"Naruto" Normal Speech

'Zeref' People's thoughts

"Acnologia" Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other being's speech

'Kurama' Summons/Gods/Monsters/Other being's thoughts

"Rasengan" Techniques/Spells/Jutsus/Terms

Important explanation at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Fairy Tail or any other franchise in any source of way; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Hiro Mashima, Atlus and whoever else is getting actual money out of it.

Interlude III

Responsibility

"I suggest you move quickly. If they see us both like this, my cover would be ruined."

"…Won't you get in trouble anyway?"

"Don't worry, my own mission has still yet to end. Haven't you heard? The Akatsuki members that attacked you are around too."

"…"

"You made your decision already, Naruto-kun. Regretting it so soon?"

"It's not that…I just…can I ask you something, Itachi-san?"

"We're a bit pressed on time here, but…if you must."

"What did he offer you? For you help me like this, help sensei over Konoha…why?"

"…"

"Itachi-san?"

"He told me he would keep her safe, Naruto-kun."

"…I see… I'm sorry we never got to talk more, Itachi-san."

"I'm sorry it has come to this."

"Could you do me a favor? Please…"

"…?"

"Tell her that I'm sorry."

'That boy was correct, you know?'

The suddenness of that voice was more than enough to almost make her trip from the branch she was about to jump off from.

She managed to regain her balance though, albeit barely, with her left hand making contact with the tree connected to the branch just to keep herself steady.

And the expression in her face could only be described as utterly shocked.

"Nanabi?!" She whispered out, her shock making her forget for a moment she didn't really need to talk in order to communicate with the Bijuu inside of her.

'Indeed.' The voice of the Seven-Tails resounded on her head, a mix of a grave tone and a buzzing if she had to describe it any way.

'But how?!' This time, her question only came as a thought, one that she knew the Bijuu would be able to hear. Wasn't this impossible, however? Had her seal just fixed itself while she jumped from tree to tree?

'It took longer than I thought to bypass this seal, little girl,' The answer reached her quickly enough. 'and even then, communicating is proving to be an ordeal by itself, let alone sharing my power with you.'

The flare of hope that had appeared in her heart had been nothing but crushed by the Bijuu's words, her previous elated expression now turning into a frustrated frown. Hearing the Bijuu's voice was certainly relieving enough, but being able to use that chakra would have certainly made her next ordeal an easier one.

'Sorry to disappoint, little one.' By now, she had even learned to recognize the mirth flowing in the Bijuu's tone, something that only made her snort in response. It might have sounded weird for an outsider, but she wasn't afraid to admit that the Seven-Tailed Beetle was the closest thing to a friend she had ever gotten.

When you had no one to talk to but the being trapped in your gut, a relationship was going to end up forming sooner or later, right? Maybe not considering what Fu had heard about the other Bijuus from the Beetle, but even so…

It was only then that the Bijuu's early words finally registered in her mind, making her already visible frown a tad fiercer.

'What do you-'

'It is as that boy said.' Somehow, the Bijuu found a way to interrupt her own thoughts. 'If you go back right now, you'll either die, get captured or both if you're unlucky, just before I get ripped away from you… All outcomes I would like to avoid if possible.'

"So I should just forget about what they did?!" With each word of the Bijuu, the dark-skinned Kunoichi had grown increasingly frustrated, right until she wasn't even able to keep her complains to her thoughts. "I'll find a way to make this work. We'll get our revenge and then-"

'Do not let your feelings cloud your judgment, little girl.' The Nanabi's admonishment was enough to silence her, however. 'While I share your strong dislike towards humans, I still value my existence over a plan doomed from the start.'

"So I should just act as if nothing happened?!" Her snarl was followed by her first meeting the trunk of the tree. She knew that the Beetle could be rather lax in his approach to things, something that she had learned after years, but wasn't this too much?!

'Live to fight another day.' The Nanabi explained, and only now was she able to detect the discomfort on his voice, something that genuinely worried her. Was the seal bothering him that much too? 'That prison is not going anywhere, unlike us if you let your hate control you right now.'

She closed her eyes after hearing that, with deep breaths filling her lungs slowly every few seconds. If it was anyone else, she would have already sent them to kingdom come, however, for her the only one that had any source of sway over her actions towards Takigakure was the being trapped inside of her.

He was a victim too, after all, just like hers. They had always considered them both monsters, him for simply existing and her for having him sealed inside of her.

Even so, it still was far from easy to qualm her e raged heart, to the point it took a couple of minutes to actually leave her just sighing tiredly. The Nanabi was her only ally, one that had never lead her stray so far.

Trusting his judgment, even if it hurt her pride and left her with a bitter taste in her mouth, was probably the least she could do.

'What do we do then?' She asked defeated, truly not knowing how to go to from here. Her previous idea had been simple enough, after all, if nothing short of suicidal.

'We first have to fix this…irritating seal of yours.' She nodded along while crossing her arms over her chest. 'And I believe we already met the one that can lead us to a solution.'

Her nodding head froze in place as soon as she heard that, her orange eyes opening wide as soon as the fully grasped what the Bijuu was implying.

"That guy…?!" She yelped in shock, right before her eyes narrowed in obvious mistrust. "He could have been just lying! Just a way to trick us before backstabbing us, that's what they always do! No, no, you can't expect me to trust a human-"

'That boy is no human, little girl.'

That statement, however, was once again more than enough to stop her words before they even left her throat.

For as far as she was concerned, there were only two types of people. Traitorous humans that would first laugh at her misfortune rather than help her, and monsters like her that could do little but take the abuse and learn how to deal with it.

So for the Bijuu inside of her to say such a thing, could that mean…?

'He's not like you either.' Her suspicions were proven wrong, however, with her shoulders sagging as a result. 'I do not sense any of my siblings inside of that boy.'

She didn't understand then, what had the Nanabi meant?

'I have lived for many years, little girl, centuries to be more precise.' Luckily for her, the Beetle seemed more than happy with giving an explanation, and with his tone being almost wistful, or at least the closest thing to such that came with buzzing, Fu found herself focused on nothing but that voice. 'And in that time, I have met plenty of…interesting individuals.'

'That boy…he reminds of an old friend.' The Bijuu revealed, only earning a confused frown from the green-haired Kunoichi. 'His presence, something inside of him… It's difficult to explain, but after being struck by lightning that could have destroyed mountains, you never forget that sensation.'

The following silence only confused Fu even more, to the point that she honestly worried that their connection had ended up breaking for good once more. The words of the Bijuu, however, just didn't make sense to her. An old friend? Lightning? She hadn't felt anything particularly special about the guy, so how could he be somehow connected to the Nanabi?

'I apologize, I seemed to have gotten lost in the memories of my youth.' She released a breath she didn't even she was holding as soon as the Seven-Tails addressed her once more, however. 'It is like I said though, that boy is not a human, at least not anymore. What he is though…how interesting, and our meeting with him... truly nothing short of lucky.'

'Could you at least try to make a bit of sense? I think you might be going senile already.' She thought with a shake of her head, right before turning her gaze into the direction from which she came from.

Would that guy still be there in the first place? And even if he was, would he even help her with this? Could she even trust him so easily, even with the Nanabi's words?

No, of course not. However, she had to admit the Bijuu's reveal had more than piqued her interest.

Not a human, then…Maybe she could work with that.

She would never be able to trust humanity, not by now, but if the Nanabi was telling the truth then…Wasn't this worth a proper look? Getting her seal fixed and figuring out what that guy was supposed to be, it wasn't like she had anything better to do.

After she was back in top form, however, she vowed to herself just as she jumped to another branch, she would make sure Takigakure ceased to exist, group of criminals hunting her or not, it didn't matter to her as long as she achieved that.

First things first though…

'And stop calling me that, Nanabi! I have a name!' She complained in her mind.

'So do I.' And as always, she received that same response. One that she knew she wouldn't be getting an explanation any time soon.

Had he done the right thing?

A part of him told him that he should have tried to stop the Jinchuriki from leaving, at least a bit more. It was plainly obvious how much of a suicidal mission her little plan was, after all, but even so, he had let her leave just like that.

It hadn't felt right though, at least to him, to try and intervene in Fu's ordeal. He had not been kidding when he had told her that he had already accomplished what he came to do, after all.

But even so, he still let out a small sigh, with his right hand moving through his black and blonde hair, his face set on a frown.

Of course, every logical thought running through his mind told him that allowing for the enemy to capture one of the Jinchurikis was quite literally the last thing he should be allowing, but by now he had been made more than aware of how…complicated his current situation truly was.

He, In theory, shouldn't even be here right now, and he was more than sure that his return would be met with more than a couple of admonishments and complains.

But even so, the thought of not doing anything while knowing what Akatsuki and Takigakure were going to do just frustrated him too much to not act. He didn't like to feel impotent, to say the least.

Should he have tried harder in convincing Fu? Maybe he could have, but he had recognized the look on her eyes that the Jinchuriki had been sporting, for it was one he was extremely familiar with it, and it was something that told him no words of his would have been able to stop Fu from trying to get revenge.

And forcing her to come with him was just out of the question. That would have defeated the whole purpose of coming here in the first place.

So with a hand going down his face and another sigh leaving his lips, the mage stood up slowly from his seat, his blue eyes looking up at the rather clear sky with a half-lidded stare.

He should have definitely left already, all things considered, especially since he could imagine the state in which his sudden disappearance would have left some of his teammates and caretakers.

There was no real reason for him to have stayed for so long here either, except of course a vain hope of the Jinchuriki suddenly reconsidering and coming back.

He wasn't that lucky.

Or at least he thought as much, right until he was forced to raise his right hand in order to catch the object that had been thrown straight at his face.

Said object impacted his palm with a firm thud, only earning a curious look from his part as he observed what was now resting in his hand.

'An apple?' He wondered just as he blinked confusedly, right before moving his gaze to the direction in which the apple had been thrown.

Blinking owlishly once more towards the newcomer, he turned around to face her directly, and once she stopped walking towards him his lips moved, voicing out the first thing that came to his mind.

"You're still alive?"

The frown he received in response, alongside the way she crossed her arms over her chest, told him that she wasn't amused by his words in the slightest.

Not that he cared too much about that at the moment, considering how his mind was trying to process the rather odd turn of events.

Maybe there was someone up there that liked him well enough.

But that itself was kind of the problem, now wasn't it?

"Not…not enough…."

How long had she been here by now? When she had started, the sun had begun to rise up in the sky, but now? Nothing but the moon and the stars remained, shining down at her form.

There was nothing reaching her ears, except the odd sound of a cricket here and there. Konoha was pretty much asleep by now, after all, but that didn't mean she could give herself the chance to rest.

No, not now. She had to keep going, no matter what.

She didn't care that her whole body ached, or that she had stopped sweating a long time ago as a result of dehydration. She couldn't care less about the way her legs wobbled, or how her lungs gasped for breath with every heartbeat that threatened to burst out of her chest.

Even the trembling hold that she had on her swords did little to stop her from swinging it once more in a practiced arc, even if the muscles of her arm begged at her to give it a rest.

It was no good, her movements were too slow, her attacks to weak. Her red mane covered up even her eyes, a pair of violet orbs than even through the exhaustion, still managed to sport a look that screamed of nothing but a strong will.

Her tongue moved across her chapped lips, although she found no comfort with the action. She tried to move her body in an attempt to change up her stance a bit, however, the only thing it got her was for her knees to finally buckle below her, with the only reason her body hadn't met the ground face first being how she had used her blade to support her falling form.

She greeted her teeth in nothing but sheer frustration just as her mind screamed at her body to get to her feet once more. She managed to do just that, albeit in a painfully slow matter, as if just the act of standing was already a monumental task for her.

It probably was, all things considered, but she still didn't care. With a sluggish pull, the tugged out the tip of her sword out of the ground, just before she brought her weapon above her head once more.

And just like time and time again today, although she had lost count by now, her sword was supposed to come down in front of her.

And it would have down so…

If it wasn't for the hand that had suddenly clasped on her wrist just as she began her move.

Had she been so tired that she hadn't even felt someone entering the training ground? Apparently so it seemed.

Her eyes peeked from behind her red hair, since the damn thing had been starting sticking to her face for a while already.

And immediately, her stare was met by a pair of blue eyes, ones that were looking at her both in concern and in a way that told her the owner of said eyes thought of her as the stupidest person around.

She tried to remove her hand from his grasp, but she found herself too weak to do so. She had always been proud of her stamina of course, but apparently, even the likes of hers had a limit.

So instead, the only thing she could do was to stare, an annoyed glare slowly forming on her eyes, one that did nothing to help her, however, since it only got a shake of the head from the one still holding her wrist.

"Even Lee and Guy-sensei rest from time to time, you know?" Her brother finally decided to speak towards her, with nothing but admonishment in his tone. "I mean, if you want to get yourself killed, I'm sure there are better ways than through sheer exhaustion."

She didn't laugh at his lame attempt at a joke, not because of her tiredness though, for she was really sure she wouldn't have laughed anyway if she wasn't in such a sorry state.

Her hand was brought down slowly as it was guided by her brother until it simply rested limply beside her. Even so, she never stopped glaring at him, and in return, he never stopped looking challenging back at her.

"Seriously, you're never going to get a boyfriend if you smell like sweat all the time." His words continued, still getting nothing but a glare in response, something that only made sigh defeatedly.

However, Menma knew exactly what to say that would get him a different reaction.

"You do know pushing yourself like this is not going to bring him back, right?"

And as soon as those words left Menma's lips, a part of him immediately regretted it. The pain that flashed in the face of his sister was more than obvious to him, after all, but even so, he knew that he had to push through right now.

He was tired of seeing his sister like this, after all.

So when her other hand came up with the obvious attempt to slap him, he wasn't the bit surprised. As tired as she looked, she obviously still had a bit of strength left in her.

He caught her other hand easily, however, with his steeled gaze matching Mito's pained one. She would probably be screaming at him if she had the strength to do so, he realized, but it wasn't like he was going to give her the time to recovery in the first place.

Especially since the next thing he did was to sweep his legs under her, bringing the red-head down with a gasp and a grunt just as her back collided with the ground.

He would have been more careful, but with how stubborn his sister could be, he knew that right now it wasn't a time for playing softies.

Menma quickly moved to sit by her though, even as she gasped for breath while face up on the ground. The blonde Jinchuriki would give his sister time to recover though, since it was the least he could do.

He heard her huffing to his side, her chest going up and down in an erratic way. He could only scratch the back of his head in return, now wondering if maybe throwing her down had not been the best idea, especially when she had looked like she would fall over by herself anyway.

Still, he waited until her breathing normalized a bit, and once it did, he turned his gaze to look down at her face, his blue eyes once more meeting a pair of clearly infuriated violet ones.

"Sorry about that." First things first though. "But hey, at least I didn't hit you with the scabbard of your sword!"

Jokes were obviously getting him nowhere here, that much he was figuring out by now.

"I did mean what I said though." He continued after sighing, his gaze one of sadness. "At this rate, you'll most likely die before you even get a chance to see that idiot again."

His sister opened his lips to say something but he was quick to put his hand up in the air to stop her, already knowing that was going to come out of her mouth.

"Yeah yeah, I know. 'Stop badmouthing our brother.'" He finished in a tone that was supposed to imitate her, followed by a roll of his eyes. "Sorry, old habits die hard I guess…"

A tense silence followed the two after that, one that was only broken by Mito herself.

"I…have to…bring him back." She spoke in pained whispers, but even so, the intensity of her wishes was not missed by Menma in the slightest.

And if he had to be honest, he hated it.

He hated the pain and regret that he could constantly see in the redhead's eyes. He hated how she had stopped smiling almost altogether, with the only one that could bring something like that out of her being their younger sister.

He hated how impotent he was feeling at the moment, for there was nothing he could do at the moment to help her.

There was no way to stop his sister though. The girl was somehow even more stubborn than himself, and that was saying a lot.

"And you plan to do that by yourself? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one out of the two." He grinned slightly at her glare, right before a somber look took over his expression. "I wasn't there that day, but if the rumors are true then, we're going up against a guy that can match up with Mom and Dad…"

The name of that man…Zeref, a seemingly unknown figure that could fight against his Dad, the Hokage no less.

That was a scary thought, all things considered, especially since that man had apparently been training Naruto for years. It was something that he had refused to just accept for a long time now, but it became hard not to, considering the end result of that day.

"I…won't…give up…on him." Mito answered through gritted teeth however, only earning a shake of Menma's head as an answer.

"I'm not telling you to do that, sis." His blue eyes once more met her violet ones, and this time the determination she showed was actually matched by his own. "I'm just saying I won't let you do this alone."

She seemed to not comprehend his words for a couple of seconds, right before her eyes widened in surprise once her mind truly caught up with what he was implying.

"I can't say I like that guy…our brother that much." He did his best to hide whatever animosity he might have for his sibling from his tone, knowing that it wouldn't help him at all here. "But…I hate seeing you like this… Mom, Dad and Natsumi too, I hate it…"

His confession was followed by the blonde suddenly standing up, with his fist meeting his palm just as a look of sheer determination plastered itself on his face.

"That's why, I'm not letting you do this by yourself." He extended his hand towards his downed sister, who was still looking at him as if he had grown a second head. "We'll bring that idiot back, we're going to fix this, that's a promise, sis!"

He knew there wasn't a way things could go back like how they used to be. He wasn't that dense, after all. Things had changed too greatly by now, both in his family and in the village itself.

But that didn't mean he would ever stop trying to fix this. He loved his family to death, after all, and if they needed Naruto back to be happy then…

He would just have to become strong enough to bring him back, then! Even if he had to beat the shit out of him first.

Menma smiled down at his still confused sister, his gaze looking at how that perplexed expression slowly crumbled away, leaving nothing but a soft look on her eyes.

And then she smiled at him. It was a small, soft and tired one, but it was still nothing short of genuine.

He would never admit to her just how flustered that smile of hers made him, however, not on this life.

She found the strength to grasp his hand after a few seconds, his grin whidening as soon as she did.

And then, the redhead released a yelp. A rather normal response to being suddenly picked up from the ground and then being handled like a sack of potatoes over her brother's shoulder.

"Now c'mon, I wasn't kidding when I said you smell like crap. I won't have you stinking up the house this time!"

The small, tired fists that hit his back did little to stop him on his journey back to their home.

And with this, the interludes come to an end, and that leaves the question: Where does this thing go from here? 40 chapters and a lot of words later, here we are.

First of all, let me just say thank you to everyone that actually offer to adopt this story. You lot can't imagine how flattered I feel about that, and I also want to apologize to those that didn't like the direction I have taken by jumping ahead with this Interlude chapters. I truly understand it and I don't blame anyone that has decided to stop reading because of that.

Now, while I have already made my feelings about the previous chapter of this fic pretty clear, it doesn't change the fact that there are things I do want to write for this story. Ideas that I really want to try and that I can only do so here.

So yes, more chapters will come, luckily with less than a one year interval between them. When is the next update? I want to say this year, but as we have all seen I suck at keeping a schedule, and with my country becoming more of a shithole by the day somehow I don't really have that much free time as before (or stable internet for that matter).

Truly, if I had the time I would at least try to make the early chapters readable enough. Not changing the plot or anything, just cleaning them up. A project for another time, I suppose.

Thank you all for your patience and support.

Next Chapter: Land of the Samurais.