Claymore Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Red Dawn ❯ Accepting Fate ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Yawning and slowly beginning to get up, Clare rubbed her eyes as her vision was rather blurry. Seeing the snow all around her, she began to panic before the said snow was brushed away. "I swear... You sleep in the weirdest places. How you fell asleep on a mound of snow and sink into it without catching frostbite is beyond me."

Looking up, Clare sheepishly laughed at her other caretaker before looking around. She immediately frowned as she couldn't find Teresa anywhere and that was rather uncommon. It was also midday and that had her rather worried as they normally left early in the morning and didn't stop traveling until the sun had set. "Irene... Where is Teresa?"

Sighing as she figured this would be her first question; Irene simply shook her head before pointing into the distance. "She went on ahead as she has some important business to attend to and left me here with you to make sure you were safe. She'll come back very soon."

Clare nodded as she knew there were some things that were just too dangerous for her to tag along with her mother figure. If Teresa thought it was best for her to stay behind, she would accept that as she knew she would come back after it was done.

But something had bothered her. Why had they come to the north? She could see that Teresa was on a hunt, tracking something down, but she did not know what it was the former number one was tracking. This bothered her as either Irene or Teresa would tell her what they were doing but this time neither had.

Needing to know what was going on, Clare picked herself out of the snow and noticed Irene now was sitting besides the fire. Walking over to her, and also to the fire as she was rather cold, she sat down before the flames. After a moment of warming up, Clare looked up and at Irene before finally speaking. "What is it Teresa is following?"

Irene was rather impressed. Clare was able to determine they were tracking something without being told. The girl definitely had some skill, both physical and mental, and would make a fine warrior... But neither she nor Teresa wished that fate for her, wanting her to live somewhat normally.

Then again, that was the reason they were tracking him. He was, as for as she knew, a pureblood human and could possibly teach Clare some of his skills. It for one would probably make it easier on both her and Teresa knowing she could at least defend herself. However, the more important reason was to have a father figure, which from what Teresa had told her Naruto had become in their short time together.

Shaking her head of all of this, Irene sighed once more before looking off into the distance, feeling Teresa's presence along with two very familiar ones. "We have been tracking him... And Teresa has left to convince him to come back."

Clare was stunned. He was still alive... But she was told Awakened were just like Yoma and ate humans. So did that mean he had survived and was wandering the northern plains? But how did he escape or did he charm his way out of the Awakened's grasp?

Gripping onto the necklace he had given her, Clare looked off into the distance as well, hoping that both Naruto and Teresa would be alright.

Hissing in her throat, Luciela's eyes shone a dark silver as her yoki began to swell within. She didn't need this right now. She had just retrieved Naruto and now this woman, the same one that she had first found Naruto with, was back to claim him and take him from her.

Her yoki exploded around her and began to rage around her like an untamed storm, not showing any fear despite knowing the strength of the warrior before her. "GO AWAY! I don't have time to deal with the likes of you! HE BELONGS TO ME!"

Despite being surprised at Luciela's aggression and the raw hatred coming from her words, Teresa stood her ground. Her faint smile simply grew. Luciela was afraid of her and what she could do. This would make things much easier.

"Well, it seems even you realized it now. You don't have a chance here, so let him go before you cause any more damage to him." Teresa stated as she drew forth her claymore, preparing to strike at a moments notice to keep Luciela from transforming into her true state.

Even being as enraged as she was at Teresa's arrival, she caught what she had said at the end and her eyes turned to Naruto. Her yoki, while not causing any serious damage was corrosive to him and it was beginning to take its toll as minor cuts racked his skin while her yoki accidentally was being injected into him causing some trouble as his chakra and the beast yoki fought against it.

Briefly drawing back her yoki, she set Naruto in the snow where he wouldn't get involved, before turning back to Teresa and allowing her yoki to burst forth as it was before, this time beginning her transformation. "You don't get it girl! He is one of my treasures and I will not let him go!"

Teresa saw her transformation and tried to stop it, but even with the speed of the Quick Sword she was unable to make contact as Luciela made the transformation, easily moving out of her away. "You dodged?!"

Luciela's eyes burned a bright silver as she gazed at her opponent, she growled as her yoki continued to increase around her as her leg muscles tensed. "I will not just surrender him to you! As long as I draw breath, I will fight as he IS MINE!"

In a blink, Luciela was suddenly on Teresa, her front claws clashing against Teresa's blade, pushing her back. Yowling, she swung her other claw only for Teresa to knock her other hand back and jump towards her face, her sword becoming nothing more then a flash. It was blocked easily as Luciela's tail whipped over her head and knocked it back.

Skidding against the ground, Teresa wasted no time and closed her eyes, focusing on her own yoki before bring it forth. Snapping her eyes open, they shone brightly becoming a deeper silver then before while her eye dilated and became more focused on her opponent. Drawing her sword before her for a moment, she charged the Abyssal.

But in that exact moment Luciela blurred from vision, a mist of powdered snow trailing her movements, and appeared behind Teresa with yoki beginning to form within her mouth. If it wasn't for Teresa ability to sense yoki, despite the amount being released being almost so great that she couldn't see it correctly, Teresa would have been unable to avoid the ensuing blast.

Taking in the damage and how familiar that blast was, Teresa frowned. She had not expected that the Demon of the South had been holding some tricks back in their fight. She could reason with the speed as the forest would have hindered her speed and there was always the chance she would have wounded herself and become easy prey.

However, the last attack made Teresa worry as that was the same attack Naruto had used when his demonic presence took over in the fight against Priscilla. It was as if he had been teaching her... And that could not bode well as that meant there had to be a few more tricks up his sleeve that he could have taught to Luciela.

As if thinking about that wasn't bad enough, it seemed as if Luciela grinned before the snow around her began to swirl around her violently. Then in a blink of an eye, she was gone. No trail of powdered snow. She had simply vanished, leaving no traces were she had gone making it impossible for Teresa to sense her until the very last second.

The Quick Sword had only just saved her life as her blade met Luciela's claw. Then the worse happened as each of the Abyssal's fingers lengthened into lances and shot straight for her and pierced through her... But once more Teresa had surprised her and was behind her; her blade drawn as if she had cut into her.

Then it hit her. The excruciating pain was so great that her unearthly yowl shook the snow as the majority arm fell to the powder, staining it purple as her blood gushed from the stumped arm. Falling to the ground, still growling out in pain, Luciela attempted to attach her arm back as her yoki flowed to the arm.

Seeing this, Teresa knew she could end this and moved in to finish the fight, appearing above her with her sword held above her to decapitate her in one stroke. But at that exact second, she became stunned as the arm suddenly regenerate as if she was a defensive-type instead of an offense one and the said stretched out towards her, a ball of pure yoki being formed.

Cursing, not having much time herself, Teresa switched her blade to her left hand before outstretching her right arm and began to do the same. This caught Luciela off guard as the two yoki orbs met. They were evenly matched and quickly gave out to the other before Teresa dropped down, Luciela forced to use her jump speed to avoid being decapitated.

Panting heavily, using a lot of her yoki very quickly, Luciela frowned as she stood on her hind legs and looked over at Teresa. "How?! How do you know that attack?! He was only with you for a few days at most!"

Teresa, panting just a deeply, simply grinned as she gripped both of her hands onto her sword and held it before her. "You want to know the truth... I'm just that talented. But it makes me wonder..."

Just then, the snow began to swirl violently around. And to Luciela's horror, she had performed the Body Flicker and appeared behind her with her blade slashing to her stomach. "If I can do this as well!"

Once again using her jump speed, Luciela easily got away from Teresa. However, this time she had paid the price as a tail laid behind her, severed from Teresa's cut. Growling deeply, not sure how this could be possible, the Demon of the South gazed at her opponent carefully. "What are you?"

Teresa only faintly smiled as she looked Luciela in the eyes, lowering her sword to her side as she closed her shining silver eyes as the very air itself stilled, her yoki beginning to build around her. "I'm just like you... I'm a monster."

"Oh?" Isley commented as he helped Priscilla to their bed having just got her to calm down and go to sleep. Naruto's little scare tactics near the end before he left were actually a blessing as it indeed worked and Priscilla had seemed to revert back into her childish demeanor, only she kept the fear she had for the red power as she called it.

However, it was none of this that had caught his attention. It was the high levels of yoki deep in the southern portion of his territory. He knew one happened to be Luciela, who was heading back to the south to keep from drawing more attention to her.

Under normal circumstances he would have not allowed her to have been in his land, but as of right now he wasn't so sure she he wanted to fight her. He also knew she was only here for something she claimed as hers, AKA Naruto, and he really didn't want to deal with her with him around.

But what was troubling was the outage of yoki coming not only from her, but from her opponent. Whoever it was, they were extraordinarily powerful. There was no doubt it was not Naruto, as that yoki was something he could easily sense, but it wasn't comforting in the slightest as it was greater then even his own at full strength.

He could literally feel what was happening in the fight as if he was there, watching the fight. It went back and forth, the control of the fight changing so quickly and often that he wasn't sure who would come out on top. But no matter who came out on top of this fight... It was something he didn't like as yet another with the powers of an Abyssal had shown themselves.

"My lord... What is going on out there?" Rigaldo's voice caught Isley's attention as a cloak was placed over him, still being nude after feeding and bringing Priscilla back.

Isley was surprised at this, having been so caught up in the fight that he must have left the room and even the cabin to get a better feel for the fight. "You can feel it to, Rigaldo. This fight... This horrible show can only be brought forth when two with the power of an Abyssal clash. They very well might change the landscape of the southern tip of my lands."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Rigaldo asked, wanting to do something to help his superior as they both focused their attention back onto the battle.

"No there isn't. If I were to head to finish off the winner of this battle, there is a chance Riful would get involved and that is the last thing that is need. Besides, I can sense he is there too... So it is best to sit back and watch." Isley responded, carefully evaluating the fight despite it being so far away.

His eyes, however, narrowed drastically before his entire being froze at the tremendous power that he could feel. But in an instant, he threw it off as both Priscilla's and Naruto's hidden strength was greater. "Interesting... This fight is just about over. But I wonder, will he let it?"

Puzzled by Isley last words, having sense the incredible strength from one of the two combatants, Rigaldo simply turned his attention back to the south. This would be an interesting finish.

"This is incredible. I'd never felt anything like this before." Irene stated, watching the fight from the farthest distance possible to keep from being caught in it with Clare this time.

To be honest, she really didn't even feel safe here with Teresa unleashing her power like she was now as she faced off with the Abyssal of the South. It was Clare that brought her this close as she wanted to make sure her mother was alive and well. Irene told her that she could feel what was going on, but that wasn't enough and in the end she had to go as Clare was determined to be there and headed in the direction she told her Teresa had left.

It was somewhat annoying that a small child was leading her here, possibly to an early grave, but at the same time she had a feeling this child may have been the very reason she was still around. If she had not been present when Luciela attacked before, she might have been caught up in the fight and could have lost her life.

So for that, she was grateful. She valued her life highly after witnessing Priscilla's devastating powers and she would do what she could to stay alive. ...Even if that meant she had to be somewhat of a permanent baby-sitter for Clare.

"I can barely make it out... What's going on?" Clare stated, having tried to watch the battle from this distance but failed as her eyesight was nothing compared to Irene or Teresa's.

"It is an equal battle... But now Teresa has released forty percent of her power. But what has me worried is... Clare, what are you doing?!" Irene suddenly shouted as she noticed the young brunette run forward, scaring the former number two as she did not want to get involved and get killed or get scolded by Teresa.

But in a moment, she immediately saw what Clare had run to as she had stopped not soon after she had shouted. Kneeling down, brushing away some of the snow, there laid Naruto, looking perfectly fine as his wounds from Luciela's yoki had healed smoothly. "We should get him out of here... That way Teresa can stop fighting."

Being stunned that he was found this easily, Irene was half tempted to drag him away as Clare was suggesting. The only problem would be if Luciela happened to be the victor, they would be chased by the Demon of the South and she didn't want to deal with an Abyssal, even if they were weakened drastically.

Weighing the bad with the good, Irene had to agree with Clare. Getting him out of there would be for the best, as Teresa had the upper hand now and would most likely not relinquish it now as the odds were in her favor. But as she moved to lift him, a vast amount of yoki began to expel from Luciela's now human body.

This forced Irene to turn her attention back to the battle, which in turn made Clare look. Beginning to shake as this outage of yoki was something far beyond anything she had felt from even Priscilla, Irene took a step back as her fear began to overwhelm her. "No this can't be... Has she been holding back all this time?!"

As Clare began to feel frightened as well, seeing the deadly aura surrounding the one opposing Teresa, neither noticed Naruto face physically changed and his golden eyes snapped open.

Powdered snow was now scattered through the air like a fine mist, making it almost impossible to see a foot before there very eyes. Luciela didn't need her eyes to see what had happened. Her haired stood on ends as her entire body became rigid.

This was insane. She had estimated the power that Teresa had summoned to break free and knock her down to be at least fifty percent. But now she could see how wrong she was now she had seen her truly tap into her vast yoki and it made her afraid. If she was fighting at fifty now... She would be lucky to stand a chance.

But luck didn't seem to be favoring right her as she could barely see any physical changes with the warrior before her now that the snowy mist had subsided, meaning she more then likely had only brought her outage to forty percent at best. And that meant... If she really wanted to extinguish her, she could at any time without awakening.

To Luciela's credit, this only seemed to enrage her. But instead of letting her rage flow rampantly as she had done in the past, she focused it on herself, searching for something she knew that would equal this out. She knew what she had to do to be rid of this opponent once and for all.

In an instant, Luciela began to revert back to her human form, bare of any clothing. This act caught Teresa off guard but the fact that her yoki had stayed just as potent as before and flared around her fiercely had her worried as an Awakened, no matter who they were, shouldn't keep their power from their transformed state.

"I told you... To go away. I did not want to have to resort to this." Luciela stated calmly, her yoki suddenly beginning to condense around her as she closed her eyes. "If you go now, I'll let you live. If not... This will be your end."

Teresa began to think retreating now was one of her best options. Before when she released her power to her extent she could see the fear on Luciela's demonic face. But now as she looked into her eyes, she could see that whatever Luciela had up her sleeve would be enough to warrant great caution.

Glancing over towards the direction Naruto was in, which was a good distance as their fight was moving away from him, something Luciela seemed key on and she had no problem with. Immediately Teresa frowned as there was Clare and Irene, in the middle of their damn battle field... Something she sternly told Irene to keep Clare out of!

However, this was to her advantage. If they could take him and get him out of here, she would only have to weaken her just a little longer before retreating. Sure, Luciela would notice this but to continue her fight with her after that would be foolish as it would end with her loosing her head.

Bringing her sword before her, Teresa kept her focus completely on the Abyssal before her as she drew a deep breath. "You best hope this succeeds... Otherwise I will take your head in the next attack."

Narrowing her eyes, Luciela growled as this girl would not back down. She was not bluffing but if she wouldn't back down, she would unleash hell onto the warrior. Finding what she had been searching for within her, something she could not do when transformed, Luciela simply gazed over Teresa void of any emotion. "If that is what you wish... First Gate, Open."

The condensing yoki around her suddenly began to pour from her body like wildfire, quickly matching Teresa's before simply overtaking it and moving far beyond. The snow began to melt from the pressure being asserted and the ground began to crack and even lift before her as her power continued to soar far beyond her limits.

Hell then began as Luciela disappeared. Teresa found herself uplifted and knocked into the air, rapidly flying away from the battle scene. In the next moment Luciela appeared behind her and began to connect with a barrage of unholy punches, not even bothering with a kick before she hit her on the back of her head with a back hand, blasting her back towards their starting point.

In the next moment, Teresa shot forth directly up into the air as once more Luciela appeared before her and caught a kick into her chest. This time, Luciela simply chased and grabbed her torso before bringing her knee straight into the back of her spine.

Teresa screamed out in agony, as it felt as if her spine literally had just been snapped in two but Luciela didn't stop as she picked her up and threw her into the ground, the snow acting as no cushion as she went straight through it and into the frozen ground below.

Blood flowed from Teresa's mouth, the light in her eyes slowly beginning to fade as began to feel the world slipping from her. This was simply unreal. How could she have summoned for this amount of power? She didn't possess it before, that much she was sure as yoki sensing was something she excelled at.

Being lifted by the collar of her tattered dress, Teresa looked into Luciela's now silver eyes. She could see clearly now that she at this very moment possessed even more yoki then even Priscilla and could not even catch a flow. However, her faded eyes caught the glimpse of a glowing orb in her other hand that seemed disproportional as it was as large the one she made in her awakened form.

"I warned you... As with the techniques I've learned from him, I'm now the most powerful Awakened Being in the land. You never had a chance." Luciela stated, ready to use the yoki Rasengan to finish this once and for all.

She almost wanted to begin to laugh as she let her sword drop. This was how it was going to end for her. She wasn't even fighting for Clare's sake... She was fighting for some guy that held the promise to take them to a different land so they could get away from the organization and yoma of this land. And what irony was that this awakened before her was going to use a technique of his to finish her.

Blood splattered on her face and she was suddenly dropped as a black and red blur flashed between and separated them. The blood came from Luciela's stumped arms as they fell to the ground but who could have... Teresa smirked as she saw Naruto standing with his back turned, holding her own claymore in his hand.

This time, Teresa began to laugh. But it was cut short as she suddenly found it lodged into her right leg, slicing through the femur and causing her to scream out in pain as she was no where near to being recovered.

But as both gazed at the one that had injured them, Luciela and Teresa became very, very concerned. Naruto was so far beyond pissed that the word for it couldn't even be fathomed.

"What... WHAT IN THE FUCKING HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! Explain now or the wounds you both have now will become much more severe until I get my answer!" Naruto screamed out, his chakra dancing around him as he did not like what he woke up to and he was going to get straight to the bottom of it.

Teresa was too stunned to say anything as she couldn't even fathom them his response. Luciela on the other hand had a single thought going through her mind that could be summed up in two words. Oh shit.

Becoming further irritated as both stayed perfectly quiet, Naruto's chakra began to dance around him madly and he moved to advance onto them. He was abruptly stopped as Clare ran forward, in-between him and Teresa as if to protect her. Seeing this, Naruto calmed to an extent and took a deep breath. "I need an explanation here... Why in the hell were you two fighting?! Does anyone know here?!"

Seeing that neither Luciela nor Teresa was talking, not to mention that Naruto was still seething and nearly foaming at the mouth, Irene stepped forward attentively and decided to answer on Teresa's half. "Teresa has been training these last few years in an attempt to strength herself to the point that she could defeat Luciela and bring you with us."

Finally getting an answer, Naruto's flaring temper began to dampen but it was far from being extinguished. However, at least with that he knew one side of the story as he turned to Teresa. "Is that true?"

Only nodding as she wasn't sure how else to respond, not wanting to piss off the one that held all of their lives in the palms of his hands even further. Seeing this, Naruto's anger was slowly turning to irritation as he began to rub his temple. "Alright... That explains your half. Luciela."

Seeing that he was turning to her as she was attaching her arms, not feeling as in much danger as she was in before, Luciela sighed and shook her head. "I was challenge and I couldn't simply hand you over to her... As I wasn't sure if you would come back to me... I didn't want to lose my last treasure."

Not being surprised, as Luciela seemed to consider everything a possession, Naruto simply closed his eyes. In the very next second, a small rock hit both Luciela and Teresa between the eyes, knocking them back from their position. "You two are idiots. ...Luciela, didn't I tell you to ask for the name of a warrior before fighting them?"

Being suddenly caught off guard by his sudden question, it took a moment for Luciela to register it before nodding. "Yes, I remember that. I just forgot as it wasn't too longer you began running away from me... What is this about?"

Sighing as he looked up into the cloudy sky, Naruto returned to his normal state. "I've been thinking a lot of recently... It has been a little longer then two years since I've been here and I've accepted that I could be here forever... But as of recently, things have been looking up and it could be possible for me to leave. But then I realized... Even if I return home, my war still rages."

Continuing to look into the sky, ignoring the looks he was receiving from all there, Naruto continued on. "I love the land and all the people in it... But things must change otherwise we'll keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, becoming a pointless cycle of unending hatred and bloodshed. In order to do this, Konan and I reformed the Akatsuki to bring forth this Red Dawn... But just as we began our war, I suddenly find myself here."

"While I have faith in Konan's abilities, she can only do so much and I doubt she could survive in a fight against the five Kages as I could. I know the war will turn soon without me there and even when I arrive there wouldn't be much I could do on my own... That's when I began to think... What if I brought forth a small army of well trained warriors that match the skills of even the best ninja in my land?" Naruto finally stated as he looked down towards at Teresa before his gaze turned to Luciela.

Luciela was shocked at first from what she heard. But that slowly began to boil into anger and her body began to shake as she moved towards him. "You... You've planned this from the beginning?!"

"No actually... This all really started after my fight with Dauf. You kicking me out simply helped kick start my recruiting campaign of both warriors and awakens alike. Unfortunately it seemed that I couldn't exactly win over Isley and Priscilla to join forces with us..." Naruto responded, fearing some sort of retaliation from the Demon of the South.

And she seemed ready to reach out and strangle, becoming further infuriated at his choice of words. The problem was her arms weren't properly attached so her hands couldn't really grip his throat. "You son of a..."

"Luciela... I am sorry for everything I put you through these last couple of weeks." Naruto quietly, looking ashamed as his eyes looked at her feet as he couldn't find the strength to look her in the eyes. "I've been a fool and while I know my apology isn't enough to make it up for you, I'll try to treat you better then I have. ...After all, I might not be able to leave these lands after all and I don't want to sever the relationship I've built with you."

Looking at him for a moment, still very upset with him, Luciela kept her face stoic as she didn't want to let him know what she was thinking, not that he was even looking at her face. She was still mad, but she was beginning to see what was going on in his head and why he was doing the things he was. She still didn't like it in the least, but there at least was a reason, a pretty damn good one, behind it.

Suddenly knocking him upside the head in a rather clumsy fashion as her arm wasn't completely reattached yet, Luciela only sighed as she let her arms hang at her side. "You fool... All I wanted all along was an apology and an explanation. Was it really that hard to say?"

Naruto simply nodded before he realized that the others were still there. Turning to see them, he was relatively surprised to see that they were neither shocked by the affection shown by either towards one another nor what he had talked about just earlier. In fact, Teresa spoke rather quickly now that he had brought his attention back to them.

"So I take it that your world isn't exactly at peace either?" Receiving a nod from the only guy there, Teresa sighed for a moment before shaking her head. "Well... Shit, it may not exactly be perfect but it still sounds better then it is here. ...But despite being here two years, you have found no leads..."

"Actually... I have. I have Isley to thank for that." Naruto grinned as he remembered what Isley had said before he had let him go. "However, the problem lies in that... The organization is the only one that knows how to leave this rock. So in order to do so..."

"We have to go through the organization." Irene finished, not liking that idea in the slightest. It wasn't helping that it seemed that Teresa had suddenly shifted her opinion of Luciela, despite seeing the very human like feelings she possessed. "Not to be a downer, but that is impossible for us warriors. The organization is well prepared for a warrior attack against them as no matter what, number ten stays at their base."

"Oh... That could cause problems." Teresa grimaced, knowing exactly what Irene was eluding to there. "The number ten is exclusively meant to stop a warrior uprising as her abilities not only hinder our vision, hearing, etc... But they also dive into our mind and confuse us, sometimes being able to make us see things that aren't really there."

"Ahem." Luciela faked a cough to bring the attention back to her, which in turn made Naruto place his cloak over her as she was nude. "Aren't you forgetting something? I'm no longer a warrior. I'm an Awakened and her powers are absolutely useless against me. You also forget that Naruto isn't even a claymore and if she was somehow to affect him because of his yoki... Well he could just use it and then they would be in trouble."

As both Naruto and Teresa nodded in unison, that being true, Irene twitched madly at the sudden turn of events. "Okay, what the hell is going on here?! Only minutes ago you were at each others throats and now you're planning an assault on the organization?! Does anyone else here think this is all maddening?! She's an Awakened?! She eats humans, whom we were sworn to protect!"

"Irene, will you calm down?" Teresa asked as she could tell her partner was rather worked up and she was just about to explode. "I would have agreed with you earlier this week, but now after fighting her... I don't know how to say it. It was as if I got to know her and there just seemed to be something very human about her now and I don't feel as threatened. I still don't trust her, but I have a higher opinion now."

"Furthermore, I doubt we would just suddenly raid the organization at this moment. First of all, we'd leave Clare completely unguarded and I won't allow such a thing. Secondly, he said we would need a small army so we would have to have done some recruiting and training. Finally... I'm sick and tired of living on this rock, having all the people fear us just because we accepted yoma flesh into our bodies to protect them!" Teresa stated her case firmly to Irene.

Irene was simply floored. She wasn't even sure how to think through a response like Teresa's. Sure, all of her arguments were valid and to be honest, there was something very different about Luciela compared to any awakened being she ever met before. But looking down and at the young girl at Teresa's side listening to them, Irene finally spoke. "Clare, what do you have to say about any of this?"

Everyone stopped as they hadn't expected Clare to be dragged into the conversation. They were ignoring her despite knowing she probably understood everything they spoke of. It wasn't as if they were doing it on purpose, but it was a conversation not meant for her to be involved in despite having a critical role.

But despite everyone's gaze, Clare only shrugged as she looked directly as Teresa and smiled. "I don't mind... I'm already happy as long as I'm with you. I don't care if we're here, there or anywhere else. ...I'm happy."

Hearing her response, there wasn't much more Irene could say. If Clare was fine with all of this, even joining with an awakened being, there was simply nothing she could say. She wouldn't enjoy it that much, but there were a few bright sides...

"Are you sure? You do realize what we are talking about? Living with Luciela and I will be a rather drastic change then living with just Teresa and Irene." Naruto suddenly asked, kneeling down before her to look her into the eyes as she was much shorter, ignoring the glare he was getting from Luciela.

Clare nodded. While she wasn't sure of everything, she knew the consequences from listening to them speak. "I know... I'll try my best not to get in way and keep up."

Making sure she knew as he looked her in the eyes, Naruto could only nod and was ready to stand back up when Teresa suddenly spoke up. "Would it be alright for you to train her up until we get off this rock or failing trying?"

"I was already planning on it... Clare's different from mostly everyone here. She possesses chakra and that means I can train her." Naruto stated as he gave Clare a smile before gazing over Teresa, seeing that she was pleased with his response. "Of course, that is if she wants to be trained?"

There really wasn't much of a shock from Clare's answer as the girl just rapidly nodded her head. Naruto only rolled his eyes and bit his lip to keep from chuckling as he stood up.

Sighing, he looked over at Luciela to see she had a light smile on her face as well. It was something that made him only feel better about all of this. Luciela... She had found her human heart again. "Let's go home. I'm rather tired and I doubt Isley wants us on his land any longer.

Luciela only nodded before she led the way with Naruto at her side. In the end... That was all she really wanted.

Now all that was left was to find her sister.

"Konan... I'm sorry, note even Zetsu can find him." A lone figure with bubble gum pink hair stood before the origami princess as she sat in her office, overlooking the Rain Village. "To make matters worse our troop's moral is dropping. It will only be a matter of time before they start to loose hope as we've lost our leader."

Sighing as she heard this, knowing that his presence was the very thing that made everyone believe they could actually succeed in their endeavor; Konan closed her eyes and shook her head. "For now, we must act without him then as he is not on this continent. However, we cannot stop searching as we need him if we wish to be victorious."

"Not on this continent... How is that possible? The last time he was seen was when he was making his way to Konoha from here to gather more troops." A new figure with crimson colored hair stated, having listened to what had been said from outside.

Opening her eyes, Konan looked utterly tired as this war had been far harsher on her then she would have liked it. This wasn't supposed to be here position... She was supposed to be standing besides him as he guided their troops to victory. "All that I can think of is a summoning... Someone in a distant land must have tried to summon the fox for its power."

"If that's the case, why don't we do the same? I'm sure the three of use have enough strength to accomplish such a feat." The pink haired one commented, looking over at Konan with worry as she could tell that she seemed ready to break.

Konan only shook her head and closed her eyes. "I've already tried that... The amount of power isn't a factor as I know alone I have enough. But the seal that it requires it so bizarre that I find it difficult for anyone other then for the deceased Yondaime Hokage, Jiraiya and Naruto to understand such designs. ...The only choice we have left is for you two to search the other continents and look for him while I hold down the fort here."

"Gaara, Sakura... Can I trust you to do this...? For the Red Dawn?"