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
King Stefan's Court, a few minutes after Maleficient's departure…
The royal court was in complete chaos, with the peasant folk all rushing out of the castle as if the very hounds of hell were nipping at their heels (they were very superstitious, go figure…). After all the hullabaloo was over, only the royal family, the fairies, King Hubert, Naruto and his group were present in the massive room. The King, understandably, was furious and was shouting various expletives in impotent rage.
Thankfully, while Maleficient did in effect sentence Aurora to death at the tender age of sixteen, not all fairies had given their blessings to the child, a fact that the king immediately realized.
"Flora, can you or your sisters undo the fell curse that evil witch placed upon my daughter?! I know Merryweather hasn't blessed Aurora yet!" Stefan said, desperately wringing his hands as Hubert gave a distraught Leah a warm hug, his fat body serving as a good substitute for a massive plush bear. Flora and her sisters only sighed in resignation though, to the shock of the king and the disappointed look of Naruto.
"I-I am afraid that my sisters and I cannot challenge the power our wayward counterpart commands – she is simply too powerful…" Flora said as Fauna looked away shamefaced as Merryweather walked forward with a cross face.
"Big sister is right – while that vile woman is beyond us, we can still soften the blow. I will use my blessing to weaken the curse – instead of succumbing to death's cold kiss, your daughter will instead fall to the velvety embrace of an eternal sleep when she pricks her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. Do not despair though my liege, for she will be awakened with the warmth of True Love's first kiss!" She said, casting her magic with a grand flourish, her magic settling in the flesh of Aurora with a muted glow.
While this was happening though, Naruto couldn't restrain his sarcastic snarking as he talked with Grimhilde and Snow, seeing as they were very familiar with this cliché of everything hinging on the nebulous value of True Love's Kiss…
"You know, maybe I was too young to notice it but my mothers are a little strange. Think about it – if the three of them were meant to be the good counterparts to Maleficient's evil, then shouldn't they be able to dispel her magic working together? This stuff feels a little too contrived…" Naruto said as he dragged his hand over his face with a tired sigh as Tink and Wendy laughed at his sudden impression of a tired old man (his exaggerated expressions infusing some much needed levity to this sad situation).
"Now, now darling, I don't believe you are giving your mothers enough credit. Perhaps their power has restrictions given their domain cannot allow for actual harm to befall others…in terms of dispelling the curse in general, maybe they need to work as a unit to do so and given that two of the three fairies had already blessed Aurora, that avenue has been closed off." Grimhilde said, walking over to the baby in question before inspecting her closely.
"Yes Naruto – I think people can only hold so many blessings from a single magical being at a time. Hey Ella, you're basically a wand based fairy like those three – what do you think?" Snow said as Ella pulled her own wand out before waving it over the room, her magic giving her a rundown on the room's occupants and the nature of their existence.
"Snow's right Naruto. I don't know what's changed since we left but people can only receive a single blessing or curse from one magical being – anymore and the person will simply die unless they can manipulate magic of their own. Your mothers seem to excel in inanimate object magic though – their power to influence living flesh is relatively malformed compared to their sister, who doesn't seem to have a limit to her strength. In fact, Maleficent's power reminds me of yours – just with a different alignment…" Ella said as Naruto grumbled quietly, his mind bringing certain memories of his first encounters with Maleficient, long, long ago…
Flashback, Enchanted Forest (Naruto is three years old and has just learned to walk and talk – perks of being a proper ninja reincarnation)…
Little Naruto was bored. His moms all left a while ago saying something about attending to their duties and he was all alone in the massive hollow of the oak tree (the very same one the fairies found him in when he first appeared in this world).
"Boooredd!! I wish my moms were more fun – all they do is worry about dumb stuff! Well – I won't think about that anymore – I can leave this place now!" Naruto said as he climbed down the tree before rushing off into the woods, laughing merrily on his mindless traipsing through the foliage.
In his brief existence in these woods, Naruto and his powers had gradually begun to change the flora and fauna, his potent chakra boosting the life forces of all living things bathed in its aura. As such, the small section of the woods that Naruto resided in became a veritable haven of life and fertility, something that caught the eye of Maleficient, who was gliding lazily in the air (riding thermals with a pair of dragon wings was a favorite pastime of hers, along with casually causing death and destruction…).
Curious as to why a small portion of the forest was so vibrant, her nature demanded that she go down and investigate, preferably taking down the source of that disgusting liveliness. Quickly moving to ground level and alighting on the loamy and mossy soil with nary sound as her wings melted into a hooded cloak resting on her shoulders, she then looked around with a critical eye. Her magic, sensing a strong source of power, gently nudged her forward as she walked with the grace of a feline predator, her footsteps silent while she moved through the undergrowth.
"Interesting…this energy doesn't feel like the pathetic magic my sisters wield. In fact, I could as far as saying that this power could, in time match my own…it doesn't feel like it has to be a goody two shoes like my insufferable counterparts." She said as she took a deep inhale, her eyes briefly glowing a draconic green, her pupils taking a slitted look for a second (oh yeah, as the original dragon lady, she did love power…).
Her monologue was soon interrupted with a cheeky laugh, breaking her out of her thoughts as she looked up to see a blonde boy hanging off the branches of a tree like a monkey, pointing and laughing at her.
"Hehehe! You sure talk funny don't you lady? My moms certainly don't take themselves that seriously! Who are you anyway?! Why are you wearing that big cloak?! It's kinda hot here so you must be really sweaty huh?" Naruto said, his rapid fire questions ticking Maleficient off. Now normally, this would be the part where she'd blast the cheeky brat to oblivion, and so she did. With great enthusiasm actually.
*Fwoosh!*
Maleficient waved her hand at the boy, a wave of emerald flame blasting Naruto out of the tree, the boy's flaming corpse landing on the ground with a dull thump. Now satisified, she was about to leave but once she had her back turned, she felt a sudden weight appear on her back.
"Hey, hey! What was that? I didn't know fire came in green! It tickles! Wanna play with me? I can blast you back!" Naruto said, Maleficient's eyes bulging as she could feel a massive amount of the energy she was tracking burst out of the child's body as he pushed his fists into her back, a strong pulse of chakra sending her flying into the trees.
What followed was a series of explosions and bursts of power, the veritable toddler casually having a battle with the Mistress of Evil. After a few minutes of this though, said mistress found herself having fun! Naruto's boyish energy and attitude had her laughing and smiling – she may have been blasting death magic left and right nut she was having fun anyway (when her best friend was a crow, one could understand why she found this amusing).
"Alright boy, that's enough for now. Who are you by the way – I don't think children of this era have powers like you do? Why are you out here alone all by yourself?" She asked as Naruto walked in front of her, rubbing his nose in pride as he grinned up at her.
"Well, I don't know about other kids – I haven't met another human before! My moms are fairies though! They're just doing something else right now…" Naruto said as the hooded woman in front of him turned to him in surprise.
"Fairies you say?! They wouldn't be called Flora, Fauna and Merryweather would they?" She said, crouching in front of him, watching as Naruto jumped in surprise.
"Wow! You're pretty smart lady! How did you know my moms' name so quickly?!"
"Hoho! Well, you're in for a surprise because I am your auntie Maleficient little boy!" She said, pulling off her hood with a flourish, her horned head and grey skin catching Naruto off guard.
"First off, the name's Naruto lady! So you're a fairy too? Wow!" Naruto said, looking at her awestruck (she was beautiful, even with her horns and all…his moms were frumpy old women so you couldn't judge him).
"Yes I am. I am a little different though and I imagine its something you're familiar with, with your powers and all." She said as Naruto looked a little sad before perking up again.
"Well, it's true that I have no friends but I love my powers! I can make everything better with them after all!" Naruto said as his chakra flared, slowly healing the ravaged foliage around them.
Recognizing the opportunity to 'corrupt' the boy, Maleficient swooped in to cradle Naruto to her chest, smugly noticing that the faint blush on the boy's cheeks could be nurtured into a crush in the future.
"Oh don't you worry about that. Wouldn't it be better if you simply took what you wanted, when you wanted to? Come with me instead – we can have so many adventures together!" She said, only to be rebuffed gently by Naruto as he wriggled out of her hold.
"I don't wanna be bad though…I also don't want to leave my family!"
"So be it…but remember dear nephew, society fears what it can't control and soon, the people you love will turn on you…"
Flashback end…
After that long trip down memory lane, Naruto turned to see his lovers looking at him with worried expressions. After calming them down, Naruto then walked over to the King and the three fairies, who appeared to have gotten a plan in the making.
"Ah, Naruto – you're the son of my court fairies so this includes you as well. I will pass a decree to burn all spinning wheels but you and your family need to take my daughter away, far away from the clutches of your aunt. Your mothers made a good argument about how powerful and insidious your aunt is so this is my bid to save my daughter…" Stefan said as he gestured to Aurora, who was still sleeping throughout all of this.
And so, the entire group spirited Aurora away from her parents in the dead of the night, taking her to a shack in the forest, even renaming her Briar Rose as the fairies renounced the use of their magic (Naruto and his group made no such vow though, thinking it too extreme).
But in the words of one wise tortoise, one always meets his fate on the road he takes to avoid it…
And that was chapter 39 – a little short because I have to hurry and get this out before my government shuts down the Internet for the high school university entrance exams(3rd world country attempting a nationwide online exam when we have rolling blackouts everyday is a recipe for disaster if you ask me…) next week. Power's already become spotty three days in advance!
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!