Mar's Maelstrom

By The Obsidian Blade

Chapter fourteen-Nanashi

Dorothy was on her broom several feet away from the flying carpet, grumbling something about stupid dogs and not getting her rightful place next to Naruto with her head in his lap while he scratched her ears. Snow had her head in the crook of Naruto's neck sleeping soundly as Naruto ran his hand through her short, black hair. Every so often there would be a gentle purr from the kitsune as her tail would sway contently. Ed sat next to Naruto so as to keep an eye on the way they were going.

Ed turned to Naruto. The reason why Dorothy was not on the carpet was so he could try and convince Naruto not to marry her or Snow. To him, no one had the right to marry the princess unless they were also royal. "Um Naruto-sama can I ask you something?" Naruto looked at the dog before motioning for it to continue.

"Dorothy's a witch right?" Naruto nodded his head. "The witches of the island of Caldia, northwest of Lestava, are some of the sneakiest, shadiest characters known. They mingle with no other country and are unforgiving to intruders. Yet of all the witches, the one named Dorothy has a uniquely bad reputation."

Naruto shook his head and looked at the dog. What was he trying to pull? "Yeah, I know that and I do not care." The dog seemed to be taken aback a bit. The kid did not care about the fact that she was a thief? Who was this teen exactly? Before Ed could make a retort Naruto pointed in front of him with a smirk. "We have reached land." The dog turned around and sure enough there was land. Naruto silently shook Snow awake. "Time to wake up, Snow-hime."

She groggily stretched and yawned, showing off her razor sharp fangs to the world cutely. She smiled at the view of the mainland's coast line and mountains as they arrived. She looked at her fiancé as he smiled down at her and kissed her on the lips lightly. The blonde kitsune broke the kiss and smiled lightly at the girl. His gaze then turned to the mainland. Something was really off about the place. It was as if something was about to happen. What exactly, he did not know, but he knew something was about to happen pretty soon.

Then the spears came from seemingly no where. The things punctured the carpet and sent them spiraling down the stony floor below. Every one of the passengers was hanging on for dear life as their ride plummeted down to earth. Smoke trailed behind them, marking a clear path of their descent.

The landing sucked. They hit the ground hard and nothing was there to soften the landing. Miraculously, everyone was alright. Nothing was broken, and no one had any permanent damage. Naruto's gaze was everywhere, trying to find a cause for their sudden descent to the earth.

His eyes snapped to the side as he heard someone come up over the ridge. Most of them looked like thieves due to the rags and the scarves that covered there face. One man stuck out to the blue eyed kitsune.

He was a tall man of around twenty or so. He had long flat blonde hair that was cut off just below the waist and had a few bangs framing his face. A long red headband kept his hair from getting in the way of his sight. His eyes had some kind of playful mirth to it if you knew the guy. Covering his mouth was a long blue scarf that did not get in the way of anything. His shirt was mainly red with a few white blocks running on the left side of his shirt. His right sleeve was held up by two straps of red clothe and a red sheath like thing was on his back. His baggy pants were white and went right under the heel of the shoes. One his hands were three rings. One was a weird looking thing with a spiral in the center. The other two had eyes in the center and was on each hand. He saw the man pull down his scarf, showing off his narrow face.

"Today five Chess Pieces," the man jumped off the stone he was on and in front of the group. He was smiling widely was he looked at them and held his hand in a thumb down position. "Will die!"

Naruto growled at the assumption and brought Kubukiri to the man's neck. "You know it is not wise to face check a person like that." The ex-ninja's voice was contorted in a growl of frustration as he looked at the blonde in front of him. The man looked at all the people with a skeptical gaze as he backed off of them.

The man put his hand to his lips and got a goofy look on it. "Did I guess wrong?" Naruto looked at the man as if he was insane. How the hell was he still alive if he made assumptions like the one of accusing them as Chess Pieces? One would generally kill another for a false accusation like that.

Snow looked at the men with at the men that followed the blonde thief. Each one of them was someone to be wary of. She could tell that by the way they felt and presented themselves, but what really set her off was the emblem on one of their shirts. "Things just got a whole lot worse here."

Nanashi smiled at the group. "Sorry for my stupidity. The call me Nanashi or chief and we are the Thieves Guild of Luberia." Naruto sighed and took Kubukiri of the man's neck and latched it back to its resting place. The man smiled even wider. "As if a bunch of cute kids like yourselves could ever be Chess pieces."

Naruto growled at the man. He was just inches away from getting killed by a rusty kunai very slowly. Nanashi looked around at the people that came. They seemed to be kids that really had no talent, well, there was the blonde teen with the large sword, the strange ball, chain and hammer combo and the weapon bracelet.

"Um excuse me," Nanashi heard from beside him. The man looked to the side to see a black haired girl with a fox tail and two fox like ears perched on top of her head and a rather ugly dog behind her. He also took notice to the woman that was falling from the sky with a broom. She had virtually the same fox features but with a different color scheme. He had a blank look on his face as he looked at them "You guys belong to the Luberia Guild, right? Don't you want to steal our Arms?"

Nanashi gained a lecherous as he looked at the two. "I did not notice the two hotties!!" Naruto looked at the man with a twitching eye. This man was about to die pretty soon. "Stealing from girls is against my code."

Naruto held Kubukiri's edge against the man's privates. "Hands to yourself, hentai," the younger blonde said in a menacing voice. The blonde man chuckled and backed away nervously. Naruto kept his hard gaze on the man as he strapped his large sword to his back. He looked at everyone that followed the man and sighed. "So what were you doing on the coast lines? Not many travelers come through here."

Nanashi looked at the teen blankly. "I've chased the Chess Pieces in vain for a long time. So have my comrades elsewhere." He looked at Team Demon Shadow before smirking. "Well, the Chess Pieces are your foes too, right? Why not join me?"

Naruto looked at the man with his head cocked to the side. Join this man in defeating the Chess Pieces? He man did have a powerful aura around him even if he was a major pervert. In a sense it was a lot like Jiraiya except this guy seemed like he can actually get women instead of their unholy wrath like the old hermit got when he was caught peeping. Naruto also knew the communication between thieves. It was basically an unparalleled system if worked right and he knew that this man knew how to work it out right.

"Sure, why not," the blonde teen finally said. "But if you try anything on Snow-hime or Dorothy-hime, I will castrate you in the most inhumane way possible." To emphasize his point Naruto called out one of his ten daggers. The man gulped at the threat. The kid was nothing to mess with and he could just tell that he did not leave a threat empty.

"Um, yeah, I will keep that in mind," the man said with an audible stutter. Naruto smirked at the man's reaction and put the dagger back into the bracelet. The man raised his hand and started to talk. "Dimension Arm, Andata! Bring everyone here to Luberia!" Everyone felt a pull on their bodies, the same kind of pull that they felt when they exited the training gate. Their bodies flashed out of view and reappeared somewhere else.

The place they reappeared at seemed more like a cave. The place had miles and miles of tunnels carved into the rocky mountain, forming this cave. There were a lot of stolen goods lying here and there along with a case of Arms. "So, what exactly is going on?" Naruto sighed as he explained the situation they were in. The man digested it slowly with a blank look.

"So let me get this straight. You," he pointed at Naruto, "are from a different world with powers that really can't be explained easily." Naruto nodded. "And when you got here you took up the farm boy as an apprentice of sorts." Again Naruto nodded. "And you two," he pointed at Ed and Snow. "Ran away from your kingdom in Lestava because of the queen." Snow nodded. "And you were once possessed by Phantom." The man pointed at Babbo for emphasis. The sphere in question nodded. "And instead of running away you guys are joining the fight. Wow, no wonder you guy's have been marked."

"Yeah, you pretty much have us nailed," Naruto admitted. "But there is something I need to know. How bad is everything right now?"

Nanashi hung his head low as Naruto asked the question. From what he could gather, the teen liked to know everything about a situation. It was just the way he portrayed himself. The blonde thief threw three small spheres in front of Team Demon Shadow. When the spheres landed on the ground they began to glow, before three images of different areas appeared. Each one was in total ruins.

Fire was everywhere and screams of everyone were heard. Naruto looked at the images with disbelieving eyes. This kind of horror was not forgivable without reason. There was no way that anyone with a human mind would do this. "This is Marchen today." Nanashi's voice was filled with pain and sorrow. "Elto Town, Gheirerul, Acalpa Port, Yudaril, all gone. Half of the world's kingdoms and cities have fallen to the Chess Pieces."

The group's eyes narrowed. This was just wrong. No, this was beyond wrong. This was not humane. The person who was committing these atrocities had no heart. Nanashi motioned for the team to follow him to some other part of the fortress. "I want to show you something," he stated in a somber voice. The team followed him to the place he led them and were shocked to see what was there. The place that he led them to was a graveyard. Primitive markers with helmets and weapons in front of them were sprawled everywhere along with over turned earth. A few people were there, mostly women and children with tears in their eyes, as they prayed for the dead. "I would like you to meet my comrades. For this they shall pay."

Naruto was shaken by what he saw. There was no way that a group the size of the Thieves Guild could be taken down so easily, and from what he heard, they were no pushovers, either. Each one of the thieves was a good fighter. "Even as we speak, this entire land is becoming a graveyard," Nanashi continued. So the Chess Pieces declared war!"

Ed nodded a bit at what the man said. Much of what was going on was exactly like six years ago. "Indeed, and if the use the same method as before, then they'll follow this initial terrorism with a second stage attack." Naruto looked at the dog with a raised eyebrow and motioned for him to continue. "The War Games. First, they inspire fear through their murderous rampage, and then, to the survivors, they purpose a game they call War. It is their way of killing off those who rebel…of getting their hands on more Arms…and proving that they are the only true masters of this world. In the War Game six years ago, Boss, Alan, and the Cross Guards, joined the battle and led us to victory. Now the Chess Pieces, having lost once, will surely challenge the world to the same game, intent on gaining revenge! And I am guessing that the time is coming soon."

Naruto looked at the sky with narrowed eyes. This was just too much to take in at the moment. "They think of this as a game uh?" he asked. The temperature around the blonde began to chill around him as he raised his voice. "They think of this as a game?! Well if it they want me to play the game then I sure as hell will play! And when I win I am going to rip the ringleader's head off and throw it to the buzzards!"

Everyone looked at him with a questioning eye. He was letting this get to him, but before anyone could react, a man in armor rushed to the scene. "We have spotted the Chess Pieces on the move in Vestry!"

So, Vestry of the underground lake, eh?" Nanashi asked as he looked at his right hand, or more specifically, his Andata. "I've been there before and it's within the range of Andata. So how about it Demon Shadow? Will you take me along? With me, we can be there in seconds."

Naruto did not hesitate. They needed to be there with in seconds. "Take us to Vestry, Nanashi!"

The man smirked as he raised his right hand. "Then it's decided! Dimension Arm, Andata! Take us to Vestry!" Team Demon Shadow's and Nanashi's bodies flickered out of existence as the Arm was invoked.

A/N Well I am going to call it quit right there. Sorry for the long wait there. I had other things on my mind at the time I was typing. At least I got this here eh? Any who I reread some of it and I noticed that in the start the drill is on the wrong arm. It's supposed to be the left, not the right. And next chapter will be the fight with Girom. I would usually kill him off now but he still needs to play a part, just like his homicidal sister. And the poll is as followed:

Chimera 10
Guardian Arm 11
Diana 5
Loco 9
Candice 4
Chaton 0
Pano 0
Aqua 0

I am going to cut off Diana, Candice, Chaton, Pano, and Aqua as they get no love or very little of it. Now you have to choose between the remaining three. Have fun. And for those who do not review, look outside your window. You will see my evil mutant teddy bear monsters whose soul purpose is to smother you with hugs and kisses till you review. Have fun with them, muhahaha!