Gaia's Final Flames of Hope Chapter One: the Beginning before the Start

A/N: So here it is the promised Naruto x FFVII crossover! I actually received the challenge from Mzr90, Hope you enjoy!

Relief.

One of the many emotions Naruto felt as his eyes stared into the almost lifeless eyes of the Sharingan with one of his signature jutsu, the Rasengan, shoved into his former teammate's body. It had taken tons of convincing on all of the Kages part and his friends but he knew it had to be done.

Sorrow.

Another emotion that shook Naruto's very heart to the brim, He knew it , all participants in the upcoming war knew it, and maybe even the dying Sasuke himself realized that this had to be done. Sasuke had to be killed, he had journeyed to far into the path of darkness, but this time he had long forgotten the road back to the light.

Pain.

Something Naruto felt physically throughout his whole entire body. He and Sasuke had an intense battle, probably one of the most thrilling and difficult battles he had ever participated in before. But it wasn't only the pain that built up as the battle continued; Naruto could feel that stray lightning of the Chidori brush across his bruised chest. He had taken the Chidori directly and while he could tell that it wouldn't kill and that in some given time Kurama could heal it still felt like he was dying.

The Kage Summit had made a huge turn in the wrong direction as Sasuke invaded, Gaara the Kazekage, A the Raikage, and Mei the Mizukage had all failed to defeat the Uchiha. This had lead to the "Reunion" of Team 7, and then the battle between Naruto and Sasuke. It had all come down to a single Rasengan and a single Chidori. It was as if time had repeated itself as the same exact event which had happened about 3 years prior happened once more but this time Sasuke had lost… everything.

Naruto Uzumaki honestly didn't know what to think as his head was filled with the mix emotions of killing his friend. His orange tattered jumpsuit flew freely in the wind showing the aftermath of the battle. Lifting his head to look behind him he could see Kakashi having a solemn look on his face but one of understanding.

As if in slow-motion Sasuke's lifeless body fell, his eyes still in Sharingan form closing for a final time. But Naruto didn't have time to remorse over his fallen ex-comrades as his eyes made contact with the familiar orange spiral mask and one eye of Tobi otherwise "Madara Uchiha" as Tobi had self-acclaimed him.

He didn't even have a chance to speak as a single word made its way to his ear:

"Kamui."

And as if he never had an existence in their world he disappeared.

-Break-

"Where am I?" Naruto questioned as he stared into the dark abyss. His eyes than landed on the orange fur of the Kyubi who stared at him seriously.

"Naruto." The deep voice of the Tailed Beast called to the blond. Naruto hesitated before speaking thinking about it he hadn't really heard the beast of chakra call him by his actual name.

"Oh it's you…" Naruto drawled. "Where are we?" The blond asked after his short pause.

"The Kamui, a separate world from the one you're use to." The Kyubi seriously explained before continuing. "It's usually an inescapable dimension."

"So you mean we're stuck here forever?" Naruto asked in silent shock, he could feel his throat become lumpy, already feeling waves of guilt wash down on him. The war would continue whether he was there or not Tsunade had told him that it was better if he was hidden so that "Madara" couldn't get his hands of the Nine Tailed Beast.

"Not exactly, there's one technique I inherited from the Jubi. It's a space time technique one that lets me cross these worlds except the one where chakra originally came from. Also there has to be a source of energy I have to pull onto." The Tailed beast continued the explanation.

Naruto, nodded with a slight frown on his face. The technique made sense but it probably took huge amounts of chakra in order to perform it, the Tailed Beast were just masses of chakra to begin with so for creatures like them it was far from being farfetched.

"But if you need to use too much chakra doesn't that mean you'll die." Naruto spoke allowing the dimension to make an echoing effect oddly. Kurama gave a nod before once again giving his wise information.

"That's a side-effect… but there's a very low possibility that I could survive but whether I'll be sent with you or somewhere else is random." The Kyubi solemnly informed. "Listen… You may have been some brat and I hated to have you as my container but I guess for now we'll have to work together to get out of here."

Naruto nodded, he didn't like it but it was better than being stuck here. Though he could feel the tides of his waves of guilt rise much higher, yet again the Uzumaki was the possible cause of another death. Yea so maybe this Biju was the cause of his childhood turning out the way it did but it wasn't solely his fault all the Biju just had bad reputations for some reason. Plus Tailed Beast were living to they deserved to live as much as anyone else.

So with a strong look he walked up to his… comrade and raised his right fist up in the air towards the direction of the beast.

"I guess it was nice knowing you partner." Naruto said with a foxy smirk on his face. Kurama simply looked at the raised fist solemnly before growing a foxy smirk of his own, one that actually fit him since he was… well a fox Tailed Beast. Extending the fist up in the air towards the direction of the beast.

Then abruptly, the abyss lit up in the color of a vibrant red before settling on a light green that oddly emitted a warm friendly aura. Strands of the green aura danced around the blond still emitting warm vibes.

"See ya… partner." Were the last words of the Kurama before Naruto Uzumaki felt himself being engulfed by the green energy.

-Break-

Naruto's eyes fluttered open, or at least they tried to open. As soon as he opened them he was forced to automatically close them since he wasn't adjusted to the light, or more generally his surroundings.

He could tell he was laid on a long wooden bed wrapped up in covers, beneath the layers of sheet he could feel that his tattered jumpsuit was no longer being worn, replaced by several wrappings of bandages and tacky clothes.

After his eyes finally had adjusted Naruto opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings. The blond was in a small room; next to the bed he was laying in was a piano and chair seat, while the floor was decorated in wooden tiles, Nothing to flashy or unique just average.

Naruto sighed as he remembered the events that had taken place prior to him waking up just now.

It was then that he heard the sound of a bit of shuffling coming from down the steps.

Naruto simply moved to go downstairs, it obvious that whoever had brought him here were going to look at him. He wasn't sure if they were friend or foe but if they had gone to the trouble of patching his wounds and putting him in a bed they must've been nice people.

"Oh…" Naruto heard the feminine voice once more only this time much closer to him. "You're awake…"

Naruto looked down the steps to see a girl just around his age; she had dark, brown long hair which stopped at about her waist styled in a dolphin split. She wore a cowgirl outfit which consisted of a white shirt and brown vest, a small leather skirt which did little to hide her noticeable long legs and large breasts. Complimenting her face were a red pair of eyes and white teardrop earrings. Most people would only use one word to describe her though… simply sexy.

Naruto casually scratched his head as the silence grew longer and even more awkward with each passing second.

"Uh Yo?" Naruto said in a questioning tone. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He greeted awkwardly.

"Tifa Lockheart." The now known Tifa said introducing herself, she moved towards the kitchen of the house motioning him to follow. "So how'd you end up on Nibelheim's mountain? I found you collapsed near the Mako reactor." The girl questioned raising an eyebrow as the two of them sat down.

"Nibelheim Mountain? Mako?" Naruto questioned before realizing that he should have shut his mouth, any cover up he had was all screwed now. "I'm not familiar with this place; I come from a… village which is far away from civilization."

Tifa's red eyes looked at the blond curiously. It was understandable to not know about but not knowing what a Mako Reactor was just weird, she would let it slip for now.

"This town is Nibelheim it's just below , I found you collapsed there." She said explaining to him before taking another good look at the blond and taking a look at his glowing blue eyes. "Are you a SOLDIER?" She asked.

"Soldier?" The blond questioned raising an eyebrow. He could see Tifa look at him with curiosity once again.

The brunette looked at him as if she was about to ask him a question before the sound of approaching footsteps near the door was heard. The door slowly opened to reveal a middle-aged man walk in with a stern look on his face as he looked at the blond.

"So you've woken up." He simply said as he walked in. "We almost thought you wouldn't make it alive, you injuries were pretty severe Mr…"

"Naruto Uzumaki but Naruto's just fine." Naruto stated rubbing his head sheepishly. "I recover from severe wounds pretty quickly." He informed putting a grin on his face.

What Naruto said would've made sense had he still had the Kyubi with him but he didn't, yet if his wounds were severe why did they heal so quickly.

'Maybe that green light has something to do with it.' Naruto thought before casting the thought to the side.

"Anyways I'm Tifa's father Brian Lockheart." The man introduced giving a kind smile, Naruto simply nodded before his stomach rumbled loudly causing Tifa to sweat drop at the action. "I guess I'll make lunch then." Brian simply informed.

The father of Tifa slowly moved to the kitchen before he turned to take a look at the calendar, his eyes scanned across the dates before his eyes came across a dates which was circled in red pen.

September 21, 0002

"Remember Tifa you have to show those two SOLDIER to the Reactor in a month or so."

"You're a tour guide?" Naruto questioned and received his answer in the form of a nod. "Would you mind if you showed me up to to where you found me?"

Once again her red eyes looked at Naruto curiously for a second contemplating the idea for a second before once again nodding and heading towards the door to exit the house.

Now that he was outside the blond had a better view at the town as well as the time. The sun was about halfway into the sky, showing that it was around noon, and was blazing across the cloudless sky. Shorts breezes of wind blew in once every few minutes.

Overall it was a pretty hot day.

The town was pretty small catering a few shops and a few houses. Up the northern side of the town one could see the outline of the mountains. Towards the upper-west part of Nibelheim was what appeared to be an old mansion which gave an eerie, gloomy look to it as it had a rusty entrance gates and what appeared to be very old wood lining the walls.

"No funny business alright?" Tifa mockingly questioned with a small smirk on her face before adopting a neutral look.

"I can't make any promises." Naruto mockingly replied plastering a smirk of his own on his face before quickly removing it as well allowing an awkward silence to arise.

Don't get them wrong they didn't want to come off as weird or unhappy but they had different problems all together.

It was only a few years ago when Tifa had suffered the grief of losing her mother, before that she was friends with almost everyone in the village her age… well everyone but one boy. Ever since her mother was lost she had become very secluded and after a while she had stopped talking with all her friends. But there was still that one boy who she ended up actually becoming friends with but he left to join SOLDIER shortly after that and he was never seen afterwards. She was pretty lonely since then and to her maybe that was a good thing grief wasn't something she wanted to taste a second time.

Naruto on the other hand now had to carry the extra baggage of guilt on him. Now that he no longer existed in his original world, "Madara Uchiha's" plan was useless and the blond had a odd hunch that the Uchiha would not even spare a single person in the approaching war… and it was all his fault he was too focused on the death of his ex-comrade to even realize that Tobi was right behind him. It didn't make sense to the blond since the Kyubi was a necessary part to his plan but he didn't care honestly. There was no way to go back and he would have to face the guilt that weighed a ton.

The fear of grief and the burden of guilt… two concepts which constantly would clash in a person's head.

Both Naruto and Tifa were so wrapped up in their thoughts that it hadn't occurred to them that they had worked their way passed the creepy mansion and to the edge of the town. There was a pretty good view of the now along with a pretty good view of the town.

Both still silent turned their backs to Nibelheim and journeyed forward to the rough part of the region.

"Watch your steps sometimes some monsters roam the mountains." Tifa informed as she continued her quick pace in front of the Uzumaki.

"Monsters?" Naruto asked rounding up his total questions the whole day to six.

Tifa stopped in her tracks, her ruby red eyes filled with mirth before moving into an "odd" position. She bent her upper body down a little put her intertwined hands behind her back and closed one eye with a smile giving off a suggestive pose.

"You didn't think I'd really fall for you bad lie, did you?" She questioned seeing the blond's eye twitch as he moved to scratch his head sheepishly.

He wasn't that bad at lying was he?

-Break-

Naruto sighed as Tifa finished explaining every small bit of information regarding where he was. He had found out that he was living on The Planet otherwise known as Gaia. It was pretty weird seeing as she described the planet as an actual living beings but he shrugged it off as he was just hearing it wrong.

The Uzumaki had also been told that a company called Shinra had made reactors around the planet in order retrieve an energy source known as Mako. It was used as the main source of energy supply to operate almost everything that built most of their society. Not only had that but Shinra had personal uses for it.

Mako was injected into people who wish to enter SOLDIER, Shinra's elite fighting force, which allowed them to do things normal humans couldn't think of doing. Another result of the Mako infusion was obtaining glowing eyes. Naruto had kept the cerulean blue color and gained the glowing eyes.

So with all that out of the way it was now Naruto's turn to answer the question.

"So what was the name of the village you came from?" Tifa questioned turning her head to Naruto once more as she walked along the wobbly bridge. You think she would tell Naruto about the planet they lived on and not think something was up?

"Konoha…" Naruto said lying through his teeth; she simply continued to look at him before turning her head away.

The blond and brunette found a calming silence arise once more as continued along the wooden bridge before them. It was silent for a small while at least.

"Ah!" Tifa shrieked as she took a wrong step on a broken piece of wood, at her pace it was enough so that her foot wouldn't get caught but it only led to a worse result. She tripped causing the bridge to tilt towards the side and her to fall off. Luckily for her Naruto had quick reflexes, so quickly grabbing her hand she was safe.

"Are you sure you're the number one tour guide in Nibelheim?" Naruto mockingly questioned. A grin plastered on to his face seeing a vein grow on Tifa's head before the irritated brunette continued down the mountain path with a blond, whose grin showed victory following close behind.

-Break-

"Well here we are." Tifa simply said as they reached their destination. Moving her hand she pointed to a small human shaped crater in the ground which seemed fairly new due to the fact that they edges were smooth; this showed that the crater had yet to be majorly eroded.

"So this is where I landed huh?" Naruto questioned silently to himself as his tilted his head.

"Landed?" Tifa asked, raising an eyebrow at the blond's words.

"Nothing, anyway what's this?" Naruto said asking another question to change the topic.

His attention was brought to what appeared to be a large metal building with several pipes leading into and out of the building. It also had a steel base and structure to it. It seemed to give off a very industrial tone to it but to Naruto it felt warm just as warm as the green light that had engulfed him previously.

"That's a Mako Reactor but apparently some members of SOLDIER are coming to inspect it." Tifa informed, she raised an eyebrow as Naruto simply nodded and walked forward to the building slowly. "I wouldn't think about entering it, it's off limits by Shinra."

Naruto looked at the building once more before turning away. He wanted to see why he felt attracted to the building but he didn't even want to think about what would happen if a whole organization was after him. He'd get his chance; he'd just have to wait.

-Break-

The town was given a dim glowing light thanks to the light the full moon gave as it stretched across the sky giving a serene tone to the town. Most shops were closed and right about now almost every single one of the town's current residents were asleep… except two.

As quietly as possible Tifa slowly opened the entrance door to her house. The lights were off so that was good sign. Ushering her hand forward Tifa signaled Naruto to enter.

"You do know how late it is." A familiar voice said causing both Naruto and Tifa to stop in their tracks. Naruto and Tifa began sweating bullets as Brian approached them.

Well that would make 3 people currently awake.

"You weren't doing "anything" with him were you?" Brian said raising a suspicious eyebrow to both of them. It wouldn't take an idiot to understand why he was adding extra emphasis to "anything."

"N-No!" Both stuttered in unison with a flustering tone. The two raised their hands and waved them frequently as if to prove their point. The male Lockheart looked at both of them still retaining his raised eyebrow before he shook his head and moved away from them to head upstairs.

"Just don't stay up too long." He stated before disappearing up the stairs.

Naruto yawned as he stretched his arms up before his stomach rumbled shortly afterwards. You really couldn't blame him he hadn't eaten since he had woken up.

"Well we don't really have anything but cooked leftovers and sandwiches." Tifa informed as she opened the fridge. Moving on after that she opened a pantry filled with several things such as sauces, spices, etc. She dug deep in past that stuff till she pulled out a cylinder object with a title that was all too familiar with Naruto.

A second later the cup was out of Tifa hands and into the blond's. If ramen was on Gaia, Naruto was going to enjoy it to the fullest.

-Break-

A small wooden door opened up revealing a middle sized room which consisted of a small bed, a small wooden drawer and a few newspaper articles scattered across the floor.

Naruto could barely make it out any of the newspaper as Tifa scrapped the articles up but he could vividly make out one single title.

Latest SOLDIER additions

"It's not much but this is the best we have." Tifa explained as she took a look at the newspaper articles a final time before casting them aside on the small drawer.

"No problem Tifa-chan!" Naruto casually said with a grin, Tifa raised an eyebrow at the suffix added to her name but shrugged it off. "Night." The blond said as he put himself into the small bed. He didn't get a response thought only the sound of the door slamming shut.

On the other side of the door Tifa slumped down beside it and leaned against it to support her weight.

She had no idea why she felt happy that she had saved the blond, maybe she was starting to feel a little too lonely. It was the first time she had even opened up to anyone even a little bit in a few years, except another blond who left to join SOLDIER. She was completely confused…

"Goodnight Naruto." She quietly said before walking away. As she walked into her bed room her eyes that were covered by her heavy eyelids caught something towards the corner of the room. A basket filled with several glowing orbs.

…She'd give him the materia tomorrow.

A/N: And that's a wrap… How was it? I tried to focus a little more on Naruto and Tifa's characters and there is some obvious reason for this if you haven't caught it re-read the chapter. I'll give only one hint, Final Fantasy 7 was based on Loss, Grief, and Guilt and overcoming it. Keep that in mind.

More of Naruto's current status will be revealed as the story continues as well as many things that still have explaining to do.

As for Tifa, don't be mad at me for making Tifa seems lonely because if you think about it she's a really locked up person. She bottles up her feelings and really doesn't pour them out unless necessary for now anyways.

Don't get me wrong Naruto and Tifa won't always act like that they both want to be happy but as I've said Grief and Guilt constantly clash in a person's head.

If you haven't noticed already this story will be Naruto x Tifa… for now anyways as things are up in the air for now.

Lastly, I'll be focusing on this story a little bit so don't be surprised if I pump out another chapter or two.

I guess that's all for now really… Make sure to leave some support it'll be greatly appreciated! See ya!

Update Schedule:

Gaia's Final Flames of Hope (One or two chapters)

Guardian Soul in-between What Lies Within

Guiding the Way

Naruto x To-Love-Ru (Unsure)