Hey guys, sorry this took a bit longer to come out than usual. Though we're now in December, work has been piling up for me as of late, and there are lots of things I must do in the upcoming weeks before Christmas. I'll keep trying to write in my spare time, but if I don't update in some time, you can tell what the reason behind that is.
Also, I decided to split this chapter in two parts, mainly for two reasons. First one being I don't know when I'll have the next part ready to be posted, and I'd rather give you all an update now than keep you waiting for one or two more weeks. The second reason is that I feel this is sufficiently long for a chapter. There's not much action here but definitely some important events that had to take place sooner or late.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get started with today's installment. Enjoy!
~ Chapter 2 : Shocking Discoveries , part 1 ~
Naruto blinked at the gigantic bomb the Kyuubi had just dropped on him, opting to let his mind process the rather unexpected news before reacting to them.
And when his brain finished analyzing the implications behind them, shock and utter disbelief didn't take long to become visible on his juvenile visage.
'How…', he began, his mouth getting dry, 'how is that even possible?'
He couldn't fathom it. A place where people didn't possess chakra networks or any chakra whatsoever just didn't seem real. Everyone had chakra in the Elemental Nations, even civilians and creatures summoned through contracts.
Thus, to hear the Bijuu sealed inside him claiming nobody in that place they'd come across so far had that irreplaceable energy at their disposal sounded almost unconceivable.
'I'm afraid even I don't have the answer to that question', the Kyuubi didn't sound all too pleased at lacking the information they so desperately needed. 'Despite my best attempts at projecting my chakra in a wider radius, the seal holding me prisoner also limits the extent to which I can reach.'
Naruto knew better than to trust the Kyuubi and take his word at face value. It'd proven time and time again incredible deceitful in the past, going to such lengths as to persuade him into using its power so that the seal the Yondaime Hokage had placed on his belly would weaken.
But for some unspoken reason, the young shinobi felt the fox was telling the truth this time. Perhaps it was due to the strange feeling he'd been having ever since he'd woken up in the middle of a jungle at night, as if there was something odd about that place, the people, the creatures. Something he'd not quite been able to put into words until now.
'Perhaps I could get a clearer picture if you went around some more and did some proper scouting of the area', the fox mused. 'Because, as you may or not be aware, wherever you go, I go. And even though I don't particularly like the idea of relying on you, there is simply no other choice as far as I'm concerned.'
Naruto nodded absently, his mind more on what he'd just learned than on his tenant's last request. It still felt strange to him to think of people like Jessica, Gerry and even that injured woman as non-chakra users.
A sudden thought occurred to the blond as he pondered over the last matter. 'What about these… animals?', at the mention of said creatures, Naruto glanced upon the ones he'd bested a few minutes ago. 'Do you have any idea what they are? 'Cause I don't think I've ever seen them roaming around the Elemental Nations.'
From his place outside his mind, Naruto was unable to see the frown that crossed the Kyuubi's furry features, but he did notice the sudden silence on its behalf. It kept quiet for a few seconds, and when it spoke, it did so with a soft, contemplative tone. '…I believe I know what these creatures are, though whether my theory is correct or not remains to be seen', ignoring his host's insistence for him to spit it out already, the Bijuu took a moment to collect his thoughts, trying to muster as much knowledge on the matter as he could before responding. 'It may be wise of you to take this with a grain of salt, but those are indeed animals. Animals that existed before human beings or even I, my brothers and sisters came to be. They are called… dinosaurs.'
'Dino- what?'
The fox nodded, mostly to himself than to Naruto. 'Dinosaurs, yes. It's hard for me to be certain about this, considering I've actually never seen one myself, but their appearance, their behavior… Well, it all certainly matches with what little I know about them.'
If Naruto were to tell his tenant he had a single clue of what he was talking about, he'd be completely lying.
Instead, he responded in the most casual, natural way possible to show he needed clarification.
"Huh?"
'Tch. This is what happens when you try to work with an idiot', despite feigning annoyance, the Kyuubi was secretly delighted at seeing Naruto growing red in both embarrassment and anger at being called an idiot. At the same time, the kid kept trying on trying to come up with a proper response to the insult, which caused a grin to reach the fox's furry lips, despite his best attempts at keeping his neutral façade. 'Hah! Don't think too hard with that thick skull of yours, gaki. You'll worn yourself out.'
'S-Shut up you furball!', Naruto protested, folding his arms over his chest. If the stupid fox wasn't trapped inside his body, he'd be already plotting a way to get back at the nine tails.
Worse even, he was still thoroughly confused with all that nonsense about dinotar… suar… laur… whatever the name was.
'Let me make it simple for you', the fox sighed through its nose, having had enough fun for the day. 'Those beasts lying around you and all the others you've encountered so far are a kind of animal that is claimed to have existed millions and millions of years ago, before the dawn of humankind. People call them dinosaurs.'
Finally being able to fully comprehend what he was being told, Naruto hummed in understanding. 'Hmm… I see!', his lips were midway through curling into his trademark grin, when realization hit his brain and made his features contort into a frown instead. 'But… If they are really dinosaurs, like you say', Naruto began, 'then how can they still be alive?'
Naruto didn't recall ever learning or even hearing about dinosaurs at the Academy, or around the village. But based on what the Kyuubi was saying about how they'd inhabited the Earth long ago, it was logical to assume they'd all died at some point.
Otherwise, why hadn't he seen any dinosaur around the Nations? The ones he'd just fought were notably big and dangerous, so he doubted they could have remained hidden from civilians and shinobi alike for millions of years.
'That's something I'm hoping we'll be able to find out in our time here. Again, this is all mere speculation on my behalf, so we may have to investigate a bit.'
Naruto nodded at that. Looking up, he saw the moon beginning to peer over the thick clouds in the dark sky, shedding some of its pale while light upon the area.
He picked himself up from the ground and dusted his pants off, ready to get moving again. He casted one glance towards the shed, wherein his clone still prevented both Gerry and his daughter from going out. The thought of dispelling it and go check up on them did cross his mind for a moment, but Naruto quickly opted against it.
It was better if they spent the night inside, where they'd be completely safe. That way, he could leave without fear of something happening to them while he was gone.
'I wish I could talk to Jessica, or Gerry. I bet they'd be able to tell us more about what's going on', Naruto tore his eyes off the door tinted red by the light directly above it, and brought his hands to his golden hair. 'Gah! It's so frustrating not to understand what other people are trying to tell me!'
'Indeed. And I know for a fact that human male, Gerry Harding, and his daughter feel the same way about not being able to communicate with you.'
'Yeah. I get that. It's like you… Wait, how do you actually know that?'
The Kyuubi rested its furry head atop its paws. 'Apart from the looks on their faces?', it inquired. 'I heard what they said. That girl Jessica was particularly disappointed at you not understanding when she explained her father was a doctor. And that he was going to help the woman you found, somehow. Didn't quite understand what the procedure entailed nor what she was afflicted with, however.'
Naruto listened to every word his tenant uttered, growing more and more astounded the more he heard. So much so, that soon he wasn't able to conceal the agape look that crossed his features.
'Are you telling me…', Naruto began, 'that you can actually understand these people?'
'Not completely so, but more or less, yes', anticipating the question it knew was coming, the fox heaved a long sigh. If it wasn't for the fact the Kyuubi was forced to rely on his idiotic host to solve the mystery surrounding their current predicament, it'd have never thought of helping him. Much less given how painful it was to explain things to him. 'Before you ask, no, I don't speak their language… yet. But I may soon learn it, and so could you. I'll tell you exactly how, if you promise to shut up and listen, as this is going to take a while.'
Naruto didn't need convincing to quickly agree to the Bijuu's sole condition. If there was a way for him to learn Jessica's and Gerry's language, or at the very least be able to understand most of what they spoke to him, then he'd do whatever was needed.
Alan Grant didn't have time to stay on the ground and lament the destruction of what had once been a magnificent reconstruction of a T-Rex skeleton, knowing their persecutors were still very much on them. Grunting, he forced his aching legs to get him back up, and only needed a second to regain his footing before dashing in the direction of Tim, who was hiding beneath the spine of the fallen T-Rex cast.
The kid had a shocked look on his face and didn't do as much as flinch when Alan pulled him out of his hiding spot. He was only jolted back to reality when his older sister, Lex, screamed in horror somewhere not far from their current position.
Reinvigorated by the scream, one of the velociraptors that had been chasing the kids around in the kitchens jumped out from behind a nearby column, growling at its prey. Alan picked Tim up in his arms and immediately backed away, reaching out for Lex as he tried putting as much distance as he could between him, the kids and the dinosaur.
Someone's back bumped against him, thus preventing him from going any further. Startled, Alan turned around, noticing that Ellie was also trying to get away from a raptor peering its head from under a plastic curtain. The predator snarled at the group, forcing the four of them to try and retreat in a different direction.
One of the velociraptors raised its head and made a distinct sound that Alan knew all too well. It was a calling for the missing link in their team.
He was soon proven right when a third raptor flared its nostrils to signal its position right at their back, creating a triangle around him, Ellie and Hammond's grandchildren.
"Mr. Grant? What do we do now?"
Alan's mind was working overtime by then, thinking of possible ways they could somehow trick or distract the raptors and run away. He didn't dare to risk taking a peek in the direction of the door, fearing the animals would seize the opportunity to pounce on them, but he knew they were close. So close in fact he could almost picture Hammond outside, waiting for them.
One of the raptors tilted its head, making a low, guttural noise that made the children cling to him and Ellie with all their strength. Lex and Tim were hyperventilating by that point, and while Ellie's body trembled beside his', Alan himself wasn't faring any better. The raptors had them surrounded and trapped, with no possible escape.
"No, no, no, no…!", Lex mumbled under her breath, tugging on his shirt. Waves of fear washed over his being as the velociraptor facing them took a tentative step forward, and then another, its slitted eyes fixated on them at all times.
Alan took a fearful step back and slightly spread his arms in front of the others, acting on instinct to shield them from harm. But all that did was to provide the raptor with the opening it'd been looking for.
Doctor Grant's eyes widened when he noticed the beast's strong legs tensing and the claws on its arms retracting as if preparing to tear the flesh off their faces the moment they got within touching distance.
Time seemed to slow down as the raptor suddenly lunged at them, its jaws opening to reveal its sharp teeth. One of the kids gasped in surprise and Ellie reached out for his hand, clasping it with her own appendage. And in that brief moment before he met his end, Alan's life flashed before his very eyes.
They'd survived this long… only to die right at the verge of escape.
"Oh no, you won't!"
A black, orangish blur shot straight into the velociraptor right before it could get its deadly claws on its defenseless prey. The sheer force of whatever was it that had crashed into the dinosaur sent it flying against the nearest wall, knocking the wind out of its lungs.
Alan and the others observed the whole sequence with wide eyes, watching as the raptor fell to the ground and squirmed about in pain. They were reminded of the presence of the other two dinosaurs as they started snarling at something other than them, which quickly had Grant and the others whipping their heads back in the opposite direction.
The moment they did so, they caught sight of a blond-haired young man wearing dark and orange garments, standing a few meters away from them. In his hand was a small blade with a pointy end he kept raised in front of him as the two remaining raptors fixated their full attention on him, seemingly forgetting all about the other group which was too confused to speak.
So much so, that not even Grant detected the other raptor trying to ambush the blond by quietly approaching from the back. And when he did see it, it was already too late to try and warn him.
"Good try!'
Alan heard the kids gasping once again as the strange young man side-stepped at the very last moment, and with blindingly fast speed stabbed the raptor on its side while it was in mid-air.
A short yowl of pain echoed in the empty Visitor's Centre as the velociraptor crashed against the floor, sliding a couple of meters past its visibly distraught comrades and stopping just before the massive skull of the T-Rex cast. The other raptors turned to gaze upon the inert corpse of that which had once been a member of the pack, and the trail of blood it'd left on its path.
It was then that the young man whipped his head back, and Alan was faced with a pair of sparking blue eyes attached to the juvenile face of a mere teenager.
"Go! Run!", was all he said, waving in the direction of the exit door.
He was heading straight for the unsuspecting raptors a moment later, punching one right in the left eye.
"Alan!", Ellie exclaimed, yanking on his arm. It was an act that finally brought Alan back to Earth, though his sight was still fixated on the blond and the way he danced around the two velociraptors with astonishing ease. He was effortlessly dodging their every attack and retaliating in a way Doctor Grant would have never thought possible of a human being. Especially not when that human being faced the highly intelligent predators that were raptors. "We have to go, now! We need to get the children to a safe place!"
Doctor Grant hesitated for a moment, not feeling like leaving a mere kid behind, before ultimately tearing his eyes away from the incredible sight ahead. He then turned around, sprinting towards the exit as fast as he possibly could. He made sure Lex was beside him as Ellie carried Tim in her arms, and did his best to ignore the snarling and the painful howls coming from behind them.
As they ran through the massive doors leading outside the centre and saw Hammond and Malcolm, waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs, Alan headed straight for the man behind the wheel.
"Mr. Hammond!", he exclaimed. "You won't believe what we've just seen!"
Jessica's light blue eyes snapped open and she drew a sharp breath, the image of a Tyrannosaurus Rex snapping its gigantic jaws at her still vivid in her mind. Her heart thundered in her chest as she frantically scanned her surroundings, visibly alarmed.
"It's okay, Jessi. Just a… bad dream."
The voice directly before her made the aforementioned girl whip her head in that direction, only to come face to face with a whiskered visage and a pair of sparkling sapphire globes gazing back at her in slight worry.
She didn't register the hand that was now rubbing her shoulder in an attempt to ease her fears, and instead focused on the young adolescent crouching before her. "Naruto?", she asked softly, her heartbeat evening out.
"That's me!", a wide grin spread across his lips at the mention of his name.
Jessica stared at Naruto for a few moments, a torrent of memories from last night now rushing back to her. And before she could stop herself, she reached out and threw her arms around Naruto's frame, hugging him tightly. "You came back! You're alive!", ignoring the way the blond teen stiffened at the sudden embrace, Jessi allowed herself to indulge in the immense relief she felt at seeing him again.
"H-Hah."
When she pulled away from him, there was a small, almost imperceptible blush on his cheeks that she failed to pick on. Instead, she let her eyes roam up and down his figure, looking for any visible injuries, bruises or cuts.
"…!", Jessi suddenly gasped. "What happened to your clothes? Did a dinosaur hurt you?"
She extended her fingers in the direction of the slashes running from his left breast to the area near his right hip. The cuts were deep, and whatever had caused them had not only ruined Naruto's jacket, but also the t-shirt he wore underneath, exposing sections of his strong chest. Thankfully, Jessi quickly noted, it seemed as though he wasn't really injured if what she could see from his exposed skin was of any indication.
"Velociraptor", Naruto said gravely, his face contorting into a frown. He ignored the way Jessi's eyebrows shot at his response, however, and shuddered. "They are… intelligent. Very."
"Eh!? No way, you survived a raptor?"
"One, no. Three."
"For real!? Oh man, that's…! That's super cool!"
"Uh… W-What's going on? Honey, what's wrong?"
The 15-year-old girl finally tore her eyes away from the blond so as to face her now awakened dad. "It's Naruto, dad!", she exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear. "He's back!"
"Huh?", his mind slightly clouded by drowsiness, Gerry moved his eyes from his enthusiastic daughter to the young man beside her. It took him a second or two to fully comprehend what was going on, but when he did, he furrowed his eyebrows. "I see", he mumbled, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep off them. "Is that really him, though? Or the brother he left behind to make sure we weren't going anywhere?"
"No no. I'm Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki!", the young man insisted, setting down a rather big backpack he'd been carrying all that time on his back.
Up until then, Jessica had just been glad to see Naruto back, safe and sound no less, which was probably why her brain had been overlooking certain details that, under different circumstances, she wouldn't have failed to pick upon. However, the moment she heard the Uzumaki uttering a clear response to her father, something in her mind clicked and her eyes widened in shock.
"Wait, did you understand what my dad just said?"
To both her surprise and her father's, Naruto inclined his head in confirmation. "Yup!", he chuckled in a proud manner. "It's not… uhm", the blond diverted his eyes to the side, struggling to come up with the right word, "hard…?"
"But… how?", Jessi couldn't help but ask, greatly surprised. "Yesterday you couldn't get anything we said to you!"
His grin faltered considerably at her question, and the blond was soon rubbing the back of his neck in a very awkward manner. "Ah, yeah, well…", as Naruto grew silent, Jessica continued to stare at him with intrigue written all over her face. She couldn't tell what was going through his mind, nor whether he'd been pretending not to speak English so as to fool them for some unknown reason.
On top of that, that he'd returned practically unharmed after his alleged encounter with a Triceratops, a T-Rex and three Velociraptors only added to the mystery shrouding him.
"Was it all a lie?"
"Uh… No, not a lie", the Uzumaki shook his head. "It's… hard to… say."
Jessi was about to press for a clear answer, when her father seemed to pick that moment to come out of his silent daze.
"…I don't know what's going on, but if it's really you, Naruto, then we're glad to see you're alive", Gerry said sincerely, picking himself up from the floor. His joints popped as he did so, showing just how uncomfortable his sleeping position had been. "After we heard the T-Rex coming, me and Jess, well, we couldn't help but assume the worst."
His daughter grimaced at that, neither confirming nor denying her father's words. She could clearly remember how worried she'd felt while being forced to remain inside the shed by Naruto's 'brother'. Even after things had calmed down outside, it'd taken some considerable time for sleep to claim her mind, especially after the blond guarding the exit door had still refused to let them out.
Naruto, on the other hand, did nothing but smile in appreciation, muttering a low thanks in his language that none of them caught.
"That being said", Gerry's tone grew serious, "I think you have some explaining to do, young man."
"Explaining?", Naruto tilted his head to the side.
The park's vet nodded. "Yes, well, besides you actually knowing how to speak our language, I don't exactly appreciate me or my daughter being threatened by a kid with a blade", Jessi opened her mouth to say something, but Gerry beat her to it. "Now, I know you and your… brother, didn't mean anything wrong by it and probably just wanted to keep us safe. And although I appreciate the thought, that's not the way to go about it."
Silence filled the room right after that, with both Hardings glancing the way of Naruto, wondering what his response to Gerry's words would be. His bright blue eyes were now closed and his arms folded, and he seemed to be thinking hard about something, something that was keeping him quiet.
The Uzumaki parted his eyelids after a couple of seconds, and when he did, he faced Gerry with a deadly serious expression etched on his face.
"I'm sorry", he said earnestly. "I do that to protect you and Jessi."
"I know that, but-"
"Dad, it's okay", Jessica interjected, raising a hand to Naruto's arm. "If Naruto hadn't left to distract Lady Margaret when he did, she would have brought the whole shed down on us", seeing the look of conflict in her father's eyes, Jessi flashed a coy smile the blond's way, rubbing his arm. "He also saved my life last night. Remember?"
Gerry heaved a sigh of resignation. "Yes, Jessi, he did save you from the Alpha. And I'm very thankful for that", he knew his daughter had a point. They owed him their lives. It was due to Naruto that they were still breathing, and so he meant it when he said he was grateful. "Then again, I'm still having a hard time trying to make sense of everything we've learned from Naruto here so far, especially the language matter. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't trust him or anything, I—I just want some answers. That's all."
Naruto didn't respond right away, seemingly processing what he'd been told so far. A couple of moments later, and after getting a reassuring smile on behalf of Jessi, the blond nodded.
"Okay. You can ask me questions."
"Thank you, Naruto", Gerry said appreciatively. Even from what little he knew of the young man before him, he could already tell he had no bad intentions whatsoever. All in all, Naruto looked like a good kid, one that was clearly full of secrets, but with a heart in the right place.
"But before", the Uzumaki reached for his backpack, pulling the zipper down to reveal multiple bags filled to the brim with various dishes and desserts that made Jessi's stomach rumble in response. "Hehe, you're hungry!", he pointed out childishly, much to the girl's embarrassment. "Want breakfast?"
Both Jessi and her dad exchanged a silent look as Naruto began pulling bag after bag from the backpack sporting the park's trademark logo. No words were needed between them to confirm they'd both reached to the same conclusion.
"Good, huh?"
"Definitely. I was sooo hungry", Jessi flashed the Uzumaki a sincere grin. "Thanks, Naruto, you're the best."
"Hehe, I know, I know!"
After a rather abundant breakfast, in which the group had sated their hunger thanks to the food brought by a cheerful Naruto, they were now getting ready to finally leave the safety of the shed and get back on track. Gerry was just finishing checking up on his still unconscious patient, who still looked somewhat stable but that occasionally moaned and hissed in pain – her brow was furrowed and her expression would contort into an agonizing look every now and then.
'We need to get her to the Visitor's Centre', he resolved, having just taken a look at her eyes to see they were still under the effect of whatever was it that afflicted her. His attention was broken when he heard the giggling of his youngest daughter, and one quick glance her way revealed her jokingly jabbing Naruto's arm. 'Huh, those two are surely getting along.'
Gerry didn't know how to feel about that.
Breakfast had been a rather uneventful one, mostly due to him focusing on eating from what was available and letting the questioning for later. Though Naruto had not considered bringing plates, forks or knives, he at least had managed to procure some napkins with which they'd been able to clean their hands after digging in. All of which Gerry presumed had been taken from the Visitor's Centre, which filled him with the hope that part of the park was still safe and occupied by Ingen personnel.
By opting to remain quiet throughout breakfast, he'd been able to watch the interactions between both teenagers. And despite not really being a father who was constantly present in his daughter's life, he knew the way she acted when something interested her.
Although having only being acquainted with him for little more than half a day, to Gerry it was already clear Jessica was quickly growing fond of the strange blond. Whatever the reason for that was, he hoped it would not go beyond a desire to befriend him. Anything other than that, while still knowing next to nothing about him, was completely out of the question.
"All right, she's okay, for now. Should hold on 'till we get where we're going", Gerry stood up from his crouching position, eyeing a particularly useful-looking dart rifle he saw lying on a shelf for a moment with interest, before turning to the pair of teens. "You two ready to head out?"
"Yeah, dad", Jessi replied, placing her hands on her hips. "I feel much more confident about our odds with the sun out. Not to mention we have Naruto with us. If the Alpha's still out there, I bet she'll think twice before charging our way again."
Though he could tell she'd said that jokingly, Naruto seemed to take her words seriously, given the way he jabbed a finger at his own chest and nodded. "Don't worry!", he exclaimed proudly. "I'm strong!"
Despite their current predicament, Gerry couldn't help but smile at his antics. Whether Naruto overestimated his abilities or was outright crazy, he didn't know. Either way, he could see he was special, just how special exactly was something he still hoped to determine through the questions he still planned to ask him.
"Say Naruto… I know we've got no time to waste, considering we have an injured woman in desperate need of treatment, but I still want to know…", Gerry paused for a moment, waiting until the blond's full attention was on him, "how did you manage to survive Lady Margaret? Outrunning her mustn't have been easy, especially not with a T-Rex coming straight this way."
Gerry was certainly curious about that matter. After what he'd seen the previous night, he now knew for a fact Naruto was particularly fast; faster and stronger than anyone he'd ever met. He still remembered the way the 15-year-old had thrown the significantly heavy branch inside the enclosure as if it was no big deal, or how he'd been able to pick him up from the ground, he, a fully grown man, and jump the way of the shed's entrance in a heartbeat. Not to mention how quick the blond and his brother had come to the rescue of his trapped daughter, getting her out of harm's way just before the Alpha impaled the truck with its gigantic horn.
Although some of the things he'd witnessed seemed like things no mere teenager should be capable of, he was hoping his questions would lead to Naruto opening up without him addressing each matter in a straightforward way. After all, there had to be a reason why the young man had been wandering around the island the previous night alone, carrying a delirious woman on his back and then pretending not to understand a single word they spoke to him.
And despite not believing he was up to no good, Gerry still needed Naruto to give them a good reason for all that, and shed some light on his own self in the process if possible.
"Outrunning?"
"He means escape", Jessi explained. "Like, run away and hide."
"Oh", Naruto blinked, raising a hand to his golden locks so as to scratch his head. "I don't run away, or hide. I kill the Alpha."
Of all the possible answers Gerry was expecting to get, that hadn't been one of them.
"Wait, what do you mean kill?", there was heavy incredulity in his voice, and on his visage too. Jessi too seemed like she was having a hard time believing him. "Are you saying you killed the Alpha?"
What Gerry hoped had just been Naruto messing around, soon turned into even a bigger surprise to him when he actually saw him looking as serious as one could be when telling the truth.
"Yes", Naruto nodded, rolling his shoulders. "I killed the Alpha", he repeated once again, before adding, "but the T-Rex… No. I win the fight, but it leave when I am not here."
Despite his poor grammar, the message he'd been trying to convey had successfully been interpreted by the Hardings, whose reactions didn't take long to be heard.
"What?"
"I… I don't believe it."
His disbelief elicited a click of the tongue from Naruto. The latter then gestured towards the door, making its way towards it before neither Gerry nor his daughter could say anything about it. "Come. I show you", he said as he placed a hand on the door handle, pulling it down before pushing forward to unlock the entrance.
Gerry was momentarily blinded by a rather powerful beam of sunlight that made its way through the open door, hitting his eyes. Shielding his sight from it, the older man heard a couple of footsteps making their way outside.
One second or two later, his daughter, Jessica, yelped in shock.
"D-Dad! You gotta see this!"
Gerry squinted his eyes and headed through the door, still having a little difficulty adjusting to the brightness of day.
However, that difficulty all but vanished the moment he laid eyes upon the fallen creature lying just beside the road. Flies had already flocked to the corpse, which told Gerry the Alpha must have been dead for hours.
Worse even, one look around the area revealed the tunnel entrance they'd come from the previous night had collapsed and was now blocked by debris. To the side, resting upside down under an ancient tree laid their car, which had been damaged beyond repair, no doubt by the Alpha.
But despite the chaos both dinosaurs had left behind, Gerry was more preoccupied by the inert Triceratops, which caught his entire attention in the end.
"Christ… Lady Margaret. Did you—", Gerry swallowed, unable to take his eyes off the mighty beast, "did you really kill it?"
Whether Naruto responded to his claim, he didn't do so verbally.
"No, nuh-uh, there's no way you could've taken down a Triceratops on your own", Jessica said, swatting a fly away. "I bet the T-Rex did it. Right, dad?"
"…"
"Dad…?"
Gerry shook his head in utter disbelief. He'd been examining the corpse of Lady Margaret from up close in hopes of finding a more logical explanation as to what'd actually happened to it — what he'd discovered… greatly unnerved him.
"The only way the T-Rex could kill a big herbivore such as the Alpha", Gerry began, "is by using its preferred means of attack: its jaws. And there are no bite marks on Lady Margaret."
He allowed his daughter whatever time it took for his words to sink in, which wasn't more than a couple of seconds.
"I killed the Alpha", Naruto repeated patiently, as if not upset that they were doubting his words.
"Haha, very funny, Naruto", Gerry saw over his shoulder as Jessica rolled her eyes. "Stop joking. You know that's not possible. I mean, even if you had guns, it'd take a rocket launcher or something like that to bring it down. That, or superpowers like, I don't know, super strength or, or heat vision! Like Superman."
Instead of responding, the young man did something that managed to take both Hardings off guard. He made an impossible jump onto the Triceratops's head, one that none of them, much less anyone else they knew, could pull off.
Both Gerry and Jessi were wide agape as Naruto turned their way and pointed a finger right at the head. "I killed it here", he said nonchalantly, looking completely serious about it. "With my Rasengan."
Before any of them could even think about asking what he meant by that, the strange blond brought the index and middle fingers of both hands together and exclaimed, "kage bunshin no jutsu!"
A cloud of smoke exploded right beside him atop the Alpha's skull, making Gerry and his daughter jump. The cloud quickly dissipated, and the two of them watched with stupefied eyes as an identical version of Naruto stood next to him, giving them a wide grin.
"Ossu!"
Rendered speechless by what he was gazing upon, Gerry could do nothing but stare at the pair while the first Naruto whispered something in the other's ear that made the latter nod enthusiastically.
"All right!", he then said, turning once more to the flabbergasted pair. "Watch this!"
If Gerry Harding said he'd ever seen anything like what the Uzumaki was creating out of thin air, he'd have been lying. On the palm of the hand materialized a blue sphere of what he could only describe as some kind of bluish energy, appearing seemingly out of thin air with a whirring sound after the second Naruto had begun tapping the air repeatedly around the original's hand.
The sphere was formed of an infinite number of lines that moved about in circles, with a white core right at the very centre of it. It was such an incredible and impossible thing that Gerry's late reaction was to place an arm around his daughter and pull her close, instinctively trying to protect her from harm.
"It's okay!", Naruto exclaimed, raising the hand holding the 'Rasengan' in the air. He held it above his head for a couple of moments longer, before the sphere suddenly disappeared from sight, leaving nothing behind which could have served as an indication of its previous existence.
Neither Gerry nor Jessica were able to speak even after Naruto's supernatural demonstration and his 'doppelganger' vanished from sight, the latter disappearing behind a burst of smoke in the exact same way it'd come to be.
Only when he jumped down directly before them did they break out of their stupor, and Gerry couldn't mask his sudden fear.
"So, believe me now?"
The grin he sported on his whiskered visage did little to appease the older man, whose mind was running a mile per second to come to terms with what he'd just witnessed.
"W-Whoa… Naruto, you… You really have superpowers! That's hella awesome!"
Gerry's mouth finally closed as Jessica freed herself from his hold, stepping up to the young man with unexpected ease. "Hehe", Naruto chuckled embarrassedly, scratching his cheek. "It's chakra."
"Chakra?", she wondered. The look on her face barely concealed her interest. "I have no idea what that is, but think you can teach me how to do that? The blue ball thingy."
"Yeah, sure! If you want."
"Awww, really!?", Jessi practically had stars in her eyes at that point. "Having a power like that would be sooo cool. Oh! What about that other you we thought was your brother? Is he like, an illusion or something?", she didn't give him time to answer, too excited as she was to find out everything she could about him. "Can you make more?"
"Yup. Many more."
"How many?"
Naruto started counting with his fingers, until he seemingly realized it would take too long to do it that way and shrugged. "I don't know. One hundred. Maybe."
"Hooooh~ That's, like, a whole army just for yourself!"
As Jessi gushed over the blond's supernatural abilities like a fangirl, a hand reached for her arm and pulled her backwards, away from a surprised Naruto.
"H-Hey! What's the big deal, dad?"
"Stand back, Jessi."
"Eh? Why?"
Not meeting Jessica's bright blue eyes, Gerry kept his sight fixated on the blond in front of them, regarding him with caution. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we can't trust Naruto right now", his words didn't have an immediate impact on the aforementioned blond, who seemed to be processing his statement. When he did, though, his face grew somber. "Not after what we've just seen."
"Wh-What are you talking about?", it was clear Jessica didn't share his thoughts on the matter, and it took him aback somewhat. "Are you saying he's dangerous? Why would you even think that?"
"Dammit, Jess, am I the only person with a bit of common sense here?", Gerry snapped, an act that caught her off guard and made her shut up. "We can't keep going on as if everything's fine when we have a superhuman teenager who can take on dinosaurs at least twice his size with those… those powers of his."
"So what?", Jessi folded her arms. "Just because he has superpowers doesn't mean he's going to use them against us."
Gerry let out a long, frustrated sigh through his nose. "It's not that, Jessica. Don't you get it? We don't even know who he is, or where he came from! What if those abilities he has were the result of a scientific experiment by an organization like Ingen or even the government? Worse, what if he escaped from whatever confinement he was in? Someone like him…", Gerry shook his head, opting not to finish the sentence. He felt a chill rocking his body at the stray thought that crossed his mind, but didn't entertain it for long.
"You don't even know if that's the case, dad", his daughter retorted, casting a glance over at a silent Naruto, who for some reason had decided not to defend himself. "And if it worries you that much, let's just ask Naruto here about it. He already said you could ask him anything, so it should be fine, right?"
Realizing he was now being addressed at, the aforementioned teenager nodded his head. "Yeah. Please, ask", he said, walking away from the Triceratops and towards the shadow casted by the hill just above the shed. It was getting awfully hot outside already, even at that time of morning.
Jessi sent her dad a silent look, one that spoke volumes of how she felt at the moment. He knew she probably thought he was overreacting, but could she really blame him? Those recent discoveries about Naruto completely changed things, and they needed to properly address these issues before even thinking of keeping him close to them.
Now, it wasn't that his opinion of the boy had changed drastically, no matter how shocking he'd found Naruto's impossible skills at first. Truth be told, deep down Gerry believed the Uzumaki had no bad intentions and had probably just been keeping to himself up until then as a way of protection. After all, a young man possessing supernatural abilities was not something you could find on a daily basis. That was the stuff most superhero comics and films were made of, but real life thought? That just didn't exist.
That there was actually someone like him... stranded in the very same island they were in, kind of blew his mind.
"Hey, Naruto, no matter what happens… I just wanted you to know I think you're a good guy", the voice of Jessica jarred him out of his thoughts; not a moment too soon to see her leaning on the wall right beside Naruto. "And I trust you."
"Thanks, Jess", a sincere smile found its way to his lips, and Gerry watched with a raised eyebrow as both teens stared at each other in mutual appreciation.
It was a sight that didn't exactly bode well with him, especially after seeing just how at ease his own daughter was around Naruto. She was taking the news in a way that troubled him, as if the Uzumaki being able to do the things he could do wasn't more shocking than learning of an island which actually had living dinosaurs on it.
"E-hem!", he waited until both adolescents were looking his way again, before proceeding. "If you don't mind, Naruto, I'd like you to keep some distance from my daughter."
"Huh!? What's wrong with-"
Jessica's protests were cut by a raised hand from Gerry, who looked at her with as much seriousness as he could muster. "At least until we find out more about him or his reasons for hiding this stuff make sense."
While his daughter scowled at the proclamation, visibly unhappy with her dad's decision, Naruto merely shrugged his shoulders, showing he didn't really mind. "Okay", he simply said, and took a couple of steps to the side, much to Jessi's disappointment.
The boy didn't see it, but Gerry resisted the urge to frown at the dejected look she sported on her visage.
"Thank you", the vet mustered a small smile that didn't exactly reach his eyes. "Now, why don't you start by telling us where you're from, how you can do the things you do and why you're here on the island? If there's anything else we want to know, we'll ask you on the way to the Visitor's Centre."
Gerry knew the injured woman was still in desperate need of assistance, so he not only hoped she'd hold until they got this over with, but also that Naruto would be as brief as possible without omitting any important parts.
And as the young man began telling his story, none of the three people outside the shed realized they were currently being watched through a nearby camera.
Doctor Laura Sorkin had to take her glasses off and rub her eyes to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating.
When she put them back on, the blurry image before her became crystal clear once again, and she shook her head in disbelief.
"Did-Did you see that, doctor?"
Perhaps it was due to her own inability to come to terms with the incredible scene she'd just witnessed, or maybe because she didn't feel like stating the obvious to her assistant, but Laura remained silent. What the video feed was showing them both seemed like something straight out of a fantasy movie, but that was actually real.
They'd gotten the many cameras distributed around the whole park back online just two minutes earlier, a while after the main power had been restored. In that time, doctor Sorkin and her assistant, David Banks, had taken to trying to find any surviving researchers, scientists or other Ingen personnel in hopes of providing some sort of assistance and/or guide them towards their laboratory lying on a secluded part of Isla Nublar.
And while their initial hopes at finding other human beings had quickly dwindled the more cameras they checked, what they ended up finding right by the Triceratops' enclosure nearly had them falling off their chairs.
"In…Incredible", Laura mumbled, mostly to herself. She was in a sort of trance at the moment as she stared at the teenager standing atop the fallen Trike's head. "In all my years, I've never seen anything quite like this…"
"Do you think Hammond's somehow behind this?"
The idea of John Hammond or Henry Wu being responsible for what she was looking at on her screen didn't seem too crazy to conceive. "I wouldn't be surprised. Hammond has always had a thing for insane projects", Laura leaned back on her chair, still refusing to unglue her eyes from the monitor. "Still, this is a person we are talking about… To pull something like this off…"
"…Is virtually impossible, even by Hammond's standards."
She nodded at that, quickly discarding the theory as the teenager on the video jumped down and landed directly in front of other two survivors, one of which Laura was actually acquainted with.
"Isn't that doctor Harding and his daughter?", David inquired, leaning over her shoulder to take a closer look.
"As of a matter of fact, yes. It seems we were not the only ones that missed the boat", the doctor zoomed on the group now conversing in the middle of the road, and noticed how tense Gerry Harding looked around the strange blond-haired teenager.
Laura's assistant quickly caught that too. "It looks like whoever that kid is, seeing what we just saw freaked doctor Harding out."
Doctor Sorkin felt eager to agree, thinking how she too was still in shock after the supernatural demonstration she'd been treated to, even when being far away and relatively safe in the boondocks.
She pushed aside those feelings for the time being as the trio began moving towards the shed, guided by the unknown teenager. He leaned back against the wall and gestured for the Hardings to come closer, an act that perked Sorkin's curiosity.
"Do we have audio on this thing? I want to hear what they're saying."
"Should work just fine, let me turn it on for you."
David tapped some keys on the keyboard and brought up a new, smaller window that didn't overlay the previous one. It was a window displaying a voice layer, which immediately allowed sound to be heard through the computer's speakers.
"Good. Let's turn it up a bit."
Despite the distance between them and the group, Laura was pleased to see the voices were somewhat distinguishable on their end.
"…You know, I'm Naruto Uzumaki…"
"He's talking about himself!"
"Quiet!"
"…And I'm a… shinobi from… Konohagakure no Sato…"
"The 'village hidden in the leaves'? What could that possibly mean…?"
"Wait", David frowned. "Did you actually get that, doctor?"
As Gerry Harding's daughter asked Naruto Uzumaki to repeat himself, Laura pursed her lips. "I'm not certain", she paused, "but I think that was Japanese."
If she'd been looking at her assistant, she'd have seen the stupefied look he was now wearing on his face. "…I didn't know you could speak Japanese."
"Well, I lived a couple of years in Nagasaki. But that was a long time ago, when I was still an activist."
She refused to let her fellow doctor know the actual reasons she'd moved to Japan, of all places, all those years ago when she was still young and rebellious. It wouldn't do to tell David of the supposed crimes she'd been charged with and that had forced her to flee the country for a while.
And although her time in Japan had not exactly been the best years of her life, she was grateful to have picked up the local language during her stay. It gave her the chance to understand a young man who was getting stranger by the minute, and was now telling a story which no one in their right mind would ever believe.
No one, that is, who hadn't seen what this Naruto Uzumaki was capable of.
To be continued…
I took the liberty of assuming there were dinosaurs in the Elemental Nations at some point in history. I mention this 'cause I'm not a Naruto lore expert, so I may very well be missing something that could contradict this whole theory. If there is indeed something like that, then feel free to let me know. In any case, I'm not going to change this plot point, as it doesn't really matter much in the long scheme of things and it gave me a way for Naruto to have a basic idea of what dinosaurs are.
On a side note, that scene with Doctor Grant and the others is practically at the end of the movie. I imagine most, if not all of you, have seen it. Otherwise, the only thing that I've modified was Naruto coming to the group's rescue. In JP1, it's the T-Rex which stops the raptors from killing them. Needless to say, Naruto's intervention will have some consequences later down the line. Nothing too big, but there will be some changes to the way things take place.
Though I know I said I was going to address the language matter on this chapter, I decided to leave that for part 2. It's an idea I came up with when planning this story and that I hope it makes sense, at least somewhat. In any case, the only reason I decided to have Naruto find a way to learn English quickly was because this is meant to be a short story, and him not being able to communicate with the Hardings and other characters of the game would just be frustrating to read, wouldn't it?
And about the T-Rex… it will come back. Soon. Wouldn't be a Jurassic Park story without the best dinosaur on it reappearing for a rematch against Naruto.
Hope to see y'all again soon!
Luke.
