Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the final fantasy games. If I did, I would be filthy stinkin' rich! But I don't so it doesn't matter either way.

And kudos to you if you managed to stick with me for this long. You get a cookie.

Naruto eventually reached the foliage of the forest after about 10 minutes. He initially tried to reach dry land by following the wooden paths designed like roads. However he quickly became confused, and decided to simply water walk to it when no one was looking. He couldn't afford becoming a 'suspicious person' in the townspeople's eyes. After all, he had no idea how long he was going to be here.

He entered the thick forest, through a path he hoped led to the temple. The ninja placed his hand on the hilt to his sword, for safety precautions as well as intimidation purposes. Maxie had said that there were fiends in the forest, but most were weak enough to be held back by an old lady with a stick. He hoped that through shear intimidation, he could reach the temple without a fuss.

It seemed that one of the fiends was quite cocky, for it jumped from the trees at him. Naruto quickly cut it down to size, and watched it fall to the ground. It's blood was all over his sword, and he scrunched his nose in disgust. After killing the small lizard-like creature (That was all he could compare it to) he heard more rustling coming from the general area the fiend jumped from. Likely the dead creature's companions, fleeing from the scene after seeing one of their own so easily slaughtered. Naruto scowled, cowards.

After cleaning the blood off his sword, he continued following the path that hopefully lead to the temple. Naruto began to think about Rikku, but quickly crushed the thoughts. He couldn't afford to get attached, and she could be dead for all he knew. His heart sunk at this revelation, so he forced himself to think about more immediate concerns. He pondered what to do with his blade while he walked, confident that he had scared most of the fiends off. Goukatoushin was getting blunt, unbearably so. Instead of a clean slice through the lizard, the gash was jagged. This wasn't a problem for the small fiends, but it could cause trouble when he came across the larger ones. When it came to the small creatures, no matter how dull the blade became, its shear size will enable it to cut through. If he fought something huge, his blade could very well become stuck halfway through whatever he was cutting. This was very bad, because although it would cause excruciating pain, the wound would not be lethal. His sword would actually help the fiend, by stopping the bleeding. He would need to find a sword smith, and one that was able to deal with such a large weapon. Naruto cursed, knowing that wouldn't be common in any world. He would have to look for one when he came to a large city. No matter how amazing Kilika was, it was unlikely to have a blacksmith, let alone one that he could trust to fix up his sword without permanently damaging it. Naruto sighed, realizing that he was going to have to leave Kilika. The fox-boy was disappointed, he hoped it was possible for him to stay for a few days. But, the mission came first. He had to get stronger, and no matter how powerful he became, he wouldn't be able to even scratch Sin with a blunt blade. He needed the best sword available, and hoped he could simply 'upgrade' (A new word he heard Rikku use often) his sword to become better than, or at least able to match the most efficient one. So, using the information he had just realized, he made a plan. (AN: Naruto, did your IQ just rise a few points? Lol.)

First things first, he had to reach the temple. He noticed that he was around 3 quarters of the way to the highest section of land. At that point, there would be a steep incline where he would have to climb. Hopefully there would be stairs, and that was a definite possibility. It sounded like many people went to the temple, so they would have naturally built some stairs to it right?

Second, he had to find information in the temple. He needed to know all about Sin, and he also needed to know the closest city. He doubted that people in a temple would know anything about blacksmiths, so it was useless to ask about that. He needed to know what the city was called, where it was generally located, and how to get there. Naruto knew he would have to take a boat, but knowing where the boat was supposed to go would be nice.

Third, he had to talk to Kyuubi. He would most likely be spending the night at the temple, so that wouldn't be a problem. The kitsune had healed his wounds, and he had to know if he was in any danger or not. He would have asked the Kyuubi now, but he was asleep apparently. Bastard fox... Naruto cursed under his breath. The curse quickly became a smile however when he saw that, indeed, the temple had stairs. The blonde made a small whoop of joy as he began to climb his way to the temple. The fox-boy realized he was once again becoming distracted, and forced himself to get back to his plan.

The next morning, he would hopefully have all the information he would need. He would then head back to Kilika, find Maxie and Mizu so he could say goodbye and thank you, and then hop onto the next ship for... wherever it is he would have to go.

Naruto smiled at his plan, proud that he had just figured out what to do over the next few days. After this uplifting thought left his head, he realized he was already at the temple. There were priests, and also other random people running around with books, scrolls, and the occasional staff.

The building was smaller than he expected, but still amazing. There were many large glass orbs adorning the outside walls, with fire burning inside them. He pondered for a second as to what kept them burning, but quickly dismissed it as simply more magic. There seemed to be a lot of it in this world after all.

After questioning various random people (they didn't give him their names, and he didn't particularly feel like asking) he was shocked to discover that none of them knew anything. Either that, or they just wouldn't tell him anything. They looked like such nice people. When he asked about Sin, however, they turned from him in disgust, as if they thought he was playing some kind of sick joke. Eventually, he found one person who told him the problem, albeit very bluntly.

"Are you insane? Or just plain stupid? Everyone knows what Sin is and what it does! It's a mindless monster! It destroys! You must have a sick sense of humor to pretend you don't know something like that!" At the end of the young man's mini-rant, he turned quickly away from Naruto and walked off as if the ninja were a disease. Naruto finally understood why everyone was acting this way. They thought he was playing them for fools. Maybe if he just explained himself...

"Umm...well you see, I was attacked by Sin-" Everyone within earshot, including the man who had just dismissed him, turned towards the blonde with shocked expressions on their faces. This was extremely creepy in and of itself, and the fox-boy was suddenly feeling something akin to stage fright. At the moment, the poor boy just simply wanted to find a hole that he could crawl into and die. He would never actually do that mind you, but it was exactly how he was feeling.

I don't really want to be the center of attention anymore.

Ok, really really REALLY short chapter, but hopefully the short update time makes up for it. Wonder if you liked it? Anyway, I couldn't think of any jokes, so I'm just putting in some weird facts for something to do. (Starting to run out, will probably have to actively search for them soon, lol)

-Men can read smaller print than women. Women can hear better.

-Approximate cost of raising a medium-sized dog to the age of eleven is $6400

-Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

-111,111,111 x 111,111,111 equals 123,456,789,987,654,321

Well, I managed to kill a few extra seconds with that. Don't sue me because I don't know where the jokes are from. My friends could have come up with them for all I know. (Although I highly doubt that) While reviewing, tell me if you think I should keep putting these little tidbits here, or are they just wasting everyone's time? Anyway, ja ne.