Summary: She found him on the beach of Besaid when he was on the verge of dying. She sheltered him and nursed him back to health, despite not knowing who he was. What a man like him could do to repay such kindness? Become her guardian, shield her from dangers and blast Sin's head off if it tries to go near her, simple.

Naruto/Yuna/Lulu

"Naruto" Normal Speech.

'Naruto' Normal Thought.

"Rasengan" Jutsu/Power/Technique.

"Naruto" Demonic/Dragon Speeches.

'Naruto' Demonic/Dragon Thoughts.

A Fishcake Guardian

Arc 2- Operation Mi'ihem

Chapter 15

The Celebration and the Truth

That night, a grand celebration was held on the beach of Mi'ihen highroad.

Tents were set up for the wounded and campfire were lighted, before foods and drinks were brought over by raiders raiding Chocobo from the nearest inns, as words of Sin's defeat and another Calm had come spread faster than fire on dry hay, with one having all the reason to believe that it had spread all across Spira by the time the sun was set. Even some citizens from the port city Luca came to join them, with some of the earliest to arrive were none other than the Besaid Aurochs, who could not believe it until their captain Wakka told them what happened, in the most dramatic way imaginable.

Nevertheless, once that the story was told and heard by all those who had not been there to watch, all eyes had turned to Naruto in astonishment and admiration, and even adoration as well as veneration. No one could believe that he actually defeated Sin without the power of the Final Aeon from his summoner, who would need to finish her pilgrimage and attain the power to summon the only thing that was believed to have the strength to defeat the monster that had terrorized their world for so long, and yet he did.

Naruto Uzumaki had defeated Sin, and as a result, he had brought forth another Calm for Spira.

"Wait wait, guys… I can't drink anymore!" Naruto spoke hurriedly, at the same time trying his best not to laugh out loud and run away as he raised both of his hands and tried to stop a drunk Wakka and the rest of the equally drunk Besaid Aurochs plus Tidus from making him drink another bottle of some kind of alcoholic drink, which he didn't even know the name of, but had been forced to drink for the past half an hour.

"Come on Naruto, ya can't do us like that! Drink us! We only drink this stuff to celebrate the start of a Calm. It's our tradition, ya know." Wakka reasoned, but Naruto wasn't convinced, since it was the twelfth time Wakka had said that, but the red-haired captain of the Besaid Aurochs probably couldn't remember, because he was drunk as a skunk already. "To OUR HERO!" Wakka then shouted, leading the crowd that had gathered around Naruto.

"YEAHHH!" All Yevonite and Al Bhed presenting on the beach of Mi'ihem highroad cheered loudly, throwing their hands, their fists, their foods and their drinks or whatever that they were holding in their hands in the air.

Everyone was happy, some were even in tears, as they all kept their gazes on Naruto, who was currently looking nothing like the savior the rumors and stories of him defeating Sin had painted him to be, and it wasn't just because he wasn't donning his chakra cloak. He had been celebrating alongside them and the center of attention from the very start, singing and dancing along with the more excited ones like Wakka and his Blitzball team, so he more or less had already started looking all messed up.

"Come on, Naruto, you can do it!" Surprisingly for the blond, however, Yuna joined the cheer and encouraged Naruto to drink that bottle Wakka had given him. With him being her guardian, Yuna had gotten some credits for the defeat of Sin as well, but every time anyone approached her to pay their respect, she had humbly turned them to Naruto. It was the reason why he had had to greet so many people as they arrived to celebrate with the Crusaders who had intended to stand up against Sin, and as much as he appreciated the fact that Yuna believed he should get all the attention, he wouldn't mind it if she took some credits for herself and made it so that less people would come to him.

"Fine! Here goes nothing." With that said, Naruto brought the bottle to his lips and drank the whole thing, as the cheer got even louder than before. A band who had come from port city Luca started playing their music again, and Naruto soon found himself getting pulled into a circle of dozens of people as they sang and danced around the bonfire alongside Yuna, who laughed somewhat nervously as she got dragged along with him, before she threw her arm around waist and began to move in sync with Naruto and everyone else.

As Naruto held onto Yuna and made sure that the overly excited captain who was standing on her other side wasn't going to accidently knock their summoner to the ground, the blond couldn't help but laugh alongside the men and women who he was celebrating with. Naruto was curious if he was still in Elemental Nations then he would have gotten to see everyone celebrate in a similar manner, after they had had their times mourning the sacrifices of their loved ones and those who had given up their life on the battlefield, of course. No matter how devastating the war had been, how much it had taken away from them, a celebration was definitely needed to boost everyone's morale and spirit, to be ready for the days ahead of them.

Though, Naruto had no doubt that there would still be a lot for them, and have been for him personally if he hadn't gotten transported to Spira, to do before they could properly celebrate. Even after Pain's invasion, Konoha barely had any time to throw a proper celebration as they had to immediately start rebuilding their homes, sending him and every available ninja at the time on missions, so they might not appear weak in other villages' eyes. Naruto had heard from Gamakichi that everyone had been focusing on getting things back to how it had been before the war, only this time, they no longer butted heads and had joined hands to work together, as a single, united Elemental Nations.

Nevertheless, Naruto couldn't help but feel happy for the people of Spira, having been told about the importance of the Calm and how much it meant to them multiple times by Yuna and Lulu. He could also see that many Yevonites and Al Bhed were singing and dancing alongside one another, having set aside their differences to celebrate the day that Sin was defeated. Naruto did not know how long this would last, or if they had done this in the previous Calms too. Maybe tomorrow Wakka would start dissing the Al Bhed and their machina once again, but he did not doubt a future where they would be united as one like Elemental Nations, and this might very well be the start of it.

To him, if there was anything that felt better than being regarded as a hero of one world… it was being seen as one by another.

Break

"Ugh… remind me to never drink that stuff again, please." Naruto groaned weakly as he leaned his head over a waste bin with Lulu standing next to him, looking as cool and impassive as ever as she watched the party from afar, at the same time keeping an eye on Yuna who was sitting with a group of children near the campfire.

The party was still going strong even though it's almost midnight, with the Besaid Aurochs plus Tidus currently having a mock Blitzball game against the Luca Goers, who had also come to celebrate along with dozens of people from their port city, on the beach of Mi'ihen to entertain themselves and everyone.

"I wouldn't be too worried about that if I were you. Just need to drink a bit less last time." Lulu said as she patted his back, when Naruto threw his face into the waste bin once again to throw up, for the fifth times "Everyone feels sick the first time they try to drink it, and you drank a bit too much, that's all."

"Just a bit too much?"

"Do you want me to say you drink way too much?"

"I guess." Naruto answered simply, as Lulu rolled her eyes at him. Feeling a lot better than before after seemingly managing to successfully discharge all the weird contents in his stomach, the blond then closed the waste bin with its lid and accepted a bottle of water from Lulu with a grateful nod of his head. He felt a bit bad, though, because some of the foods he had eaten earlier were really good, and he had just thrown them all up.

"Better?"

"Better." Naruto answered with a nod, before he started chugging down the entire bottle of water. "Thank you." The blond said, nodding his head again to the busty black mage as he lowered the empty bottle of water down and opened the lid of the waste bin just a bit to throw it in.

"You don't have to mention it. It's the least that I can do for you." Lulu shook her head and told him, making Naruto chuckle while scratching the back of his head. "If you don't mind me asking… that power that you used to defeat Sin; was it also something that you got from your training to become a ninja?" The woman asked, remembering the cloak of energy and the giant nine tailed fox that Naruto had formed around him earlier on that day to battle Sin.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen before in her life, making even the likes of Aeon pale in comparison. Lulu also did not doubt that a power like that wasn't something that just any ninja like him could train to have from a young age. It had to be something that only Naruto himself had.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but I did have to train quite a bit to master it." Naruto answered the busty black mage, remembering the training that he had to go through to be able to tap into Kurama's true power, and not to mention the all the heated arguments that he had had with the nine tailed Bijuu to be able to form the friendship and partnership that they had today. The memories of those moments were still fresh in his mind as if they had just happened yesterday. "Anyway, can you go find Auron and Citra for me? I have a couple of things to discuss with you and them. I'm just… going to stand here for a little bit."

"Alright." The black mage nodded her head, before she left to find the two people Naruto had requested to see beside her, leaving the blond behind to collect himself. As he stood there and waited, several people approached him, some wanted him to hear the prayers, others came with food and drink as offerings, and Naruto had no idea what to do other than just accepting their thoughts and feelings. As much as he appreciated the delicious food that he could use to fill up his stomach again, he would really appreciate it if they had just left him at hero, not some kind of god.

"You know, this is my first time seeing someone who is trying to avoid the party that is thrown for him." Citra spoke as she made her way over a crowd with Lulu and Auron to get to Naruto, who was eating a roasted chicken thigh from a dish that was given to him by a group of Al Bhed just a few minutes ago "At least you are enjoying the food."

"Not the drink, by the way. No offense to your tradition or whatever, but that stuff is plain weird." Naruto said, as he tossed the piece of thigh bone over his shoulder and made it land inside the waste bin several feet behind him without looking, as he turned his head to Auron's jug of wine, asking him "Is it the drink that you have been drinking as we travel."

"Mostly."

"Mostly?" Naruto couldn't help but ask, repeating Auron's calm answer as the man gave a small shrug of his shoulders before bringing the jug to his mouth to take a drink from it "You know what, I don't wanna know. Remind me to never let you take me out on a drink."

"Ahem, you said you had something to discuss with us." Lulu began, reminding Naruto of the reason why she had gone to find Auron and Citra to bring them before him. She had a hunch that it was something serious and involved their religion, or else he would have had requested for Wakka too.

"Ah right, it's just something I have been thinking about. I talked to Yuna about it earlier, and she believed that I should share my thoughts with you guys too." Naruto began as he put the dish down and dusted his hands on his jacket, which made Lulu frown and give him a disapproving look "Sin is not dead, is it?" He asked, causing both Lulu and Citra to widen their eyes at him, while Auron just let out a small sigh.

"It will return." Auron confirmed with a small sigh and a nod of his head, making Lulu and Citra turn their eyes to look at him. Though, none looked surprised. "I don't know how it's going to return this time after you blew it up, but it is going to be under six months. The Calm gets shorter each and every time Sin returns."

"I figured that much." Naruto said and then looked at Citra "Shiva did say that I need a summoner to fully defeat Sin, and I think I know the reason why."

"So you saw them."

"I did." Naruto replied to Auron's statement, nodding his head in confirmation to the man before looking over to Citra and Lulu, who both had a look of confusion on their faces, and holding up two of his fingers "When I defeated Sin, I noticed two Pyreflies inside it that were much larger and gave a stronger feeling than the ones that made up Sin's body. They both flew away and disappeared before I could do anything… but yeah, I think they are Sin's cores."

"One of those are without a doubt Jecht."

Auron's statement caused Lulu and Citra to both gasp in shock and disbelief, and even Naruto couldn't stop himself from widening his eyes in surprise.

"Ten years ago, Braska summoned the Final Aeon to defeat Sin. That Final Aeon was Jecht." Auron then continued, causing Lulu and Citra to become even more shocked than before. Although his tone was as calm as ever, Naruto could feel a hint of emotion within Auron's voice, and it was regret "With the power of being the Final Aeon, Jecht was able to defeat Sin, he was transformed into the core for the new Sin."

"The new Sin?" Citra repeated in disbelief, before she decided to ask "Sir Auron, does that mean…"

"It's how Sin has always returned since it was first defeated 600 years ago." Auron nodded his head in confirmation, before continuing with spite in his voice "An endless cycle of summoners sacrificing their own life to turn one of their guardians into the fayth for the Final Aeon to be summoned to defeat Sin, only for it to become the new Sin later. It is nothing but false hope."

"I… I can't believe it…" Citra murmured quietly, not believing what she had just heard. Lulu, meanwhile, looked like she had taken it much better than the pink haired summoner, despite looking quite shaken up by the information.

"It was all because of that woman."

"Who?" Naruto couldn't help but ask.

"Yunalesca." Even Naruto had to widen his eyes in shock at that. Yunalesca, he had heard about that name from Yuna's stories about her, how she was the first summoner to defeat Sin, who her father had named her after. From the stories he had read in some books, Yunalesca was also the daughter of Yu Yevon, a powerful summoner who lived in ancient Zanarkand a thousand years ago, and the one their religion was named after. "She is an unsent, who continues on living for the sole purpose of turning the soul of the guardian who their summoner shares a deep bond with into the Fayth for the Final Aeon. It was her who convinced Braska that it was the only way, and she who started this cycle and has been the one keeping it going."

"After Braska and Jecht sacrificed their life, I went back to confront her… but she was powerful, too powerful for someone like me to take on myself." Auron stated, reaching his hand up to touch the scar over his right eye. However, Naruto couldn't help but feel that there was more to his story, and not to mention that he knew Auron was an unsent, so he decided to ask.

"You didn't make it, did you?"

"No, I didn't." Auron answered calmly, but honestly, and it was only then that Lulu and Citra fully realized the meaning behind those words, making them look at Auron in both shock and horror "But I kept on living because of the promises I made to Braska and Jecht that I would look after their children and help them buy time until the way to permanently defeat Sin is discovered. They both departed with the firm belief that their children would be the one who did it."

"I see. Well, Yuna did discover, so I guess she found out the way to defeat Sin without having to make any more needless sacrifice." Naruto said, trying to light up the heavy atmosphere that had fallen upon the two women of their group, as Auron nodded his head at him "But as many times that I can defeat Sin, I don't think I can defeat it permanently if it has the power to come back again and again like that."

"Wait, but if Sin doesn't have Sir Je… I mean the Final Aeon as its core, then how is it going to come back?" Lulu asked, having regained her composure and recovered somewhat from the shock she had been feeling.

"That I don't know, but Sin might never need a Final Aeon to be its core to begin with." Auron turned to her and said "Don't forget that Yunalesca was the first to defeat Sin with her first Aeon, bringing us into belief that it's the only solution for the monster when it also allows Sin to come back, stronger and more terrifying than before."

Pausing for a second, the man then continued, looking at Citra, the summoner who the Aeon Shiva originally wanted for Naruto, before saying "However, it's thanks to you defeating Sin in such manner that we know there is another soul inside it besides that of Jecht. It might very well be the original, or the true core of Sin, and if it is so then we now know how Naruto is going to defeat Sin with the help of a summoner."

"The sending." Citra spoke up, and it wasn't a question.

"That's right." Auron nodded his head in confirmation "Even if it is the core of Sin, fundamentally speaking, if it is a soul that continues to linger in this world, then the sending performed by a summoner can send it to the Farplane, thus finishing Sin for good."

"Damn, why couldn't I think of that when I saw those two souls?" Naruto said, knocking his knuckle on his head slightly for not being fast enough with his thinking "I could have instantly grabbed you or Yuna to perform the sending on them."

"You are fast, I will give you that, Naruto." Auron shook his head and replied to him "But the sending cannot be performed at the speed that you can move. Moreover, Jecht's soul and the other one flew away and disappeared even faster than the Pyreflies that made up Sin's body, so even if you had somehow managed to bring them before it, they would never have been able to perform a complete sending." The legendary guardian finished, with Citra nodding her head in confirmation.

"So if we want to permanently defeat Sin, we gotta make sure that both souls stay for them to be sent by Yuna or Citra." Naruto inquired. "Do you think that Yunalesca has something to do with their disappearance?"

"It is a possibility that we cannot rule out." Auron nodded his head "Even if she has nothing to do with it, she's still an unsent, with the power to create the Final Aeon to defeat and to become the new core for Sin. We cannot leave her there either."

"We need to continue my pilgrimage."

All four of them turned their heads when they heard that voice, and looked to see Yuna walking toward them with a soft, but somewhat sad smile on her face. It was obvious that she had heard everything that they had just discussed.

"Yuna."

"We cannot stop, until Sin is fully defeated." The brown haired summoner spoke firmly as she gazed at her fellow summoner and guardians, before turning her gaze to Naruto, who had a look of understanding on his face as he looked at her "We have to defeat Lady Yunalesca as well, to stop her from continuing to take the life of summoners and their guardians to create the Final Aeon and allow Sin to reform. This cycle must end."

"Heh, I don't know about you guys, but I am rather good at this cycle ending stuff."

Naruto spoke up proudly with his hand slapping his chest hard… maybe a bit too hard because it ended up hurting him and caused the blond to bend over and cough loudly a few times while holding onto Auron's shoulder with one hand for support, as Yuna and everyone else looked at him and sweat-dropped, while Lulu could only rub her temper and sigh in defeat.

This simple minded idiot who could be strangely smart and observant at times was the one that defeated Sin? What else was new?

"Y-Yeah, I will come with you, Yuna." The blond then said with a force chuckle, grinning at Yuna as he pointed his thumb at his chest "If Sin reforms and shows up again during your pilgrimage, then I will give it an even harder ass whooping than what it got from me today. Until we take that thing down for good, I will continue to be your guardian."

"Naruto…" Yuna smiled warmly and gratefully at her whiskered face guardian, before she nodded her head to him and said "Thank you."

Naruto simply grinned in response and folded his hands behind his head. Tomorrow, they would return to their journey…

… but for tonight, the celebration continued.

End of Chapter 15

Note: And that's the end of this chapter guys! A quick chapter of celebration and truth revelation after the defeat of Sin, so that the party will now have a reason to continue driving forward with their journey together.

With that in mind, I was really surprised that this story still got so much love from everyone even after being left on hiatus for so long with almost no hope of getting an update, partly because I got stuck at the fight scene between Naruto and Sin. I got tons of reviews to read in the previous chapter, and all of them were positive about the test run of the fight that I have made. I am so happy that it has worked out the way I wanted it to be. Sure it could have been much better, but I think that should do for the time being. Maybe I will revisit it in the near future to do some updates to make the fight even more exciting.

Alright, now that Sin is defeated, Yuna and her guardians should become a lot more relaxed than they had once been, which will allow me to start doing some seriously relationship developments for them with Naruto. Sin will return in the future, of course, but it will continue to stay dead at least for a few chapters.

There will also be some original arcs that will take this story a bit away from canon plot. I am sure they will do well for this story. I hope that everyone will be look forward to them!

That's it, for now! Once again, thanks everyone so much for coming back to this story and show me all the undying supports that you all have for it. I will try to write and update next chapter as soon as I can (shouldn't be too much of a problem now that I have overcome the one of the worst ever writer-blocks I have had).

Make sure to leave behind a review just like how you did it in the previous chapter once that you have finished reading. I really hope that everyone has had a great time reading this chapter.

As usual, don't forget to check out my p/atreon if you wish to get access to my updates early, exclusive commissions and smut contents, and join my discord community to keep track of my status live, as well as discussing stories, fanfictions and all other stuffs with other members of my community!

See you in the next update!