Drip…drip…drip
"h.e.l.lo…Naruto."
"What am I doing here Kurama? Seriously, I don"t have time right now. I need to get back to help fight Kaguya."
Naruto Uzumaki was standing in front his partner Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox, looking up at him in confusion. Naruto looked rather worse for ware, his usual orange and black jumpsuit was ripped and torn from hours of constant battle with the sleeves shredded up to the forearms, and the zipper destroyed forcing the jacket open showing his mesh shirt underneath. Kurama was a ma.s.sive sized fox with burnt orange fur. His arms and legs, while folded underneath him as he lay down, were rather human like in appearance with his ears longer than usual as well, looking more like rabbit ears than anything. His slit crimson eyes looked at Naruto with a mix of sternness and pity.
Sitting behind a row of thick dark red bars that represented his seal, Kurama sighed, "You are unconscious boy. That tends to happen after falling several thousand feet."
Naruto"s eyes widened in shock, "What?!"
"That Uchiha brat used some kind of jutsu on you when the Old Man"s mother tried to kill you."
Like a crashing wave it all started coming back to him. He and Sasuke had been in the middle of their fight with Kaguya Otsutsuki when the Mother of Chakra tried to kill him with her instant kill technique, All Killing Ash Bone. He remembered Sasuke trying to use his Amenotejikara teleportation technique to get him out of the way of getting skewered, only instead for him to be sucked into what looked like a purple version of Obito"s Kamui. The next thing he knows, he"s free falling towards the ground, his chakra shroud gone and unable to use his chakra, just about to crash land hard into a gra.s.sy mountainous area. The rest is a blank until he found himself in his mindscape.
The blond rubbed his hands in his hair frantically, "I-I need to get back! Without me they can"t seal Kaguya away like the Old Man said!" Naruto shouted desperately.
"I"m sorry Naruto." Kurama said, "But I have no idea how to return to your world. The only thing I can think of is the Uchiha boy using that same technique to come get you, but it"s been five days since your arrival here. If he was going to get you, he"d have done it by now and I"d have felt his arrival. Say what you want, but the brat"s got a monstrous amount of chakra…for an Uchiha." While blunt, Kurama knew that being blunt was the only way to get through his partner"s thick skull.
Naruto felt as though his entire world had shattered. Every one he knew, everyone he loved…was gone. The blonde collapsed to his knees, making a loud splash as he held himself up with his hands, "Five days…I"ve been stuck here for that long?"
Kurama didn"t say a word, not really knowing what to say in a situation like this. Finally, he grumbled, "I"m sorry Naruto. I truly am."
Naruto just looked down at the ankle deep water below him, staring into his reflection as ripples slowing moved along the pool. As he noticed how ragged he looked, his mind slowly began to drift, remembering why he looked so terrible to begin with. From his arrival to the battlefield, to his fight with the revived Nagato and Fourth Raikage, the shocking reveal that Tobi was in fact Obito Uchiha, then the seemingly climactic showdown with Madara, and finally the arrival of Kaguya. He began to think about Sasuke, and how they were just beginning to get along again. He thought of Sakura and the promise he made to her, picturing her crying face three years ago. He thought of Iruka, Kakashi, Tsunade, Hinata, Shikamaru, Gaara, Killer B…everybody that he considered his precious people. Suddenly, a realization came to him.
"I can"t give up."
"What?" Kurama asked.
Naruto looked up, a ma.s.sive grin on his face, his eyes squinted shut, "I can"t just give up! I have so much unfinished business. I have to seal away Kaguya, I have to make sure Sasuke comes back to Konoha, I have to get Sakura to go on a date with me, and I have to become Hokage! I don"t care if I"m in some strange new world, I"m gonna find a way back…BELIEVE IT!"
"You just had to ruin it…didn"t you." Kurama said, a sweat drop sliding across his temple, "You had a good thing going there, and you ruined it."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, sorry about that. Couldn"t resist."
Kurama was about to say something when he suddenly looked up. Taking a moment, Kurama finally looked back down at Naruto, "We"ll have to save this for another time Naruto. It seems you"re about to wake up."
"Wh"
-x-
In Kamar Taj
-x-
Naruto"s eyes began to creak open, only to slam shut once again due to his eyes not being adjusted to the light. Squinting up, Naruto saw a figure sitting down next to him. As his vision cleared, he found that it was a woman. She looked to be around forty years old, but she could be younger considering she wasn"t wearing any make up. That and her being bald didn"t help much either. Seeing clearly now, Naruto could see that she was wearing what he recognized as monk robes. The robes were yellow in color with a dark red waste wrap that held it together with the robes going down to her feet.
Sitting in a seiza postion with her hands in her lap, she smiled down at him before she said, "It"s good to see you"re awake." Her voice had a melodious, soothing ring to it. Sadly, the words she spoke were lost on Naruto, who couldn"t understand her (to him) strange language. Seeing his confusion, the woman reached into her sleeve before pulling out and handing him what looked like monk prayer beads. On further inspection, Naruto saw that each bracelet held a different symbol. Seeing that she was motioning him to put it on, Naruto hesitantly slipped the bracelet along his wrist.
"Is that better?" There was that calming voice again. Only this time, Naruto could completely understand her. But how? Looking down, Naruto realized that it must have been the bracelet"s doing, "Those are the Prayer Beads of Saraswati, a magical relic that allows the user to understand any language, and speak the language of the person he is talking to. You can use it until you learn some of the main languages of this world."
Naruto filed away that she knew he wasn"t of this world. Licking his dry lips, he was temporarily distracted at how thirsty he was before saying, "Where am I?" His words were choked out in a raspy voice.
The mysterious woman kept her calming smile, "You are in Kathmandu, Nepal. This is the temple Kamar-Taj. You"ve been out for five days my friend. However, considering why it was you were unconscious in the first place, you shouldn"t be awake at all." Her voice held the same tone, only with a hint of teasing to it.
Naruto nodded, slowly getting up and into a sitting position, "Yeah…I"m special I guess." Naruto, not knowing how this woman would react to learning of the abilities he had, tried to be as discreet as possible. Kinda hard considering he survived a fall from several thousand feet.
Her smile only got bigger, "Yes. It was the fact that you are so…special, that I took the liberty of bringing you here after it was apparent you survived in Bir Hospital. From what the doctor said they didn"t have to really do anything as your body mended on its own." The woman leaned forward slightly, "Quite special indeed."
Naruto"s eyes narrowed, "Who are you?" As he said that he began to gather as much Natural Energy as possible in case he had to fight his way pa.s.sed this woman.
"I go by many names." She said, "the Master, High Lama, the Mystic. But you may call me the Ancient One." She finished her introduction with a slight bow.
"And why exactly have you brought me here?" Naruto asked, slightly perturbed by the Ancient One"s strange name.
"Five days ago I felt a sudden flash of intense power before it just as quickly disappeared. One of my students then heard word of a man that appeared to have survived a fall no mortal human could survive. The media of Kathmandu covered it up, saying they believed you to be a victim of a skydiving accident. But I knew better. It was you that power spike. So, I sent some of my top Masters to make sure you"d survive before bringing you here should you be of the world conquering ent.i.ty variety where you would then be…taken care of." Her own eyes narrowed, "So the question is, are you of that variety?"
Naruto stared into the Ancient One"s eyes for several seconds before throwing his head back in a burst of laughter. The Ancient One leaned back, her face relaxed as she waited for Naruto to finish. Slowly but surely, Naruto calmed down. Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto gave his patented smile, "Sorry about that. To answer your question, I wouldn"t really say I"m of the world conquering variety. More of the world saving actually." He finished with a chuckle.
"Well I suppose you wouldn"t mind me asking as to why a world saving man such as you is here?" The Ancient One asked.
Naruto sighed, "I"m not exactly here for a reason. My arrival here was entirely accidental…at least I hope so anyway." Naruto said as an afterthought.
"So what where are you from then?" She asked.
"The Elemental Nations." Naruto said immediately, a flash of hope entering him at the possibility of this Ancient One being able to return him home.
Ancient One seemed to ponder his answer before saying, "I"m sorry but I"ve never heard of that dimension."
"…that was the name of the continent I lived on. I don"t actually know what the name of the dimension is. Or the planet for that matter." Naruto said scratching his cheek with his cheeks red from embarra.s.sment.
"Your planet most be rather primitive for it to not even have a name given to it by its occupants."
Naruto felt his stomach drop, "So I"m gonna a.s.sume that that means you can"t help me."
The Ancient One nodded with what looked like a sad smile on her face, "I"m sorry for the poor news…I"m sorry, I never learned your name."
"The name"s Naruto Uzumaki."
-x-
A Week Later
-x-
"You do realize that I can kick your a.s.s right?"
Standing across from Naruto, who was now wearing a set of his own monk robes of a white long sleeve shirt sat underneath a grey robe that went to his knees and was held together by a leather waste wrap, was a man named Karl Mordo. Mordo wore a set of similar robes as his only with a green color scheme. The man was of what he learned to be from African descent, and haled from a place called London. According to the Ancient One, Karl had been a member of the Masters of the Mystic Arts for ten years, and an official Master for nearly seven.
"Perhaps, but the Master wants me to try and keep my skills sharp and believes that you are perfect for that. Besides, you have to do your part around here somehow considering you"ve refused to learn any of the mystic arts."
A couple days after his awakening the Ancient One had offered to teach him in the mystic arts. Naruto had refused, saying that he had enough on his plate own physical training along with using his clones to learn as many Earth languages as possible, starting out with Chinese, English, and French. He had enough of a headache sorting through all that information. And don"t even get him started when they saw him use his Shadow Clone Jutsu for the first time.
"Whatever Mordo, let"s do this already…unless you"re scared." Naruto said, sliding into a defensive stance.
Mordo didn"t hesitate to activate his Vaulting Boots of Valtorr, using the magical relic to skip through the air to get to Naruto before aiming a downward haymaker towards the blonde"s temple. Naruto easily deflected the punch, only for Mordo to send several more punches while using his boots to stay air born. The Uzumaki deflected all of them, staying on the defensive even as Karl sent a midair roundhouse kick to his face that was easily deflected. Having enough with being on defense, Naruto used his speed to get into Mordo"s guard, punching him square in the jaw. His boots deactivated due to loss of attention, Mordo back peddled away as he rubbed his jaw.
"Is that all you got?" Mordo taunted.
Naruto scowled, "You asked for it!"
That was the only warning Karl got before Naruto was once again in his face, his body going almost on automatic as he tried to dodge the otherworldly man"s barrage of attacks. His defense was quickly broken, as Naruto sent a double punch to his stomach and chest before backhanding him away. The blonde Uzumaki then swept Mordo"s legs out from under him, putting him on his back. Hearing what sounded like swirling energy, Karl opened his eyes after bracing himself for the fall and saw that Naruto was kneeling over him with a strange ball of spinning blue energy in the palm of his hand. Before Karl could surrender, the sound of clapping echoed along the training arena. Looking to their right, the two saw the Ancient One standing on the stairway several yards away.
"Most impressive. What is that technique Naruto?" She asked, a.n.a.lyzing the technique that had just dissipated in Naruto"s hand.
Naruto smiled at the woman that had taken him in, "It"s called the Rasengan. It was created by my dad and taught to me by my G.o.dfather. It"s my go-to attack, but I"ve got a lot of way stronger versions too." Naruto then reached a helping hand out for Mordo, helping the man up from his back. "Pretty good Mordo, if you had something with a little more kick I"d say you"d be a force to be reckoned with. Not enough to take me on…but still."
Mordo scoffed but nodded, "I agree, but it"s not like you can just pick up a relic with heavy attacking power, the relics choose you. That"s how I got ahold of the Vaulting Boots."
The three were interrupted by the arrival of another Master. This man was rather tall and lean, with a handsome face and long grey hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, "You should consider yourself lucky Master Mordo, not all of us get chosen by a mystical relic after all."
"Master Kaecillius is correct Master Mordo, you"re very fortunate to have such a versatile relic. Given enough training and you will become powerful enough to take on even myself."
"But not me." Naruto b.u.t.ted in.
Kaecillius gave Naruto a slight glance before looking towards his master, "I"m sorry for interrupting Master, I only wanted to inform you of my return. I also wanted to inform you of a possible new pupil, a man named Jonathan Pangborn. He is a man seeking help with his paralysis. I believe he is worth your time."
The Ancient One nodded as she walked off with Kaecillius following after her, "Let me see for myself then Master Kaecillius."
Naruto turned to Mordo, "So who the h.e.l.l was that guy?"
Mordo, who eyes followed after the leaving Kaecillius, said, "That is Master Kaecillius. He has been under the Master"s tutelage for nearly twenty years. The man came to her after the death of his wife and son, completely devoting himself towards her and her teachings. He is one of the most powerful masters in the world, and one of her most trusted students."
"Sounds like you look up to the man." Naruto observed.
Mordo nodded, "He is a man to be respected. I know for a fact that there are several masters here that would follow that man no matter what, even if death were a certainty."
"Sounds like a h.e.l.l of a guy I guess." Naruto then shifted back into his stance, "Alright what do you say for a round two?"
-x-
A Couple Days Later
-x-
Naruto, who was wearing what this world considered normal clothes consisting of a dark blue jacket with a grey hoodie underneath and simple jeans, walked through the bustling streets of Kathmandu, Nepal. Expertly swerving through the people going about their own business, Naruto looked up into the sky where he"d arrived on Earth. Naruto sighed at the fact that Sasuke hadn"t made an appearance yet, knowing that he"d be able to feel the last Uchiha if he ever arrived, especially considering he"d be the only other user of chakra on the planet.
Walking up to a business window, Naruto saw that a television was viewable with the local news on. One of the news anchors was talking as a headshot of a middle aged man with spiky dark brown hair with a rather strange looking goatee was in the top right corner. Suddenly a video of what looked like a man in red and yellow armor popped up, with the armored man taking down what appeared to be a terrorist group. After that, the story shifted to some local fluff piece, spurring Naruto to walk away.
"Are we ever going actually try and find a way home Naruto, or are we just gonna wait for that Uchiha brat with our d.i.c.ks in our hands?"
"We"re not exactly just sitting around Kurama, since we"ve been here my mastery of your chakra is top notch. I can channel it to a single hand without going full shroud, that"s some pretty good progress if you ask me." Naruto thought as Kurama contacted him from his mindscape, "As for finding a way home, I feel like if there was a way the Ancient One would"ve told me."
""The Ancient One." I don"t trust that woman Naruto, that woman is hiding something. And what kind of woman advertises the fact that she"s f.u.c.king ancient? At least she"s not like that Senju woman and her Genjutsu." Kurama grumbled.
"Well she"s the reason we"re not wondering around like a bunch of idiots." Naruto thought.
"Whatever. This planet is so boring though. If these fools freak out over some green monster demolishing a part of a city, just imagine what would happen if they ever saw me. And then that Steel Man they"re blubbering about. You"d have been able to rip that guy apart when you were a practically useless twelve-year-old."
"Thanks for the compliment Kurama."
"Your welcome you f.u.c.king brat. But seriously, do you ever actually plan to leave this place? The world is a big one, maybe you should take the time you"re taking to wait for the Uchiha to check out the sights."
"And how exactly would I be able to go anywhere? I know that this place has flying machines, but last I checked that costs money, money that I don"t have."
"Did you seriously forget that you can fly you f.u.c.king idiot?"
"…no?"
-x-
A Month Later
-x-
"Hey Master Mordo, Naruto, did you hear the news?"
Naruto and Karl looked over at Jonathan, who was wearing what Naruto learned was the usual trainee robes, rolling over in his wheel chair towards the two as they read in the Kamar Taj Library.
"Ssshhh." Hissed the librarian Master Ezra, looking scathingly at Jonathan for being so loud in a room of study causing him to bow as best as he could towards the stern librarian in apology.
"What news could possibly be so interesting to interrupt my studying of these ancient texts?" Mordo asked testily.
Naruto straightened up from the book on Earth culture, cracking his back after being bent over for so long, "I actually wouldn"t mind the distraction, what"s the news Pangborn?"
"Tony Stark just came out and said that he"s the Iron Man, isn"t that crazy?" Jonathan asked in a hushed excitement.
Naruto looked towards the paraplegic with a blank stare, "I have no f.u.c.king clue as to who that is…" He knew that Iron Man was the red and yellow guy from the news, but Tony Stark wasn"t ringing any bells.
"Oh yeah that"s right, well he"s an American billionaire businessman/philanthropist/playboy. His company is one of the major weapons supplier for pretty much every war America"s been involved in since World War II."
Naruto scratched his head, "And by America you mean the United States of America…right?" Seeing Jonathan nod he continued, "And World War II was the one where Germany killed over six million…Yews?"
"They"re called Jews, and yes." Mordo clarified, "And why would I care what happens to an American weapons maker? Perhaps he had what was coming to him, I"ve heard he"s not a man to introduce your wife to if you get my drift."
"Ah come on he"s not that bad, he"s like a real life Bruce Wayne." Seeing Naruto"s confused face Jonathan said, "He"s a comic book character."
Naruto made an oh motion with his mouth, "So how"s the training going?"
Jonathan smile, "Master says that if I keep up the good work I should be able to get my legs back before no time." He then began to roll back, "Well I"m gonna go get some dinner, I"ll talk to you later Naruto, Master Mordo."
Mordo sighed as he flipped the page to his book, "What a waste of time."
Naruto shrugged as he put away the book he"d been reading, "The guy"s not too bad." Walking over, Naruto put the book back where he"d found it. Silently he began to skim through the rows of book before coming across one that caught his attention, "The Singularities?" Grabbing the book, Naruto began to look through it, as he read the tome, he looked up, his eyes wide at what he had learned.
-x-
With the Ancient One
-x-
"h.e.l.lo Naruto."
"Why didn"t you tell me about the Infinity Stones?" Naruto asked, his face stern as he faced the Ancient One. Said woman sighed as she poured tea into two clay cups.
Handing Naruto a cup she motioned for him to sit next to her. Sitting down in a seiza position, Naruto waited for her to speak, "The reason I didn"t tell you was because you said you were waiting to see if your friend came to find you. However even if you hadn"t I wouldn"t have told you until I knew I could trust you. While your company here has been pleasant, I"ve only known you for over a month, not nearly long enough for me to trust you with the knowledge of the Stone"s existence."
Naruto sighed but nodded in understanding, "Every day I make a clone whose sole purpose is to sense for Sasuke"s arrival. Before I deluded myself into believing that he would come even though it had been days since I came here. Now I know for sure that if Sasuke could have done it by now he would have. That means I have to figure out how to get home myself." Naruto wasn"t even thinking about stopping Kaguya. Right now his sole goal was getting home. After that he"d look into taking care of the Rabbit G.o.ddess. One step at a time and all that.
The Ancient One sighed, "Well it"s not like it matters now anyway since you"ve found that book. I didn"t expect you to pick up Chinese as well as you have for at least another year." Gathering her thoughts, she continued, "There are a total of six Infinity Stones each made up a different aspect. These are s.p.a.ce, Mind, Reality, Power, Time, and Soul. The one you want is the s.p.a.ce Stone, which grants the user instant access to any location throughout the universe. If given enough power, the s.p.a.ce Stone can even allow you to travel to different dimensions. If you want to return home, the s.p.a.ce Stone is the key."
"And where exactly would I find the s.p.a.ce Stone? Be pretty convenient if you had it on you. Please have it on you." Naruto said, getting excited at knowing that there may be a way home.
"No it isn"t. The location of the Stone is unknown, all that I know is that it is here on Earth after it was given to us after being lost by the Asgardians."
"Asgardians?" Naruto asked, "You mean like Thor and Odin right?"
"The human race would come to call them the Norse G.o.ds, which were worshipped mainly in the Germanic area. We Masters of the Mystics Arts allowed the Stone, now called the Tesseract, to be kept in Norwegian hands. The last we heard, the Tesseract went into the care of a church in Tonsberg before it was lost during World War II."
"Well it seems like I"m going to Tonsberg, Norway." Naruto said getting up from his sitting position.
The Ancient One got up as well, "You"re leaving now?"
Naruto nodded, "Sorry for leaving so soon, but I gotta get home as soon as possible. Thank you for your hospitality."
The woman across from him slipped a two fingered ring, "Well, as a parting gift, allow me to send help me in your travels." Moving her ringed hand in a wide circular motion, a fiery ring began to form in front of her. Looking into it, Naruto saw that in the ring was looked like shopping district along a dock.
"What the f.u.c.k is that?!" Naruto asked in surprise and awe.
"Tonsberg, Norway. Your destination." The Ancient One clarified.
Taking a hesitant step forward, Naruto stuck his hand through the portal, felling it go through seamlessly, "Well…thanks AC. I"ll make sure to come visit if I can." Naruto then stepped through the portal completely.
"Good luck Naruto Uzumaki.