Universal Annals: Over the Sky to a New Ages
A/N: I don't own Naruto. Also, just so we're clear, the SI is NEITHER a reincarnation nor a displaced type. SI resides in the same universe as the planet Naruto lives in, but in outer space where everything is totally different and probably make a little sense. I'll try my best anyway.
Prologue: Catch a Falling Star
It happened on a night like any other in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Nobody really thought of anything about a bright shooting star streaking across the dark sky other than how big and pretty it was. A lot of people dropped whatever they were doing so they could admire the celestial marvel. Such a sight was incredibly rare that one could count themselves lucky to see it with their own eyes; perhaps even make a wish if one were superstitious.
However, on that particular night, the sight of it would be anything but admirable.
After several moments, the shooting star seemed to flicker, followed by a single bright flash. And right before their eyes, it exploded with a near deafening sound akin to a thunder clap. A few more explosions followed and chunks of the star could be seen falling down rapidly toward the unsuspecting village. It was only through a shout of a random sharp-eyed shinobi that everyone came to realize what was truly going to happen, and sure enough, every person within earshot began to panic and flee as word spread around like wildfire. Some even fled their homes to avoid the inevitable disaster.
It wasn't long until the first flaming chunk of the star crash landed right in the middle of the main road in the market district. The impact was strong enough to sweep away dirt and destroy houses within a couple kilometers radius. Another landed on an empty clearing by the Naka river, and a third dropped down onto the central park, obliterating the area completely. The fourth and final piece crashed down on a forested area that was part of the Uchiha Clan training grounds, startling several clan members into waking from their slumber. Meanwhile, all available shinobi of all ranks save for genin have scattered across the village at the behest of the Hokage to quell the widespread panic and deal with the possible threat.
Amidst the panic and chaos, several members of the Uchiha Clan moved to follow the billowing pillar of smoke emanating from a distance within the confines of their compound. Leading them was the head of the clan and leader of the Hidden Leaf Police Force—a severe-looking man named Fugaku Uchiha. Following close by were two young boys: his eldest son and heir, Itachi, and his close friend and cousin, Shisui.
"Do you think it might be an invasion of some kind?" asked Shisui.
"I'm not quite sure, but it's possible," Fugaku answered, keeping his gaze forward. "I haven't seen such an odd tactic before, but that's all the more reason for us and the village to be on high alert."
"It might be possible that it was a kind of explosive incendiary from the Hidden Rock Village," Itachi added. "They're the only ones out of the Five Great Shinobi Nations to employ explosives to wipe out enemies in great numbers."
Shisui turned to him, looking skeptical. "Okay. That's yet another strong guess, but what makes you think they attacked us?"
"Well, aside from what I've mentioned. They could be thinking back to the disaster a few years ago when the Nine-tailed Fox attacked the village. There was no way to cover up an event of that magnitude, so it was inevitable that word of it has spread out one way or another," Itachi replied. "The Hidden Rock Village must think that the Hidden Leaf is still weak and reeling after all this time."
Shisui looked thoughtful. "I don't know about that," he said. "All that just sounded weird to me. Sure there are a few small parts of the village that still need rebuilding after the Nine-tails debacle, but why wait until now to attack?"
Itachi remained silent, trying to come up with an answer.
"Stay focused, you two," the clan head said, cutting Itachi's train of thought. "We're here."
Their group significantly slowed down once the crash area was within sight. Most of the smoke had dissipated at that point and they could see a bunch of ruined trees and a large mound of displaced dirt surrounding a strange object. A few Uchiha clansmen were already on the scene, keeping their distance while observing the object warily.
Their arrival caught the others' attention and went to report to their captain and clan head.
"What do we have here?" asked Captain Fugaku.
Two of the clansmen looked to each other, unsure of what to say. "That's...That's just it, sir," said one of them. "We have no idea what that thing is."
"We have extinguished the flames around it and cleared most of the smoke and airborne dust," said another. "We don't know what it's capable of, so we decided to hold off investigation until your arrival."
"I see," Fugaku replied. "Well done. My men and I will take over from here. You are dismissed."
"Sir!" The clansmen saluted their superior and departed from the scene. Soon after, the captain and the two youngest members of the investigation squad stepped forward to examine the strange object up close.
The strange object was sleek, large and narrow. It's height nearly touched the tops of the nearby trees, but it turned out that it was only so because it was standing diagonally due to being buried part of the way on one end like a broken spearhead. The other end was charred and broken; electrical sparks could be seen and heard buzzing and cackling every few moments. It's most prominent feature was a large, dark, and glossy oval lump protruding from the front.
"By the looks of it, it's probably part of some kind of machine," said Shisui after making his assessment. "I'm glad it didn't explode. Though I don't think the Hidden Rock Village could be capable of making something like this."
As much as Itachi didn't want to admit it, his cousin had a point. "You're right," his father said. "Whatever this is, it seems to be a little too advanced for any shinobi village to create." The other Police Force members at that point, had surrounded the strange object and began a thorough inspection. However, with its size, Itachi knew that there wouldn't be any significant progress unless they take it apart piece by piece.
Since the outside of the object didn't have much to look at, Itachi activated his bloodline limit, the Sharingan, to examine it on the inside for any possible traces of chakra.
Aside from the bright blue flames of chakra that belonged to the other members of his clan, there was another spark, but it was smaller, weaker, and… green? No, it looked more like two kinds of energy were swirling around in harmony within a single vessel. There was the familiar blue color of chakra, but there was also the yellow color of another type of energy that was completely alien to him, thus creating the chartreuse shade of green he was seeing. It was coming from inside the machine.
Perhaps it was emanating from some sort of embedded seal. Itachi focused his eyes a little more and the green chakra took on a more familiar shape. What he saw nearly brought a gasp from usually composed clan heir.
"A person..." he said in a hushed voice.
"Hmm? Did you say something, Itachi?" asked Shisui.
"There's a person in there." All activity was put to a halt at the clan heir's announcement. Itachi paid no heed to the incredulous looks everyone, including his father and best friend, gave him as he turned off his Sharingan and approached the dark lump on the unknown machine part. Nobody questioned it, nor was anyone worried. Despite being only thirteen, the clan heir was a strong capable member of the ANBU Black Ops. He could handle himself should the situation go wrong.
He traced the edges of the lump that connected it on the main body of the machine with his kunai to find a gap he could use to pry it off with, but it was airtight. For a moment, Itachi wondered if the person inside had fainted due to a lack of oxygen.
Everyone else watched with bated breaths as he put away his kunai and reached out to touch the lump with one bare hand. Since it was a machine, surely there was a button somewhere he could just push to make it open up and release its captive.
However, the moment his hand met the surface, a bright electric-blue hexagon flashed into existence beneath his palm. Itachi removed his hand as if he got burned, and he along with the team that had been inspecting the machine jumped back to their clan's side, drawing their kunai.
His father's commanding voice rang in the air. "All of you brace yourselves!" he said. Everyone drew their weapons and took to their aggressive battle ready stances, ready to take on whatever the machine has in store for them. The solid-colored hexagon lingered despite being deprived of skin contact. It pulsed once, and its brightness dimmed down to a minimum. Most of its color then disappeared, leaving only a hollow shape that rapidly multiplied until it encompassed the entirety of the dark lump like a net. One by one, pieces of said lump began to vanish.
Everyone present couldn't hold back from expressing their astonishment once every piece of dark had gone. There was a figure sitting inside the machine as Itachi had said, but they didn't seem it didn't seem to appear as expected. After the clan heir had mentioned the presence of a person within, the first image that popped in everyone else's minds were of either an adult male or female.
Nobody expected to see a child.
"Looks like we found our suspect," Fugaku said, then took note of the child's slumped form from his point of view. "They don't seem conscious though. Itachi, are you sure they're not dead?"
"I'm positive," answered his son. Then without another word, father, son and nephew immediately came forward along with a few other clansmen to get a better look at the new discovery.
The child was inside a cramped chamber, strapped on a chair that was too large and bulky for their small body that leaned heavily on their left side with their head full of short black hair hung low. Her arms lay limp on their lap and over an armrest of said chair. From what Itachi could see of their clothing, Itachi could recognize a fancy navy blue blazer. over a red wool fabric that might be a sweater, a short white skirt whose length stopped at their knees, long black socks, and a pair of short brown boots on her legs and feet. A pair of white headphones with large stylized yellow stars on the ear areas hung around their neck along with a yellow kerchief scarf, and a thick black band around their left wrist were their only accessories.
"It looks like a girl," Itachi said after looking them over.
Fugaky peered a little closer into the chamber. "Hmm, it seems you're right. From the looks of her, I'd say she's about your age, Itachi; if not, a little younger," he said, undisturbed of the fact that a little girl had tried (and failed) to attack the village. It was a fact that a great shinobi village like the Hidden Leaf has a lot of enemies from all over the continent who will do just about anything to take it down using any means necessary, even going as far as to use children as young or even younger than his thirteen-year-old son. The Leaf was no exception. One day, his second, younger son would be put to the task, as well as other children his age once he graduated from the Ninja Academy.
"Something doesn't look right, though," Shisui chimed in. "She doesn't seem to be a ninja, or built like any kind of fighter. I think she was simply trained to run the machine she's in."
Shisui reached out and put two fingers on her neck and waited.
"She still has a pulse. That's good, I guess," he said, feeling the slow but steady beats from the pulse point. He then took hold of her chin and lifted up her head to a get a view of her face. His eyes narrowed at the sight of blood dribbling down her face coming from a hidden gash on her head.
"The poor thing's hurt," he said. "Probably has a mild concussion too."
"What should we do with her?" asked a nearby clansman.
Before Shisui could answer, Itachi had already raised his kunai at the girl, his eyes never leaving her prone form.
"Wait, Itachi! There's no need to—"
Schwing!
The girl's body fell forward after Itachi cut the straps that kept her secure on the chair. Shisui moved to catch her without missing a beat.
"We should take her to the hospital," the clan heir suggested to his flabbergasted cousin.
"Geez, a little warning would have been nice, don't you think?" Shisui said, feeling a little peeved.
"If she dies now, we won't be able to extract any information out of her. You know that," came Itachi's calculated answer. He, along with the other clansmen, jumped down from the machine. Shisui looked to Fugaku who caught his eye and nodded in approval. He picked up the girl and set her on his arms in a princess style carry and came down with the others.
"Go on ahead and have her treated," said the clan head. "I will go and report what we have found to Lord Hokage."
"Yes, sir." With that, Shisui the Teleporter and the girl vanished in an instant.
As soon as he was gone, Fugaku turned to his son who stood by awaiting new orders. "You're coming with me, son." Itachi nodded in silence and went to stand by his father. Fugaku then gave the orders to the rest of the police force to help calm down the wary populace and restore order in the village.
Several hours later, inside a small hospital room, a pair of tired dark brown eyes flutter open.
Okay. The rewrite of Over the Sky is finally here. Thank you for being patient with me. As it turned out, I realized that I wasn't going to get anywhere with my male SI and the plot was way off from what I intended, so a decided on a complete do-over. I will be deleting the other one as there's simply no reason to keep it around anymore.