LEDGEND OF THE HEAVENLY KITSUNE – The Lifestream Volume

Book 2: Holy and Meteor

Chapter 1: Background on Zack

After a full hour of driving in the late afternoon, Naruto and the gang finally reached the southern part of the Western Continent – the only way to cross to the far Western part of the continent.

Thanks to the buggy given to them by the Gold Saucer theme park as an 'apology' for wrongly locking almost all of them up in the Desert Prison, the journey had become much quicker and a whole lot easier. With the buggy's specially designed track wheels they had been able to cross the desert surrounding the Gold Saucer with ease, the pits of quicksand unable to get a hold of them and pull them down.

The buggy also came in handy after they crossed the rest of the continent, heading southwards once again in their on-going pursuit of Sephiroth. Another large river separated the continent, so wide it would have been impossible to cross on foot, but the buggy allowed them to cross the river easily, with only spray flying up from the wheels as it rode over, splashing them all with cool water.

Aeris drove most of the way, feeling glad to be doing something and allowing the others to take a rest as they drove on. She had guided them out of the desert and across the river despite offers from Cloud to take over. It was only after they had crossed the river and were driving freely down the Forest Plains that Aeris allowed Tifa to take over control of the buggy, while she went to the back of the vehicle and sat with Cait. Yuffie was sitting on top of the buggy, perched on the back of the seats. She looked a little pale, even just riding in a buggy, but was also enjoying the feeling of the breeze through her short hair.

Gaara was lightly sleeping, his head lightly resting on the window as he had taken the window seat which left Cloud wedged between the sand user and Naruto. Nanaki was still lying on their laps with his head on Naruto's legs. Naruto at that time was absently rubbing the back of Nanaki's ears as he was reading a scroll. Fifteen minuets into the drive he had gotten bored. Even though he had cast off his fake persona, some habits still ran deep in him. And one was getting bored easily. So he got out the Kitsune Summoning scroll he got from Kyuubi back when they were escaping Midgar. He also got the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time he would see Midgar and his hunches were always right. It saved him when escaping Chunnin, Jounin and ANBU back in Konoha from his pranks.

He had opened the scroll and began reading.

Hey ya! This is Inari here, Demi God of Kitsune and Mischief.

If you're reading this, then you're the new general of my army. Pretty cool, eh? You got a few thousand foxes at your beck and call, each one fully trained in how to fight and kill at your whim. But, as with everything, there are some things you need to know.

First off?

Never, ever, under any circumstances, attempt to summon them all at once.

You need to understand, while this army IS yours to command…they are on a completely different plane of existence from you. Calling them means using your chakra to pull them through various dimensional barriers, and your blood is being used as a beacon thereof. Trying to summon one or two foxes is hard enough…trying to summon them all is nigh suicide. No one save for Kyuubi herself, or of course, me, could ever attempt it without dying a horrible and ignominious death.

Thing is though, if you have this scroll, there's a good chance you have an extremely large chakra reserve already. This is a good thing, but it still doesn't mean that you should summon them all. Not even you have as much chakra as Kyuubi.

Naruto withheld a scoff, and Kyuubi too chuckled slightly. Undoubtedly, that didn't quite apply to them. Regardless, he read on.

With this chakra reserve of yours, you should be able to summon a few hundred of my soldiers at any given time. It all depends on how much chakra you have. I'd experiment with it, find out how much chakra you use to summon one fox, and then multiply that by how many foxes you want to summon the next time. It's never a definite number, but you can get close.

However. Should you wish to summon more than a few hundred of my foxes, I would suggest that you do two things.

Firstly, pop one of your oh-so-useful soldier pills. Great invention, seriously.

Secondly? Use a specific Jutsu.

'Jutsu…?' Naruto wondered.

Within this scroll, there are contained many different specific Jutsu that you can use to summon certain types of foxes, or certain numbers of foxes. Each has the same hand seals, but some require you to have a secondary knowledge of fuujin jutsu to complete, as some require specific amounts of blood, and others require you to make seal arrays in your summoning medium before the use of the Jutsu itself. They should be fairly easy to learn, though. Just make sure that you have enough chakra, and that you do it by the letter, or else you could end up inadvertently bringing about the apocalypse or something…who knows.

'Not being very serious, is he?'

"Well Uncle Inari was always like that. Knowing him he probably wrote this while on the toilet,"

'Really?'

"Oh yeah,"

Enough about summoning…you need to know a bit about the summons themselves as well.

Anything and everything you know about summon animals…you should forget, right now.

Naruto looked surprised.

Most summoned animals are of the more mundane variety. For example, low level snake summons are almost mindless, and lower-level toad summons are extremely weak. More than that, it's rare that you can summon more than one or two of them at a time, due simply to the fact that most summon 'clans' are run like families as opposed to armies. If you needed a hundred toads in one summon, you'd be shit out of luck.

The fox summons, however, work much differently.

My army is run like an army. Each fox is a soldier, each soldier is part of a platoon, each platoon is part of a regiment, is part of a brigade, a division…you get the picture. Each is trained in a certain specific way to perform their function. Each is intelligent, each is powerful in their own right. Each can talk, communicate, take orders, and even take charge if necessary. Some of the highest-level summons can even assume human form.

'Figures,' Naruto mumbled in his mind, thinking about Kyuubi.

Because they're structured like an army, you should use them like an army. Give them specific commands, or specific goals to reach. Tell them who to kill, who to guard, who to follow…in essence, should you ask them to jump, they most likely will ask, 'How high?' Your whim is their command, your ambition their dream. Don't use this lightly.

For all intents and purposes, this is now your army. I am, of course, still their…and your…superior, however I usually take a 'hands off' approach when it comes to the goings-on of my army. I will only really get involved if necessary…and that's…pretty much not going to happen.

Good luck. Remember…this is not only a great gift; it is also a great responsibility. Do not take it lightly.

'Right,' Naruto thought as he got serious.

There were a number of Jutsu written in the scroll. They were all ranked from B-class to a Quad S-class! There was also a nice table for individual summons and how much chakra it would take. Each unit of chakra was labeled 1 normal kage bushin.

'Useful,'

"The scroll itself is special in that it updates itself to whoever is using the contract at the time. It then modifies itself to make it easy for the user to find out info about the summons. So everything you read will be up to date within 3 hours at the max."

'Wow…'

Naruto then started reading the Jutsus.

Measurement of chakra usage will be in KB's. (Kage Bushin)

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Scouting Party

Class: B-rank

Summery: This jutsu summons 20 two-tailed kitsune for reconnaissance purposes only. The chakra usage is equivalent to 20 KB points. Each kitsune is able to smell anything in a 500 meter radius.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Base Attack Party

Class: Upper B-rank

Summery: This jutsu summons 10 two-tailed kitsune, 5 three-tailed kitsune, three four-tailed kitsune and a five-tailed kitsune captain. The four and five-tailed foxes will be encased in amour. This platoon is for attacking only. Chakra usage is 50 KB.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Intermediate Attack Party

Class: A-rank

Summery: This jutsu summons 20 four-tailed kitsune, 5 five-tailed kitsune and one six-tailed kitsune captain. They are all in battle armor. This platoon is for attacking and ambushing. Chakra usage is 500 KB.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Advanced Attack Party

Class: S-rank

Summery: This jutsu summons 20 six-tailed kitsune, 10 seven-tailed kitsune, five long range attack type eight-tailed kitsune and a commander eight-tailed kitsune. They are all in battle armor. This platoon is for attacking and laying siege. Chakra usage is 1000 KB.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Stealth Party

Class: Upper A-rank

Summery: This jutsu summons 15 stealth class six-tailed kitsune and one stealth class captain, seven-tailed kitsune. They are all in black stealth armor. All kitsune are black. This platoon is for enemy base scouting and assassinations. Chakra usage is 700 KB.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Fire, Wind, Water, Earth and Lightning Element Attack Squad

Class: Upper A-rank

Summery: Depending on the element, this jutsu summons 10 element specialized five-tailed kitsune. They are in battle amour. Red Kitsune for fire, Grey for wind, Blue for water, Brown for earth and Yellow for lightning. Meant for fighting using element jutsu. Chakra usage is 400 KB for each element squad.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Honor Guard

Class: Upper S-rank

Summery: This jutsu summons 4 Elite eight-tailed kitsune. Clothed in Knight Amour. Each kitsune is able to use all elements except Void in a masterful way and can change into human form. Meant for bodyguard missions. Chakra usage is 1600 KB.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Medium Army

Class: SS-rank

Summery: Summons Advanced Attack Party with five extra long range type eight-tailed kitsune, a Stealth Party and a Fire, Wind and Water Element Attack Squads. Totaling 30 Five-tailed, 35 Six-tailed, 11 Seven-tailed and 11 Eight-tailed Kitsune. 87 High-level Kitsune. Made for attacking or defending. Chakra usage is 3000 KB.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Large Army

Class: Upper SS-rank

Summery: Advanced Attack Party with five extra long range type eight-tailed kitsune, a Stealth Party, Fire, Wind, Water, Earth and Lightning Element Attack Squads and 2 Honor Guard Parties. Totaling 50 Five-tailed, 35 Six-tailed, 11 Seven-tailed and 19 Eight-tailed Kitsune. 115 High-level Kitsune. Chakra usage is 5000 KB.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Kyuubi no Kitsune's Army

Class: Triple S-rank

Summery: The summoning of Kyuubi no Kitsune along with her personal Large Army. Chakra usage is 8000 KB.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu: The Demi God, Inari

Class: X-rank

Summery: You summon me! Need I say more? Chakra usage is 10,000 KB. If you can pull this off even with help, you're the frickin man!

'Holy shit!'

"I know. Insane, isn't it?"

As Naruto was trying to wrap his mind around this insane jutsu, Cloud was reading the letter Dio had given to Naruto. Apart from the moments when Cloud had offered to take over the driving of the buggy, he had been silent throughout the journey. As the buggy had hummed along the plains he had been sat with his back resting against the back of the buggy. He had read the letter over and over again, or, in particular, the last part of the letter where Dio talked of seeing Sephiroth.

For some reason it bothered him that Sephiroth had been to the Gold Saucer. Although Sephiroth had not been responsible for any of the deaths caused there, it was still a wonder to him why he had been there in the first place. The Gold Saucer was simply a theme park and had nothing to do with their search – going to the Gold Saucer had just been a mere coincidence in an attempt to lighten their journey and lift everyone's mood, despite its unpredicted consequences.

While the light-hearted chitchat went on in the background, Cloud continued to read the last part of the letter, and Dio's remark of Sephiroth having fans. Back in the days before Nibelheim fell, Sephiroth had had a lot of fans, especially with boys Cloud's age. Of course, when Sephiroth disappeared after that, Shinra had done its best to keep it all covered up. Not many people knew what Sephiroth had done, especially since there were very few survivors from then. A lot of people still remembered and admired Sephiroth. Everyone else just didn't talk about.

"There it is," called Tifa from the driving seat.

Naruto looked up, rolled up the scroll and pocketed it.

Up ahead of them was a fairly small forest, identified on the world map as 'Gongaga'. Even though the forest was fairly dense and compact, they could just about see the tops of a tall black structure poking up through the trees. They couldn't see much of it at first through the growth of trees, but as they drove closer it soon became clear what the unnatural, eyesore-of-a-structure was.

"A Mako reactor," Cloud muttered under his breath.

The group fell silent for a minute as they watched the reactor come into view. Of course they couldn't see the whole of the reactor, although they knew that the small town of Gongaga would also be in the middle of the forest. They were surprised, however, to see that the forest and the land surrounding the reactor was still rather lush and verdant. There were faint traces of grey here and there, but green grass was quickly growing over that.

They were forced to come to a stop at the entrance of the forest, right next to a small path leading into the forest. It was much too small for the buggy to ride through, so they had no choice but to part the buggy as close as they could to the forest's edge before they went inside.

The forest was just as silent on the inside as it appeared on the outside. There were no other signs of life other than that of the trees and plants – no birds chirping, no scurrying animals. In fact, apart from the sounds of their footsteps lightly pressing on dirt and fallen twigs, and the occasional breeze fluttering through the leaves of the trees, it was silent. There was only one path to follow and so they followed it, hoping it would lead them to Gongaga.

They were a few minutes into the forest when Naruto suddenly stopped right in the middle of the path. He raised a hand to the others as an order to stay silent, before he turned back to the path ahead of them, which curved around slightly behind a clump of trees and bushes, preventing him from seeing.

There, just under the silence of the forest, came the sounds of faint noises. They were very quiet, almost like whispers, but definitely audible through the silence of the trees. The others all kept themselves to the side out of sight as Naruto slowly edged forwards towards the curve, trying to peer round the corner without being spotted himself. He edged in as close as he dared, before he looked out at the figure beyond.

Just around the corner from where they were, Naruto saw that the road they were following suddenly split into two: one road continuing ahead with a small sign saying 'Gongaga' ahead of it, and a second road moving to the right, presumably to the Mako Reactor.

Standing at the entrance to that fork were two men. The trademark blue uniforms and black shades; there was no doubt that they were Reno and Rude of the Turks.

Naruto fed a small trickle of chakra into his ears to listen in. What he heard made him sweat drop. Badly.

"Hey, Rude," Reno said. "Who do you like?"

Naruto was then struck by inspiration and an evil smile broke out across his face. He made the familiar cross hand-sign and then listened in again.

"What are you so embarrassed about?" Reno asked, noticing the sudden flush on Rude's face. "Come on. Who do you like?"

Rude still didn't answer and refused to look at Reno. Then he took a deep breath and muttered quietly under his breath, "…Tifa." He looked up as Reno jumped about half a meter into the air, before he turned away again to hide the flush on his face.

"Hmmm…" Reno said once the initial shock had passed, and he scratched his head thoughtfully, pushing back the strips of red hair that hung over his face. "That's a tough one. But, poor Elena. She… you…"

Rude shook his head. "No, she likes Tseng."

"I never knew that!" Reno exclaimed, clearly shocked for the second time. Then he stopped. "But Tseng likes that Ancient…"

Naruto decided to intervene at that point and beckoned the others to follow. He then stepped out of hiding and walked up to the two.

"You guys are pathetic you know?" he said, phrasing it as a statement.

Elena walked from the direction of the town and spotted them. "They're here!" she called out to them. "They're really here!"

Rude and Reno both turned as Elena ran up to them, and saw Naruto and his group standing on the path behind them.

"Hmm… Then it's time…" said Reno. He gave Rude a quick glance. "Rude… Don't go easy on them even though they're girls."

"…Don't worry, I'll do my job," Rude replied simply.

"Then, we're counting on you," said Elena. "I'll report to Tseng!" She gave her two comrades a brief salute before she turned away and ran quickly down the right-hand path leading towards the Gongaga Mako Reactor, leaving Reno and Rude behind to deal with Naruto and the others. Once she was gone, Reno began to walk casually towards the group, the fingers of his right hand gingerly playing with the button of his sleeve.

"It's been a while," he said. He looked particularly at Naruto as he spoke. "Payback time for what you did in Sector 7."

"As much as I would like to use you as a good warm up, I have a more entertaining idea," said Naruto with the evil smirk returning. Reno and Rude hesitated for a moment but that was all he needed. They then all heard two voices come from underneath them.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"

The two were suddenly sucked underneath the ground until their heads were the only thing poking out. Naruto and everyone else started laughing. The two Turks were fuming, well at least Reno was.

"What the fuck? What did you do? Get me out of here, NOW!" yelled Reno.

"No, I don't think so," laughed Naruto as he tried to gather his wits. "Now for the finishing touch,"

He then brought out a scroll and unsealed a big, fat, permanent pen and wrote on each of their faces, 'Village Idiot'. He then gripped his sword and fed some chakra into the newest summon he had.

A lightning bolt hit the ground with such force that it made the soil explode, forming a large mound in the middle of the clearing, and still rising. The tip of the mound acted like a lightning rod and brought all of the lightning flashing around the mound together. When all the bolts came together they exploded in a shower of sparks, illuminating a solitary figure that was standing on top of the mound amongst the lightning.

The figure was Ramuh, the summon beast contained within the Materia Naruto had 'picked up' in the Gold Saucer waiting room. He was an old man in a long white cloak and a white beard, holding a long staff designed to conduct lightning.

Reno and Rude could only look in terror as the old man lifted his staff up high into the air. The lightning grew closer together around the tip of the staff, before a thick lightning bolt struck the two heads, creating a blinding flash that made everyone covered their eyes. When it died out, Reno and Rude were sporting identical stunned and stupefied expressions.

"That ought to do it. They will be knocked out for quite a while," nodded Naruto before he and the rest walked towards Gongaga.

In the middle of the forest, Naruto and the gang soon found the small forest village of Gongaga. It was built in a large clearing where the trees had been cut away and the soil replaced by a fine dirt path, the inhabitants living in small houses that were scattered about throughout the clearing.

The first thing that they noticed as they entered the clearing was the immense silence that had spread throughout the entire village. There were so few houses and so few people around, it was hard to believe that there were people actually living here. A few of the houses had been bordered up, with planks of wood nailed firmly across the windows to stop people from seeing in.

The second thing they noticed was a graveyard built right at the entrance of the village. A large graveyard filled with old graves roughly dug in the dirt, topped by old gravestones of dark rock, the names of the dead carved roughly onto them. One man was standing at the entrance to the graveyard, almost like a guard. His face was sombre, the creases of an ever present frown forming on his face, and he wasn't even that old. There was also a woman inside the graveyard, kneeling beside one of the graves, and tears pouring down her face as she laid a bouquet of flowers in front of the gravestone.

While the likes of Tifa and Aeris looked on sympathetically at the graveyard, silently counting the many graves that stood there, Naruto turned away and took a few more steps into the village. He stopped again and peered up over the small cluster of houses in the far north of the village, above the fence that surrounded the village and kept it separate from the forest.

"Man…" he said softly.

There it was – sticking out like a dark shadow that was a continuous reminder of the village's misery. It was another Mako Reactor, built not too far away from the village. In fact it looked a little too close to the village for comfort, but as Naruto looked a little closer he could see that it was no longer a problem.

The reactor was a total ruin. From what Naruto could see, the reactor was misshapen and broken down, many of its Mako-sucking towers fallen apart. It explained the growth of fresh plants and flowers, and the way the dark, dead soil was quickly being replenished with energy and life. Without the reactor there to suck up the Mako, there was no way the plants could die.

He glanced back at the many graves. They all looked like they dated from the same period, and Naruto slowly pieced the information together. There must have been some form of explosion at the reactor, one big enough to destroy it completely and stop the flow of Mako running through it. With the reactor being so close to the village, it had probably killed some of them. Evidence of that came from the remains of the reactor that were still lying in the village. It also explained the miserable faces of those few wandering in the village.

They soon left the lonely graveyard and headed into the village. Not many people noticed them enter – they were so wrapped up in their own miseries they didn't have the time to notice.

Naruto looked around at the few houses that there were. It was clear that many of them had been repaired, and he presumed that the ones that weren't bordered up were the ones with people still living in them. And although it was very obvious that Sephiroth had not come anywhere near Gongaga, it couldn't hurt to ask someone if they had seen anything and could help them.

He led Gaara, Cloud and Aeris towards one of the houses – the house in the most southern part of the village where the houses were not as damaged. It was one of the only few not bordered up and the door was partially open, making it seem like the only somewhat welcome house in the village. Even so he felt it was only polite to give the door a gentle knock before he pushed the door open and entered.

It was surprisingly homely inside – a complete change to the miserable atmosphere outside, although the house still carried with it an aura of loneliness and loss. There was a wooden table in the middle of the room with chairs around it, and even a vase of small flowers. A wooden floor creaked beneath his boots as he walked in, alerting their presence to the couple that were also standing in the middle of the room.

They were an elderly couple – not incredibly old, but old enough to show their years as patches of grey began to appear in their dark hair. Their faces were a lot more wrinkled than they should have been, brought on by the days of frowning with little to smile about. There were very few people who had not been affected by the explosion of the Mako Reactor. The woman barely noticed Naruto and the others enter as she sat on one of the chairs, adjusting the flowers in the vase, but the man glanced over at them and looked them over.

"You a traveller?" he asked, although his tone didn't sound like he really cared. He eyed them over one by one, until his eyes fell on Cloud's face and he finally began to look like he cared. "Hey, wait, that glare in your eye… you in SOLDIER?"

The mention of SOLDIER made the woman, his wife, drop the flower she was holding onto the table. She got up hastily out of her chair and looked at Cloud, a flash of sudden hope appearing in her old, worn face. Cloud felt a little uncomfortable as he felt her eager gaze on him, staring at the faint glow in his eyes.

"Oh, you're right!" the woman said, and her face creased up into a smile. She walked over to Cloud and stood right in front of him. She was a good few inches shorter than he was, but he still felt a little intimidated by her eagerness. "Don't you know anything about our son?"

"His name is Zack," the man added.

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other. They didn't want to break the news to them, not yet. So they kept quiet.

"It's been about 10 years since he left for the city, saying he didn't want to live in the country…" the woman said, standing by her husband again.

"He left saying he's going to join SOLDIER. You ever hear of a Zack in SOLDIER?"

The old man put his arm around his wife and they looked at Cloud hopefully. It was clear that the worry of their missing son surpassed the misery that filled Gongaga, and why they looked so old for their years. Seeing someone from SOLDIER had clearly filled them with sudden hope, and they eagerly awaited Cloud's answer.

"Hmm… I don't know," he answered finally, although it seemed to pain him a little to say it.

The hopeful gazes of Zack's parents died right then and there. Their hopeful smiles were replaced once again by ten years' worth of frowns and miseries, making them look frail and old again. A tear filled the old woman's eye, and couldn't raise a smile as her husband gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder.

Aeris was standing behind Cloud right then, standing silently with her head tilted to the floor and her long brown hair falling around her face and hiding her eyes. She could feel the same misery that the old couple were feeling, and as she watched her feet began to shuffle across the ground. "Zack…" she mumbled quietly, barely audible, although in the silence of the house it could just about be heard.

"Young lady, you know him?"

Aeris looked up and gasped, surprised that she had been heard. She looked up to see the gazes of the two parents now turned on her, the faint glimmer of hope slowly returning in their eyes. They were willing to hold onto any hope of recognition, desperate to hold onto some belief that there son was out there somewhere. Even though the chance was it was a very vain hope, there was no harm holding on to it.

"I remember he wrote to us 6 or 7 years ago saying that he had a girlfriend," said the old woman. "Could that have been you?"

Aeris stared, her mouth slightly open. Suddenly she shook her head fiercely and spoke more harshly than she had intended to. "That can't…" she said. She suddenly turned away and brushed rudely past the others, desperate to get outside into the fresh air again, away from the house. Naruto and Cloud and the other stared at her, surprised at Aeris's sudden change in behavior.

"Did I miss somthing?" Cloud asked, confused.

Naruto walked out of the house with Gaara and Cloud. Cloud shut the door behind him and leaned against it, feeling strangely relieved to be out of the house. The sadness that filled the house and the village was overwhelming, more powerful than the sadness that filled the slums of Midgar and even Corel. It was making his heart pound, but he couldn't figure out why.

"…Zack," he muttered to himself, letting the words sound on his tongue and vibrate in the air. There was a strange feeling of familiarity as he said the word. "Zack. I don't know anything about the man. …But that name sounds so familiar… Why…?"

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other again.

'It appears that the Jenova cells haven't totally suppressed his original memories yet. We need to keep more of an eye on him.' Naruto broadcasted the thought from his mind. Gaara nodded and the two walked away.

In frustration Cloud pushed himself away from the door and kicked a nearby stone, sending it flying into the wall of another nearby house, one that was bordered up and empty. Cloud stared. He was a little surprised at himself for reacting like that, especially since he was sure that he didn't know Zack. Still, it troubled him somewhat, for he couldn't place the familiarity. Maybe he had heard the name before in passing. Either way it wasn't important now. What was important was finding Aeris and Tifa, and finding out why they had reacted the way they did.

He found Tifa around the corner, standing beside another empty house. She looked rather agitated and was playing with her hair, tugging the dark lengths that surrounded her face as she moved from foot to foot, unsure of how to stand. She was also talking quietly to herself and didn't notice Cloud walking up behind her, not even when he stopped directly behind.

"Zack…" he heard her whisper.

"Do you know him?"

Tifa jumped about half a metre into the air and turned sharply, clearly very surprised to see Cloud standing there. For a second she placed her hand over her mouth as though to stop her from talking, before she recovered and glared back at Cloud almost angrily, her fists tightly clenched by her side.

"N, no, I don't know him!" she said, her voice carrying a very obvious stammer as she struggled to speak.

Cloud tilted his head and looked at her. As well as finding it difficult to speak, Tifa was also shaking slightly, despite how hard she tried to hide it. Her fists were clenched tightly but they were shaking against her thighs. Tifa's face was also quite pale, as though something had really frightened her, and she was finding it extremely difficult to regain control over it.

"Your face tells me differently," Cloud said. He crossed his arms in front of him, waiting for Tifa's explanation.

"I told you, I don't!" Tifa snapped back in reply, stamping her foot hard on the ground and making the rock beneath her crumble.

Cloud stepped back and held out his palms. "A, all right," he said, giving in. Although he was a little surprised at Tifa's sudden defensive behaviour. She had never snapped at anyone like that before.

Tifa seemed surprised by it herself. She felt her face begin to flush red and she quickly turned away, not wanting Cloud to see her blush. She also didn't want him to see the tear that had filled her eye and was fighting to roll down her right cheek. She didn't want him to see her act so weak over one little thing.

"… That sounds just like you," she said suddenly. Her voice was still choking a little, but her shaking was gradually falling back under her control. "Leaving home, and saying 'I'm joining SOLDIER!'"

Cloud stared at her, and his eyes softened as he realised why Tifa was acting so strange. He had done the same. Completely out of the blue, without any warning, he had made the same decision to go to Midgar and join SOLDIER. He had left behind his friends and his family. For all any of them knew they might never have seen him again, either. He figured that prospect had scared Tifa.

"There were a lot of guys like that back then," he said to her.

Tifa slowly nodded her head, and wiped the annoying tear away as it slipped out of her lid and onto her cheek, before it fell too far. Then she turned back to Cloud and looked at him. Although it was clear she had been forcing herself not to cry, she managed a faint smile at him.

"You must really be something to make it in SOLDIER out of a group like that," she said to him. "I really respect you…"

Nervously, Cloud scratched the back of his head. "I worked hard for it," he replied.

"Hard work pays off, huh?" Tifa assumed. She walked past Cloud and looked as though she was heading back to the old couple's house where the others still were. As she passed Cloud she suddenly stopped and looked back at him, the smile on her face wider and more genuine. "Cloud, thanks for caring." She then ran off towards the house, returning to her energetic self again.

Cloud watched as she ran back to the house. He couldn't help feeling relieved that Tifa was returning to normal. She was not the type of person to show any weakness, and although he often knew what she was thinking, he didn't realise this. Still, she seemed to be fine after a little encouragement, and that left only Aeris to find.

Aeris was a little further into the town, looking out at the ruined reactor in the distance. At least, that was what she appeared to be doing. In reality she was just staring into the space ahead of her, trying to ignore everything that was going on. She did notice Cloud walking up to her and glanced at him for a second, before she turned away again and looked back at the town.

"What a shock…" she said as Cloud approached, loud enough for him to hear. "I didn't know Zack was from this town."

"You know him?" Cloud asked, standing beside her.

Slowly Aeris nodded her head and moved some of her hair away from her face. "Didn't I tell you?" she asked him. "He was my first love."

Cloud had to think for a second before he finally remembered what she was talking about. It had been when they first met, when they were sitting together on top of the Mog-shaped slide in the Sector 6 abandoned playground. It had been soon after Aeris he had once been in SOLDIER, for it reminded her of her boyfriend and the fact that he had been in SOLDIER as well. She had never told him the name of her boyfriend, but now it became clear. It was 'Zack'.

"…" Cloud muttered silently.

He didn't know what to say. It was no wonder that Aeris had reacted the way she did as well. It must be hard for her, to stumble across the hometown of her first love, only to find that his parents were also waiting for him to return. He didn't know what Aeris must have been feeling, having Zack's parents quiz her about being their son's girlfriend. It probably felt the same as when Cloud had talked about his own family, and how they were no longer around.

"Zack…" Aeris said, sighing heavily. "SOLDIER First Class. Same as Cloud."

"Strange, there aren't that many who make First Class," Cloud said to her. "But I've never heard of him."

"That's all right," Aeris replied. She moved her hair out of her eyes again and turned back to Cloud, giving him a slightly cheery smile. "It's all in the past. I was just worried because I heard he's been missing."

"Missing?"

Aeris nodded, now running her fingers through the long strips of hair against her shoulders. "I think it was 5 years ago," she explained. "He went out on a job, and never came back. He loved women, a real lady's man. He probably found someone else…" She looked up suddenly as she realised that Cloud was no longer looking at her, instead looking at the ground with a rather grave expression on his face. "Hey? What's wrong?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"Poor guy," Cloud said quietly. Aeris tilted her head and looked at him, wondering whether he was concerned over Zack's disappearance, or the fact that he had left Aeris without saying a single word.

"I don't really mind that I haven't heard from him," Aeris assured him. "But I feel for his parents." She put her hand on Cloud's wrist and leaned over to look into Cloud's eyes. "Let's go, Cloud."

Looking back at her, Cloud slowly nodded his head. Gongaga was a place with too many painful memories for everyone, and it was also clear that Sephiroth had been nowhere near this little village. It was probably best that they left the town behind and prayed that it found some glimmer of happiness at some point in the future.

He looked up to see Naruto and Gaara looking at him. Naruto gave him the thumbs up.

"Let's go,"

The ruined reactor looked even worse as Naruto approached the reactor. There was wreckage all around the reactor and its small towers, the metal still charred and with thick layers of dark rust beginning to form across its surface. Although nature was finally beginning to win over the reactor, the land around it was still dark and dead. It would still be many more years before grass began to grow around it again.

Naruto had gone alone to the reactor, wanting to at least check it out before they moved on and left Gongaga in piece. Zack, in his explanation of mako, materia and other stuff, said ruined reactors were often prime places for finding stray bits of Materia of all kinds, and he wondered if there would be anything they could use for their journey. They already had a prime collection of magic and summon materia, but it could never hurt to gain more powerful materia.

It was deadly silent around the reactor. There were no monsters, which surprised him a little. Monsters loved to breed in ruined places where they could hide their young, but there were none in sight. Like the rest of Gongaga and the forests that surrounded it, they were silent and almost lifeless.

He stopped at the entrance and looked inside. Ahead of him was a dark path that led right up into the main part of the reactor. This was where the explosion had occurred. The metal had melted in many places and the doors had been blown apart, and the ground became darker as it was burnt away. Naruto went right up to this main part of the reactor and looked at the broken doors and charred insides.

He wasn't surprised that Shinra hadn't cleaned up the reactor and rebuilt it. Like Corel, they tended to disregard anything that was damaging to them. He bet they blamed the explosion on the people of Gongaga, and left them to clean up the mess.

As Naruto stood there looking at the wreckage of the Mako Reactor, a faint sound caught his attention. He turned around and looked back down the path, just as the noise grew louder and the source of the noise came into view.

It was a helicopter, flying rapidly over Gongaga and heading swiftly towards the reactor. Although it was still too far away for Naruto to see whom the helicopter was carrying, he could see the infamous Shinra logo painted on the side of the doors. The chopper flew all the way up to the entrance of the reactor and began to descend, unable to go any further because there was no room. Naruto remained where he was, wanting to see who was in the helicopter.

As the helicopter landed the doors opened, the blades still whirring as two passengers stepped out from the back of the helicopter. The first was Scarlet, stepping down from the chopper in her high red shoes and onto the ground, a look of disgust on her face, as she smelt the scent of rusty metal all around her. Behind her came Tseng, the leader of the Turks. Scarlet looked over at him and nodded, before they headed on up the path towards the spot where Naruto was.

"That Scarlet really needs a good fuck," Naruto whispered to himself. He then realized what he had said and was horrified . 'Where the hell did that come from? I've been hanging round Ero-sennin for too long. I wonder if this has anything to do with the age modifier?'

He watched for a few seconds more, before he turned and ran quickly round the side of the reactor, wanting to get out of sight before Scarlet and Tseng could spot him. He hid behind a large chunk of broken metal and peered out.

He saw Scarlet march firmly into the reactor zone and head towards the broken doors that once shielded the reactor's interior. Tseng stopped a few metres back, looking a bit upset, since he had probably seen Reno or Rude that gave him the impression that Naruto and his gang were in the area. So he kept a sharp lookout as Scarlet looked through the doors of the reactor, peering through the darkness.

A few seconds later, Scarlet retracted her head and shook her head fiercely. "…Hmph! This isn't any good either," she huffed angrily, her blonde hair swaying around her face. "You only get junky materia from junky reactors." She gave the side of the reactor a sharp kick with her heel, and walked back to Tseng. "This reactor's a failure," she snapped at him. "What I'm looking for is big, large, huge materia. You seen any?"

Tseng thought for a moment, before shaking his head sorrowfully. "…No, I haven't seen it," he said, cautious not to arouse Scarlet's fierce temper, which could rise at the slightest little thing. "I'll get on it right away."

"Please," said Scarlet, who thankfully didn't sound as angry as she would normally have been. "We could make the ultimate weapon if only we had some." Naruto's ears pricked up at the words 'ultimate weapon', and he leaned in a little closer to hear more of what Scarlet was saying, whilst being careful not to make himself visible.

"I just can't wait," Tseng replied.

"With Hojo gone, the Weapon Development's been getting a bigger budget," said Scarlet.

"I envy them."

"But," Scarlet added, suddenly looking rather thoughtful. "Even if we make the perfect weapon, could that stupid Heidegger even use it?"

Tseng didn't reply, and simply looked away from Scarlet and towards the floor. Scarlet looked at him in bewilderment for a second, before her mind clicked and she realised why Tseng was looking away.

"Oh… sorry!" she exclaimed in mock sincerity. "I forgot Heidegger was your boss! Ha ha ha!" Naruto sweat dropped.

Again Tseng said nothing, and simply waited until Scarlet had finished her laughter, almost in hysterics at her own non-existent witticism. When she finished she took a deep breath and fanned herself softly with her hand to cool herself down. Then she turned back to Tseng, forcing the smile away as she grew serious once again, the novelty of the joke over.

"Let's go," she said sharply, and brushed past Tseng to head back to the helicopter. Tseng followed her in silence, refusing to say a word.

Once they were out of sight, Naruto stepped out from behind the fallen metal and went back to the reactor door. He could just see Scarlet marching off ahead of Tseng as she went back to the chopper, calling out rudely to the pilot to open the doors for her and to help her in.

"…Big, large, huge materia?" Naruto asked aloud, his voice quiet against the loud whirring of chopper blades. "An ultimate weapon? The perfect weapon? Interesting…"

He took a step back away from the reactor as the helicopter doors closed, and the chopped began to rise in the air. Once airborne, the helicopter turned around and headed off the way it came, disappearing over the trees of the forest again until it disappeared into the distance, allowing Naruto to move out of hiding again.

He found himself moving towards the open reactor doors. It was very dark inside the reactor, and Naruto had to push himself up on the sharp edges of the doors to fully see inside. There, through the darkness, was a small, sharp glint of red light.

"There's something shiny back there…" Naruto said.

Pushing himself up further, whilst being careful not to fall and cut himself on the sharp edges of the doors as they stuck up around him, Naruto leaned in and stuck his hand into the darkness. He fumbled around through the shadows for minute, until his hand closed around the familiarly firm and smooth surface of a materia ball. It came free easily, and Naruto pulled it out.

He sighed with relief as he saw it was another summon Materia. The image contained inside like a locked picture – a bare-chested warrior with strong muscles. He put it safely in his pocket, with the plan to give this one to Barret since it looked like him.

With all that over and done with, Naruto began to head back towards Gongaga. He spared one last glance at the reactor that had caused so much misery for the village, before he turned away and walked on without looking back.