Chapter Text
Crystal Temple
A young man in his early 20s, wearing a simple orange shirt with a red star, black pants, and black sandals, was standing on the right palm of a hand connecting to a statue. The statue was carved into a mountainside near a beach. He watched the emotional scene play out between his surrogate little brother and a trio of female figures who acted as his guardians before the former could even form words in his mouth, one of whom was his girlfriend. He knew he should be down there, but he was never the best at goodbyes.
‘Plus, I doubt I could keep it together if I saw Pearl cry up close.’ The blonde thought, looking at a red shirt with a yellow star hanging on a clothesline tied to two of the fingers on the hand, reminiscing about the early days with his family. Within his mind, a giant red fox with nine tails snorted in mock annoyance as they both watched the trio explain why they pretended not to be hysterical over the news that his little brother was moving out.
‘That boy and bird chick has made you soft, gaki.’ Kurama, also known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, commented sarcastically. Naruto scoffed at the friendly dig at him.
‘Shut up, Kurama. You’re one to talk.’ The young man thought, remembering how protective the biju had become of the husky teen and petite gem over the years. The jinchuuriki had his head peeking out while he hid the rest of himself behind the statue’s pinkie, as the quartet cried while hugging each other on the beach for several more minutes. He wanted to remain strong for her and everyone else. He began to choke up as he saw his little brother returning to his car after saying his goodbyes.
Naruto’s surrogate brother opened the door to his car, but not before looking up at the statue, smiling when he saw the blonde hair peeking out.
Naruto saw his brother stare in his direction. Realizing he was caught, Naruto knew he couldn’t remain hidden, especially since the rest of the group was now looking in that direction at him. He stepped out of his hiding spot, but still leaned against the statue’s pinkie, arms still crossed against his chest.
’Sayonara, Steven. Be safe, and know we’re always here for you if you need help.’ Naruto said to himself mentally, lifting his right hand while curling all of his fingers minus his index and middle fingers, wordlessly saying goodbye to his surrogate little brother. He nearly broke down when he saw Steven reciprocate the gesture with a tear-filled smile before he entered his car and drove off, ready to begin the next chapter of his life.
A sob Naruto tried to choke back came out. He was barely keeping it together, using every ounce of willpower not to cry.
However, he had little time to regain his bearings as he saw his girlfriend jump onto the hand, startling him before he regained his composure, or attempted to. Pearl could only smile at his attempt to maintain a tough exterior.
“Hey.” The gem said to him sweetly, with sadness evident in her voice, approaching him before wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Hey, yourself,” Naruto responded, wrapping his arms around her waist, his hands resting on the small of her back. For several minutes, neither said a word. All they could do was shed tears at having to say goodbye to the one person who kept them from falling apart for too long.
“I’m going to miss him so much,” Pearl sobbed into his shoulder, dampening it with her tears. He unconsciously gripped the fabric on the back of her jacket tightly.
“I will too, but we all know he needs this. After the hell Steven’s been through these last four years, I know that he’ll become stronger and finally find his purpose in this world that doesn’t involve fighting or trying to fix us.” Naruto told his girlfriend softly.
“I just wish we were stronger, that we could’ve done more so he didn’t have to-” Naruto interrupted her, placing a finger on her lips.
“And what did Connie and I tell you about talking like that? It’s okay to have regrets, but don’t let them consume you. You did your best considering the circumstances you had to deal with, so please don’t beat yourself up over it.” The blonde kissed her gently, causing her to blush a blue several shades lighter than his cerulean eyes. However, it didn’t stop her from smiling happily.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” The girl closed her eyes, sighing in bliss, shortly followed by Naruto. Both of them were in their own little world, Naruto’s forehead pressed against the gem on her forehead until the missing piece joined in.
Suddenly, Naruto felt a small drop of water hit his forehead despite the sky not having any clouds. They looked up and smiled at the girl in the sky. The girl has a slim figure and is considerably tall, being about the same height as Pearl. She has brilliant cerulean skin, blueberry-blue chin-length hair with long bangs and a voluminous fringe that covers her entire forehead, which occasionally looks messier and rounded, and royal blue eyes. She was wearing a backless, halter crop top that was blue on top and navy on the bottom, resembling half a star. She also wears dark blue parachute pants, which represent the second half of the star tied up by a bronze-gold ribbon, and matching Roman sandals.
Naruto simply extended his right arm to Lapis, inviting her to join the hug, which she gladly accepted after descending.
“Did you get to say goodbye to Steven?” Lapis nodded, feeling her own tears dampen his shirt’s collar.
An orange glow shines from his right wrist, capturing the attention of everyone within the small town.
All Naruto could do was bury his face in the waves of dark blue and peach hair, remembering everything he lost and how broken he was before arriving in this strange town.
And how his new family picked up the pieces and helped him move forward toward a brighter future.
This is the story of Uzumaki Naruto, also known as Orange Diamond to all gemkind.
Nine Years Ago -
“We’re here, Steven!” A plump man with tan lines in his early 30s told his seven-year-old son, who was bouncing up and down at the sight of the recently finished beach house that his father and the Crystal Gems had spent four years building.
The adult was wearing a simple, white tank top and dark grey jean shorts. He had a black beard and waist-length black hair that started at the nape of his neck with no hair on his scalp.
“This is so cool!” Steven gushed, excited to begin living with his mother’s best friends, while holding his hot-dog duffel bag and cheeseburger backpack. He is relatively short with a thick, stocky build. He has fair skin, curly dark brown hair, dark brown eyebrows, and full black irises. He wears a salmon-pink T-shirt with a gold star in the center. He also wears cuffed blue jeans and salmon-pink flip-flop sandals. His excitement grew as the car got closer to the beach house. Not only was he going to live in a cool beach house, but they were also right by the best part of the beach.
As Steven looked around, taking in the scenery, he noticed something in the ocean. If he blinked, he would’ve missed it.
“Dad, look!” Steven pointed to the ocean. Steven’s father, Greg, stopped the car and peeked out the driver’s side window, wondering what his son saw.
Amidst the waves, there was a speck of yellow and orange emerging from the water briefly before disappearing beneath it. Normally, Greg would dismiss it as a buoy, but the bad feeling in his gut told him otherwise.
“Steven, go get the gems.” Grabbing some binoculars from his glove compartment, he and his son exited the van. The small child ran to the beach house while Greg continued looking for the object that his son had seen.
After staring into the ocean for a few seconds, what was in the water became clear, and Greg’s curiosity morphed into horror.
It was a young teenage boy, probably at least a few years older than his son. He dropped his binoculars and ran into the ocean, swimming to the body floating aimlessly.
“Hang on, kid!” Greg cried out to the unknown blonde teen, who remained unresponsive. He reached out to grab his right arm, but there was nothing to grab.
Confused, the husky adult grabbed the collar of the boy’s shirt and started swimming back to the coastline, wondering why he couldn’t grab the teen’s right arm.
The answer became apparent once they reached the shore, and Greg’s horror grew substantially when he saw that his hand was covered in blood.
The teen’s right arm was missing from the bicep down . . . and there was a hole in his chest where his heart was supposed to be. The skin around the hole in his chest was severely burned and scarred like he had been hit by lightning.
As he laid the stranger down, something told Greg to check his pulse, even though the blonde was missing a vital organ for who knows how long.
Miraculously, there was an extremely faint pulse, but the young musician’s outlook on the teen’s chances of survival didn’t change.
“Dad! What was it?!” Greg’s head whipped up in a panic. He didn’t want his son to see this.
“Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl! Keep Steven inside the house!” Greg hollered.
“Amethyst!” An unknown, shrill voice shouted out. A short girl with a purple gem on her chest nodded, grabbing Steven and dragging him back into the house, much to the latter’s protest.
Two female figures began to rush to the shoreline. One had a slender build, an ivory complexion, light cyan eyes, a pointed nose, and thin lips with a pearl gem in the middle of her forehead. She was wearing a dull cyan mesh top with a yellow star and transferred into a transparent, ruffled yellowish-green miniskirt. She also wore short salmon pink leggings, light green socks, and pale blue ballet flats to match.
The other female has red skin and black hair styled into a cube-shaped afro. She was wearing triangular futuristic, translucent peach-tinted shades covering her eyes, a black and crimson bodysuit, with cubic shoulder pads (the right one being bright pink, the left one being crimson), and a pale pink star with a bright pink outline on her chest, and long, elbow-length black gloves that covered her middle fingers.
Once there, both understood what had Greg so freaked out.
“Oh, my stars!” Pearl cried out, tears forming in her eyes and her hands covering her mouth, realizing how grave the situation was as the blood pooled underneath the young teen. Whatever happened to the teen was extremely violent in nature.
Garnet lowered her head, paying what she thought was her first and final respects to the dying teen.
“Can you take my tarp out of the van?” Greg asked. Pearl frantically rushed to the vehicle, trying to ensure Steven didn’t see the body. As the petite gem dug through the van, Greg kneeled next to the stranger.
“What are you doing?” Garnet asked the father, who was rummaging through the pockets of the blonde's blood-soaked orange jumpsuit.
“I’m trying to find anything that can tell me his name. I want him to know that we cared enough about him to make sure he isn’t buried in an unmarked grave.” Greg answered, somehow remaining calm despite the grisly discovery. He wasn’t going to let the young teen become a nameless face if he could help it. A decision that Garnet respected.
The confusion Greg felt before resurfaced when he removed several throwing stars and kunai knives from one of the teen’s pouches.
“What the . . . why is he carrying this stuff around?” Greg asked himself rhetorically, a feeling of nervousness washing over him as he examined a flat piece of paper with some weird writing on it. Was this teen a soldier of some sort? And if so, what place needed children to be trained to use such deadly weapons? Garnet picked up the weapons and a piece of paper that seemed to function like a bomb.
‘What kind of place did he live in that he needed shuriken, kunai, and a bomb?’ Garnet thought to herself.
Before they could continue to think about who the teen was, Garnet’s eyes widened at the sight of an orange vapor beginning to emit from the boy’s wounds.
“I got the tarp!” Pearl shouted, running to the body to cover it. Or at least she attempted to.
Garnet turned and moved in front of Pearl’s path while grabbing Steven’s father.
“Get back! Now!” Garnet shouted, pulling Greg back and stopping Pearl in her tracks before an orange gas covered the blonde.
“What for?!” Greg and Pearl shouted. Garnet simply picked up a seashell and tossed it close enough to the orange gas. Greg paled considerably as the gas disintegrated the shell
“What on earth...” Pearl stated, flummoxed by what was unfolding before her. The vapor turned the shell into dust, but it wasn’t disintegrating anything on the teen’s person. Whatever this vapor was, it was filling in the cavity where the boy’s heart used to be. The vapor also began pouring out of what remained of his right arm, manifesting an outline of the missing portion.
Greg began dry heaving, and Pearl turned a sickly green as they saw bone, muscle, and skin begin to reform in that area and the hole in the boy’s chest. But the disgust turned to shock as the trio saw something else forming in those areas.
“Are those...” Pearl began, unable to complete the sentence as she noticed two gems being created.
After a few minutes of stunned silence, the orange vapor’s work was finished. The boy’s right arm was back, the hole in his chest was gone, the burn marks had peeled away, and the blood that had pooled into the sand and his jumpsuit were gone.
“He’s a gem,” Garnet muttered, stunned at what had just happened. None of her visions showed her this possibility.
“That’s an eudialyte gem on his chest. And that’s a citrine on his right wrist.” Pearl noted, examining the red and yellow gems, before realizing the key detail that she had glossed over initially.
He had two different types of gems.
The gems on the unconscious teen began to glow, and a bright, white light covered the area, forcing the trio to cover their eyes. At the same time, Greg’s son ran out of the house, followed by the remaining occupant of the house.
“Steven, get back here!” Amethyst, a short girl wearing an off-the-shoulder, long-sleeved mauve shirt that exposed both bra straps, black leggings with star-shaped cutouts on the knees, and small, pointed white ankle boots, yelled out and chased after him. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how this could go), the intensity of the light stopped the child in his tracks.
The bright light took the shape of a nine-tailed fox before the form began to dissipate.
A few moments passed before the white light faded fully. Noticing that the brightness had died down, all five individuals opened their eyes and looked down at the source. The two gems on the unknown blonde’s body had turned orange. Steven slowly approached the unconscious teenager.
“Is he okay?” Steven asked innocently, looking at his dad. Greg didn’t know how to answer that question.
And the gems . . . were doing everything in their power not to freak out.
They were no longer staring at a dying teen with no hope of survival. They were staring at a teen who was theoretically a fusion, even though he didn’t take a new form.
But it was the new gems they were seeing that frightened them to their core.
In the place of the eudialyte and citrine gems was a pair of orange diamonds. And, for a split second, they swore they saw an image of a feral-looking fox in the gem located on the blonde’s chest.
Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst all looked at each other, a wave of fear gripping them as they felt the untapped power radiating from the stranger, not sure what to do next.
“Should we call the hospital, Dad?” Hearing his son’s voice snapped the father out of his trance.
“Good idea, Steven. Let me get my cell phone and-hey! What are you doing?!” Greg began before realizing Garnet had picked up the blonde and began carrying him to the house without hesitation. Garnet turned her head to look at her former leader’s widower.
“Trust me when I say this, Greg. In any other situation, we’d agree to your idea. But this is the exception, and we must weigh all of our options carefully before deciding how to move forward.” Garnet explained, looking down at the unconscious, blonde teen, noting the whisker marks on his face. The boy didn’t look the part due to his bright orange clothes, but the equipment he carried indicated he was most likely a ninja of some sort. If the teen in her arms was a trained assassin, then they needed to take every precaution before letting him run free anywhere.
“Wait, what?! You seriously can’t tell me that kid you're holding is that much of a threat to you guys . . . right?!” Silence was the only response Greg got before the three gems started walking back to the beach house, followed by Steven.
“Oh, geez. We’re really doing this.” Greg said, exasperated. Knowing he couldn’t do anything to stop the gems, all Greg could do now was follow them into the new beach house to decide what to do with the unknown teen they decided to hold in captivity.
Meanwhile, inside the orange gem on the unknown teen’s chest, a large, orange fox with nine tails felt itself fade in and out of consciousness.
"Don't say . . . I never did . . . anything for you . . . brat. Don't know . . . when . . . or if . . . we'll wake up. But . . . we both . . . have . . . a . . . chance now." The fox muttered before collapsing, losing consciousness.
Meanwhile, standing in front of the cage, two figures watched the fox's form, unsure what would happen next, before they faded out of sight.
Just an idea bouncing around in my head for a while.