Sage of Hearts

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

Magical Vortex, in the space between worlds…

When Ella's spell was cast, the group was whisked into a strange place. Filled with never ending swirls of color and an all encompassing light, the space between all worlds was an assault on the senses but thankfully, as the bearer of the fairy's wand, Ella was able to shield herself and her companions as they flew through it. Seemingly without destination or purpose it would seem, as Ella wasn't in control of their movement or even propulsion.

"Whoa! This place is nothing but chaos – I can't even see where we entered from and if we even are moving – these swirling masses of energy make it hard to have any reference points!" Naruto said, rubbing his eyes in disbelief as Madonna and Grimhilde shielded their eyes since they felt a little motion sick. Snow on the other hand, wasn't affected by the scenery change at all – she looked positively unfazed, although her breast did emit a faint warm white light quite similar to the time she beheld the Mirror Demon's true form.

"Oh we are definitely moving – I can feel our world as a speck on the corner of my senses. This place doesn't seem to have a flow of time so I can understand why you'd feel confused Naruto." She said as the group turned to face her, noticing her illuminated state shall we say.

"It's your heart dear. The pure heart of the Fairest One serves as a compass even in the direst of situations and grants its holder a peerless level of awareness. You probably feel nothing despite the disorienting nature of this place and that's just scratching the surface of what you can do…" Grimhilde said as she moved closer to Snow, breathing a sigh of relief as Snow's power eased the feeling of discomfiture she was enduring(Madonna also did the same thing, the woman's face lightening up tremendously upon doing so).

"That's incredible – even with my abilities, I can only sense the presence of life and not where we are per se…Ella do you have anything to add? I feel like we've been in this place for a while now…" Naruto said, his irises turning gold for a second before he dispelled his Sage mode, overwhelmed by the sheer emptiness of the magical void.

"I cannot say - the wand appears to act as a dowsing rod and it is pulling us to a destination I have no control over. It seems as though the world we are about to enter is a mundane one, with no magic to speak of – most of us should expect to be stripped of our powers. You might avoid this, being the kind of anomaly you are Naruto…" Ella said, hiding a smile as she noticed Naruto pout a little at her for calling him an anomaly.

"Hey! You don't have to say it like that! Just think of it as your beloved being too awesome for the universe to contain!" He said as Snow giggled a little, deciding to join in on the teasing.

"My, my – someone's getting a little too big for his britches isn't he? Too awesome for the universe to handle? I haven't heard you talk like that since we were children~…" She said as he huffed at her.

"Bah – being stoic all the time is a poor excuse for 'maturity' anyway. Besides, if anyone would know how big my britches are, it would be you – you had your hands all over them last I recall…" Naruto said with a catlike grin as Snow blushed at the memory of their union.

As the mood of the group devolved into one of playful banter, Madonna noticed the wand glowing brighter all of a sudden.

"Not to interrupt this riveting discussion but the fairy's wand seems to showing some signs of activity. Anything to report Ella?" Madonna said as Ella raised the wand to look at it carefully, her eyes widening as she moved to the front of the group.

"It seems we have arrived everyone – brace yourselves for a possibly rough landing!" She said as Naruto nodded at her before holding Grimhilde and Madonna to his sides while Snow was on his back. Ella would be fine since the wand would protect its wielder.

Oxford, England 1865…

It was a quiet day on the streets of Oxford – like all lazy Sunday afternoons, everyone had retired to their homes for a spot of tea and biscuits. Given that it was also a Sunday, nobody was at work, which meant that when Naruto and his group materialized out of thin air in a park, no one was there to witness it.

"Well…looks like we made it after all. You know, for a whole new world, this place looks rather ordinary. Only one thing though – where are all the trees?! There are so many houses I can't even see the forest in this town!" Naruto said as he looked around the park, scratching his head in astonishment at the same time.

"The people here seem to be more advanced however – looking at the architecture of the buildings in this town, this place must have hundreds of people living here. I wonder just how the monarchy here rules over its subjects??" Madonna said as she gave the brick houses a once over before looking around to try and see if she could spot a castle/palace or something like that. Obviously, she failed so she was left wondering just how the king of this kingdom could even control his massive dominion.

"It seems the people of this world have improved their understanding of the mundane since this world seems to have no magic whatsoever – they have lost respect for nature as a result though. This town is more of a statuary than an actual cemetery…" Grimhilde said as Ella gasped as an important thought came to mind.

" Never mind that now, what can we do to earn a living in this place? I didn't remember to bring any money and I am not sure if we have any skills to use to earn some…" Ella said as Snow hummed in agreement.

This revelation had the ladies in a shocked reverie for a while as they contemplated the very real possibility of abject poverty in an unfamiliar world. Meanwhile, Naruto had finished gawking at the park and the city and directed his attention to the girls.

"Hey there – why the long faces? I think Ella did well to bring us here – we haven't suffered any gruesome accidents so this dimensional jaunt was a success!" Naruto said as Ella looked up to Naruto and explained that for all intents and purposes, they were penniless.

"Huh? You guys didn't pack any money in your pouches? Even you Madonna?" He said as Madonna blushed in embarrassment.

"Well don't worry – I was a little worried about the whole world jumping thing so I over prepared a little shall we say…" Naruto said as he pulled out a scroll and unrolled it to show the ladies the seals on it.

"See here is the money seal – I've got around three thousand gold coins here, here's a summoning seal for Spirit and the rest of our mounts, here's a seal for weapons and here's a seal for camping equipment…oooh this one's the first aid supplies…" Naruto said as he got lost in explaining, missing how Ella's and Snow's eyes twinkle in joy before they rushed to hug the man as he released a surprised squawk.

"Aww~ you worry wart! It looks like we don't have to worry about a lot of things with you around!" Ella said as Snow nuzzled Naruto's face lovingly while the older ladies simply smiled at the flabbergasted man.

Caught a little off-guard by the reactions of Snow and Ella, Naruto took some time to recompose himself. Clearing his throat, he then began to lay out a plan of action for their group.

"Okay – from what I have seen of the people here, it seems as though our main world isn't too behind theirs in culture but lacks in scientific advances. Perhaps Madonna or Grimhilde could pass as the ladies of a manor we could 'acquire' in our stay here. I'll have to look for a job posting- perhaps in a local pub or tavern? Anyway, let's look around – I'll summon our mounts so we can cover more ground more quickly." Naruto said, summoning the horses as the girls nodded and got on their horses.

Twenty minutes later…

The group was finally about to exit the park after exploring the park at a slow canter. From what they observed of the world they were in, Man had isolated himself from Nature and what little bits of it remained in the human settlements was very bland and sanitized. They had yet to talk to anyone yet but they did get some weird looks from some people.

"Well, looks like we're almost out of this park. We didn't really interact with the locals but I think we should make some attempts to do so once we leave this place…" Naruto said as Grimhilde turned to look at Naruto, a small smirk on her face.

"Oh? Don't look now but I spy a 'local' running over to us right now – get ready~…" She said as the group looked in the direction she pointed out to, noticing a little blonde girl running over to them with an older brunette trying to keep up with her while keeping her skirts from going into disarray.

"Oh! Are these your horses sir? I have never seen anyone like you here before – I thought it wasn't allowed to ride horses in the park…what kind of clothes are those??" The little girl said as she stopped in front of Spirit, admiring the horse(who preened at the attention) and his rider(he was rather handsome, she would freely admit but she wasn't really too concerned about that right now – there were new , interesting strangers to meet).

"Oh, a curious little one aren't you? These horses belong to us of course – we just arrived in town and wanted to let the horses get a break from the cobblestone pavements – they aren't wearing shoes you know?" Naruto said as he dismounted and crouched down on his haunches to look at the girl eye to eye.

"Alice! What did I say about running off like that? I almost lost sight of you…" The older lady said as she finally caught up to the younger girl before putting a hand on her shoulder as the younger pouted and looked away(to the amusement of Naruto and co., who were quietly observing their antics).

Noticing their audience, the older lady embarrassedly looked away for a second before unhanding the girl. Upon hearing Naruto's throaty chuckle, a warm blush started to crawl over her neck and cheeks – the gentleman was very 'visually appealing', especially considering the lackluster looks and builds of the average British man of the time(no offense to the Englishmen but Naruto was on a whole other level) compared to the Adonis before her.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry for my sister's behavior sir – she just gets excited sometimes. Are you and your group new to Oxford? You must be, considering that you are flouting the law on riding horses in a public park…" She said as Naruto laughed bashfully before looking over to the girls, who also dismounted.

"Ah yes – just like I told your sister, we're visitors to this place – Oxford you called it? We wanted to give the horses a break from the pavement for a while. We were just discussing about how to get jobs as we are trying to make a new life here. The name's Naruto and the lovely ladies with me are Snow, Grimhilde, Ella and Madonna." He said as the girls waved over to the sisters as their names were called.

"Oh! I must be frazzled today – I have yet to introduce myself and my sister. My name is Audrey and this little rascal here is Alice. While being charitable to animals is fine, perhaps you could let them rest in the local schoolyard for a few hours until you pick them up. Speaking of the schoolyard – if you are looking for a job, perhaps you could apply for a teaching job there? Are any of you qualified to teach?" Audrey asked as Alice decided to pipe in.

"Yeah! Miss Grimhilde and Madonna look like they could be good drama and art teachers and Miss Snow and Ella could join as assistant teachers at my school! Sorry Mister Naruto – my school is a girls only one so I think the only job you could get is as a gamekeeper or a physical education teacher…" Alice said as the women looked flattered at her accurate assessment of their abilities while Naruto smirked at her before ruffling her hair affectionately(Alice squeaked a little in surprise before deciding to enjoy his warm hand while Audrey bit her bottom lip gently in slight jealousy for a second).

"Well looks like we have a battle plan thanks to Miss Alice over here! We'll go to the school tomorrow and you can expect to see us there in the near future. Now, I have one question to Miss Audrey here – how's the housing situation around here?" Naruto said as Audrey launched into a long spiel on how to acquire accommodations.

The group then began conversing, with the sisters growing closer to Naruto and co, unaware that this group of people would actually become close family friends in the near future.

And that wraps up chapter 18! This arc is very, very short since it is basically a single dream that Alice has one afternoon so maybe 3-4 chapters in total(with some extensions for world building). Audrey and Alice have met our group and seem to like them so in the next chapter, we should expect the start of the movie's arc.

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!