Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the games in the final fantasy series.

Naruto was still worried for Rikku. Although she said that she was alright, he could tell she was very upset. The boy was a little confused though, he always supposed that Rikku had lots of friends here in Home but her latest attitude says otherwise. She said a couple of times since 'the incident' that he was now the only one she could trust. He contemplated asking her why he was the only one, but decided against it. He didn't need to bother the poor girl with that right now. He would ask her sometime later.

Only two days later, Rikku was completely over Gippal which was just fine in Naruto's books. He couldn't get why she broke up with him in the first place though. Maybe he slapped her before, while they were still dating? There were many questions the ninja wanted to ask but thought that they were either too personal or not important.

That morning, a messenger came by their door with a letter. However the man looked strangely at Rikku before leaving. The girl seemed confused for a second but then shrugged it off. So Naruto did the same. The message was in a plain white envelope, nothing special. The girl opened the letter and began to read aloud.

"To Naruto and Rikku, (Does anyone know Rikku's last name by the way?)

The two of you have been chosen to partake in an important salvage trip. You will be retrieving an ancient machina from the bottom of the ocean. This mission is extremely dangerous, so it is acceptable to refuse it. However, if you take the task and complete it along with a crew who will be manning the ship, your reward will be great. The crew has already been chosen, the divers are all that is required. If you refuse, Gippal and Motoka will take your place. Write your reply on the bottom of this letter and the messenger will come back to get it shortly.

From Cid."

Naruto and Rikku shared a look, and that was all it took for Rikku to write her reply. She replied positively. They both knew that the blonde boy would immediately sign up for it, and she knew that she would follow him wherever he goes. Just like the letter said, the messenger came by again a few minutes later. However he once again gave Rikku an unreadable glare before he left. The two were definitely confused by this point. They both knew that they had to concentrate on their new task now though. The whole team would leave fairly soon. Naruto would never understand why Al Bheds told of important events on such short notice. Wouldn't it be easier to send the letter about a week in advance?

Later that day, Naruto and Rikku were climbing into the dune buggy that would carry them to the edge of the island. After that they would board the ship and go to the middle of nowhere to search for some machina thing. Rikku had her twin blades strapped to her hips and a few grenades in a pouch near her blades. Although Naruto didn't have a sweet clue as to what grenades were. The blonde girl simply told him that you throw them at the enemy. Naruto had his Goukatoushin strapped to his back, and a few potions in his pouch. The blonde boy also had some homemade soldier pills, but they would do little for his humongous chakra reserve. Kyuubi told him how to make some simple ones, but on such short notice they couldn't be made very well. It would most likely take five of his to total one of the regular soldier pills.

The two climbed into the back of the buggy while two unknown Al Bhed climbed into the front seats. The four took off, and Naruto still felt strange with how much noise they were making. Thankfully, it was an uneventful ride to the ship. There were no attacks by killer robots, giant worms, or humongous birds called Zus that the Al Bhed always talked about.

The ship was also nothing special, although it was big and seemed incredibly sturdy. There were no decorations, or ornaments, or anything like that. Al Bheds seem to value function over appearance, which is how a ninja should be. Naruto had finally realized his orange jumpsuit was idiotic. It was like wearing a big neon sign that said 'hey, im over here! Kill me first! Me!' When everyone climbed onto the boat, Naruto noticed that you could go down below deck, near the hull. There was even a crane onboard, probably to bring up heavy artifacts. The ninja also saw a couple of other Al Bhed, who seemed to have stayed on the ship throughout the night. It only took about five minutes before the ship set off.

Why was everyone rushing so quickly? There seemed to be nothing of great importance going on. And yet everyone (excluding Naruto and Rikku) was running around like the world depended on them. He hoped it didn't. Because if it did, even though it sounded cruel, he thought that they didn't have a chance at survival. He wasn't going to put his life in the hands of these Al Bheds.

Naruto and Rikku talked through most of the time it took to reach the ruins. The two chatted on about whatever happened to come to their minds. When they came especially close to the site however, the blondes immediately calmed. Some of the ruins were above water, and there were many fiends here. The two were confident that they could kill anything that was here, but better to be safe than sorry. The massive ship came as close to the crumbling rocks as it could without the risk of a scrape to the hull. If that were to happen, everyone could very well become stranded here.

Rikku went down below deck to get their orders, while Naruto stayed above. He liked it out here. There was crisp, clean air. Even though it was very foggy. The blonde started to wonder how long they were going to stay here. The shinobi needed to get out of the desert for a while. A short while after Rikku left, Naruto heard sounds of a battle. Metal against rock, metal on metal, and then a few sharp cries before it started all over again.

The ninja looked around deck to see the crew calming down, and just as he hears a battle as well! So incompetent... He couldn't believe that he was like that as well once. The boy knew that Rikku could be gone for at least a few more minutes, and the fight could be over by then. Besides, he had to check if the fighters were a threat right? Naruto nodded to himself, pleased with his excuse. So as silently as he could, the ninja leapt from the deck and onto a rock some meters away. He then started hopping from rock to rock, towards the sounds. They seemed to be coming from inside the ruins.

After about a minute of this, Naruto had already made it inside the structure and he heard a frustrated yell come from the ship. The shinobi smiled when he thought of Rikku's face when she realized he was gone. However at that moment he heard another cry, which convinced him to pick up his pace. The sounds were getting farther apart from each other. At first the sounds appeared one after the other in quick succession, now they were much slower. Which likely meant that one of the combatants was tiring. That was assuming, of course, that there was only two fighters.

When Naruto entered the main chamber, he gathered chakra to his feet and leaped up to the ceiling. Where he stuck firmly. The ninja then looked down. It looked like a boy with a red sword was being attacked by a fiend. The guy had blond spiky hair, and blue eyes. Naruto was disappointed by this. He thought his hair style, hair color, and eye color were all unique. Well, he knew that other people had blue eyes, but how many had blond spiky hair? But here was a copycat who looked just like him. Unless you count that he was taller and didn't have whisker marks. Naruto was brought out of his musings when the boy was attacked by the fiend and was cut by its sharp claw. The fiend had four legs, and it was constantly moving. He couldn't even think of an animal to compare it to.

The shinobi decided that this had gone on long enough. He positioned himself, then dropped from the ceiling while unstrapping Goukatoushin. He turned so that his sword was pointing straight at the ground. However, before it got to the ground it hit the fiend. The sword sliced through the creature with ease and went straight through to its underbelly where it then proceeded to gouge the ground out. The monster spilled out more of the green blood as it died. Naruto was positive it had to be poisonous. He was not going to take any chances. The ninja ripped his sword out of the creature while jumping away from it and the other blonde.

Naruto was about to yell at the other guy but stopped when he heard a scuttling sound. The other man obviously heard it too as he stood perfectly still as if hoping whatever it was couldn't see him. The shinobi looked throughout the chamber, but the noise was coming from every direction. The scuttling finally revealed itself in the form of six more of the creatures. A few were even on the walls and ceiling.

"Oh man... I really hate these things." Naruto said as the boy behind him absently nodded.