FicWad

Present time.

Several miles outside of Konoha, a bright, yet human sized light appeared at the base of the underground base/bunker's remains. The first people to emerge from it were Helen and Deneve. They staggered forward, almost like they were drunk and disorientated. Following their emergence was Naruto, who allowed his battle rifle to hang from his shoulder as he got the two best friends to use him as support until they got reorientated.

Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen were the next to emerge, and they immediately surveyed their unknown, dishevelled and utterly destroyed surroundings searchingly, the top of their elemental staffs held in front of them and ready to unleash hell on any enemy that would dare attack them.

And finally the Keeper himself floated out of the light, with it dispersing into particles behind him a mere moment after.

Everyone could see the poor state the place was. Uprooted and flattened trees; large, medium and small chunks of the Earth was everywhere. And lastly they heard something big moving around. It did not appear to be close, but whatever it was that's moving, it put them all on edge. It could come back at any moment.

Then Naruto looked behind him and slowly grew wide eyed when he finally saw the destroyed mountain behind them.

“Holy shit, what the hell happened to the mountain and the woodlands of my home?!” the young man exclaimed in shock. Hearing his tone Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo, Richtofen and Helen and Deneve all looked at him, then in the direction he was facing; they got the same reaction as he did.

“Eh!? What the hell could cause that?!” Helen all but shouted in disbelief with an waving arm. “Don't tell me we're going to have to fight the thing that did this!”

Dempsey held up his fist. “Be quiet, and listen,” the man instructed.

Helen narrowed her eyes at him as her lips went into a thin line in mild annoyance. But she did as he instructed. Naruto and Deneve exchanged looks again before they too listened carefully.

Loud footsteps, a loud thud that shook the ground. The noise of metallic whirring. And it was getting louder. That was when Naruto finally sensed it: Element One-fifteen. And it was coming from the... south? No, the south-east.

“I fucking knew it.” Naruto spat, with a scathing scowl. He looked off in the direction he felt the cache of element one-fifteen being at. “I was hoping dad got rid of the damn thing; but it looks like he did the opposite!” Due to how fast it was moving, Naruto guessed they would see it in about a minute or so.

“What did he use it on I wonder?” Dempsey wondered.

Once Helen and Deneve got their balance back Naruto took his arms off them, and crossed his. “Wait for a minute, and you're likely to see it.”

The silver eyed women gave him questioning looks at that but didn't go and ask him what he was talking about. They settled for waiting. The same went for the Primis group.

They waited and exactly one minute later, they all saw it: a one thousand feet tall robot. It greatly resembled The Iron Giant from that Disney movie of the same name... only there was an artillery gun on the right side of its head, two pincers for fingers, and finally it had a rectangular lens to make its eyes.

It was a technological marvel, the pinnacle of German ingenuity, powered by Element One-fifteen itself.

“Great,” Dempsey said with faux enthusiasm. “a one thousand foot tall robot. Just what we needed.”

“I really hope it is automatic.” Nikolai said, unperturbed by the metal monstrosity. “Having to fight people controlling it would be annoying.”

“People are controlling that thing?!” Helen screeched in disbelief as she pointed at the robot in question.

“Peopre CAN control it, from the inside.” Takeo corrected her. “However, we wirr not know untir we go and find out.”

With a thoughtful look Richtofen stroked his chin. “If I had to guess, zis mountain had grown over ze robot during ze past 3 to 4 thousand years. Und vhen it was powered up, it broke through, reducing everyzhing to vhat you see before you.”

“I can see that happen.” Dempsey said, in the utmost seriousness. “Element One-Fifteen is said to be so powerful it's can power things for an eternity. A small portion of the stuff wouldn't have been enough to power something this big. Maybe a few systems, but not enough for it to move. But a boulder sized one? That would certainly do the trick.”

Naruto scowled. “I can't remember if the one I found is boulder sized. But seeing that thing walking around... I'm going to say it was.” he let out a low growl before checking the magazine in his FG-42. It was. He put it back in the slot and found the robot was heading in their direction. ]

The blond looked around again; the trees were uprooted, but he could see many more were flattened... Trees were resilient, very much so, so flattening them like that would require a lot of force pressing down on them...

Then he realised. The blond looked at the robot and found it was stepping directly on top of the imprints on the ground – directly where some of the trees would be.

Helen watched with wide eyes as Naruto took off. “Eh? Wha- Hey!” she called after him, “Don't go over there you idiot!” when he didn't respond the silver eyed hybrid let out an irritated 'tch' and quickly went after him.

“As hotheaded Helen may be, she has a point!” Deneve called after him, “Getting in its path is really stupid!”

“Really, really stupid!” Helen concurred.

Seeing as he didn't answer any of them, again, Deneve shook her head and took off after them. The pixie-hair blonde wondered what Naruto was up to. Why didn't he just do the easy thing and bloody talk to them? Explain what he's doing, or something? This is completely unnecessary!

Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo and Richtofen all exchanged looks before calmly following the three blonds at a sedated pace. The Keeper being silent throughout the entire thing, merely followed them. Though his shoulders were jumping up and down signifying its amusement with the entire situation.

Naruto came to a stop in front of one large imprint in the ground. As Helen and Deneve caught up to him, the blond knelt at the edge of the slope and merely took it all in.

He jumped when Helen pulled him up to his feet and spun him around. She looked really irritated. “Naruto! What the hell are you thinking?!” she demanded, shaking him back and forth like a rag doll.

Her attention was brought to her best friend Deneve, when she grabbed her shoulder. “He can't answer if you're shaking him like that.” she pointed out.

Naruto who wasn't being shook around anymore, swayed unevenly on his feet. He would have fallen on his ass if it wasn't for Helen holding him up.

Helen looked back at Naruto. “Well?! What do you have to say for yourself!” she demanded.

Before Naruto could answer, they were rejoined by the Primis Group and the Keeper. Dempsey answered for him, by stating the obvious. “Looks like this is a footprint, from that machine.” he stood at the edge of the ledge and stared at the robot that was quickly getting closer with each passing second. It'll be right on top of them soon.

Deneve looked at Dempsey for a moment, then she looked at the robot and narrowed her eyes. “Is it just me or is it getting closer to us?”

“It is most definitely getting close.” Richtofen said, confirming the woman's suspicion. The sound of metallic whirring from its moving joints was beginning to overtake everything. “Zis must be ze route it is taking.” he rubbed his chin. “If my memory is correct, one of ze entrances is on its foot. I however, do not remember vhich one it is.”

“I think it was on its right?” Nikolai yelled over the loud metallic noise, though the man sounded unsure. “It has been such a long time, I am unsure.”

Everyone slowly edged back from the footprint as the robot was literally right in front of them by that point. It raised its foot, brought it forward, and the ground shook under their feet when the 1000 feet tall robot stepped directly on top of the embedded footprint. The shockwave nearly sent everyone down on their asses, but everyone had enough time to see underneath the foot.

It hovered in the air for a moment, and they saw the sealed entrance on the sole. Then it brought its foot up as it moved and everyone watched with rapt eyes as it distanced itself from them in a matter of seconds.

“You all saw it, right?” Dempsey asked them.

“Yes” Takeo said. “The entrance to the metallic monstrosity is on its right foot.”

“Ze easist vay to gain entry vould be to shoot it open. Vhich means one of us must be directly under its foot.” As Richtofen's words slowly sank into mind, everyone slowly brought their gaze to Naruto.

The blond blinked owlishly. “What?” he saw them look at something on his possession, and when he followed their gaze it was his FG-42 hanging at his waist. He realised what Nikolai, Takeo, Dempsey and Richtofen were going to want from him. “No. No, no, no, no, no, no! No!”

“Kid, you're the one that has the weapon.” Dempsey told him.

“You have an elemental staff!” the blond blandly pointed out. “You go and shoot it open!”

“Ve vould have a better chance at opening it vith your veapon. Ve need it.” Richtofen pointed out to him.

“Fuck that!” the blond spat, he slowly backed away from them. “I'm not going to stand in the middle of that footprint!”

Helen and Deneve were outraged by what Naruto had said. “WHAT?!”

Dempsey on the other hand looked at the blond with an incredulous look. “What? Where the hell did you get that idea?”

Naruto blinked owlishly. “Y-you're not going to tell me to open that thing?”

Dempsey looked at him as if he had said the stupidest thing he had ever heard. “What? No! Where the hell did you get that idea!? I want your gun so I can go and open it!”

Seriously, why did Naruto think he was going to ask him to go and open it? While two super humans are right there within hearing range? That's just stupid! Not to mention he did it before in the past. Heck Nikolai, Richtofen and Takeo all opened the seal entry way on the robots foot several times when they were around.

“Oh. ” Naruto, Deneve and Helen all blinked owlishly, then the former looked at his battle rifle, lift it up and over his shoulder and tossed it to the former United States marine. “Okay. Here you go.” when the man caught his weapon and began to check the weight of the magazine, the young blond asked, “So, are you going to wait for it to come back around?”

Dempsey let out a scoff. “Tch, of course I am. What? You think I'm gonna chase after it? That would be stupid.”

While they were talking the robot had made a slow U-turn, and was now walking in the direction it came from.

“I'd give it 30 minutes tops before it makes another U-turn and comes back.” Dempsey said.

“I'll give it 20.” Nikolai said.

“15 for me.” Takeo added on.

“I am not ze one zat bets... but I think it vill return in 15 to 20 minutes.” Richtofen said as well.

That was a suckers bet, and Dempsey was so confident in his own that he gladly shook on it. The Keeper. Naruto, Helen and Deneve watched on as the four ancient men shook each others hands bemusedly. The latter of the four slowly looked at Naruto, with their expression conveying “what is happening right now?!”

Naruto shrugged helplessly; he had no idea what they were thinking. Memories of them aside, he is still suffering from the illusions induced by Element One-fifteen – though they weren't as bad as they used to be. Thank god for small mercies; the blond did not want to experience another black out. And if that machine IS powered by Element One-fifteen then the Primis Group is the best people to go in that machine and shut it down. Or get it to stop moving.

Speaking of said robot, Naruto looked in the direction it's walking to. It's gone now – but its footsteps can still be heard, still be felt.

“I'm curious as to why no one has tried to take it down.” the blond said with crossed arms.

“It's one thousand feet tall and made of incredibly thick metal. Unless they have better artillery, and better fire-power then they won't come close to taking it down.” Dempsey pointed out to him. “Honestly, the easiest way to stop it from causing unnecessary damage is to go inside the damn thing and shut it down from there. Or, make it stop moving.”

And with that Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen, Naruto, Helen and Deneve waited for the robot to make its u-turn around. While they were waiting Helen looked at Naruto and eased her way over to him; pulling her claymore from the slot on her spaulders and sticking it in the hard ground. Then she surprised Naruto by pulling him in to a one armed hug, and took enjoyment at the bewildered look he was giving her. Then he shrugged and simply enjoyed having her essentially leaning against him.

“So, your home huh?” she asked, for the sake of striking a conversation.

Naruto nodded and leaned against her; an act she didn't mind and in fact encouraged. “Yep. You saw a part of it in that shattered world, remember?”

Helen giggled with a massive grin as she let him go. “How can I forget?” she gave him her first kiss there; seriously, her first kiss! How on Earth can she forget that? Speaking of kissing...

“Hmm?” Naruto looked to Helen he felt her tap his shoulder. Then his eyes grew startlingly wide when the pageboy-haired woman cupped his cheeks and pressed her lips to his. At first the blond didn't know what to do, this was completely out of his element – and thank GOD the Primis group didn't notice – but when the older woman wiggled her tongue against his lips he hesitantly opened them.

The hybrid took that opportunity to dash her tongue inside his mouth and plunder his orifice. With her tongue exploring his mouth, and their saliva's mixing, Naruto decided to take an active part in it. He wrapped his arms around Helen's waist and pulled her to him, as his tongue coiled around hers, mixing their saliva's together.

Hearing the sound of kissing Deneve looked at her friend and sighed exasperatingly. Well, at least Naruto seems to be enjoying it and is taking an active part, rather than pushing her away, and that Helen isn't being forceful about it. Because if her flamboyant friend was, then she'd have to drag her away from him, less he be scarred for life from her antics.

“Huh.” Deneve looked to Dempsey, who along with Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen had finally noticed them making out. “She's a little old for you, but that's just my cultures prejudice kicking in. Still, good on ya' kid.” he complimented. And he was honestly glad for him; that woman kissing him is a total babe!

Naruto was a little busy to reply, but he gave the living relic the a-okay gesture, even as Helen – who was now giggling - tried to figuratively deep throat him with her tongue. The blond in her grasp was doing a very good job at fight her off though. Or warding her away from her objective.

Then when their lungs burned for fresh air, Helen finally pulled away with a string of saliva connecting to their tongues being shared. Naruto took several mouthfuls of air and looked at her in total bewilderment, his face red in surprise.

“I'm... I'm not complaining, but... what... what was that for?” he asked between breaths.

“Nothing really,” Helen answered, lightly patting him on the cheek with her eyes partially closed. “I just wanted to kiss you – we never did kiss again after you got out of that weird as fuck place. I thought it was long over due~”

Naruto slowly smiled and let out a bewildered, and quiet laugh. “I wouldn't mind doing that again to be honest. Maybe when the time is best to do it though.”

Helen laughed and affectionately rubbed his head with a cheerful, closed eyed grin. “I will hold you up to that!”

As the minutes passed to an hour, the Primis group sat down on the ground to rest their legs. The Keeper was still floating around keeping watch. Helen and Deneve had the pointed end of their sword stabbed into the earth, and were sitting down with their backs pressed against it. It was slow but eventually everyone of them felt the ground shake again, and the metallic whirring could be heard in the distance and was getting louder and louder with each passing second, signalling the robots approach.

“Here it comes,” Dempsey announced, as he got up on his feet with a grunt. “Wish me luck, eh?”

The robot quickly made its approach on its automated route. Everyone looked up as the 1000 feet tall robot raised its left foot, and they saw along with the lights turned on, there was a maintenance hatch there.

Dempsey sprinted directly under the foot and opened-fire on the lights. The maintenance hatch opened as the foot came down directly on top of the man.

“FUCKING HELL!?!” Helen cried out in surprise, as she and Deneve both quickly got to their feet at what they had just seen. “DID HE JUST COMMIT SUICIDE!?” the former Number 22 asked, looking at the other three demandingly, even as the robot kept on walking.

Nikolai shook his head. “No. 'Tank' is inside robot.”

“He is working on a way to get it to stop.” Takeo added.

Then Richtofen added on conclusively. “If he get ejected, ze velocity compensator vill make sure Dempsey vill survive his fall. So zere is no need to vorry.”

“...ejected?” Helen asked as she stared at them hard with squinted eyes.

Flinching as a memory not belonging to him suddenly appeared, Naruto held the side of his head with an irritated grunt. “He gets thrown out, from the head right?” the blond said, looking at Richtofen with tired eyes.

The German nodded, his eyes growing wide in surprise. How did he know that- oh. He recognised that look anywhere. Element one-fifteen induced illusions; it doesn't seem as bad as it normally would. During the early stages of the Great War, some patients he had in the past believed they were other people – that they were in the medieval ages fighting the same threat they were facing then.

So because Naruto wasn't affected to the point he would black out, the German wasn't worried about it.

One minute later, everyone looked up at the robot as it came to a halt. It went ramrod straight and bent its knees to balance itself. They waited for another minute, and Helen and Deneve were startled when Dempsey was ejected from the robot. Thankfully, the velocity compensator made sure the American reached the ground where he entered the giant metal man unharmed.

Which was directly in front of the group.

“Oh, god.” he groaned, making his way back to them on wobbling feet. “I did not miss that. At all.” Dempsey chucked Naruto his FG-42 as he said, “Here, kid, catch.” then the man sat down on the ground once he was out of the embedded footprint with a groan.

Naruto caught the FG-42 and slid his arm and head through the sling, to let it hang by his waist. Now that they got the robot to stop walking around and ruining the environment they were able to take a small breather without having to worry they would accidentally step in its path.

“So, uh, what... what do we do now?” Helen asked, looking rapidly between Dempsey, then to Nikolai and Takeo, then Richtofen and finally Naruto for an answer.

“We wait.” Naruto told her, “My home may have had eyes on that thing, and were probably too scared to try and get close to it due to its sheer size. But now that it's stopped, they're probably going to send a contingent of musketeers over to check it out. And we'll be right here to greet them.”

“Sounds like plan to me.” Nikolai said with approval.

Deneve looked bored, like she always did and Helen looked around to see anything out of the ordinary. It was a whole new land for her. But eventually she stopped because there was nothing else around except for the giant metal construct Dempsey managed to stop.

Naruto was all for it to be honest. Now that he took in the destroyed mountain behind him, and the ruined environment caused by the formerly automated robot, the Namikaze was understandably annoyed and angry.

His dad was the cause of all this, he knew it. While he wanted to believe otherwise, his father was a militaristic man through-and-through. There was no way he would get rid of an asset like that rock so easily. Not when it could be used to give him an advantage over everyone else. And because he could literally feel the fucking rock inside of that thing, it just gave him more credibility.

It may have been the prejudice over his own dad talking, but Naruto was sure Minato was the cause of the mess the robot caused. Nevertheless they all waited for someone to show up.

Nearly three hours later, Naruto snapped to his left when he heard the sound of twigs snapping. He immediately got up on his knees and got his FG-42 raised and ready to fire in the direction he heard the noise coming from. The others looked in the direction the blond was as well, but apart from Helen and Deneve who stood up and pulled their claymores up and out of the ground, they didn't do much else.

Not a second later, a group contingent of soldiers wearing dark brown flak jackets, military grade trousers, long sleeved shirts and carrying ammo pouches for their muskets with bayonets appeared. They had their flintlock rifles aimed at them as they came out of cover.

The trees may have gotten flattened, but that didn't mean they didn't have anything to conceal their approach. Something they used to their advantage, until they made the mistake of miss-stepping on a twig.

And leading them was someone Naruto was very familiar with, despite not having seen her for a near decade. It was his older sister, Mine Namikaze; crimson red hair that was tied back in a pony tail, a heart shaped face and violet eyes and she was in the same attire as the other soldiers.

And when she laid eyes on her younger brother for the first time in seven years she was so shocked she lowered her weapon. Like wise the soldiers around her were equally shocked and they too lowered their rifles when they realised just who was among the group of strangers.

“N-Naruto? L-little brother?” Mine called out, looking as though she had seen a ghost. He may be wearing clothes she didn't recognise but the second youngest daughter of Minato and Kushina Namikaze could still recognise him.

In response Naruto aimed the barrel of his gun at the ground and chuckled, “Hello, Mine. Long time no see.” he looked at the 1000 feet tall robot and gestured nonchalantly towards it, “Hope you don't mind, but we stopped that thing from walking around.”

Mine looked at the robot then back at her brother, “How'd-” she started, only to be interrupted by her brother.

“One of us got inside and got it to stop. So, where's dad? I need to... ask him something.”

The way he said that sent chills up Mine's back; nevertheless, the young woman answered. “He's on his way to the robot with a small contingent of musketeers and grenadiers.” she answered, then she directed her gaze to the Primis Group and Helen and Deneve – though for the latter two, she narrowed her eyes in slight suspicion at the odd colouration of their hair and strange looking eyes. “Who are they?”

“They're friends of mine.” Naruto answered, looking at the group with a fond smile, more so for Helen and Deneve. “And I trust them with my life.”

“Aw, I love you too Naruto~!” Helen cooed with a flirtatious grin. Deneve just shook her head but didn't otherwise do or say anything.

Mine on the other hand was aghast with Helen's flirting, even if her brother returned the grin.

Then Naruto looked around when he finally noticed the Keeper was gone. Again. The blond sighed in exasperation. “Looks like we're missing someone, again.”

Helen wildly looked around. “Wha? Where'd the Keeper go?!”

Deneve had a flat look on her face. “Obviously the Keeper left us while we weren't looking.”

“The Keeper is not immortar. It can farr just as easiry as any man.” Takeo wisely said.

Naruto sighed as he shook his head. “I'm not surprised to be honest. He likes to disappear and reappear any time he wants.” he said, then he looked at his older sister. “I'm going to have a little walk with dad. I have some questions I want to ask him.”

With a pleading look on her face Mine Namikaze took a step towards her brother. “Naruto, please, before you do anything else, please, please, tell me where you've been?” she pleaded desperately, her face was contorted with the expressions of disbelief, relief, and pleading. “Kakashi, Yamato, Fuyu and I have been searching far and wide for you, but we found nothing. There was no trace of you. It was like you just vanished off the face of the earth!”

For the longest time, Naruto was quiet. He took in Mine's words, and was admittedly touched that she was that worried for him. That she, Fuyu and Kakashi and Yamato looked for him after he went missing. Then he crossed his eyes, looked at Helen and Deneve, before coming to a decision.

“I was kidnapped by men in black.” he eventually answered as he went to look at his sister once more. “But if you take me to our dad, you'll get your answers I am sure you're dying to ask.”

Mine looked at him, and she looked at him hard. Then she sighed and nodded. “Alright. I'll take you to him – he should be at the giant metal man by now.”

Naruto nodded and looked at Helen and Deneve, and the Primis Group from over his shoulder. He beckoned them to follow. Dempsey, Richtofen, Nikolai and Takeo all stood up and took hold of their elemental staves and walked to the teenager. Helen and Deneve were already standing, so they simply went over to their friends side with Helen standing a lot closer to him than she previously was.

Amongst a group of strangers in a strange land, wielding primitive weaponry when its compared to Naruto's, but advanced when compared to what she's used to using? Helen couldn't help but feel on edge and protective of Naruto, since she remembered him saying the orders that allowed him to be taken away by the Organization against his will came from the very top.

And since his dad is the leader... it's safe to assume it was he allowed the Organization to take him away.

Once they were grouped together Mine gave the foreigners odd looks, mainly because of what they were wearing. Though her eyes lingered on their more advanced equipment, like the Elemental Staffs belonging to the Primis Group, or the battle rifle hanging from her brothers waist. But despite her curiosity, she didn't say or ask about them. She certainly didn't ask about Helen and Deneve's strange coloured eyes or the odd colouration of their hair.

Then when Naruto gestured for her to lead on, Mine nodded and turned around to do just that. Her small contingent of soldiers formed a protective circle around the small group and since the son of their leader was amongst the group, they treated them as if they were VIPs.

“Something tells me this is going to be one hell of a family reunion.” Helen said all of a sudden. Mine turned her head slightly in curiosity.

Naruto looked at her from the corner of his eye and chuckled. “Tell me about it. I've been waiting for this moment for years.” he's not angry to the point he wants to kill his dad – not anymore; his time in that fucked up mirror dimension that resembled his home had curbed that mentality a lot. But he still has some anger in him. So he might just deck his old man in the face, or give him a scare with the ability to alter his appearance thanks to the blood of his other selves he drank.

Chortling Helen put an arm around his shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. She had a cheerful, but cheeky grin as she rubbed her cheek against his scalp. “Deneve and I will look out for you. Even if you don't need it.”

“He hopefully won't need it.” Deneve said, pointedly. “He's in familiar territory and he knows the people here. If anything he should be looking out for us.”

Naruto let out an amused laugh. “Very true, and I will look out for you. You looked for me when you found me so it's only fair I do the same for you.”

Mine hummed softly as she listened in to their conversation. From the sound of things, her brother is pretty close with those two unknown women. But... she can't help but feel something is... off about them. The redhead didn't know why, but, her gut told her there was more to those silver eyed women than meets the eye. She was missing something, but didn't know what.

But right now she had to get her little brother to their dad.

Hopefully he will keep his word on giving her answers.

----

A/N: This will be the last chapter for this story. The next one will come out in... probably never. Or when I get the inspiration to write again.
I'll be focusing on my other, more popular story, Naruto's Quest in the meantime, since it's where people are actually revewing.