Chapter 1 – The Spheres of Chaos Come Together!

It was over. Everything the Gullwings girls had fought for, everything they had done together, it had all finally come to an end. The peoples of Spira were united, Tidus was returned to Yuna, and everything just seemed so perfect. All except for one young woman with bright green eyes and long, braided, blond hair.

This young woman was currently wandering the ruins of the ancient Baaj Temple. This location was once home to the giant water beast known as Geosgaeno, home to her close friend Lulu's Celestial Weapon, the Onion Knight, where Yuna learned to summon the mighty Aeon known as Anima, amongst other things. However, to Rikku this would always be a memorable place for another reason entirely.

Out of everything that had happened here and all that this place signified, there was one event above all things that could have happened here that meant the most to her. As she stood in this large, circular room with debris scattered everywhere, she found herself glancing down at a long abandoned campfire sitting in the middle of the room. This was the room where she first met 'Him'.

Who is 'Him', you may ask? Why, the young man known as Tidus. Rikku knew she was the first person that young man had met in this strange, yet wonderful world of Spira. She liked to think that they had become good friends in the short time they had known each other before Sin attacked the Al Bhed ship and Tidus was thrown overboard.

Thinking back on it now, Rikku couldn't help but hug herself tight and let a few tears drop down from her cheeks and land with a light 'splash!' on the cold floor beneath her. If that hadn't have happened and he hadn't have met Yuna before we were reunited that time at the Moonflow… If Tidus had been with me all that time, would it be me that would have been held in his arms upon his return?

Rikku sat herself down on a small slab of wood before the dead campfire and stared solemnly at it. Although she wanted to be mad at Yuna for taking the one she loves from her like this, she just couldn't find it in herself to do so. The Al Bhed woman loved her Yunie dearly and was happy for her. But…this happiness came at the cost of her own. Still… "Why couldn't I have just once come out and told them both how I feel? At least then I could say I at least came out and said it. Right now…I really don't think I have anyone to blame but myself."

There it was. Self-doubt and self-deprecation had just been waiting to eat away at her ever since she first missed her chance to say anything to Tidus back when they were still trying to find a way to stop Sin together without anymore summoners having to die. As she sat there, negative thoughts continuing to pervade her mind, the young woman never once noticed a strange spatial anomaly occurring just inches away from her.

After hiccupping and sobbing for a few moments longer, Rikku finally heard a strange humming noise coming from her right side. Glancing over slowly, fearing that a Fiend had somehow found her in her moment of weakness, the green-eyed thief found herself feeling both shocked and horrified. This…this wormhole had opened up without her noticing and it was now trying to drag her into it!

Quickly wiping away her tears, Rikku turned tail and tried to run from this strange spatial anomaly, only to find that she couldn't get any traction. Glancing down, the young Al Bhed woman quickly found out why that was. Rikku…was no longer on the ground.

Releasing a high pitched scream, Rikku flailed her arms about wildly as she was sucked into the vortex and flung about through space and time to destinations unknown to her at this time. The only thing she could think of before her vision began to grow dark was, This is really going to suck!

In another world – Moon that Never Sets

They had actually done it. Despite everything and how difficult the journey had been up until this point, the group of seven Dragoons had managed to make it through the Wingly cities and onto the Moon That Never Sets. However, it was there that things actually got a little crazy. Well, crazier.

Once on the Moon, virtually everyone had split off from the group at one point and ended up fighting what was no doubt a difficult battle for them. First it had been Miranda who had to face off against something called Death Rose. Now, Meru wasn't sure exactly what transpired in this battle, nor in the other ones, but Miranda seemed a little different after that encounter. In fact, everybody did after having their, what she referred to them as, 'personal' battles.

As they pushed on, they came across Haschel's daughter, Claire. Again, she had no idea what exactly happened, but she had to assume that Haschel was forced to fight his own daughter. After that, the group had been separated by Rose's old Vassal Dragon, Michael. Meru had ended up in a group with Albert, Kongol, Haschel, and Miranda; Dart and Rose had ended up in another area all by themselves.

While she had no Earthly idea what those two had been up to or what happened to them, Meru had to watch as Kongol went off to fight his battle. After the group had reunited with Dart and Rose, it was a short while later that Albert had to go fight his own battle. All-in-all, it had been a rather eventful time on the Moon That Never Sets.

Then, finally…it was her turn. Meru, the lone Wingly of the group and the holder of the Blue-Sea Dragoon Sphere, was forced into a 'personal' battle of her own. They had stumbled across the Wingly palace of all things and, right as Meru stepped onto a bridge of light particles, it disappeared from under her. As a natural reaction, she used her wings to float and avoid the plunge. It was at this point that she disappeared and reappeared before a being known as the Archangel.

The battle had been hard fought, and the damnable Archangel had insisted on insulting Humans, namely those that the Wingly Meru had been travelling with thus far, enraging the kindhearted lass. However, in the end, Meru had emerged victorious from the fight and smiled as her friends approached her, seemingly worried about her condition after her sudden disappearance.

However, when their concern suddenly shifted to that of fright and they shouted at her to get away from something, Meru turned around and looked at a strange, swirling vortex in the air mere inches from her. Eyes widening in fright, Meru tried to take a few steps back, but she found that her body was being pulled ever closer to the strange anomaly.

Turning her gaze back towards her friends, Meru ended up smiling apologetically at them and chuckled weakly. "S-Sorry guys. I guess you're going to have to finish this without me. I know you can do it. I love you guys…" And with tears streaming down her face at being taken from them like this, Meru felt her consciousness slip from her quickly as she was sucked through into the strange wormhole and entered a time/space vortex that soon began dragging her to an unknown destination.

Somewhere in the Elemental Nations

A large man with a horned hitai-ate (forehead protector) on his head with the kanji for oil, long, wild white hair that extended quite a ways down his back, wearing geta sandals, a red haori over a green kimono shirt and matching pants, which further covered a suit of mesh armor, stood across from a hulking red beast. Currently, this man was clutching at an x-shaped wound on his chest that was bleeding profusely. The wound, thankfully, wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but it was painful enough and inflicted by something dangerous enough that, if not tended to soon, could cause complications down the road if not taken care of soon.

However, before this man, a wandering Sannin named Jiraiya, could worry about that, he needed to first deal with the beast across from him. However, this wasn't just any beast. Oh no, this beast was, in fact, his godson, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki: Naruto Uzumaki. At the moment, he had gone into his four-tailed Kyuubi cloak and had lost control, hence the wound in his chest and the out-of-control state he was currently in. The destruction around them was just a side effect really.

Wincing in pain once again as his vision blurred slightly for just a moment, the Toad Sage shook it off and focused on the task at hand: saving his godson. Jiraiya would be damned before he lost his precious person to that wretched beast inside of him like this!

Glancing down into his hand, Jiraiya made sure his sealing tags were prepared correctly. If he didn't have everything just right, this wouldn't work. The first set of tags, if he could position them right, would ensnare the Kyuubified Jinchuriki and keep him still, while the final tag, a souped-up version of the regular sealing variant of this particular seal, would force the Kyuubi's chakra back into the seal right where it belongs.

Taking a deep intake of breath, Jiraiya quickly dodged to the right, away from one of the tails and rolled along the ground before dashing forwards, occasionally leaping over, dashing to the side, rolling along the ground, or just ducking under an attack from the Kyuubified Jinchuriki as needed. At times he would need to use a Substitution to replace himself with something else to reposition himself elsewhere to escape an attack, but eventually he managed to get the first four sealing tags into position on the ground.

As soon as the final sealing tag was in position, Jiraiya quickly molded the correct amount of chakra into his hands, shouted "Seal!" and slammed his hands down onto the sealing tag. Quickly lines spread out, forming a larger seal along the ground underneath the Jinchuriki's feet before sparks began shooting up out of the ground. Eventually the beast collapsed and began writhing against an invisible force as it struggled to move.

Before it could get up, Jiraiya pushed his body forward, rushing as fast as he could and slammed the final sealing tag against its forehead, ignoring the burning feeling in his hand as he shouted out another "Seal" and watched as the chakra began to recede back into his godson's body. However, as this happened, Jiraiya found himself wincing in sympathy for what he saw.

Naruto's body looked terrible. It appeared as if most of his skin had simply melted off. It was severely reddened and looked as if he would take some time to recover. Sure, he'd likely be recovered in a matter of days knowing him, and in about a week or two he'd likely be begging for training again, but until then?

Shaking his head, the Sannin collapsed onto his butt next to his godson and began to tend to his own wounds, namely the one on his chest, to the best of his ability. The most important thing to do was to tend to the taint of the bijuu's chakra before it could harm him anymore than it already had. Then he could use what medical knowledge he had after that to heal himself and his godson as best he could.

It was as he was doing this that the white-haired man pondered on what he felt earlier as he was contending with the Kyuubified Jinchuriki. Something else had happened with Naruto upon reaching the fourth tail. Jiraiya wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it was different. He also sensed something shifting in the air throughout the battle shortly after he received his wound, but he put it into the back of his mind so he could focus on saving his godson.

However, now that he had the time to think on it, he couldn't help but wonder what all of that was exactly. Of course, Jiraiya ended up being disturbed from his thoughts the very moment two loud THUD sounds erupted from behind him, startling him from his thoughts. Glancing behind him, Jiraiya's eyes widened upon seeing two strange, swirling portals, along with two scantily clad women lying on the ground, groaning as they slowly started coming to.

As he finished tending to his godson's wounds, Jiraiya watched as the portals closed before rising to his feet and carefully preparing a jutsu, just in case these two proved to be enemies. Scantily clad babes they may be, and oh Kami the things and chapters he could write using these two as inspiration!, Jiraiya was currently more focused on protecting his godson rather than perving out on these women.

Slowly, the platinum-haired woman rose first, very quickly followed by the blond-haired youth. Once on their feet, the two young ladies looked around for a moment before their eyes settled on the taller person in front of them who was clearly looking at the two of them with suspicion. At the same exact time, the duo asked the exact same question: "Where am I?"

Glancing at each other, the girls again asked the same question: "Wait, you too?" Meru quickly shook her head and held up a hand before glancing between the girl before her and the taller male. Closing her eyes, she focused her senses and tried to pinpoint the source of whatever it was she felt earlier. If she could determine that, perhaps she could get some answers.

It didn't take long for Meru to feel a tiny spark from a short distance away. Opening her eyes, Meru gently moved the blond woman out of her way so she could see what was behind her. There, lying upon the ground, was a blond, young man that looked to be severely injured. Judging by his appearance, he had his wounds tended to just recently. Glancing at the white-haired male, Meru bowed her head to him momentarily and decided he was the one to direct their questions to for the time being.

"Sir, my name is Meru. I'm sure you have many questions for myself and whoever this girl next to me is, I can safely tell you that we are not from this world. I highly doubt we are even from this dimension, in fact." Hearing the gasp from the girl next to her, the Wingly quickly directed a pitying glance towards her and nodded her head, sadly, in the affirmative before redirecting her gaze to the Sannin.

"I assume something happened here with your companion that awakened his magic? Whatever happened, a portal appeared in my world that was strong enough to ensnare me and drag me into it despite my struggles to escape its pull. My friends and I were in the process of trying to save our world from a great evil, but because of this, I will now have to leave the fate of my world in their hands. I do not think that I will be able to return in time to help them. So all I can do is place my faith in them now."

Releasing a heavy sigh, the Wingly closed her eyes and shook her head before walking over and kneeling down beside the boy, gently brushing her fingers through his hair. "If you would permit it, I would travel with you and your companion. I have nowhere else to go, and it would honestly be pointless to return to my world now. I will miss my friends, but all things considered, there really wouldn't be much to return to. I left my home, and all I really had after that was my friends. There was no way I could possibly return to my home after leaving the way I did, and I'm not sure if my friends and I would've stuck together either after everything was said and done. Albert had his kingdom to get back to, I'm not sure what Haschel would've done, Dart and Shana? I don't really know. Miranda would've probably gone back to the other Sisters." Sighing again, Meru reached up and rubbed the bridge of her nose before closing her eyes and lowering her head a bit. "The point is, it really, truly might be better for me this way."

Hearing this, Jiraiya found himself frowning as he lowered his arms and turned his gaze to the other young woman. Sighing softly, he waved a hand at her. "Alright, I've heard her story, or at least part of it. Why don't you tell me what happened with you and I'll decide if I can trust you around my student first and foremost. After that, we'll figure out what we should do from here. Alright?"

Rikku nodded and grinned up at the big man. "Yeppers! I…kiiinda don't want to go into too much personal stuff right now. Yunie, Paine and I had just saved everybody from ANOTHER threat to Spira, that's the world I come from, but things kinda didn't work out for me in the end." Poking her index fingers together nervously, Rikku stared down at the ground and frowned sadly. "I was on my own when the portal opened up and sucked me in. Then I was here! I have people that I love back home on Spira…but at the same time…"

Looking into Jiraiya's eyes, the young Al Bhed woman smiled sadly and shrugged her shoulders as tears welled up in her beautiful, green eyes. "I just can't will myself to want to go back there, y'know? Maybe this is my chance to find my own happiness or something. Look to the future and all that rather than live in the past and those 'could have been' situations. That's just not who I am. I'm Rikku! I'm supposed to be all cheery and peppy! I'm the life of the party!"

Jiraiya smiled sadly at the younger beauty before him and gently patted her on the head. "Don't. If you need to let yourself feel your losses for a while, then do so. You're mourning a lost love of some kind, aren't you? It's not hard for someone like me to tell. After all, I'm still in love with someone who will never quite feel the same way about me." With a mirthless chuckle and a careless shrug of his shoulders, Jiraiya turned his gaze to his godson. "Come sit with me."

Walking over to Naruto, Rikku and Meru sat around him and Jiraiya found himself staring at the young boy in puzzlement for a time before looking at Meru. "You mentioned this 'magic'. I'm not sure what that is, but we use something called chakra, which is the embodiment of our physical and spiritual energies merged into one inside ourselves. We harness that and use it to great effects to do a great many things. I'm afraid I'm not aware of what your 'magic' is."

Rikku found herself staring at Meru and shrugging her shoulders. "If it's anything like the magic from my world, I think I know what she's talking about. The use of mana, or spiritual energy, to perform magical arts that can do a lot of different things. Restorative magic, attack magic, enhancement magic, debuff magic, there's a LOT of nifty types of magic. Is it like that with your world too Meru?"

Meru smiled a little and nodded her head. "In a sense, yes. However, I'm pretty sure that magic differs between our worlds Rikku. In my world, there are beings known as Dragoons, Winglies, Dragons, Gigantos, and a great many more. I am what is known as a Wingly, but I am also a Dragoon. As a result of this, not only can I harness the power of Wingly magic, but I can transform into a Dragoon and utilize the magic of the Blue-Sea Dragoon and its Water magic. On top of that, I can also summon forth and control my very own Dragon. That is my magic. However, transforming into a Dragoon is very difficult without actually being in a battle. If not for that, I would do so and use my magic to heal your companion here, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya frowned at that before turning his attention to Rikku. "How about you? Do you have any of this healing magic that would be of any help to aid Naruto-kun? His own healing factor will heal him within a matter of days, certainly, but I'd hate to leave him like this."

Rikku smiled and nodded before digging around for a moment and pulling out one of her Garment Grids (or GG's for short) and replacing one of the Dresspheres for her White Mage dressphere. Doing a quick Spherechange, Rikku's outfit was replaced with a beautiful white robe decorated with a few tassels and red lines while she clutched a staff in her hands.

Quickly rising to her feet, Rikku grinned down at her new companions and raised her staff into the air above her head before saying a few quick words and shouting out: "Curaga!" and swinging her staff down at her feet and giggling happily as a bright green light shot up from the ground around Naruto. In a matter of moments, Naruto began to glow as his body began to heal and repair itself at a rather astonishing rate. Once the light faded away, the young man looked as good as new and the others were looking at Rikku in astonishment as she flashed them a 'V' for victory sign. "How was that, huh?!"

Jiraiya found himself grinning in appreciation at the young lady's talents and nodded his head at her to show his thanks. "That is most impressive. Thank you very much Rikku-chan for helping my godson. I'm curious to know now though," here, Jiraiya motioned at the wound on his chest and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly with his other hand, a soft grin appearing on his face at this point, "do you have any kind of magic that would purge this wound of the acidic qualities of the Kyuubi's chakra? I would also very much appreciate having my wound healed as well if you feel up to it."

Rikku nodded in response and peered closer at the wound before making a decision and quickly spherechanged again. This time, she donned a completely new outfit, outfitted in something that made her look the part of a chemist combined with some kind of frontline soldier, yet there was so much else that could be said about her new outfit as well. Despite this, both of her new companions admitted that her new outfit looked damn good on her as they watched her begin mixing a couple of strange-looking tonics together.

"Okay, take this Potion here, combine it with this here Dispel Tonic, and with a little Rikku magic we should be good to go." Once the young Al Bhed woman was finished with her creation, she turned to the white-haired male and presented her newly created concoction to him with a grin. "Here ya go Mister Jiraiya! Drink up and not only will your wound be healed but you'll be feeling right as rain in no time! I guarantee it!"

The Sannin looked down at the potion clutched in his right hand with a raised eyebrow before glancing back into Rikku's eyes with a curious gaze. "What exactly is this and what will it do?"

Frowning at him, the Al Bhed motioned for Jiraiya to drink up. As he did and she watched him swallow, Rikku grinned and decided to explain as the wound on his chest began to glow and heal. "That particular potion is called the Ultra Cure. You see, the dressphere I just changed into is the Alchemist dressphere, and with its special ability, Mix, I can create all kinds of nifty things by mixing things together! The Ultra Cure heals ailments of all kinds and heals wounds too! I figured it was the perfect thing to use to fix you right up. Sooo, you're feeling good as new, right?"

Blinking and patting at his chest, Jiraiya was stunned to see that there wasn't even any scar tissue present. With a grin, he nodded his head at Rikku and offered her a quick thanks before looking towards his apprentice. After a moment of deep thought, Jiraiya took a deep breath and nodded his head, his decision made. "Alright girls, I think I know how you've come to be here and you deserve to know what happened to cause this."

Seeing he now had their attention, Jiraiya pointed his right index finger at Naruto and frowned deeply. "What I'm about to reveal to you is very personal, top secret information in our village that I wouldn't reveal under normal circumstances. However, I'm willing to place my trust in you two. Naruto here, on the night of his birth, had a great beast known as the Kyuubi no Yoko sealed within him. It was attacking our village and the Yondaime Hokage had no choice but to seal it within a newborn child, and the one he chose was young Naruto here. He hasn't had an easy life, and the damn beast hasn't exactly been the most cooperative creature when working with my godson in regards to sharing its power with him, but that's why we're trying to train in the use of the Kyuubi's chakra on this training trip."

Sighing heavily, Jiraiya closed his eyes and began massaging the bridge of his nose. Shaking his head, the Sannin continued on. "Before you arrived, things went very wrong and Naruto lost control over the Kyuubi's chakra. He went on a rampage and I felt something change inside of him. You called this new power of his magic, correct?" Seeing them both nod, Jiraiya nodded once more. "Well, while my godson was going on his rampage, I can only assume that he ended up unleashing some kind of time/space magic that created wormholes of some sort that linked to your worlds and pulled you through them into our world. I don't know if he could do it again, but I'm certain that now that he has unlocked this power he can begin training in the use of this magic and gain control over it. If he can harness the power of this magic, he could become a true force to be reckoned with and really become a threat to the Akatsuki that are after him."

Releasing another heavy sigh, Jiraiya looked at his godson with a solemn expression on his face and decided to answer the unasked question that he knew the girls wanted to ask. "I know what you want to ask. 'Who, or what, are the Akatsuki?' right?" Turning to look into their eyes, one at a time, the white-haired male chuckled dryly and returned his gaze to his godson. "They're an organization filled with scumbags that want to capture the jinchuriki of the world, people with tailed beasts sealed within them," Jiraiya explained, seeing as he figured they didn't know what the word 'jinchuriki' meant, "and extract their bijuu, their tailed beasts." The old man was forced to explain the word 'bijuu' as well, due to their confused expressions signifying that they had no idea what he had just said.

Realizing that something was wrong with what Jiraiya had just said, Meru was the first to speak up in response to all that was revealed to them. "I'm guessing that if the Kyuubi were to be removed, something bad would happen to Naruto?"

Once more Jiraiya began to chuckle dryly. "Oh, it's worse than just 'bad', my dear. A jinchuriki who has had their bijuu removed…well…" Closing his eyes, the sannin just shook his head and put his palm to his face, letting out a quiet groan of frustration. "They die. I don't think any jinchuriki has survived a forced extraction before."

Eyes widening in surprise at this news, the girls glanced at each other before Rikku piped up, unable to hold her feelings in about the matter. "Well then why the hell are these Akatsuki people doing such a horrible thing?!"

At this question, the toad sage quirked a single brow and looked the thief squarely in the eyes. "Honestly? I don't rightly know. The only thing we do know is that it's not for anything good. Their goals are as corrupt and evil as they are. They need to be stopped, and that's why I've been working on learning what I can via my spy network and training young Naruto here to the best of my ability. He's got so much potential that's gone to waste in that damnable village of ours. If only they could see past their petty hate and see him for who he is instead of what he is, they'd see what an amazing young man he is."

Rikku and Meru both frowned at this and looked imploringly at their elderly new companion. "Jiraiya, you mentioned it earlier, albeit very briefly, that Naruto has had a hard life. Would you mind very much if you could elaborate for us exactly what he's had to endure so far? It sounds like it's been more than just a 'hard life'." Meru said, clearly concerned for the person she and Rikku silently vowed to teach their magic to.

Twitching ever so slightly at his slipup, the toad sage sighed again and nodded before turning to stare at his godson. "Jinchuriki don't get to live happy lives. In some villages, they're treated as nothing more than weapons. They are no longer people, just tools to be used and discarded when they are no longer useful. They'll remove the bijuu and place them into somebody new for the cycle to start all over again. In others, they're beaten and abused in horrible ways. Female jinchuriki have it especially bad…I highly doubt I have to explain how far that 'men' will go to make female jinchuriki feel worthless."

Clenching their fists in outrage at what their new friend was implying, the two women tried desperately to control their mounting fury, but it was rather difficult to do so. "And Naruto?" Meru asked through gritted teeth.

Sighing yet again, Jiraiya closed his eyes and shook his head before shrugging his shoulders. "I…wasn't there for him. All I can tell you is what I received in reports from my sensei, the late Sandaime Hokage, the third leader of our village." He explained, again reading their expressions to mean they didn't know what the words meant. "You can be upset with me about not being there for my godson if you want, I deserve it, believe me. Nobody could possibly beat me up more over it than I do myself every damn day for abandoning my duty to Naruto the way I did in favor of…of…fuck it. Peeping on women in their private moments just so I could work on writing my novels. Yes, I'm a perverted scumbag sometimes, I'll admit it. But I was also out of the village doing whatever I could to ensure he stayed safe. There was no damn way I was letting the enemies that would try to kill him get anywhere near enough to do it."

Deciding to let the fact that the old man just admitted to being a seriously perverted individual that didn't respect women's private time slide for the time being in favor of hearing more, both Meru and Rikku motioned for him to continue. Grateful for this, Jiraiya did exactly that. "From the reports, it would seem that Naruto was treated like he didn't exist for most of his life. When he was recognized by the people, he was treated with scorn and disrespect. He wasn't even treated as a human being would be. In fact, he was treated as if he was worse than trash."

Sighing heavily once again, Jiraiya looked to his godson and gently began brushing his hand through his golden locks. "They kicked him out of the orphanage when he was four years-old, sold him overpriced goods, including spoiled food and drink, they refused to train him correctly so he could become a good ninja upon graduation, therefore he failed the graduation exam TWICE! I could go on and on with everything they did to him! But…Sarutobi-sensei claims they didn't physically abuse him. However, I'm quite certain they did. My sensei was too damn soft on those bastards. Weak-hearted old fool that he was should've punished them much more severely, but noooo. A slap on the wrist and telling them "Don't do it again." and they got to go home like nothing ever happened. Bastard."

Frowning at what they heard, Rikku and Meru began thinking everything over before glancing at the unconscious blond before them. After a few moments, Rikku spoke up. "If it's truly been that terrible for him…why does he stay?"

"Because he honestly doesn't know any better. Naruto's honestly a damn idiot, but that's not his fault. They stunted his growth, both physically and mentally. His team's sensei hasn't been any better, picking favorites and refusing to train his other two students. I've been doing everything I can for him, but he's stubborn and doesn't listen half the damn time. Hopefully you two have better luck breaking through to him to make him actually LISTEN. Kami knows I've done my damndest to make my godson listen when I try to teach him something! All he seems to want to learn are new techniques rather than other important things that would help boost his intelligence."

At this, the two young women got to thinking for a moment before a small grin tugged at Meru's lips. "Well, perhaps having a couple of pretty young women around might be just what he needs, hm? I have a feeling that if we stay patient with him and take the time to mix in a bit of 'book smarts' along with everything else we have to teach him, he might take to it a bit better than he would if we only tried to get him to focus on one thing in particular. Unless you have another idea Mister Jiraiya?"

Nodding his head as he listened to Meru's thoughts, the white-haired male smiled and found himself agreeing with her assessment. "That does sound like a good idea, though I do have one idea in mind that would help speed up the learning process. I think it would also provide a good compromise just in case he does complain about having to learn the 'boring crap'. Shadow Clones."

Rikku and Meru both blinked at the strange term before the thief voiced the question on both of their minds. "Shadow Clones? What're those and how can they help?"

Jiraiya found himself smirking at the chance to teach them something and proceeded to point his right index finger into the air while he closed his eyes and adopted what he would call his 'teacher pose'. "Shadow Clones are a type of cloning technique that was first developed by the Nidaime Hokage, or Second Fire Shadow if you don't understand the term. Its primary purpose is to be used as an information-gathering/espionage technique, as whatever the Shadow Clone learns is transferred back to the user when it dispels. They can also be used in combat, which is what my godson uses them for, but unfortunately he has failed to determine their best purpose: training."

Sighing softly, the Sannin looked to his student and frowned. "Most people can only make a single Shadow Clone, with some being able to make up to maybe ten if they're lucky. Naruto, however, can make hundreds. By utilizing this jutsu, anything his clones learn, he will learn. I'm sure you can understand where I'm going with this…"

Meru nodded in response and looked at the unconscious young man. "That means that we can each train him in different things while another group focuses on catching up on his studies, am I right?"

Jiraiya nodded with a smile on his face before glancing to the blond again. "Bingo. I'll be sending one of my toads to Tsunade-hime to request that she send me as many books as she can. I want him to catch up on his studies, but at the same time I also want him to study up on jutsu scrolls and even human anatomy. If you can heal people with your magic, I want him to be able to do the same. I have a feeling that if he studies up on medical techniques, he'll be clever enough to come up with some new magic ideas that might just surprise us. It'd be fun to see, don't you think?"

Before either of them could reply, the three of them heard groaning coming from their unconscious comrade. Looking towards him, they saw him slowly opening his eyes and glancing in their direction. "Well g'morning there sleeping beauty. Nice to meetcha! I'm Rikku!" Rikku greeted cheerfully.

Meru giggled a bit and gave a quick wave of her hand. "My name is Meru. It's a pleasure to meet you Naruto. We've already become acquainted with Mister Jiraiya."

Rubbing at his eyes, the blond slowly sat up and looked around the area for a moment before his eyes settled on his master. "Pervy Sage, are you alright? I could see what was happening, but I couldn't control it. I'm so, so sorry."

Raising his hands in a placating gesture, Jiraiya smiled kindly at his pupil before patting him gently on the shoulders. "Naruto, it's alright. These women here arrived and healed the both of us, or more accurately, young Rikku here did. I'm fine, you're fine, and we have some things that we need to discuss. Please listen, alright Naruto?"

Nodding slowly, Naruto proceeded to listen to what Jiraiya and the girls had to say. They told him about the portals, about Naruto possessing magic, and their conversation with Jiraiya, all the way up until Naruto had awakened. Needless to say, at the end of it all, he was more than a little stunned. But there was one thing that bothered him. "Pervy Sage…I spoke with the Kyuubi while I was out. He already told me about my possessing this space/time magic. He didn't seem too pleased with me when I tried to demand that he tell me more about it or how I possessed magic of all things though. Still, I think the Kyuubi knows something about how I came to possess said magic, so I'm going to try and get closer to him somehow. If I can maybe…y'know, befriend him…" at saying this, Naruto shuddered a bit, almost as if the idea disgusted him, "he might be more willing to speak to me. I don't know for sure, but it's worth a shot, don't you think?"

Thinking on it for a moment, Jiraiya found himself shrugging before nodding in acceptance. "If that's what you feel is best, then I've no objections brat. But, before you do anything...I need to tell you something. Well, more like a bunch of things that have been kept secret from you for far, far too long." Heaving a heavy sigh, Jiraiya decided to get the smallest secret, yet probably one of the most hurtful, out of the way first, "Naruto, I'm your godfather. I'm sorry I was never there for you growing up, but I'm trying to make up for it now by being here for you when you need me to be now. I want to teach you everything I can, and I want to be a positive role model in your life rather than just some jackass that was never there. I know it probably won't make a difference, but all that money you received growing up from an unknown source? That was me. I made sure that you received enough money to take care of yourself Naruto. I just…I wanted you to be happy. If I had known how bad you truly had it…"

Naruto was stunned; there was no other word for it. He sat there staring at the man he called Pervy Sage for a good three minutes before he finally said anything. "That's a really bad joke Pervy Sage. After everything I've just been told, which is a lot to take in on its own by the way, you go and tell me something like that? Do you know the kind of hell I went through back in Konoha, wishing I had some kind of family to care for me the way all those other kids had?! If you're my godfather, then prove it to me! Show me something that proves it!"

Despite his shouts and protests, Naruto knew, deep down, that his master was telling the truth. After all, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the great Sandaime Hokage, often gave him a monthly stipend that he would never say where it came from, only that it was an allowance of sorts to help him get by. Only a few people knew of this, and he doubted that Jiraiya would've thrown this kind of information out there just to hurt him like this. In truth, the blond just wanted all of this to be some bad dream to wake up from, but he knew it wasn't like that. So he sat there and he waited for the proof his godfather would give him.

Once again releasing a heavy sigh, the elder male reached into his pouch and pulled out his first ever book, one titled "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi" and placed it in his student's hands. "You get your name from the main character of my first ever book, Naruto. Your father insisted on it, and your mother loved it as well. It's the first book I wrote, but sadly it didn't sell too well, unlike my Icha Icha series. But that's not the only proof I have for you Naruto. It's a good thing you're already sitting down, because you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you."

Frowning deeply, Jiraiya placed his hands upon his knees and looked hard into his godson's eyes. "The names of your father and mother are Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki respectively. The Yellow Flash of Konoha, hero of the Third Shinobi War and Yondaime Hokage of Konoha is your father, while the Red Hot Blooded Habanero is your mother. They died on the night of your birth, sealing the Kyuubi no Yoko inside of you after it was ripped from your mother, the second Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. We don't know who released the Kyuubi or why, but we know the Kyuubi was freed from your mother and unleashed upon Konoha." Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Jiraiya closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "So, your thoughts?"

As every word was processed by Naruto's brain, he became more and more distraught. He couldn't think straight and he began to breathe heavily as panic began to settle in. The blond's pupils turned to pinpricks as his thoughts raced. That can't be. Somebody should've known, somebody had to have known if I was the Yondaime's son! And Kushina Uzumaki?! Does that mean my last name wasn't just some random name given to me? They…they sealed the Kyuubi into me and left me to rot at the hands of the villagers rather than trying to be there for me! What the hell is going on?!

Then, it was as if a switch was flipped as Naruto looked up into Jiraiya's eyes, his pupils dilating and his vision unfocused, the older man's face blurry to him. "The Sandaime knew, didn't he?! Why didn't he fucking tell me?! I deserved to know! Those damn villagers should've known that I was the Yondaime's son and left me alone! Other people had to have known, he couldn't have been the only one to know! I even look like him now that I think about it! That old bastard LIED to me! He lied whenever I asked about my parents! All I wanted to know is if I was loved! I deserved…I deserved to know Kami damn it!"

The worse Naruto's condition got, the more his magic began to spiral out of control. Soon enough, another portal opened behind him as he clutched at his head and began to cry. "Why…? Why didn't anybody tell me? Even Grandma Tsunade…she had to have known too. I can't trust anybody…"

As the portal grew bigger, the girls began trying to calm Naruto down, but nothing they tried worked. Eventually they hugged him tight and began whispering soothing words as the portal began to hum and pulsate violently behind them. Thankfully it wasn't trying to suck any of them in, but instead it seemed to be just sitting there, waiting for something almost. If their guess was correct, they'd likely have another new guest on their hands soon enough.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya just sat there with his eyes downcast and a frown marring his face. "Naruto, I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean for my news to upset you this badly. I truly didn't. I just hope you can forgive your parents and the rest of us who hid the truth from you for so very long, my precious student."

Elsewhere, in the Realm of Time & Space

A couple of people, two young women to be precise, stood watching through a small viewing screen of sorts as what appeared to be a wedding was taking place between a blue-haired man and a beautiful red-haired young woman. These two were quite the pair of beauties themselves, one being a silver-haired woman with her long hair tied up almost like a ribbon in the back. She was tall with silver eyes and was wearing a beautiful red and purple kimono.

Her companion on the other hand was a blond woman with her long hair done in a long ponytail. She, like her compatriot, was also a tall woman, but she was dressed quite differently from the woman. The lovely young woman wore a one-piece outfit that was pink and white in color with the top being a sleeveless dress-like number that ended in an almost knee-length white skirt. She wore a loose black belt around her waist and thigh high stockings on her legs. Finally, she wore a pair of white gloves and pink boots to finish off her ensemble. Overall, she looked every bit the tomboy princess that she was.

Their names are Moebius and Towa, both from the world that they were currently viewing through the screen at this very moment, where the duo had finally kissed to cement their wedding to one another. Towa had a clearly visible frown on her face as she watched the two people she loved and cherished the most walking down the aisle, headed on their way outside of the castle to continue with the wedding celebration.

Seeing this, Moebius couldn't help but frown as she thought over what she should say. She didn't like what she was seeing, but it wasn't for the reasons one would think. Zack wasn't exactly the greatest guy, so the time goddess couldn't understand why Towa would fall in love with such a perverted bastard in the first place. So, with a plan in mind, she decided to speak to the forgotten princess.

"Towa, I've given you this chance to see them one last time before you remain trapped here with me for the rest of, well…eternity. But now I have to ask you something that I'm hoping you can answer for me." Seeing that she now had the princess' attention, Moebius continued on. "What the hell did you see in that perverted jackass? I just can't understand it. And don't answer with 'he's kind' or something stupid like that. Search inside yourself and try to find an answer for yourself. I want an honest answer from you. Take your time."

Towa blinked at the sudden question as she turned her gaze away from the image in front of her to stare into the time lord's eyes. After a moment, she returned her gaze to the wedding and frowned as she really began to think on what Moebius had asked. She began to truly think about all of her time spent with Zack, and frowned. While he was a kind and caring person, he was also a massive pervert and she realized that she would sometimes catch him ogling some of her friends, whether he realized it or not.

Other times, she wondered what he was really thinking when she talked to him and if he was really being honest with her. She knew she had deep feelings for him, but at the same time, she had sometimes asked herself: 'can I trust him to stay truly faithful to me?' and that thought worried her and caused a small frown to tug at her face.

After a moment, she turned to Moebius and hung her head before shrugging her shoulders. "I...don't really have an answer for you. Sometimes you just can't help who you fall in love with Moebius. The heart wants what the heart wants. And sometimes...that's enough."

At this, Moebius smirked and poked Towa's forehead with two of her fingers. "Ah, but you see, you began truly thinking and realized a few things, didn't you? You can't hide it from me little princess."

When Towa raised her head and glared into her eyes, Moebius simply chuckled before cancelling her viewing spell and staring hard into Towa's eyes. "I'll let you in on a few little secrets." Leaning in closer to the blond princess, the time goddess whispered quietly in her ear, tickling the princess with her breath. "He lied to you."

At this, Towa's eyes widened and she turned her head slightly, staring shocked into Moebius' eyes. "W-What?"

The grin on Moebius' face widened as she took a few steps back. "Oh yes. You see, there were a few romantic gestures that he took credit for that he really didn't do. He had others get things for him. He was either too lazy or too much of a coward to really put in the work required to do it himself, and yet he took allllll the credit for all of it. All so he could woo the pretty princess Toki. And during his time as Drake? Oh boy, that was such a fun little time for him! He tried so hard to see you and your friends in the nude. You should have seen all the times he worked with others behind your back just so he could sneak into the shower to see you and Toki in the nude! Hoo-boy that was naughty of him!"

Snickering to herself at the fury on Towa's face, Moebius decided to continue. "It wasn't just you though. He tried to use his cuteness as Drake to coerce your friends into bathing with him once I believe. And during your adventures through all those 'lovely' locations? Those 'compromising' positions you often wound up in? Yeah, some of those were intentional on his part. He LOVED those, just so he could see yours and Toki's panties, breasts, everything he could. You didn't know that though, did you?"

By this point, Towa was clenching her fists at her side, completely red in the face, and snarling. If she could, she'd slug Zack, take Toki FAR away from him, and make sure she'd be safe from the prick forever! However, all she could do now was settle for the tears welling up in her eyes that eventually started to trickle down her face from the sheer frustration and anger she was currently feeling.

Moebius shrugged before she continued to speak. "Why do you think I asked my question Towa? I just couldn't understand it. He's not exactly the greatest guy in the world. Sure, he's not the worst guy out there, but you and Toki could've done soooo much better and you know it. When I was trapped in that hourglass of yours, why do you think I didn't show that guy any respect and tried to convince you to drop the pathetic scumbag? You deserved better. Sure, it was fun screwing with you and Toki, but c'mon, I did NOT want you marrying that guy!"

Sighing to herself, Towa used the back of her hands to wipe away her tears before looking at Moebius. She wasn't sure how to feel about what the time goddess was saying right now. The princess was still angry with her, but she had to admit that Moebius had some good points. However, she was obviously still a bitch.

As Moebius and Towa were talking, the time goddess noticed a strange occurrence taking place behind the blond beauty. Quirking a brow, she couldn't help but tilt her head a bit and watch it for a moment. "Now who could possibly have the power to access my realm I wonder?" Moebius questioned.

The princess turned to see what Moebius was talking about and stared wide-eyed at the portal that was mere inches from her. "What the hell is this?! Where did it come from?!" She screamed, quickly taking a number of steps back from it until she was standing next to the person she hated more than anyone, even that blasted Ricardo.

"If you must know, somebody opened up a portal into my realm. Though it's odd, I didn't think anyone would have the power to do so." Smirking to herself, Moebius turned her gaze to the blond at her side. "Why don't you go and check it out for me? See who it is and maybe train this person for a while in his/her powers. I'll come by later to check out this person's progress. Ta-ta little princess!" Laughing loudly, Moebius gave Towa a shove and watched with a large grin on her face as Towa fell through the portal, cursing her name loudly the entire time. "Ah, it's so much fun being me."

Back with Naruto & Company

It didn't take long for the blond princess to fall out of the portal and on top of our favorite blond hero, knocking him face first into the breasts of both Meru and Rikku as the four of them crumpled to the ground. Despite himself, Jiraiya couldn't help but giggle a bit perversely and whip out his notepad, quickly jotting down some notes before slipping it away a moment later so as not to bring down the wrath of the females in his and his godson's company.

After the group of four had untangled themselves from one another and separated themselves into a group of two men and three women, Towa looked around at the four people with her and grumbled to herself for a moment as the portal closed. "Which one of you opened that damned portal?"

At this question, Naruto sheepishly raised his hand and lowered his head. "I'm…I'm sorry for dragging you from your home. I received some news that I was taking very, very hard and I guess my newly discovered magic spiraled out of control and, well…here you are. I honestly didn't mean to! But…" Looking at Jiraiya with narrowed eyes, the blond punched him in the arm suddenly and glared even fiercer. "I want you to answer me damn it!"

Before Jiraiya could speak, Towa piped up and shook her head. "Whatever's going on, I don't really care right now. I need some answers myself. First though, I suppose I should say thank you. I wasn't exactly in the greatest place, so I'm grateful to get out of there and have something to do again. Now, can anyone explain to me where I am, what's going on, and why exactly I'm here?"

At this, Jiraiya sighed and patted his godson on the shoulder before chuckling a bit. "I'll answer you in a bit Naruto. First, I think introductions are in order, as well as an explanation for the lovely young woman here, wouldn't you agree?" And with that, the group of four began to explain everything to their new companion to help catch her up to speed. Afterwards, they introduced themselves to her and she to them before Towa decided to drop her bombshell.

"Naruto, I suppose I should let you know something. I'm something of a master when it comes to time and space magic. So from now on, I'll be your instructor in your attempt to master said magic yourself. Which you DESPERATELY need, considering we can't have you constantly opening portals and accidentally dragging more and more people from their homes, got it?" Towa stated with a small smirk playing at her lips.

Hearing this, the four of them couldn't help but smile. It looked like they had really lucked out in meeting Towa! With a happy nod, Naruto grinned excitedly and grabbed Towa's hands in his. "Thank you! I'm glad I summoned you here! I'm looking forward to learning under you sensei!"

Giggling to herself, Towa smiled softly and then motioned to Jiraiya. "I'm looking forward to teaching you Naruto. Now, I believe you were trying to press Jiraiya for some answers?" The woman smirked a wicked little smirk at putting the older male in the hot seat once again.

Sweating a bit nervously, Jiraiya chuckled nervously for just a moment before releasing a heavy sigh and decided to speak. "Naruto…sensei didn't feel you were ready to know yet. He thought that you might go running around the village shouting about being the son of the Yondaime rather than keeping it secret. You were a hyperactive young kid after all, and with how you were treated…well…" Shrugging his shoulders, the Toad Sage hoped his message got through to the young man.

Growling to himself, Naruto clenched his fists tightly and had to restrain himself from assaulting the old man. It seemed that Jiraiya's explanation had only made Naruto angrier rather than calming him. "I could've kept it a secret if I was told to Jiraiya. Now why didn't you ever come to see me? Why didn't you or Tsunade tell me who my parents were during all this time we've spent together? She could have told me at any point, same with you. But I'm only learning about it now of all times. So I want to know!"

Sighing once again, Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders and smiled sadly at his apprentice. "Sadly, I don't have a good answer for you Naruto. I don't know why I didn't tell you. I was scared to, but that's not a good enough reason. As for not coming to see you…I don't know. I just…I don't know. As for Tsunade not telling you, I again can't tell you because I just don't know. And the same goes for anybody else that knew. I honestly don't know why nobody ever told you who your parents were."

Frowning, the sage looked directly into his godson's eyes once again. "There's something else Naruto. You do come from a clan. The Uzumaki clan to be precise. Sadly, they are practically extinct, all except for you and maybe a few others scattered about the Elemental Nations that we don't know about. Hell, I don't know if there are any other Uzumaki alive out there. For all I know, you're the last one. You might end up being put into the CRA now that you know your heritage. And in case you don't know what that is, it's short for the Clan Restoration Act, which is used to restore an endangered clan.

I can explain more on that later if you really want to know. But right now I think it's time for us to discuss your training schedule for the next few years. I want to make sure you're truly prepared for the Akatsuki and any other threats you might face in the future. No more of this slow crap we've been doing. It's time for you to be put through absolute hell in order to grow stronger and I intend to push you to your very limits until you're strong enough to take on anybody that comes for you or those you love. Got it?"

Naruto frowned at Jiraiya's lack of an explanation about why nobody ever told him, but he at least understood why he couldn't explain it. Still, he ended up grinning broadly about the prospect of finally getting some serious training in. So with a grin, Naruto prepared to listen to what the Pervy Sage had in store for him. This is going to be awesome, dattebayo!

A/N - Yes, I am finally back! And yes, I have started a new story. lol. I'm sure this might bother some of you, considering I'm sure a lot of you would prefer I update some of the stories I already have up. However, I've had this story planned for years now and I only now got around to working on it. This is a story a good friend of mine has been looking forward to for a long time and I didn't mean to keep him waiting anywhere NEAR as long as I did. For that, you have my apologies my friend. You know who you are! lol.

Anyways, as you can likely already tell, this story is going to contain characters from a number of different universes, which means anything can happen and you can likely expect the unexpected in terms of which character might make an appearance and when. Heck, I'll even let you suggest characters you might like to see if you want! I can't guarantee I'll add them, but if they're interesting enough, I might be interested in trying it out. Keep in mind though that I don't plan to bring in too many, but I would like to make this crossover pretty dang interesting all the same.

Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter, and I'm eager to see what kind of response this new fic gets. I'll be working on chapter 2 of this fic shortly, so I hope to have that one done at some point. lol.