Yo! I'm back with another chapter of AMoH, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Once again I'd like to give my thanks to Potterheadfan7 for beta reading this chapter for me. He's a fellow author of a different fandom, but If you like HP, MHA, or DS then I recommend checking out his fics. My personal favorite is A Wizard's Second Academia.

Please let me know your thoughts by commenting. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, and don't forget to favorite and follow!

A Maelstrom of Hope

Summary: Thrust into the distant future and from one war to another, Naruto finds himself helping a resistance, trying to usurp the false image of peace Neo Arcadia has crafted.

Chapter 2: Zero Mission

Naruto found himself standing outside of the engine room training with a couple of his clones. A few days had passed since his conversation with Ciel and his body was rapidly adjusting to the prosthetic he was given. It wasn't as fast as he'd like it to be, but it would be enough in case he found himself in a troubling situation.

Dodging a punch from one of his clones, he countered with a punch of his own from his new mechanical limb. The clone quickly dispersed only for another clone to take advantage and kick him from below, which lifted him into the air.

Quickly understanding what the clones were going for, Naruto channeled the chakra into his new limb and turned it into the wind element. With a small swipe, Naruto sent small blades of wind all around him and caused all the clones that were attempting to perform the patented Uzumaki Barrage to dispel.

The clone that struck from below remained and said, "Hey! That's cheating! You said no elemental jutsu!"

"You think I'm just gonna let myself get hit by that combo!? Unlike you, I have to deal with the pain!"

The clone quickly got into the original's face, "Don't get mad at us for doing what we're told. It's not our fault you suck!"

"I suck!? You're me!" The original bit back as he got into his clone's face.

Cerveau watched in amusement as the two blonds argued like bickering children. Two. Incredibly. Powerful. Children. He was so happy he reinforced the walls of the room with Ceratanium. Nowadays, it is a metal used mostly for creating reploids, but its properties were that it was lightweight and incredibly resistant to physical attacks making it incredibly sturdy. It's what was also used for Naruto's prosthetic arm. It was a really good conductor for chakra as well, according to Naruto.

Seeing as the two still hadn't finished their argument, Cerveau was about to call out to the two when an announcement sounded off throughout the entire base.

"Emergency! Emergency! Naruto and Team Milan assemble at mission control as soon as possible. I repeat Naruto and Team Milan assemble at mission control as soon as possible."

Naruto and his clone immediately stopped arguing when they heard this announcement, the clone dispelled shortly after. Naruto looked at Cerveau for a brief moment before nodding and heading off to the meeting point.

Cerveau was left to ponder what would happen next. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to follow after the blond.

~AMoH~

Not long after the announcement, Naruto found himself standing beside Team Milan, while Ciel was giving them a debriefing of the current situation.

"Neo Arcadia is preparing to send out a massive battalion, consisting of both the Scorched Earth Squadron and Strong Air Battalion to search an underground laboratory located near an old Neo Arcadian jungle."

Milan and his squad openly gaped at the sheer amount of reploids being deployed. Milan himself couldn't help but ask, "W-why are they sending out so many? What's down in that lab that has them moving in such a frenzy?"

"I believe they have found the location of the legendary reploid Zero."

Milan and his crew stood in pure shock and horror at the news. X was bad enough, but if Neo Arcadia got their hands on Zero… They did not want to think how much harder things would get.

Naruto on the other hand simply looked confused and had to ask, "Who's Zero?"

"Not much is known about Zero, but it's been said that he fought alongside X and is considered a hero in his own right. But for some unknown reason, he was sealed away hundreds of years ago." A familiar voice answered, from behind the whiskered blond.

Cerveau entered the room and walked up next to Ciel. Now that he heard some of the specifics, he had a sinking feeling he knew what Ciel was going to ask the blond ninja.

Ciel gave Cerveau a thankful nod before clenching her fist in frustration and worry, "This is difficult for me to ask of you Naruto, but I need you to stall the combined forces of both battalions while Team Milan and I investigate that underground laboratory."

Team Milan didn't know how to react to the absurd request that Ciel was giving to their fairly new comrade in arms.

With a confident grin, Naruto said, "I'll cause so much chaos they won't know what hit them. Just as long as you…" Naruto made the hand sign that was second nature to him. "Take my clone with you."

One puff of smoke later, a clone of Naruto was standing in a mock salute with a grin. "It'll have half of my chakra, so it should last a while unless someone gets a really good hit in."

Team Milan visibly relaxed because of what the blond said, knowing they'd at least have a clone of Naruto to help them out in case things got serious. Combat reploids they were, they weren't the most elite. They were just normal civilians until they joined the resistance and were slightly modified by Ciel and Cerveau to give them more combat capabilities.

Ciel on the other hand grew concerned, now knowing that chakra was also the user's life force. But before she could lay out her worries to her fellow blond, Naruto said, "I'll be fine Ciel, believe in me. Even with only half of my chakra, I have enough in reserve to fight for a few days straight if push comes to shove. Besides, with my clone, we can relay memories to each other in case anything comes up."

Ciel let her worries drop, for now, she knew she'd never truly stop, but he was right. She had to have faith in him and believe in his skills. "I just want you to be careful Naruto. There's a high chance that you'll run into Harpuia and Fefnir of the Four Guardians there."

"Is there anything about them I should know before I head out?"

Ciel shook her head. "Other than them being the commanders of their respective battalion there's not a lot that I know about them unfortunately… Although, I do recall they were created for restoring nature to the planet."

Naruto hummed at that small tidbit of information before shrugging it off and filing it away for later. He didn't have a lot of info on the Four Guardians, but maybe that could change if he faced them in combat. He was sure it wouldn't take too much to drag them out and keep them off of Ciel. "Right. Thanks for the info Ciel, I'm ready whenever you are."

"Okay… Here we go!"

~AMoH~

Naruto whistled at the sheer amount of artificial forestry, it was a better sight than the wasteland outside of the Eden Dome. Organic or not, the blond couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. Ears twitching, he could hear something out in the distance, but before he could make out what it was, Ciel radioed in.

("Naruto, multiple airships have been spotted heading toward your direction.")

"I Hear 'em loud and clear."

("Good luck Naruto and be careful.")

"You too Ciel."

As their brief talk came to an end, Naruto began to see hundreds of Pantheons drop into the jungle. It didn't help that there was more than one type of Pantheon, for starters, there was the Pantheon Hunter, it didn't look all too special, but they were designed to resemble clones of X, so all they had on them was an arm cannon and that they were blue. The other Pantheons, on the other hand, had other things to make them more annoying and dangerous, the Pantheons flying in the air were called Pantheon Flyers and they had jet packs which gave them a lot more mobility. Lastly, there were the Pantheon Warriors, Pantheons who instead of an arm cannon had a giant arm that resembled a gorilla.

"They must want Zero if they're sending out this many pantheons."

"Just be on guard, brat. We can't sense them normally and the emotions these Pantheons are giving off feel completely muted."

"What do you mean?"

"Their feelings are being blocked off so I can't get a good read on them."

"That's weird, but thanks for the heads up Kurama."

"Of course, now let's show these buckets of bolts what we can do!"

"Right!"

Bringing his hands into a familiar cross-shaped hand sign, the blond shouted out, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Hundreds of orange menaces popped into the area and began to spread out. Soon enough the jungle would descend into pure chaos.

Meanwhile with Ciel and Team Milan.

*Huff*

*Huff*

They had been running for some time now, but even with her enhancements Ciel still found herself getting tired. Thankfully with the clone of Naruto around they hadn't run into any major issues. A pantheon or two appeared now and then during their search but they were always cut down before they could cause any trouble.

An explosion sounded out in the distance, and the group quickly realized that the distraction was working. In fact, it was working better than they hoped because they saw an airship from the Strong Air Battalion begin to rain hell upon the artificial jungle. Ciel could only clench her first in worry, she hoped Naruto would be okay.

"Ciel over here!"

Thrown out of her thoughts, Ciel saw Milan had found the entrance to the underground ruins.

"Thanks, Milan! So… these are the underground ruins that have Neo Arcadia going crazy."

What they saw in the ruins was about what Ciel expected, old technology from a bygone era lying about. Eventually, the group stumbled upon a large door with an intricate design. Blue and red lights were flashing while an old and faded nameplate could barely be read. It said, Zero.

"Stay away… Don't get involved with me…"

"Huh? I can hear a voice… Who is it?"

"What do you plan to do by waking me?"

"What was that voice just now…?"

"Ciel, what's wrong?" Milan asked in concern.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Let's hurry on ahead!"

Milan and his team tried to push through, but the door wouldn't budge. Seeing the reploids struggle, the clone opted to come out of hiding and help them. But even with his strength it still wouldn't budge.

"Step back you guys, I'm gonna blast a hole through this door."

Having listened to the clone, the group watched in fascination as a spiraling sphere of pure chakra formed in the clone's left hand.

"Rasengan!"

The small blue sphere absolutely decimated the door, and what awaited the group on the other side wasn't something they expected to see. In the center of the room, there was a small broken-down tower with cables hanging from the ceiling. More importantly, it was what those cables were connected to that surprised them. In the center of the tower, a black and red reploid with golden hair could be seen laying on its knees as the cables were connected completely to its back.

Ciel thought to herself, 'A blazing red body… flowing, golden hair. This must be Zero.'

As they got a closer look at the reploid, they began to notice how worn down his body was. He was missing an arm, and there were cracks all over his body as if he'd been slowly falling apart.

"We found him!" Milan said in cheeriness and excitement as he began to walk closer to the legendary reploid.

But just before he could reach out for the reploid, Naruto stopped him and threw a rock in that general direction. The rock hit something in mid-air, and for a brief moment a myriad of colors flashed in and out and the shape of a small dome could be made out.

"A barrier…" Ciel looked contemplative.

"What do we do?" Milan asked in confusion.

"Let me take a look at the barrier again. I'm confident that with a bit of time, I can take it down." Ciel said without any doubt.

"Right. Here's hoping I don't pop then." The blond clone said as he began to reach out for the barrier. Once he touched it, there was another flash of colors, and a small rainbow-colored dome appeared.

On the barrier, a sequence of archaic runes could be seen. Naruto had no idea what the heck they were or what they said but they reminded him of sealing script. He couldn't completely tell though, he was no sealing master.

Suddenly voices began to echo through his head.

"I'm not… we are not fighting to hold people down. We aren't fighting to hurt people. We… we just want to make a world where any two people can join hands!"

"What the…?"

"There's not much time until he's completely sealed. His functions have already begun to shut down, so I'm not sure if you'll be able to have a meaningful conversation."

"Zero."

"X…?"

Naruto widened his eyes and took a look at the reploid inside the barrier. Was he hearing his memories?

"Are you okay with this? How can they do this to you after how much you fought for everyone?"

"As long as I exist… history will continue to be stained with blood."

"No… Zero, what are you saying!?"

"I've always wondered… for what purpose… for who's sake… must we Reploids slaughter one another?"

'Zero…' the blond thought somberly.

"But even then… you continued to believe in the humans… I trust in you as a friend… That's why… I want to trust the words of the humans… you believe in…"

"Stop the sealing process! Please stop it!"

"It's fine, X… The rest is… up to…"

Naruto could only stare in shock at what he just heard. He didn't know how and he didn't know why either, but then and there the blond made a promise to himself and Zero. 'To create a world where any two people can join hands huh…? I get the feeling we would have gotten along just fine X…'

It didn't make any sense, especially after what he just heard. Why would X slaughter the reploids when he wanted peace between humans and reploids? What happened to cause him to become a tyrant? Something just wasn't adding up.

Before he could continue his thoughts, he felt his hand slip off the barrier.

"Annnd. Done." Ciel had to wipe a bead of sweat off her head. That barrier took more time than she thought to take it down.

"Alright!" Milan cheered on.

Without even thinking, Naruto walked toward the now-freed Zero and began to disconnect the cables. With how damaged his body is, it would be a surprise if he woke up without any issues. The blond doubted that would be the case though. Carefully picking the unconscious reploid up, he was ready to get this mission over with. He briefly wondered how the boss was doing.

~AMoH~

"That isn't a pantheon."

Naruto whistled at the size of the machine standing in front of him. It was a hulk of a machine nearly two or three times his size. It was a bipedal mechaniloid with a propulsion system that had it moving a lot faster than the fodder pantheons the blond grew used to fighting.

In an instant, it threw an arm toward the blond, who dodged it with ease, but was caught off guard when the arm's length began to expand and stretch. But just before it could grab the orange menace, he disappeared in a poof of smoke and was replaced by a log.

Crushing the log within its huge hands, the mechaniloid began searching for its target once more, as it used the propulsion system on its back to blitz around the forest until it locked on to one of the many other orange menaces causing chaos within the forest. A green tint emitted from its eyes and the next thing the clone knew was nothingness as it dispelled from the laser attack.

"What the heck, it's got laser eyes too!?"

"Admire it all you want later Naruto. If that thing touches us at all with that attack, consider us, as good as dead."

Having heard one of its many targets yell, the Golem began to search the area.

"Right. Now let's figure out how to take this damn thing down." As Naruto said those words, many of his clones jumped out of the woodwork to gang up on the giant machine.

Some clones tried to punch the thing but were immediately popped when the Golem began to spin around in a circle and another green laser was shot.

"It's smarter than it looks brat. Try attacking it from behind and taking out its propulsion system."

Listening to the words of his partner, the original Naruto along with a few more of his clones charged at the Golem.

"Rasengan!"

One of the clones was able to get to the Golem first and hit it square in only what he could assume was its chest. Unfortunately, it didn't even have so much as a scratch on it when it was blasted away from the resulting explosion.

"What the hell is this thing made of!?"

*Poof*

That same clone immediately popped when it was grabbed by the Golem's extended arms. Naruto inwardly saluted the death of his clone, before using its death as a chance to hopefully disable the stupid thing. One more Rasengan was shouted out, but this time it was grinding against the propulsion system and Naruto was immediately blown back when the Golems movement system was destroyed.

The Golem was still in working order, but it could no longer move. That was fine with the blond, as long as the stupid thing couldn't turn its head in three hundred and sixty degrees, he could avoid the laser.

"Spoke too soon brat."

Once again, Naruto found himself being assaulted by a laser.

"Oh come on!"

Thankfully it didn't last much longer because a clone ended up putting the mechaniloid out of its misery via Rasengan to the face.

But the action wasn't over just yet.

"Above us!"

A red blur could be seen free-falling from one of the airships.

"Yahooooo!"

*Boom*

A wave of debris surrounded the jungle and Naruto had to cover his eyes with his arms.

"So you're the one causing all this trouble eh?" An arrogant voice sounded off.

Eventually, the dust in the air began to settle, and standing in front of the blond jinchuriki was an elite combat reploid. He was shorter than Naruto, but the red armor was a dead giveaway that this was no ordinary combat reploid. Unlike the Pantheons and even the Golem, he could already tell this one was on a completely different level. Before the blond could respond to his question, Ciel radioed in once again.

("Naruto! Zero has been secured, get out of there now!")

The reploid widened his eyes in surprise at what he just heard.

"Now's not a good time Ciel! I think I've run into one of those commanders you were telling me about."

("What!? Be careful Naruto!")

"Ohh. I see, I see. You're resistance trash." The reploid interrupted.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto said, "You wanna say that again you tin can?"

"Heh, you've got some guts for resistance trash, I'll give you that. The name's Fefnir! I'm one of the Four Guardians of Master X. Remember it well because it'll be the last thing you hear!"

The two stared at one another for a moment, before they both charged at one another. A flame-coated fist met with a glowing yellow fist. The shock wave from their collision caused all the trees within the area to shake violently. This only caused the reploid to grin with excitement, it looked like he would finally be able to go all out.

The two jumped back and Fefnir immediately fired some small fireballs from his arm cannon.

Naruto jumped over them and as he did so, he covered his metallic arm in wind chakra and fired small blades of wind at the reploid who only smirked at what he saw.

The Gem on the reploid began to shine, and the next thing Naruto knew was a giant fireball began to head his way. His wind blades were overpowered by a flaming charge shot.

The blond responded in kind, when his body began to glow yellow, and a chakra arm grabbed the fireball and stopped it in its place as it began to dissipate.

"Just who are you blondie? There's no way you're a normal reploid."

Naruto simply gave Fefnir a knowing smile before deciding it was time to make the fight go on his terms. Crossing his fingers, a dozen clones came into existence.

"What the hell!?" Fefnir shouted out in surprise.

The clones along with the original charged at the reploid who immediately jumped in the air and shouted out, "Ground Break!" The moment he punched the ground a huge wave of energy flew from the ground and clones began to pop left and right. The original Naruto reacted by jumping into the air and he began to form a Giant Rasengan with his left hand.

Fefnir felt a huge amount of energy appear out of thin air, so when he saw the giant blue ball of death he immediately tried to jump back but was caught flat-footed when another clone of Naruto held him down.

"Grk!"

One explosion later and Fefnir was still alive, but he sure as hell felt like shouldn't be. He greatly underestimated his opponent and the reality of the situation began to sit in. This guy was dangerous!

"Damn. You're tougher than you look. Most of the guys who get hit by that attack would be down for the count."

Grunting in pain and annoyance, the reploid got back to his feet. "You… you're the one who took out my subordinate aren't you?"

"Subordinate?" Naruto looked confused for a bit before he remembered what Anubis said to him. "Oh. You're that stupid dog's boss? He was trying to kill an innocent reploid. I couldn't let that happen."

Grinding his teeth in anger, Fefnir said, "Innocent you say!? Like hell, you guys are! You're just a bunch of mavericks!"

Naruto sighed, but he could already tell he wouldn't be able to get through to Fefnir anytime soon. Steeling himself he was prepared to finish the red reploid off if he still wanted to fight.

But before anything else could happen a huge cyclone of wind formed between the two.

"Stay out of this you green bastard! This is my fight!"

"Fefnir… Enough! He's too much for you to handle on your own."

In the center of the cyclone, another reploid could be seen floating from within.

Fefnir just looked away in annoyance. "Tch."

The reploid was green in color, like Fefnir it seemed they shared a theme of elements. If Fefnir was fire then Naruto assumed this one was based on wind. He held two beam sabers in his hands and was looking at the blond in confusion and interest. "Why do you stand against us human?"

"Impossible! There's no way he's a human!" Fefnir said in disbelief.

"I'm just trying to defend my friends and keep them safe. After all, they're being hunted down under the false claim of being mavericks."

Narrowing his eyes, the green reploid asked, "Then why go after the legendary reploid Zero? As a companion of Master X, he should rightfully come with us."

Just then Naruto grunted and felt an influx of memories from the clone that was with Ciel. Naruto tried to hide the surprise of what he saw, but he was never a good liar.

"Hmph. It seems you've realized the folly of your mistake."

"That ain't it, ya know."

"What the hell would you know?" Fefnir shouted out.

Naruto glanced at Fefnir for a moment before looking back at the green reploid. "X wanted peace between humans and reploids, not just for humans. He wanted us to live side by side in harmony. I don't know what happened to make X the way he is now, but I know that sacrificing reploid after reploid for a false sense of peace isn't the answer."

"You speak as if you know Master X."

"Nope, never met him in my life."

"Then stop talking! You have no idea what the hell you're spouting!" Fefnir intervened once again.

"What's wrong with wanting true peace? As far as I'm concerned you guys have no idea what that even means."

Fefnir looked at the blond before turning away angrily, there was no way he'd ever question his beliefs in Master X. Harpuia on the other hand wondered what the blond was talking about. How could he know what Master X wanted when the blond himself didn't even look a day over twenty? Master X was centuries old, and yet the blond was practically a child compared to him.

"I'll consider your words, but the way you're advocating now… As far as I'm concerned the resistance is just another terrorist group trying to overthrow the rule of master X. I can't allow that to happen."

"I see… then you can't tell me I didn't try to solve this peacefully." Naruto prepared himself for another fight. He wouldn't hold back this time, he'd show the two reploids just how outmatched they were.

'You ready Kurama?'

"Heh. I thought you'd never ask."

Naruto took on a golden form, surprising both reploids. The sheer amount of energy radiating from the blond had Fefnir on his knees.

"H-Harpuia… t-this is a human? There's no way…"

The now-named green reploid narrowed his eyes. "Yes, he's most definitely a human. But unlike the others he has combat capabilities we've never seen before. I'm afraid I will need your help Fefnir. Even I don't think I'll be able to take him on by myself."

"R-right." Fefnir wasn't so sure of himself this time. Normally he'd argue with Harpuia about his honor, but if he wanted to get out of this alive he wouldn't have a choice. They had an entire country to protect after all.

Naruto blitzed the two reploids and immediately went for Harpuia. If he could take him out of the fight, there was no doubt in his mind that he would be able to force Fefnir to stop fighting.

What caught the two reploids by surprise was the blond's speed. They hadn't encountered anyone this fast since the Four Guardians sparred with Master X.

Harpuia tried to jump back from the blond but was grabbed by his foot and thrown into a tree. Fefnir on the other hand, after seeing his fellow Guardian thrown like a piece of wood, fired a few of his buster shots and tried to stay away from the blond as far as possible. "S-stay away!"

"Heh. We've scared the little machine."

'Kurama… you know as well as I do, that they're basically human.'

"Even so, why can't I have a little fun?"

'Because we're not trying to end their lives. We have to find the truth.'

"Tch. Goody two shoes."

Naruto found himself staring at Fefnir who was visibly shaking at the look the blond gave him. It was clear to tell he'd never encountered someone like him before. "What's wrong? Are you afraid… scaredy cat?"

Fefnir widened his eyes in shock at what the blond said to him. 'Scaredy cat… Me…?' Growling in anger the reploid looked at the glowing blond before his gem began to shine in defiance and he shouted out, "Hellfire!".

Pillars of fire began to burst out of the ground from seemingly nowhere. Naruto had to dodge back and forth as the pillars began to head in his direction.

"Thunder Prison!"

A huge cyclone of wind formed within the flaming pillars and Naruto felt himself being dragged toward the thing. It didn't help that the flame and wind began to combine and shortly after a huge cyclone of flame and wind formed. Harpuia had rejoined the fight.

'They've got some pretty good teamwork.'

Since he was outnumbered the blond decided to make things fair. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A single golden clone with half of his chakra appeared. The plan was to have the shadow clone deal with Fefnir while he dealt with Harpuia. As he looked toward the green reploid, he noticed a crescent-shaped slash heading in his direction. Covering his metal arm in wind chakra once again, he fired out small blades of wind to stop the attack, but they couldn't as they were overpowered.

'Tch. I need something better than this.' The blond thought as he jumped over the slash attack. He was caught off guard when Harpuia charged at him the moment he jumped and was met with a green blur heading his way. Quickly creating a Rasengan in hand, the spiraling sphere clashed with a slash from a beam saber.

The resulting explosion pushed the two back, and Harpuia decided that fighting on the ground against this opponent was tantamount to suicide. As he flew through the air he began to bombard the blond with his Plasma Bits.

Naruto responded in kind by destroying the projectiles with his blades of wind. Harpuia was about to launch a crescent blade when Fefnir was thrown toward him and the two crashed into each other. Getting back up, they glanced at each other for a moment before looking at the blond, determination flashing through their eyes as each of their gems began to shine.

Harpuia was the first to make his move. "Super Sonic Boom!" The green reploid fired a giant crescent slash that covered a good chunk of the jungle. Trees were being cut down as the arc made its way toward the blond.

Meanwhile, Fefnir pulled out a second arm cannon and said, "Meteor Rain!" He began to shoot into the sky and Naruto could see dozens of flaming meteors targeting him. Naruto had his clone take care of the sonic boom Harpuia unleashed while he created a Rasenshuriken and threw it at the meteors. The technique cut all the meteors in half and a huge explosion sounded off in the background. The shock wave alone pushed back both reploids. The two felt beads of sweat drop due to the sheer amount of destructiveness the attack wrought. Just what kind of human was this guy!? Where the hell did the resistance find such a man!?

Naruto sighed at the look they were giving him, based on what they talked about earlier it was clear to know that they didn't know why X suddenly became a tyrant. They were just following orders and besides, he knew what to expect from these two now. Turning off his chakra cloak, the blond looked at them and said, "We're done here."

"What the hell do you mean we're done here? You're not going anywhere you maverick!" Fefnir barked.

Harpuia didn't say a word as Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Get back here!" Fefnir shouted out to the heavens.

While this happened, no one noticed the fact that a cyber-elf had watched the whole thing play out.