Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other fandoms that may be presented herein. At some points in the story there WILL be original worlds of mine however, so I must request that no part of my story be borrowed without my express permission, even as little as characters.

AN: Lately writing has been ahrd, because I don't have the time, and when I doI don't have the muse. So when the muse does strike I write what comes down, regardlessof whether its for an existing story or not. I thus present this to you my faithful readers as a peace offering, a glimpse at one such idea, a little something to enjoy while I deal with IRL shit that is keeping me from writing effectively. Jaa ne, and hope you enjoy...

Naruto: Fate's Champion

Prologue: Last Man Standing

Naruto Uzumaki stood and wept as the world around him collapsed. He stood alone on top of a mountain peak, staring through silent tears as fire and rage and destruction engulfed the world. And no matter how many times he had seen it in the past, the utter devastation of seeing his home world annihilated still managed to reach the center of his cold heart.

The first time around he had really not had a chance to understand or appreciate the gravity of events. It had started as simple reports of tectonic instability in foreign lands, strange weather shifts, and odd behavior from animals. Then the Boss Summons of all the Summon clans in the world came to their summoners with a warning. The End is near. Then the collapse began.

It was slow at first. A couple square miles here would burst into flame and become a raging inferno, another there would freeze into ice, and still another would just cease to exist, the space where it had once been becoming a deep blackness from which nothing, not even light, escaped. But every time destruction struck the pace increased, until the entire world was burning.

That first time Uzumaki Naruto had died when a torrent of fire had razed Konoha, died in the arms of his reluctant lover Sakura, who had been desperate not to die a virgin.

But for Naruto, the end simply…wasn't.

His next memory had been of a dark stormlit night. Konoha had been in ruins and on fire, and at first he thought he had somehow survived the destruction. Then he realized that he could barely move his body…and that he was staring up into the massive face of a gigantic demonic fox.

Vaguely he could hear the person holding him chanting, probably his father preparing the Shiki Fujin to seal Kyuubi within the infant Naruto. But the words sounded distorted. Then Kyuubi's gaze focused upon him and a deep growling voice spoke directly to his very soul.

Time…is…

Time is what? Naruto thought.

Time…is…

Time is what bastard fox?! Naruto thought angrily again, quite confused over the whole affair.

Time…is…ending. For all worlds, young Nightstalker.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?! Naruto thought-screamed back as he idly noted his father preparing to complete his jutsu.

You will understand…someday…enjoy the gifts Fate and her children have granted you, young Nightstalker, for they will be your only comfort on your journey. And only Fate knows if you will succeed.

Succeed? Succeed in what? Stop speaking in riddle's bastard fox!

The Kyuubi seemed to let out a barking laugh before being sucked into the seal in Naruto's belly.

In saving all that is, will be, and ever was, young Nightstalker. The world is yours to save…or destroy. Kyuubi's reply echoed in Naruto's head, haunting even as darkness claimed the now-infant shinobi.

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Needless to say Naruto's confusion over events lead to him getting himself killed quite often those first couple of lives. But no matter how many times he went back he never experienced that hyper-prescient conversation with Kyuubi again. It wasn't until his twenty-sixth time back (or twenty-seventh, already he was beginning to lose count) at the Kyuubi's sealing that he discovered something.

That time around he had finally managed to enter his own mindscape in his infant form. But instead of the dreary sewers he had expected he discovered a vast city, somewhere that seemed to be years more advanced than his own world. The dark moonlit city was full of shadowy creatures that seemed to stalk here and there, but whenever Naruto approached they would just hide or disappear. After what felt like days wandering he finally found his way to what appeared to be the center of the city: a massive black obsidian pyramid with a single entrance.

Warily the blond (looking much like he had before dying in his first life within his mind) had entered and followed a gold-lit black tunnel deep into the pyramid. What he found at the center shocked him to his core.

The central chamber was massive, and was clearly far larger than the entire city itself. He had no idea how it could possibly exist here, only that it did. The massive spherical chamber was littered with small half-circle ledges, radiating out from a central platform upon which he had entered like the petals of a flower. And on twenty nine of the nearest sat figures both familiar yet strange. Twenty nine red and black foxes, all at least twice his size, stared down at him implacably. Finally one of them, the largest and with an odd set of swirls over its right eye, stepped forward and spoke.

At last you come Nightstalker. The figure said, its voice echoing within Naruto's mind. We wondered how long it would take you to comprehend the gravity of your situation and find your way here to the citadel.

"What the hell is all this?" Naruto asked in shock. "And what the hell did Kyuubi…well, I guess you…mean about the end of everything?"

The fox that had spoken before chuckled and stepped backwards. Another stepped forward, this one with a more feminine grace and black markings on her face that made it appear as if she were wearing glasses. When she spoke her voice was far lighter and clearly distinct from the previous speaker.

This is your mind, Naruto, the mind of a Nightstalker. The dark city Tir'vael, first gift of the Goddess of Fate and her daughters Urd, Skuld, and Verdandy. The place where all that you are, all that you have been, and all that you ever will be is gathered. You exist in all worlds, young Nightstalker, for it is your fate to save what little of existence can be spared from the End. And we…we are those chosen by the Goddess to preserve our worlds.

"What do you mean, chosen by the Goddess of Fate? Why do you all keep calling me Nightstalker, and what do you mean preserve your worlds?"

Once again the speaking fox stepped back and allowed another to step forward. This time Naruto recognized the voice clearly. It was the same one who had addressed him the first time he had died and been born again.

Aeons ago when the worlds were first forged from the fires of Shan'arel the Goddess of Fate foresaw a great darkness arising from beyond Time itself to consume all existence. In hopes of thwarting the destruction of her creations she created beings who were to observe, experience, and record all that made up her worlds, so that when the End of Days came some record at least could be salvaged of the majesty of her creation. And when these beings felt the End approaching, they sought out Fate's Chosen, those Fate had marked to bear the burden of gathering the records and fighting the End. That is you, Nightstalker, Chosen by Fate, Last of your kind.

The third fox stepped back, his nearly entirely-black head lowered as a fourth stepped forward to speak before Naruto could ask any more questions.

And the sad fact is, brat, that you are the only hope we have of surviving. Our entire existence has led to this moment, to standing before you as Fate always intended. You are the Nightstalker, the Vessel for the records of Nine. And if you would just use that damn monkey brain of yours for one second you would understand the importance of what the hell we are telling you!

Naruto sat down hard in shock. While all the other foxes had distinct markings allowing him to tell them apart, this one looked no different than the Kyuubi he had grown up with inside his navel the first time he had lived. He sounded no different. He acted no different.

"Ky-kyuubi?" Naruto asked tentatively, not daring to dream that it could really be HIS Kyuubi.

Well of course brat. Where did you think I was going to end up when you were destroyed in the fires of the End? Heaven? I'm bound to your very soul, as are we all. It is our fate as much as yours. Besides, how the hell are you even going to manage to tie your shoes without me? I'm the only damn one in this bunch who actually has any experience living and working with the limitations of this monkey body of yours.

Naruto just gaped, hope filling his heart as he realized he still had his best friend.

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"Naruto." A soft lilting voice echoed around him, crystal clear despite the cacophony of sound from the destruction he was watching. "It's time to leave. You have done all you can for this sector of space. This is the last, the last version of your home in all existence, and despite everything your efforts were for naught. You must come with me, brave Nighstalker, my Champion, come and serve your duty, come and save all of my creation so that some small part may remain beyond the End."

Naruto turned and gazed forlornly at the speaker. To say she was a beautiful woman would be to misconstrue the situation. She was a being of supreme elegance, power, and grace. Her appearance as a radiant winged woman had less to do with her actual appearance or desired appearance and more with how Naruto's heart and soul chose to view her. She could just as well have been an inky blackness floating in the air.

"Tell me." He finally said, his voice firm and solid despite the tears still streaming down his face. "These other worlds you wish me to save some piece of, are there records there as well?"

Fay-et nodded her head in affirmation of his query.

"And will I be expected to live life after life and gather them too? Growing attached to a new world, to new family and loved ones only to see them perish time after time?"

Fay-et's gaze softened.

"No, my Champion, you will not. Your duty as record gatherer and the Record Keeper for your world is ended. Your only duty now is to gather the other Nightstalkers, as many as possible, just as you have here, in order to save as much of my Creation as possible."

Naruto nodded softly before gazing down at his arm. In place upon it were three seals, special storage seals expressing a seal upon his very soul. After thousands of lives and thousands of repetitions he had perfected the seal, just in time. He had managed to save the three most important people in the entire world, the last versions that would ever be of Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hanabi, and Sabaku no Temari. It was just his luck that in the convergence of worlds, the others had turned out to be Nighstalkers as well; Experiencing different worlds than him to be sure but all sharing a love for him as he loved all of them. For it was the many versions of them that had kept him going long past the point of absolute despair, and he would not let them down/

"Very well, then let us go, Goddess. This world has become repetitive."

Fay-et smiled comfortingly as she heard the true pain in Naruto's words. After all, there would be no more ramen lunches with Sarutobi for the blond boy. No more extra lessons with Iruka, no more trying (and more often than not succeeding) in returning Sasuke to the light or even preventing him betraying Konoha in the first place.

Now if only she could bring herself to tell him that there was one other like him being taken away from this planet in its final incarnation.

But she felt the pain would be too much for her champion to bear, and if she had her way their paths would never cross.

With a wave of her hand Fay-et disappeared, only to be replaced by a swirling vortex of blue and gold light. Taking a deep breath Naruto plunged forward into the unknown, for a world that would be wholly new for a change.

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Coming out of the swirling vortex of blue and gold light Naruto barely had time to be surprised before he used an emergency kawarimi to replace himself with a rock. Slamming down hard on the ground he stared up in shock at the mammoth figure towering over him.

"What in the hell is that?" He exclaimed as the figure turned its head to stare at him.

Where-ever the hell he was Naruto knew it definitely wasn't Konoha.

And deep within the Nightstalker's mind, within the obsidian temple of records, a sleeping fox flicked an ear and opened an eye. It yawned and stood and gazed around at its compatriots, at the entirely filled hall of sleeping foxes, and he grinned.

At last, our real task has begun. Fay-et-sama, we shall not fail you. Your Champion shall have all that we have to give to help him in his task. So sayeth the Incarnum, so sayeth we all!

Kyuubi's declaration was echoed by roars and shouts as others nearby awoke and stood, the cry and declaration spreading like a wildfire through the massive chamber.

Fate's Champion was ready to be forged anew.

To be continued...

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AN: Well there you have it, my first posting in months. I apologize that my life has kept me from writing much, but things are as they are. I will try to be better about it in the future, but cannot promise much. I hope you enjoy this, and I promise that within the next couple of days I will try to have another story beginning for you, one that is much more concrete and has been in my notebook for months. Keep your eyes open for "Second Chances - Spiral Consequences." Jaa ne.

-Zaion Indulias