Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Huh, been quite a while since i've said that hasn't it.
Naruto looked around the destroyed village sadly while sitting up on a rather large rock nearby the survivors. He was keeping a lookout for fiends that were usually left behind in Sin's wake; Sinspawn they called them. He was told they would all have to be killed off eventually or Sin would return for them, but as it was now saving the few who survived the attack had to take priority. He glanced over to where a woman was dancing on the water while holding a staff, with small lights dancing around her as she did. Pyreflies, he would recall them being named. He had to admit; as depressed as he currently was, his interest was peaked. Here was a woman who appeared out of nowhere and was effortlessly water walking while dancing; though in this world, it almost assuredly wasn't the water walking he was accustomed to.
He sat up before dusting off his pants and jogging over to the small crowd that had gathered to watch the woman, and he noticed that they all had their heads down in deep prayer. Realizing the importance of the event, Naruto copied them, bowing his head towards the water and simply enjoying the sounds and the light dancing on the edge of his vision. Hearing talking nearby, he closed his eyes and listened closely to what they were saying.
"So what's she doing?" He heard a boy said, probably relatively close to his own age. A woman sighed, probably irritated at his questions during what seemed to be a fairly important ritual.
"Yuna is currently performing the Sending. It is a ritual performed by summoners to call upon the Fayth, and ask for their help in leading the lost souls of the fallen to the Farplane." She seemed to get slightly sadder after saying this. "If the ritual is not performed, those who died, but did not accept their death, will become the Unsent, wandering our world. Eventually they become envious of the living, with that envy slowing turning into hatred for all living things. Once that happens, the Unsent transform into fiends." The boy seemed to grow solemn after this, and Naruto could understand why; knowing the souls of your friends and loved ones could turn into monsters if not sent was not a pleasant concept.
And so, for one of the few times in Naruto's life, he stayed quiet, allowing the ritual to take place, as he wished Maxie peace in the afterlife.
Naruto allowed a small smile as he waved goodbye to Mizu. She seemed alright physically, and while mentally she was quite distraught over the loss of Maxie, she seemed to be handling the information well. Naruto flinched at the thought that the monster had followed him here, and his eyes hardened with new determination. He wouldn't just kill Sin, he would completely destroy it, purging it from this world entirely and away from all these good people. He didn't want any more attacks like this, and would work his damned hardest to prevent others from happening.
Stepping onto the boat which he had heard was going to some city called Luca, Naruto bounced up onto the railing of the ship and crouched on it waiting for the ship to leave port. He decided that even with as many bad things that have happened near the water lately due to Sin, he still loved boats. It was just so calming being out on the open sea with all the seagulls and the fresh air. Naruto smiled to himself and looked around the boat from his position on the railing, seeing the summoner woman near the front of the ship with a few people standing near her, one being a blonde haired boy and the other what looked like a lion man, but blueish in color. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't taken much of a look at the summoner herself. She had short brown hair and carried a staff with her, one of the few things he had noticed earlier. She was probably slightly taller than him, and wore a type of kimono and skirt ensemble where the top half was white and the skirt was a blue color with flowers imprinted on it. Overall she was very pretty, and when she turned and made a small wave at him he waved back slightly before turning back to look at the water. It wouldn't do to look like some kind of pervert who keeps staring at people.
Naruto hopped off the railing and decided to explore the inside of the ship, though after going below deck there didn't seem to be much there. He saw a couple of people kicking a blue-colored ball around, and a merchant with a rather large backpack and a cloth layed out in front of him with a bunch of bottles and weapons lying on it, he was looking down at the floor and seemed pretty down on his luck, to be honest.
The Kyuubi container moved over to the man and started looking through the bottles while attempting to start up a conversation. "So, you seem pretty down. My name's Naruto, what's yours?" He asked politely.
The man puffed out his chest and declared; "Name's the legendary merchant O'aka the 23rd, born from a long line of merchants. Have you heard of me?" Naruto shook his head no, surprised to see someone act so closely to how he used to act. "Ah, I see. Well, that may be because im not quite legendary yet. But I will be, make no mistake! I shall be the greatest merchant who ever lived!" However he sighed slightly after his little display. "Well... if I get out of this slump im in I guess."
"Slump?" Naruto questioned, blinking his blue eyes in confusion while staring at the odd man.
"Yes, I seem to have uhm, overshot my boundaries when it comes to gil, you see. Although I have these things to sell, I have no actual money to my name to purchase lodgings or food until I happen to get lucky and sell something." He looked down at the floor again, seeming somewhat ashamed of himself. "What kind of great merchant can I be if I cannot keep track of the amount of my own earnings? The ticket for this boat took everything I had left when I was sure I would have had a couple thousand gil left over."
Naruto thought hard to himself. He did have a few thousand gil but... it was money given to him by Mizu for lodgings and food of his own, though he could just sleep under the stars. He really wanted to help this guy, though...
He sighed and pulled out his wallet, handing a couple thousand gil to the man without thinking. "Here... take it, I really don't need it much." Naruto was hoping he was telling the truth about that, he wasn't sure how much things costed around here. Meanwhile the man looked up to him nearly with tears in his eyes.
"Y-you mean it sir? Really? Oh thank Yevon, im saved! There are still nice people in this world after all!" The man shouted while grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously, while Naruto flushed slightly from the praise and the fact people nearby were beginning to stare. "I will never forget this sir, never! And I'll pay you back, I promise! Is there anything from my stock you might want in the meantime? Please, take anything, you have no idea how much this has helped!" The Kyuubi vessel sweatdropped slightly, it couldn't have been quite that important could it have? But, as asked, he decided to at least look through the man's items to see what he had for sale when something off to the side caught his eye. It looked somewhat like a simple tan color piece of cloth, but when he reached for it and picked it up, it seemed more like a cloak and muffler. He had to admit he was intrigued, he put the muffler part of the ensemble over his head and around his neck and marvalled at how comfortable it was despite its ragged look. The material covered his shoulders and could be pulled up to cover his mouth, while the actual cloak part of it billowed around his body and down to about his ankles, in his opinion making him look more wise than he was.
"Ah, you have a good eye sir, I had almost given up hope on ever selling that. Its a sand cloak, mostly useful in the desert and, being made by Al Bhed most people naturally stay away from it." Naruto nodded to himself at the man's words. He would take this, it even reminded him of Rikku. O'aka thanked him again for his donation and purchase, promising to pay back the rest of the gil someday, even though Naruto really didn't mind. Smiling at the man he began to walk up the stairs again before the boat began to shake slightly, but noticably. The engine started up and the boat finally began to leave port.
Naruto wasn't quite sure how long he had been sleeping. Though the people on the ship were looking oddly at him now. Not surprising really, considering while sitting on the railing of the boat he had dozed off looking at the waves, and sat there perfectly balanced throughout his entire nap. He flushed slightly again from the attention he kept getting from these weird situations. It really wasn't that big of a deal, he used to do it all the time in Konoha, sleeping on the edges of tree branches and such. Though he guessed sleeping against the trunk of the tree, even while on a branch would have probably been a smarter idea.
Suddenly a loud crash jostled the whole ship, almost sending a couple people overboard and knocking most people off their feet. Naruto got to his feet and felt something growl from inside of him, which could only mean...
"SIIIIIN!!!!!!!" He heard someone yell, as Naruto got to his feet and ran to the front of the ship where the summoner and her escorts were. At that moment a giant fin rose up out of the water, swaying from side to side slightly and keeping perfect pace with the boat. While it was rising up out of the water, Naruto could see a single blood red, slitted eye staring down at the boat, specifically, right at him. Growling deeply as the eye sunk back underneath the waves, Naruto drew his sword and got ready for a fight, at the least this time, he wouldn't be completely useless.
"Kit, you aren't ready for this. We won't win." Naruto heard Kyuubi growl out in his mind, repeating what he already knew.
"Yeah, we can't win but... we can make it back off or stall it, until we reach our destination." He said while narrowing his eyes and keeping a close eye on the fin as it moved back and forth, preparing to attack the boat."
"It's still a long shot, but yes, I suppose you're right. Its the only real chance we have. We've escaped harm twice before through luck; we can't guarantee we'll be so lucky again." Kyuubi grinned, even staring death in the face as he was. "This time, we don't run."
Naruto grinned back in his mind, showing off his feral teeth and whisker marks. "We fight."
The creature seemed to actually grow angry at the thought of this little creature not being afraid of it, and made a wailing sound that Naruto had to cover his ears for, before picking up speed and ramming into the boat. Hearing the boat creak and splinters fly in all directions, the blonde remembered where it was they were fighting. They were on a boat in the middle of the ocean and their enemy was probably a couple hundred yards out into the ocean, he couldn't even reach it! So how could he fight it?
Just as he said that, the summoner and her companions stepped up to fight, as she said; "Leave this to us." Another woman in a black, revealing outfit and carrying a doll stepped up next to the summoner, along with a man with orange hair stuck up in a spike, and carrying one of those blue and white balls under his arm.
"Yah, lets do this!" The man yelled as suddenly the ball was coated in a thick layer of ice before he kicked it, it bounced across the water before smacking into the fin and shattering the ice before bouncing back to the man. The monster growled loudly, but otherwise seemed unphased, backing up and ramming into the boat yet again. Splintering the boat and causing people to shield their eyes. The woman in the black dress frowned and was surrounded by a pale white light before tossing her hand in the air and bringing it down swiftly, causing a lightning bolt to magically appear and strike Sin's fin, causing it to make a pained sound and back off for a moment. The fin then suddenly began spasming widely before shooting several black dots up into the sky, which quickly came back to earth and crashed into the boat, before unfolding into bug-like creatures about half the size of a person, screeching wildly and flapping its little wings.
"Alright, I finally get to do something!" Naruto yelled before crossing his hands in a familar sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" As four clones poofed into existence next to him, he settled into a comfortable fighting stance in front of the creatures as two of the summoner's other guardians stood next to him, ready to fight. Apparently the ones who couldn't reach the fin, like he couldn't.
The blonde quickly sliced his weapon forward, easily bringing down one of the Sinspawn while sending two clones each to take down other spawn. Turning to another one he was about to kill it before he had to backflip backward to avoid another 'seed' that dropped from the sky impaling him, which quickly unfolded into yet another of the creatures. Naruto cursed and brought his sword over his head before bringing it down harshly on top of the creature, crushing it into the deck of the ship with his sword as it turned into pyreflies. As he smirked the other sinspawn he had forgotten jumped and bit down on his arm, clinging to him and tearing at his side with its little legs. The Kyuubi vessel hissed in pain before smacking it in the head with the hilt of his sword and throwing it off his arm, and then kicking it further down the deck into the waiting sword of one of his Kage Bunshins.
Naruto cursed and shrugged off the pain of the bite as Kyuubi began to heal the damage inflicted while the blonde homed in on another creature and impaled it, its scream matching the one of sin itself as its fin was assaulted by magic. Hearing a whistling sound in the air Naruto dodged again, avoiding four more Sinspawn seeds more hitting them as they unfolded into more of the annoying little creatures. They began to spread out trying to surround him, but the vessel began to quickly backpeddle to keep them all in front of him, it wouldn't do to be attacked from behind. As he did he grabbed a kunai and threw it quickly, having it whistle through the air before going into the head of one of the fiends as it dropped to the deck and began to dissolve into pyreflies.
Continuing to back up Naruto came back-to-back with one of the summoner's guardians, who seemed to be in the same situation as him. Covering each other's backs they waited for the Sinspawn to attack before quickly cutting each of them down. They were really weak, it was just freaking difficult keeping them all in view when they kept falling from the sky like that. Turning to quickly thank the guardian, Naruto pointed at him in shock as the other blonde did the same.
"YOU!" They both yelled at each other as the vessel gaped as he saw the boy he found in the cave being attacked by fiends, the cave he went to before Rikku's boat sunk by being attacked by Sin. Quickly regaining their senses however they both turned and quickly sliced another Sinspawn in unison, which Naruto had to admit was quite amusing. Before he had a chance to say more however, another screech from Sin hit everyone on the boat causing them to all cover their ears from the volume. Most of the sinspawn protecting the fin had been shot at the boat, leaving it more vulnerable to the magic that it was still being pelted with. The creature made a groaning noise and sunk below the surface of the water. Everyone was still cautious however; why would the creature leave? It may have been hurting, but it was obviously very far from being in danger of dieing. Naruto pondered this for a moment before multiple sinspawn seeds suddenly shot out of the water near the boat, crashing into Naruto and knocking him off of the boat as their momentum continued and he was pushed deep under the waves.
It's been a while huh everybody? Couple years? Not quite sure and too lazy to check when this was last updated. I've taken this story off of the "permanent hiatus" status I originally had it on, since for some reason I just had an urge to write it, kinda weird.
I can't promise I won't end up stopping again sometime down the road, but for the next while, you can probably expect some regular updates. I hope this chapter is to your liking, as I think my writing skills have improved a bit, though my storytelling skills may not have, heh.
I have also fixed some typos in chapter one along with a plothole in chapter 17. While I do kinda wish to change some parts of the story I created when I was younger, I felt that wouldn't be a good thing to do and will instead just fix mistakes and move on with new chapters. Please read, review, criticize.