A/N: Hey! My spring break was nice, and I got to write this chapter! The pairing votes have been totaled, and are at the bottom. And hey now! Just because it wasn't what you wanted, it's not my fault. I asked all of you, and those were the results.

Disclaimer: This is stupid. I don't own anything. Kishi can deal with all the haters.

Chapter 5- The World Can Be A Pretty Cruel Place

When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

- Anonymous

"How long do you think it'll take to reach them?" Naruto shouted over the wind.

"Not long." Mikasa replied softly.

They were over the city, now completely abandoned by its citizens. The only things in the streets were the few bodies of Titans taken down, and a plentiful amount of human bodies. Blood was in large puddles, like after that instead of a fresh smell, it was metallic.

Naruto was surprised at himself for keeping his stomach, with the stench of death drowning him. They had killed four regular Titans and three aberrant on their search for the group. They passed more, but weren't noticed, or something else was distracting it. Something Naruto didn't want to think it was.

"There!" A group of cadets were standing on the roof of one of the buildings, surprisingly no Titans around for quite a distance. One of them saw the teens approach, and called their names. "Naruto! Mikasa!"

When they landed on the roof, Jean came over, along with several others. "Where were you guys?" Connie asked, several others nodding their heads vigorously. "We were helping civilians out," Naruto replied. "They told us to find you after we finished."

Mikasa turned her head slowly, scanning all the faces on the roof. "Where's Eren?"

The conversation stopped, and they all stepped back to show a blond boy, curled up in a ball at the end of the roof. Everyone watched as the two who recently arrived, walked up to him. Mikasa placed a hand on the shaking body, and it stilled immediately.

Armin looked over his shoulder at the Naruto and Mikasa, a mix of fear and shame in his eyes. "Armin...where's Eren?" Mikasa asked the question again. The shaking had started again, only more violently. In a shaky breath, Armin explained. "E-Eren... Was eaten b-by a Titan."

Their hearts seemed to have stopped, frozen in shock. Armin continued.

"My whole group was e-eaten but m-me." It looked like tears were going to start, so he turned away.

Naruto couldn't believe it (no pun intended). 'This is how fast death comes in this world.' He thought. Mikasa was silent, then she turned around. "Why are you all standing around up here?" They all looked at each other, and then Ymir spoke up. "Everyone's low on gas, and the base is overrun with Titans."

There was another break of silence, then Naruto sighed deeply to get their attention. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm gonna go to the base."

"That's stupid, you'd be killed." Ymir said in a condescending tone. The blond turned to face her. "If I'm not reckless about it, then I'll live longer." He jumped off the roof, and made his way to the base, swinging in between buildings. Just before he left, it looked like Mikasa was about to call out to him, raising an arm to tell him to wait.

Naruto POV- 20 minutes later

Swinging between the buildings, he grit his teeth at how the soldiers were. 'There were a bunch of soldiers told to stay at the base. Did they leave?' He then looked down and saw a sight that was more than disturbing.

It was Hannah, and she was pushing down down on Franz's chest, loudly sobbing. She put her lips to his mouth, breathing air in and repeating the process. He was dead though, and it hurt to see her trying so hard.

Because Franz's lower half of his body was all gone, legs and all.

Going on further, he kept thinking. Ninjas graduated as soon as they were 12, and could only a few months later kill someone. They may not have wanted to, but that was the life of a ninja. 'These people are fighting things that'll keep coming.' It made him think about how these people he saw were the only ones left.

As he flew, he was unconsciously going faster and faster. A Titan had stopped and was blocking his path, and with ferocity, sliced at the back of its neck. Another came by, and he hit this one harder. 'There's more over here.' He thought.

Getting high over the buildings, he could see the base, and Titans crawling all over it. 'And again, where are the guards?' Looking on, he didn't notice the oncoming enemy.

He was hit with the force of something like a powerful jutsu, and crashed into the ground, creating a rut. A Titan had slapped him out of the air, and into a building after sliding across the ground.

He groaned, his vision doubling. He forced himself to refocus, and found a Titan crouching down to look inside. The creature reached its hand inside to grab him. Naruto pushed himself to get up, and shouted in pain. 'Why does my leg hurt so much?' He made a guess at what had happened, but didn't dare look down to see it bent in some weird direction.

The hand still reached for him, and Naruto cut at it, causing long lines of red to appear on its hand. The hand soon squeezed around him, and he yelled again at his leg being twisted again. He felt the blood in his clothes, and it disturbed him more.

The Titan had put its closed fist up to its face, and Naruto took this chance to stab it in the eyes with his swords. He heard it scream, and felt himself falling. When his back impacted, he felt himself gasp for air like he was a fish on land.

'Now I can't feel anything!' He wanted to scream, but only could gasp. The call had caught the attention of several Titans nearby, slowing making their way towards to the sight. His heart was pounding, feeling a familiar oncoming darkness. The Titans were getting closer.

'I can't die here! What about Konoha? What about everyone?'

'Then how about we make a deal?'

He froze, the new voice seemingly coming from nowhere near his area, but quite close in his head. 'Who're you? You aren't the fox.'

'I'm something you'll be needing a lot more.'

'That doesn't answer anything.' He was getting annoyed; this just made the situation worse. He was paralysed on the ground, Titans were getting closer, and no one was around to help for miles.

He then found himself in his mindscape, only a few changes. The cage wasn't there, and in its place a wall of darkness. Eyes opened on the other side, and looked at him, then a smile appeared. It looked like it was a human, their heights the same. But for all he knew, it was another creature his body hosted.

'What if I told you... I can get you out of this?'

'And how're you going to do that?' He sneered. 'Why don't you show me what you look like? Or your name?' He didn't really trust what he couldn't see, and the darkness looked so deep it was intimidating.

'You know me quite well, actually. We just haven't met much. But I think you should stop asking questions.'

'Why's that?' The blond asked.

Then the pain came.

He fell screaming, clutching his head. 'Why does my head feel like it's being smashed between something?!' He looked up to see the shadow looking down at him. 'It's because it is being smashed. By a... What's it called? A Titan?' It looked for confirmation, then turned away. 'Well, you're in the process of being eaten, the head the first to go. Your head is in its jaw right now.'

The thing then reached out a hand for him to grasp, still covered in a fuzzy darkness. 'So how about it? Time is running out...'

Naruto's eyes felt like they were going to pop out of his skull. He didn't trust this thing too much, but he didn't have time to debate it. The blond reached for the hand, and grabbed it, squeezing. The thing's smile grew.

'Pleasure doing business with you.'

On the other side of Trost- 1 hour and 30 minutes after leading the people out of the city

'These Titans are simple game,' He thought as he sliced another. He was with the last of his group, making their way to the base. Several of them had been grabbed out of the sky, or were fatally injured, before being eaten. Their screams were hard to listen to.

'It reminds me of how I couldn't protect them.'

Snapped from his thoughts, he heard another roar. It was far, and it seemed to be traveling in the same direction as them. "Stop here, Hatake," A captain said to him. "What's happening over there?" The man said under his breath. Before anything could be done, another roar was heard.

Kakashi had lost some of his footing, stumbling like some of the others. "What was that! That sounded different from the other one!" Someone yelled.

A building had collapsed some distance away, and something had went in front of the sun. Kakashi had looked up at the silhouette, and while they weren't looking, slipped his sharingan out from under his headband and focused on the object. It wasn't as clear to see as before, but he could see it was coming in their direction.

"Move!"

The object narrowly missed to group, and landed on the roof of the building they were just on, smashing it. As dust cleared, they saw the decapitated head of a Titan. Blood was around its mouth, as if it had currently eaten someone.

The thing roared again, and Kakashi could see more bodies flying at an unbelievable rate. The blood that came afterward was amazing, leaving a trail of steam because of the evaporating life liquid.

"There!" Someone called out. Looking in the direction pointed to, Kakashi could see a giant head with messy, blond hair mixed with red. It was moving fast, taking out everything in its path. "We don't know what it's doing, but we need to investigate. Let's move!" The captain had taken charge, but you could tell that none of them (excluding Kakashi) wanted to go. Fear that the Titan could attack them just as violently.

They had gotten in front of the Titan in a few giant leaps with the gear. But the Titan was still moving, crashing through everything. What was crazier, was that all the Titans they had passed had directed their attention at the odd one, the humans suddenly unappealing.

The Titans were slow, and the ones that managed to get in front of the bloody monster were ripped through. Kakashi had only gotten a glance at its face, but he knew its eyes were blood red. They were filled with twisted glee, and the crave of destruction, eyes bright.

The beast suddenly stopped once it reached a certain distance from the base, looking at another Titan. The soldiers were startled at his sudden pause in movement, pulling themselves to the building. Their feet kicked up dust as they landed. 'Why did it stop?' The silver haired man wondered.

A smaller Titan flew through the air, and crashed somewhere. Startled, they had turned to look at the source.

It was another Titan, its hair a messy brown, and it's eyes a bright green. Its jaw looked like it was split into two pieces. The body was well muscled, different from the usual fat ones. It yelled at the one they were following, rattling their ear drums.

Kakashi had also taken the time to look at the one they were following, and it looked like it was out of a twisted nightmare. The creature looked quite feral, with teeth sharper than usual. It's body was like the other strange Titan, quite lean. Like before, its hair was covered in blood, along with his whole face. The Titan emitted a low, growling noise, and before the soldiers knew what was going on, the blond charged.

It ran towards the other monster, who still stood in its place, only putting up his fists.

"That looks a lot like the fighting form taught in training." A woman voiced.

Once the blond had gotten close enough, the brown haired one had threw a fist, and hit the other squarely in the jaw. It was painful to watch as the bone audibly snapped, and was loose from its skull. It had let out a disgruntled growl, and moved back a bit. Taking a hand and holding up his lower jaw to his upper half, it was only a second before it moved on its own.

"It's jaw healed in no time at all!" Kakashi said, incredulous. It soon charged in again, and the other Titan got in its position. 'These things aren't very smart, despite being different...' The undercover ninja thought.

But this time, when the fist was thrown, the blond flew past the arm, and had gotten in the brown haired one's face. The blond grabbed the outstretched arm, and tightened its grip. Punching, the Titan flew back, doing several flips and taking out several passing Titans. This pulled the arm out of its socket, and made the monster lose its arm. It's rolling stopped once it reached a building, and was completely still.

Kakashi turned to look at the obvious victor, and the blonde who was still holding the arm, raised its head to the sky and roared. It looked like it was over, but the Titan started running towards the fallen, its hunger for fighting not satisfied. "It's not finished?!" The captain shouted. "We need-"

"Fire!"

Suddenly, wires shot into the air, different from the ones used on gear. It's giant hooks pierced the Titan, wires wrapping around limbs to hold it down. It was still pushing forward, the wires only slowing him down.

"Slice the muscles!" The same voice shouted.

It was the that Kakashi recognizes it. 'Zoe!'

Several soldiers had jumped from the buildings and sliced the veins behind its kneecaps and ankles. The Titan howled in anger as he fell to his knees, then disappeared behind the building, falling and creating a giant explosion. "Get down there, help may be needed." Their assistant captain ordered.

It took only a few seconds to get down to the suddenly bustling street. Everyone was scrambling around, securing the traps that launched the wires. The Titan was still stirring a bit, but slowly quieted down. The soldier's jackets around him were of the Scouting Legion, the blue and white wings on the back fluttering. Kakashi had caught sight of Zoe, her back turned to them, and the group made their way over. Several others were standing around her, including Erwin.

"I need some to go down to the other Titan and secure it!"She shouted some more.

"Commander Erwin," the captain saluted with everyone else. "We've come to offer our help. Please tell us what we can do."

Scanning their faces, his eyes landed on Kakashi's, and a silent message was exchanged. "Thank you for your offer. Please help anyone that needs it at the moment."

"Sir," they replied, and all went separate directions except Kakashi, who stayed in his place. After a short silence, Kakashi spoke. "Nice to see you two again, it's been awhile." He cracked his original closed eye smile. "Nice to see you too, Kakashi." Erwin replied. "I would shake your hand, but people would wonder why I would associate myself with a cadet. I don't want to be rude, though."

"So why are you all in Trost?" The masked man asked. "Since the Colossal Titan attacked, and defenses were being destroyed, they called us in as back-up." Erwin said. "It was Zoe's idea to set up this trap. Not sure why though." Though Erwin wished Kakashi was there to see Zoe acting like a madman in all her glory, poking the writhing Titan and doing what she did.

While they were talking, Zoe had taken to looking around Kakashi. She had grabbed him, and was now in the process of (what he thought) feeling him. One of her hands accidentally brushed his bottom, and he silently shivered and slightly blushed. It was slightly awkward on his part, but he knew it wasn't on purpose (he thinks). "Where's Naruto?" The scientist asked. "He went with another trainee to find others scattered after the Titans had gotten to the middle guard. I haven't heard anything from him yet."

Suddenly, the air near them was filled with the sound of gas from gear, and several dozen feet landing on the ground. Turning, Kakashi saw a good portion of graduates speed walking up to them. Then with sudden realization, stopped in their tracks. Kakashi could see several of which he knew. Armin saw the silver haired man through the crowd of graduates. 'Kakashi!' The smart boy then couldn't help but think of the last time he saw Naruto.

"C-commander Erwin of the Survey Corps!" They had also saluted. After repeating the action, Erwin started talking. "What is the situation right now?" It was this time that Mikasa had stepped forward. "We were able to get inside the base, and refill our gas tanks." She pointed down the street, to the prone Titan embedded in the building. "That Titan had knocked out the Titans in front of the base, before it heard another roar and went in this direction. Which led us to here."

Then Kakashi had asked the question they had all dreaded.

"Where's Naruto? And Eren?"

This was when Armin has stepped up in front, everyone else not knowing what to say. He didn't want to tell them anything, but it could be considered a crime for not telling the truth."...Eren was killed by a Titan, close to the beginning of the attack. Naruto, had went off alone before we left for the base." 'Because we were too afraid to act.' He silently continued.

Kakashi's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, several shouts were heard near the head of the fallen Titan. Erwin turned and started jogging towards the head, everyone following behind. Looking up, Kakashi had caught glance of Levi standing at the base of the neck, looking at the Titan's nape. His eyes were wide with shock, something rarely seen on him.

"Commander, you may need to see this." Steam in what looked like it came out in a small burst in front of him, different from the wisps coming off its slowly decomposing body. Leaping up, Erwin and left them on the ground to wait.

His face was a copy of Levi's. He was about to say something, when soldiers from the other Titan came back."Sir! A person came out of the back of the Titan's neck! He's wearing some of the gear for the 3 dimensional gear."

"Who?" Erwin asked. "We can't identify him at the moment. Can you come and see?"

There was silence, before Armin spoke. "C-Can I see him?" It would be like seeing a ghost, if he was there. "Of course you can't-"

"Let him go." Erwin said. "They can obviously see what's happened, there's nothing to keep secret. This boy can go in my place."

"Yes sir. Well? Come on!" Armin had stared at the man, then broke his gaze at Erwin, running to follow the soldier, a few others following behind.

"Kakashi."

"Yes Commander?" The man was surprised that Erwin now called his name in front of everyone, despite them knowing each other to be kept a secret. "We found something in this Titan we think you may be able to explain to us."

Climbing up, he met them, and they moved out of the way to show what was behind them. A familiar blond head was sticking out. The shock struck him like lightning, and he fell to his knees to look at the boy closer. "Naruto..."

The decomposing muscles burned the skin on his hands as he reached through it to pull the boy from its grasp. He was still wrapped in tendrils of muscle, his head face-down. Pushing some chakra into his fingers, he cut them, and pulled the boy all the way out.

Looking at Naruto's face, he saw some of it was red, burns covering his whiskers and most of his face. His blue eyes were a dark blue, almost black, half lidded. Showing he was half conscious. "Naruto, what did you do?" He wondered aloud.

He leaned the boy back on himself as he was sitting, Levi and Erwin kneeling next to him. "Did you know he could turn into a Titan?" Levi asked. The man looked the boy over while asking the question.

"No-" Kakashi hesitated to tell them about the Fox, or about the other secrets they decided to keep. But it seem it was the only thing that would explain this unusual development. And keep them out of prison. He sighed. "I promise to tell you everything once we're alone." He whispered.

"What do you mean-"

"Commander!" A scouting legion soldier came up on Titan, careful of his footing on the body of the Titan, its body decomposing faster. The man stopped coming any further, the body proving rough terrain to cross. "We've brought the-human... from the other Titan body sir!"

They had all caught the hesitation in the man's voice to call the person human, but let it go, knowing that nobody knew what to say. Kakashi scooped Naruto up into his arms, and jumped over to the edge of the Titan, and slid off. With the Captain and Commander following suit. They all came to see everyone gathered around the motionless body of Eren, the only ones close Armin and Mikasa.

Kakashi had the crowd part for him to lay Naruto down next to him. Mikasa had turned to see the lying blond, and looked to Kakashi for answers. Everyone did. "He was in the other Titan." It was all he said before there were hushed whispers in the crowd, spreading like wildfire. They all took note of the conditions of both.

Eren's uniform was in shreds, his left sleeve and right pant leg suddenly ending at its joints. His jacket was missing, and so were his shoes. Naruto was more disturbing for others, since the whole top half of his clothes were a dark red. His clothes had holes like Eren's, but blood was dried in rivers going down the length of his whole body. It was left to the imagination what had possibly happened.

Kakashi recognized some of the people watching, seeing Jean's eyes dart between Eren and Naruto. The graduates were the ones who were closest to the middle, and could see everything. A disturbance was heard near the back of the crowd, and people started moving about. A man had shoved his way through with his own soldiers, looking like he was on a mission.

"Who are you?" Erwin asked. The man was from the stationary guard, from the roses on his jacket, and so were his men. "I am Captain Kitts Verman of the Garrison," Kitts started. "I was in charge of the base."

He then pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Naruto's head, the girl next to him copying the movement.

"We've come to kill these two."

Kakashi was about to move, but froze...

Since Armin had taken action before him. The boy stared at the man, eyes bright. The man's gun was now pointing at his forehead, and the girl's gun was pointing at his thigh. The man glared. "Move!"

Armin grit his teeth. "I won't let you touch them! If you shoot them, you'll shoot me first."

A/N: Hmm… I think this is okay. (Bet most of you thought it was such an asspull) Either way, I have already started writing the next chapter, and I do know what I am doing. I'm still trying to catch up on the manga (but the art is so horrible it's like sticking forks in my eyes…) The big question for me is either I follow the manga, or follow the anime, and finish this story when the season ends. Also, the big winner is...NONE

Yes, yes, this was the final vote. I have a good feeling some of you'll be like, 'since it's not the pairing I voted for, I'm dropping this.' If you want to, go ahead. It won't hurt me. But just because things don't go your way, do you give up? Anyway. here's what they are.

NONE - 34

Naruto/Mikasa - 33

Naruto/Sasha - 29

Kakashi/Naruto - 15

Naruto/Armin - 8

Levi/Eren - 6

Kakashi/Zoe - 6

Kakashi/Petra - 3

Eren/Mikasa - 3

Naruto/Annie - 2

Eren/Annie - 2

And I won't forget the Armin scene. I want my baby to have his moment (plus he was pretty cool). Tell me if there were any errors in this chapter. Or past ones, can screw some things up when I'm posting.