I do not own Naruto or Steven Universe.

"Believe in Steven!" normal speech

"Believe in Steven!" thought/mind speak

"Believe in Steven!" demon speech

Chapter 32: Fighting Phantoms

*Orochimaru's Hidden Lab*

Naruto and Pearl ran through the halls in hopes of finding either Garnet's group after Amethyst told them to run.

"I hope Ammy-nee will be alright…" Naruto said as he stole a glance behind him with a look of concern on his face, "Zabuza's a pretty nasty character last I remember him."

"And from what we saw and what you've told us about him…" Pearl said as she slowed down to a halt with Naruto quickly walking back to her, "…Maybe we should go back…"

"Naruto, Pearl, do you read? Over." said a familiar voice as Naruto answered his radio.

"We read you?" the blond said as he and Pearl remained on guard in case of an ambush, "Is that you, Sapphire-baa-chan? Over."

"Yes and I have some chilling news!" Sapphire said with slight urgency in her voice, "I just got a vision that Steven's on his way here!"

"WHAT!?" both Pearl and Naruto shouted out in surprise at the declaration.

"Listen," Yamato said as his voice was soon heard through the radio, "even with the change in circumstances, we still need to show caution; Panicking now would cause us to lose focus and the enemy will use that to our advantage. For now keep going and should you do find Steven, get him out of here as who knows what Orochimaru might be planning for him."

"Roger." Pearl said as the radio then went silent before she looked at Naruto, "Let's go! Maybe if we fuse, we can help Amethyst!"

"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that." said another familiar voice as Naruto looked to see another ghost of his past.

"Haku…" Naruto said in slight horror at the sight of the newly resurrected Haku before him, "…no…"

"Not exactly how I had envisioned my new life after my death by your sensei's hands." Haku said as the gem under his breasts began to glow.

The resurrected ninja pulled out a handle that appeared from the gem and he pulled it out of his chest to reveal twin knives that had a long inward curve on the sharpened side with ice-like designs adorned at the guard and hilt.

"But now I follow new orders…" Haku said as went into a fighting stance, "…even if I do not wish to."

Summoning their weapons, Pearl and Naruto prepared themselves for a fight through the narrow hallway.

Could things get any worse for them…

*Forest*

Connie and Kusabue continued to follow Lapis and Sai while still trying to deal with the occasional beast that Sai would send their way.

"We're not getting any closer!" Connie growled out after she destroyed the last ink beast from the recent group that was sent her way, "We need to find a way to cut him off!"

"I can take a chance with a jutsu," the green-furred Lion said as he kept his sights on the giant bird made of ink while occasionally stealing glances at the road ahead of him, "but I fear of hitting Steven or Lapis."

Looking ahead to see bright sunlight, Connie hunkered down closer to Kusabue while tightening her grip carefully on the Lion's flesh as she said, "We only have one shot to do this! Do you happen to know any Wind Jutsus?"

"I do, but what do you have planned?" Kusabue said as the girl on his back whispered into his ear, causing a surprised look to appear on his face, "Are you crazy!? Your mother would tan my hide worse than Chimamire if I let any harm come to you!"

"I know," Connie said as she tightened her focus, "but who knows what await us at the end of the forest; We need to do this!"

Weighing the options he had, the Lion let out a reluctant sigh as he then said, "Alright…I know that the result of whether or not I go forth with your plan is not desirable…but I do trust you."

Connie smiled before holding tightly as Kusabue leapt through the branches until he was now running across the treetop where Sai's giant bird and Lapis with her own birds were in clear view…

…alongside a deep ravine that was at the forest's edge.

"NOW!" the girl roared out as the green Lion summoned what power he could into a mighty leap.

Connie quickly jumped onto her feet before using Kusabue's head to support her own jump. She then took the scabbard of Rose's sword and placed her feet on it like a skateboard.

"This better work!" Kusabue said as he drew in a huge breath, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!"

Letting out the collected air, Kusabue launched a powerful gust of wind that slammed into the pink scabbard which resulted in a powerful force sending Connie far more closer to Sai.

"Let him go!" the girl roared out as she swung the large blade at the beast, effectively slicing a wing off.

Tightening his focus, Sai used a lone hand sign to allow his ink bird to regrow its wing at the price of reducing in size. Sai then quickly drew something on his scroll before holding out a hand sign.

"Ninja Art…" the ninja said as a spider about the size of Steven leapt out of the scroll, "Super Beast Scroll!"

The spider latched itself onto Connie, binding her arms and legs together, and caused her to plummet towards the bottomless pit below.

"Connie!" Steven cried out as he watched one of his friends fall to her death while he couldn't do anything.

Lapis saw this and was about to send a couple of her water birds, but her birds were unfortunately destroyed by a couple of ink dragons Sai had quickly sent her way. The blue Gem gracefully dodge the dragons while using her trident to fight them off, unable to figure a way to save Steven's friend.

With the wind rushing around her, Connie tried to struggle her way out of the bindings to only find that despite being made of ink, these bindings were quite tough. The girl focused all of her mind and spirit into prying herself free, but she never noticed the necklace that Okina had given her began to glow brightly.

*foom!*

Connie suddenly felt herself on top of something covered in fur that had momentarily thrashed a little bit before it stopped.

"What the…" the girl asked as she looked to find that she was on a giant Lion with wings.

This winged Lion had fur that was a mixture of red and orange while its mane was a fiery yellow. This Lion was also wearing wooden sandals similar to what samurais would wear and it also had a white towel that was twisted to form a headband that was wrapped around its head. This headband also seemed to help hold a porcelain mask that was in the form of a gruff, bearded man. Connie also noted that this Lion was gigantic, it also wasn't as large as Okina but was large enough to easily dwarf Kusabue.

"I don't know who the hell summoned me since I know I wasn't summoned by that Steven cub," the Lion said with a gravel gruff voice that was slightly laced with excitement, "but they must have some serious pair of balls to summon me, Kasai Haretsu, in midair like this."

With a huge wave of his wings, Kasai lifted himself into the air as Connie then said, "I don't know how you got here, but I need your help; We need to go rescue Steven."

With a midair buck, Connie felt herself flying uncontrollably through the air until she landed on something soft. She shook some of the cobwebs out of her head before she found herself staring into the mask, which looked frighteningly intimidating from her point.

After studying the girl on the topside of his sandaled paw, Kasai noted the amulet as he then said, "You must be Connie, our summoner's chosen mate."

The girl blushed as she quickly spoke, "W-We only went out on a few 'official' dates!"

Connie quickly banished her embarrassment as she then said, "Listen Kasai, we can talk about mine and Steven's relationship later as right now Steven's in danger!"

"Right!" Kasai said as the eyes of his mask glowed before the bindings on Connie were suddenly burned without hurting the girl, "Time for a real Kasai Haretsu-style festival!"

Connie had managed to climb into the Sphinx's mane to find that Sai and Steven were not too far off while Lapis was still fighting the ink dragons.

"We need to help Lapis as with her, we might have a better chance of stopping Sai's ink monsters!" Connie shouted out and pointed towards the blue Gem.

"Say no more!" Kasai said as he jerked his head up for his mask to reveal his now opened mouth as a ball of fire formed, "Fire Style: Firework Blossom Jutsu!"

The ball of fire suddenly doubled in size before it was launched towards the dragons. Seeing the oncoming attack, Lapis quickly dove downwards as the fireball made contact with one of the ink dragons and exploded in an amazing fashion. From a distance, the explosion had actually formed a picture of a cherry blossom flower in the sky.

Kasai let out a hearty laugh as he said, "Now THAT'S art; Now to save the cub!"

Lapis had managed to fly towards the towering Sphinx and got close enough to speak to Connie.

"What's the plan?" the Gem asked as she landed next to the girl and watched Kasai launch another fireball that exploded into another blossom of fire in an attempt to shake Sai out of the sky.

Connie thought for a moment before the idea formed in her head.

"I need you to go save Steven while Kasai keeps Sai busy enough to where he can't make any more of those monsters." Connie said as she slightly leaned out of the Sphinx's mane and asked, "Did you get that, Kasai?"

"No problem!" Kasai said with a smirk on his face, "I am the #1 Fireworks Expert among the Lions after all!"

"Just don't hit me!" Lapis said as she summoned her wings and flew out of Kasai's mane and towards Sai with renewed determination.

Connie held tight onto Kasai's mane as she watched Lapis fly through the air while Sai was dodging the weaker fireballs that the Sphinx was launching towards him.

Hang in there Steven…

*Orochimaru's Hidden Lab*

With Amethyst, the purple Gem was in her regular form as she swung her whip towards Zabuza, only for said ninja to quickly use a Substitution Jutsu to dodge the attack. Hearing a roar from behind, Amethyst quickly jumped to the side to avoid an overhead slash that caused Zabuza's zanbato to embed itself into the floor.

"Where's all that big talk from before?" Zabuza taunted as his opponent turned to face him, "You sounded pretty eager to fight me by yourself, runt."

Amethyst smirked confidently as she said, "I'm just getting warmed up!"

She wouldn't admit it, but Amethyst was having some difficulties with her fight against Zabuza as even though she had trained with Naruto and a few other ninjas in Konoha, she learned that this resurrected ninja was on a different level. Zabuza was constantly rushing towards her and not even giving her time to breathe all the while constantly using a jutsu to either dodge or attack her. She didn't know what to do…

Summoning another whip, Amethyst used her first whip to try to strike Zabuza while he tried to pry his zanbato out of the ground. Seeing the attack, Zabuza quickly used an arm to catch the vine and wrap it around his forearm. However, he didn't see the second vine as it had managed to leave a massive slash on his exposed body as blood oozed from the fresh injury.

"Not bad…" Zabuza said as he tightened his grip on the first whip while the stinging pain from the surprise attack had subsided, "…but you're going to have to try better than THAT!"

At that moment, the ninja gave the vine a powerful pull that caused Amethyst to fly from the unexpected boost of strength. When the purple Gem got close enough, Zabuza gave her a powerful punch to her face that launched her towards another table, causing the force of the impact to break it, before pulling the vine again to cause Amethyst to crash into a wall from across the room. Amethyst tried to think of what to do as she kept getting hit from one wall to another or right into either a punch or a kick from her opponent, but she couldn't find a way to get an upper hand on the battle.

That was when she realized something…

If I can't find an opening…the purple Gem thought with a devilish smirk on her face, then I'll just have to make one.

"Time to finish you off!" Zabuza said as he pulled the vine towards him, causing Amethyst to fly right into him.

Zabuza pulled back his free hand to ready a punch, but Amethyst had managed to pull herself towards the floor and into slide. The resurrected hybrid looked to see Amethyst giving him a smirk as she had a leg curled up with her foot ready to strike. The ninja didn't have time to dodge as Amethyst kicked him at his most vulnerable spot before the purple Gem boosted herself behind him and gave her whip a might heave. With the first vine still in his hand, Zabuza suddenly found himself being rolled onto the floor and staring at the ceiling briefly until he felt his body suddenly hitting the ceiling. As he fell, Amethyst then quickly wrapped her whip around the ninja's neck before giving Zabuza a mighty kick that launched him away from her. The resurrected ninja's last sight was his own fist hitting him as he felt a tight pull on his neck until…

*poof!*

Amethyst watched as a malachite gemstone fell onto the ground with an audible clink before kneeling onto the ground herself, whip vanishing from her grasp.

"Haven't had…*huff**puff*…this much fun…" Amethyst said as she tried to catch her breath, "…since I tried to wrestle…*huff**puff*…wrestle Zircon to the ground."

After catching her breath, the purple Gem when to collect the gem and bubble it, but before she could, a snake had quickly slithered by and swallowed the gemstone whole before slithering away.

"NO!" Amethyst cried out as she tried to grab the snake before it got away until the snake had managed to go through a hole in the wall that was just small enough to get stuck.

The purple Gem leapt towards the serpent and ended up smacking her face into the wall. When she had reeled back…she unfortunately had no snake as it had managed to slipped through her grasp.

"Dammit!" Amethyst cursed out as she got onto her feet and reluctantly dusted herself off, "No use chasing after it as no doubt that Voldemort wannabe had summoned that snake. Guess I might as well see if I can catch up with anyone…"

The purple Gem was about to dash out of the room until another idea had occurred to her.

"I do have orders…" Amethyst said with a smirk as she cracked her knuckles in renewed excitement.

With Naruto and Pearl, spark flew through the air as the duo had clashed with Haku numerous times before the ninja had managed to jump away in time.

"I see that your skills have improved much since last we met." Haku said as he was in a battle stance, twin knives ready to anticipate the next attack, "You could barely match my speed back then."

"But back then you didn't have Gem powers." Naruto countered as he flexed the fingers of his claws, thinking of the next attack.

The blond considered himself lucky that he and Pearl were fighting the resurrected Haku in such a narrow hallway with very little water present. If not, then Haku would have been able to unleash his full potential with his Ice Style Jutsus. But that still didn't mean Haku wasn't fast enough to get past their defenses.

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked, surprising Pearl as she had her spear in her hands, "You didn't want to fight back when you were alive…Why are you fighting now?"

"I fight because I was ordered to." Haku answered with a stoic tone that was slightly laced with regret, "Even if the seal on me didn't force me into fighting you, I would not dare defy Sasuke's orders as the new power he possesses if far too dangerous to go up against; I have witness this power for myself and it is far beyond awesome for any one person to possess."

"Then what about Orochimaru?" Pearl asked as she kept her guard up in the case Haku were to attack, "Since you obey Sasuke, then that means you're free to attack Orochimaru."

"I would have as I have seen what kind of monstrosities that…thing has done," Haku said as he kept his focus on his opponents, "but I am under orders by Sasuke to not attack him at the moment."

The resurrected ninja then dashed in for a series of attacks that Naruto and Pearl had managed to block before going onto the offensive as well. Despite the two against one odds, the battle was evened out as Haku's speed allowed said ninja to either block or dodge the attack sent towards him while dealing some damage of his own while Naruto and Pearl's tandem combos allowed them to block and counter some of Haku's attacks.

"We're not getting anywhere!" Pearl said as she now had a spear in each hand, "He's just too fast!"

"Then we're gonna have to try something else!" Naruto growled out as he tried to think of something until he thought of something, "I have an idea…but it might not work as well."

"Whatever it is…" Pearl said as she quickly blocked an attack from Haku before Naruto knocked him away, "…go for it."

Naruto nodded as he summoned a number of Shadow Clones that charged towards the resurrected ninja…while also somehow clogging the hallway with their bodies. Seeing this, Haku quickly made short work of the Shadow Clones attacking him while trying to take down the wall of Shadow Clones, but the task proved difficult as when one clone was destroyed, two more would jump in its place.

Such a use with so MANY Shadow Clones! Haku thought as he destroyed two more clones while seeing a few more clones jump into the wall of bodies, How can one lone person summon such an army of solid clones!

The resurrected ninja continued to destroy clone after clone until they all began to glow and vanish into thin air. The wall of clones then vanished to reveal a young man with fiery orange and yellow hair wearing a light blue shirt, black pants with a rust orange stripe running down the side of his legs, a white-blue belt wrapped around his waist, a light green vest that had a star on the back, black fingerless gloves, and a hitai-ate wrapped around his neck in the fashion of a necklace.

"Is this a Genjutsu?" Haku said as he mentally tried to dispel the illusion before him until he realized what the man was, "No…you must be a fusion."

The man nodded as he said, "Name's Topaz and I'm going to take you down."

Topaz rushed in after summoning Pearl's spear and went in for the attack with enough speed to surprise Haku as the blade had manage to get stabbed into his body. It wasn't enough to do some real damage as the resurrected ninja had tried to move out of the way, but it still did some damage as blood poured from the injury upon the blade's removal. Seeing an attack aimed for his head, Haku quickly ducked and rolled backwards when he saw Topaz trying to kick him.

They're faster than before, Haku thought to himself as he was now dodging a series of attacks from the Gem Fusion after he had switched to using Naruto's claws, and no doubt they are stronger than before as I could have been killed by that attack.

Haku continued his defense while occasionally landing a few slashes of his own against the fusion. The resurrected ninja had to change his defensive strategy as often as Topaz had switched his weapons between spears, claws, and even a weapon similar to that of a kusari-gama.

I must find an opening! Haku thought as he dodged the weighted end of Topaz's chain before having to block a knee strike from the fusion.

Haku continued to avoid the fusion's attack until he noted something…

Topaz appears to be slightly stressed and isn't as strong as I thought. Haku thought as he noted sweat rolling down the side of the fusion's tense face, And if I recall correctly, he had already looked uncomfortable the moment he arrived. Perhaps their fusion is flawed or maybe…

The resurrected ninja jumped out of the way as Topaz had tried to attack them.

Dammit! Topaz thought as he felt the slight strain on his body as he continued his attacks, I'm not sure just how long I can keep my form compressed like this; Any longer and the fusion will fail!

But we can't let up! Topaz's Pearl half of his mind added after the fusion swapped his chain for said Gem's spears, If we allow Haku anymore room then he'll surely have an advantage over us!

And of course we can't give him the opportunity to use his Ice Style jutsus! Topaz's Naruto half added as well until Haku suddenly decided to flee.

"Oh no you don't!" Topaz growled out as he gave chase to the resurrected ninja.

The fusion continued to give chase until he and Haku stopped in the middle of a large room that had a pool in the middle.

"Big mistake!" Topaz said with a smirk as his body glowed briefly before we was now twice the size of his opponent, "Now I don't have to focus on keeping my form stable just so I can fight you!"

"You're not the only one who won't hold back any longer." Haku said as he flashed through the needed hand seals and jumped back onto the pool, "Ice Style: Crystal Ice Needles!"

The resurrected ninja stomped on the water, causing water to fly into the air before they were formed into needles and launched towards the large fusion. Topaz had managed to shield his face and gems from the attack as numerous needles had embedded themselves into his body. The fusion then felt himself getting struck in the stomach as Haku then used a water jutsu against him.

He's right…Topaz thought as he just narrowly dodged the jutsu before feeling a few needles dig into his body, Not only does Haku have access to his jutsus, but now that I'm at my full size, I'm a much bigger target for him to hit. While I could compress my body to better avoid his attack, I need to carefully use my energy so that I can focus on keeping my form stable.

Topaz continued to dodge what attacks he could while blocking a majority that connected as he tried to think of what he could do. It was without a doubt that the resurrected ninja's Gem powers granted him more energy and power, but even Gems can get fatigued…

…but that would be more difficult than it sounded since most Gems have near boundless energies.

Even if I make myself invisible, he could use his skills as a hunter ninja to find me! Topaz growled out as he kept his sights on Haku, So what can I do? How can I hope to beat him!?

More needles had dug themselves into the fusion's body before Topaz suddenly vanished into thin air. Haku ceased his attack as he tried to track his opponent using what skills he had learned from Zabuza.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Topaz said as two of them appeared before the hunter ninja with attacks ready for him, both of them armed with sharp claws.

Haku quickly ducked and flashed through a few seals, causing large spears of ice to impale themselves into the two. The fusions disappeared into clouds as a third Topaz appeared right above the resurrected ninja while a fourth Topaz suddenly blasted out of the water underneath, both of them having a sphere of chakra in their palms.

"Rasengan!" both fusions said as they collided into Haku…

BOOM!

…only to end up destroying each other as the hunter ninja quickly dove out of the way with enough time for the bottom of his foot to lightly brush by.

Haku then felt chains wrap themselves around his body like constrictors while another Topaz appeared out of thin air with a Rasengan ready.

"Rest in peace…" Topaz said as he rushed towards the resurrected ninja, "…for good hopefully…"

"Not just yet!" Haku said until more chains had suddenly wrapped themselves around him, "What!"

The hunter ninja looked to find numerous Topaz clones binding him with countless chains and being lifted into the air away from the water.

"Time to end this!" Topaz said as the sphere of chakra was now glowing a golden color as bright as the sun, "Golden Rasengan!"

Topaz slammed the sphere right into Haku's face, effectively destroying the ninja's head and causing the ninja's body to disperse into clouds along with the numerous clones, leaving just the Topaz on the water.

"Gothcha!" the fusion said as he grabbed the aquamarine stone out of the air and stood there for a pregnant moment of contemplation.

Krishhhhhhh!

Topaz released his fist as sparkling blue dust poured out of his hand and scattered away from him.

"I hope we never meet like this again…" Topaz said as a tear rolled down the side of his face, "…you truly need your rest…my friend."

Topaz briefly glowed before splitting back into Naruto and Pearl, both of them with a saddened look on their faces.

After a brief moment of silence, Pearl carefully placed a gentle hand on the blond's shoulder and said, "I'm sure Haku would have wanted you to do this…despite how difficult it was to do this."

Naruto carefully grabbed Pearl's hand and glanced over towards her…with a slightly peaceful smile on his face.

"Yeah…" Naruto said briefly before a silent resolve was formed on his face, "Let's finish this!"

Even after shattering Haku's Gem, what awaits our heroes as they travel deeper into Orochimaru's lab? And will Connie, Lapis, and Kasai stop Sai and rescue Steven? Don't forget to rate and review!

Ja ne.