Chapter 6:

In an unknown part of Teldrassil, Vorlus stood.

He stood, his eyes reflecting the pools of fel energy pouring out from the moonwell in front of him, which had recently received a welcome donation of energy thanks to one of his henchman's machinations.

"How is our progress, master?" A raspy asked from behind him.

Vorlus grinned maliciously, watching as the center of well started to shift from a greenish-yellow, to a more permanent black, "Perfectly, we only require three more vials Melenas, do not fail me."

Melenas retreated slowly, still bowing as he left, "Your will shall be done."

Volus corrected him, despite the minion no longer being within earshot, "The Legion's will, shall be done."

The walk to Starbreeze had been a silent and contemplative one. Naruto could be called many things, brash, naive, even impulsive, but on that list one would never find socially ignorant. Naruto could read emotions well, and build bonds with others quickly. Which was why even though he would peek up at Fallonis from time-to-time, he still wouldn't speak a word. The shame and guilt written on her face was palpable.

Nonetheless, Naruto Uzumaki couldn't remain silent forever, and the questions stirring inside his head required answers.

"Hey, Fallonis"

The elf who had been cautiously scanning the road ahead, afraid of being caught unaware for a second time, responded without looking back at him, "What is it?"

"What's gonna happen when we tell these guys in Starbrush that the vial was stolen?"

The Sentinel's face flashed with anxiety for a mere second before shifting back to stoicism.

"It's called Starbreeze, and as for your question…. I'm not sure..."

Naruto not so eloquently quirked one of his eyebrows up, "Whaddya mean you're not sure? What do your people do when you fail a mission?"

Fallonis sighed in exasperation, but figured it would be better to just answer the blonde than continue attempting to put him off, "I will be reprimanded, but I am not sure how severe my punishment will be. The waters of the moonwells hold untold power Naruto, power that can cause massive amounts of destruction when put in the wrong hands."

Understanding donned on the blonde, who unconsciously clutched at his gut, an action which did not go unnoticed by Fallonis.

The pair finally approached a road sign marked with letters Naruto couldn't read, and the cobblestone path (which they had finally found again after walking through the forest for another hour) split in two.

Fallonis guided them to the left, and in the distance Naruto barely make out the roofs of various huts and buildings.

"That is Starbreeze Village. We should be safe now, but keep your guard up Naruto."

"Right!"

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Gaerolas Talvethren looked across the small settlement that was Starbreeze Village. Not quite as large as Dolanaar, he was nonetheless proud of what his people had managed to build so far. Various merchants and tradesmen littered the main street, but they only made up a small amount of the populace. The majority of the elves here practiced Druidism, and were always being sent out to either collect healing herbs, study the wild animals of the region, or to research the ever growing suspicion that there was a corruption still lurking within Teldrassil.

A small breeze blew through the elf's shock white hair, and his wizened features grew taut, "How troubling... "

Gaerolas turned away from his perch and retreated into his quarters, approaching the small desk that carried a letter he had been penning for Arthridas Bearmantle in Dolanaar. Truthfully, he felt that the suspicions of corruption had merit, which was why he planned on sending word to Arthridas to have a small group of elite druids and sentinels formed with the express purpose of rooting out the truth. Of course this had to be done in secret, if there was no corruption at all, then he would be rising a panic out of the populace for nothing. However, if the opposite proved to be true, then it needed to be dealt with quickly and quietly.

He hated lying to his people, but it was for the better good.

A knock at his door interrupted the aged druid's writing, and with a grunt of annoyance the elf noticed that a blot of ink had dropped from his quill and ruined an entire sentence' worth of writing.

Crumpling up the sheet of paper and throwing it into the fireplace beside him the elf grunted out a brief 'enter' while standing from his desk.

A sentinel entered, as he had expected, but what followed completely baffled him.

"What in the name of Elune is a human doing this deep in Teldrassil?" were the words that escaped his mouth before he could think to stop them.

The human child beside the sentinel was not amused, "Nice to meet you too bastard!"

The sentinel, which Gaerolas finally realized was actually the infamous Fallonis Whitearrow, swatted the back of the boy's head, then pushed his head down so that he was in a strained bowing position.

"My apologies Gaerolas, this child has yet to learn any manners…"

Gaerolas looked at the scene, a little shocked at what had just occurred, before he let a rueful smile grow on his lips, "Seeing you interact so casually with another being is enough of an apology for me Fallonis," said Sentinel's eyes widened, and she immediately let go of Naruto who popped back up into a standing position like a spring, "I will let it go this time."

Gaerolas gestured towards a pair of stools in the room, "Please, make yourselves comfortable. I'm sure your journey here was long."

Fallonis shook her head, "Unfortunately the news I bring today will not allow for any rest Gaerolas."

The elf paused, as he had been about to go sit back at his desk, and responded with a sinking feeling in his gut, "Surely you are exaggerating?" He watched the anxiety on Fallonis' face grow, and as she told him of her experience with the Satyr, Zenn Foulhoof, Gaerolas clenched his fists.

Teldrassil had not yet been expunged of it's corruption.

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Naruto squirmed as he watched this "Garylis" guy, as he was sure that was how his name was pronounced, scribbled on an old looking piece of paper.

The scenery around him, and the tension in the room as Fallonis stood guard over the entrance, reminded him of when he used to sit in the Hokage Tower as a little kid, watching his surrogate grandfather sort through mission requests and no doubt sign the deaths of many people.

'Old man… what would you do?'

Immediately Naruto slapped himself across the cheek, earning a confused look from Fallonis. He couldnt afford to dwell on the past or on his situation. Even if he did, it would keep him from doing the one thing that had kept him alive so far.

And that, was training.

With newfound resolve Naruto stood up and jumped out the open balcony just to the right of Gaerolas, leaving a stunned sentinel and an amused Gaerolas.

Quickly the Sentinel made to go after the young boy but stopped when Gaerolas spoke up from behind her, "Leave him be for now"

"But Sir-"

Gaerolas dropped his feather pen into the inkwell on his desk, the clink echoing across the room. "That boy… for one reason or another the spirits of nature seem to cling to him."

Fallonis had always followed the path of a warrior, a sentinel, she had never maintained the patience for druidism like some of her other sisters and brothers. The thought of becoming a priestess hadn't really appealed to her either, and with the strict outlaw of arcane study that followed the destruction of the Well of Eternity, that left only one path for her to carve out for herself.

As if sensing her confusion Gaerolas continued, "To understand nature is to understand youth. Always changing, growing, sometimes the growth is erratic and unpredictable, other times slow and guided," Gaerolas rolled up his parchment and turned to face the young woman, "Regardless, nature will always do what it wills first, and heed the guidance last."

The elf smiled as he handed Fallonis the parchment, "That boy, his youth reminds me of nature."

Fallonis understood, at least as well as she could within the confines of her perspective on life, "Still, surely he could have waited a little longer… you finished the letter just after he left!"

The twinkle in Gaerolas eyes seemed to shine a little brighter, "I'm sure the farmer also told the tree to wait just a little longer before dropping its apple, so he could go grab his basket… Nature always follows its intended course, Fallonis"

The woman did her best to hide her annoyance, honestly, did every druid need to preach?

Gaerolas smirked, but didn't voice any more wisdom, but instead provided instruction, "Please, take that letter to Arthridas Bearmantle in Dolanaar, he will know what the best course of action should be…"

Fallonis nodded dutifully, storing the druids words in her mind for pondering at a later date, hesitantly she voiced her inner worries, "Sir, what do you think this all means? The furbolg and the Satyr joining forces after so long? The great quake that just shook the very foundations of our home?"

Gaerolas gazed up at the canopy outside his balcony, the faint moonlight striking his eyes and wizened features in a mystical way, "Hmm…" wind swept up the curtains hanging over his sole windowsill.

"I feel a troubling breeze on the horizon…"

Those words did little to satiate Fallonis' worries"

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"RASENGAN!"

A loud crash echoed in the small clearing Naruto had found just outside Starbrus- Starbreeze village.

The boy panted as he stared at the large hole he had carved into the tree, his palm ached, but at least it wasn't littered with chakra burns like before when he had been training in his home world.

Home world.

He had never thought such a concept would exist in his mind, but then again, Naruto had always been one to live in the present. Many thoughts weren't birthed in his mind, but rather drilled into it.

Gentle clapping sounded behind him, making Naruto jump and reach for his kunai, "Wow! Impressive! And for such a young warrior too!"

Walking into the clearing with strides of confidence, yet a kindly gaze in their eyes, was a kaldorei woman, no markings were prevalent on her face, unlike the majority of her kind Naruto had run into, and her hair was tied in a single ponytail, its color a shocking blue.

For one reason or another the word Cyan jumped to the forefront of Naruto's thoughts.

"Wow…" regardless the woman still shared the same trait that all night elves he met had. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

The woman stopped just within arms reach of him, her face the picture of serenity, "Forgive my intrusion, I just couldn't help but admire another master of the arcane, my name is Delyria Moonflower"

"De-lyr-ia? Why do you guys always have such weird names? And Arcane? What's that?"

The womans face seemed to go through a myriad of expressions, amused when he commented on her name, and downright nonplussed when he said he knew nothing about the arcane.

"Interesting, perhaps the humans call it something else?" the woman then started to mumble to herself, producing a book out of thin air and writing in it continuously.

Naruto watched in mild annoyance, 'Great, another bookworm, I wish Fallonis was here'

Naruto poked Delyria's shoulder prompting her to stop and look at him apologetically, "Again, my apologies, you are perhaps the first person I have ever seen use the arcane arts in millenia."

Not surprised that the elf was thousands of years old like all the other elves, the blonde corrected her, "Again lady, I have no clue what 'Arcane' means, are you talking about my Chakra?"

"Ah! I see! So humans have adopted a more Pandaren approach to magic then?"

Naruto swiped the elf's book from her hand before she could on another writing spree, "No! Geez what's with you guys and books, don't you wanna play or go for runs or anything?"

Delyria grinned playfully while eyeing her book, "Well… I guess we could do that more often, but that gets boring after our first 100 years of existence…"

Suddenly Naruto felt the weight of her book leave his hands and looked up to see a carbon copy of Delyria behind him, waving her book around above his reach triumphantly, "Besides, wouldn't it be more fun to be able to do this?" the copy mocked.

Naruto stared in amazement at Delyria as she bowed in gratitude to her copy, whom returned her book and faded with a shimmer. The smirk on the womans face only lasted for about 10 seconds.

"That's awesome! So you can make Shadow Clones too!?"

Chaos ensued.

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LMFAO IM BACK BITCHES WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT

I did want to post a longer chapter, and I might still make another quick one here during the holidays, but I figured this would be enough of an appetizer for now.

Hugs and kisses and all that jazz -Sally