Disclaimer: If either me or Josh owned either series, do you think this would be posted for free?
Anyhow, This is the project that has eaten up the vast majority of my time since the last time I posted on my other story. It's being co-authored with my beta, who doesn't have a profile here, but was an English major in the Honors Program at my university (Go Colonels!) hopefully with the two of us working on this, it shouldn't stall out like LTTA did. And boy do we have some truly original concepts planned. I can guarantee that at least three of them will never be expected. lets see if anyone recognizes them.
Prolouge: Of Despair, Chaos, and Unpredictable Ninjas
"They're breaking through the door!" yelled a guard as he and his subordinates tried to brace a massive stone door with the weight of their armored bodies.
This massive door was the main entrance to the throne room of Hyrule Castle, the current seat of power for Hyrule's current monarch, Princess Zelda—the princess of destiny.
"It's not holding! Put all your weight into it!" shouted the guard to his subordinates. "We can't let them break through these doors!"
Yet, the guards' efforts were soon proven vain. The doors they so desperately tried to brace were rendered useless as a sudden burst of pure power sent said doors airborn in a grand maneuver that threw more than a few of the guards to the walls of the room, leaving the doors aside to stand like twin, stone monuments in disrepair.
It was then that a man in a set of armor that looked more like a jester's outfit than a form of battle protection strode into the room with his sword drawn, followed closely by a veritable mob of dark shadowy beasts with metallic-like plating covering their heads.
"Ready to surrender, princess?" the armored man sneered.
The guards stood up again, their courage faltering even as they turned their shaking spears towards the intruder and his terrifying beasts.
"Surrender now princess and I promise to be a gracious conqueror and spare the pitiful fools of this ugly land of light you love so much. If not, then their blood will be on your hands."
With a gesture from his free hand, the conquering intruder caused the guards' spears to be ripped out of their hands and cast aside. Then he remained still and silent, allowing the princess a moment to think over his proposition.
And think over this proposition she did.
How could this happen? thought Zelda. My father just died not even a month ago. I haven't even officially taken the throne yet, and now an army of shadow creatures have attacked from out of nowhere, leaving the castle and the rest of Hyrule on the verge of falling. No Hylian should have to suffer because of my weakness as a leader and the goddesses' unwillingness to help. I've been praying to them since this siege of shadows and twilight started, but there's still no answer, not even a hero. I guess for once the hero of legend won't be around to save the princess of destiny. I have to save as many as I can even if it means surrendering and giving up on such foolish notions as destiny…
"You win Zant. I surrender," she stated to the man in the unusual set of armor.
The jester-looking armored man, apparently named Zant, only let out a loud belly laugh as acknowledgement to his victory. The only word that could accurately describe the effect the laugh seemed to have on the surroundings was cold. It made everyone who heard it feel cold with dread, a dread that only increased as the world's normal color scheme seemed to inexplicably drift more towards the red and orange in the light spectrum.
All of the people throughout the region, with the exception of Zelda, Zant, and Zant's beasts, seemed to disappear, being replaced by floating green balls of energy as this unnatural twilight settled as a herald to all that Hyrule had fallen.
"Well this is no good," said a woman more beautiful and fair than any mortal could be. This beautiful and fair woman was currently sitting in a chair, looking at a miniature version of the events in Hyrule Castle being projected onto the surface of the table near where she was sitting. "I'm going to have to fix this somehow. I just know it."
The woman sighed in exasperation. "This is really getting redundant. Perhaps if the Hero had some help this time he could actually finish the job and show how wrong that silly princess is for giving up hope. Honestly, what gives her the right to decide when things are utterly hopeless?" The woman sighed again. "Oh well. I guess when you want something done right, you really do have to do it yourself."
"Now to see if Sis and her friends will let me change things up a little," she muttered to herself as she pushed away from the table and stood to walk away. Even in her current state of annoyance and frustration, she moved with a grace that would make the most graceful of people look like bumbling idiots.
"He's still at it, isn't he," remarked Kakashi to Yamato as he walked up to the temporary Ex-ANBU. Said temporary Ex-ANBU was currently sitting cross-legged in the center of a seal array made up of wooden poles arranged in a rough pentagon. The seal array was located on the edge of a field filled with thousands of identical copies of the same blonde-haired ninja who all appeared to be trying to make what looked for all the world like a Fuma Shuriken made entirely out of chakra
"He has an unreal amount of stamina when compared to even a kage," replied Yamato. "He also has a habit of working longer than anyone I've ever seen."
"That's just how he is. Once he sets a goal for himself only complete physical exhaustion or the threat of imminent death can get him to even temporarily stop pursuing it," observed Kakashi, unknowingly answering Yamato's unasked question about how long Naruto will keep this up. The only reply from Yamato was a grunt of agreement as a small smirk of admiration for the blonde's drive to succeed slowly formed on his face.
So I now have permission to meddle, but I still need someone to send, thought the woman. At a mental command, the display on the table shifted to a list of possible candidates.
"Well now, this is interesting," remarked the woman when she spotted a name on the list. "I think I've found my unwitting helper! Time to show why some dimensions call me Murphy's Daughter!"
This stupid jutsu just doesn't want to fully stabilize! thought Naruto, as yet another group of three clones blew up when the attempted jutsu destabilized.
Naruto had been at his present training for days, but that perfect balance of shape and elemental manipulation still eluded him. The only thing keeping him from giving up hope at this point was that he had at least made enough progress to get the jutsu to form. The problem was maintaining the level of manipulation necessary to keep the jutsu from self destructing after a few seconds.
Yet another group went pop when yet another failed jutsu self-destructed, further frustrating Naruto.
It was at this point that Murphy's Law struck hard and things went catastrophically wrong.
One of Naruto's clones, in its frustration, lost control of itself to Kyuubi, who immediately began to throw its chakra into the clone.
Yamato, upon noticing that one of the clones had been taken over, sent a number of what looked like rather thick tree branches at the clone. The branches proceeded to encircle and capture the clone, forcing back the beast's chakra.
Unfortunately for all involved, the commotion surrounding the clone prevented everyone present from noticing that the real Naruto's control over the Kyuubi's chakra was also slipping. The Kyuubi hadn't survived for centuries by being stupid and letting opportunities go, and it knew an opportunity when it saw one. Deciding it would rather not get suppressed while trying to influence the clone, it withdrew is chakra from the clone and sent it straight into the real Naruto, causing the clone to dispel.
It was then that Kakashi and Yamato finally noticed the real Naruto's situation. Knowing that Yamato couldn't switch targets quick enough to neutralize the now chakra-cloaked Naruto, Kakashi threw a kunai at the real Naruto, thinking him to be a clone easily dispelled, thereby dissipating the Kyuubi's chakra before it could get out of control. Fortunately for Naruto, he saw the kunai coming and deflected it using a kunai of his own.
After the exchange between Kakashi and Naruto, Yamato was finally able to switch targets and sent the same branches from the now dispelled Kyuubi-influenced clone at the real Naruto.
Unfortunately for all involved, this was when things went from merely being catastrophically wrong to completely FUBAR as four things happened nearly simultaneously.
First, the frustration from days of hard work with no apparent progress finally caught up with Naruto, and the need to vent his anger coupled with the apparent attack from Kakashi caused Naruto to lash out with his own attack, a chakra arm in similar shape to the Kyuubi's claw that rushed forth from Naruto's own extended arm and chakra-cloaked body.
Second, the branches that Yamato sent at Naruto finally got to him and began the suppression process, resulting in the third thing: Kyuubi cutting off the flow of its chakra to preserve its strength.
Fourth, seeing the chakra arm heading towards him, Kakashi realized he couldn't simply dodge it or Yamato would be the one hit and probably fatally injured.
Realizing he had no other means to stop the arm of chakra still coming at them despite the lack of new chakra from the Kyuubi, Kakashi quickly pulled out his Mangekyo Sharingan and used his Kamui technique in an attempt to send the chakra that comprised the attack to an alternate dimension via the temporary black hole the technique creates.
However, since Naruto's chakra and the Kyuubi chakra in the attack were in essence semi-fused because of the suppressing technique Yamato was employing, the black hole ended up getting super charged by the semi-fused chakra, resulting in it sucking in Naruto himself as well. The last thing Naruto saw before everything went black was the absolutely Gob-smacked expression somehow apparent on Kakashi's masked face as he realized that he had just essentially banished Naruto to another dimension.
"Kakashi…" began Yamato, an uncomprehending look on his face while his eyes never left the spot that Naruto had been standing in.
"Yea?" replied the cycloptic Jounin as he began to realize the true enormity of his mistake.
"You did remember what the catch to the Suppression technique is, right?" asked Yamato.
"There's a catch?" Kakashi deadpanned.
The technique suppresses demonic chakra by purifying and fusing it with the chakra of the demon's host, making the purified demonic chakra part of the host's own chakra. It forces the demon to choose between fighting and getting destroyed or severing itself from the chakra being suppressed like Kyuubi just did…" stated Yamato, leaving the rest the explanation up to Kakashi's imagination.
"And since the Kyuubi's chakra and Naruto's were indistinguishable from each other, My Kamui ended up sucking in both chakra's, plus the chakras' source," finished Kakashi as comprehension of what just happened finally dawned on him. "We are so dead."
"How so? It was just an honest mistake." questioned Yamato.
Turning to Yamato, Kakashi gave him a look that screamed - Are you stupid? - and said "But how do we tell that to the Hokage?"
Yamato blanched as he realized just how dire his situation had truly become. "You're right. We are so dead."
AN: so yeah, in case anyone was wondering who that woman was, she is a minor, but crucial OC by the Name of Destiny, the little sister of Farore, who will be popping up from time to time to move the plot along.
Also, we struggled long and hard on just how to get Naruto warped into Hyrule and not make the method seem like a total cop out, but i'm not quite sure if we totally succeeded. let us know what you think.