Ok so i have like a million and one excuses for why this chapter is so late, some of them are legit, some not so much. Either way i doubt you want to waste time listening to them so why don't we just get right to the chapter, neh?

Also, our 15th reviewer was dreamerlisa12! so congrats! please leave me a review telling me what your request is and i'll let you know how i can work it in!

OK so the next reviewer to get a request will be reviewer 20! lets see who the lucky person will be! lol

Row after row of books greeted Sakura and Sai upon their arrival at Central's state alchemist library. While, on any other occasion, seeing so many books would have had Sakura dizzy with excitement, now she only felt a gnawing anxiousness in the pit of her stomach. Searching book after book with Sai did nothing to beat back the growing feeling of dread threatening to overwhelm her. She had been hesitant to allow Naruto to go off searching by himself, especially if he was searching the most dangerous location alone. However, she did not want Naruto to think that she didn't believe in him, because that most certainly was not the reason, and as a result had not voiced her objection; the situation could not be helped. And yet, even now as she continued to absentmindedly search books while a kage bunshin of hers eavesdropped on the employees, Naruto had at least taught her the value of a good bunshin, though she couldn't produce more than five at once, she felt her worry for Naruto rise. She couldn't exactly explain why, but she had a feeling that Naruto was in trouble, after all it wasn't that far fetched of an idea. She had no idea how right she was.

Naruto recognized the new comer almost immediately, not by name or appearance, but by the mockingly sinister sound of his voice, the same unnamed voice his clone had heard earlier. It was hard to believe that this puny kid could be emanating so much bloodlust, his appearance was just too strange to take seriously. However, Naruto knew immediately that he couldn't underestimate this "Envy" the unnerving feeling he got around him was like an intensified version of the constant bad vibes he had been receiving since arriving in Ametris. There was obviously something wrong with the country and this Envy was part of the problem, of this Naruto was sure.

"So how bout it twerp, who the hell are you? And what's your in interest in the philosophers stone?" While Naruto knew that envy had, for the most part, asked him of his purpose in searching for the stone merely to gauge a reaction from him, he couldn't help but release an amused snort after sneaking a peek at the expressions of the Colonel and the Edward boy; a reaction that was sure to confuse poor old envy. "Do you think somethings funny brat?" Envy asked, annoyed that Naruto didn't seem to be taking him seriously.

"Hmm? Oh no, nothing at all." responded Naruto lightly, "I was just thinking that if those two over there keep their mouths open any longer flies will lay eggs in there." Apparently being insulted was all it took for the two hot headed alchemists to snap back to attention as both immediately shut their mouths with an audible click.

"Oh and to answer your first question, who I am and what I do are my own business, so if you'll just cough up whatever information you have on the stone, that goes for you three too, i'll be on my way." Naruto said cheerily, though a slight edge was evident in his voice. He was digging himself into a hole, and he knew it. These people did not seem like the type who would simply agree to his requests, especially when he was so obviously trying to threaten them. In fact, from what he had seen so far, they were more likely to attack him on the spot. He was not disappointed.

"Like hell we will!" He heard the Edward kid shout.

"I was really hoping you'd say otherwise, so I'll give you another chance. What do you know about the philosopher's stone?" However, no sooner had the words left his mouth than he was already barely ducking under Envy's swift hound house kick, apparently Envy had already tired of the conversation, oh well. Dropping down he swiped his leg out, intending to take Envy's legs out from under him. However, the homunculus managed to jump above his attack and flip a few feet away.

"You're quick kid, I'll give you that. But I'm afraid you're not going to leave here alive." The way the green haired boy said that made Naruto think he actually wasn't very sorry that he was going to have to kill him.

"Hey Envy hold on a second," again the Edward boy, "don't kill him. We can just interrogate him to see what he wants with the stone."

"Sorry brat but the orders come straight from Father, anyone snooping through things that don't concern them gets the ax, you of all people should know that." Naruto noticed that at Envy's last comment a determined and angry look overtook the Colonel while the two Elrics seemed extremely guilty.

So someone they knew must've gained a little too much info and was taken care of...interesting.

"Envy," began the tallest of the two Elrics, however he was swiftly cut off by his older brother.

"Listen here you homunculus bastard! You don't have the right to decide what lives you can afford to just throw away and which ones would be in your benefit to protect! Humans are more than your playthings!" A cold and sinister sneer slowly crept its way onto Envy's face; he responded with a voice just as chilling as his features:

"We'll just see about that." Faster than anyone could see, or react, because Naruto did see, Envy pounced at Naruto; all the fury and anger he'd accumulated in all his years used to power the force of his blow. His fist connected squarely with the side of Naruto's head, lifting him off the ground and sending him reeling, right into the opposite wall, crumbling it. His thoughts were muddled, he couldn't see clearly and everything was in a sort of haze.

"...concussion...sleep..." Distantly he was aware of the fact that Edward had engaged Envy, that Al and the Colonel were bent in front of him, and that they continued to speak to him, trying to knock him out of his stupor. But he just couldn't seem to concentrate on any of it long enough to understand.

"Impossible...should have killed..." He could feel a warm liquid running down his face and pooling around him, but wasn't really sure what it could be. It was becoming harder to keep his eyes open; he was losing consciousness and the murky depths were closing in on him, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to care. It would be so easy to just give in, so much easier...drip, drip, drip. The scenery changed, and suddenly everything was clear again. He was standing in front of the Kyuubi's cage, a sign meaning he had passed out.

"Why the 4th Hokage chose you of all the weaklings in that village to seal me in, I'll never know. You would be dead right now had I not stepped in. You need it. Use my power and I promise you, you will not lose again."

"Shut up! I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now you overgrown fox!" Naruto was seething, he couldn't believe he had almost given up, almost died, almost not fulfilled his promise; the thought was infuriating.

"You think you stand a chance by yourself? He's already beaten you once, what makes you think you can win without me?"

"I can win! You don't know what I'm capable of bastard!" the kyuubi snorted in frustrated amusement at that,

"I know exactly what you're capable of boy, and I also know that you're not the only one with a secret power."

"Huh?"

"This Envy, he is not normal, not even human. An evil power lies within him, and I can sense he is not hesitant to use it, the way you are. You won't win without me." The kyuubi finished smugly, however when Naruto looked up, there was not the unsure pleading look he expected to see, the one he usually received when Naruto gave up and asked for power. Instead the kyuubi stared on into Naruto's thoughtful and determined eyes. If there was anything Naruto hated, it was someone doubting him.

"We'll just see about that," he quoted. The kyuubi growled in anger at Naruto's response. However, his growl was in vain; there was no one there to hear it. And suddenly, the pain came all at once with such a surprising clarity that he immediately missed the fog that had previously clouded his mind.

"Hey! Stay with me kid! Wake up! Can you hear me?"

"Ugh, ya stop yelling." Naruto grumbled as he once again opened his eyes to the scene in front of him.

"We thought you'd died!" he heard the tallest Elric, Al if he remembered correctly, say.

"Ya well, I think I did die for a second." He noticed the Colonel's brow furrow at that statement but he spoke as if Naruto had said nothing,

"You have a severe concussion and a massive head wound that until a minute ago was bleeding profusely. You lost a lot of blood kid. How the hell are you still alive? That blow should have left you brain dead at the very least."

"Heh, guess I'm just lucky huh?" Naruto replied sheepishly. Roy's skepticism, however, was cast aside as they heard a crash and Ed cry out in muffled pain.

"Brother!" Al screamed worriedly. Envy had managed to pin Ed to the wall and was holding him up by his neck; their scuffle's victor had been decided.

"I'm not allowed to kill you, but I doubt Father would object much to just a little bit of bodily harm, hm? They'll probably get you to the hospital before you die of blood loss anyway." Envy snickered, right before his arm transformed into the long blade he planned to plunge into Ed's shoulder.

Oh Shit, oh shit, oh shit. Ed thought as he watched Envy's arm transform. He heard Al scream and could, from the corner of his eye, see the Colonel crouched in front of the now conscious blond kid, along with Al. The latter, he could tell, was about to clap his hands in vain hopes of saving him. However, he knew whatever transmutation Al had in mind wouldn't reach him in time. Ed closed his eyes as Envy thrust out, trying with no avail to ready himself for the pain. He heard the ripping of flesh and Envy gasp, but the pain never came. What he saw in front of him was definitely something no one had expected to see. Somehow the blond kid had made it across the room in time to stop Envy's blade, with his bare hand no less.

"I thought you were dead brat," Envy growled out.

"I don't die so easily," he heard the boy reply with steadfast determination. It was then that Ed noticed the massive ball of swirling energy he was holding in his other hand. Without a moments hesitation he plunged the swirling mass right into Envy's stomach, sending him crashing through the opposite wall and out of sight.

"Are you ok?" the boy asked him.

"Forget about me, I've had worse, what about you? Are you stupid? Who freaking stops a blade with their bare hand, he practically sliced it in half!"

"Hey, if you would rather I let him kill you, then I'm sorry, if not, then shut up and stop complaining! Jeez, ungrateful brat..."

Ed huffed in annoyance, this idiot may have saved his life this time but he was bound to get them killed in the long run, still, he did save his life...

"Thank you"

"What?" the kid seemed surprised, jeez did I really come off THAT ungrateful?

"I said thank you. It may not have been the smartest way to save me, but you still saved me, so thanks," the kid smiled in a sort of sheepish way at that,

"You're welcome."

"You mind telling us your name?" Al suddenly said, Ed hadn't realized he had walked up to them, the Colonel was still observing from afar,

"Huh, oh yeah, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Naruto? Ok, I'm Alphonse Elric and that's my brother Edward, but we just go by Ed and Al."

"Ed and Al, cool. Well Ed and Al, look alive cuz that bastard is coming back, and he's madder than before," Naruto said before quickly pulling out some bandages and wrapping up his severely injured hand. Just as he was finishing, Envy appeared in the gaping hole in Roy's office wall (luckily the adjacent room was an empty conference room that was now used for storage so Envy didn't go smashing into someone else's office.)

"I don't know what the hell you did to me kid, but I got to hand it to you, that hurt like a bitch."

"Yeah, well the next one will do the trick, believe me," Ed heard Naruto reply next to him, "we have to draw the fight away from here," he continued at a lower volume as Envy struggled to fully extricate himself from the rubble, "this is going to get ugly and we can't risk destroying the whole floor and involving other people. How high up are we?"

Ed found this to be a random question, but responded nevertheless,

"Um like four or five floors I think." "Four or five, ok that's not too bad, its doable at least."

"What are you talki..."

"Just follow my lead," Naruto interjected, seeing as how Envy seemed about ready to attack once more.

"Are you finally ready for a real fight brats?" Envy asked,

"Bring it on bastard!" Naruto yelled out as he formed a single hand sign right in front of him,

Here we go, Ed thought, as he transmuted his arm into a blade and prepared to follow the lead of the morally ambiguous Naruto.

Ok this might be a little trickier to pull off than I'd originally thought, Naruto mused as he dodged yet another kick from Envy. His initial attack had gone off without a hitch. He had formed a kage bunshin right behind Envy, which in turn kicked him with all its might straight in the back sending him flying right at them. The two Elrics had worked perfectly with each other, taking their opportunity and erecting a large thick slab of wall that Envy proceeded to slam into. He wasn't given time to recover, however, as Naruto chose that moment to begin the Naruto Rendan, though with a slight change. Instead of kicking Envy straight down the way he usually did when performing the Naruto Rendan, he kicked him as hard as he could towards the windows behind the colonel's upturned desk, however, Envy managed to right himself before he could smash into the floor and managed to land, albeit unsteadily, on his feet. The Elrics engaged him the moment he landed and from there the three had taken it in turns to fight Envy at close contact while also attacking from a distance. The Elrics had caught on to his plan, or at least part of it, rather quickly, and were now trying to push him towards the windows as well. Unfortunately, Envy had also caught on to their idea and was doing everything he could to keep them from moving him. He would side step attacks instead of blocking or attempting the offensive, the way he usually would, and would reposition himself putting whoever he was fighting between himself and the windows. The Colonel, who Naruto suspected specialized only in flame attacks, a viable reason as to why he wasn't helping out, was standing off to the side making sure no one tried to come too close to his now wrecked office. Fortunately the floor seemed to be quite vacant, a coincidence or a set up, Naruto wasn't yet sure. One thing he was sure of though, if he didn't hurry there would be no way he would be able to throw Envy off a 4 story drop before 12:00-that was in 5 minutes.

"They're late," Sakura announced for no one's benefit but her own. Yamato, Sai, and herself had all arrived at the forenamed meeting spot on time, Yamato having arrived 3 minutes before Sakura and Sai, and they were all now waiting for Kakashi and Naruto.

"Its only 12:17 Sakura," Yamato replied calmly, "Kakashi-sempai said we would wait until 12:30 before jumping to conclusions. Have patience." At the mention of patience Sai snorted quite loudly, apparently he was unable to contain his amusement at the idea of Sakura exerting patience,

"What was that Sai?" Sakura asked warningly,

"Nothing, I was just entertaining the idea of you actually being patient, Ugly," Sai replied, completely non pulsed by Sakura's mutinous glare.

"Calm down you too, I'm sure they'll be here soon," Yamato stated nervously, attempting to diffuse the oncoming argument and prevent Sakura's wrath from being unleashed.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled at their new arrival, "You're late!" Kakashi proceeded to scratch the back of his head in a confused sort of way,

"Meh, Sakura, If anything you should be proud of me, I can't even remember the last time I showed up so close to the actual meeting time."

"Cheh, that's for sure," Sakura grumbled.

"Where's Naruto?" Kakashi asked, suddenly more alert and devoid of his previous airiness,

"He's not here yet," Sakura replied worriedly, like Kakashi she was no longer in a joking mood, "do you think he's in trouble?" Kakashi turned to look Sakura straight in the eye before answering, he didn't want to lie to her,

"Honestly, its possible. He was given the most dangerous location to scout out, but Naruto's strong. He'll be fine. He still has about 10 minutes left, let's just believe in him for now."

This is getting ridiculous, Al mused as he aimed another punch at Envy. He had gotten wind of Naruto's plan rather quickly, as had Ed, and had thought it to be a pretty good idea. He had assumed they would be able to throw Envy out the window pretty quickly, after all it was four, well technically three, against one. However, he hadn't banked on how much more difficult it would be to fight in such a limited space. Fighting Envy was always difficult, but in such a cramped space neither he nor Ed, nor, he suspected Naruto, could unleash their most effective attacks, something which Envy was continuously taking advantage of. He hadn't even been putting up much of a fight, simply dodging and attempting to reverse their attempts to drop him out the window. He and Ed had managed to get in a few good shots, but neither of them were as fast as Envy, which was making it even harder to gain the upper hand, something which Al could tell was infuriating Ed. However, neither of them seemed as keen to take Envy out as Naruto. The guy, who coincidentally seemed to be the only one who could match Envy's speed-yet was still having a hard time getting him in the right position, seemed to be getting frantic and desperate to finish the fight. Al distantly wondered if he was late to meet someone... The thought left him, however, after Envy counterattacked suddenly, taking Al's head off and sending it crashing in the opposite direction.

Damn! Al thought as he caught sight of Naruto. He had been in the middle of ambushing Envy from behind when his mouth dropped open and he stopped his attack midway while gaping at the now headless Al,

"What the freak! How did you...Where did your...What the hell is going on?" Naruto yelled, confused and, it seemed, slightly frightened, which was ironic because at the moment Naruto's bloodied face and blood matted, now orange looking, hair looked more frightening than Al did. However before Al could get out an explanation Envy took his opportunity and punched Naruto directly in the stomach, twisting his fist into it as he did so. Caught unawares, Naruto didn't have time to block and received the full blow, which sent him right into Ed who had been coming to their aid. The two crashed right into the wall and slid down painfully. However, before Envy could even look smugly back at him, Al had already grabbed him from behind, and slammed Envy onto the ground. He knew that being knocked into the wall wouldn't hurt Ed too badly, he would be fine, and come back with vengeance, and he was vaguely certain Naruto was just as stubborn and crazy as his brother, they would both be fine. However, he never took into consideration the idea that Naruto might be even crazier than Ed.

"That's it!" he heard Naruto scream from where he and Ed landed, "I don't know what the hell is going on here but I'm ending this right now!" Al watched as Naruto made a strange hand sign and before he knew it the entire room was filled with Narutos. In seconds the Narutos engulfed Envy, blocking him from view and muffling his screams.

"Your head," Startled, Al turned away from the sight to see Ed next to him, handing him his head, eyes glued to the scene in front of him.

"How is that possible brother?" Al asked while replacing his head and looking intently at Ed's face as he did so. Ed, took his time answering, and not once took his eyes off the crowd of Narutos struggling to contain Envy,

"Honestly Al, I have no idea. It doesn't follow any of the laws of alchemy, how can he make something without giving anything-let alone create several homunculi at once, all of whom are like clones of himself...it doesn't make any sense..." However, before the two could ponder it any further, Envy managed to free himself from the mob, destroying all of the clones in the process.

"So much for finishing.." but before Envy could even complete his retort the real Naruto released his henge (which was an upturned chair) and jumped right at Envy,

"Who said I was done?" Naruto yelled as he tackled the unsuspecting Envy right through the large glass windows and toppled off the building along with his target. Al gasped at the same moment he heard Ed scream,

"What the fuck!" next to him, "that idiot! Envy will survive that fall, he won't!"

"Come on," Al interrupted while running to the window. As the two approached the window they heard a familiar voice from below, "no way..."

"Swing faster!"

"You swing faster!"

"I am!"

"Will you both shut up and swing faster so I don't die!"

Al and Ed gaped open mouthed at what they were witnessing; what they could only assume was the real Naruto was dangling from a long string of clones leading up to one that was gripping onto a flagpole, and was swinging the makeshift "rope" for enough momentum to swing himself back into the building, and apparently yelling at them to do a better job of it.

"You're alive!" Al yelled down at them, relieved that he hadn't committed suicide in the hope of defeating Envy.

"Huh," Naruto looked up at Al's call and grinned, "of course I'm alive, did you honestly think I'd die by falling off a building, please that's so boring!"

"What the hell were you thinking you idiot!" Ed yelled down in response,

Naruto frowned but responded,

"I was thinking that fighting nicely wasn't getting us anywhere and simply tackling him out the window would be much quicker, and I was right. Now can we please continue this conversation when I'm not dangling off the side of a building?"

"oh right," Al said sheepishly, grabbing onto the clone "rope" as it swung past and steadily pulling the long string up.

"Thanks, but he's already gone" Naruto said once he was safely back in the Colonel's wrecked office.

"Yeah, I didn't think he'd stick around to finish the fight after that." Ed answered plainly,

"So you knew that wouldn't kill him?" Naruto asked,

"Huh? Yeah, its nearly impossible to kill Envy, he's not exactly human. It would take a lot more than that to do him in. And while we're on the subject of people who aren't human, what are you?"

"What?" Naruto asked, genuinely caught off guard by the question,

"Brother, don't..."

"Quiet Al, we need to know what he is, don't forget he's looking for the philosopher's stone, and no good can come of that."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and regarded them seriously for a moment, there was no point in debating with them the complexities of his situation as a jinchuuriki and whether or not because of it he was not completely human-there was no need to go into that. However, he needed to handle the situation carefully, they had information he needed and if he didn't gain their trust he wouldn't likely be getting it anytime soon.

"I don't know what kind of question that is but I'm obviously a human being."

"No human being can do the things you were doing," Ed noticed that suddenly Naruto's face became confused,

"What do you mean? Haven't you ever met a ninja before?"

This time it was Ed's turn to look confused,

"What are you talking about? Ninja don't exist, they're just made up stories for little kids."

"You're kidding me right? I knew things in the West were different than back home, but to not even know ninja exist...wow...well Edward and Alphonse Elric let me introduce you to Uzumaki Naruto, Ninja of Konoha." Ed looked skeptically at Naruto before answering,

"You expect me to believe you're a ninja?"

"How much do you remember about the ninja you heard about as a kid, Ed?" However, it was Al that answered,

"They use spiritual energy to fuel really powerful and unexplainable feats and are assassins for hire."

"That was pretty good," Naruto acknowledged, "the spiritual energy is actually called chakra and we use it for all of our attacks."

"So you're an assassin?" Ed asked, eyes narrowed,

"Yes and no. I've never actually been hired for that kind of mission, its not my style. I mostly get hired for search and rescue missions, or guard missions. But should I be assigned an assassination, I have the training to pull it off."

"And have you killed anyone before?" Naruto's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before responding,

"Yes, but only when it was absolutely necessary. I don't enjoy killing, but I'll do it if it means protecting my home and the people who are precious to me." Ed continued to stare at Naruto before finally relenting,

"I'm not saying I believe you're a ninja, but as long as you promise not to pose a danger to myself or my brother, then I guess you're ok for now."

Naruto nodded happily,

"Good. Though really I don't see why it freaked you out that much. I mean I've never seen anyone use it before but at least I knew that your Alkimy stuff existed, though I had no idea it could do any of the stuff you were doing."

"Its Alchemy," Al corrected, "and don't people practice it where you come from?"

"Um kind of. Alchemy kind of died out in the East, theres still a form of it that we use. Its called sealing, though there are very few sealing masters still around, its really complicated," here Naruto chuckled, "my master, he's one of the few sealing masters still around, tried to teach me a few years back but, haha I kind of gave up on it, sealing isn't really my thing."

"Yeah you don't really look like the alchemist sort," Ed stated bluntly,

"Thanks," Naruto responded sarcastically, "but seriously speaking, don't think you're the only ones with questions. What I saw, I have to wonder what exactly you are Alphonse, among other things." Naruto noticed how tense the two became but continued nonetheless, "listen, I was supposed to meet my teammates at noon and its 12:45 now."

"That's why you were in such a hurry," Al interrupted suddenly,

"Huh, yeah. See we set up a time and decided that if any of us weren't back by 12:30 then that meant something had gone wrong and we were in trouble,"

"Which is what happened to you," this time it was Ed who interrupted,

"Yes, but I handled it, however now they're going to be looking for me, which isn't good because they could run into that envy guy, or one of the other two he was conspiring with."

"Wait what other two?" asked Roy who had just reentered the room and apparently the conversation,

"I overheard a conversation between Envy and two others, I think they're names were Wrath and Greed, those names mean something to you," Naruto realized when he saw the looks on the Elrics' faces as well as the Colonel's,

"You can tell me about them later, right now you need to come with me to find my teammates. Then we can settle everything."

"And what if we don't want to go with you? What then?" Ed asked Naruto seriously, there was a hint of a challenge in his eyes as if he was daring Naruto to make them go.

"Then I won't force you to. I could knock you out and kidnap you, torture you and threaten you into telling me what I need to know, however I'm not exactly a fan of that way of handling things and therefore I have no way of making you come with me. However, you will come because I know you want to know what information I have as well as my purpose in searching for the stone as much as I want to know about the information you have. So am I going to have to wait until you finally admit to that, or can we just go?"

Ed and Al looked startled at Naruto's bold assumption but didn't respond. They merely looked at one another for a long while until finally Ed broke,

"Ok fine, we'll go with you, Colonel-"

"I'll stay here and think up an explanation for the state of my office. I'll expect a full report on everything found fullmetal!"

"Great I thought I was done writing reports for you," Ed grumbled before turning back to Naruto.

"Good, so guys, you ready to meet the team?" Naruto asked, a large grin plastered to his face. This was going to be interesting.

yay! so there you have it! the long, and i mean realllllyyyy long, awaited chapter is finally over! What did you think? i know it probably wasn't worth the wait, but at least its over with! lol please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thank you and i promise that the next chapter will be out like a million times sooner than this one! so click that review button, you know you want to! ;D

~L