A Maelstrom's Venture

Chapter 31

The Better Man

Triana's Room

Right now the girl was cleaning her bow, making sure it was in pristine condition just like Freya had instructed her to, while her father was worried for her, due to her loss of Naruto, since after his death, she was practically a wreck for the first week or so, barely having anything to eat, but thankfully Brok, of all people, got her out of her funk, basically telling her that 'Would Naruto want you to be bitching and moaning about losing him, NO, he'd tell ya to get off your ass and do something to help ya out!' Was basically what the blue skinned dwarf had stated.

Though that had caused her to get angry and explode towards the dwarf, with her suddenly holding Naruto's spear in her hand getting ready to beat the dwarf with it for his insults towards her feelings for Naruto, though just before that Brok had given her, her own keystone to visit both himself and his brother whenever she wanted to talk to someone, or if she wanted to talk to Freya about her loss, so hearing this, along with Mimir stating how Freya knew more about "loss" than anyone he knew.

So with that in mind, she had told her father that she was gonna go on a training trip, hoping that Freya will help her deal with her loss of Naruto, which at first Orpheus was reluctant, but then he relented, feeling that she may gain some clarity traveling with the goddess and Valkyrie Queen than he could ever know, not to mention having someone as knowledgeable as Mimir offering her advice and wisdom along the way would possibly help her as well.

After that, Triana was away for a few months, though to her it felt like a few years, where due to the time flow of the Realms, was extremely difficult to guess, meaning that while it's been a few months for everyone, it's basically been a few years after Freya took Triana under her wing, after such a long time she had received the title, Valkyrie, though Freya had explained that while she does have the title, she wasn't ready for her wings yet.

Which made Triana upset, since she believed that she was ready, but unfortunately, Freya had brought up a touchy subject, "The Valkyries only take warriors to Valhalla Triana, they don't get to visit the dead." She'd explained, pretty much knowing what Triana had planned to do from the get-go, the girl wanted to visit Naruto one last time, but there were rules concerning the afterlife for a reason, and this was one of them.

which is why the now 20 year old was in her room, cleaning her bow, since after her training she had learnt pretty much all the spells that Freya had given her, at first she wanted to do the same thing that Freya did to Mimir's head, but realised that Naruto wouldn't like that, and knowing Rusty he'll probably try and experiment on her boyfriend's head in someway, so she left it alone.

Also throughout her time in the other realms, she'd help Mimir and Freya with her knowledge of Midgard, though personally knowing that they're pretty much "old school" when it comes to information, she went back how with a small amount of treasure and get the complete Encyclopedia for the head and goddess, figuring they'd prefer them over looking everything up on the internet, but since they're in a different realm, there was no internet at all, so the books helped a lot, which is another reason why her training took so long as well.

"Are ya alright lass, I know Freya upset ya with the news about the afterlife, but it's not her fault ya know, there are rules about death for a reason, case in point, me for example, I've died once already and thanks to Freya's magic I'm somewhat alive now, but because of this, I can't eat, drink or sleep, hell, I can't even spend "time" with the Valkyrie, Sigrun, but the fact that I can at least still talk to her is nice, but I wouldn't recommend it for you and Naruto lass." Mimir offered his experience to Triana, the young woman knowing that what Mimir said was true, began to slowly accept it.

Though it turns out Orpheus had become both jealous and envious of the man known as The Outlander, who both stole his wife and could travel between dimensions easily, so he was setting up the whole lawn stuff in some outlandish way, only for Orpheus to visit his master in his daughter's closet.

After that The trio began talking about what the Master had said, only for Triana to listen in on what her father and his team was talking about, with her being confused about this so called "Master" being in her closet, though when she caught them trying to explain themselves they quickly teleported away, where Triana slowly entered her room, just as her closet opens up.

But when she entered the closet, The Master took on the appearance of Naruto, at first she was shocked, thinking it was Naruto, only for the imposter to start speaking, while he also apologies for the whole "Naruto form" thing, it just happens randomly now and again, but states how much she misses Naruto that her image of Naruto made its "appearance" on the Master, "I mean, my god, look at these muscles, what's this kid do, like use a train to get these things, hell, I don't have to tell you that since you slept with this stallion of a young man, I mean, I can literally feel his size on my leg, what is he, some kind of half-horse or something."

Things started to get a little "awkward" when the Master started talking about Naruto's junk, while being in Naruto's form, he then dropped the bomb by telling her that Orpheus was practically wiping her memory since she visited a few times in the past before this visit, surprising her.

The Master then states to her to continue with her training under Freya, since she's practically a master when it comes to magic and other stuff, but to also pick up a few lessons from her mother as well, with that, Triana came to the choice of going to her mother's for her training for a few weeks.

"Oh, also, Naruto is still alive, just ask his mother." The Master quickly stated as Triana left, with the closet closing behind her.

She rushes back to the closet, trying to reach The Master, where she opens and closes the door repeatedly, but the only thing in there was her clothes.

As for Mimir, "What's the matter lass, you look like you've seen a ghost." He couldn't help but ask, seeing her state of duress, seeing as Triana had entered her closet without him so he had no idea what was happening.

She quickly looked towards Mimir, "Quickly Mimir, who is Naruto's mother!?" She asks in desperation, having forgotten who the woman was since she only met her once.

With Mimir quickly answering that it was a woman called, Molotov Cocktease, though he felt slight awkward about the woman's last name, with Triana picking up Mimir and placing him on her hip, "What's happening now lass, what's with the rush."

"My dad's magic master, inside my closet no less, had just told me that Naruto is alive, while telling me that Naruto's mother would know about this." She explains, making Mimir shocked at this revelation.

"B-But, how is that even possible, I mean, he was buried and everything, all that's left of him was a head, and even then there was a few piece burnt away from that as well." He couldn't help but question.

"I don't know, but if The Master has pointed us towards Naruto's mother, then that means she's bound to know something that we don't, and Naruto told me that if ever I needed something when he's away, to call this number on a payphone at the local mall, but to not put any money into the machine, meaning that this could be a lead towards Naruto's mother." She answered, leaving the compound towards the place that Naruto had told her about.

"So this is a hunting trip for Naruto's Ma then, what will you say if she answers, or if someone else answers." He couldn't help but ask, seeing as Triana was now riding Naruto's bike, since he'd given her permission to ride it long ago, but due to her age, her dad had forbidden such a thing, but now that she was "old enough" she was able to take it for a spin, which is why she was now at the mall, ringing the number.

Someone soon answered, telling her that the number was private and shouldn't be in use or anything, only for Triana to ask one thing, "Is Naruto's mother there." It wasn't long before she was put on hold for a few seconds, where a familiar voice soon spoke up.

"Who is this, and how did you get this number, it should only be known to a sec-" "Is Naruto still alive." Triana interrupted the woman, knowing that she needed to be both direct and quick to ask what she needed before the woman could hang up.

With Molotov

A few hours ago she was getting angry at the doctor that was looking at her son's vitals, seeing how long it's been Naruto should've been awake by now, "I'm sorry Miss, but I can't find anything wrong with him, if anything I would say that the problem is more than likely his mental state." The man had told her.

"What are you talking about, my son had been trained to overcome practically anything, so why-!" "Even a powerful explosion that left only his head and exposed jaw bone." The doctor quickly interrupts, making Molotov understand that such a horrific thing would've left even someone as strong-willed as Naruto in a comatose state, which is why he's still in the container, still healing.

"(Sigh!) How long or when do you believe that Naruto would wake up." She asks calmly, knowing that she needed to remember her training so she doesn't do something foolish.

The doctor looks at his papers, " From me scans and readings, it's difficult to say, even with his healing factor, his mental strain could cause him to be in an emotional coma for either a few more months, maybe even years, or forever, it's not an exact science Miss, since who knows what your son's mental state is in after such an event." The Doctor explained, with the woman asking the man to leave her be to mull everything over.

She knew the man was right, she just have no idea what to do now, only for her thoughts to be interrupted by a phone call, telling her that someone had asked for "Naruto's mother" making the woman quickly answer the call, yet when she replied she didn't expect such a response in return, how did this person know about Naruto's state.

So with that, she deployed her Black Hearts to "pick up" the girl so she could question her about the info and where she got it from.

It didn't take her long to wait, seeing as Triana was now standing before her, with Mimir at her hip, though Molotov already knew about the head, due to her info gathering, it still surprised her that the head could talk, but now wasn't the time for that.

"Tell me young girl, how did you know about my son and his state of being, where did you get such information and how did you come by it." Molotov demanded, entering what is known as her "business" mode.

After that Triana decided the best thing to do was to come clean, telling Molotov all the details she could about her experience after losing Naruto, along with her training under Freya, meeting the Master and asking the woman about Naruto.

The story shocked Molotov, who knew that Brock had such a birthright, which would mean her son had the same one as well, though as the women talked, something was happening with Naruto.

Deep down he could hear a couple of people talking, one was very familiar, while the other was even more so, like he should know who this person was, yet he couldn't pinpoint the voice, only then did the memories start to flood his system, causing Naruto to thrash and jerk this way and that, he could remember planning to go on a father/son road trip with his dad, only to be caught in a fiery explosion after, the last image he saw was his father getting blown back, but a familiar girl with black hair in the background gasping in shock at the sight of more than likely losing him.

That's when Naruto's eyes opened up, only instead of their bright blue, they changed to a burning red with slitted eyes.

Outside Naruto's Chamber

It wasn't long before Molotov explained what had happened, that one of her Black Hearts agent had brought her Naruto's head after the funeral, due to her fear of gravediggers trying from either guild or O.S.I. which Triana could understand her reasoning.

"But once the head had reached me, it looked like new skin was reattaching to Naruto's jaw, that's when I knew that Naruto would return, so I had this chamber and container to-!" "(CRAAAAAAASSSSSSHHHHHHH!)" "(SMASH!)" Only for her to be interrupted as a strange giant red form had broken through her wall, crashing outside her window when it did.

Looking inside, both women quickly noticed that the container that Molotov was about to show Triana that had contained Naruto was empty, with the glass all over the floor showing that the form that had crashed through the wall and window was in fact Naruto, quickly getting up the two looked outside, though what they saw they couldn't comprehend.

"By the gods, so Naruto had inherited that ability from the god's son." Mimir stated, though he couldn't believe he was seeing this again.

"What are you talking about head, where is my son!" Molotov questioned.

"Milady, that beast down there IS Naruto, he must've entered his animalistic form due to the trauma he'd received from the explosion, right now he's more than likely confused and stressed out of his mind, having no idea who is his friends or enemies." Mimir explained as the group looked on as a wolf-size fox was sniffing around jumping and growling at everything and anything, showing that he wasn't in his right state of mind just yet.

Hearing this, Triana quickly jumped down, catching feral-Naruto's attention, with him growling at this stranger before him, "Easy lass, while I know you missed him something fearsed, right now, he's nothing more than a beast, hell, he might not recognise you due to your age development." Mimir advised.

Triana simply holds her hands out to Naruto, where she calmly and carefully moves towards him, "Naruto, please, this isn't you, you and I both know that when it comes to control, you have the strongest willpower, no one can beat it, you and I also know that you could never hurt me, because you know deep down that I love you no matter what, and you did keep your promise that you'd return to me, didn't you, just like you always do, you always keep your promises Naruto."

She states, calling out to Naruto carefully, though as that was happening, Molotov was watching the whole thing, until she noticed the fox's red eyes started bleeding into blue.

"T-Triana!?" The fox suddenly spoke, only for it's form to rapidly and painfully change, turning back into a human form, with said form being Naruto, who was laying on the floor in a sweating heap, breathing heavily in the shadow, though he leaned forward, letting Triana know he was back to normal.

"I-I'm back." He states, moving his hand towards Triana who took it and brought him into a hug.

"You came back to me." She couldn't help but exclaim.

"Always." Naruto simply stated, happy to be holding his girlfriend after so long.

Naruto and Triana slowly start standing up, where they decided to leave Molotov to do her thing, with Naruto telling his mother that while he is upset at her for using his father in such a way, practically being the first domino that started the whole bomb explosion to begin with, he understood that she didn't plan for the Monarch to be stupid enough to do such a thing to begin with.

With that the revived and weakened Naruto left with Triana on their bike, with Naruto calling for it with a quick whistle, though that left him slightly breathless, but it got the job done, with Naruto now holding onto Triana as she drives them back to the compound, they couldn't wait to see everyone's faces when she pulls up with a fully healed, if not "larger" Naruto, it was bound to surprise everyone there.

Next Morning

Surprising was an understatement of everyone's reaction, they all practically fainted and crapped themselves from Naruto making a miraculous return from the dead.

But what really surprised the pair was that Brok had hugged the young man, thankfully Naruto was fully clothed before that, happy to having his banter "sparring" partner back for their usual "fighting" that they usually get into.

With the brothers returning the axe to its rightful owner, with Naruto happily and easily placing it back where it belonged.

Though before the celebration of his return could happen, Triana spoke up explaining how she wants to live with her mother for a few months to get proper training from her, though her father was upset about her leaving, he believed that she was now old enough to make her own choices, thus letting her go live with her mother for her training.

"If it's alright with you both, Orpheus, Triana, will it be any trouble if I tag along with you Triana, after my "near-death" experience, I don't think I want anything to do with the Venture Compound, for a little while at least, I'm still a little shakened about the whole experience and even though I'm fully healed, my mind may need more time to recover." Naruto asks the pair, with both agreeing and letting Naruto go with both Triana and Outlander, until he's ready and fully recuperated from his ordeal.

"Though before we go, there's just one more thing I need to do."

Making them all puzzled.

Later

Right now, Sheila was sitting outside a coffee shop, having a relaxing cup of coffee by herself while reading a newspaper about a few local stuff.

"(Squeak!)" Only for the chair next to her to be pulled out.

"Sorry pal, I'm not interested, besides, you're sitting in my friend's usual space before his death, so if you could please move along." She simply states, not looking up from her paper to see who she was talking to.

"That's alright, I like sitting in this chair too." The stranger stated with a cheeky smile, since she could tell by the sound of his voice, though she's surprised that he didn't say anything about her own voice.

"Listen bub, why don't you-!" She suddenly stopped herself, she was now looking at a very much alive, yet larger Naruto, at first she didn't recognize him due to his size, but she quickly did after noticing both the whiskermarks and the familiar axe on his back.

Seeing him before her, she was shocked, she didn't know what to say, but before she could say anything, Naruto had simply lifted his own coffee cup, having got it before he sat down, causing her to realise what he wanted her to do, she lifted her own.

"(Clink!)"

With a resounding clink of their cups, Sheila felt more happy than ever did before, her friend was back from the grave, it wasn't long before the two dived into the comfortable chatter of what had happened in their lives, with Naruto simply explaining his slow healing from his head to now, thanks to his healing factor, but due to only his head surviving, it took a long time for him to fully heal, not to mention the mental strain such a state had left him, which Sheila had understood such a thing.

He then explained that he'll be going away for a while to live with his girlfriend, since he needed a break after such an ordeal, which Sheila agreed, to though she also told Naruto what had happened during his time "away" which he was pleased to hear that things were relatively "normal" to a certain level, though was surprised that Hatred had took over his dad's job, but considering everything that has happened, he understood why.

With that, the two left one another, with Naruto giving her his new number, just so the two can have their usual coffee chat, no matter where they are.

Sheila just couldn't be more happier, since it turned out that she wasn't the cause for Naruto's "death" though it does beg the question, who was, since she doubted that Naruto's mother had planned such a thing, not to mention that her husband and herself had left the detonation device in the cocoon at the time, so someone inside their ranks had set off the bomb.

"I'll find out who set the bomb off Naruto, I promise you that, just take your time to heal your mental fatigue and get back to us soon." She says to herself, planning to tell her husband that Naruto was alive, but wasn't planning to return anytime soon due to his "death" experience and everything.

The End.

There you have it, Naruto is back, and with a few new skills in his bag, but that's obviously due to suffering such a traumatic death, so obviously after such a thing, he would leave to try and heal his mental state as well.

I also figured I'd give a quick briefing on what Triana was up to as well.

I Do Not Own Naruto Or The Venture Bros.