Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Legend of Zelda franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.
Thank you for reading and please enjoy
The Legend of Zelda: Interloper of Time
-Chapter 35-
"I agree master, but it would probably be best if you change back to your normal footwear so that we may go regroup with Mistress Saria." Fi said while still avoiding looking directly at Naruto.
"Yeah, good point, the girls are probably getting worried about us anywaAAAAH!" Naruto started to say while bending over to remove the boots, only to end up shouting in terror as the sudden shift of weight sent him sailing across the room.
"…I think I now know what a headache feels like." Fi stated dully in her normal monotone as she followed after the runaway blonde.
-And Now, Shadow Temple Entrance Chamber-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-*Thunk* …ow."
"Naruto and Fi are back," Navi stated, a soft giggle slipping past her lips as the whiskered blonde suddenly zipped into the room at high speed and crashed right into a wall, Fi casually floating in after him with her usual blank expression. "So, how'd the searching go?"
"Just the same old same old," Naruto grumbled tiredly after peeling his face out of the crater it made in the stone. "Lots of overcomplicated death traps, ugly bloodthirsty monsters, and annoying as hell puzzles. Though at least this time I got some cool bling to go with all the bruises."
"We noticed," Saria said, already at the blonde's side as she pulled him the rest of the way out of the wall and held him steady. "Nice boots, a bit gaudy but they really seem to just… slip on huh?"
"Heh, good one," Naruto chuckled softly while struggling to keep his balance. "And yeah, they may suck traction wise but they're what we need to get across that chasm."
"Indeed," Fi stated with a nod. "After some analysis and testing on the way back, we've determined that these boots allow the wearer to briefly hover off the ground, five point three one seconds to be exact. Just long enough for one to cross safely..."
"Whoa!" *Crash* "…Ow."
"…If they can stay standing that is." The sword spirit added dully while Naruto groaned in pain from slipping again right after Saria let him go and falling into a pile of old pottery.
"Uh, Naruto, why don't you just stick yourself to the floor like when you're wall-walking?" Elia asked with a tilted head as she and Navi fluttered around the fallen teen, using their magic to ease up the various bumps and contusions he had.
"…I forgot about that."
"Of course you did," The small green fairy mumbled with a facepalm that Navi and Saria shared. "Well, while you figure out how to not fall on your ass in those, we'll try and solve the other issue we still have."
"Ugh… which is?" Naruto asked while sitting up, idly yanking a piece of ceramic out of his shoulder.
"The giant ass gate still blocking the way forward," Navi said while everyone glanced at the gated tunnel mouth. "There's no point in crossing if we can't even get through on the other side."
"Oh that, I could just-"
"You are not blowing it up." Saria, Navi, and Elia said at the same time, cutting the whiskered blonde off and giving the stink eye as he not-so-discreet tucked his bomb bag back into his pouch.
"Aw why not? We already scoured this place from top to bottom and found nothing that opens it." Naruto said with a childish pout, arms crossed and everything.
"Have you forgotten the part where we're over a mile underground Naruto?" Saria asked rhetorically while pointing up at the ceiling. "An explosion that big could bring this whole place down on top of us, and I don't know about you but I prefer NOT being buried alive."
"Fiiiiiine."
And so, for the next twenty minutes or so, while Naruto got used to using the Pegasus Boots, which went a lot smoother than before after he followed Elia's advice of using the wall-walking technique, Saria, Fi, Elia, and Navi brainstormed over how to open the gate.
First they had Fi float over and check for any sings of magical protection on the metal itself, for which she found none, and considered various methods of forcing it open. Sadly though, given the dubiously stability of the platform to work on and the ever-present risk of cave-in, most of their ideas were quickly shot down as too risky.
With brute force being too risky, the quartet instead focused on trying to puzzle out how the blocked passageway was normally supposed to be opened. Given the theme of the place, Fi deduced that it was most likely that the method to do so was hidden in plain sight.
Yet, after taking another thorough look over the room both with and without the Lens of Truth, only one thing really stuck out in the end.
"I don't get it, there has to be some reason that only this pillar has an actual skull on it instead of an illusion," Saria muttered while staring at one of the skull topped totems critically, the magical magnifying glass held up to her eye as she looked every inch of it. "Fi, you got anything?"
"I'm sorry Mistress Saria but I do not," The sword spirit said, her 'hand' emitting a soft glow as she pressed it up against the cold stone. "As far as I can tell, the only magic within this pillar is that which keeps it aflame."
"Dammit, how about you guys?" The greenette asked while looking upwards, where Navi and Elia could be seen flying near the ceiling in order to get an overhead view.
"No, nothing here ei-"
"Wait, I got it!" Navi cut Elia off as she floated over to the large bird statue that sat I the center of the room. "This thing looks like it should be a raven, the bird of death, but check out the beak. It's way too long, almost like-"
"Like its pointing at something!" Saria finished as it clicked in her head. "Of course! How did I not see that?"
Rushing over to the statue, the former forest child firmly grabbed the base of it before pushing as hard as she could, her face rapidly turning red from exertion until her head looked just like a tomato. At first, she looked rather stupid pushing away at a massive statue easily twice her size, but that quickly changed a few seconds later as the chunk of carved stone slowly started to turn with a loud grinding noise.
Not liking how slow it was going, Saria grit her teeth and dug her feet into the ground as she redoubled her efforts, making it go just a bit faster though not by much.
Luckily for her though, she wasn't pushing alone for long as a certain whiskered blonde popped up beside her barefoot and a cheeky grin as he started pushing too. "Need a hand?"
"It… *Huff* would be appreciated." She said breathlessly while grinning back.
With their combined effort, it only took a few more moments to fully turn the statue so that it was facing towards the real torch.
*Skreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee* "Gah!"/"What the fuck?!"/"My ears!"/"The hell!?"/"Auditory malfunction!" Everyone clutched their ears as the statue let out a deafening shriek, visibly soundwaves blasting through the air.
Navi and Elia had it the worst, the blasts of sound sent them tumbling through the air like ragdolls dangerously close to the chasm.
"Gotcha!" Thankfully, just before the pair went over the edge, a pair of hands shot out and grabbed them and pulled them away from the death drop. The owner of the hands, Naruto, then hugged the fairies to his chest, ignoring the piercing pain in his ears as he kept the duo covered until the sound blasts finally stopped.
Once they did, the whiskered boy groaned in pain before falling onto his ass, a small trickle of blood leaking out of his ears.
"Well that was fun!" He said sarcastically, talking really loudly thanks to the ringing in his ears, while un-cupping his hands to show the disgruntled tiny woman in his grasp. "Is everyone alright!?"
"Define alright?" Elia asked rhetorically, trembling heavily while she clung to the young man's thumb for dear life and sending the bird statue a suspicious glare.
"I'm fine." Saria grumbled while rubbing her ears.
"That was most unpleasant." Fi muttered, actually frowning as she shook her head in discomfort.
"Ow… great, I think my wings are broken-yeowch!" Navi muttered, yelping in pain when she accidently brushed her crumpled wings against Naruto's pinkie. "Yep! Definitely broken."
"Sorry!" Naruto yelled apologetically with a wince, unable to hear what she said but getting the idea when he saw her cringing in pain.
"It's fine, they'll -ow- fix themselves soon, just put me down on your head." The blue fairy said while gesturing to her head, making the whiskered blonde nod and gently set the pair on top of his head where they promptly buried themselves into his golden locks.
A few seconds after that, Naruto's ears gained a soft green and blue glow before he sighed in relief as they stopped aching and ringing. "Ah, thanks guys, that's a lot better."
"Well, at least that annoyance wasn't for nothing," Saria said, getting the blonde's attention as they glanced across the chasm to see that sometime during the commotion. "But what the hell was that all about anyway?"
"I believe that was some form of dual-purpose early warning system," Fi stated while floating over to the greenette's side. "It was likely meant to both deafen and disorientate unaware intruders while simultaneously warning the shadow sage of intruders within the temple."
"Which means Bongo-Bongo definitely knows we're coming now, great," Naruto said, quickly slipping the Pegasus boots back on before cracking his knuckles dramatically before turning towards Saria and crouching slightly. "Let's not keep him waiting then, my foot has an appointment with his ass."
"On that I can agree," Saria muttered, climbing onto the whiskered blonde's back piggyback style while Fi returned to inside the Master Sword. "Navi, Elia, you two ready?"
"As we'll ever be." Navi said, her arm popping out to give a thumbs up before slipping back into Naruto's hair.
"Alright, on three," Naruto said while taking a deep breath to calm his nerves as he walked up to the edge of the chasm and got into a ready stance. "One… two… three!"
The teen shot forward like a cannon, zipping over the hole in a blink at high speed as the air beneath his shoes emitted a golden glow that spread out almost like a platform. However, as the seconds ticked by, this glow rapidly grew dimmer, showing that the magic was already beginning to wane.
Thankfully for the group though, Naruto was able to make it to the other side before it ran out completely and stopped running. However, thanks to the boots lack of friction, the quintet slid right through the tunnel and only came to a stop on the other side once Naruto stuck himself in place with chakra.
Staring at the new room before them, Naruto and Saria couldn't help but drop their jaw in shock, with Navi and Elia doing the same when they peaked out in curiosity.
"…Okay, now I have to ask," Navi muttered, her damaged wings fluttering behind her as her eyes bugged out of her eyes. "Just what the fuck were these guys smoking when they built this place?"
Instead of a regular room filled with deathtraps and/or horrifying monsters like they'd come to expect, the group found themselves standing by the bank of an underground river. It was artificially made, based on the perfect U-shaped bricking that it consisted of, stretching about two to three hundred feet wide and going off into a dimly lit tunnel for so long none of them could see the end.
Then there was the boat.
It was a large craft, big enough to carry a few dozen people at least, made of a dark brown almost black colored wood with pitch black metal banding and rivets while a plain wooden ramp stuck off the side to let people board. The front of the ship was decorated with a raven head carving, a pair of large lamps, a pair giant brass bells, and finally a set of bone-like metal hands sticking out just above the water's surface.
Oddly enough, there was also a very, VERY old looking dude standing at the top of the ramp, a long oar in his hands that stretched into the water below.
"I don't even… how does this… why would… fuck it, I don't care," Naruto muttered, shaking his head as he walked towards the vessel. "Let's just get this shit over with so we can get out of this stupid place already."
Stopping just in front of the docking ramp, the blonde pulled out the Lens of Truth and looked over the boat with it to see if there were any hidden surprises. "I don't see anything off, how about you Fi-chan?"
"I cannot sense anything aside from an enchantment for directional movement and a single life signature Master Naruto." The sword spirit said as she materialized next to the whiskered blonde.
"Alright, so the old coot is real too, you think he was that ferryman guy Impa-sensei was talking about?" Naruto asked while looking over the cloaked man dubiously.
"Most likely, in which case I suggest you heed Lady Impa's warning and don't attempt to speak to him."
"Seems easy enough, guy doesn't exactly look like the conversationalist anyway," Saria said with a shrug as she stepped onto the ramp. "All aboard the Creepy Express."
"All aboard-dangit, stop stealing my jokes Saria-chan." Naruto muttered with a pout while Saria grinned cheekily.
"I don't see your name on them." She said tauntingly as she went ahead, leaving Naruto to grumble for a few more seconds before he chuckled softly and followed after her.
"Maybe I've rubbed off on her a bit more than I thought."
"I'll say, she used to be such a sweet innocent thing," Elia said with a faux wistful sigh that quickly changed to a mischievous grin as she dropped down in front of the whiskered blonde's face, dangling upside-down from a lock of hair wrapped around her leg. "Then you had to go and screw her all up, literally and figuratively."
"I knew you were going to keep bringing that up," Naruto muttered, rolling his eyes while a light blush spread on his cheeks before smirking back at the green fairy. "But, at least I wasn't dumb enough to put myself in licking range."
"Licking wha-" Elia was cut off mid-sentence when Naruto stuck out his tongue and quite literally licked the guardian fairy from top to bottom, leaving her entire front side lightly covered in saliva. Seeing this happen, Saria and Navi couldn't help but giggle at the boy's random act whilst Fi titled her head in confusion.
Deadpanning at Naruto as she continued to hang in front of his face, Elia slowly reached up and wiped the spit off her face in an overdramatic manner. "Real mature, do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"You taste minty," The whiskered blonde retorted without missing a beat, his face crinkling as he smacked his tongue a few times to get the strong flavor off it. "Like really seriously minty, do you bath in the stuff or something?"
"Yes actually," The fairy admitted as she unhooked her leg and flew back on top of his head. "It's good for the skin, keeps the pores clean and such."
"Oh… neat." Naruto had no time to make a comment past that as the instant he and Saria stepped foot onto the boat, the ramp behind them faded away from sight and the whole craft suddenly lurched forwards, causing the duo to stumble from the sudden movement.
"Well, I guess we're off then," Saria muttered once she regained her balance, glancing back reflexively to find the starting room already vanishing from sight behind them as the ship sailed down the river. She then glanced at the walls of the tunnel they were going down, her eyes quickly picking up on the numerous smaller tunnels that branched off the sides, some pouring out water whist others simply held darkness. "Back to back?"
"Definitely."/"A wise idea Mistress Saria." Naruto and Fi agreed as they all huddled together at the center of the deck, the whiskered blonde holding the Megaton hammer at the ready while passing the Master Sword to Saria.
It wasn't a moment too soon either as several moss-covered spheres were flung into the air and landed all around them. The moment they landed, four robotic legs shot out the sides of each orb and lifted them up while the tops popped up to reveal solitary red eyes that immediately focused on the trio and the fronts slid open to reveal cannons. (For a better idea, imagine a small rusty moss-covered version of that death sphere from the Incredibles mixed with a Sentrobe)
"Whelp, these guys look familiar, huh Fi?" Navi asked rhetorically while nervously peeking out from Naruto's hair with Elia.
"Sentorbs." The sword spirit stated with a small frown creasing her lips. "Be careful, these things may lack the durability of a Sentrobe but they make up for it with rapid-fire capability and vast numbers.
"Oh this is gonna suck," Naruto muttered as each of the Sentorbs started charging their guns. "Saria!"
"I know!" In a blink, a familiar green crystalline shield popped into existence around them just as waves of miniature missiles came flying at them from all sides, engulfing them in a multitude of explosions.
After nearly a minute of continuous fire, the little robots finally stopped shooting, smoke oozing from the ends of their barrels as they waited silently for the smoke to clear.
*CRACK* *Shink* However, barely even a second passed before a familiar massive hammer flew into sight at high speed and smashed one of the machines into a pancake whilst several ice spikes shot from the impact sight, impaling clean through three Orbs and damaging two others. Naruto quickly followed after, charging out of the impromptu smokescreen faster than the bots could react, retrieving his discarded weapon and promptly using it to smash the closest Sentorb he could reach.
At the same time, Saria zipped away in the opposite direction, nimbly working her way across the deck as she sliced apart every robot she could reach whilst Fi stayed near the middle, covering both teens' backsides from any bots that got behind them by either smashing them under her heels or sending them overboard with a well-placed kick.
"Wow, these things really are weak," Naruto said as he swung the Megaton hammer in a wide arc, effortlessly smashing several Sentorbs. "What did they make these out of, tin foil?"
"What is tin foil?" Fi asked with a tilted head while flicking a bot into the air with the toe of her shoe and kicking it over to Saria, who promptly sliced it in half before spinning around and impaling another Orb right through the eye.
"It's kinda like paper only made of really thin sheets of metal," Naruto said, rolling to the side to avoid a hail of missiles before returning the favor with an ice enhanced swing that shattered the offending machine into a thousand pieces. "It's pretty useful stuff, I used it all the time for- *Boom* Gah!"
"Naruto!" "Master!" Saria and Fi exclaimed in concern as a large round came out of nowhere and hit the whiskered blonde's back before he could react, sending him tumbling across the deck.
"Son of a bitch!" Naruto yelled angrily as he stood up, the fabric on the back of his shirt scorched and smoldering but the armored mesh underneath thankfully still intact. "Alright, where's the wiseass who did that?!"
"There! On the walls!" Navi called out while pointing to the sides of the tunnels, where several dozen Sentorbs could be seen with their cannons at the ready.
"…Oh crapbaskets." Naruto and Saria said at the same time upon seeing all of those weapons trained on them.
And then all hell broke loose.
"Screw this!" Huddling behind a railing for cover with his shield held up to block the rounds coming from above, Naruto reached into pouch and pulled out a handful of bombs which he promptly lit. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
That was all the warning he gave before hurling the explosives at the Sentorbs, blasting most of the annoying machines to bits. Using the extra breathing room to her advantage, Saria, who was encased in Nayru's Love again, allowed the spell to drop and rapidly shot down the remaining bots down with her bow.
"Ha! Eat that you walking piles of scrap metal!" Naruto shouted victoriously while he and Fi quickly smashed up the last few bots left on deck still.
"Do not relax yet Master Naruto," Fi said, floating over to the blonde's side as even more Sentorbs clambered out of the tunnels and onto the ship. "This fight isn't over."
"Sheesh, does Impa-sensei buy these in bulk or something?" He asked jokingly while twirling the Megaton hammer in his grasp. "Guess it's time for round two."
-End Chapter-
AN: Apologies, this was supposed to be the chapter that ended the shadow temple but I've unfortunately had a bad case of writers block and have been stuck at this last part for almost a week. So, I've decided to just post what I have now and hopefully some more inspiration will come to me later on. Thanks for reading and please review
