Disclaimer: I certainly don't own Naruto, Disney or any of its affiliated properties. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this now would I?
"The connection of our hearts…" : Speech (Bold for yelling ,Bijuu, or massive creatures)
'The connection of our hearts…' : Thought
In the shared mindscape of Naruto, Marian, Ella and Grimhilde…
"Ella! Grimhilde! It's so nice to see you ladies again! Even if the first thing you do is tease me…" Naruto said, rushing over to hug the aforementioned women who returned the favor by wrapping their arms around their long lost husband, his familiar aura going a long way to ease their frayed nerves.
"Naruto? Are these some of your wives from your other adventures?" Marian said, hesitantly walking forward to them, gawking at the true form of Naruto and the other women. Surprisingly, the form of man wasn't as repulsive as she feared – when Naruto told her about the fact that humans didn't have fur, feathers, scales, claws or fangs, she was at a loss on how to take the news. Having never thought such a defenseless creature could exist, she was more than a little skeptical about whether humans could be considered attractive but she was happy to be proven wrong when she quickly realized that the nakedness of humans meant that one could admire their physiques (and their *ahem* equipment) without obstruction. While Naruto wasn't as huge as he was when he was a fox, he was still of a respectable height and build, meaning that given his unchanged personality, Marian was learning new things about her preferences in a mate.
"Ah Marian! Sorry for rushing off like that – yeah, these women are my wives. The woman with a wand is Ella and the other is Grimhilde! I actually met them quite early on my quest through the many worlds I travelled through…I couldn't contact them when in this one because my powers were rendered dormant here." Naruto said, freeing himself from the arms of the human women before reaching over to pull Marian over to him, the vixen pausing for a second before leaning into Naruto's side, quietly noting that Naruto's scent and aura were still the same (his exposed skin also felt nice under her paws and sliding against her fur too…it sent pleasurable tingles down her spine). Looking towards the other women curiously, Marian noted that they seemed friendly enough given their amicable response to a new woman with their mate (the one named Ella was inspecting her with an awed look, even reaching over to rub her head and ears while Grimhilde smirked at the vixen's embarrassed look of pleasure at the petting).
"Speaking of your dormant powers darling, I do believe you have some explanations to give – the last we heard of you, Tiger told us that you were being whisked away to a random new world by Maleficent's magic! How was your aunt able to follow you across worlds and even transport you without your consent?" Grimhilde asked, watching as Naruto's face grew a little cold before he muttered out two words that she was dreading.
"Grimm Lords…"
"What! What did they do to Maleficent to make her their slave?" Ella said, horrified at the thought of those monstrous beings spiriting someone away before forcing them to be a helpless minion (her memories of how those two brothers tore through Oxford was still fresh in her mind and without her husband around, was all too aware of just how easily they could snuff out her life).
"Oh, it's quite the tale alright – I already told Marian about it earlier so I should bring you ladies up to speed so you can inform the others when you return." Naruto said and launched into a long exposition session, telling the women about Maleficent's unwilling recruitment into the Grimm Lords' service (she was told to serve or get her very existence erased) and how she was the unwilling magical element who augmented the villains in the worlds Naruto visited, which explained how a mere tiger was able to 'fight' against him. More worryingly, Maleficent also told Naruto that the Grimm Lords were using her magic to hinder his travel through worlds, stripping him of most of his chakra with each world jump in an attempt to try and get him killed in his quests. The lords also wanted to take his power for themselves, realizing that his divine chakra made him a very real threat to their rule over all – thankfully, their hubris was only matched by their incompetence as they were unable to harness the power, its nature completely alien to any form of magic they had previously thought it was. Maleficent was not the loyal servant the Lords thought her to be though, as their threat of complete annihilation only served to strengthen her resolve to rebel against her masters and help her nephew and secret love(whether she directly acknowledged it or not). As such, during a moment of opportunity, Maleficent contacted Naruto through a meeting of minds, telling him what she did to make his quest harder and why she did that. She also told him that in order to prevent his power from being perverted by the Grimm Lords; she had to shove him into the dimensional ether to reabsorb his chakra but as a more sluggish form, making him more unnoticeable to the Lords' senses while also retrieving all of his power again.
"So you see, that's why I was sent to this new world and transformed into a giant fox – the inhabitants of this world are animals so I guess that was the reason for that. I still have my physical prowess but am unable to do anything too special…which brings me to my main question – how did you find me after so long? It's been ten years since I came to this world after all?" Naruto asked as Ella and Grimhilde smiled a little before they looked a little despondent.
"You can answer that question yourself darling – remember that Snow has the ability to know where her True Love is using her Pure Heart – we all have a weaker version of this power but hers is special as it can direct all of us through the worlds we travel based on the bonds you have made with their natives. Given what you've told us about your powers, Ella and I couldn't sense your chakra and were forced to wait until you made bond with someone in this world. From your expression, I can see you know just what kind of bond I speak of – your love for this vixen here is what allowed us to find you once more. However, I feel we may have intruded on a more…private moment~…" Grimhilde said, enjoying the way Marian blushed and buried her face into Naruto's side while Naruto sighed at his wife's teasing before patting Marian's head.
"Stop teasing the poor girl – she just lost her maidenhood not too long ago and I don't want her swooning so soon after that. Why do you two look sad though? We can just return to the rest of the family now right?" Naruto said, wondering why Ella looked away for a second to brush a tear out of her eye.
"Oh Naruto, I wish it was that simple. While we were able to get Tiger back to the rest of us, our moment of peace was not meant to last. She told us that you were sent to another world by Maleficent's magic but we couldn't find you, even with all our magic abilities. Not long after, I assume that the Grimm Lords must have learned of your reacquisition of your chakra – since they thought Maleficent was their loyal minion, they must have thought that we were the reason for that instead." Ella said, pausing to sigh a little, Grimhilde patting her shoulder to soothe her.
"What happened next? What did those idiots do to all you?" Naruto growled in annoyance.
"Their retribution was swift and terrible – they first erased all traces of our existence in all worlds we ever visited. While my magic boosted with Grimhilde's power allowed us to escape into the dimensional ether, we were no longer able to return to Aurora's castle. Nobody recognized us and realizing that using any magic to fix that would reveal our presence to the Lords, we all decided to hide in a mirror world like Wonderland, except this one was the realm of magic Grimhilde got from absorbing the Mirror Demon's power. We all decided to live there until we could find you again…it was a long ten years but thankfully, the ravages of time never affected us beyond our physical prime…" Ella explained, her magic playing a vision of the women and their plight.
Naruto and Marian were shocked at the revelation and while Marian immediately rushed over to Ella and tried to comfort the sad women, the ninja was extremely infuriated, his fists clenched at his sides and his aura turning oppressive for a second.
"Damn those fools! This only prolongs the inevitable – once we free all worlds from their parasitic yoke, I can't wait to reacquaint them with my fists!" Naruto muttered before his wives came closer to stroke his chest to try and cool his rage down.
"It's no use to rage about that stuff now darling. Instead, focus on the good of our situation – it seems we have a woman on the inside and with her interference, we can move through worlds without worrying too much about the Lords finding your power. However, not all of us can come with you anymore, regardless of the setting – most of us have to stay in my new domain to cause the least amount of ripples in the timeline of the next world you travel to. You also might have to deal with more interference from Maleficent since the Lords do want her to hinder your travels at the very least…" Grimhilde said, her magic pulling the bodies of Marian and Naruto to the mindscape, which now turned into a magical rift, through which Ella sent all of them through.
Meanwhile, back with Maleficent and the Grimm Lords…
The Grimm Lords were unhappy – the ever present thorn in their side had somehow managed to survive having his power stripped from him and even kept travelling through worlds. To make matters worse, his powers were lost in the dimensional abyss before they could take it for themselves. As one could imagine, they were at a loss at how to proceed.
"Brother, what do we do? Naruto still travels through worlds and with each person he corrupts, our hold on reality falters!" The Light Brother said as the Dark Brother looked thoughtful for a second before snapping his fingers in an eureka moment.
"I have got it! Brother, Naruto seems to ensnare the affections of key women in the worlds he travels to. The man has a pleasing aesthetic appearance and physique – as such, it is only reasonable to make sure that his new forms in each trip he makes are as ugly as possible. Surely that would fix things – I'll inform our servant fairy immediately!" He said, waving his hand as his magic burst in a spectacular display of power, the two brothers' maniacal laughter echoing in the empty void their castle and its surrounding grounds floated in…
And that was chapter 60! Naruto will be travelling to the Little Mermaid world but in a new form! I am thinking of using an 'Old Man and the Sea' approach here so stick around to see how that unfolds. I will also put new polls on my P***eon profile on Naruto's party members on each new quest he takes in the new world's he goes to.
If you'd like to support me you can find me on Patreon on the 'search for creators' bar under DudeWithaMac (I only get free time on Sundays since money's extremely tight-details on Panacea chapter 14). Alternatively, you guys can follow this link:p#at#re#on.#com/DudeWithaMac (remove the hash tags). Reviews and comments are always welcome!