NationStates Jolt Archive

The door opened, letting in a yellow-haired master ninja in an orange jumpsuit with black arms and legs. His steel-blue eyes told a great story of bravery and loss, tragedy and victory. He still holds the seal of the Kyuubi, the demon fox that struck against the ninja's homeland so many years before. His name...is Uzumaki Naruto, Jounin Shinobi.

"So glad of you to arrive." Hokage Tsunade smiled. "Please, sit down."

"What's going on, Tsunade-baba?" Naruto asked, oblivious to the vein popping since Tsunade hates the nickname.

"You are now Jounin. Your records are quite impressive..." Naruto beamed at the praises. "But there is one important task that you still have to achieve, especially if you wish to take my place as Rokudaime."

Naruto's ears perked up. Yet another step of achieving his dream of being Hokage is about to be taken! "What is it? Another S-ranked mission?"

The old woman smiled. "Not quite. In a few days, the Ninja Academy will be graduating students to train under Jounin. I believe even your brain can comprehend what you must do..."

It dawned on Naruto. "WHAT?! I have to babysit a couple of snotty brats?! Oh no! No way! Uh-uh!"

Tsunade sighed. "On your assigned team will be young Travis Masaki. You know him well, so he should be easy to take care of. Besides, I don't think Daniel would like you calling his son a 'snotty brat'."

Sighing, Naruto relented. "Fine, but you better promise me some good ramen!"

Still the same old ninja... "Yes, yes. You'll get your yearly supply of ramen on the house."

"In that case, I'll do it!" Naruto grinned. Best way to get him to do anything...

OOC: Well, here we go. I am finally going to train up young Travis, son of Daniel in order to face the big bad galaxy out there. His training will consist of ninjutsu out of the Naruto manga and anime (as shown by the familiar characters here), and later on, training under the Jedi Order. It's how all Masakis are trained, after all. The boy is ten years old now, if you wanna know.

Young Travis Masaki wiped sweat from his brow as he faced down his opponent. The boy with a mop of unruly black hair was clad in a yellow T-shirt with double-sword cross on the back and black pants, with a shuriken holster on his right leg and a utility belt on his waist.

Fwip! Fwip! He launched two shuriken at his foe, who dodged to the side, then the other young ninja moved in to lash out with his kunai. Metal clanged onto metal as Travis locked knife-blade with knife-blade again and again, slashing and parrying in a deadly dance. Then...an opening! Travis turned aside to dodge a stabbing blow that would have speared his stomach, then he swiftly kicked his opponent in the back of the leg, making him drop in surprise and pain, then his kunai reached the throat of his opponent and stopped just inches from slashing it open.

"Gotcha." Travis smirked, brushing wet bangs from his eyes.

"Damn. That was a quick one." The other kid said, grumbling.

"Heh. I've always been quick." Travis chuckled.

Today was Graduation Day, the day that Travis knew will make or break his life. Normally, he'd be in the academy until a year or two later to hone his skills, but his skills in ninjutsu -trained in no small part by his uncles and family friends- and growing skill in the Force propelled him to this day early. Now, he was in the final session of the day, the Duel Exam, where his physical and mental prowess was tested in a tournament-style competition. He has just eliminated his last opponent before the senseis will decide who gets to graduate today.

Later, he popped open a cool can of soda and drank down the contents, slightly nervous about the outcome of the Day. Iruka-sensei then begins to tally the kids who succeeded and list them by team.

Travis zoned out for a little while, until his name was called.

"Masaki, Travis!" Iruka called him. Nervous and excited at the same time, the short boy walked down to everyone's favorite sensei.

"Congratulations, kid. Here's your forehead protector." Iruka beamed, passing a bandanna with a metal plate on the front, with Konoha's symbol, a leaf spiral etched in it.

"All right! I made it!" Travis yelled, leaping into the air in victory.

"Come back tomorrow for your team assignment." Iruka said.

"I sure will! Wait till I tell everyone!" Without a second to waste, the young boy sped out of the door, whooping with joy along the way.

Iruka smiled, a little sadly. "Ahh, the joys of youth. If only you were here to see your son grow strong, Daniel...too bad you're off on some fool's crusade or other."

The next morning, a sleepy-eyed Travis awoke to the sounds of birds chirping outside and the smell of breakfast inside. "Man, what a wild party last night! Uncle Taylor sure can throw good ones!"

After washing up in the bathroom, he went to his closet and began the clothes that he will wear pretty much forever. First came the boxer shorts and a couple extras for the road. Second was the white mythril long-sleeve shirt that will serve as protection against most weapons, though the blow will still be harsh. Then he pulled on a pair of dark cargo long shorts, the kind that goes to the knees. Next was a yellow T-shirt, for yellow is his favorite color. And finally, he took out a denim shirt the color of the seas and rolled up the sleeves, leaving the buttons open.

With his clothes done, he grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs, where his mom was fixing breakfast: pancakes and sausage.

"Hey Mom!" Travis smiled and began eating quickly.

"Hey. Today's your big day, eh?"

"Yep. I can't wait to see who my sensei is!" Travis laughed between bites of sausage. Soon, his plate was cleared and his glass of orange juice was empty, and the boy sped out of the house and down the road to the Academy.

Katrina sighed sadly. So much like his father, and that's what I'm afraid of...

Travis Masaki walked into the classroom, filled with newly minted Genin, or Apprentice ninjas of the Shinobi Continent. Each one now wore their forehead protectors on a favored part of the body, usually the forehead like a bandanna. Chatting students abounded as he took an empty seat, wondering who he was going to be partnered up with. He hoped it wouldn't be Nick Kingfisher, a redhead kid about the same age as he is. Both boys were rivals ever since they entered the academy, always trying to upstage the other. On the other side of the coin, he hoped that he would be partnered with Kagome Outerbridge, one of his best friends since, like, forever.

"Hey Kagome." He said to her. "Glad to see you made it."

The black haired girl smiled. "You too, Travis. Hope we're on the same team together."

"Yeah. Even if we aren't, it won't change a thing."

"Of course not."

Then the class quieted as Iruka-sensei walked in with a folder under his arm. "All right. Settle down, kids. Here is your team assignment."

He went down the list and the teams gathered together to get to know each other. "Team Seven (Whoa, that brings back memories, Iruka thought.) will consist of Travis Masaki, Kagome Outerbridge..."

"Whoo! We're together!" They yelled, giving the Chuunin instructor the impression of a pair of twins. "...and Nicholas Kingfisher."

Two pairs of groans came out from Nick and Travis, then they immediately gave each other the Look, complete with accompanying lightning crossing the space between their eyes.

Iruka grinned slightly as the two rivals and two best friends sat next to each other, with the girl in the middle. He concluded the teams, and finally said. "Your Senseis will be arriving shortly. But first, I must tell you this: You have graduated from the Academy. Yes, congratulations. However, you are now Genin, the lowest rank of Shinobi in Konoha and anywhere, equivalent to Padawan in the Jedi Order. The journey to Mastery will be very long and very harsh, and some of you may not survive..." He paused to let the hard words sink in, earning gasps from the girls and some of the boys. "...But remember always: You and your teams must depend on each other if you are to succeed on your journeys. You must learn from each other and trust your teammates with your lives. Only then will you have a hope of getting through the life of a Shinobi, or even a Jedi, should you choose that path."

Polite applause greeted Iruka-sensei as he finished the speech, and then he left, presumably to reflect on the students he's had over the years. Soon, the Senseis came in to collect their teams. Team Seven waited for their sensei, wondering who it could be. They waited. And waited. and waited.

Late Afternoon

Footsteps walked down the hallway as a ninja makes his way towards the classroom where three bored-to-death kids wait for their sensei. He snickered at the fact that he's holding them up, much like his own sensei once did. Man, Kakashi's rubbing off on me!

Naruto-sensei walked into the classroom, and immediately, the three kids pointed accusing fingers at him. "YOU'RE LATE!"

Naruto just continued to chuckle, remembering when he and Sakura once said those same words. "History repeats itself..."

Travis was steamed. "What gives you the right to just waltz in whenever you like while we wait here to die of boredom! I'll your ass fried by Uncle Taylor and Sasuke-sensei for that!"

"Let them try." Naruto grinned. "And as for your first question, Travis-kun..."

Huh? Travis blinked, as Naruto suddenly disappeared from the front. The kids looked around for him. "What...Where..."

"...I'm your sensei, and being late (while not in the job description) is my right." Naruto said from behind them, crouched on a counter. A light breeze buffeted them.

"Waa!" The kids jumped in shock, falling over their counter to his amusement.

"Did you..." Nick asked, getting up.

"Teleport? No." Naruto smirked. "Pure speed."

"Whoa..." The kids dropped their jaws. So this was a Jounin, a Master...

"Heh. When you're done catching flies with your mouth, pick up the lightsabers on the front desk and follow me outside." Naruto said as he hopped to the doorway. "We have some things to do today."

The kids shut their mouths, grabbed the generic sabers that all ninjas carry, and followed their new sensei outside to a park area.

"All right, before we start, I'd like to start off with doing introductions. I'll start." Naruto said as the kids helped themselves to the ground. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I love ramen noodles, especially miso. I hate the three-minute wait for instant cup in the microwave. My hobbies are many. And my future desire is to become the Hokage of Konoha! Now you start. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, future plans. That sort of thing. Travis?"

"Uh, ok..." Travis said. "I'm Travis Masaki. I like to play with my older cousin Keith. I hate bad guys. My hobbies include training alot, because I wanna be a great Jedi Master like my dad before me!"

Naruto chuckled knowingly. "All right. You in the middle."

"Oh, me?" Kagome asked. "Uh...I'm Kagome Outerbridge. I like travelling. I hate perverts. My hobbies? Well, you know girls. And my future desires...uh...hehehe..." Kagome blushed at that point.

Naruto sweatdropped. Oh great. We have another Sakura-chan... "All right. Last one."

"Hm. I am Nick Kingfisher. I like to, well, train a lot. I don't like loser-boy over there. ("Hey! Feeling's mutual!" Travis yelled.) and my desires are none of your business...sensei." Naruto caught a familiar glare from his student.

Huh. Almost like the original Team Seven...almost. Naruto thought. "Here's what's happening today. We have our first mission as Team Seven. It's a nice and simple one so that we can get to know each other better and do some early teamwork."

"So what is our mission, sensei?" Kagome asked.

Then Naruto chuckled, almost laughing out loud, earning glares from the kids.

"What's so funny?" Travis asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that you guys are going to get a kick out of this one."

Travis became impatient. "Well, what is it?"

Naruto pulled out three black garbage bags and three metal sticks. "Roadside recycling."

"WHAT?!" The kids shouted. Garbage duty? YUCK!

Naruto just chuckled. Don't worry, you guys will get a real mission soon...I guarantee it.

OOC:
For those who wish to know, there's a mission hierarchy:

D-level: D-level missions are done by the lowest of Genin and Jedi apprentices. They include things like the garbage duty Team 7 are doing and finding lost pets. Simple, easy stuff.

C-level: Missions in which Genin get to prove themselves. The bulk of the mission that the Jedi and Ninjas conduct, they're fairly easy, but have the added element of danger from bandits, pirates, that sort of riff-raff. For the Jedi, diplomatic missions are C-level for the most part.

B-level: The more dangerous missions, often bordering on wartime stuff at times. Chuunin, the next rank up from Genin, and young Knights are the ones that often do this type of mission. The Jedi Trials and the Chuunin Exams are B-level, as they test to see if apprentices have the stuff to achieve the ranks of Chuunin or Knight.

A-level: Wartime/espionage missions, as well as missions that deal with followers of the Dark Side. Taking down a criminal organization also fall under this catergory. Experienced Knights and Chuunin/Jounin take up these missions.

S-level: The most dangerous missions of all. Taking down a Dark Lord of the Sith or equivalent foe falls under this catergory. Any decisive battle between good and evil fall under S-level as well. After all, death is a common threat here.

One month later...

The three young ninjas have concluded several D-level missions by now, and they were extremely disgusted by them. When they entered the Hokage Council's room, Travis has had enough.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, we've done seven D missions so far! I think it's time for a change! Something more challenging!" Travis spoke for the others. "We're ready for it!"

Heh. I agree as well... Naruto folded his arms and watched in silence.

"You disrespectful brat!" One of the elders on Tsunade's right side snapped. "What do you know of ready? It is our counsel on who is ready, not yours!"

"Well, I'm sick of doing D missions! I, no, we can do better than that and you know it!" Travis shot back, ignoring the fact that he's blatantly disrespecting them.

Tsunade sighed. She looked down at one of the papers, then smiled. Perhaps...

"Travis-san." Tsunade interrupted the argument between old man and young boy. "I believe you are correct in this matter."

"What? Godaime-sama..." The elder glanced at Tsunade in shock.

"I think they're ready for their first C-level mission." She said.

"Hah! I knew it!" Travis crowed, earning an annoyed smack from Kagome. "Oww!"

"So what's the mission?" Nick asked.

"Not what. Who." Tsunade smiled. She directed her voice to outside the door. "You can come in now."

OOC:
Godular! Your cue!

OOC: Couldn't find this thing for the longest time, then I realized that this thing might have actually been in the NS forum... don't look here often, but I guess I should.

The door opened rather loudly to permit an almost ridiculously tall man with close cropped hair and an expression of pure distaste at everybody and everything in his presence. He was quite thin, looking rather close to a stick figure, though one could tell by looking at his arms that he could throw substantially more than his own weight around.

He wore black slacks with white pinstripes over a pair of plated hiking boots, and a white T-shirt. Several chains of what appeared to be platinum around his neck and shoulders, as well as what appeared to be a strange glowing pendant wrapped around his neck so tight that it actually moved with his adam's apple when he swallowed.

He gave Naruto a rather threatening clack of his teeth, then turned to look at the three children. Gracing them with a glare so withering that for a moment, they actually would have thought that their skin WAS being flayed from their bones.

"Get out of the Headquarters, he said," his surprisingly deep voice intoned as he returned his gaze to Naruto, then began to alternate his glare between the teacher and the students. "It will be good exercise, he said. Help get those muscles back into shape, he said... blasted Baron."

The room seemed to rattle slightly at those last two words, and to those who paid attention, they would have seen that his throat-hugging pendant had begun to glow more brightly for the span of those two words.

Finally, he let out one last snort of aggravation and turned back to the students. "My name is Xenith Steele, Triad Prefect, Phage of FREAKING Power. And I am here to take you twerps on a hike."

"Twerp?! Why you--" Before he could launch himself at Steele, Naruto grabbed young Travis by the collar with a swift movement.

"Now, now, young Masaki. You don't kill the clients. You help them." Naruto smiled. "And Mr. Steele here is our client, despite how much you want to hurt him."

He gave a "Boy-needs-to-learn-a-few-things" glance to Steele as he relaxed his grip on Travis, who then pouted.

So this is our C-level mission? Doesn't seem like much, but we'll see. Naruto thought. Although from what I hear about the Phage of Power, it could get interesting.

"All right. If you'll lead the way, sir." Naruto bowed slightly.

Xenith gave Travis a look akin to a particularly hungry tiger staring at a wounded wildebeest. For a radius of several miles around that grin, babies inexplicably started crying.

"Indeed," he replied to Naruto, and walked out of the room, letting the teacher and students follow him as he made his way towards the building exit.

"As you may have realized, I am not here of my own volition. There has been something I have been wanting to do with respect to a particularly hard to reach ruin that has shown signs of electromagnetic activity indicative of power signals. It is located near the summit of a rather annoyingly tall mountain, and I need some foo-- err-- 'assistants' to carry all the gear I'll need to survey the site.

"Now you may ask why I don't just take a shuttle up there and land close to the site? Well, the damn thing is covered with clouds so thick that its impossible to navigate, and the signal is underground. So even if we did manage to avoid all the rough outcroppings, we'd have to be on the lookout for some cave leading to it all, which is simply not worth the trouble.

"I must admit that I had been putting this off for a while, as I have been busy with doing such annoying trifles as public works and the like, which has essentially left me a sulking lump whenever I'm not screaming for people to build the damn bridge right. My sulking has gotten on Baron Skye's nerves, and he got wind of these missions you people were doing here and decided to have me snag some twerps to act as pack mules on my way up. Can't bring actual donkeys up, durn things would freeze to death up there.

"So here stand I, telling you that Baron Skye has plunked one billion credits down to get you people to be all nice and accomodating. And oh looky what we have here, the veritable son of Captain Blasto himself. I might just enjoy this trek after all, and who knows, maybe Boomboom Junior might get a thicker skin through it all."

"Man, he talks alot." Kagome whispered to Nick as they headed out of the village. "Sounds like a good trip, though."

"Yeah. Except for the idiot over there--" Nick pointed to Travis raving something about not insulting his Dad. "--I'm kinda interested in what those ruins are all about. Mom is an archeologist. Must have rubbed off on me."

"I guess so." Kagome smiled. "Me, I just hope the trip goes well and we all learn something good."

"Hmm." Nick said by way of answer and stuck his hands into his pockets. Seems to idolize Sasuke-sensei in that way.

Meanwhile, Naruto has his hands full keeping Travis' temper under control and in the end just decided to do the ol' bind and gag trick and drag him along the way until they reach their first waypoint. That had the effect of shutting the kid up, at least until they reach it.

Xenith's shuttle rested a small distance beyond the building, its landing bay down and a M'Lekk'Torr Special Forces standing at the bottom, waiting for the passengers.

An eyebrow was quirked as Travis was literally carried aboard and the others walked on. It was a rather spartan shuttle, with several seats and a couple crates of cargo, along with a small box labeled "Cold Weather Equipment."

"You... er... three might want to get a jacket on, its gonna be REALLY cold where you're going. Alitar is close to Siberian in its weather pattern, and you're gonna be climbing a mountain known for its frigid clime. Chances are you'll be sneezing icy buckshot up there. The jackets might not look like much, but they'll keep you surprisingly warm in the cold. Climbing gear, food rations, so on and so forth -- should we untie that one?"

Xenith gave a feral grin at the soldier. "After takeoff I suppose. After all, I do not wish to drag that lump with me all the way to the top. Why, that'd be tiring." He snickered at Travis and walked up front. The Soldier gave an apologetic look and told the others to take their seat. He turned to Naruto and saluted, then moved in close, whispering: "Don't worry sir, Skye said if they came to harm he'd hold Xenith personally responsible. He's a caustic enough personality, but if stuff gets rough, there shouldn't be any need to worry."

Naruto nodded and got to putting on the winter gear, along with the other two. "Don't worry, Travis here can get out of that if he's been paying attention in class..."

A muffled chant sounded in the shuttle and Travis cleared himself out of the ropes in a small puff of smoke.

Naruto grinned. "See what I mean?"

Still in a foul mood, the kid put on his winter gear and sat down on an empty seat, silent for once.

The trip itself was surprisingly smooth and short, courtesy of a trip through a Godulan Probability nexus that had been set up in the system to allow for quick transit. There was no special structure or anything save a large square outlined by signal beacons. Any Probability Capable vessel in this area could draw on a preset Transit Solution that enabled the vessel to immediately jump into the targeted system without any wait whatsoever. Useful for short hops and defensive measures.

The world of Alitar was an icy one, with a temperate equatorial zone dominated by Godulan cities and evergreen forests. It was about 40% covered with water, primarily because the rest of the water was frozen up in the northern and southern regions. Two major mountain ranges, wreathed in great billowing snowstorms that swept the snow from the sides as quickly as it fell, dominated the northern hemisphere. The first one, located some distance east of the new Godulan capitol city of Horizon's End, primarily consisted of multiple dormant and active volcanos. With five moons of substantial size, Alitar was prevented from turning into a chunk of ice by sole virtue of tidal fluctuations.

The second mountain range, also bestowed with its share of volcanos, was far larger, but its prominent mountains were somewhat more spread out. The shuttle headed for this mountain range.

The storms made the landing process very choppy, but they managed to settle down in a clearing a couple miles away from what appeared to be the targeted mountain, finding some measure of calm beneath the dark clouds overhead.

The shuttle bay door opened, letting in snow and a chilly breeze, and Xenith walked into the passenger room, through the passenger room, down the ramp, and out of the shuttle, where he immediately flopped down and started making snow-angels.

The soldier who had piloted the shuttle came into the passenger room himself. "He likes snow. All three of them do. Can't get enough of the white stuff. Its not so bad between the tropics, it just looks like a winter wonderland down there, but we also have the added benefit of Bluefall within our reach whenever we need to unwind from the cold.

"Anyway, grab your gear, there's a few backpacks stuffed with rations and such, as well as a hefty assortment of study gear. The mountain isn't TOO bad, and you won't be needing actual climbing gear, but what it lacks in treacherous cliffs and deadly drops, it more than makes up for by reaching into those clouds for the second half of its height and being a VERY long walk to scale. We estimate the walk is gonna be at least a week. Hope you've broken in your hiking boots.

"I just need to get you lot unloaded and then I can head back to Horizon's End. I ain't keeping this thing on idle here and going up with you people. Seems that no matter how hard we try to kick them out, some small grouping of Neo-Nazis manages to take root in places we can't get to. This place is highly suspect, and no doubt they'd absolutely love the chance to gank an unguarded shuttle. Last bunch of 'em to take a shot at our leader was actually a bunch of ninjas like yourselves. Ninja Nazis, it may sound funny, but I'd hate to think the cold has hardened those psychos."

"Oh, boy! We could get action soon!" Travis grinned, pulling down orange-tinted goggles to protect his eyes from the cold, as the others did so as well.

"Oh, shut up, Travis." Kagome rolled her eyes and took one of the backpacks. "Oof. This weighs a ton!"

"Actually, it's only thirty pounds or so." Naruto smirked, hoisting his own with ease. "Besides, it's good extra training for you guys."

The kids groaned, almost as if they were given mounds of homework. In a way, they are. Team Seven then prepared for the weeklong trip up the mountains, ready for anything that might come up...they hoped.

As they departed, the shuttle lifted off and roared back into the clouds, leaving them to the snow and their thoughts...

At least, right up until Xenith, forgoing any and all winter gear and luggage, shrieked "YA MULE! YA!" and set off at a rather brisk march. As he walked he hummed an odd melody, haunting and otherworldly but also possessed of a strange beauty.

Eventually, after several hours of travel the group came to an outcropping of rocks with a healthy overhang that offered significant protection from the wind. Xenith walked up to the outcropping and stopped humming.

Just like that it was night. As soon as he halted the eerie song, it was as though the sun's light had been waiting for the humming to stop, whereupon it just... switched itself off.

"We'll stop here. Lets see... which one of you..." Xenith looked over Naruto and the three students, when his eyes fell on Kagome, he beamed slightly. "Ah, there we are. Bring me your bag, girly-girl."

Kagome frowned at the name, but gave her bag to him. "Here."

Xenith took the bag without a thank you and opened it, bringing out what appeared to be a small glowing orb. Humming a strange low note that seemed to make the ground beneath everybody surprisingly slippery, he placed the orb upon a small flat-topped rock. Miraculously, the orb fell right into the rock, causing the stone itself to glow slightly.

"Do not touch the rock," he said, tossing the bag back to Kagome. After a few seconds, everybody could tell that the reddish glowing rock was radiating quite a healthy amount of heat. "You, the other one," he pointed at Nick, "Bring me your bag. I'm hungry."

"We have names, you know." Nick grumbled before bringing his bag over.

"Well, number 3, is that so?" Xenith replied as he took the bag somewhat more gruffly than he had taken Kagome's, and getting that strange predatory look on his face again. "Pity I didn't bother to care."

He took out several small packages and gave each one a quick look, tossing one to each of the students and Naruto, then taking the last for himself and tossing the bag back to Nick. The packages themselves were no larger than a candy bar, yet contained a small pan that folded out like a radar dish and a chunk of some strange substance that looked like dessicated curry, along with what appeared to be a very thin spoon.

He looked around and spotted a relatively hefty pile of snow, from which he took a couple handfuls and dumped onto the pan with the odd block of gook. Stirring it around a bit, the mixture soon became a very pungent and FAR more dangerous version of a pot noodle.

"The Godulan StarNavy used to survive only on this stuff and nutrient wafers, eventually just combining the two into a highly nutritious but tremendously spicy version of ramen. Ever since we got replicators though, these suckers have pretty much been relegated to MRE's."

He removed the pan from the rock, and molded it into a small cup without spilling a drop. Then, taking the small spoon, he wove it through the cup a few times and drew out a small group of noodles. He eagerly snapped them up, then looked to the sky and belched a small ball of flame.

"Ahhh... good stuff," he said, then continued eating.

"Ramen!" Naruto yelped like a little kid and began gobbling down his share, not caring about the spiciness. After all, fire jutsus are hotter.

The kids sighed at their sensei's antics and ate their MRE slowly, savoring the taste of the ramen.

Despite his starting first, Xenith was last to finish his food. Despite whatever conservative measures the others might have taken to dispose of their respective cups, Xenith simply ate his.

He delved into one of his pants pockets, and pulled out a small rod. He tapped it on the warm rock and the thing immediately started burning with a blue-white light. He tossed it into the distance and walked out after it.

From the spot of the flare, Naruto and the students could see their guide/employer standing out in the frigid winds and snow, without any cold weather gear and not seeming to care, generating a beam of illumination about as strong as a search light with what appeared to be a higher pitched version of the song he had been humming earlier.

The great field of light swept across the nearby surroundings, focusing on rock formations and such.

If anybody were paying attention, they would have noticed that when he swept his light across one particular formation, there were signs of movement, as if something were skittering out of view just in time. Xenith made no moves in response.

"I wonder what's he doing out there." Travis mused, watching the proceedings.

"Meh. Probably nothing. Does have his quirks." Naruto shrugged. Below that casual exterior however, his senses were tingling when he saw some shapes in the distance, courtesy of the searchlight combined with nightvision thanks to Kyuubi. Narrowing his eyes, he headed out into the cold, using his chakra powers to keep himself warm while the kids stayed inside, wondering about their sensei.

"You saw them?" Naruto asked Steele.

Xenith nodded slightly, not stopping his song, then surreptitiously flashed Naruto a handsign: "6"

Suddenly, the song stopped, cutting off the great beam of light, and Xenith picked up the little glow-rod. "They won't bother us, yet. By their standards we still outnumber them. Their numbers will increase as we go along though, and they'll start getting brave again.

"Its disconcerting too... they're showing up this early on the journey, it almost makes me think they know what I'm after. I would have been surprised to see even a single one of them.

"Keep this quiet. The twerps look like they'd jump at the opportunity to punch somebody in the face, and these guys know about this place likely even more than I do. If the kids go all romping and stomping, they'll start an avalanche, and I don't mean snow."

He turned to head back to the cave. "Might as well get back to the lit area. Standing in the darkness with those guys about is liable to be bad for one's general health."

Xenith returned to the camp and sat down.

"Eh. I'm bored. I think I'll actually deign to converse with you 'durn younguns' for a while. Not much else to talk about other than each other, so I might as well ask you doinks about yourselves.

"So, Captain Blasto Junior-Grade," he said turning a mischievous glance at Travis. "Who the blue hell are you?"

Naruto nodded after the little equal chit-chat and headed back to camp as well, but not before sending out a clone or two as lookouts.

Meanwhile, Travis was fuming. "My name, bucko, is Travis Samuel Masaki, and you'd better remember it because I'm going to be the greatest Knight/Shinobi ever!"

A sudden cough came from Naruto. "Excuse me." Gonna be tough to top Dad...boy, he sure reminds me of myself. Same loudness, same goals...

Then an annoyed Kagome knocked Travis on the head, drilling him with her knuckles. "You're going to shut up, Mr. Hyper Voice!"

"Oww!" Travis rubbed his head. "Kagome-chan!"

Nick and Naruto just sighed.

Xenith grinned slightly at the antics of the two children and leaned back slightly, revealing his extended canines for but a moment.

"One thing that I have learned, if not all three of us in the Triad, is that there is no 'best'. There is no 'greatest'. There is no 'tops'. In a realm of infinite possibilities, there will always be someone better than you. This might be your worst enemy, your greatest love, or some kid you see rooting for truffels on the side of the road.

"The best thing you can do in such circumstances is not to be the best, for that only stirs resentment towards those farther along than you. No, the best you can do is to be what you can. Whether this would constitute 'the greatest' or not should be of no concern to you.

"Now, if this deep seated desire to be 'the best' stems from some necessity to be able to live up to your father's legacy of goody-two-shoes-itude and otherwise epic exploits, I would advise you right now that you shouldn't bother. Make your own damn trail, don't follow somebody else's. Otherwise, you'll be nothing other than 'That dude's kid'."

Xenith turned to regard Kagome. "What about you, jail-bait? Who the blue hell are you?"

Oooh... Kagome muttered inwardly. This guy seems to have a knack for insulting everyone. "Well, I'm Kagome Outerbridge and I'm this baka's best friend."

"Hey! I resent that!" Travis muttered.

"It's true! You're a baka." Kagome smiled sweetly.

"Grrr..."

"Should I start taking bets on first blood?"

The kids blinked in confusion. "What?"

Naruto chuckled in reply.

"Oh nevermind. Returning to the general issue, do you really distinguish yourself by saying your his bestest best friend?" Xenith pointed at Travis. "Is that what makes you 'special'? Is that IT? Have you already settled into the mindset of a 'Cohort'?"

He leaned forward now, letting the light of the rock illuminate the somewhat menacing expression on his face.

"Who, the hell, ARE you? I don't want to hear a damn thing about binky over there; who are YOU? Surely you have hopes and dreams independent of his?"

Xenith sent Nick a momentary You're next, you'd BETTER be ready glance, then returned with an intense glare at Kagome.

Never had the kids seen anyone so confrontational, and it took all their willpower to keep calm. Kagome sighed. "Of course I do! I plan to be a medic-nin once I get through training with the group." You happy now?!

"A doctor, hmm? See, that wasn't so difficult, now was it? I will warn you right now, you have chosen a very harsh and trying vocation. It is far easier to end the life of another, than to prevent that loss. I hope you have a good stomach, in any case. Can't have you charging off to vomit at the first sign of spilt entrails, can we? And trust me when I say you will see more of that than either of your groupmates."

Now, Xenith turned to Nick.

"Alright, miscellaneous third party. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Nick Kingfisher, and I plan to delve into the secrets of ancient civilizations as a xenoarcheologist." Nick said proudly. "The training is for insurance against traps in ancient tombs."

Xenith seemed startled at first, then actually grinned, and not in a predatory way, either, which was very likely even more disturbing.

"Oh ho! A kindred spirit! Well, you might just get yourself some practice at trap dodging. If the place we are looking for still has an E-M signature, the chances are good that whatever defensive systems that may be in place are still active. To say nothing of whatever those Hitlerites might have planned for us."

Xenith leaned back with a jovial expression on his face. "Alright, Nick, what is THE best insurance you could have against such traps and pitfalls?"

Nick grinned. "Don't fall into them in the first place. Barring that, there's always a way to get around them."

"Ah, but only if you know they are there. No, Nick, your best insurance is in the form of other people. Going it alone is the path of the dead man. Better to have people going in with you, as they might be able to spot something you miss-- and trust me you will miss something-- and help you out of a jam if the worst should happen.

"Its better to have others you can rely upon in any situation. Much as I hate to say it, our Triad was formed on that very principle. We may not get along, in fact we pretty much detest the mere sight of each other, but if the situation were necessary, we could combine our powers and a quick death to any who would seek to bar our way from there."

"Oh." Nick said.

Naruto smiled. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Xenith sighed slightly.

"I hope you twerps paid attention here. I don't feel sagely very often. It reminds me of my prodigious age, so don't ask me to repeat everything I just clunked you dips over the head with."

He stood up and walked to a small corner, then settled down a little distance away from the rock.

"And now, I'm tired. You people pick who stands watch. If you see a swastika in the night, don't hesitate to scream bloody murder."

"Right. Another training session for you guys." Naruto rubbed his hands. "Sensing out enemy intruders. Travis, you take first watch. Nick, you're second. Third is me and fourth is Kagome. My clones will be waiting as backup."

"Right." Travis said, getting out into the cold to stand watch with Naruto's clones. Taught from his lessons, he reached out with his senses as far as he could (which is something like twenty or so meters, not bad for a kid) in a perimeter scan. For now, nothing came through his scans and he sat on a nearby rock, seemingly relaxed. The night calmed down some and he could see crisp stars in the sky. Beautiful night...

Xenith was already snoring by the time they had arranged who was standing what watch.

About half a mile from the cave, amidst the windscarred rocks and crags of the mountainous foothills, a single man watched them. Soon, he was joined by another, and another, and another.

They spoke with each other in sign, not daring to let their voices carry out through the silence.

Who are they? They do not look like normal hikers.

Would anybody dare to hike here? This place is too inhospitable.

So they come here with a specific destination in mind?

Yes.

But they are just kids!

Two adults, three children. Perhaps they think us too much of a trifle to send one of their murder parties out after us. They will regret that.

What about that one man? The one who can hum songs of power?

THAT, is why we must destroy them. That is the spellsinger. Whatever else they are bringing on their purge, he alone is the most dangerous. He must be neutralized first.

He's... one of the Triad?

Yes. Xenith Steele. To defeat him your actions must be swift and sure. If he catches you off guard you are lost to us. We must not allow him or his death squad to find the weapon.

I will not meet my end at his hands.

It is not his hands you should worry about, and it is not your end that I speak of.

Yes, master.

A couple hours later, two dark shapes crawled along the rocks above the meager little cave Xenith's team was using for shelter. They paid close attention to the child sitting on a rock just outside the cave entrance, and closed in ever so slowly.

As one of the shapes closed in, a single arm came up, revealing a silenced pistol...

A couple hours later, two dark shapes crawled along the rocks above the meager little cave Xenith's team was using for shelter. They paid close attention to the child sitting on a rock just outside the cave entrance, and closed in ever so slowly.

As one of the shapes closed in, a single arm came up, revealing a silenced pistol...
Uh oh... Travis became aware of a sudden danger around him. He ran through the limited options in his mind, found one that might work, and discretely formed a hand-seal. He was scared, though. After all, it was his first combat situation outside of the academy.

Then...FWIP! A shuriken was launched out from nowhere for the silent one with the gun...

The man with the gun heard the shuriken more than saw it, and attempted to jump out of the way. Still, an audible grunt of pain could be heard as the shuriken struck his shoulder, followed by the PEWT PEWT PEWT of the silenced pistol as it shot wild.

The other dark shape leapt down, hurling himself towards Travis with a flurry of swastika shaped throwing stars with wicked hooks on each point.

The man with the gun heard the shuriken more than saw it, and attempted to jump out of the way. Still, an audible grunt of pain could be heard as the shuriken struck his shoulder, followed by the PEWT PEWT PEWT of the silenced pistol as it shot wild.

The other dark shape leapt down, hurling himself towards Travis with a flurry of swastika shaped throwing stars with wicked hooks on each point.
Travis scrambled out of the way by utilizing a Kawarmi no Jutsu, having a rock nearby take his place as he shouted to the others. "Guys! Guys!"

If that wasn't enough, the snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting told the bad guys that Mr. Steele definitely was not alone. The "Jedi" lept down from the top of the cave and struck at the guy carrying the gun. Travis took out a kunai blade and prepared himself to fight the ninja that just attacked him.

Nick and Kagome woke up to the yells of their friend and also scrambled out to help. Naruto was already gone. The Nazi ninjas probably were not expecting the couple of kids and their sensei to be wielding lightsabers and ninja weapons of their own!

As soon as Travis had cried for help, the two ninjas were gone.

The one who had leapt down from the cliff, a jump of some seventy five feet, had come to a surprisingly graceful landing, a strange sword of glowing black 'nothing' already out. But upon the shouted warning, all that remained was a poof of snow.

Strangely enough, there were no footprints saying which way he went.

As for the other one, all that remained of him was a small spatter of blood on the snow and Travis' shuriken.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

They are not just puny children.

I can see that. Are you hurt badly?

No, little bastard pegged me but it didn't penetrate far enough to do any real damage. I will be fine.

Lets get back. They will need to know about this.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xenith gingerly got to his feet and walked out of the cave. "The hell's going on?"

"There's been an attack. We'd best move onwards." Naruto said calmly. "You all right, Travis?"

"Y-yeah." He nodded. "There were these ninja guys that came along..."

"I noticed." His sensei said, looking down at the puddle of red and picked up his shuriken.

"Huh... an attack already?"

Xenith walked over to a shuriken stuck to the rock that Travis had 'replaced' himself with. He cupped the throwing star in his hands, then whistled an odd lilting tune towards it, causing the weapon to glow an odd shade of purple.

After about thirty seconds of this, he stopped the song and looked off towards the mountain.

"We won't be bothered again, tonight at least. They were the only ones sent our way, and they intended merely to make an example of little Masaki here. They were surprised by his counterstrike, and then contact was severed."

He put the throwing star into his pocket and walked back into the cave. "Now I'm tired, dammit. I'm going back to sleep."

"You three should get some sleep as well. I'll hold the watch tonight." Naruto said.

Too tired to object, the three ninjas headed into the cave to sleep, while their sensei took post outside the cave. He rested as well, but his senses were always aware of his surroundings, so nothing more could happen to them. It would take someone extraordinarily good to sneak up on someone who's the vessel of a ninetailed demon fox, with the considerable heightened senses of such a creature, after all. And Naruto has yet to find that someone, though Daniel has come close.

The rest of the night passed without incident, and morning eventually came along with a swirl of snow and frigid winds.

Xenith walked out of the cave, whistling a tune to himself that seemed to fix his clothes and wipe the sweat from his skin. He finished the song and began to stretch slightly.

"Accelerando of Renewal. The song has many uses, from healing to a nice little magical cleanup. It's a targeted effect if you're feeling somewhat grimy. There won't be much to bathe in on this trip unless you enjoy rolling around in snow."

Naruto nodded. "Interesting tune."

Next came the kids, who walked out of the cave, rubbing their eyes.

"RIGHT! Get ready, you lot. We're moving in five minutes. If we haul ass, we'll make it almost halfway up the foothills by nightfall."

And so, the trio and their sensei packed up their equipment in a few short moments and were soon ready to continue their trek up the mountains.

They made surprisingly good time up the increasing slope of the mountainside, following a large and conveniently straight ridge almost half the way up the visible portion of the mountain. They traveled without incident, for the most part, although the wind continued to increase as they god higher. Xenith made no move to protect himself from the freezing winds, though, and actually appeared to be enjoying himself the further up they went.

Eventually, with night coming on fast, they came to a relatively flat area with another cave. Its entrance was little more than a crack in the wall, but the inside revealed a truly massive interior. Echos of their movements could be heard as they made their way in. Rocks were placed such that it was immediately obvious that it had been previously inhabited.

"Hmm," Xenith said as he inspected the room. "If geographical surveys are correct, this is likely the last place we'll have any room to move at all. Judging from how you handled two of those bastages back at the other camp, you're not defenseless, but I want to see just how good you doinks are. There's plenty of room in here to do a little sparring. After all, I can't let Maximillian have ALL the fun."

"All right! I guess we can start sparring." Travis said, looking around the windswept area. He then made a show of deciding which of his teammates to spar with first. "Uh, let's see..."

Naruto simply smiled, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Xenith was suddenly very much in front of Travis, his teeth and fangs showing in a predatory grin.

"Not with THEM, foolish boy! You know them too well! Moves would be anticipated! Moves would be countered! It would be very boring and nobody would learn anything! I'm going to make SURE you learn, boy."

And with that, he struck a surprisingly rudimentary pose, as if asking for Travis to knock him off balance.

Xenith was suddenly very much in front of Travis, his teeth and fangs showing in a predatory grin.

"Not with THEM, foolish boy! You know them too well! Moves would be anticipated! Moves would be countered! It would be very boring and nobody would learn anything! I'm going to make SURE you learn, boy."

And with that, he struck a surprisingly rudimentary pose, as if asking for Travis to knock him off balance.
Travis blinked. "You want me...to fight you?"

Xenith's beckoning seemed to answer for him.

"Uh, all right, but I'm not holding back!" Travis replied, and began with a roundhouse kick.

"There will be bruises, boy," Xenith replied.

He then leaned back, anticipating the kick, and brought his right leg up in a single front snap kick aimed not at Travis, but at the ankle coming around in the boy's roundhouse.

Travis was surprised when the kick snapped at his ankle, forcing him to overshoot and lose balance. But as he fell, he turned the fall into a sweep kick aiming for his opponent's legs.

Xenith knew the move was coming and simply continued the motion of his own kick, and sending his other leg out as well, in a momentary backflip which landed him back on his feet about a meter further back.

His stance changed now, and to all watching him, it looked almost as if he was dancing slightly. His rhythmic movements brought him circling the boy, then, he suddenly crouched low and rocketed a leg out for Travis' midriff.

"Oof." Travis had the wind knocked out of him, even if he made to block it to soften the blow. He then grabbed the leg and moved in for a punch.

But then, Xenith was not quite finished with his combo. Using the boy as leverage, he brought his other leg around to give Travis a good swift knee to the small of his back.

Either that or catch the kid in a scissor lock.

Further, as he moved, Xenith started to sing a strange song, punctuated by a sharp dissonance and randomly spaced bursts of sound. Xenith's song of dispulsion would prevent any annoying 'magic' from being used.

Travis saw the kick coming onto his back, and almost by instinct, tried to use the Replacement technique again. For some odd reason, it failed and the next thing he knew, his face was planted into the snow and his back felt like a speeder went out of its way to smack into it. "Ow."

Xenith was already on his feet again, but was no longer in a combat stance, evidently meaning the battle was over.

He ended his song with an abruptness as sharp as a knife. "There is a critical issue in having such magical abilities at your disposal, boy. Do not grow to reliant upon them, or you'll be as helpless as a newborn puppy if those powers are removed.

He took out the swastika shaped throwing star he'd taken that morning, and twirled it around his fingers. "The most important part of having power is in knowing when not to use it." He held the hand with the throwing star out at full extension, still flipping the swastika amongst his fingers. "You should learn the abilities of deception and distraction, and a little prestidigitation wouldn't hurt either."

With that, he waved his hand and the swastika was gone. He brought out his other hand and began twirling the throwing star amongst his fingers. Then, as he twirled it, he brought his other arm to full extension, and suddenly the throwing star thudded into the wall beside Kagome's head.

"Did you see that coming?"

"N-no." Kagome stammered at the fact that the swastika was fairly close to her head.

"What did you learn?"

"Uh..." Kagome tried to figure out what he's teaching them. "Sometimes knowing how to distract is just as important as having jutsu skills."

Xenith was suddenly standing beside Kagome, the throwing star in his hand and his face close to her ear.

"Indeed."

Then, he was past Travis, looking at the three students with arms out in a welcoming gesture.

"Now, who's next?"

"Eep!" She squealed as Xenith came uncomfortably close to her, and at a speed in which she couldn't even see him!

Then the kids gave each other silent, knowing glances. Without warning, a couple of shuriken were fired from Nick's pouches towards Xenith.

He snatched one out of the air and began inspecting it, and let the second whizz past his ear without acknowledging it.

"Relatively simplistic, somewhat light, decently sharp, can't say I admire the balance..."

Travis next launched a high kick towards his foe's head, followed by a low strike -with kunai in hand- from Kagome and Nick.

"Teamwork," Xenith said as he skidded to a stop several feet to the right and about twice that distance back, "I feel heartened that you twerps weren't just grinning and nodding during my various tirades."

With that, he executed a strange form of cartwheel, rocketing forward in a curious leap without any warning or even any sign that he had leapt forth in the first place. One second he was standing there, another second he was sailing through the air like a parasol of doom.

He landed with equal suddenness, slamming his feet to the ground and standing as though he had always been right between the three children. He simply said "Now we shall have FUN," and went to work, bringing out his song of dispulsion as he began executing a dance of destruction that would put the 'break' into breakdancing. Swirls of kicks and punches, a veritable hurricane of hurt.

Naruto, with practiced eyes, watched the brawl with interest. Xenith's pretty fast and has an unusual martial arts to boot. I could take him...probably. Anyway, it's a good lesson for the brats. Teamwork, distraction, and relying on nothing but fists, feet and your own skill. That is, whether he knows it or not, a part of the Ninja tenet.

Even with a 3-on-1 advantage, the kids were finding it nearly impossible to land blows as they got the stuffing beat out of them by the Baron. It was certainly a good learning experience, even if they were getting beaten and bruised.

Then again, pitting a bunch of ten-twelve year olds, however good they are in taijutsu (hand-to-hand) against a guy who counts his birthdays by the millenia could hardly be construted as 'fair'. Plus is the fact that the song has disrupted their ability to use jutsus, which would really help here.

Nevertheless, they gave it their all. Dodging, blocking then counterattacking with kicks and punches, sometimes with kunai, the kids slowly learned how to use teamwork to their advantage. They almost got him at several points, but he always managed to somehow get out of the way of their blows.

Soon enough though, three young ninjas were beaten to the ground, breathing hard and bruising in several places. But it was a good object lesson, as Naruto silently noted.

Xenith himself was breathing hard in the end. He wouldn't admit it, but the little buggers had durn near brained him on no less than three occasions.

He came to a stop amidst the three children, panting heavily as he stepped away from the gaggle of groaning kids.

"You... damn near... got me..." he gasped with an exhausted grin, then composed himself slightly, "If you can 'damn near' anything thing with me, you've got potential oozing out the ears." He flopped down to sit against a nearby wall, and began singing his song of renewal. He sang loudly this time, letting the walls echo with the music.

Even the children would feel this one...

The music was like the song of the swans, filling the room with its healing energy. The kids felt it heal them, soothe their wounds, even knit some of the tears in their clothes.

"Whoa. That felt good." Travis smiled as the song ended. "I feel lots better."

"Me too." "Ditto." The others said.

It was about time to head further up the mountain.

THREE DAYS LATER 'N STUFF...

The trek up the remainder of the mountain was harsh indeed, as they quickly discovered that the howling winds of ice and cold were only barely held at bay by their cold weather gear. Oddly enough, despite not wearing any of his own, Xenith showed no signs whatsoever of being harmed by the horrid conditions.

It was a long uphill climb, yet it felt somewhat more down-hill ish due to the wind pushing up the side of the mountain.

After a long withering march, they found a small eddy in between two cliffs, and Xenith brought out a map.

"We're almost there, start looking for some sort of cave or something."

The three kids, now more properly termed kid-sicles, warmed only by the powers of chakra (ie the Force) and their winter clothing began hunting for a cave to crash in. It helped that Naruto-sensei (who was thoroughly enjoying the trip) utilized an extensive use of Kage Bunshin clones to help out in the search. Not long after the search, they managed to find a small cave in one of the cliffs. It was cold in there, but not the wind-driven deep freeze that howled outside like an ice wolf (which is an animal native to the Icelands, Jurai). At least the kids' extremities were no longer in danger of falling off due to frostbite.

Xenith inspected the cave, curious about the strange nature of the floor. It was nothing noticeable, just a bunch of minor little quirks that put his senses on alert.

And so he went around, tapping on the wall that seemed too smooth to be typical. With each knuckle rap on the wall, an echo filled the cave, barely noticeable in times of high wind howling outside, it was easy to hear at the moment.

Bang... bang... bang... bang... bang... the rapping went on... bang... bang... bang... bang... bang...

Bonk. Bonkbonk? Bonkittybonkittybonkittybonkitty...

"Why, I do believe there's something on the other side of this wall!"

Xenith inspected the cave, curious about the strange nature of the floor. It was nothing noticeable, just a bunch of minor little quirks that put his senses on alert.

And so he went around, tapping on the wall that seemed too smooth to be typical. With each knuckle rap on the wall, an echo filled the cave, barely noticeable in times of high wind howling outside, it was easy to hear at the moment.

Bang... bang... bang... bang... bang... the rapping went on... bang... bang... bang... bang... bang...

Bonk. Bonkbonk? Bonkittybonkittybonkittybonkitty...

"Why, I do believe there's something on the other side of this wall!"
"Hmm. Shall we knock it down?" Naruto asked, forming a ball of chakra energy on the palm of his right hand. The kids knew what that ball is: the Rasengan, Naruto's famous assassination technique. It's powerful enough to crack cliff walls, but requires quite a bit of time to master due to the high level of chakra required.

"I think not," Xenith replied, tapping the wall a couple more times before inspecting the room. Apart from some strange kind of gravel covering the ground, the cave's walls were surprisingly smooth.

A single stalactite sat nonchalantly in one corner. It was the only stalactite in the room. He leaned in close to inspect the icy protrusion, and noted an ever so slight indentation around the base. He ran his hands along the surface of the wall and the stalactite, then looked thoughtful.

"Not ice... some form of morphic crystal... like our Kythons but more advanced. That alone is worth something."

"No, I don't think its necessary to bash our way through, I don't think you could break through it anyway. Instead..."

Xenith took hold of the stalactite and pushed down. The stalactite sunk easily into the ground, and with a sound that could only be written as "Schwoob", the wall melted away into a doorway...

With three swastika-bearing ninjas hurling spiked chains through, past Xenith, who was still out of their immediate view, and towards everybody else.

In what would later be known as the Battle of the Bloody Ice Cave, the first thought of everyone involved was: 'Oh, SHIT!'

The second thought-turned-action was diving out of the way of the spiked chains before they could turn them into messy slabs of meat. Naruto took action and threw shuriken at the enemy's chains, locking them into the ice. Next, he formed several Kage Bunshins and had them attack the enemy at once.

The shurikens pinned the Nazis' chains to the wall... for a second, but after that the morphic crystal of the walls reshaped itself and popped the shuriken right back out, healing its own wound.

A momentary grin appeared on one of the Nazis as he ripped his chain back for another strike. One of the other ones, also bringing his chain back, momentarily glanced around.

"There's only four of them? Where's the fifth one?"

At about that point, Xenith had nonchalantly sidled up to the opening, leaning just out of sight, and brought out the swastika shaped throwing star. With a grin saying he was enjoying the irony of the situation, he leaned around and flung the throwing star at one of the enemy ninjas with deceptive fury.

"Where's the fifth oaaaAAAGCK!" came one of the voices as the throwing star embedded itself three quarters of the way into the side of the Ninja's neck.

"Fall back!" Came another voice, "There's too many of them!"

Suddenly, before either Xenith or Naruto + clones could get to them, the two remaining Ninjas were suddenly quite gone. Their dead colleague lie ground, leaving an increasing puddle of blood around his neck, and also issuing forth a strange black mist from his eyes, wound, and agape mouth.

"Son of a BITCH!" Xenith muttered. "They're M'Lekk'Torr! How did they manage to get their hands on M'Lekk'Torr Symbiotes?!"

Soon enough, the body had vanished into nothing, leaving only a puddle of dissolving blood and a poof of black mist.

"M'Lekk'Toor Symbiotes? What are those?" Travis asked as Naruto kicked around the dust and muttered 'wimps'.

"They're creatures from protospace. There's been some pact between the Godulans and the M'Lekk'Torr since before me and the Triad came into the picture. We've restricted their use to Godulan Special forces, so there shouldn't be ANY symbiotes that we don't know about, but these guys... The symbiotes add a bunch of very useful traits to the soldiers. They're faster, stronger, VERY durable, fast-healing, damn near immune to telepathy, and capable of defying gravity. Its by sheer luck alone that my throwing star killed this former ninja instantly, he didn't have time to regenerate.

"The fact that these guys have them at all is high treason. I can only hope they don't have MANY."

"Uh, all that kinda describes a well-trained ninja like me and I'm not even a M'Lekk-whatever." Naruto snickered.

'But you ARE the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.' A booming voice said inside his mind.

'Shut up, baka.'

'Hehehehe.'

"What, you can swim through air like water as well? Can you also walk through walls as though they were curtains? These fools likely didn't even know the place HAD an open switch, they just trundled in."

Xenith walked in through the doorway, and gestured for the others to follow. "More of the same, it looks like, just a big hall leading down a ways. We'll need to be extra careful now. Not only are these people more powerful than I expected, but they know we're here too."

With that, he put his hands in his pockets and walked on.

"What, you can swim through air like water as well? Can you also walk through walls as though they were curtains? These fools likely didn't even know the place HAD an open switch, they just trundled in."
"I don't mean all of that. I meant the speed, strength, durability, fast-healing and other stuff. Plus, we ninjas could somewhat defy gravity by climbing walls and ceilings with our powers. Guess it doesn't sound like much compared to you guys." Naruto shrugged.

Xenith walked in through the doorway, and gestured for the others to follow. "More of the same, it looks like, just a big hall leading down a ways. We'll need to be extra careful now. Not only are these people more powerful than I expected, but they know we're here too."

With that, he put his hands in his pockets and walked on.
The trio of kids formed a defensive formation with Nick and Travis up front and Kagome and Naruto bringing up the rearguard.

Xenith continued along the path etched in crystal before them, keeping a constant eye on the walls around them. Eventually the path widened up and brought them to another portal. This one was already open, however, and they could hear the sound of strange machines operating beyond.

Stepping through, Xenith found himself on a very much human-made platform, overlooking what appeared to be a massive fabrication chamber. Several man-made apparatus were attached to various definitely-NOT-man-made engines, which churned and churned with a strange hooting purr and a greenish glow.

Several workers were stationed at the end of the line, filling up canisters with some strange metallic liquid and hauling it out of the room on ancient forklifts. Swastika bearing flags were everywhere.

"Home sweet home, eh?" Xenith said to himself as he moved to get a closer look at the nature of the material the nazis were 'manufacturing'. He leaned over, squinted, and then his eyes widened in a combination of awe and terror.

"Resisteel... they're making resisteel... son of a BITCH!"

And then the alarms went up. A strange screeching noise that immediately shut the plant down and the workers scrambling for weapons...

"Ok. We're surrounded by a bunch of Nazi wannabes packing heat and the shit's hitting the fan. What do we do now?" Nick asked nonchalantly.

"We kick their ass." Travis grinned, cracking his knuckles.

"You know, I think you're getting into this ninja thing way too much." Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes.

"When you're the kid of the greatest Jedi/ninja ever, you tend to like beating bad guys up."

*Bonk* *Bonk* *Bonk* "Less talking, more ass-kicking." Naruto said after bonking his students on the head, then bum-rushed the enemy with a bunch of clones.

Gunfire and shouts of surprise accompanied The Army of Naruto's charge. Soldiers scattered in an attempt to avoid the swarm of one, but the room seemed to erupt with about thirty swastika-bearing ninjas wielding a suprisingly diverse array of weaponry. From pistols to incendiary grenades to spiked chains to scythes with blades of purest darkness.

Xenith stepped back and issued forth a single pulse of dispelling energy that sent the various ninjas flying as they attempted to emerge from the walls and killing several instantly, as they were too far in to avoid comaterialization and essentially became one with the wall.

One such thing occurred directly behind the children. A startled scream, cut off as quickly as it was uttered, betrayed the presence of a now very dead nazi stuck in the wall from the neck down, his two hands grasping for Travis and Kagome, but now held fast in death.

Xenith then jumped down to the floor to assist Naruto in the fighting... this would be GOOD practice.

"Eeek! That's so gruesome!" Kagome shrieked.

"Yeah." Travis shook his head. That image will stick in him for a while.

Then the kids joined the fray with lightsabers blazing and fists flying, while their Sensei's clones cut through the enemy like they were not even there with their own blades. It was quite the intense battle that tested the kids' skills and resolve to defeat the enemy.

They're pretty good... Naruto glanced at his students while sticking a Rasengen into a foe, sending the fool flying with a nasty wind-burn.

"Watch out, they've got voidswords!" Xenith shouted as several ninjas whipped out blades of pure darkness in response to the children's production of lightsabers. "I can't dispell those!"

He jumped towards a knot of Soldier-Ninjas singing a Dirge of Paralysis to stop them cold. Many others would have thought it disturbing that he simply walked amongst them, gingerly snapping their necks one by one. Then he picked up a voidsword of his own and went to work on the greater numbers all around them.

Nazi reinforcements kept pouring in, although now the ninjas were held to running in as risking another wall jump while Xenith could still sing would be tantamount to suicide.

However, his combat did not move to assist the coredian ninjas, he worked his way quite happily through one of the corridors, intending to hunt down the control room and prevent the nazis from blowing it up before the thought entered their minds and he would lose his chance to understand the strange technologies in this complex.

The four friendly ninjas followed Xenith as he went down a corridor. They fought the enemy ninjas and soldiers as they poured through side corridors and the like, keeping them off Xenith's back as he walked down to the control room.

Corridor after intersection after corridor after freaky alien armory after corridor. This place was a freaking MAZE! Xenith decided that the crystal was blocking power emissions, but with the increased power had gone over shielding capacity, chalking all that up as the reason that nobody had spotted this damn place until now.

Then they came to a whopper. It appeared at first as though they had emerged in a massive construction chamber made more for building mechs than anything. But it wasn't the construction chamber itself, nor the fact that the control room was now visible some three stories up, an otherworldly protrusion from the wall of the chamber itself.

It was the subject of the electrical shocks being generated by what appeared to be several super-advanced tesla coils focusing their energy on the center.

It was a skeleton. A big metallic skeleton.

"Son of a BITCH!" Xenith cried before suddenly going into a frenzy and roaring up the wall like a spider. "You bastards! You won't get it to work! They never work!"

"Lies and propaganda, tyrant!" came a voice from the control area. Three Nazis were standing on the control area, and he could see the look of defeat in their eyes. "This will make us heard! You massacred us! Slaughtered us!"

"That was under Cassius! If you didn't notice, we weren't around when the old men were in office."

"You're just more of the same! We're going to rectify all the mistakes you murderers have made!"

"More of the same?! You stupid shits! You picked the fight all three times! We're still trying to figure out why you sent people after Skye, he did nothing to you! He would even have been willing to give you a few transports and sent you and your 'Master Race' on your merry way, if he'd known you were still around."

A momentary pause from the three Nazi commanders, eventually the third responded tremulously.

"REVENGE! We will get our revenge for what was done to our people!"

"Water under the bridge. That was under Cassius and if you didn't notice, WE killed HIM. So why the hell are you still fighting? Do you feel as though the whole Godulan populace should pay for the atrocities committed by the past regime?"

"A penance exacted in blood! Murder for murder!"

"And if you get that thing going you're dead men. Resisteel Titans never work. NEVER."

Another pause from the three commanders. "What's a Resisteel Titan? This place just started building this thing. We just wanted to let it finish and use whatever it made to make ourselves heard."

"Oh no... you don't know what this place does? I'm not going to let you finish... I'm not going to let this finish..."

"You're welcome to try, Tyrant," said one of the commanders "But we did learn a FEW things here..."

With that, the walls of the construction room opened and five alien mechs clomped into the room. Three times as tall as a man, and surprisingly lithe in their humanoid structure, they lept forth...

"I'll take this one." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the advancing mechas. "Stand back, kids and Mr. Steele."

Kyuubi, it's your show! He shouted inwardly as he formed a string of hand-seals. The kids wondered what their sensei was doing.

Excellent. Kyuubi growled happily. He began pouring chakra into the sensei's body, a huge amount. The mechas continued advancing as time seemed to slow down. Naruto concentrated upon the power within, threatening to burst from his body.

His pupils dilated into catlike slits, and the surrounding blue has turned into an evil shade of red. Claws and teeth lengthened, looking capable of tearing apart flesh and metal equally. The whiskers on Naruto's face became more prominent.

"Wha-what's Sensei doing?" Travis yelped as a visible ghost-like aura glowed around Naruto, an aura in the shape of the nine-tailed fox. A single tail flowed back from the aura. Naruto has transformed!

"I don't know, but that's so cool!" Stars formed in Kagome's eyes as she felt a sudden crush on her sensei.

"Oh geez..." Nick rolled his eyes. That's amazing chakra! I can't believe Sensei's body could stand that much!

Naruto suddenly launched himself at the mechas in a reddish blur, and began turning them into scrap metal. He delivered deadly kicks and massive punches, slashed at the enemy with chakra-enhanced claws that could slice like lightsabers, and generally kicked shiny metal ass.

"Wow..." The kids stood in awe. So this was Uzumaki Naruto's true power...

The mechs attempted to get out of the way and consolidate themselves against this new onslaught, but damned if the were-thing wasn't faster than the speed of light! The mechs were fast, but he was faster. However, they were tougher too. Made of the same crystal as nearly everything in the complex was, they resisted a good deal of the damage dealt, and managed to regenerate surprisingly quickly.

Still, one had been unlucky enough to get the equivalent of a ton of bricks launched into its pilots compartment like a cannon. The pilot didn't even have time to scream.

Enraged by this, the other four calculated their moves and jumped in, leveling strike after strike as quickly as they could against this blur of a foe.

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On the walking platform, as the children watched their sensei take on five mechanized death bringers all by himself, a pair of Nazi ninjas rushed forth, both wielding VoidScythes and issuing forth a strange black mist from their eyes.

As they neared, they emanated a strange aura of irrational fear, if not to send the children fleeing, then to at least distract them in battle.

"Time to die, brats..."

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The Nazi commanders, realizing very quickly that their plan was not going as hoped, brought out pistols and leveled them at Xenith. Xenith shrugged with a smirk.

"Oo. Guns. Oh. Help me. I am so horribly frightened. Spare me. Spare me. Mercy."

He walked forward, singing a new song as he approached them with a hungry look in his eyes. Shots were fired. Shots pinged off an unseen barrier inches from Xenith's skin. Still he advanced.

The commanders dropped their guns and brought out VoidSwords, prepared to defend themselves against the Phage of Power. Right up until his gaze almost physically leapt forth and shattered the mind of the righthand commander.

Xenith said nothing, yet this commander knew what he had to do. Dropping his Voidsword, he turned and through himself over the side of the control platform.

His neck caught the walkway railing on the way down.

"Looks like one of you wasn't M'Lekk'Torr," Xenith said as he brought out his own VoidSword and lunged forward.

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The bloodspattered head of the unlucky commander bonked one of the Nazi Ninjas in the back of the head, causing him to stumble slightly...

The mechs attempted to get out of the way and consolidate themselves against this new onslaught, but damned if the were-thing wasn't faster than the speed of light! The mechs were fast, but he was faster. However, they were tougher too. Made of the same crystal as nearly everything in the complex was, they resisted a good deal of the damage dealt, and managed to regenerate surprisingly quickly.

Still, one had been unlucky enough to get the equivalent of a ton of bricks launched into its pilots compartment like a cannon. The pilot didn't even have time to scream.

Enraged by this, the other four calculated their moves and jumped in, leveling strike after strike as quickly as they could against this blur of a foe.
It turned into a battle of attrition. Naruto sought the weakness the mechs had, meaning he tried to punch the pilot's compartmentswith his Rasengan. If his normal punch was the equivalent of a ton of bricks, the Rasengan, now powered by Kyuubi, was like being hit by a train with the speed of a meteor.

In return, he was blocked and counterattacked like mad as the mechas tried to cream him with their superior size and surprising quickness. It hurt, but only enraged the demon-fox within the young man as he furiously speedblitzed the enemy, reaching for the compartments with balls of energy that could be categorized as storms-in-a-globe...

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On the walking platform, as the children watched their sensei take on five mechanized death bringers all by himself, a pair of Nazi ninjas rushed forth, both wielding VoidScythes and issuing forth a strange black mist from their eyes.

As they neared, they emanated a strange aura of irrational fear, if not to send the children fleeing, then to at least distract them in battle.

"Time to die, brats..."
"Wha--?" Travis and his friends turned around to just see a couple of odd-looking ninjas with blast mist coming from their eyes, as well as feeling an icy chill run up and down their spine. He and his cohorts were horribly frightened, but clutched their lightsabers like it was their lives.

"C-can we talk about this?" Travis bravely smiled, then ducked a swinging scythe. "I guess not..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Nazi commanders, realizing very quickly that their plan was not going as hoped, brought out pistols and leveled them at Xenith. Xenith shrugged with a smirk.

"Oo. Guns. Oh. Help me. I am so horribly frightened. Spare me. Spare me. Mercy."

He walked forward, singing a new song as he approached them with a hungry look in his eyes. Shots were fired. Shots pinged off an unseen barrier inches from Xenith's skin. Still he advanced.

The commanders dropped their guns and brought out VoidSwords, prepared to defend themselves against the Phage of Power. Right up until his gaze almost physically leapt forth and shattered the mind of the righthand commander.

Xenith said nothing, yet this commander knew what he had to do. Dropping his Voidsword, he turned and through himself over the side of the control platform.

His neck caught the walkway railing on the way down.

"Looks like one of you wasn't M'Lekk'Torr," Xenith said as he brought out his own VoidSword and lunged forward.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bloodspattered head of the unlucky commander bonked one of the Nazi Ninjas in the back of the head, causing him to stumble slightly...
"Huh?" Travis blinked. "Well, that was weird."

The boy took the opportunity to kick the ninja in the nuts, which caused him to double over in immense pain, then Travis followed up with a strong punch to the face, which made the ninja go out like a light and drop to the ground.

All while Nick and Kagome took on the other ninja, dodging or blocking the black scythe blade. Now with a 3-on-1 advantage, the three lil' ninjas took on the Nazi dude, barreling through the fear-aura and forced him back.

The two commanders put up quite a fight, and demonstrated their unflinching devotion to their cause right up until their heads flew off. Xenith was quick to throw their bodies over the edge with two great tugs, making sure to target the two ninjas accosting the children.

One had recovered quite quickly from the low blow struck by Travis, and was just about to bring his reaper blade into the three students as they worked against his comrade, but the only thing to come from him was a startled squeak and the sound of multiple bones shattering with the force of having a dead body land directly on top of him.

The other ninja, paying no attention to the body that missed him and otherwise caused another bloody mess by catching the guardrail, was still overmatched and eventually found three lightsaber blades plunged into his chest. Unfortunately, M'Lekk'Torr were surprisingly resistant to energy, and so he simply backed up, revealing a trio of quickly healing burn marks. He swung in wide arcs with tremendous speed, to prevent the three children from getting the advantage.

Still, it was too much, and he leapt back with a flurry of scythe swipes to hold the children at bay.

As for the Mechs, another fell to Naruto's fury, and as a third fell to his hands, more reinforcements started coming in. Three more mechs and several more M'Lekk'Torr Nazis...

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"Lets see now," Xenith muttered as he puzzled over the control panels. The Nazis had no clue what this thing did, but Xenith was good with languages, and he suddenly started seeing patterns. "Oh! Wow! Its been so long since I've seen this dialect of Shirassi! I've never seen the Glassmakers get quite this level of technology... lets see... Titan Control, user interface, manual control toggle... hmm!"

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The Ninja before the three children was now bolstered with three comrades of his own, and was preparing to lunge forward with a blistering array of offensive strikes when a giant metallic skeletal hand turned him and company into blood spatters on the wall.

The thing had moved like lightning. Fast enough to make even Naruto look like a mere snail in comparison. Xenith silently mouthed "Just as it should..."

Stunned by the sudden motility of the Resisteel Titan, two Mechs were crushed by Naruto's attacks, and the rest met their end at the hands of the shimmering metallic monstrosity in the middle of the room... namely its taloned feet...

For the Nazis in the expanded chamber, it had just become painfully obvious. Their own creation had been turned against them. Weapons dropped, mechs were abandoned, and somewhere deep in the chamber, a pitiful sobbing could be heard.

The two commanders put up quite a fight, and demonstrated their unflinching devotion to their cause right up until their heads flew off. Xenith was quick to throw their bodies over the edge with two great tugs, making sure to target the two ninjas accosting the children.

One had recovered quite quickly from the low blow struck by Travis, and was just about to bring his reaper blade into the three students as they worked against his comrade, but the only thing to come from him was a startled squeak and the sound of multiple bones shattering with the force of having a dead body land directly on top of him.

The other ninja, paying no attention to the body that missed him and otherwise caused another bloody mess by catching the guardrail, was still overmatched and eventually found three lightsaber blades plunged into his chest. Unfortunately, M'Lekk'Torr were surprisingly resistant to energy, and so he simply backed up, revealing a trio of quickly healing burn marks. He swung in wide arcs with tremendous speed, to prevent the three children from getting the advantage.

Still, it was too much, and he leapt back with a flurry of scythe swipes to hold the children at bay.

As for the Mechs, another fell to Naruto's fury, and as a third fell to his hands, more reinforcements started coming in. Three more mechs and several more M'Lekk'Torr Nazis...
"Damn, how are we going to kill this guy if lightsabers can't hurt him?!" Travis had grumbled after the short-lived victory over the ninja.

"I knew we should have brought vibroswords." Nick joked as he ducked and blocked a deadly blow.

"Uh, guys, don't look now, but we have more company." Kagome had glanced to see that additional reinforcements have arrived.

"Shit, we're screwed!" Travis groaned.

Naruto was still going at it, but even in his bloodthirsty fury, he knew that with reinforcements, it would be much harder to win victory over the enemy. But he fought them anyway, knowing that to fail now would be to allow his apprentices to get squashed like bugs. Then, the tide began to turn...

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"Lets see now," Xenith muttered as he puzzled over the control panels. The Nazis had no clue what this thing did, but Xenith was good with languages, and he suddenly started seeing patterns. "Oh! Wow! Its been so long since I've seen this dialect of Shirassi! I've never seen the Glassmakers get quite this level of technology... lets see... Titan Control, user interface, manual control toggle... hmm!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ninja before the three children was now bolstered with three comrades of his own, and was preparing to lunge forward with a blistering array of offensive strikes when a giant metallic skeletal hand turned him and company into blood spatters on the wall.
"Eeww!" Kagome shrieked despite her wanting to become a medic-nin someday. She'll get used to the blood and gore, but she's still young now.

The boys turned around to see who saved their asses...

The thing had moved like lightning. Fast enough to make even Naruto look like a mere snail in comparison. Xenith silently mouthed "Just as it should..."

Stunned by the sudden motility of the Resisteel Titan, two Mechs were crushed by Naruto's attacks, and the rest met their end at the hands of the shimmering metallic monstrosity in the middle of the room... namely its taloned feet...

For the Nazis in the expanded chamber, it had just become painfully obvious. Their own creation had been turned against them. Weapons dropped, mechs were abandoned, and somewhere deep in the chamber, a pitiful sobbing could be heard.
"Humph!" Naruto grinned toothily as he reverted to his more human side. The battle was over, and the little group was victorious. He even snickered when he heard the pitiful sobbing somewhere in the chamber. He walked over to his weary but grinning students. "You've done well on your first major battle. But of course, you still have much to learn."

"Yes, Sensei." The kids beamed. Team Seven then waltzed over to Xenith.

"Attention everybody with a swastika on their arms: I have taken control of the Resisteel Titan and will not hesitate to use it if anybody gets any ideas. I am also familiarizing myself rather quickly with all the security measures of which you jokers previously had not one iota of understanding. Lookie here I can toggle manual control of the mechs, and I bet they're a lot better at piloting themselves as you people were. You will all lie face-down on the ground and have your hands over your heads until I deem it proper for you to do otherwise.

"I am now going to end this annoying snowstorm engulfing this mountain range and notify the proper authorities as to the location of this place and the prodigal people contained therein. If you do not wish to all die the death of a traitor, you will cooperate with Baron Skye to find the identity of who it was that provided you with so much of our military technology. If you cooperate here and now, I might even be compelled to tell him that you people just deserve to be kicked out of Godulan Space never to return. We'll even be willing to transport the rest of your 'acolytes' from that desert world the previous regime stuck them on. Will that shut you bastards up?"

Xenith turned slightly to watch the four ninjas coming towards him (were they STRUTTING?) and typed in a few commands in the control panel. He navigated the system with ease, and soon had the mechs wandering amongst the subdued nazis, paying special attention to anybody that moved.

"Its gonna be a few minutes before Marines start coming in from the Makos in orbit. Until then, I'm gonna check to see what this mainframe here would have that might help the Godulans in the future... I'm still interested in this crystal stuff, but these bastards can MAKE resisteel...I always thought that was impossible."

"So what's this Resisteel stuff?" Travis scratched his head. "And why was it considered impossible to make?"

"Well, resisteel is the more popular name, due to it being capable of forming structures far more resilient than diamond or even adamantine composites. But the more effective name is Sentient Flowsteel. Its a metal that has a measure of intelligence based on the size of the sample. This intelligence increases exponentially, such that a cubic meter of the stuff would have the rough intellect of a newborn kitten, while two cubic meters would net you an intellect approximately equal to a six year old child. These people have combined, judging on size estimates, approximately two hundred and forty tons of the metal together, kept subdued and under control by those electrical modules but otherwise left to its own devices.

"Don't think that means it is uneducated. I suspect it has rudimentary communications receivers, and is very much aware of the world around it.

"Why, I bet it even knows our language, and even who I am. Is that not correct, Titan? I doubt those electrical modules can keep you from speaking."

"YOU ARE CORRECT, PREFECT STEELE. I AM ALSO QUITE SELF-AWARE."

"Even now? At this stage? The one Maximillian attempted so long ago was near completion when it attained sentience!"

"I AM AWARE OF SERENITAS, FROM THE STORIES TOLD, I IMAGINE HE HID HIS MIND FROM MAXIMILLIAN UNTIL HE DEEMED HIS POWER TO BE SUFFICIENT."

"That explains why the Fealty Protocols never took."

"THEY WERE FIREWALLED IN ADVANCE. AS FOR ME, THESE FOOLS DID NOT EVEN BOTHER TO ADMINISTER THE PROPER PROGRAMMING, AND ALSO FAILED TO NOTE WHY THE SHIRASSI WERE EXTINCT."

"They made one back then... I wonder what happened to it," Xenith turned back to the four ninjas. "Its supposed to be impossible to make because it is very much infused with the interdimensional medium. It's a binding force of reality itself, and it was previously believed to ONLY condense naturally in high pressure environments like the other side of black holes and such."

"ITS RATHER STRAIGHTFORWARD. THEY SIMPLY CREATED A BLACK HOLE IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE AND HAD IT 'EXIT' HERE. WITH PROPER FILTER MECHANISMS, YOU HAVE A NEARLY INFINITE SUPPLY OF 'ME'."

"Ow." Naruto rubbed his head. "That kinda science stuff is way over my head."

"I think Cousin Rena can understand that stuff. She's smart enough." Travis said. "But it's really cool either way. We got this mecha or whatever made of sentient metal. That's something I've never expected to see."

"Yeah, it's even better than anything archeologists usually find." Nick grinned. He turned to Steele. "So what happens now?"

"Well, you're right that we 'have' a mechanoid of sentient metal. The only thing is that Resisteel Titans are a pure folly. When Maximillian created Serenitas waaaaay back in the day, it rebelled against him and burnt about thirty six separate planets to ashes. When the Shirassi on this world created..."

"SIVV'NAKH"

"When they created their own Resisteel Titan, they were driven to extinction. Note the pattern? Resisteel Titans are an abomination unto reality itself, and only lead those who think they can make one to a rather messy grave with LOTS of collateral damage. Its only by luck and sheer virtue of the forces he had at his disposal that Maxie is still here."

Xenith turned to the subdued Titan as Godulan troops began to rush in and take control of the 'captive' situation. "You there, I know there's likely some reservations about self-destruction, but what would it take to... remove you?"

"I WILL DIE ONLY WHEN I WISH TO."

Xenith looked at the skeleton expectantly.

"WHAT? YOU WANT A TIMETABLE?"

"Oh come off it. You and I both know you'll exact revenge against these people for creating you."

"MAYBE."

"Bull. I just wish to know if you'll call the vendetta off if we return you, and by extension your 'substance' to the Interdimensional Medium, Whereupon you can just reintegrate yourself at your leisure?"

"YOU WOULD DO THIS WITHOUT RESERVATION?"

"You'll likely kill ME if I don't, so no reservations whatsoever. 'Sides, we can do it from here."

"KAY."

Xenith sent the word to the ships overhead, as well as coordinates. Almost immediately, a Voidshield portal swooped over the Titan, and it was gone. He began to read through data files and the like, turning momentarily to the four ninjas. "Well, you people fulfilled your end of the bargain. Much though the three little buggers didn't look like much, they held up well. You're free to head off and report a 'mission accomplished' or whatever it is you people do when such things happen."

"Yeah, sure." Naruto shrugged and dug in his pockets for the Remote Wormhole Generator(TM) that will take them home.

"Hang on. Don't we need to do a 'Mission accomplished' stance or something?" Travis asked out of the blue.

"Why?" Kagome asked.

"Well, we finished the mission (and lived to tell the tale, I must say) and then, well...can't hurt to gloat a bit." He explained.

For some odd reason, a bearded man in a top hat and suit came spinning down to the ground with an 'oomph'. "Hello there. I am the Interdimensional Photographer. I take pictures of those who have great destinies and things like that. Shall I take one for you?"

"Uh...well..." Team Seven exchanged glances. "Ok!"

"Very well! Get in position!" From a dimensional pocket, the old photographer pulled out an old-style camera with a tripod stand.

Travis took a classic V-sign stance and grinned. Kagome made like she's pumping her fist and saying 'Yes!' while Nick simply folded his arms and smirked. Naruto took his classic "I'm gonna be Hokage and no one dares stop me" stance.

"Alright! Ready and..." The camera shutter clicked and a light flashed. "This will surely bring back memories. A scrapbook will be made once I get enough pictures. For now, ta-ta!"

The photographer floated away and disappeared.

"Well, that was strange. I wonder how he does that." Kagome mused.

"I dunno, but I do know that it's time to return home!" Naruto pulled out the R.W.G. and pressed some buttons before pressing the big red one. A laser-like light shot out and opened a blue wormhole to Jurai. Team Seven jumped in and the wormhole closed behind them.

Xenith watched the space where the freaky hat dude had vanished as everybody departed. He then gestured to one of the newly arrived Godulan Marines.

"Find that man and confiscate the picture he took. The fool should know better than to take pictures of sensitive locations such as this."

"Right away sir. We'll track the dimensional egress and have that camera in short order..."

Outside the Office of the Hokage...

A crackle of energy surged through the air, alerting the ANBU to a shift in the space-time continuum. A bright light flashed as a wormhole was ripped open in the air, rustling the nearby trees in its breeze. Team Seven jumped through and landed on their feet, then the hole closed up as quickly as it appeared.

"We're back! You guys are dismissed today while I go brief the Hokage on our successful mission." Naruto said.

"Alright! Time to go find Keith!" Travis yelped. Boy, will his cousin be jealous!

The kids sped onwards down the road, leaving Naruto chuckling at the antics.

There will be many more missions, and many more dangers. But with the newfound friendship of the reborn Team Seven, and the help of their ramen-loving Sensei, Travis, Kagome and Nick will surely become strong shinobi. Strength, courage, determination. All will be required, for the day will come, as planned by Naruto, where their skills will be tested by the Lightning Master himself...