Happy Thanksgiving, or if you don't celebrate that, Happy Nov 24th. New chapter was done last night. I'm not thrilled with this one, but I like it. The next chapter is well started, and very planned. Once again, "Thanks and Thanks again" to all my reviewers, favers, and alert-ers. Got one or two notes to follow at the end of this chapter.

*&*&*_POV MUSTANG_*&*&*

"Is... is it gone?"

Ed walked over to the obviously still frightened young woman. "Yeah, looks like it's gone, Winry." Mustang knew Ed would take care of her; after all, she was his girlfriend. He was just glad that she was safe.

I hadn't been expecting him to just...vanish like that. If Winry hadn't come here when she did, we could all have been in some serious trouble.He glared at Naruto.Lots of trouble."What do you mean, 'a toad'? What was that poor chimera before?"

"Before? Um. A tadpole, I think." The blond laughed, "But I didn't know him way back then."

"I'd hate to see the size of that tadpole," Ling muttered, coming back from escorting the non-combatants back into the building. "That thing's HUGE!"

"HEY! Don't call Gamatatsu a thing!" came the sharp retort, "And besides, he's not all that big. Yeah, when he was younger, he and his brother used to ride on my head. He's grown a lot, but he's got a long way to go till he reaches Gamabunta's size."

"Really?"

"What's a Gamabunta?"

"Forget that, what's a 'pain' person, and how can dead people be 'alright now'? You can't bring the dead back to life. Dead is dead."

"No, it's not. Ok, usually it is, and you really shouldn't bring people back, but I've seen it done." The teen protested, "Besides, Nagato didn't kill them, well, I guess he did kill them, but he kinda ate their souls or something, too. But, I got him to give them back. I think." Naruto cocked his head to the side, as they all just stared at him in shock. "Hmm, I know he explained it, too."

We're just going to ignore that for now...got to get him contained again first. Worry about bringing the dead back later.Roy cleared his throat, "No matter how you look at it," he began, "You just tried to escape. Didn't you?"

"Me? Noooo, not at all. Just getting a message home, ok?" The teen had barely finished speaking before Hawkeye's gun was once more leveled at his face. As he laughed nervously, Mustang pulled his gloves back on. "Ha… haha... I guess the truce is over then?"

"I'm afraid so, young Naruto. You have proven yourself most untrustworthy."

The blond rolled his eyes at Armstrong, not noticing Ed sneaking up behind him "ME? Untrustworthy? That's not fair; it's my nindo to never go back on my word!"

Quicker than a thought, he leapt over Ed and ran for the wall. "Well, the hell with this, I'm out of here!"

"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

"NOT ON YOUR LIFE, GOLDIE-EYES!"

Mustang cursed under his breath, but he couldn't say he had not been expecting this. "After him!" He took off running, relatively close on the heels of the tricky guy. Hawkeye, Scar, Ling, Lan Fan, Ed and of course Al, were right there with him as they reached the side of the courtyard.Now we've got him!"There's nowhere to run, Naruto! Just give up!"

"I never give up!" Came the panting response as the boy ran dead on to the wall.Is he trying to commit suicide?"And I can always go UP!" Without slowing down, Naruto slammed into the wall, feet first, before running up it. For the first ten feet, Roy kept expecting him to fall, only to be shocked as he kept going straight up.

"What the?"

"How can he do that? Al, you seem to know what's going on, HOW THE HELL IS HE DOING THAT!" Ed shouted, kicking the wall, "HEY YOU! Get down here! That's cheating!"

"Sir?" Hawkeye had the blond in her sights; Mustang nodded, but was not surprised when he dodged the shot and kept going up.

"Shall I intervene?"

"No, Alex, just wait a second." The Brigadier General actually grinned at the sight of Naruto reaching the roof. He ducked out of view over the edge for a moment. "Right about...NOW!" Just as he shouted out the word, the shinobi went flying backwards over the edge, sliding down the side of the building before coming to a stop about halfway down. "Give up yet?" He calmly called.

Alphonse looked at him, "OHHH, so that's where Fuery and Havoc are!"

"Well, I admit, I wasn't expecting him to run up the side of a building like that, but he does turn into a giant fox-monster, so I thought we should have some tricks ready."

Scar was eyeing the situation critically, and Roy raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what the Ishballan was thinking, "Major, a lift please?" He smirked, "I think I shall go give our friends a little hand."

"Certainly." Armstrong quickly obliged, creating a pillar-elevator that rocketed both men to the roof in no time.

"If you give up now, and come quietly, I'm sure we could come to an agreement," Roy taunted.

"Fuck you!" With that, the blond was tearing around the courtyard's wall, getting as far away from them as he could. The group readily took off after him, following the line of the wall. When Naruto shot up, back towards the roof, Mustang shared a grin with Ed as the section of wall shot out into the middle of the courtyard. "What? This isn't going to stop me!" Even as the half-bridge formed, Naruto was running across it towards the roof. Suddenly, the bridge's base disappeared, breaking the large structure apart.

"Now we've got him!" crowed Ed as the teen plummeted towards the earth.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Roy's jaw dropped, "What the hell?" Suddenly, there were three Naruto's instead of one. Two of the Naruto's clasped each other's arms before kicking off the offered hands of the third one.

The one who'd been used as a kick-board went flying back into the wall, disappearing in aPUFFT!that Mustang was really beginning to hate. The other two streaked out along the length of the collapsing bridge. "Idiots, they should have gone to the side," He spat, coming to a stop. He was no fool— there was no way he was going to go where he could get crushed.

As they stood watching the blond, Ed's head snapped around as if he heard something amidst the thuds of falling rock, "AH SHIT! Winry!"

"What?"

"THERE!" Hawkeye pointed, "She's there!"

Al started to run, having been the first to realize the danger. "She's going to be crushed!" The Automail Mechanic was not where they had left her. For some reason—probably her insatiable curiosity,Roy mused— she had left the relative safety of the benches and was now directly in the path of boulders that were formally a half a bridge.

It was then Roy realized that she was also in the path of not one, but TWO Narutos. "SHIT!" He ran after Al, only a second behind the older Elric, who'd probably realized it already if his shout of 'DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER YOU ASSHOLE' was any indication.

Before they could even make it anywhere near her, however, the now-twin set landed in front of her before leaping out of the way of a rock. As they continued to dodge the increasing debris, the two rushed her, hands still clasped, "GO!"

"YEAH BOSS!" One of them actually tossed the other, sending him directly into Winry before Roy's view was completely blocked by the remains of the bridge with a resoundingBOOM.

"Winry!" The brothers shouted as they rushed the wreckage.

"Any sign of her, Ed?" Shouted Ling as he and Lan Fan clambered over boulders looking.

"Nothing!" Gold eyes searched the yard in misery, "How about you guys?"

"Keep looking, Fullmetal!" Roy barked, combing the ground for signs of what exactly had happened. A patch of orange snagged on a rock caught his eye.What's this? Even if they WERE crushed, we should be finding more than just a scrap of cloth. Don't tell me that little monster kidnapped her in all that.Roy froze, he thought he heard something.

"UNNGH..."

"Wait!" Quickly he pushed though the rubble towards the sound, "Over here!" A glimpse of orange as he ducked around another ridiculously large stone. "I see something!" Suddenly he was through the rubble, Hawkeye right behind him, the teens coming up fast behind.

Naruto lay there, unmoving, with his back to them.

"Where's Winry?" Ed shouted, storming up to the still form. Right before he got there, the other blond sat up slowly, back still turned.

"Hey, are you ok? Geez, that was stupid, running into a fight like that! You're just lucky I saw you right before they dropped that. A second later..." He stood, dragging a shaking Winry up with him. "That was really stupid." Naruto reiterated.

Just then, Winry saw her childhood friend. "ED!" She cried, throwing herself at the stunned teen, "Oh Ed! I was so scared!" She punched him in the head, "WHY didn't you RESCUE me?"

"I shouldn't have had to! You need to stay where you're put, idiot!"

"I don't want to hear that from the guy who went running off after any clue of the philosopher's stone!"

"Automail maniac!"

"Alchemy freak!"

A cough could be heard. Roy, Ling, Al, Ed and Winry looked back at Naruto, who was eyeing Lan Fan and Hawkeye warily. "Um, I get that you're happy to see each other and all, but what am I? Chopped liver? I just saved your ass! You could at least say 'Thank you, Naruto-san, for using your great ninja skills to save me,' you know?" He pouted when they just glared at him, "FINE! Then just do me the favor of getting a room first, ok?" He might not have seen the wrench coming, but he caught it none the less. Blinking in surprise, he flipped it in his hands. "Wow, this is some wrench."

"Give it back!"

"Hey! You tried to hit me with it!"

Gun leveled in an obvious threat, Hawkeye tried diplomacy, "Naruto, please, could you give Winry her wrench back?"

"Why should I?" he huffed, "I'm done playing your stupid games. I'm sick of it." He tossed the wrench back, whipping it past their heads to smash into the stone behind them, leaving the boulder badly cracked. "There's your stupid wrench back." He shifted on his feet, looking uncomfortable and tired as Winry snatched up the wrench and went running towards the closest door.

He's worried...why?"Just take it easy, Naruto," Roy began, signaling Hawkeye to put her gun away, "We just..."

"Want to tie me up and hurt me?" The blond snorted, "Oh, wait, you wanted 'answers' to your questions. Questions that make no sense!" It was obvious there was no stopping the rant. "I keep telling you guys, over and over again, I don't KNOW! Alright? I don't know anything about any of this! And I hate it!" He threw up his arms, "I'm sick of having seriously creepy people mess with my life." He gripped his hitai-ate. "I just want to go home." he muttered, seeming more like a typical teen.

Not that the teens I see are normal,Mustang cocked an eyebrow at him, crossing his arms. "You summon a giant toad, and make copies of yourself, and you think we're creepy?"

"No," Naruto clarified, "I think you're all assholes. I kinda get where you're coming from though," he grudgingly admitted. "That other guy, he's just plain creepy. I thought Sai had a disturbing smile, but seriously, that guy takes the cake."

"Creepy how?"

"Ling, I really don't think you're helping," Al sighed.

"No, Ling may be on to something..." mused Ed, "A creepy smile...weird room... Weird how?"

The teen scratched at his whiskers, cocking his head to the side, all anger apparently forgotten. "I don't know. Just weird. Not like where the Kyuubi is, I'm used to that by now. But, I dunno, like the world's most boring genjutsu." Mustang noticed that he was swaying ever so slightly on his feet.He's exhausted, I'll bet.The teen casually leaned against a bolder before waving up at the roof where the others stood ready. Exhausted, but still alert.He's fading fast, though; we'll just wait him out.

"What's a genjutsu?" Lan Fan asked, surprising everyone.

"Ehh? I thought you were an ANBU, how can you not know that?" The boy asked before shrugging, "You know, one of the shinobi arts. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu." He smiled wanly as they continued to stare blankly at him, "Come on, Taijutsu is hand to hand, Ninjutsu is chakra manipulation skills, and Genjutsu is illusion techniques. This is academy level stuff. The basics. You should know this!"

"So then, it was like a boring illusion?"

"Yeah," he yawned, blinking rapidly.

"What would be a boring illusion, though?" Roy turned to the others.

"I don't know, sir."

"Hey you, no going to sleep just yet!" Ed slapped the other blond on the back, a bit rougher then necessary.

"I got it! It would be all black, right?" Ling slapped his fist into his palm. "Then there's nothing to see."

"No, I don't think it would be all black..."

"But all white! That's it, Al!" The two brothers turned to look at Naruto, who was more than half asleep, "The gate!"

Roy snorted, "Wait just a minute, you can't expect me to believe that he has anything to do with that place."

"Why not, we think he is a homunculus. That one, Gluttony, had a false gate. It's possible he's tapped into it somehow." Ling mused, poking the blond, "Too bad he's out or we could ask him."

And chakra exhaustion from using sage mode kicks in.

A fast note to Gone Fishing, Yeah, I really debated how durable to make the clone, but decided that since it was a clone, and they are not the strongest, a group attack would probably land at least one solid enough hit to disrupt the chakra. Or, we can just say the Nature-energy ran out right before he got shot. Point is, I didn't want the FMA group to realize quite then that it was a clone. They're plenty disturbed about it now, though. From their perspective, Naruto just called two others and killed them to save himself (and Winry). And don't get depressed, you knew he was up to something, that counts!

Ling escorted May and Marcoh out of the courtyard when the shit hit the fan, mostly because with the homuculi they've dealt with non-combatants are a target. May did not go willingly, by the way. She's got some insights after seeing Sage mode up close, dammit!

Naruto's temper has frayed once again. He was never the calmest of people, and by now, he's angry that he hasn't gotten away, and has figured out that Gamatatsu has most likely completely forgotten what he was supposed to be doing. He's not so much uncomfortable, as falling asleep and fighting it, but Roy misinterpreted it at first.

So, now they think he's seen the gate, or at least another fake gate...and that's all I have for now. I'm going to take a nap, because I can, before writing some more of the next chapter.