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The Legend of Zelda: Unbound Paradox

-Chapter 3-

-Last Time-

"Wouldn't be a good idea anyway, we already got who knows what ahead of us and the last thing we need is enemies to our back as well." The whiskered teen said, getting Elia to grimace before she reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"So do we have a plan or are you just gonna wing it again?"

"Actually,' Reaching into his wallet, Naruto pulled out a handful of green rupees with a thoughtful look. "I've got an idea."

-And Now-

Dawkcuf of the Castle Clan watched in satisfaction as its fellow Keaton worked on getting their new home constructed. They didn't know how they and their kin got here but they would do what they did best, conquer everything and slaughter everyone that came in their-

Is that a shiny?!

Dawkcuf, along with every other Keaton in the monster nest, stopped what they were doing when a bundle of sparkling green rupees floated through the air. For a moment they just watched the bundle of jewels drift along, entranced by their sparkling gleam. The instant they touched the ground in the center of the encampment though all hell broke loose as every Keaton bolted for it.

There was absolutely no regard for rank as the fox-like monsters scrambled over each-other in order to reach it first. Punches were thrown, sides were jabbed, and one particular Keaton was unlucky enough to get straight up stabbed in the chest, collapsing with a death gargle before dispersing into smoke and sparks.

Eventually Dawkcuf made it to the front of the group, shoving away another Castle clan member and picking up the group of rupees with a triumphant cheer. They had the shiny! They were… all…

Why did the shiny have a fuse?

This would be the last thought Dawkcuf had before the rupee wrapped bomb exploded in their grasp, blowing the greedy monster to bits along with over half its followers. Those that survived the initial blast didn't get off easy as the very things they coveted were turned into a deadly shrapnel that stabbed, cut, and shredded through them.

A yellow Keaton at the back of the crowd stumbled back, grasping at a green rupee lodged in its shoulder as it whimpered in pain. Distracted by the pain, it never noticed as someone slipped up behind it until an arm was wrapped around its throat.

The monster only had enough time to give a strangled yelp before Naruto sharply twisted its head, snapping its neck with a muffled *crack*. Snagging its dagger, the blonde let its body drop as he charged at the next Keaton, stabbing the rusted blade right through the bottom of its jaw.

It was at this point that the remaining Keatons finally regained their wits enough to realize there was a human amongst their midst. They snarled and glared at the whiskered teen who dared to attack them before quickly surrounding him. Doing their best to shrug off their injuries as they formed ranks to face their assailant, they bared their weapons threateningly as Naruto ripped the dagger out of the Keaton he'd killed and snagged its weapon too before it dispersed.

Even with their casualties there were still a dozen of them and only one measly human, they would exact vengeance and-

"I doubt you can understand me but a word of advice, when building a base…" Naruto tossed both of the daggers he stole, causing some of the Keatons to duck out of the way. However, it turned out they weren't what he was aiming for as the rusty weapons sank into the eye of a Bombarossa each. "Don't do it around a bunch of roaming explosives."

One could almost see the "Oh shit!" looks on the monsters faces before said roaming explosives went off, the resulting blasts sending debris flying everywhere along with kicking up a thick cloud of smog that obscured everything. The sound of metal clanging, monsters crying out, and blades slicing through flesh rang out several times in quick succession followed by a long silence.

When the dust settled it revealed Naruto standing alone, the last Keaton on the ground by his feet with one of its legs missing. It was still trying to fight despite its injuries, dragging itself towards the blonde with one hand while awkwardly stabbing towards him with the other.

At least it was until Naruto put it out of its misery with a quick stab from a sword taken from a purple Keaton. "And done."

"Huh, you know," Floating out from inside Naruto's hair, Elia landed on the blonde's shoulder and took in the now empty monster nest. "That might be the first-time things actually went according to plan, like ever. Usually there's some big twist that totally messes it all up by now."

"Yeah…" Deadpanning as a loud ominous crackling sound echoed in the void, Naruto turned around to see the black spot pulsing rapidly. The red hue around it darkened and condensed into a murky crimson slime that thrashed outwards violently until a chunk flung off. Splattering onto the ground, a vile red smoke wafted off the ooze as it sizzled on the ground before it rapidly congealed into a ball. "You mean like that?"

Elia's face contorted in horror as dust gathered together to take the shape of bones which the ooze seeped onto. In the span of just a few seconds, yet felt like it dragged out for minutes, the malevolent gunk morphed into flesh, forming into arms, legs, a head, even clothes and a sword, until a brand-new Purple Keaton stood before the duo with an enraged snarl. "W-what the hell? How is… how?"

"We can worry about that later," Naruto said as several more globs were ejected from the Spot near the newly spawned monster, rapidly growing into more Keaton and Bombarossa. "Right now, let's worry about getting out of this alive."

Without another word the teen charged, closing the distance between him and the spawning monsters in the blink of an eye. The first Keaton charged back at him with a swing of its sword that Naruto sidestepped before grabbing its wrist and pulling it close for a headbutt that broke the fox monster's jaw like glass. It gave a strangled howled in pain as it stumbled back, only to fall silent a second later when Naruto lopped its head off with its own sword.

Flipping the weapon so he was holding it by the tip of the blade, the whiskered teen chucked it at the still forming monsters to his left as hard as he could, cutting several of them down mid-growth. Meanwhile, he ran right, slashing through two more before grunting when the third formed fast enough to draw its blade and block.

"Slairtne ruoy nopu tsaef dna traeh ruoy tuo eguog llahs ew." The Keaton hissed out, literally spitting in Naruto's face with every syllable as it held him in a blade lock.

"Hey!" Growling back, Naruto stomped on the fox monster's foot, making it flinch and hobble backwards before the blonde stabbed it through the chest. The Keaton only had enough time to blink in shock before it was punted into the void, sword still impaled through it as it drifted away. "Next time say it, don't spray it!"

"Naruto! Behind you!" Elia shouted, causing the blonde to spin around with his remaining sword raised, only for his eyes to go wide upon seeing a Bombarossa all but on top of him.

"Shit!" Thinking fast, Naruto created a pair of chains and coiled them up in front of himself just before the sentient explosive hit. Fortunately, the makeshift shield did its job and the following blast only pushed the whiskered teen a couple yards back, a little singed and disoriented but otherwise unharmed.

However, by the time he regained his bearings he found himself facing a dozen new Keatons while the spot spat out more to replace the ones he'd slain.

"Well this is fantastic, now what do we do? Every time I kill one another one is made."

"Then don't kill them."

"Gee… great advice Elia…" Naruto muttered sarcastically as he readied himself for the growing horde.

"Uh, Naruto, I didn't say anything." The green fairy stated, causing the blonde she was hovering beside to pause for a second.

"Wait, but then who-" Was as far as Naruto got before he was cut off by several small glowing daggers that flew past him, impaling almost half the Keatons in the shoulders, legs, and eyes. While they fell down howling in pain and their comrades scurried for cover, the teen and fairy duo whirled around towards the source of the projectiles.

What they were greeted with was the sight of a tall slender woman with tanned skin, platinum blonde hair that was cut extremely short except for a single long lock that was done up in a braid that framed the side of her face. At first glance Naruto almost mistook her for a Gerudo, however she was adorn in light armor bearing the Crest of the Sheikah, with the same crest also being tattooed on her forehead in orange ink along with a white tear under her eye.

Perched atop a wooden spire, the woman drew several more daggers from… somewhere and dropped down to the blonde's side, landing gracefully without a sound.

' Oh no, not again.' The itch was back, worse than ever, ripping past Naruto's thoughts before he could react.

[A vast sky full of floating islands, an ancient temple, the woman standing before a spring, a withered old woman kneeling before a massive gate, a giant cog pulsing with magic. "It took you far too long to get here." "You're right on time."] ' Impa of the Ancient Sky Era'

"That dark core doesn't create new monsters, it merely rebirths the ones under its influence after they are felled," Naruto was snapped back to reality by the woman, Impa, speaking as she waved a hand over him, a soft glow spreading from her palm that soothed his wounds. She then tossed him one of her daggers, which he caught on reflex with his free hand, before readying herself. "They cannot be reborn if they do not perish though. So do not kill them, just immobilize them."

"…Understood." The blonde nodded, not bothering to question it as he and the new arrival faced the regrouping horde of fox-like monsters.

Without another word the pair charged, Naruto taking the lead while Impa trailed just behind him.

In just a matter of seconds they close the distance between them and the Keatons, the whiskered teen ramming shoulder first into the closest one's gut. He quickly followed up with a leg swipe, knocking the beast's legs out and falling flat on its face. Before it could even try to get up, Impa swept past and impaled a dagger through both its shoulders, pinning it to the ground.

Then, without missing a beat, she drew another blade and sliced at a Keaton that had tried to flank her, cutting its sword arm clean off in one blow. The monster screamed in agony until Naruto nailed it in the jaw with an uppercut, causing it to crumple in an unconscious heap.

"Jump!" Impa didn't question why Naruto yelled that, she just did as he said, hopping several feet straight up. The moment she did so, the whiskered teen yanked the megaton hammer off his back and slammed it against the ground, causing the whole floating island to shake and making all the Keatons stumble.

Quickly piecing together what he was doing, the mysterious warrior nimbly landed on the younger blonde's shoulders and started flinging daggers, aiming for non-vital spots that pinned the monsters in place.

She was only able to get three of them though before being forced to stop as she and Naruto jumped out of the way of two Bombarossa that tried to swoop in from both sides. The sentient bombs collided with each-other instead, blasting each-other apart in a fiery blast of shrapnel that forced Naruto to shield himself and Impa with his chains again.

Unfortunately, the blast also ended up killing most of the monsters they'd disabled, allowing them all to start reforming yet again.

"Son of a bitch," Naruto swore, putting the hammer away and redrawing his lades as their opponents were once again reformed back at full strength. "This isn't gonna work if those wannabe fireworks keep blowing shit up. You wouldn't happen to know how to deal with them, would you?"

"They explode upon impact, we'll need to immobilize them without actually hitting them," A thoughtful frown crossed Impa lips as she looked around until her gaze settled on the massive ice formation. "You were responsible for that, correct?"

"Yeah, how-"

"Can you do it again?" She cut him off, getting the younger blonde to pause for a moment before nodding once he realized what she was going for.

"Hopefully this doesn't freeze my arm off…" Dropping the dagger Impa had given him, a pair of chakra chains coiled around Naruto's arm with a vibrant white glow that oozed frost. However, as if anticipating what he was doing, the Keatons moved themselves between the blond and the living bombs. "Damn, I need a clear shot."

"Then I'll get you one." Without any other warning, Impa grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt and, with surprising strength for her thin frame, tossed him high into the air.

Feeling the weightlessness take ahold once more, the whiskered teen floated over the Keatons as they stared at him with a mixture of anger and confusion. Or at least they were until Impa charged into their ranks, stabbing, slicing, and impaling every which way.

Meanwhile Naruto turned his attention the Bombarossa, frowning when he saw them already trying to bear down on Impa, splitting into two groups to flank her again. Rearing his arm back, he took only a moment to carefully line up a shot before flinging the chilled golden links. The chains twirled together before splitting apart about halfway and struck into the ground in front of each gaggle of floating explosives, creating two large flashes of icy fog that froze them solid instantly when they flew through it.

"Yes, nai-ack!" The blonde started to cheer, only to almost immediately cut himself off with a flinch, grabbing his arm as a thick frost rapidly formed all the way up to his elbow with a burning sting.

Shaking off the pain as best he could, Naruto dispelled one of the chains and used the other to reel himself back to the ground, careful not to hit any of the immobilized Bombarossa. The moment his feet made contact with the ground, the teen ripped the chain out of the ground and whipped it towards the nearest yellow Keaton, wrapping it around the monster's throat.

"Hey buddy, I think your friends are missing you!" With a grunt he yanked the fox-like beast off its feet and spun it around at high speed, filling the air with its strangled screams, before slamming it into a trio of purple Keatons. All four monsters were sent tumbling away into the empty space, their bodies half frozen by the lingering ice magic still left in the chain. "Looks like you didn't miss them though."

"Is now really the time for witty quips?" Elia asked dryly while peeking out from the safety of Naruto's hat.

"Nope, but it helps lighten the mood." The blonde admitted without hesitation while punching a yellow Keaton in the face with his frozen arm, shattering the ice buildup into little shards which peppered into the vulpine monster's face. While it was blinded Naruto followed up by grabbing its arms, wrenching them out of their sockets before slipping behind it and stabbing its lower back, making it crumple with an agonized howl.

Not even a second later he caught another one that was punted his way by Impa, flipping it onto his back with one arm wrapped around its throat and the other its hips. The monster squirmed in his grasp desperately for freedom before going limp when Naruto pulled forward, snapping its spine with a loud *crack*.

"Right…" The fairy mumbled uneasily as she watched the now paralyzed Keaton whimpering pitifully as it was dropped to the ground. Regardless of if it was a monster or not, she couldn't help but feel a little bad for the poor thing. At least when they killed them it was usually over with fast, so they didn't suffer needlessly, this was just… brutal.

She didn't have long to mull over such thoughts though as Naruto ran back into the fray once more.

Running right for another pair of Keaton, the blonde ducked under a sword slice while parrying another before stabbing the first monster in the shin and sweeping the other off its feet. As the first one doubled over from its wounds, he followed up with an uppercut that sent it reeling back towards Impa, who swiftly slashed it several more times around its arms and legs, causing it to collapse in a limp heap. Meanwhile Naruto grabbed the other Keaton's sword and stabbed it through the fox beast's shoulder, making it scream as the metal sank clean through its flesh and imbedded deep into the ground beneath it.

Not a second later it howled even louder when Naruto drove his sword into its other shoulder, effectively pinning it into the ground.

"And that's another one down, how many are…" He started to say as he stood up, only to fall silent when he saw Impa standing atop a pile of battered, bloodied, and broken monsters. "Damn."

"Do not let your guard down yet," The blonde Sheikah stated, hopping off the heap of groaning Keatons and walking towards the Dark Core in the middle of the Islands. "We need to destroy this or these beasts will continue to recover again and again without cease. Only once it is gone will their deaths remain permanent."

"Then why didn't we just take it out first, Impa?" Naruto asked with a raised brow, causing his fellow blonde to blink in surprise while Elia looked at him weirdly.

"Uh Naruto, why'd you call her Impa?"

"Because that's her name, isn't it?"

"No, why-"

"It is actually… and I am quite interested in knowing how you know that," Impa interrupted, staring at Naruto intensely with a renewed interest in her eyes. However, she quickly shook it off and looked back to the pulsing spot as a light blue orb started to form in her palm. "As for your question though…"

Rearing her arm back, she flung the magical ball at the Dark Core, creating a large explosion that forced Naruto and Elia to shield their eyes. The sheer force of the blast rattled the entire set of islands, and even caused one to break off and start drifting away. But when the dust settled though, they were greeted to the sight of… a crack, a teeny tiny little crack barely the size of a pinky.

"As you can see these things are incredibly resilient, the last one I encountered took an immense amount of force to destroy it."

"Well, if its immense force you need," Naruto grabbed the giant hammer off his back and rested the head on his shoulder as it glowed orange. "I think I can obli-"

"HOLD IT!" The whiskered blonde flinched when those two words were literally screamed right into his ear, curtesy of Elia who floated down onto his shoulder. He winced even more as the fairy grabbed onto his earlobe and gave it a sharp tug with a no nonsense look.

"Why are you just listening to whatever this lady says? We don't even know who she is, or at least I don't Mr. suddenly knows everything," She said, adding the last part with an extra hard tug. "Which is another thing, don't think I haven't noticed how you keep magically having the answers to stuff we've never even seen. You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"…"

"Naruto…"

"…We can talk about this later, Elia," The teen stated, grabbing the fairy and pulling her off his ear before setting her back atop his head. He could feel the angry glare she was giving him the whole time even as she reluctantly crawled back into his golden locks, along with the hairs she not so gently yanked out in the process, but pushed it aside to focus on the problem at hand. He stared at the pulsing orb before him critically, noting how the crack had gotten even smaller whilst they talked. "So I just gotta hit that thing hard enough to break it?"

"Essentially yes," Seemingly unphased by the little drama that was going down, Impa just nodded like nothing happened. However, as Naruto wound himself up to give that spot a nice hearty whack, the older blonde held an arm out to stop him. "I'd advise caution, if the last one is to go by there is a good chance it'll explode upon being destroyed."

"Of course, because nothing can ever be simple, can it?" The whiskered teen asked sarcastically, shaking his head in annoyance while Elia floated back out of his hair, still glaring. Winding himself up again, he crouched slightly and held the Megaton Hammer with both hands as it glowed bright orange.

Then, he jumped, closing the distance between him and the sphere in the blink of an eye, bringing his hammer down on it with a thunderous *clang*. The impact created a massive shockwave that resonated throughout the entire group of islands, the sheer force nearly blowing Impa and Elia away while the islands completely broke apart from each-other.

Back at ground zero, Naruto grit his teeth as he held the hammer in mid-swing, his arms shaking like crazy as the recoil of the blow ran through them. The Dark Core's aura flared under the enchanted hammer, with several malevolent tendrils of that monster reviving ooze splattering out in all directions. The blonde hissed in pain when one such tendril smacked against his cheek, feeling like he was just slapped with a red-hot iron rod.

The magic weapon wasn't idle either, the head's orange glow growing to near blinding as it trembled against the orb's surface.

This stalemate went on for what felt like an eternity, the two forces fighting for dominance… until a crack formed… and then another... and another…

With one last blinding flare the Dark Core exploded, shattering into a thousand pieces like glass, the shards disintegrating into nothingness while the blast sent Naruto flying backwards. Contorting through the empty space as best as he could, he landed feet first on what was left of one of the islands with a grunt. Spiderweb cracks shot out everywhere as the ground cratered underneath him, though thankfully it remained intact.

"Well… that hurt…" He grunted, shaking off the impact as he slowly stood up straight, cupping his cheek with a grimace when it throbbed painfully. When he pulled his hand away he found ash blood on his fingers alongside bits of decayed grey skin that flecked off.

The blonde tried to brace himself up with the Megaton hammer, only to nearly topple over when he overextended his reach. Looking down to see why, another hiss escaped Naruto's lips when he saw that the head of the mighty weapon was gone, leaving just a handle that ended in a charred point. "Oh great… Darunia is gonna kill me…"

The teen was broken from his thoughts when he felt something grab his ankle and looked down to see one of the purple Keaton's clutching onto him with a spiteful glare. However, whatever fear it might have instilled was lost due to the monster's haggard appearance. The foxlike beast looked like it was aging rapidly, its fur paling to a dull grey, its muscles shriving up like a raisin, wrinkles forming all over, and eyes turning milk white.

A quick look around showed the same thing happening to the rest of the monsters, every last one swiftly growing elderly until they literally turned to dust.

"Revol thgil... uoy esruc..." The Keaton spat out as it tried to lift its rapidly rusting sword up, only to collapse to the ground a moment later, giving one last shuttering breath before going still.

"May you rest in peace," Naruto muttered with a slight bow of his head while the lifeless corpse decayed away into dust as well, leaving naught but a ragged purple shirt and rusty sword hilt to show that it had ever even existed. He didn't react at all when Impa landed next to him, nor Elia landing back atop his head with a huff. Instead, his attention along with theirs was drawn to a soft glow emanating from the center of the destroyed set of islands.

Where the Dark Core once was now floated a white flower bud about the size of a coconut that started to slowly drift down towards the trio. Floating towards the whiskered blonde in particular, he reflexively cupped a hand underneath it as it gently landed in his grasp.

The moment it made contact the bud bloomed, slowly opening to form the most beautiful white rose he'd ever seen. A gentle golden light gleamed from every petal, slowly thrumming in almost perfect sync with his heartbeat.

Before he could even question what was going on though, those same petals started falling away, slowly fading into nothingness as they floated around the blonde on a nonexistent breeze. And when the last one fell away to show a tiny green and red bundle left in the middle of his palm.

"What in the world? Is that…" Her anger suddenly forgotten, Elia dropped from Naruto's head, sliding down his arm onto his palm and kneeling beside the bundle. Gently nudging it, she gasped when the bundle rolled over to reveal that it was in fact a small mouse-like person dressed in sewn together leaves and a big red hat with a red and white feather-like tail. "It is, it's a Minish."

"A what now?" Naruto asked-

[A mystical doorway, a talking bird hat, everything growing to giant size, the blade of a sword embedded inside a chest snapping, things seemingly moving by themselves, tiny people moving amongst blades of grass the size of trees] Minish

' Okay, that is really getting old.' The blonde thought, his eyebrow twitching as the visions faded to the back of his mind once more.

"It's a long story that I'll explain later, now shush it and keep your hand still," Elia said sternly, her hands glowing as she ran them over the unconscious mouse person. After a few moments though she sighed as the glow faded and she carefully scooped them up into her arms. "He's okay, just unconscious, but I'm gonna keep an eye on him."

With that said she floated back up into Naruto's hairline, tucking the little minish guy in with utmost care…

Before swooping down right in front of the blonde's face, her hands glowing as she quickly treated the wound on his whiskered cheek.

"Don't think I'm done with you mister, we're gonna be having a long talk." She made an 'I'm watching you' motion with her hand as she spoke, staring Naruto dead in the eye with both anger before floating back up.

"Your friend sounds very concerned, it may be-"

"No offense lady, but we literally just met five minutes ago, so I think I'll pass on the pearls of wisdom," Naruto cut Impa off with a frown before shouldering what was left of his hammer as he faced the taller blonde. "That is unless you can tell me where the hell we are and how to get out of it. That would be appreciated."

"Truth be told, I was actually hoping you could provide me and my companion the answers to those same questions." Impa admitted as she crossed her arms, making Naruto pinch his nose in aggravation.

"Naturally…" Shaking his head, the green clad teen mused to himself what to do next. However, the answer was given to him when another pulse of light shot from his necklace, something he just realized didn't happen at all during the entirety of the fight. Following the beam until it vanished from sight, a frown marred his lips before he sighed deeply. ' Well then, looks like it's back to blindly following the light again.'

His mind made up, Naruto placed the broken hammer away into his satchel and conjured up a chain…

"Wait," Impa stated while grabbing her fellow blonde by the shoulder, causing him to tense up. "I may not have answers but my companion may be able to glean some if you speak with her."

"And how do you reckon that?" He asked with a raised brow.

"Because you may know more than even you realize."

' Yup… definitely a Sheikah.' If there was any doubts left they were gone now. Naruto had heard enough of those cryptic non-answers from the last Impa he'd met after all. "Fine, where is this 'companion' then?"

Rather than answering verbally, Impa smirked and looked straight up, which Naruto soon followed.

…

"…Okay, how the fuck did I not notice that?" He asked upon seeing a flying house hovering several hundred yards above them. And he didn't mean flying as in it was floating like everything else, he meant legit had wings and propellers to fly with.

The building itself looked like a house that'd be literally ripped in half then hastily pasted together with half of another home. One half was made of dark red wood with paper windows and plank roofing whilst the other half was a white clay brickwork with red tiling and glass windows. Then again there was the wings and propellers, made of some kind of greenish metal or stone that jutted out all sides.

And it was all held together haphazardly in the middle by boards, rope, canvas, and several strange metal claws. The whole thing was pointed down at them, with a similarly cobbled together porch set up in front of a doorway bearing the Sheikah Crest.

"In my experience, most forget to look up," Impa stated, crouching for a moment before leaping into the void towards the flying building. As she floated weightlessly through the empty space, she glanced back at the still stunned teen and gestured for him to follow. "Are you gonna just stand there or are you coming?"

That did the trick as Naruto snapped from his thoughts with a frown and launched his chain, hooking it around one of the porch's railings.

' Hopefully this doesn't end up like the last time I tagged along with someone named Impa.' He swore he could still feel the bruises from that hellish impromptu training…

-End Chapter-