Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Ocean. Oh well, maybe one day.

"Sphere of Might" Normal speech
'Sphere of Might' Normal thoughts
"Sphere of Might" Summons, Dragons, Demons and Demonic speech
'Sphere of Might' Summons, Dragons and Demons thoughts

Naruto: Till the End of Time
Ch02 I am Norton The Great

Naruto was currently sitting in a small wooden seat watching over a still unconscious Fayt, who was now resting in a bed. The two had been brought into the village by the bobbed hair girl, who had introduced herself as Meena, and her older brother Niklas. The two had insisted that Naruto and Fayt stay at their house, at least until Fayt was fully recovered. Naruto let out a sigh as he saw the pained look on Fayt's face 'Huh, wonder what he's dreaming about.' While Naruto was watching over Fayt every few seconds his own eyelids would start to close before he shook his head to keep himself awake 'Why am I still here anyway?' Another sigh then escaped his throat as he whispered out to himself "I'm just too damn loyal for my own good."

Naruto's eyelids just continued to get heavier as they continued to close 'I just rest for a minute.' However the second that Naruto's eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep Fayt shot up in a sitting position with a startled shout. This however caused Naruto to wake up and jump out of his seat, knocking it over, before drawing his katana and holding it out in front of himself, which just so happened to be in front of Fayt's face "Huh, what's going on?! We under attack?! Where are they?!" Naruto then proceeded to look around the room before noticing the startled look on Fayt's face, since his blade was held out right in front of his face. Seeing this Naruto let out a nerves chuckle while rubbing the back of his head before resheathing his sword "Hehehe, sorry 'bout that."

Fayt just looked at him strangely before blinking a few times "Uh, right." He then took a quick look around the room before turning back towards Naruto "So, just where are we anyway?" Naruto was about to reply when they heard a sound and turned around in the direction of the noise only to see the little girl, Meena walk into the room with a small tray with a jug of water on it along with a couple of glasses on it. Seeing Meena walk into the room Fayt looked over at her before saying "Hi, who are you?"

Meena just walked over to a small table in the corner of the room before placing the tray on top of it "I'll leave some water here, okay?" She then turned around and gave them a large smile before turning around and running out of the room again calling out "Niklas!"

A few second later Meena walked back into the room with Niklas. Niklas was about an inch or two taller then Meena but time her he had short brown hair, that was slightly shorter then Meena's, and brown eyes along with the same pointed ears. Niklas then turned his attention towards Fayt before asking "Are you all right? You were groaning in your sleep."

Fayt nodded his head at Niklas "I... think I'm fine, thanks. Were you the one who rescued us?" He finished by indicating to Naruto and himself.

Niklas just shook his head "No, I just helped carry you here. My sister..." He tilted his head towards Meena "Meena, she insisted..."

Fayt nodded at this again before turning his head towards Meena "I see. So you were the one who rescued me. Thank you Meena."

Hearing this Naruto crossed his arms over his chest "Oh sure, just ignore the guy that pretty much dragged you through the forest." He then flopped back down on the chair and turned his head away from Fayt with a small pout on his face "I get no respect."

Meena let out a small giggle at the look on Naruto's face before Fayt turned his attention back towards Niklas "Right, okay then. Anyway I guess I should introduce myself. My name's Fayt. Fayt Leingod."

Hearing this Naruto turned his head in the direction of Niklas and Meena "Oh right I never did introduce myself, did I?" Seeing the two of them shake their heads Naruto pointed his thumb towards his chest "Name's Naruto Uzumaki also known as the Raikou Senkou." He finished with a large grin on his face before he finished by saying "Not that I want you to think I'm bragging or anything."

Fayt just shook his head at this while letting out a sigh before turning his head to Naruto's direction while rolling his eyes "Even though you are."

Naruto turned his head away from Fayt with a small pout on his face while looking at his out of the corner of his narrowed eyes "Gee, thanks a lot."

Meena just let out a small giggle at Naruto's pouting face again before Niklas spoke up "Anyway, I'm Niklas." He then motioned towards Meena "Her name is Meena." Niklas closed his eyes for a minute seemingly lost in thought before opening his them again "Fayt... You said Fayt right? And Naruto? Your cloths... and your ears... Are you two of Norton's men?"

Fayt had a confused look on his face at this "Uh, Norton?" He then looked over at Naruto hoping for an answer. However Naruto just raised his hands up and shook his head.

"Hey don't look at me. I've never heard of this Norton guy."

Niklas seamed to be a bit shocked at this before he said "You don't know Norton?"

Naruto just rubbed the back of his head "Nope." While Fayt said "Uh, no, actually, I've never heard of him. Who is he?" Hearing this Naruto turned his full attention to Niklas wanting to find out just who this Norton guy is.

Niklas just quickly shook his head before saying "If you do not know who he is, then please, never mind. I apologies for the strange odd question." Naruto and Fayt shared a quick glance at this before Naruto just shrugged it off. Fayt looked like he was about to say something when Niklas turned his attention towards him "You still need to recover your strength. Feel free to rest here a while. We cannot do much, but we do have food."

Fayt just rotated his shoulder while saying "I'm fine, no, really!" he finished grabbing his shoulder as a slight pain hit it.

Seeing this Meena ran up to the side of his bed "No! You should stay in bed!"

Naruto let out a small chuckle at this before standing up "Well anyway, I should probably get going myself." He said as he stretched his arms into the air before letting out a yawn.

Hearing this Meena turned her attention towards Naruto "But you should be resting to."

Naruto just flashed her his foxy grin "Ah don't worry about me. I heal really fast." He then let out a tiered yawn before letting out a nervous laugh "No, really."

Niklas looked between Fayt and Naruto before saying "Please, rest. Don't worry... It is our way to help each other in times of trouble."

Naruto just looked at him for a second before letting out a nervous laugh while rubbing the back of his head "Oh, sorry."

Fayt had his own sheepish look as well before he joined in "Uh, yeah... thanks."

Niklas just shook his head at them "It is no problem." He then turned his attention towards Meena "Meena, let them get their rest."

Meena just turned her head to look at him as he walked out of the room "Okay." While Naruto stretched his arms before removing his katana and walked over to the second bed, next to the one Fayt was in.

Fayt just watched the retreating form of Niklas while saying to himself "He looks so young, but he seems so mature for his age... Just like Sophia."

Hearing this Meena turned her attention back towards Fayt "Fayt, tell me, where are you guys from? Why are your ears so round? Who's Sophia? Tell me! Tell me!"

As Naruto climbed under the covers he heard Meena's last question and looked over at Fayt "Yeah you've mentioned her before." Fayt just let out a nevus chuckle at this and said nothing more on the matter.

A few hours latter Fayt woke up from his sleep and sat up in the bed. He rotated his shoulder for a second before grimacing in pain. Fayt then looked around the room for a second trying to remember where he was when he noticed Naruto in the other bed "Oh right." He pulled himself out of his bed before walking over to Naruto and shaking his shoulder "Naruto, hey Naruto, wake up."

Naruto just mumbled something in his sleep before turning over and saying "Three more minutes. The Raman wont be ready till then."

Fayt just blinked a few times at this with a confused look on his face "Uh, okay." Shaking it off Fayt just shook Naruto's shoulder a little more forcefully "Naruto, come on, wake up."

After a few more seconds of shaking his shoulder Naruto finally opened his eyes and groggily looked over at Fayt "Fayt? What's up? How long have I been out?"

Fayt just shrugged his shoulders "I don't know but if I had to guess I'd say a couple of hours." Shaking his head of that Fayt continued "Anyway I figured we should take a look around. You know, figure out more about this place since we'll probably be stuck here for a while."

Naruto just let out a yawn at this before nodding his head "Yeah might as well. My mission wont be over for at least another three weeks and it would be better to get view of how things work around here." He then reached over beside his bed but only met air. Not finding what he was looking for he leaned over the side of the bed before calling out "Hey, where's my sword?!"

Fayt just let out a sigh "Yeah mine's gone to. My guess is Niklas must have them. They must have made him nervous. It's not like we need them right now, anyway. We might as well let him hang onto them."

Naruto just pulled himself out of his bed before letting out a sigh "Well okay. As long as we get them back, I guess it's okay to let him hold onto them." He then looked down at his kunai holster and pulled a kunai out a few inches before putting it back into his holster "Well at least he left me with my kunai and shuriken."

As Naruto and Fayt walked out of the room Niklas looked up from what he was doing at a small round wooden table at them before saying "Ah, it's good to see the both of you up and around."

Naruto just flashed him a large grin while rubbing the back of his head "Yeah, thanks for letting us use the beds." He then brought his hand back down to his side before continuing "We were just going to take a look around the village, that is if it's okay with you."

Niklas just nodded his head at them "That is fine. But please do not leave the village yet, I know Meena would like to say goodbye to you both before then."

Naruto flashed him another large grin before saying "That's great, we'll see you and Meena later then." He then turned his attention towards Fayt before saying "Come on Fayt lets get going." He finished while pushing Fayt out of the wooden door and into the village street.

As Naruto continued to push Fayt out the door Fayt looked over his shoulder at Naruto "Hey, quit pushing."

Once they were out of Niklas and Meena's house Naruto took a quick look around. It was a small village with very few, wooden, buildings and seamed to have dank feel to it. As Naruto and Fayt walked through the village towards a set of stairs Naruto couldn't help but notice the glares and glances that they were receiving from the villagers 'Okay, guess it wasn't the mask then.' After a few more seconds of looking around at the villagers Naruto just shrugged off the glares and continued up the stairs along with Fayt. Once they reached the top of the stairs Naruto noticed a large wooden sign over to left.

Walking over to the sign Fayt looked down at it attempted to make out what it said "Here are my commandments. Fools who do not submit to them will be destroyed by my own hand. Norton's new commandments No.1 Thou shalt never break my commandments. No.2 Thou shalt bring me food and drink each month. No.3 He who discovers a mass of metal never seen before shall report it to me immediately..."

Before Fayt could get any further down the sign Naruto spoke up "What the hell?!" He then turned his attention towards Fayt "Okay, skip the crap and get to the end of it."

Fayt just nodded his head at this "Yeah, lets see. No.4... No.5... No.27 Thou shalt not breathe without my permission. No. 28 Thou shalt not send radio waves my way."

Naruto just raised an eyebrow at this point 'From the looks of things around here I doubt anyone even knows what radio waves are.'

"No.29 Thou shalt not make eye contact with me. Hmm... Well, I guess that's enough. You should be grateful I don't make more."

Fayt turned his attention back towards Naruto after he finished reading what was on the sign only to find him shaking his head "You gotta be kidding? Who does this Norton guy think he is?"

Fayt just nodded his head in agreement before he notices some of the villagers walk by casting glares and glances at them "Is it just me, or are we attracting a lot of negative attention?"

Naruto just raised an eyebrow at this "You only just noticed. They've been glaring at us ever since we left Niklas and Meena's place."

Fayt slowly nodded his head at this "But don't these glares make you fell sort of... uneasy."

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders at this with a large grin on his face "Na, kind of feels like being back home."

Fayt just raised an eyebrow at this "I take it you get this treatment a lot then."

A small sad smile appeared on Naruto's face "Yeah I guess you could put it that way." His sad smile then burst out into a large grin as he said "Oh well, doesn't really matter now, does it? Come on let's go see what Niklas and Meena are up to." With that said Naruto turned around and started walking back towards Niklas and Meena's place.

Fayt just watched Naruto's retreating form for a few seconds "What was that about?"

However Fayt was brought out of his thoughts as Naruto turned around on the spot and called out "Yo, Fayt you coming or what?"

Fayt just shook his head before running up to catch up with him "Yeah, wait up, I'm coming!"

As Naruto and Fayt walked back into the house Naruto noticed Meena sitting at the same table Niklas was at earlier, with a small box in front of her, and walked up to her "Hey Meena, what you got there?"

Meena just looked up to see Naruto smiling down at her before turning her attention back towards her box "It's my treasure box! Daddy gave it to me on my birthday."

It was at this point that Niklas entered the room "That music box was passed down through our mother's family. It is the only thing we have left from our parents. But, alas, it is broken now, and doesn't make a sound."

Fayt nodded his head at this before stepping forwards towards Meena "I see... Can I have a look?"

Meena just looked up at him before happily saying "Sure!" and handing him the music box.

As Fayt was examining the music box Naruto turned his attention towards Niklas "So that music box was your mothers? It must be very precious to you?"

Niklas just nodded his head at this "Yes, it is our most prized possession."

A small smile appeared on Naruto's face "Yeah, I know what you mean. The only thing I have to remember my parents is my father's katana. I never knew them or anything. They died when I was born, but it's still nice to have something to remember them with, you know."

Niklas nodded his head at this but before he could say anything Fayt broke himself out of his thoughts "Yeah this shouldn't be too hard. Want me to fix this for you? It'll be my way of paying you back for rescuing us."

Meena looked up at Fayt with a somewhat shocked look on her face "Really? Can you really fix it Fayt?"

Hearing this Niklas turned his full attention towards Fayt "Can you really do that? It is an expensive music box. They told us it would cost a great deal to fix it."

Fayt looked down at the music box in his hands for a moment before saying "If I can get my hands on the right parts, yes, and I think I know where to get them. It's a little ways away but I'll go get them later."

Niklas just shook his head at this "But, we cannot ask you to do something like that for us!"

Fayt looked over towards Niklas "You saved our lives. It's the least I can do to repay you!"

Turning his head towards the ground Niklas started saying "Still..." before Naruto placed his hand on Niklas' shoulder and smiled down at him "How about this, we go get the parts and you have dinner waiting for us when we get back."

Fayt just shook his head at this before saying "And I'm sure that Meena wants it fixed, right?"

Niklas looked up between Naruto and Fayt "Thank you... good sirs."

Fayt placed the music box back on the table before turning his attention back towards Niklas "In return, do you think we could get our swords back? We won't be able to go through the forest without them."

Niklas looks down at the ground for a second before looking back up at Naruto and Fayt "You swear you are not with Norton and his gang?"

Fayt just nodded his head at this "That we're not."

Naruto then added in "And from after reading this Norton guys 'commandments' I can honestly say that we're never going to be. What... you don't believe us?"

Niklas just shook his head at this "No, I trust you."

Fayt nodded his head at this "Thanks."

Niklas cast a weary glance at Naruto and Fayt before saying "But be wary. If you are not one of Norton's gang, you will be in even more danger outside the village."

Fayt just gave Niklas a quick nod "I know... we'll be fine."

Naruto then leaned his arm on Fayt's shoulder and gave a Niklas a foxy grin "Yeah, with me around what could go wrong." Fayt just rolled his eyes at this while Meena giggled at him.

A few minutes latter Naruto walked out of the house, strapping his sheathed katana to his back again, with Fayt close behind, broadsword in hand. Naruto looked over his shoulder at Fayt "You know, you should really consider getting a sheath for that. It'd beat lugging it around by hand."

Fayt just nodded his head at this "Yeah, no kidding." As they walked through the village heading towards the entrance Fayt looked over at Naruto "I don't think they trust us to much, they're still casting us those weird looks."

Naruto just shook his head at this "Can't say I really blame them. After reading those 'commandments' from that Norton guy I can only guess what he's been doing to them. It's no wonder that they're so distrusting of strangers into their village. Plus I doubt that the fact we're now carrying weapons is helping at all."

Fayt nodded his head at this "I guess that makes sense." The two of them then continued walking out of the village before heading off in the direction of Fayt's escape pod.

It was about an hour later when Naruto and Fayt arrived at the site that Fayt's pod was left at. The journey through the forest had been a lot quieter then it had been the previous day, with only the occasional Young Slime appearing out of the bush, which was easily taken care of by the two swordsmen. Once they made it to the pods location however they found it in shambles, pieces of it lying all over the area, while other parts were simply missing. Seeing this Fayt's eyes widened before he walked up to it "What...?" He then knelt down by the destroyed pod to examine the remains of it "What happened? The pod's parts and equipment have been stripped."

Naruto walked over to Fayt with a raised eyebrow "The parts have been stripped? How is that even possible? I mean from the look of the people back at the village they wouldn't have a clue how to operate this stuff. Hell I don't even understand how this stuff is supposed to work."

Fayt just nodded his head at this "Yeah, it would have made more sense if they had just smashed it up."

Naruto just folded his arms over his chest and closed his eyes for a second lost in thought before opening them again "What about this Norton guy? Remember his 'commandments', I think it was the third one. Something about reporting back to him if a large amount of unknown metal is found."

Fayt brought his hand up to his chin for a second before looking over at Naruto "I suppose it is possible. Right now it's the only thing that really makes sense." Fayt then stood back up and looked out over the forest back in the direction of the village "Well there's no use wasting any more time here. We better get back to the village." Naruto just nodded his head at this before the two of them headed back towards the village.

The journey back to the village had been just as uneventful as it had been to reach what remained of Fayt's pod. Once they made it back to the house Naruto and Fayt walked inside only to be met with the sight of Meena running up to them "Naruto!! Fayt!!"

Naruto just waved and flashed her his foxy grin "Hey there, Meena!"

Fayt on the other hand bent down to meet Meena "Hello there!"

It was at this point that Niklas walked up to the both of them "What a relief, you are well! Norton's gang was lurking around the forest in the direction you left in. We were worried."

Naruto nodded his head before looking towards Niklas "Ney Niklas... I've been wondering, about Norton and his gang, who are they anyway?"

Niklas looked up at Naruto before turning to Fayt to see that he also seamed to be curious about it "I do not know everything myself. He... Norton appeared suddenly in our village about half a year past. He ordered the village to supply him with food. Of course, we refused at first. The village needs its supplies to survive the harsh winter. Norton was in fact ordering the village to die... But when people refused him, he called upon this mysterious light, and those it touched disappeared, one after the other! Carl, Sirin, Kurt... All gone. And our farther, who resisted until the very end. Of course we told our lord, but he said the idea of people disappearing into thin air was nonsense, and didn't want to here about it. Now some of the villagers have even joined Norton's gang!"

Fayt looked down slightly at this "A mysterious light, that makes people disappear...?" He then looked back up at Niklas "Niklas... When you first met us, you asked us about our clothes and ears, right?"

Niklas looked over at Fayt "Ah, yes... Norton wore cloths made out of a strange material that was neither linen nor cotton, just like the clothes you wear. And his ears were shaped like yours... That is why I did not trust you at first. I apologize."

Naruto just smiled down at him and waved his had passively "Ah, no worries." He then crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes 'A mysterious light. Could it be some sort of Raiton Jutsu? Does that mean that this Norton guy is a nukenin? That would explain the light, clothes and ears. But what about the pod, I doubt that a nukenin would know about how it worked.'

Naruto was then brought out of his thoughts, as was Fayt, when Niklas spoke up "Is... something the matter?"

Fayt just shook his head "It's nothing, I was just thinking..." He trailed of as he seamed to be lost in thought again.

While Fayt was lost in thought Naruto was also thinking to himself 'I think it's about time that I meat this Norton guy. He may be dangerous, but hey, it is my mission after all.' A small smirk appeared on his face at this point until he was brought out of his thoughts by Fate.

Fayt looked back up from the ground and turned his attention towards Meena "I'm really sorry, but it's going to take me a little more time to fix your music box. Can you wait just a little longer?"

Meena just nodded her head at this "Okay!"

Niklas turned his attention towards Fayt "That thing Norton's gang carried off... did it belong to you?"

Fayt just shook his head at this "No... I thought it might be, but it wasn't. Don't worry. I'll fix your music box!"

There was a short pause before Meena turned towards Niklas "Niklas, I'm hungry! Let's eat."

As they heard a loud rumbling sound Fayt, Niklas and Meena turned towards Naruto to see he had a sheepish look on his face "What? She mentioned food... I'm hungry, okay?!"

Meena just giggled at this before Niklas turned around and started walking away "Ah yes... Very well, let us eat." With that said Meena ran after Niklas with Naruto and Fayt following close behind them.

The next morning Naruto and Fayt walked out of their room to find Meena standing in front of two empty beds, hers and Niklas', just staring at them. Seeing this Naruto spoke up "Morning Meena. So where's Niklas?"

Meena just shook her head "I don't know."

Fayt spoke up at this point "Has he gone out somewhere?"

Meena shook her head again "When I woke up, he was already gone. I hope he hasn't disappeared, too... Just like Mama and Papa."

Seeing tears welling up in her eyes Naruto walked over to her before kneeling down to her level and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder "Hey, don't think like that. I'm sure he's okay." It was this point that Meena broke down into tears and hugged Naruto burying her head into Naruto's chest. After a few minutes she pulled back slightly and Naruto spoke up again "Hey, come on now. We'll go out and find him for you, wont we Fayt."

Fayt just nodded his head at this "Yeah, leave it to us. We'll find him for you."

Meena just sniffed and nodded her head "Okay!"

Once that was said Naruto and Fayt walked out of the house and into the village street. Naruto then turned his attention towards Fayt "I guess we should ask around, see if anyone's seen Niklas anywhere." Fayt just nodded at this before the two of them started asking around the village. However every time they approached someone they would simply glare at them before walking away.

After a while Fayt let out an annoyed sigh "This is getting ridiculous. How are we supposed to find Niklas if no one will even acknowledge us?"

Naruto just nodded at this "Yeah, no kidding. This is turning out to be just a little bit too much like home." Fayt just gave him a confused glance at hearing this causing Naruto to let out a nervous laugh "Uh, don't worry about it. It's nothing." Naruto then noticed a villager standing around by the entrance to the village, face away from them. Seeing this Naruto walked up to him, with Fayt close by, before he called out "Hey pall, you haven't by chance seen Niklas around here?"

The villager just let out a "huh" before turning around. Upon noticing Naruto and Fayt his eyes narrowed "Oh, it's you, seems Niklas left the village early this morning. What's going on?"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly hearing this "What?! Oh boy." He muttered the last part under his breath before turning his attention back towards the villager "Where did Niklas go?"

The villager just blinked a few times at this "I-I don't know where. All I know is he ran off with a wild look on his face."

Naruto just lowered his head and closed his eyes while crossing his arms over his chest, seemingly lost in thought. It was at this point that Fayt turned his attention towards Naruto "You don't think that he would...?" He trailed off towards the end.

Naruto just opened his eyes and lifted his head back up "I've got a bad feeling about this." He then turned his head towards Fayt "I think it's time that we meet with this Norton guy."

Fayt just nodded his head at this while the villager's eyes widened "By the gods! What are you saying?!" Not paying attention to what was just said Naruto and Fayt just shared a quick nod before running out of the village.

After a few minutes Naruto and Fayt came to a fork in the path that led them at a large open area. Looking around Naruto noticed what looked like some destroyed stone walls "Are these the ruins of some sort of castle or church or something?"

Fayt just shrugged his shoulders at this "No clue. Come on we have to find Niklas." With that said Fayt started walking off.

Naruto just nodded his head "Right!" While walking to catch up with Fayt he caught something out of the corner of his eyes 'Why would there be a large two painted on the side of the wall? And it looks like it was recently done. What the hell is up with that?'

After a while of walking through the ruins the two swordsmen came across a large creature that resembled a reddish mushroom with thick arms that reached the ground that looked about 4 foot tall, a Shrieker. Around the Shrieker were another three that looked like smaller versions of it, Young Shriekers. Seeing this Naruto raised an eyebrow at them "Okkaaay, killer mutant mushrooms. That's a new one."

Fayt just gave him a strange look at hearing this "Riiiight." It was at this point that the three Young Shriekers saw them and charged straight towards them. Seeing this Fayt charged towards them with his sword held to the side in both hands. A white light slowly engulfed the sword as he continued to charge. Once the Young Shriekers were close enough to him they jumped into the air, only to meet Fayt's blade. Fayt cut through the one on his right with a horizontal slash of his glowing sword giving out a cry of "Blade...!" He then continued his slash through the one on his left "Of...!" Finally he brought his sword above his head before delivering a vertical slash through the last one "Fury!"

The three decapitated Young Shriekers then fell lifelessly to the ground right before Naruto dashed past Fayt, with his katana unsheathed, as the Shrieker headed towards them. Naruto held his katana out to his left side in both hand before he let go of it with his left hand and delivered a quick, powerful slash to the Shieker. After he passed the Shrieker he skidded to a halt, in a crouch, before he re-sheathed his katana. As soon as he sheathed his katana the top half of the Shrieker slid off the rest of it before it flopped to the ground dead. Naruto looked back over his shoulder at Fayt before giving him a thumbs up with a small smirk on his face "Well that was easy."

Fayt just nodded his head "Yeah" before turning his head in the direction of the path "Come on, we need to find Niklas before anything happens."

Naruto just nodded his head at this "Right." He then turns around and was about to follow Fayt, who had just started to continuing walking down the path, when something caught his eye. Turning his head in the direction he sees another number painted on the side of a wall, only this time it was a five instead of a two. 'Huh, another painted number. I don't get it, what is it supposed to mean?'

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when Fayt stopped in his tracks and turned back to face Naruto before calling out "Hey Naruto. Come on, hurry up. We gotta get going."

Naruto just nodded his head before flashing a large grin "Yeah, sorry. I'm coming. Hey wait up." Naruto called as he ran after Fayt, who had already continued down the path.

After a while the two reached a large building that resembled a small castle of some sort. Seeing this Fayt walked up to the door of the building and attempted to open it before looking down at the lock. Noticing the problem Fayt turned back towards Naruto "The keyhole has been destroyed. There's no way we'll be able to open it."

Naruto just crossed his arms over his chest with his hand on his chin "Hmm, maybe there's a way to get in around the back." Nodding his head at this Fayt and Naruto started to walk around the side of the building. After a few seconds Naruto called out "Here's a thought." Hearing this Fayt turned his attention towards Naruto "These ruins are made out of stone, right?"

Fayt just nodded his head "Yeeeaahh."

Naruto continued to walk as he looked up at the sky for a second "Then how come the buildings back at the village are made out of wood?"

Fayt just rolled his eyes at this. After a few second they were brought out of their thoughts when they heard a voice call out "Who are you, kids? Whatdya want? This here's Lord Norton's turf, so beat it, or else!"

Naruto looked over in the direction of the voice and saw three figures that looked like they were from the village. They were dressed in the same earthy brown and green coloured clothes as the villagers, as well as the long ears and dark brown hair. However they each had a large dagger in hand. Seeing this Naruto raised an eyebrow at them 'Great, just what we need. A bunch of Norton's underlings.' Naruto let out a sigh before he said "Look we don't have time to mess around. We just want to know if you've seen a little kid around here."

The middle one of the group of three underlings just had a smirk on his face hearing this "A little kid?" Naruto just gave a single nod before the 'underling' continued "Oh, you mean Niklas. Yeah, he came 'round here, blabberin' 'bout getting somethin' back, and wantin' to see Lord Norton."

This time Fayt was the one to speak up "Then what did he do?"

The underlings smirk just seamed to widen at this point "Being the kind-hearted fellas we are, we gave the stupid kid what he wanted. I bet Lord Norton's reeducatin' the undisciplined lil' brat right now."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at this point before he growled out "Bastards!"

The underling just let out a dark chuckle before continuing "It's the kid's own fault. Nothing good can come from messin' with Lord Norton. Don't worry, he'll learn it's better to join us then fight us! It's a shame the apple don't fall far from the tree. Idiocy must run in the family."

Hearing this Fayt took a few, quick, steps towards them "You rotten little...!"

However he was cut off and took a step back as they pointed their daggers towards him and Naruto before the main 'underling' spoke again "Who there, didn't I just say ya can't pass through here? Wanna see that brat, you got to beat us, first!"

Naruto just narrowed his eyes at this "You bastards actually think you can beat us. I'll give you two choices. Ether move aside and get out of our way, or we'll knock you out of our way. Now what's it gonna be?"

The main 'underling' just raised his eyebrow at this before letting out a dark chuckle "Looks like we got another couple of village idiots in need of some education!"

Naruto just let out a sigh at this "Guess it's the hard way then." With that said he charged towards the 'underling' on the right. Once he got in close enough the 'underling' brought his dagger down in an attempt to slash Naruto, however Naruto ducked under it and followed up by spinning on the heal of his foot before slamming his right elbow into the 'underling's' gut. The force of the blow caused the 'underling' to lurch his face forwards before Naruto brought his fist up, slamming the back of his right fist into his face. Naruto then jumped up onto his back and used him as a springboard to flip over another of the 'underlings' that was charging towards him. Still in midair Naruto spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of the 'underling's' head. The force from the impact caused him to fly into the first underling, sending them both crashing into the side of the stone wall, before they both slid to the ground, unconscious.

Naruto landed back on the ground in a crouch "Hardly seamed worth it." He then stood back up and watched as the last 'underling', the one who had been doing all the talking, charged at Fayt with his dagger held out. Once he reached Fayt he attempted to slash out at him, however Fayt brought his broadsword up and knocked the dagger out of his hand before lifting his sword above his head. Fayt then turned his sword slightly before hitting the 'underling' over the head with the flat side of his sword, effectively knocking him into the world of the unconscious. After this Fayt walked back over as Naruto called out "Well... That was certainly anticlimactic."

Fayt just nodded his head before turning towards the back entrance of the building "So Niklas is somewhere in here. We better hurry up and find him." Naruto just nodded his head before Fayt pulled open the door and walked inside.

Naruto was about to follow Fayt inside when he noticed a large six painted on the wall next to the door. Seeing this his right eyebrow started twitching 'Okay, what the fuck is up with all these numbers painted all over the place.' Naruto just let out a sigh before shaking his head "Oh well, it doesn't really matter. Right now the only thing that matters is finding Niklas." With that said Naruto followed Fayt into the building. After walking down a light of stairs and through a long hallway Naruto caught up with Fayt and found himself in a large square room.

Walking up to Fayt Naruto looked around the room; it appeared to have a rather dank and gloomy feel to it. Naruto and Fayt continued to walk through the room towards the door on the other side while Naruto said out loud to himself "Wow, it's a lot bigger in her then it looks from the outside."

Once they reached the door Naruto pushed it open before his eyes widened and he pushed Fayt to the side, earning him a startled 'hey'. Naruto then ducked and rolled to the side just in time to avoiding the swing of a sword, which managed to cut a few stray strands of hair before it embedded itself in the wall. Naruto finished his roll in a crouch on the floor before jumping into the air and unsheathing his katana before clutching the handle in both hands above his head, preparing for an over head slash. Naruto brought his sword down in an attempted to slash through his attacker when a rounded shield was brought up and blocked his attack. At this point Naruto managed to finally get a look at his attacker. In front of him was an adult sized skeleton with a shield in his left hand and a broadsword in its right hand. The 'Skeleton Warrior' also had metal shoulder pads and brown leather boots on. At the sight of this Naruto's eyes widened "What the... Oh shit!" he started before the Skeleton Warrior brought it's sword down to slash at Naruto. Seeing this Naruto took his left hand off his katana before pulling out a kunai to black the sword slash.

As the kunai met the strike of the sword Naruto's arm started shaking from the force of the strike 'Damn it! It caught me off guard, this thing's stronger then I thought.' With only his right hand gripping his katana the Skeleton Warrior was easily able to push it back with its shield before smashing Naruto in the face with it, causing him to crash into the ground next to Fayt. Once Naruto landed on the ground he dropped his kunai and rubbed his cheek "Ow! Damn it, that hurt."

At this point Fayt pulled himself to his feet and turned his attention towards Naruto "Hey, are you okay."

Naruto just continued to rub his cheek while pulling himself to his feet "Yeah." He then sent a glare at the Skeleton Warrior before continuing "But how the hell does a pile of bones hit that hard? It doesn't even have any muscle!" A small smirk then appeared on Naruto's face as he held his katana out in front of him with both hands around its hilt. He then turned his attention towards Fayt before simply saying "Tag Team?"

Fayt turned his attention towards Naruto as a small smile tugged at the side of his mouth before he nodded his head and turned his attention back towards the Skeleton Warrior while holding his broadsword out to the right. The blade of Fayt's sword started to glow white again before he charged at the Skeleton Warrior. As Fayt continued to charge at the Skeleton Warrior Naruto started to channel his chakra into the blade. The blue sapphire at the base of the blade started to glow a ghostly blue as it focused the chakra into the diamond tip of the blade causing the diamond to give of a bright blue glow. A small smirk appeared on Naruto's face at this 'It's no Totsuka, but in this state it can near enough cut through anything.'

As Naruto pumped chakra into his blade he watched as Fayt continued his charge towards the Skeleton Warrior. Once he was close enough Fayt brought his glowing sword down in a vertical slash with a cry of "Blade...!" However the Skeleton Warrior brought his shield up and blocked the attack. Seeing this Fayt grit his teeth together before twisting his sword around and bringing it back up in an upwards vertical slash to knock its shield and arm up out of the way "Of...!" Finally he brought his sword back up and thrust the blade forwards. The white light being emitted from the blade shot of the blade, extending its range "Fury!" The beam of white light cut into the Skeleton Warrior's left arm, just below the shoulder, effectively separating its arm, and shield, from its body.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he watched this take place 'Not bad.' He then noticed that the Skeleton Warrior didn't even seam effected by the loss of its arm and brought its sword up to strike Fayt, who didn't have enough time to block from his last attack. Seeing this Naruto took off towards the Skeleton Warrior at full speed with his katana in hand, glowing a ghostly blue.

As the Skeleton Warrior brought down its sword a glowing blue streak blocked it, before cutting right through the blade. Naruto then spun around on his heal with his katana outstretched before finishing up by slicing through the Skeleton Warrior from its right thigh up to its right shoulder, shattering all the bones along the way. Completing his strike Naruto cancelled the flow of chakra into his katana and re-sheathed right before the Skeleton Warrior broke apart and collapsed to the ground in a heap of bones "Huh, that wasn't so tough!"

Fayt just shook his head at this before he turned around and continued walking down the hallway "Come on." Naruto just let out a sigh at this before following after him. After a few seconds the two came across a large locked door. Fayt walked up to it and attempted to open it, with little success "It's no use. We won't be able to brake through it."

With that said Fayt turned around and started to walk down a hallway leading in the other direction while Naruto just looked up at the door before looking down at his hand 'I could brake it down with my Rasengan. The only problem is that it would alert whoever's around here to our presence, not to mention I don't want to reveal any of my techniques to Fayt just yet.' With that thought in mind Naruto turned around and walked over towards Fayt, who had just walked into another room.

Once Naruto entered the room he let out a low whistle "Wow, talk about high-tech." The room looked like the walls had been replaced with a large amount of computers and other devices that Naruto didn't recognise 'Okay, if this is the doing of this Norton guy then I think we can roll out the idea of him being a nukenin, but then just who is this guy?' Noticing Fayt sitting in front of one of the computer screens Naruto walked up to him before asking "What's up?"

Fayt continued to stare at the screen before letting out a frustrated sigh "There's a three digit code required. The only problem is if I enter an incorrect code three times an alarm will go off, and no doubt alert that Norton guy."

Naruto closed his eyes at hearing this and brought his right hand up to his chin before saying to himself "A three digit code huh?" After a few seconds Naruto's eyes shot open before he turned his attention back towards Fayt "Try two, five, six."

Hearing this Fayt turned his head towards Naruto with a confused look on his face "What makes you think that will work?"

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest while saying "When we were walking through the ruins I noticed the numbers two, five and six painted on random walls. I doubt that Norton would be dumb enough to paint the code on a wall, but who knows. It's worth a try, right?"

Fayt just shrugged at this "I guess it's worth a try. I mean I don't have any better ideas." He then turned around to face the screen again and typed in the code. After a few seconds he let out a small chuckle "That did it, the codes accepted."

Naruto's right eyebrow started twitching slightly at this 'You gotta be kidding.' It was at this point Naruto heard a faint clicking sound 'Huh?' and turned his attention towards Fayt "Hey Fayt, did you hear anything just now?"

Raising his right eyebrow Fayt turned to face Naruto "Like what?"

Shrugging his shoulder Naruto said "I'm not sure exactly. It sounded like a lock opening or something."

Fayt seamed to think this over for a second before he stood up from the computer screen and looked back up at Naruto "Come on."

Naruto just seamed to blink a few times at this before saying "Huh? Where are we going now?"

Fayt started walking back over to the entrance of the room while saying "If what you heard was in fact a lock opening, then there's only been one closed lock I've seen down here."

Naruto raised an eyebrow before his eyes widened for a second "Riigghhtt, that locked door." After coming to that realisation Naruto walked out of the door after Fayt "Well let's get going." After a short walk Naruto and Fayt made it back to the previously locked door. Once they found themselves there Naruto placed his and on the door before easily pushing it open "And we couldn't open this thing."

Fayt just rolled his eyes at this before walking through the door "Come on. Niklas is in here somewhere."

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head "Yeah, yeah. I know." Once Naruto and Fayt entered the room they found themselves in what looked like some sort of dungeon. Looking around the area Naruto just said to himself "Who uses dungeons anymore?" After scanning the area again Naruto noticed movement on the floor in one of the cells across the other side of the room. Narrowing his eyes he managed to identify the figure "Niklas!"

Hearing this Fayt looked up into the same direction Naruto was facing in. Taking Notice of Niklas both Naruto and Fayt ran up to the metal bars of the cell door before Fayt slammed his hands on the bars of the locked door "Niklas! You okay!?"

Niklas slowly lifted up his head up off the ground to look at Naruto and Fayt before saying in a strained voice "Fayt, Naruto... why are you here?"

Fayt just shook his head at this "That's what we want to ask you! You should never have run off like that!"

Niklas just said in a still strained voice "The music box parts... I wanted to get them back. I... I could not ask you to do this for us."

Naruto narrowed his eyes hearing this "Idiot, it's not worth dying over. What about Meena? How do you think she would feel if you didn't come back?"

During Naruto's little speech Niklas' eyes seamed to dull over slightly before his head drooped back down to the floor "It is dangerous here! You... must leave, quickly! He'll... get you."

Seeing Niklas slump to the ground Fayt started to shake the bars slightly "Niklas? Hang in there, Niklas!"

Niklas just weakly mumbled out "Must leave..."

Naruto looked down at Niklas with slightly widened eyes "This is bad..." He then looked down at the lock of the door 'Think, think.' Naruto lifted his hand up slightly and looked down at it 'I could blast the door open with the Rasengan. But then again the shock wave could do more damage then good and I have no clue as to what condition Niklas is in.'

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Niklas mumble out "Meena..."

Hearing this Naruto just shook his head 'What am I thinking; we have to get him out of here now!'

Naruto looked down at his hand and started to gather chakra into hand before he heard Fayt yell out "Hold on, Niklas, I'll get you out!"

Naruto looked over at Fayt and saw him messing around with a small round red and blue devise "Uh, what are you doing?"

Without looking away from what he was doing Fayt answered "I'm going to short out the battery in my communicator. The overload should cause a small explosion big enough to blow the lock open."

Naruto just raised an eyebrow at this "Uh, are sure about this?"

Before anything else could be said however Fayt placed his communicator down by the cell door and pulled Naruto around the corner while saying "To late to do anything about it now." After a minute or two the communicator blew up and Naruto and Fayt emerged from the corner and pushed open the cell door.

Naruto walked over to Niklas and checked him over "He doesn't seem too badly hurt."

Fayt just nodded his head "Well that's a relief." He then bent down and was about to pick him up when he heard Niklas speak up.

"#'&#... '&#'... &#."

Naruto just blinked a few times before looking up at Fayt "Did you get any of that?"

"...''#'&#."

Naruto let out an annoyed sigh "Okay, what the hell's going on? I can't understand a word he's saying."

Fayt turned his attention towards Naruto and shrugged his shoulders before his eyes widened slightly "Oh right. My translator was built into that communicator."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this "Communicator!? If that's the case then how come I can still under you?"

Fayt just shrugged his shoulders "Guess we just happen to speak the same language."

Naruto let out a small chuckle "Well that's convenient."

Fayt looked over at Naruto "I'd say it's more luck then anything." He then stood up off the ground still holding Niklas "Come on, let's go." Naruto just nodded his head before getting off the ground himself.

Naruto and Fayt were just about to leave the cell when they suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice yell out "FREEZE!!" It was at this point that they heard a gun shot before a glowing green projectile flew past the cell door and hit the back wall. Seeing this Fayt turned around and placed Niklas back on the ground against the wall before both he and Naruto walked back out of the cell. Turning to the source of the voice they saw a tall pail blond haired man wearing a black body suite that seamed to be made out of some sort of flexible armoured material. Over the body suite he had a large black overcoat that seamed to be made out of the same material as the body suite. His eyes seamed to be a tanned colour, similar to his skin, but they seamed void of a pupil or iris. What caught Naruto's attention though was the large gun like weapon in his right hand that he had pointed at them. Seeing this Naruto's eyes narrowed as he reached up for the handle of his katana. Before he could unsheathe his katana however the blond haired man in front of them fired off three more shots, blowing up a few crates in the back of the room before saying "No funny moves if you wanna stay alive. Play nice and I'll let you live a little longer."

Fayt cast a quick look at the destroyed crates before looking directly at the blond haired man in front of them "That was a phase gun. So you must be Norton."

Striking a dramatic pose the blond called out "Yeah, that's me. I am Norton the Great! Ah, it so nice to here genuine Terran being spoken, eh? Seems like ages."

Fayt just narrowed his eyes at this "Why are you here? You're not from this planet, are you?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this before Norton spoke up "I'm from Rezerb, boy. We're not part of the Federation."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly hearing this before narrowing his eyes 'Planet, Rezerb... Federation? Just what the hell is going on around here?'

Fayt seemed to think this over for a few seconds before saying "Rezerb... I've heard of that world. Right, that planet filled with joy-seekers that keep rejecting Federation membership. So what are you doing here? This is an underdeveloped planet, you know!"

Norton just seamed to shrug his shoulders "Not much to tell... I... was involved in this er... unfortunate accident. Guess it was a bit much even for Rezerb. So I was sentenced to spend the rest of my days in exile on a deserted planet. But... The escort ship they were transporting me on had engine trouble and ended up crash landing here. Can ya believe it? All I had to do was mess with their engine codes. Those stupid pilots ended up frying their engines! Ohhh, man! All I was trying to do was create a distraction so I could make my escape. But... we ended up crashing, and this planet's become my prison." Norton finished with a slight chuckle.

Naruto just blinked a few times before looking at Norton and then at Fayt "Wait so your saying that you two are from different planets." Fayt turned his attention towards Naruto before he continued "Man, I really didn't see that one coming."

Fayt just gave him a look that clearly said 'I'll tell you later' before sending a glare at Norton "And the others, Norton!"

Norton just let out a long "Huhhh?" before firing another shot off "That's 'Lord Norton' to you!"

Naruto just scoffed at this before mumbling to himself "Yeah like that's gonna happen."

Fayt just kept his glare on Norton "There must've been others. What happened to the other people on the escort ship?"

A large smirk appeared on Norton's face "Oh, those guys? They're dead, the poor fools. They were trying to send out a distress signal and a bolt of lightning smote'em where they stood. Bam! Heh heh. That crash part was unfortunate. But no use crying over spilt milk... I've been devoting myself to making this planet my kingdom. Ya get my drift?"

Fayt grit his teeth together before growling out "So that's why you've been raiding the village!?"

Norton let out a sinister chuckle "Yeah, something like that. You're a smart kid. That's why I was raiding the village, and that's why you gotta die. Sorry! You'll be happy to know I'm gonna make the most of those parts I stripped from your escape pod."

Naruto let out a low growl at this. His eyes bled from their usual sky blue to a blood red with slitted pupils while his whisker marks thickened. The sinister red chakra of the Kyuubi started to swirl around him as he growled out "You bastard!"

Fayt, ignoring Naruto, continued to glare at Norton while clenching his fist. A glowing disk of energy, covered in seals, appeared in front of his forehead before he also growled out "It's guys like you..."

Norton just stared at the two with something akin to shocked confusion "Huh? What the!?"

All three had their attention averted from each other when they heard another voice call out "Ah, there you are." Naruto and Fayt turned their attention towards the source of the voice. Naruto's features returned to normal and the Kyuubi's chakra died back down while the disk above Fayt's head disappeared. A tall blond man stepped forwards from the direction the voice had come from. He stood at about six foot two and had brown eyes. He wore black boots, covered mostly by a pair of black pants and a brown leather belt. He had a zipped up black sleeveless vest with a high collar, hiding a tattoo on his neck. He also wore black fingerless gloves with metal plates placed over the knuckles. The right glove ran halfway up his forearm while the left ran up to just below his shoulder. The blond haired man looked out over at Fayt and Naruto before saying "I thought I lost you when your distress signal went out. Might never have found you if it weren't for those explosions."

Norton just sent a glare at the newly arrived blond in front of them "What do you want? You're not one of them Federation guys, are ya?"

The newly arrived blond haired man just let out a small laugh at this "Who me? A Federation soldier? Ha, yeah, that's a good one!"

Norton seamed to raise an eyebrow at this "Well then, who are ya?"

The blond haired man just pointed his thumb towards his chest "Cliff Fittir, a Klausian and member of Quark."

Hearing this Norton just stammered out "A K-Klausian!?"

Cliff just shook his head at this "Sorry, no time to explain. I'm kinda in a hurry. Just lemme have Fayt, that Earthling boy over there, and..." He then looked over from Fayt to Naruto "Let's see, blond spiky hair, check. Sky blue eyes, whisker like marks on each cheek. Naruto Uzumaki I take it?"

Naruto just blinked a few times in confusion "Uh... yeah... that's me."

Cliff just crossed his arms over his chest and nodded his head "Well that makes my job easier. But I didn't expect to find you to together." He then turned his attention back towards Norton "As I was saying. Just lemme have Fayt and Naruto, here, and I'll be on my way. I don't plan on butting into whatever you got going on over here."

Fayt turned his attention towards Cliff before saying "How do you know our names!?"

Cliff just shook his head at this "Let's not sweat the details. Suffice it to say, you're my men."

Naruto just continued to blink at this 'Okay, just what the hell is going on around here?'

At this point Norton called out while pointing his gun at Cliff "Hold it right there, or I'll blast ya!!"

Cliff looked over at Norton passively "Huh? You talking to me?"

Norton narrowed his eyes at Cliff "You think ya can fool me? There's no way a Klausian would come here! You're probably some sorta spy. It's so obvious! Har har har!"

Cliff just shook his head before shrugging "Look, since I'm such a nice guy, I'm gonna fill you in on a little secret. That gun you have there has no effect on us Klausians. You didn't know that?"

Norton seamed taken back by this "Shut yer pie hole!" At this point he started firing off shots at Cliff.

Cliff managed to evade the shots as he charged at Norton before stopping right in front of him with his fist just an inch below his jaw. Cliff then glared up at Norton before saying "All right. I'm done lecturing, time to teach you a lesson!"

Cliff pulled his fist back preparing to launch a punch at Norton's face however right before the blow connected Norton jumped back a few feet evading the blow "Ya think ya can beat me!" he then lifted his gun up towards Cliff and started firing off shots at him. Seeing this Cliff crouched down before rolling to the side as the shots connected with the ground behind him. Norton let out an annoyed growl before turning to Naruto and Fayt "Let's see how well you two fair."

Norton fired off another three shots at them. Seeing this Naruto's eyes widened slightly "Oh shit." He shoved Fayt out of the way of the incoming projectiles before quickly unsheathing his katana and slicing through the projectiles, one by one. Naruto then brought his katana up into a ready stance before a small smirk appeared on his face and he said tauntingly "Try harder."

Norton just sneered at Naruto "Think you're pretty hot stuff don't ya." He then started firing off multiple rapid shots at Naruto. Naruto continued to jump left and right evading each shot while slicing through a projectile every now and again. He then jumped into the air to evade another flurry of gunshots. Seeing this a smirk appeared on Norton's face "Ha, dodge this!" He finished by firing another shot at the airborne Naruto. Seeing this Naruto held his katana with both hands above his head before charging it with wind element chakra. Once the blade was charged with his chakra he swung it down with a cry of "Kaze Kizu!" (Wind Gash!) With that a solidified crescent shaped blade of wind flew from the blade of the katana straight at Norton, crushing the glowing projectile in the process.

Seeing the incoming blade of wind Norton's eyes widened as he dived to the side, narrowly evading the blade of wind before it connected with the ground leaving a large gash in the floor in its wake. Before Norton could pick himself up however he saw Cliff jumping down on him with his fist pulled back and rolled back evading the blow right before Cliff's fist connected with the ground creating several cracks in it. However Cliff didn't stop there, using his momentum he spun around on his fist and launched a kick at Norton's chest forcing him crash to the floor and skid along it. After a few seconds Norton picked himself up and glared up at Cliff as he also stood back up right before Naruto landed right nest to him.

Seeing this Norton pointed his gun at them and started firing off random shots at them again. Cliff simply hit the nonstop projectiles with the metal plates on his gloves as Naruto sliced through them with his katana. It was at this point that Fayt pulled himself up off the ground and noticed Naruto and Cliff being attacked by a barrage of glowing green projectiles. Seeing this Fayt grabbed his broadsword and charged into the battle. As Fayt continued to charge into the battle he held his sword out to the side and with a cry of "Blazing Sword!" the blade of Fayt's broadsword was engulfed in orange and yellow flames.

Fayt jumped over Naruto and Cliff as they continued to deflect the incoming projectiles. Fayt held his blazing broadsword over his head as he descended upon Norton and slashed down at him with it. The slash from Fayt's sword forced Norton to stop his barrage of shots and move back to evade the strike. Norton was forced to keep moving back as Fayt continued his barrage of strikes with his flaming sword until he rolled to the side. Norton seamed confused by this until he noticed Naruto diving down on him with his sword held out ready to slice him in half. Seeing this Norton moved to the side evading the strike from Naruto before Naruto landed on the ground and spun around on his heal preparing a horizontal slash.

At the last second from this slash however Norton bent back evading the strike before jumping back away from Naruto. However what he hadn't noticed was that when Fayt had rolled out of the way he had taken up position behind him and was now charging towards him with his blazing sword. As Fayt continued to charge at Norton the flames around his sword died down and were replaced by a white glow. He then delivered a slash across Norton's back with a cry of "Blade of Furry!"

Norton let out a cry of pain at this and lurched forwards before Naruto jumped back and flipped over Cliff who was charging at Norton. Once Cliff was in range he delivered a powerful uppercut to Norton's jaw causing him to be knocked up into the sky before Cliff crossed his arms over his chest, apparently gathering energy. As Norton started falling back down to the ground Cliff uncrossed his arms and called out "Sphere of Might!" A large sphere of flames then appeared in front of Cliff around Norton. Norton's screams of pain could be heard from within the ball of fire. As the flames died down Cliff spun around and delivered a full force punch to Norton's face. Fayt winced slightly as he heard the sound of Norton's skull shattering. Norton flew back from the force of the hit and slammed into the wall in the back before sliding down to the ground lifelessly.

Cliff just walked up to Norton while saying "Well, so much for that guy. But I did try to warn him."

Naruto just stared at Cliff with slightly widened eyes before looking at the broken form of Norton 'One punch. Just one punch. He didn't even increase his basic strength by using chakra and he basically decimated that Norton guy with just one punch. Just who is this guy?'

Cliff bent down next to Norton and checked his pulse "Looks like I overdid it. Shoulda held back a little bit. This is about the only thing that still works. The rest is ruined. ...Here." He finished by throwing a small round object towards Fayt before turning towards Naruto "I've got one ready for you back on the ship."

Naruto just gave a confused "huh?" before Fayt looked down at the device in his hand "Is this... a communicator?"

Cliff just nodded his head at this "Can't live without one! I can't figure out why you wouldn't have one with you."

Fayt had a somewhat sheepish look on his face at hearing this "Ah... Umm... Thanks for getting us out of that mess. You saved our lives."

Naruto rolled his eyes hearing this while Cliff just shook his head "Whoa there. Don't go thanking me yet. Ya see, I've come to abduct you two."

It was at this point that Naruto called out "Whoa, whoa, whoa... hold up a second. Everyone remembers I'm here right?" Receiving a couple strange glances from Fayt and Cliff, Naruto continued "Okay, now would someone mind telling me just what the hell is going on around here?"

Cliff just rubbed the back of his head "Oh right, you'd be a little out of the loop here huh? Sorry about that. Just listen and you'll catch up soon enough. So basically it's just... my boss wants to meet you two. That's why I came all the way out here to find you."

Fayt looked up at Cliff hearing this "Boss... you mean Quark's boss?"

Cliff nodded his head "That's right. Our leader wants to see you. But you've sure made it a tough job. First, I went to Hyda and ran into that mess, thanks to you. Then, I get here and find you poking your nose into matters better left alone..."

Fayt shook his head at this "You make it sound like it was my fault Hyda got attacked, geze."

Cliff just seamed to look in a different direction and narrowed his eyes slightly before shrugging his shoulders and turning around "...Just kidding, don't sweat it. At any rate, I got you now. And I did rescue you, so no complaining. And besides, you wanna see your old man, don't you? He's been captured by the Vendeeni."

Fayt seamed shocked at this news "Dad? But why!?"

Shrugging his shoulders Cliff replied "Hey don't ask me. All I know is your old man was abducted from the Evacuation Facility on Hyda."

Fayt grabbed Cliff by the arms hysterically "What about my mother... and Sophia!?"

Cliff just shook his head at this before speaking up again "Well, we know your mom's safe. She should've already arrived at Remote Station #6. I don't know about the girl. I've had my hands full just trying to track your escape pod."

Fayt just turned around and drooped his head down before looking back up at Cliff "...How do you know all this? What else do you know?"

Cliff just shrugged his shoulders "Not much else... sorry. Oh yeah. I do know what your old man, Dr. Leingod, was researching."

Fayt just looked up at him and raised an eyebrow "You mean symbological genetics? My dad's an authority in that field, so it's no surprise you've heard of him."

Cliff nodded his head at this "Right, symbological genetics. And nineteen years ago... Ah, never mind. That doesn't matter right now."

It was at this point that Naruto spoke up again "Uh... I get what you want with Fayt. At least I think I do, but what exactly do you want with me anyway?"

Cliff just turned his attention towards Naruto "Well your farther was Minato Namikaze wasn't he?"

Naruto just nodded his head at this "Yeah... Wait, if you're not from this planet then how do you even know about my farther?"

Cliff was about to continue before Fayt looked up at them before saying "Wait, Minato Namikaze, as in Dr. Namikaze?"

Naruto turned his attention towards Fayt and raised an eyebrow at him "Dr. Namikaze?"

Fayt just nodded his head at this "Yeah, he used to work with my farther a long time ago. My dad said it was actually because of him that he was able to harness symbology into elemental forms. But something happened about twenty-one years ago and Dr. Namikaze just seamed to disappear. I remember asking my dad about it, but every time I brought it up he always changed the subject."

Cliff just nodded his head "Your farther was able to bring forth the theory by applying the basics from the energy developed on this planet. Chakra, I think it was called. Anyway approximately twenty-one years ago Dr. Namikaze vanished... But I'm sure you know all about that."

Naruto just nodded his head and narrowed his eyes slightly "The Kyuubi incident."

Cliff crossed his arms over his chest and nodded his head "Anyway, it's most likely these reasons our leader wants to meet you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this and tilted his head to the side "Okay, so you basically want to take me into space." Naruto seamed to think this over for a second before a large grin spread over his face "Sweet, count me in!"

Cliff just chuckled at this while Fayt turned his attention towards Naruto "But didn't you have some sort of mission to complete here?"

Naruto blinked a few times at this "Huh..? Oh right the mission. Well technically I was supposed to find out about any threats to back home. And it seams that this place seams to be a hotspot for off-worlders to arrive. So I should probably find out more about the different races out there, and the best way to do that would be to meet them face to face. So technically it does fall under the guide lines of my mission."

Fayt just let out a sigh and shook his head at this "Rationalise away."

Naruto let out a small snort before saying "Of cause. I'm not gonna miss out on this."

Cliff let out a laugh before putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder "Ya know, I like you kid." He then turned his attention towards Fayt "Now what about you? C'mon! Ya don't have any other way off this planet, do ya? Look, I'm sure things will clear up if you just come with me. Besides, you'll be able to see your old man again."

Fayt just turned away from him before saying "But according to you, my father's been captured by Vendeen. So how could I possible see him?"

Cliff just shrugged at this "Simple! Quark'll go rescue your old man, too."

Fayt looked up at Cliff with a raised eyebrow "Why would an anti-Federation group want to help my father?"

Cliff shrugged his shoulders and shook his head "Well... tell ya what, it's kinda complicated. Let's not get into that right now. So, are you coming or not?"

Fayt just cast a glance down at the ground for a second. Seeing this Naruto walked up to him and through his arm around his shoulder "Ah come on Fayt, it's not like we got anything better to do around here, right? Hahaha..." Naruto travelled off as he noticed Fayt looking at him out of the corner of his, narrowed, eyes. Naruto blinked a few times before simply saying "What?"

Fayt just shook his head slightly while letting out a sigh and shrugged his arm off while saying "Nothing." He then turned around and looked up at Cliff "Okay... I'll go with you."

Cliff just nodded his head while Naruto had a large grin in his face before a thought came to mind "Oh... hey guys, this is great and all, but shouldn't we make sure that Niklas gets back to the village safely first?"

Cliff turned his head towards the, still unconscious, form of Niklas "Sure, whatever." He then turned his attention towards Fayt "But I still think you shouldn't have gotten involved..."

With that said Naruto walked up to Niklas and picked him up before walking back over to Fayt and Cliff. The three then walked out of the dungeon and the building itself, but not before Fayt stopped to retrieve the music box parts while saying to him self "I promise. I won't let your efforts go to waste."

While Fayt was collecting the music box parts Naruto stood off to one side, still holding Niklas, watching as Cliff walked around the area setting small explosive devices. Once Cliff had set the last of them he turned his attention towards Fayt "You done? Okay, I'm gonna blow the place."

Once Naruto, Cliff and Fayt made it back outside the building Cliff place one more of the small explosive devices out and placed it in the doorway before taking out a small square device and pushing a red button on it. Several small explosions were heard coming from inside the building along with one at the entrance, causing it to collapse in on itself. With that taken care of Cliff dusted off his hands before turning towards Fayt and Naruto "There, everything's back to normal, huh?"

Fayt just turned his attention towards Cliff before saying "You're wrong, thing's aren't back to normal. Niklas and Meena's parents are gone forever."

Naruto shook his head and let out a small sigh at this "You're a real downer, ya know that. Can't you look on the bright side? Now that Norton's gone they wont have to live in constant fear of being attacked my Norton and can finally get their lives back on track."

Fayt just narrowed his eyes at him slightly "How can you just 'look on the bright side'? Because of Norton Niklas and Meena's parents, not to mention most of the village population are gone forever, so how can I look on the bright side after all of this?"

Naruto just shook his head "Because, if you only focus on the negative things that happened then whenever you think of the people you lost because of it, the people you love, all you'll remember is the pain that the incident caused. It's better to focus on the good memories you have with them rather then the darker ones."

Cliff just raised an eyebrow at this "You almost sound like you're speaking from experience."

A small sad smile graced Naruto's face at this "Huh... yeah, maybe." With that said he turned around and started heading back towards the village with Fayt and Cliff following close behind.

Once the group made it to just outside the village Cliff stopped in his tracks and turned to face Fayt and Naruto, who was still carrying an unconscious Niklas "Finish up quick and get back here. I'll be waiting for you two here."

Naruto just nodded his head while Fayt simply said "Okay."

Cliff crossed his arms over his chest and leaned up against a nearby tree "Don't keep me waiting too long."

Fayt gave a quick nod of his head "Got it."

Naruto looked over at Fayt before turning back towards Cliff "But just in case we do, it'll be Fayt's fault."

Fayt's head spun around hearing this before he shouted out "What!"

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders "What, you're the one who said you'd fix the music box."

Fayt just shook his head at this before the two of them walked back into the village. Once they did they were met by a small group of villagers along with Meena. Meena noticed their approach and looked over at their direction and noticing Niklas being carried by Naruto ran up to them yelling out "Niklas! Niklaaas!!" Once she reached them Naruto knelt down to her level while Meena started to cry slightly into her sleeve "I don't care about the music box! I just care about my brother! My brother..."

Naruto just looked up at her with a comforting smile on his face "Hey don't worry Meena, he's just resting. Niklas wouldn't leave you alone Meena, he cares to much for you to do that to you."

Meena seamed to calm down after hearing this and looked up at Naruto "Really?"

It was at this point that Fayt knelt down as well and placed a hand on her shoulder "Really!"

Once that was all said the three walked back to Niklas and Meena's house before Naruto placed Niklas down on the bed. Meena ran up to the side of the bed and sat down on the floor watching over Niklas' sleeping form. Before long Meena was also fast asleep with her head resting on Niklas' arm.

While this was going on Naruto was leaning against the wall of the room while Fayt was busy working on the music box. It was a while latter when Naruto let out a yawn right before Fayt placed the music box down and opened the lid causing the music box to start playing his melody. With that done he stood up and turned around "There."

Naruto just stretched his arms into the air while letting out another yawn "'Bout time."

Fayt just shrugged his shoulders at this "Some of the old parts had rusted over, making them harder to remove. Anyway, it's time for us to go." The two then started to walk out of the room before stopping at the doorway and turning towards Niklas and Meena one last time before Fayt simply said "Good bye." Naruto simple nodded his head in agreement. With that said the two walked back out of the house and headed to the entrance of the village.

Once Naruto and Fayt made it back out of the village Cliff walked up to them from behind the tree he had just been leaning against "You ready?"

Naruto just nodded his head with a large grin on his face wile Fayt simply nodded his head while saying "Yeah."

Cliff nodded hid own head at this "Alright. Now, you remember that cliff near your escape pod? Our way out lies beyond there. Let's go!"

Fayt simply said "Okay" while Naruto called out "Alright, let's get going!"

Fayt turned his attention towards Naruto hearing this "Someone's excited."

Rubbing the back of his head Naruto let out a nervous laugh "Well it's not like going into space is an everyday thing. Well at least to me it isn't. Now let's get going." With that said the group of three started walking through the forest towards their next destination.

It was about an hour latter that they reached a cliff near the area where Fayt's escape pod had landed. Cliff then walked up to the side of edge of the cliff before tapping the small metal wrist band on his wrist. There was a small beeping sound that came from it before Cliff spoke into it "Hey, it's me. We're at the location. Transport us up as soon as you can." There was a slight pause before Cliff spoke again ""Hmm? Oh, no problem. I got them... I said it's okay. I haven't done anything. Yeah, I know. Now hurry up and get us outta here." With that said Cliff turned around and faced Naruto and Fayt "My ship'll be here soon. Once we're ready, it's good riddance to this hunk'o rock. My ship's not so big, but it's packing a gravitic warp engine. ...It's quite the speed demon."

After Cliff was finished speaking Fayt looked up at him "Hey Cliff..."

"Yeah?"

Having Cliff's attention Fayt continued "There's something I've been meaning to ask you..."

Cliff just raised an eyebrow at this "What's that?"

Fayt narrowed his eyes slightly before saying "Why does Quark's leader want to meet with me? I'm just a college student from Earth!"

Naruto nodded his head at this "I've been wondering that myself. I mean what possible reason could your leader have for wanting to see me. From the sound of it this 'hunk'o rock' is pretty underdeveloped compared to where you come from."

Cliff scratched his chin for a second before responding "Oh... um... 'no comment?' Heh. That's... that's not doing it for you, is it?"

Naruto just shook his head at this while Fayt turned around and said "No, it's not."

Cliff scratched the back of his head at this "Let's see, well... I guess the biggest reason would be... Our leader wants to chat with the both of you."

Fayt just spun around hearing this before slicing his arm through the air "Nice try, but that's avoiding the question. Why's your leader want to meet with us?"

Cliff shrugged his shoulders before replying "Hey, how should I know? I just do what I'm told. There's probably something our leader wants to talk to you about."

Fayt just narrowed his eyes at this "And that 'something' is...?"

Naruto just shook his head at this "Hey Fayt, come on, calm down. We'll find out when we meet with Quark's leader anyway."

Fayt turned his attention towards Naruto "How can you be so calm about this?"

Shrugging his shoulders Naruto replied "Well there's not much we can really do about it right now. I mean we did already agree to this. So until we find out what this is all about, there's no point in really worrying about it, I mean there's not much point in worrying about things that you have no control over."

Once Naruto was done with this Cliff's ship appeared in front of them as it dropped down from the clouds. Seeing this Naruto stared up at the large metal ship "Okay, that's cool." Blue rings of energy then appeared around Cliff before he disappeared, being transported up to his ship and was quickly followed by Fayt. As the same energy rings appeared around Naruto a large grin appeared on his face and he shook his head while saying right before he was also transported to the ship "Hehe, what have I got myself into."

Wow, that was longer then I thought it would be. Anyway Chapter two of 'Naruto: Till the End of Time' is up and ready to go.

AN/. Okay first off I just want to thank Siegfriedzz. The whole thing about Naruto being a master of Fuuinjutsu gave me an idea to have Naruto incorporate Runeology into his jutsu so he can pull them off without the required hand seals. Also since a few of the techniques used in both Runeology and Symbology are ice type, I might have Naruto be able to use Hyoton Jutsu as well.

Secondly, as for the pairing with Naruto. My original idea also happened to be the most requested so I'll just say that the pairing will most likely be Naruto and Nel. But it's not a definite thing yet so if you don't want this pairing there's still time for you to try to change my mind.

One last thing. For everyone that has been waiting for the next chapter of 'Naruto's Going Digital' I apologise for the long wait. I know the direction I want the story to go in but I've been somewhat stuck on the next chapter, but not to worry, I finally have an idea for it so it'll be the next thing I write up and should be done soon.

Next time "Ch03 Welcome to Airyglyph" till then see ya, and don't forget to review.