Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Zelda franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.
Rating changed to M for Blood/Gore
Thank you and Please enjoy.
The Legend of Zelda: Interloper of Time
-Chapter 17-
-Death Mountain Trail, one week later-
Standing just outside the village, the two teenage heroes and their fairies were all set and ready to go. Never did Naruto or Saria think they'd be so relieved to be headed towards an active volcano in their lives, but if it meant getting far away from a certain white haired woman, then they'd gladly do it. The last few days had been the most miserable time of their lives either of them had ever gone through, Impa made sure of that.
-Flashback, Day 1, Naruto-
"Faster." Impa said as she watched Naruto run laps around the village. "I'm…*huff* going as… *wheeze* fast as I can…" Naruto panted tiredly as his muscles screamed in agony. *Swish* *Thunk, Thunk, Thunk* "EEEEK! You're crazy lady!" Naruto screamed at her while running like hell as even more knives were tossed at him.
-Day 2, Saria-
*Twang Thunk* "Again," *Twang Thunk* "Again," *Twang Thunk* "Again," Saria groaned as she drew her bow again, wincing as her fingers protested the action. Aiming carefully, she let the arrow fly into the badly damaged target, just missing the bullseye by a hairsbreadth. Impa, who stood right next to the target, ripped the arrow out and dropped it into a large pile next to herself. "Again."
-Day 2, Naruto and Saria-
*Kraka-BOOM!* "YOU'RE FREAKING INSANE!" Naruto screamed as he and Saria ran like hell from Impa who was shooting round after round of fire magic at them in rapid succession. "Dodging is an important skill to practice." Impa replied calmly, as if she was talking about the weather not justifying trying to roast two teenagers.
-Day 3, Saria-
Saria sweated intensely as she struggled to maintain Nayru's Love while Impa smashed into it with her sword. Cracks quickly spread across the crystalline like shield, until finally after the dozenth or so hit it shattered fully and Saria was sent flying from the flat side of the sword bashing into her chest.
She hit the ground hard, desperately gasping for breath while holding her side. Impa stood over her with a blank look, not even blinking as Elia flew over and started healing the girl. "Better, but not good enough. Get up and try it again." Impa said once she had recovered enough to stand.
-Day 4, Naruto-
With a happy sigh, Naruto sunk into the hot spring as he felt his muscles relax, Navi sighing with him as she drifted around on her pouch floatie. Quickly scrubbing off the grime and dirt from the harsh day of training, Naruto sank into the water up to his neck and closed his eyes.
*Swish* Eyes flying open at the dreadfully familiar sound, Naruto flung himself to the side just in time as several shuriken struck the space he was just occupying. Snapping his gaze towards the source of them, he growled as he saw Impa standing by the fence with one of her arms outstretched.
"Seriously!? I can't even bathe in peace now!?" He yelled, only getting her patented mini-smirk in response.
-Day 5, Naruto-
Naruto groaned as he was smashed into the ground for the dozenth time. Slowly standing up, he barely managed to block another blow with his shield before swinging at his opponent. He grit his teeth in annoyance though as Impa effortlessly deflected the sword with her bracer and disarmed him with a sudden jab to his wrist.
-Day 5, Saria-
Dodging side to side to avoid getting skewered by arrows, the green haired girl desperately returned fire with little success as Impa would either bat them away or even snatch them out of the air and shoot them right back at her. Flinching as an arrow managed to graze her leg, Saria paused in surprise as it actually managed to hit the other woman, tearing a chunk of cloth from her shoulder.
She regretted that hesitation immediately though as Impa used the opportunity to pin her feet to the ground with two well-placed shots. "Never hesitate," Impa said, once again ignoring the fact she'd just seriously injured someone as she watched the screaming girl pull the arrows out of her feet.
-Day 6, Naruto and Saria-
Impa moved agilely as she swatted several arrows out of the air with her sword and knocked Naruto onto his ass with a well-timed kicked simultaneously. Without pause her free hand suddenly caught ablaze and she hurled a fireball at Saria, causing the greenette to scramble out of the way with a yelp. Getting back to his feet, Naruto used the brief moment she wasn't focusing on him to try and get close.
Blocking the rising slice he sent, Impa prepared herself for the overhead strike he was preparing, only to get honestly surprised when he instead bashed his shield against her sword's guard. Caught slightly off guard by the tactic, Impa instinctually released her grip on the handle as the shock ran up her arm. Before she could grab it, Naruto swatted it away with his sword and jumped back just as several arrows hit her arms and legs, curtesy of Saria.
Charging forward, Naruto tackled the Sheikah and pinned her to the ground with the Master Sword held to her throat. "Hmm, it would appear you won." Impa said, her voice not wavering once as she spoke. Naruto didn't have a chance to question this though as he felt something sharp and metallic press against his lower stomach and throat. "…but then again, appearances can be deceiving."
-Flashback End-
After that fight, Impa decided they were quote 'passable for now' end quote. Finally allowing them a day to rest, most of which the duo spent being extremely paranoid over every rustle and shadow, she had them gather at the opposite side if the village the next morning which finally lead to now.
"Be weary as you head forth, Death Mountain has been abnormally active this year and the pathway is many times more perilous than normal. The Gorons haven't contacted us for just as long and every man we've sent to check on them has never returned." Impa told them from atop the wall. As if to emphasize her point, several super-heated stones came crashing down nearby, thankfully not damaging the town a translucent barrier sprang into existence and deflected any that got close.
"…"
"…how have we not noticed that before?" Navi asked as the dome faded away. "Probably because we were more focused on not getting killed." Saria said with a deadpan look, getting the others to nod in agreement before they finally started ascending the mountain.
Other than the flaming rocks falling from the sky, the trip up to Goron City also involved several swarms of Tektites which were much more aggressive than usual, carefully avoiding streams of lava that were bubbling down around them, and the stifling heat that left all four of them drenched in sweat within minutes. The worst part though, the high amounts of toxic gas that forced Naruto and Saria to wear protective masks provided by Impa that were stifling, made even more uncomfortable due to Navi and Elia. Why?
"This is extremely uncomfortable," Navi whined, the top of her head and eyes peeking out from the side of Naruto's mask as she was squished against Naruto's cheek. She could barely hear Elia's muffled agreement from Saria's mask. Not only did they have to worry about the toxic air, but due to their small delicate bodies they were forced to stay covered at all times as even one of the small embers floating around could seriously hurt them.
"Well, unless you want to get roasted, you'll just have to deal with it." Naruto told her, getting an annoyed grumble in response. "Now stop squirming so much, your wings are tickling me." "You'll just have to deal with it." He could practically hear the smirk on her face. "…Touché,"
The rest of the walk continued in silence, other than the Tektites screams as they were sliced apart or peppered with arrows and occasional freak-out when one of the duo's clothes caught aflame, until they passed the entrance to Dodongo's Cavern. A disgusting, yet unfortunately very familiar smell wafted into their noses causing the group to grimace. "I guess we now know what happened to the men the crazy lady sent." Naruto said somberly while tightening his grip on the Master Sword. Scattered around the area were the scorched, desiccated, and shredded remains of several people, the only thing recognizable being the barely visible eye-like symbol of the Sheikah. There were also deep gouge marks resembling claw scratches all over the stone surfaces, and a handful of large red scales next to broken fragments of swords and spears.
"We b-better keep moving, the goddesses only know if w-whatever did this could still be around." Elia said, extremely unnerved if the shaking inside of Saria's mask was any indication. Giving a prayer for the deceased, the quartet continued along with even greater caution. It took another fifteen minutes to reach the entrance to Goron City… and what greeted them was not a pleasant sight.
The main entrance itself looked to have been blasted apart, leaving a gaping, charred hole. Dashing inside, the group was dismayed to see the battle ground that was once Goron City. Most of the area was littered with craters, with most walls that were either blown apart, covered in more of those gouge marks, or both. Entire sections of the ceiling/floor had been caved in, leaving several areas inaccessible.
The worst part though, was the multitude of corpses littering the area, Goron corpses. Men, women, even children. None had been spared by whatever had attacked. Just like the men outside, the bodies had been torn to shreds, burnt to a crisp, or in most cases both.
Saria looked ready to cry and vomit simultaneously, Elia and Navi were vomiting, and Naruto had a single tear fall down his cheek as his expression was livid. "We should look for any survivors, please let there be some," Naruto said, whispering the last part to himself as they carefully stepped around the bodies and descended to the lower levels.
As they delved lower, the bodies changed from innocent civilians to actual armor clad warriors. "Whatever did this, most likely struck by surprise and moved very quickly, most look only half ready at best." Navi said sadly as they passed by a goron who only wore what used to be a chest plate, his weapon, a heavy mace nearly the same size as an average Hylian, laying not far away broken in half surrounded by more of those red scales from before.
By the time they reached the lowest level, hope of finding any survivors had dwindled away into near nonexistence when a boulder came crashing down next to them, "Halt! Who goes there?!"
Standing across from them, in front of the doorway to the lowest level were a dozen or so gorons wearing battered armor, wielding just as damaged maces, cleavers, or held more boulders ready to be thrown. While relieved to see that some managed to survive, Naruto and Saria were quick to raise their hands in a non-hostile gesture as to avoid getting squished.
"Our names are Naruto and Saria, sworn brother and sister of Darunia!" Saria yelled back, getting surprised looks from the guards before they steeled up. The largest of them, easily standing eleven feet tall, walked forward before speaking. "You claim to be the great Dodongo Busters? What proof do you have of this?"
Reaching into her pouch, Saria pulled out the golden bracelet that Darunia had given her that no longer fit, and showed it to the rocky giant. Carefully grabbing the piece of jewelry between two fingers, the goron held the bracelet up to his eye and carefully examined it. "Hmmmm,"
After about a minute or so, he gave it back with a satisfied nod. "It's authentic, it's good to have you back sister Saria, brother Naruto… … …though I wish it was under better circumstances." He said, finishing with a sad sigh as he led them past the guards.
The bottom level of Goron City was stuffed to it's limits, with many gorons huddled together in clusters, many of which could be heard crying over the deaths of their loved ones. The goron who they were following, who introduced himself as Granizt, lead them through the crowds to a grouping of stone tables where other guards were resting.
"What happened here, and where is Darunia?" Naruto asked as soon as they sat down, not wanting to beat around the bush. Granizt sighed as he took off his helmet and was given a small, for his size, serving of rock sirloin. "Volvagia happened," Seeing the confused looks on the twos' faces he quickly elaborated. "Many years ago, a dragon known as Volvagia lived in death mountain, feasting on gorons whenever it felt like until Chief Darunia's ancestor slew it using a mighty hammer."
"Just over a year ago though, the beast suddenly burst into Goron City and started slaughtering us," Granizt paused as he took a few deep breaths, relaxing his grip which had started crushing the table. "We fought back as best we could, but by the time we managed to drive the beast off, much of our home and many of our people had perished. Ever since, the beast has frequently attacked, forcing us to retreat down into here for safety. Thankfully after the Dodongo incident, we gorons stocked up a large supply of food for emergencies"
He stopped again, only this time to eat for a bit before continuing. "Three days ago, during the dreaded beast's latest attack, several other monsters I didn't recognize also attacked us and kidnapped several brothers and sisters. The chief followed after them into the Temple of Fire where Volvagia now nests while commanding us to stay put, and he has yet to return." With that finally bit said, Granizt sighed sadly as he finished his meal while a tense silence overcame them.
"We'll go look for him then," Naruto said suddenly, surprising the goron warrior. "Show us the way to the Temple of Fire and we'll go help Darunia and the others." Granizt held his baffled gaze for several seconds before shaking his head and smiling. "Ahaha! I like your spirit brother!" He said boisterously while patting him on the pain getting a pained grunt in response.
Standing up, Granizt beckoned them to follow and lead them across the area and into Darunia's home. It was a mostly bare room with a few decorations such as rugs and vases, with the most stand out thing being a large, blocky statue of a goron even taller than Granizt. Not saying anything, the rocky giant grabbed the statue and lifted it off the ground with a strained grunt, revealing a long, dark, and narrow tunnel with a feint red glow in the distance.
"This tunnel leads directly into the crater of Death Mountain where the temple is hidden, it was carved out years ago in case we ever need to evacuate the city. Though, given you are Hylian, you cannot survive the intense temperatures like we gorons, luckily we had something made for just the occasion." Walking over to an old looking chest sitting in the corner, the goron dug around inside it for a few moments before pulling out a bundle of reddish leather.
"Here they are," Granizt said as he allowed the leather to un-bunch, revealing a pair of leather shirts with scale like patterns. "Goron Tunics, made from the hide of the King Dodongo that you slew all those years ago. We gorons made them to allow our allies to journey through the volcano without fear."
Handing them to the duo, Granizt walked back to the door, "I must get back to assist my brothers, I wish you both luck."
Once he was gone, Navi poked her head out from Naruto's mask and said, "Well... …that was convenient."
-End Chapter-
AN: Hope nobody gets mad at me for doing that to the Gorons, but I think this would be a more likely scenario than they all somehow get captured at once, are imprisoned, and fed to Volvagia one at a time. I haven't forgotten about Darunia's son, he will be introduced later. Thank you for reading and please review.
