive iron portcullis. Like the second gate in Shiganshina, the portcullis was always kept open but they could be dropped at a moment's notice.

When Naruto passed under the gate, he saw that walls of the bailey were about twelve meters thick. When he emerged out the other side of the walls, he saw a large yard with the canon building in the center. The group headed toward the northwest section of the yard, where the stables were.

All of the group, that is, except Jarod who instead headed toward the main building in the center of the yard. Several people were coming down from the walls and out of the building to meet Jarod. They helped the injured out of the cart. Jarod got up and climbed into the cart. He went to the chest and took out a large key that was attached to a chain around his neck. He leaned down and unlocked the chest from it confines. Four men from the main building, dressed in the garb of the garrison took the chest and lifted it off the cart. They took it into the building along with a stream of injured troops.

Jarod climbed back into the driver's seat and grabbed the reigns and headed toward the stables. When they reached the stables, Naruto hopped off the cart and helped Jarod unhitch the horses from the cart. When he finished that, he bid goodbye to Jarod and started looking for Hideki. Naruto found him a few minutes later speaking to a man dressed in a long, high collared navy blue coat. He also wore cotton pants that were a different shade of blue than his coat; his shirt was made of a fine silk material and decorated with military stripes. His boots were shin high black leather.

The man stood at equal height with Naruto, making quite an imposing figure. He had a stern looking face and square jaw. He had shoulder length black hair that was well kept, as well as a large mustache the same color as his hair. His eyes looked like a hawk's, a rich, deep brown, and with a quality that, when they looked at you, made you feel like a mouse in a flat field.

Naruto couldn't hear what Hideki and the man were saying, he saw Hideki nod before handing the man a letter. The man opened it and looked over it for a minute. While he was reading, Naruto approached them both. The man looked up from the letter and Hideki just frowned a little. The man spent a few more minutes reading the note before folding it up and sticking it inside his high collared coat.

"Brown-san, you and your men are now relieved, you will be contacted in one month for the next expedition," said the man, hideki saluted before saying.

"Hai, Halsey-san," he limped over to his men who were still in the stables, to relay the same message to them.

Halsey turned to look at Naruto with a calculating eye, before holding out his hand in greeting.

"I am southern Brigadier General Halsey," Naruto regarded the hand for a moment, before grasping it.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze," replied Naruto.

"Hideki-san was just telling me of how he found you…it's quite a tale," stated Halsey.

"It is," replied Naruto.

"He was also telling me of your performance out in the field," said Halsey breaking the handshake.

"Oh, and how did I score," replied Naruto sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Well, Hideki-san was saying that you were insubordinate, but Erwin here," says Halsey patting the letter he put inside his coat, "Says that you should be treated as he would, and that you speak with his voice," Naruto stiffened his back.

"This is unexpected,"thought Naruto, not really believing that he had made that much of an impact on Erwin. He didn't take Erwin for a man to do such things on a whim, but more of a man who did things with meaning in every action.

It wasn't a moment after Halsey had spoken, that he saluted and bowed toward Naruto. Naruto, startled by the show of respect, just stood in place before bowing in return. Naruto thought back to his days prior to the war. He remembered his training for Hokage and came up with the proper words.

"With this power you have given me, I will serve the cause with all my heart; I will do what is best, and I will give my life for the better of the cause, for the sake of both your people…and mine,"

Both lifted from their bow, Halsey nodded toward Naruto in approval.

"My halls are open to you, if you would like, I would be honored to share my food and drink," offered Halsey. Naruto didn't even need to consider. He had no place to go and Halsey's offer was quite appealing.

"I would like that much," replied Naruto. Halsey nodded, before turning toward the building in the center. He hadn't walked three steps before Naruto felt something he had not expected, at least not in this world.

There was a large bloom of chakra that even the most novice shinobi could have felt,. Accompanying the surge of chakra was a massive bolt of lightning that struck just outside of the wall.

Naruto leapt up to the wall of the bailey to get a better look at what had happened. He saw steam rising from the other side of the wall, similar to the sulfurous cloud that was in the Ravine. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the largest hand he had ever seen grasp wall Maria.

Behind the hand, a great face rose. This face was mostly human, although all the skin had been removed displaying massive muscles and tendons. Two tendons seemingly held the jaw closed only allowing the massive titan a little space to open its mouth.

Naruto watched as the titan exhaled before shifting its body, turning slightly sideways. It took him a moment to realize where the titan was and what the titan was doing. The titan was right where the wall's entrance was located. He leapt back down into the courtyard and hugged the wall of the bailey.

He didn't see it, but he could definitely hear the explosion as the titan kicked a hole into the wall. He did well in taking cover behind the bailey, large pieces of stone and concrete sailed overhead, one of such pieces taking out a large chunk of the upper floor of the central building. Naruto felt another chakra bloom, and when he leapt back up to the wall of the bailey, he saw that the large titan was nowhere to be seen.

Naruto looked toward the base of the wall where he could already see titans coming in from the hole that the large titan had made with its foot. He then looked toward the group of riders in the courtyard who appeared to be terrified after seeing the large titan at the wall.

He reached his hand into his sleeve, and started unsealed his nodaichi. But as he was pulling it out, things started to slow and things started to blur slightly. All sound became one low bass.

"Hello there my esteemed counter-part,"spoke out a voice inside Narutos head. Naruto gave a mental sigh.

"What is it L, this is not exactly the best time to be doing this,"replied Naruto.

"On the contrary, I think this is a perfect time to do this,"countered L.

"Do what,"snapped Naruto, annoyed.

"Let me in control of course,"replied L.

"Why would I do that?"asked Naruto, now getting very annoyed with himself.

"Well, we both agree that I am a better battle commander,"responded L.

"And we can also agree that you are not exactly the most inspiring figure, these men need someone that they can follow, as much as a commander,"retorted Naruto.

"Halsey is doing a mighty fine job at being an 'inspiring' figure, just look at him,"replied L. Naruto looked over at Halsey, and, while he couldn't hear him as more than a noise in a sea of other noises, he could see him in the middle of picking someone up off the ground and directing him toward his horse, all of this happening in slow motion.

Naruto didn't reply, instead going into a mental silence.

"So…" inquired L.

"Fine,"replied Naruto, closing his eyes just as time, at least as he perceived it, started to resume its normal speed.

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L opened his eyes. He slumped forward a little bit, getting used to having a normal body. He looked to see that his arm was in the middle of the motion of taking out Naruto's sword. He drew it from his sleeve, before taking the sword out of its sheath. He tested its weight, taking a few swings with it to get a feel for it, before sheathing it and looking toward the wall.

"Let's see what we're up against, shall we," said L to no one in particular. He activated his eyes, scanning all of Shiganshina. L's eyes looked much the same as Naruto's when activated, except that they were much paler than Naruto's version.

L's eyes, when activated, allowed him to see through objects, at the cost of color. When he looked at the world, he saw only varying shades of black, gray, and white. The more chakra something had, the brighter it shown. The less chakra something had, the darker it was.

When L looked toward the wall, he immediately saw the titans that were pouring into the city. All of them were clearly seen, being nearly black against the white chakra of the city and of wall Maria.

There were close to twenty titans in the city, and more were coming in. They were gorging themselves on the people that they came across. The majority of them were heading toward the market sector of Shiganshina, were there was a high concentration of humans. A few of the titans turned east toward the river where there evacuation boats. He saw people from the garrison try to stop the titans, but with them having no "true" combat experience, they went down pretty quickly. He looked up to the top of the wall surrounding Shiganshina to see if the garrison manning the canons was able to do anything, only to sigh in disbelief.

"Whoever designed those canons was an idiot of the highest degree," said L, more to himself than anyone else.

The canons on the wall, while versatile being able to shoot directly up or down from the wall, and being mounted on a track that made it possible to maneuver them to any position, were only able to point one direction. So the fire power that could possibly help in the reclamation of the city was pointed in the wrong direction and would stay pointed in the wrong direction.

He looked toward the base of the wall and quickly noted the position of all the titans, before turning around to face the courtyard full of men of the Recon corps. He saw them all frightened, as they started to re-saddle their horses.

L leapt down into the yard, and made his way to Halsey who was getting the people rallied around him so that he could make some order of the situation. L walked up next to him before tapping him on the shoulder. Halsey turned to look at L, whom he saw as Naruto, and immediately straightened before saluting.

"Naruto-sama," said Halsey, standing at attention.

"Halsey-san, do you suppose you could get their attention," queried L gesturing to the mob of men and horses representing the recon corps.

"I don't know, I guess I could tr-" Halsey tried to say before L put his hand on his shoulder. L gave him a piercing stare, before he started to pump his chakra into Halsey.

"Just do it," said L, sternly. He removed his hand, before putting his hands on the pommel of his nodaichi and holding it in front of him. With his coat, and his demeanor, L struck quite an imposing figure.

Halsey turned toward the men in the courtyard, he felt like he was twenty again. He exhaled, before taking one of the largest breaths of his life.

"ATTENTION!" yelled out Halsey, all of his energy seemingly funneling into the loudest sound he had ever made in his life.

All sound in the courtyard ceased as everyone focused on Halsey.

"Naruto-sama needs speak with you all, and you would do well to listen. Erwin-sama has given him the power of his voice so listen now as though you were listening to Erwin-sama," said Halsey before stepping aside and gesturing to L.

"Thank you Halsey-san," said L nodding toward Halsey. L straightened and unzipped the front of his coat, so that his mouth could be seen. He hung his hat behind his head attached to a string looped around his neck.

"Come forward if you intimately know the layout of the city." Of the fifty or so people, about fifteen came to the front of the group. L looked over them for a moment.

"Ok, now stay if you were a striker on this mission or any previous missions you may have been on" said L, speaking to the fifteen in front of him. Only four stayed. L looked them over before addressing them.

"You four shall be guides, direct your squads along the quickest roots to your positions, and lead them out of tight situations," the four men nodded absently, a little dazed at all that was happening.

"MEN," called out L, "Form four groups, be quick about it,"

In a little less than five minutes four, somewhat even, groups stood in front of L and the four men that he had chosen.

L walked up to the first man in the group of four, he was a man in his early twenties with a round face and a squat nose. Those were the most prominent features he had; his face was one of the ones that you could forget in an instant.

L grabbed the man's shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"You are guide A," stated L, leaving no room for debate, "you will be directing group A to the marketing area. There should be about thirteen titans waiting there. Once you have exterminated them, help the Garrison with civilian evacuation. Am I clear?" the man nodded, before swallowing. Naruto then walked up to the next of the four men.

The man was a tall lanky fellow with hard wiry muscle. He stood even taller than L, but he was no less intimidated. L looked up at the man for a moment, before reaching up and grabbing the man's shoulder and forcibly pulling him down to eye level.

"You are guide B," stated L in the exact same tone as the previous man, "You and group B shall be joining group A in dealing with the titans in the market area. Am I clear?" the man nodded, Naruto let go of the man before walking over to the next man of the four

This man, or rather boy, could only be seventeen or eighteen years old. He had the beginnings of a mustache on his upper lip. But he had the arrogant confidence of youth, and he was one of the only people here who didn't look terrified or anxious, showing either extreme courage, or extreme stupidity, both of which were not exactly good qualities in a leader. Thankfully this boy wasn't leading, only directing.

"You are guide C," said L, his tone still as harsh as it was with the previous two men. "You will be guiding Group C toward the river. There are five titans in that direction. You will exterminate them. When that is accomplished help the garrison evacuate the civilians in the area. Am I clear?" the young man nodded, still confident.

L then walked to the final man of the four. He twenty-some, stout, and despite his age, balding. He looked more properly frightened then the previous man. L walked up to the man, who was a little shorter than he was. He leaned down so that he was eye level with the man.

"You are guide D," said L, still harsh, "You will be directing group D, your objective is to get the injured, as well as the chest, to wall Maria were you will then leave Jarod to his own job. When that is done, you will help the garrison defend the wall from any titans that might slip past us. Am I clear?" the man gave a shaking nod.

L straightened up, and turned around to face the four groups. He didn't say anything right away, instead putting his hands in a cross shape. Wordlessly, three Kage Bunshin appeared next to him.

"As I cannot command you all directly, with you being in separate groups, I have created three clones. One for each group, they will command you in my stead," as L said that, each of his clones walked up to their respective guides and stood behind them, a little offset, so that the groups could see them. Naruto then took out the flare gun that Ahiah had given him and held it out in front of him.

"Should something go irreversibly wrong," said L, "I will shoot a flare into the air. If you should see it, you are to retreat immediately. Head back to the fort and then take the main road back to the wall. If the gates are closed, or if they are blocked, use your 3-D maneuver gear and scale the wall. All of you, take a spare fuel tank. We don't need you reaching the wall, only to not be able to climb it due to lack of gas,"

L took a deep breath, before saluting the men. All of them saluted him in return, and L felt just a sliver of pride. This would be the first of, hopefully, platoons of soldiers that he would command.

"You know your tasks, now get going! The longer you wait, the more titans you will have to deal with!" with that said, L turned to Halsey, "I need you to wait here, if something should go wrong, I will need you to direct the men as I'm sure that they would follow you more readily then I," L turned and headed to the cart where Jarod would surely be.

Halsey stood there for a moment perplexed, before shaking his head.

"Naruto-sama!" said Halsey, calling after L. L turned around.

"What?" asked L.

"If you are not going to be here, then where will you be," queried Halsey.

"I will be at the wall, attempting to slow the flow of titans into the city," replied L.

"How?" asked Halsey, not being able to wrap his head around the idea that a man could do this, without being killed immediately.

L didn't respond, instead putting his hat on head. He turned and tipped it toward Halsey.

"I have my ways," replied L cryptically. After he said that, L zipped up his high collar so that only his eyes could be seen. He then resumed his walk to Jarod's cart.

"What the hell does that mean?"thought Halsey, before shrugging and hoping that "Naruto" didn't die.

L walked up to Jarod's cart where, sure enough, Jarod was waiting. He was looking at the axle in between the first pair of wheels. He looked up when he saw L's shadow over him.

"I assume you have a task set aside for me," stated Jarod.

"Yes," replied L, his voice slightly muffled by the collar.

"Well? What is it?" asked Jarod. L reached inside his sleeve, and pulled out a scroll.

"I need you to deliver that to the southern general," replied L.

"Ah, you mean…"

"Yes," said L cutting off Jarod, "Southern General Pixis,"

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L watched from the top of the canon tower as the four groups departed the fort. He looked north, toward wall Maria, to see group D hovering around Jarod's cart like a swarm of drones around a queen bee. He turned and looked south-east where group A and B were heading toward the market and the thirteen or so titans. He turned again and looked southwest where group C was methodically going from house to house getting civilians to the boats at the rivers. He then turned to look at the gaping hole in the wall around Shiganshina, through which even more titans were already pouring.

L sighed, before gripping Naruto's nodaichi.

"If this is going to be a common happening, I will need forgemyweapon,"thought L as he looked down on Naruto's nodaichi, "Well…do what you can with what is given,"

He shook his head, before walking to the edge of the tower, and then taking a step off. But when his foot would have met the ground, instead of tipping forward off the tower, he blurred and disappeared.

He reappeared, sprinting, on a roof approximately two hundred meters from the tower. He ran a few steps before blurring to another roof two hundred meters away. He repeated this process three more times, before coming upon his first titan. It had been one of the first titans that didn't go to the market, instead heading toward the sea of fleeing people on the main road.

It had been smashing and killing its way along the main road, not really having any discernable pattern that L could follow, and it infuriated him.

"This…thisthingis completely impulsive, it's just like B. Even in its annoying way of eating,"thought L in annoyance. Thinking of B usually made him upset. Being his polar opposite they always got on each-other's nerves and any conversation they had usually ended in conflict.

L watched as the titan stopped to pursue someone who had gone into their house. He watched as it ripped the roof off the house, and when it was completely distracted, L struck. He stepped forward from the roof of the house he was currently on and blurred, pulling out Naruto's nodaichi as he did. The titan reached into the ruin of the house, but it found that it was lacking an arm, or a leg, or a head. In fact it had been cut into several precise pieces by L. He had first cut a cross shape in its torso, dividing its body into four pieces. Then he cut off the limb on each piece, leaving the titan to collapse into eight different pieces.

When the titan had fallen, L jumped to one of the un-collapsed walls of the house looked inside the house to see a middle aged man in a cotton shirt and wool pants, both of which were stained by dirt and blood. The man was looking at L in awe, having never even seen someone move at such speed. He was also looking at L in happiness, now that he had a savior.

L looked down at the man, and making sure he was alive turned and blurred away down the street leaving the man in his destroyed house. The man, who had just been feeling elation at being saved, now felt the fear of being alone. He looked around himself at the ruin of his house before getting up and running away, heading toward the river hoping that the boats were still there.

L appeared on the roof top of one of the taller houses. He looked down the main street toward the broken wall and saw the black shapes of six titans. Three of them were in the main street, whereas the three others were roaming the smaller side streets, breaking into houses as if they were rats breaking into unguarded eggs. Only two of them were fifteen meter classes though, and both of them were among the small roads. L decided to deal with the ones on the main street, being the easiest to get to at the moment. The closest of the three titans on the main street was close to two hundred and fifty meters from his position, with the other two following at one hundred meters and the other one fifty meters after that.

L blurred from the roof and appeared a fraction of a second later two hundred meters away, and fifty meters from the first of the titans, which was currently swiping around its ankles trying to get some of the fleeing civilians. The titan was nine meters tall, and had a massive pot belly that made it difficult to swipe at the civilians. It had a massive nose that looked like some type of obscure vegetable.

L unsheathed Naruto's nodaichi and sprinted head on at the titan. The titan looked up, right as Naruto's nodaichi cut through its wrist. It looked at the stump at the end of its wrist, not really comprehending the fact that it was missing a hand. It did react when L cut off its arm at the elbow, giving a loud roar pain.

L flinched at the volume, his ears slightly ringing when it had finished. He had cut off the wrist and arm while making passes at the titan, hoping to distract the titan from the civilians. Right now he was jumping toward the titans exposed back, Naruto's sword held behind him, ready to hit. When he landed on the titans back, he sliced up and cut the titan from left hip to right shoulder. He then moved horizontally with the blade, shearing off its head in the process, and ending with the blade held over the titans left shoulder. He then cut diagonally down, slicing the titan from left shoulder to right hip. L then pulled the blade from the titan's body, and pushing against the titan's torso, leapt away. All of this happened in only a few seconds, and when L landed the titan's body fell to pieces, his push on the torso causing it to separate easily.

L was breathing heavily; he looked down at the nodaichi and grit his teeth.

"I told him that this sword was too heavy, damn it,"thought L in frustration, "It's not even his good one either!"

He shook his head, looking down the street toward the next titan. This titan was thirteen meters tall, and was incredibly disfigured. Its right arm was short, only reaching the middle of its stomach, whereas its right arm was long, with its fingers nearly touching the ground. Its head was also disfigured, looking more like an ice cream cone than a head.

It was currently using its long arm to dig inside an inn that had probably housed close to forty people. L watched as it pulled out a fat old man, probably the inn keeper. It handed the fat man to its short arm, and raised him up to its mouth.

L didn't wait any longer, blurring into nothing. He appeared on a rooftop two hundred meters from his position, one hundred and fifty or so meters from the titan. His sword was drawn.

The titan tilted its head back to drop the old man into its open maw, but when no screaming man came falling down its gullet, it looked to see the man on the ground writhing in pain, its arm still wrapped around his mid-section. The man was holding his right leg, having broken it in the fall.

The titan's body shivered for a moment as the pain registered. It let out a roar that was even louder than the previous titan, and while L was far enough away that the sound didn't inflict any pain, that, combined with his growing headache from the various annoying things that had happened to him that day, led to a rapidly growing migraine.

L leaped from the roof and blurred before appearing high in the air above the titan. The titan had stopped roaring when it saw its short arm start to regrow from the stump that L had left it. It didn't even know that L was above it until it felt the sword he was using pass through its skull. L had used the fall to his advantage, gaining enough momentum to completely slice the titan's body in half.

When he landed, he rebounded toward the fat innkeeper who was still crying out in pain. L grabbed the man by the shoulders and tossed him away, about six meters. The man screamed out in pain again, having broken his wrist as well as disturbing his broken leg even more. He was in so much pain that he didn't even notice that if L hadn't tossed him from his previous spot, he would have been crushed under a rapidly deteriorating, and very much dead, titan.

L had used chakra to move out of the falling titan's way by infusing his muscles with it. He ran to the man who was currently cursing up a storm.

"Oh shut up, be glad you're alive and deal with it. Pain is only temporary. Now stop squirming so I can set the bone," reprimanded L as he knelt next to the man. The man stopped squirming but kept whimpering in pain.

L put his hand in a seal, before saying.

"Shōsen Jutsu,(Mystical healing palm)"

L's hand became wrapped in a bluish-green chakra that he used to feel where the break in the man bone was. When he found it, he grasped the leg and pulled, setting the bone. The man's eyes widened before he let out a loud scream and fainted from the pain.

"At least he quiet now,"thought L as he ran his chakra covered hand over the man's leg, mending it. When L finished mending the man's leg, for the most part, he reached up to the man's head with his chakra encased hand and grasped his forehead. Not moment later the man woke up with a jolt, sitting up and looking around wildly.

"You should be fine, get to the boats. If you run fast, you could probably make it. was there anyone else in the inn?" said L, getting the man's attention. The man looked at him a moment, before shaking his head.

"No," rasped out the man, his voice hoarse from screaming. L nodded before standing and turning down the street to get the last titan on the main road. He was about to jump onto one of the roofs around the street when the fat man's voice stopped him.

"Hey," cried out the man. L turned around to look at the man.

"What about my wrist?" asked the man, holding out his broken wrist.

"What about it?" replied L. The man gaped at him.

"It's broken!" cried out the fat man. L shrugged and turned around.

"You don't need your wrist to run do you?" said L, leaping on to the roof. He then started sprinting roof to roof towards the final titan in the main street.

This titan was also trying to break into a house. It tiny in comparison to other titans, being only six meters tall, its body was also quite tiny, being very lithe. Proportionally, this titan was pretty human looking. It didn't have any grotesquely over/under proportioned bits on its body; in fact it could pass as a giant hairless human, just without any genitalia.

It was currently shoulder deep into a house, reaching in through the doorway. Even from L was he could hear the screams of terror of the family inside the house. L jumped to the house behind the titan. It didn't even notice him, to focused on the family inside the house. L looked at the titan for a moment, before he sheathed Naruto's sword.

He took out a small piece of red paper from his sleeves and looked at it for a moment. The paper was small, being only fifteen centimeters long and seven wide, it was covered in several elaborate kanji all arrayed in various spirals and lines. He shrugged, before reaching into his sleeve and pulling out a normal kunai, not his three pronged variant. He took the slip of paper and, licking one side, started wrapping it around the hilt of the kunai. When he had it wrapped all the way, he took the side that he had licked ad stuck it toe the rest of the paper wrapped around the handle.

L looked over the kunai quickly, making sure the note was firmly on the grip, then he drew back his arm and threw the kunai at the titan. The kunai struck the nape of the titans neck, burying itself all the way up to the hilt.

The titan, having felt the kunai as a little prick of pain, stopped rummaging around inside the house, and looked back at L. when it saw him, it pulled its arm out of the house and stood up, but as it pulled its arm out of the house, the paper on the hilt of the kunai lit on fire and started burning down fast. By the time the titan had stood up fully, the paper had nearly burnt down to the last bit, and right as it started to lunge at L, it burnt down completely. The place where the kunai was on the titans neck exploded out in a controlled explosion blowing the titans head clean from its body and making a ruin of most of its torso. L had braced himself for the shockwave from the explosion, and he didn't even react to the explosion. The house he was on shook a little, but most of the houses were built to be sturdy.

The titan's fell to the ground, its body already starting to deteriorate. L looked into the house and saw the white chakra outlines of five people, two adults and three children. They were all approaching the wreckage of a doorway at the front of the house. L leapt down onto the street, and approached them, deactivating his eyes in the process. They all looked shocked ad afraid. The man, presumably the father of the three children huddled around his ad the woman's legs. He was young, probably no more than twenty-five years old. He was incredibly youthful and if L didn't see the children around him, he wouldn't take the man for the father of three children. The woman, most assuredly the mother, looked young as well, probably only seventeen or eighteen. She was quite lithe and had beautiful waist length blonde hair.

"You should get to the boats at the river; if you hurry you could probably make it. The fort is still held, head there, but hurry," said L, despite being quite cold to most, he was a sucker for children and hated seeing them in danger. The adults nodded, paternal instincts taking over. They ushered the children down the street. The young man looked over his shoulder.

"Thank you sir, we will always be in your debt," cried out the young man. L watched them go. He also saw that one of the children, a girl of ten probably, kept looking back at him. L waved at her. The little girl, waved back before disappearing behind the collapsed wall of one of the less sturdy buildings. L turned around, and leapt to the roof of the building the family had been trapped in, the ache in his head subsiding slightly. L reactivated his eyes, once again gaining there pale color.

He looked around, having killed the easy to get titans, and searched for the titans he had seen in the side streets. He didn't really even need to activate his eyes to see them, with them all towering over the buildings. Two of them were fifteen-meter class and the other was thirteen meters. There was one to L's left, a fifteen-meter class and two to his right, the remaining fifteen and thirteen meter titans.

The one to his left was six hundred meters or so away, while the ones to his right were only four hundred meters away from him. He decided to go for the ones to his right, being the bigger threat. Plus he had also seen a man of the garrison heading toward the titan to the left, so if nothing else, the man could at least act as a distraction until L got there. He turned right and after a few steps toward the thirteen-meter class titan, blurred away to a roof top two hundred meters away.

The titan Naruto went after the thirteen titan first, it being farther into the city than the other titan. It was quite grotesque, having an enlarged forehead and lopsided mouth; its eyes were of different size and color. Its arms were also distorted, with its forearms being much larger than its upper arm.

It was currently eating two unfortunate people it had just caught, the leg of one still sticking out of its mouth. The other was held in its hand, screaming his head off. The titan had just finished chewing the leg, and was raising the screaming man to its lips. L sprinted toward the titan, his sword drawn. But before he got close enough to inflict any damage on the titan, it had bitten off the man's head. Blood came gushing from the severed neck, covering the titans distorted face in a coat of red blood. The titan got a slight serene look to its face as it chewed on the man's head, as if the act of eating was euphoric. It raised the rest of the body up to its mouth, but as it was about to bite down, its hand was severed from its wrist and fell to the ground.

L stood facing away from the titan on a roof of one of the undestroyed houses. He was panting.

"I'msogetting my sword forged after this,"thought L, turning around to face the titan.

The titan just stared at its stump of a wrist before its serene face turning into a snarl as it let out an ear splitting roar of pain. L grabbed his head and groaned.

"Oh…my…fucking…god!" cried out L, his headache coming back in full force, "Just shut up!"

L leapt forward, the roof cracking under the force of his jump. He smashed his feet into the titan's torso and stabbed into it. His feet sank into the titan's chest, before the titan visibly moved back. L twisted Naruto's sword so that it was facing down. He ran down the titan's torso slicing a meter deep cut into the titan's torso before he exited right where the titan's genitals would be. He landed in between the legs, and holding his sword out, spun and slicing off its ankles.

The titan fell forward, not being able to stand. L leapt back before jumping onto the titans back and running up to its neck. He stabbed into the titan's neck and decapitated it. L walked off the titan's now headless body. He took a deep breath and rubbed his temples.

"Now I remember why we don't do this often. This headache is a pain in the ass,"thought L as he jumped up to the roof of one of the numerous buildings around. He looked at the fifteen-meter titan that was about three hundred meters away. It was doing something odd. Instead of pursuing humans like it should be doing, it was taking various bits of building and stacking them. When the tower of rubble tumbled, it would let out an annoyed roar, and start again. L was dumbfounded until he remembered what Ahiah had said.

"Some kinds are not as bad as others. Hell, there was one time when we met an aberrant who just kinda followed us around, but it didn't do jack. It was creepy as hell, but at least the thing didn't kill us." Ahiah had said that as he was distributing bowls of porridge to the troops the day they went into the Ravine.

Then it dawned on L that this was an aberrant. It didn't really surprise him now that he thought about, but to have an aberrant that did this was quite surprising. But he didn't waste time or take a risk; the titan was still a titan. He blurred to the roof of a house one hundred meters or so from the titan. He jumped roof to roof until he was about ten meters away from the titan, who didn't even notice Naruto, instead trying to balance a piece of debris from the wall on top of part of a roof.

L was impressed. This titan's motor control was quite phenomenal if it was actually balancing things on top of each other, a feat difficult for even some humans. He took out a piece of paper exactly like the one he had used to blow the head off the prone titan that had tried to eat the family. Then L took out a kunai and started to wrap the paper around it. When that was complete, he drew back his arm, and with a practiced motion, threw the kunai at the titan's neck. Before the kunai reached its neck though, the titan leaned down to pick up another piece of debris, and the kunai instead buried itself in the wood of a roof in the tower.

The kunai burst into flames, and right when the titan came up to add another thing to its tower, the kunai exploded, launching shrapnel and searing the skin off its face. The titan roared in pain. It started flailing around and a stray hand knocked over its tower. That made it stop; it looked at its fallen tower and let out a roar of despair.

All of this confused L beyond belief. This was the most emotion he had ever seen displayed by a titan. He didn't have too much time to think on it though, because the titan had seen him. Since L was the only living thing in the immediate area, the titan made the connection that apparently had been the cause of the explosion.

Now L saw the extent of its mobility, when it started leaping over buildings at a time. Within seconds the thing was upon L. The titan was quite ape like with arms extending all the way down to its knees and very long fingers. Its face was elongated with a forehead jutting out over its brow. It used its long arms to smash the roof where L was located. He jumped away, and the titan followed right behind.

L blurred to a roof two hundred meters away and let off a loud whistle getting the now- confused titan's attention. The titan's head whipped toward the noise and with a loud, headache- increasing shout, headed toward L.

In response, L sheathed Naruto's sword and held his hand out behind him. Blue chakra began to form into a rapidly spinning sphere in his palm. He waited until the titan was around fifteen meters away, and, when it leaped at him, arms extended outwards in hope of catching him, L jumped toward the titan, dodging the great arms as he did. The titan now unable to do anything with its arms, due to L being within its guard, watched as L thrust his palm forward. The blue sphere in hand supersized as it hit the titans face, becoming the size of a large boulder. The sphere sheared through the titan like a white hot knife through butter. When L exited out the other end of the titan, all that remained was its two very long arms and a few scraps of rapidly deteriorating skin.

L took a deep breath, the smell of burnt skin and hair entering his nose. He coughed and blurred to a roof away from the battle. He sighed, slightly winded. After a few moments of just keeping his eyes closed, controlling his headache, he looked toward the final titan. Because he dealt with these titans first, the other titan was a little over a kilometer away from where he currently was.

When he looked over, he saw the white chakra outline of someone flying around the titan, most likely using 3-D maneuver gear. L took a few running steps toward them, before he blurred towards, appearing two hundred meters away on another roof, one more blur took him to the main road, and three more took him to within one hundred meters of the titan. He stopped for a moment, taking a minute to catch his breath.

He saw that the man from the garrison had failed in killing it, apparently having fallen to the ground. He watched as the titan picked up the man. Naruto was slightly surprised when he saw the man lash upward and attempt to stab the titan, but he had struck the bone above the nose or one of the titan's cheekbones, because when the blade hit, instead of going into muscle, it snapped.

L took one last deep breath, his headache still increasing. He looked at the area around the titan, seeing if there was anything that he could use to his advantage, or be a possible detriment. What he saw was not what he wanted. There were two children and an adult, although the adult appeared to be trapped under something, he couldn't really determine what at this range, and his eyes really only showed chakra.

He started sprinting roof to roof when he saw the titan approach the children. He was a sucker for children. The titan was reaching down to grab one of the children, a boy of ten by the looks of it. L drew Naruto's nodaichi as the titan was about to grab the boy. Time slowed as he pumped chakra into his muscles (the brain's a muscle).

L flashed in front of the boy and sliced the hand from the titan's wrist. He was still on metaphorical nitro, which gave him a few moments to study the titan in front of him as the chakra drained from his system.

It was quite terrifying; a smile was stretching across its face unnaturally wide. The teeth were covered in fresh blood and bits of flesh. The body was also quite disproportionate, although he had seen a lot of this proportion amongst the titans he had seen in the Ravine. The torso was extremely wide, with the arms and head being quite small in comparison. It had very long legs and it was actually kneeling right now.

Time started to speed back up to normal and the titan slowly started to realize that it was missing an appendage. L realized what he had just done, and gave a groan that was quickly drowned out by the titans pained, ear splitting, migraine inducing, roar.

"For the love of…"thought L., as he drew his sword back.

"Be silent," said L, "creatures such as you do not deserve the air you are wasting with your foul breath,"

L moved forward at blinding speed, pumping chakra into his system as he did. He came onto the titan's torso and made his "X" slice shoulder to hip. Then he cut off the titan's head. He fell back, doing a flip before landing on his feet. He rushed forward, and doing a spin with his sword, sliced off the titan's left foot.

The titan made a gurgling sound, probably attempting another scream of pain, before falling apart, literally. He turned around and saw the children, one boy and one girl, both of which were around ten. He saw the boy had fear in his eyes. L walked forward and looked upon the adult. It was a woman, most likely their mother. He couldn't really make anything of her, dirt and blood covering her face, her legs were crushed under a log, probably a cross beam. She had brown hair, the same color as the boy's and they shared a similar face. The little girl shared none of these qualities, making L think that she heavily took after the father, or she was adopted.

L shook his head. He stopped thinking on their relationships to one another, walked up to the log and started lifting it, with great effort. He looked to see the children not doing anything, slightly annoying him.

"Child," said L getting the boy's attention, "if you value your mother's life, you will pull her out from this log now," the children did not waste a moment, grabbing their mother and pulling her from under the log. When her feet had cleared the log, he let it drop with much relief.

L walked over to the mother and knelt beside her.

"Shōsen Jutsu, (Mystical healing palm)" muttered out L as a coat of chakra appeared over his hand. He started to run it over her deformed legs, but was interrupted by the boy.

"What are you doing?" queried the boy. L, not wanting to deal with the boy's questions, replied.

"I'm healing her. Now be quiet," the boy stayed silent.

L ran his hand over her leg ad grimaced. Her femurs were, in a word, obliterated. The bones were completely shattered in multiple places.

"I know medical Jutsu, but this is beyond me,"thought L. He did his best though, and ten minutes or so later, he had mended her bones as well as he could. He had put the bones together to the best of his ability. She would most likely be in pain whenever she walked, but she would walk.

L stood up and started walking away. He the children helping the mother get up. He was about to jump to the roof when the boy's voice interrupted him.

"Wait!" called the boys voice. L stopped listening to what the boy had to say.

"What's your name?" queried the boy. L thought the question odd, but indulged the boy.

"My name…" L was about to say "L", when he caught himself. This wasn't his body yet and it did not go by the name "L".

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki," and with that said, he leapt onto the roof of one of the nearer buildings, and stood there a moment just to make sure they were all right.

"Eren, Mikasa, we need to get to the boats quickly before they fill up," he heard the mother call out. L nodded to himself, now confident that they at least knew where to go, and with one last deep breath, he blurred away from the building.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

L was about to head towards the market and help out Groups A and B, when he saw something peculiar. Crouched on top of the wall, above the entrance was a giant primate.

Except…it wasn't. The primate was proportioned like a titan, and as large as one, although it had hair all over its body except on its torso which was bare. L decided to investigate it, being only about a kilometer away from the wall. Three more titans had come through the wall since he had started his little mission of clearing out central Shiganshina. He could deal with the lesser titans that had come through the wall after he dealt with the one that could climb over the walls.

He blurred from roof to roof until he appeared at the base of the wall around Shiganshina. He looked up and still saw the ape-like titan; it was looking over the edge at Naruto. Naruto was about to start running up the walls, when the ape titan did something he did not expect, it beckoned him up. Naruto was astounded at this very human gesture.

He wasted no time and started to run up the wall, sticking to it with chakra, and infusing his body with it as well, to fight the power of gravity. It took him close to three minutes, but he made it all the way up the wall. He had adjusted his position so that he wouldn't be exactly where he had seen the titan last. For all he knew, the titan was waiting there to bite his head off.

L climbed over the edge. He looked around for the ape-titan, and found it sitting in a lotus position the middle of the wall, its hands resting upon its lengthy thighs. L approached it warily, still unsure if it would attack him or not. He walked until he was directly in front of it. He sat down in a lotus position of his own at the edge of the wall. If the titan attacked him, he would just lean back and fall off the wall. He would survive the fall.

The titan looked at him for a moment, analyzing him. There was no doubt in L's mind that this titan had intelligence far superior to any titan he or Naruto had encountered thus far.

"I suppose, if you were normal, that you should try to kill me, no?"asked the ape titan in a deep baritone that reverberated inside its large chest. L, taken completely by surprise, sputtered before nearly falling over the edge of the wall.

"But then again, you're not normal are you?"stated the titan. L just sat there, still trying to comprehend the fact that there was a talking titan. The titan sat there expectantly before frowning.

"Perhaps we don't speak the same language,"said the titan to himself. L, having finally gained some sense of normality, replied.

"No, I can understand you perfectly well. It's that I never expected to find a titan that could speak any language at all." The ape titan then looked up and smiled. It was, albeit, a quite terrifying and distorted smile, but still a smile.

"Well, you should know that you are being quite a nuisance. By now my titans should have already reached the wall, but instead they haven't even made it to the fort, yet,"said the titan.

"That would be my doing yes," replied L. He didn't know really what to make of this, but he wanted to see where this conversation would go.

"While it is annoying, it is not too troublesome, and it provides us this time to talk,"stated the titan, its demented smile never leaving its face. This smile wasn't like one that would be on the face of some lunatic as he slaughtered hundreds of people. No, it was like the smile you would see on someone who knew something you didn't, and that it would most likely cause you great displeasure.

"Well that's good at least," stated L, slightly sarcastic. He had been keeping an eye on the city throughout this conversation and the groups were all doing pretty well with groups A and B about to eliminate the titans in the market district.

"So, if I might ask, who are you, or rather,whatare you, you can't possibly be human,"asked the ape titan. L "hmm'ed" for a moment before replying.

"Well, as to who I am, I am Naruto Uzumaki of Amegakure , and as to what I am, I guess you could call me human, although I'm not wholly sure myself," Replied L, "I would ask you the same. You cannot possibly be a normal titan,"

"If I had a name, I forgot it many years ago. For now though, I guess I could be called Beast. You would also be right in assuming I'm not like those down in the city, but I am still a titan"replied Beast.

"So, I assume you command the titans in the city," stated L.

"Yes," replied Beast, "And I assume that you command those three groups of titan killers."

"That would be correct," replied L.

"They are annoying as well, but I guess that you would be the more annoying one. I can deal with that. But you are also the most powerful, and if what you had said was true, then you would be that much more devastating,"said Beast, more to himself then anyone.

"What?" asked L, confused.

"What would you do if you could harness the power of a titan?"asked the large titan, it seemed almost…excited.

"What would I do?"thought L, "If what Beast is implying is true, then that would explain the large titan,"

"I don't know what I would do with it," replied L. The beast titan frowned, clearly expecting a better answer then that.

"On the one hand, if I made it back to where I came from, it would serve a very powerful military asset. The thing is, I don't know what detriments there would be to using such a thing, and from personal experience, things that give you power usually do some pretty nasty damage to you, too, one way or another,"

The beast titan didn't smile, but didn't frown either.

"And anyway, why would you offer me this? As of right now I am, for all intents and purposes, your enemy," said L.

The beast titan smiled again, showing mean, nasty teeth. "Curiosity," it replied, "As of right now, I have only had a few exceptional ones come from this, and I have found that they had exceptional qualities, things that put them aside from others. Now I see you, someone with incredible speed, inhuman strength, and above-average intelligence, along with something I have never seen in my life. I would give a lot to see what kind of titan you would turn out to be,"

L was taken aback by this answer. Curiosity was a defining human nature, and this titan was sounding quite human. Deception was also a human nature, and he did not exactly trust this titan.

"I'm sorry Beast, but I think I will have to pass. I have enough internal monsters to deal with without adding another to the collection," Beast gave a massive sigh, before standing up to his full height of seventeen meters.

"Well, it's a standing offer. We will meet again, I guarantee it. If you ever change your mind, head south to the Ravine then turn east until you find a large body of water, then turn south again, you will find me if I haven't already found you,"stated Beast as he stretched his arms.

"Now I think it's time I took over wall Maria,"he lashed forward and tried to grab L. The speed at which beast did so was quite impressive, and caught L off guard. Beast probably would have gotten him had he not situated himself at the edge of the wall.

As L was falling three things happened: first was a large roar from the top of the wall, almost assuredly Beast. A few seconds after that, a large bloom of chakra happened near wall Maria. L looked and saw a massive, fifteen-meter, titan completely covered in thick plates of bone. It was charging the gate at the bottom of wall Maria. Almost as soon as the massive titan appeared, L more sensed then saw a massive horde of titans rush the wall around Shiganshina. Not a moment after L hit the ground, a huge wave of fifteen-meter class titans came spilling through the hole in the wall.

"Shit!"Thought L as the first of the titans came rushing towards him. He was still a tad tender after falling fifty meters.

L moved into the main road so as to funnel the titans coming at him into a single file. There were probably ten or eleven titans rushing at him from the hole in the wall. His hands blurred through a series of seals before finishing on a tiger seal, fingers interlocked with the index and middle fingers held pressed together standing straight.

"Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu, (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique)" he yelled out, pumping as much chakra as he could into the technique without rupturing his chakra pathways. A large dragon made of flames so hot they could barely be seen, emerged from L's mouth and roared down the street.

The cobblestone under the dragon turned red hot from the heat, and the houses in the immediate area started to burst into flame.

The first titan to meet the dragon was already burning from the superheated air in front of the dragon and when it actually met the dragon, it was almost immediately vaporized. The dragon continued through all eleven titans in the street and partway into the destroyed tunnel under the wall, and then it exploded in a superheated ball of fire and air. When L looked into the tunnel, he saw the stone inside was a deep red melting mess and the entrance looked like some hellish furnace.

"That'll buy us some time,"thought L, as he reached inside his sleeve and pulled out the flare gun Ahiah had given him. Even through the wall, he could see the black shapes of titans, hundreds of titans rushing the wall.

He pointed the flare gun into the air and pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang, before a metal shell shot into the air, black smoke trailing behind. He saw an immediate reaction from his troops. All of them, almost as one, turned and started speeding towards the fort.

L turned and headed toward the fort as well. It only took him three minutes to do so, and by that time, the second wave of titans had come through the wall as well, albeit incredibly burned and moving very slowly as they regenerated.

L leapt up to the bailey and saw groups A and B in the courtyard preparing to leave. He looked right and saw his clone leading group C from the river. They were about five or six minutes away.

"Naruto-sama, what's the situation at the wall,"

L looked down into the courtyard to see Halsey waving up to him.

"There are numerous titans coming through, more than even I can handle," replied L.

"At least without endangering all of you," added L to himself. There was a loud bang and L looked up to see eight people manning the huge cannon atop the tower. L looked down at Halsey questioningly.

"When I saw the flare, I told of few of my boys to go up and man the cano-" Halsey was cut off by another large boom from the canon.

"Make sure there are enough horses for them. We'll be leaving when group C arrives," stated L. He leapt down into the courtyard to ready a horse of his own. There were no civilians in the fort, all of them most likely having already gone through either to the boats or the wall. L remembered the armored titan that had rushed wall Maria. He didn't wait long enough to see what had happened.

He leapt up to the canon tower, startling the operators a bit. L paid them no mind and instead looked toward wall Maria.

"FUCK!"thought L. Going straight through the gate that was guarding the entrance to the wall Maria was a large, titan-sized, hole. This also meant that there was a titan on the other side of the wall. L looked right to see group C almost in the fort. He turned around and went to the edge of the tower and addressed the people in the courtyard.

"GET READY TO MOVE OUT! ONCE GROUP C GETS HERE WE'LL ALL BE LEAVING," called out L. All of the people in the courtyard snapped to attention before mounting their horses. L heard whistle, and saw Halsey waving to the operators to do something. The operators seemed to know what it meant, because six of them started to tilt the canon all the way back until it was facing straight in the air. The other two men grabbed a massive cylindrical object similar to the flares shot by the Recon corp. and the Garrison.

They loaded it into a breach in the back of the canon and fired. There was a massive bang before the largest flare L had ever seen came launching out of the barrel of the canon. It flew for about ten feet before flame rocketed out from the back of the flare turning it into a rocket. Bright red smoke trailed behind it as it went through the air. Then, as it reached close to two thousand meters above the tower, it exploded shooting more red flares into the air that continued until about twenty-two hundred meters above the tower, where they lost their smoke.

After the last of the flares lost its smoke, L looked down into the courtyard where group C propelled themselves over the wall of the bailey using their 3-D maneuver gear, all of the portcullis having been closed except for the northern entrance where they would all be exiting. L leapt down to his horse, which was located at the front of group A, alongside Halsey's horse. He mounted his horse and gave a mental command to his clones to dispel. He became rigid for a moment as he filtered the information his clones had given him. Group A and B had lost a total of nine people and group C lost four.

Halsey mounted his horse and unsheathed his sword, a long cavalry saber.

"May I?" inquired Halsey, addressing L.

"Go ahead," replied L grasping the reigns of his horse.

"MEN," called out Halsey, "FORWARD!"

The whole group surged forward as one through the northern entrance to the fort. As L passed it, he saw one man manning the portcullis; he was an old codger who looked to be wearing the garb of the Recon Corp. L leaned toward Halsey.

"What about him?" said L, gesturing toward the old man.

"He is old and frail, his bones would probably snap if he rode a hose to long," replied Halsey.

"Then he should have gone with Jarod, or to the boats," stated L.

"Didn't want to, said he'd rather stay and defend the fort. At any rate, he's lowering the portcullis for us, said he'd keep the place until we returned,"

"Stupid,"thought L, "still…it's a better death than most,"

L sat there thinking for a while as they approached wall Maria, then a thought hit him.

"Halsey-san," said L, Halsey looked over, "what was the flare for?"

"It alerts anyone outside of the wall to come back immediately; it also lets those at Wall Rose know that something has gone horribly wrong out here, and to be prepared to receive the boats,"

"I see," said L.

"Shit. I forgot about Erwin,"thought L, thinking about what he had done to the tunnel, "He'll get through,"

L felt another large bloom of chakra. He quickly activated his eyes, having deactivated them back in the fort to save chakra. He looked through the wall in front of them, expecting to see another titan, but instead he saw nothing.

"So the armored titan must have deactivated,"hypothesized L, "That's one less thing to worry about right now,"

L rode in silence before time slowed, things around him started to blur and all sounds turned into one low bass.

"I think it's time I have my body back,"spoke Naruto. L sighed.

"But this headache is so nice,"replied L sarcastically.

"L,"Naruto said threateningly.

"Ok, ok, just hold on, jeez,"L closed his eyes, and felt a pull on the back of his mind, before falling back into unconsciousness.

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Naruto opened his eyes and was immediately bombarded with one of the worst migraines he had ever had in his life.

"Oh…fuck…L you are never getting control again, you treat my body so harshly,"thought Naruto.

"It seems that Logic has fallen asleep, controlling a body must have worn him out," said the voice of Kurama.

"No shit, he wore my body out,"replied Naruto.

"Well, now you have a nice, long, pleasant ride ahead of you," stated Kurama, sarcastically.

"Hehe, fuck you,"replied Naruto, his headache making him irritable.

"No thank you, I don't swing that way,"replied Kurama, still sarcastic.

"Just…be quiet will you,"thought Naruto, not in the mood for Kurama's antics.

"Okay, okay, I'll be going. Just remember that we will be speaking later, deal?"stated Kurama.

"Deal," and with that said, Naruto and company rode into the hole in wall Maria.

When they emerged out on the other side, he saw that the winches to the gate were destroyed. He looked around and saw the boats on the river, slowly heading whereever they were going.

Naruto looked around at the long winding fields of grass and trees and then thought about how all of this land was soon to be covered in titans.

"This changes everything," thought Naruto as he cantered down the road. He looked behind him at wall Maria which was slowly shrinking as the group moved farther away from it. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw Beast climb up the side of the wall and crouch down on the edge watching the group of riders. Naruto wasn't sure, but he thought that Beast was looking at him.

"What is it?" asked Halsey turning to look at wall Maria, right as he did, Beast disappeared down the other side of the wall, avoiding Halsey's view.

"Heh, nothing, Halsey-san, nothing at all,"

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Well, are you happy? I sure as hell am. Sorry for being a bit late on this chapter but I was caught up in end of school stuff, and the horrible, life sucking things known as video games (TF2 and Fallout if you were wondering).

My editor thinks that this is the best chapter I've written thus far, what do you think? Leave a your opinion in the reviews, or just say something you think would help, like inconsistencies or just ideas that you would like put into writing.

Anyway, I made this chapter extra-long because of the wait I put you guys through. Have a nice summer, I'm going to Canada tomorrow so, wish me luck.

Fare the well, my peeps.

Salem52, signing off.