Long AN—ye be warned (there is also an even longer AN at the bottom for more information and my personal rambling):
After years lost in the road of life, I have finally found my muse back. I lost the plot with the Shingeki no Kyojin right after the discovery of Eldia and Marley races, honestly it didn't seem interesting at the time, on top of losing Erwin, the manga didn't hold my interest anymore. But then, I got a lot of time in my hand and started to reread the whole manga from the start and I started to have plot bunnies jumping in my head again.
Thus, begin the rewriting of this story. Honestly, I thank whoever got past the first three chapters of Unexpected Ally, soldiering-on reading that heaps of grammatical mistakes, underdeveloped concepts, and halted conversations-and even after that, gave me positive reviews. I didn't check my emails regularly, so whenever I found a review in my inbox, it gave me pleasant flutter in my stomach and an added motivation to continuing this fic.
Anyway, since I've caught up with the manga of SnK, it gave me new directions and plot bunnies, more than I would be able to put into words. But I'll try my best. This would be significantly different than the one I was envisioning years ago. Another point is- I'm not sure this story is going to be a serious fic with horror and drama, particularly because I read too much crack and fix-it fics, so some of that would leak out. But I will try to write a semi-serious one.
Disclaimer:
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Shingeki no Kyojin © Hajime Isayama
Chapter 1.1: A New Teritory
It was a nice afternoon, the sun was out with no clouds in sight; pleasant breeze came from the outside; paperworks were done and signed; ramen cups opened and ready to be eaten; and three large puppies bounded excitedly to his desk, tongues lolling from their mouths… wait.
Oh, another Containment Team was done with their mission. He expected a standard mission accomplished report, so Naruto get on with his lunch, paying no particular attention to the Jounin and her three ninkens.
"Hello Commander Uzumaki, it seems like we have an island tethered on Tea Country south coast."
That—was the first thing that came out of the Jounin's mouth after the customary greetings. The young commander was so shocked he paused from inhaling his lunch. The Jounin's face morphed into a self satisfied grin. It was a record, very few things in this world has the power to make Uzumaki Naruto stop eating Ramen, and yes the 'R' needed to be capitalized, that was just how important Ramen was to Naruto.
"Well, tell me about it, Kiba's nee-chan," Naruto said, finishing the rest of his ramen cup then expertly tossed the empty cup into the waste bin in the corner of the room.
"You do know that I have a name," she deadpanned, rather infuriated but let it drop. Because it looked like the commander could only associate her with her brat of a brother, it was troublesome and insulting—but she could deal with it.
The young man in front of her was one of her favorite superiors, and the reason for that was, one, he was not that particular about formality, heck, she could addressed him simply with "Uzumaki" and he would just answer her as he normally would. Two, he never assigned mundane mission. Most of his missions forced her to get creative in using her shinobi skills. It also caused her to re-learn her basic as a ninja to complete them, and the missions were surprisingly full of subtleties, like that one time she had to be disguised as a small boy so that she could infiltrate a budding human trafficking ring in Tanzaku Gai; it was interesting to say at least. And three, he saved a lot of her kin in the war—that in itself was self explanatory on why she let this young commander get away with a lot. Not that he was particularly rude, living in Inuzuka compound had made her familiar with informalities, but she understood why Haruno had an automatic reflect of hitting his head whenever he did something unbelievably stupid.
She sighed, then gave ear scratches to her four-legged companions before she sat down on the provided chair in front of the huge desk of the International Affair Commander which surprisingly rid of paperwork. She nodded to a clone of her commander that brought her tea and snacks for her nin-kens, she continued, "Anyway, my squad thought that it was formerly unaffiliated island, but with the earth shaking quake that day after the war that island manage to shift, just enough to merge with our border. I thought that it's better to report this to you first before we explore, preferably with a Hyūga squad. I also had a hunch that this island is where the giants came from."
The commander nodded, agreed with her initial assessment, "Did you put a barrier before coming back?" Naruto asked.
"We did, coast to coast, two meters thick, thirty meters tall, peppered with the Special Barrier Seal, and covered with genjutsu—just enough," she confirmed. It was her original mission anyway; new territory discovery was not a good enough excuse to shirk one's duty, even though erecting that barrier took a lot of her team.
A week into recuperation period after the war, strange reports came from the far south of Tea Country. They spoke of total annihilation of villages, farm houses, and settlements. The culprits were hordes of gigantic humanoid creatures. The genin team that reported it simply called this creature Giants, because they have no imagination.
It was another week after that that they heard these Giants had no qualms on preying on ninjas. These creatures covered distance in burst of speeds and in short time they were spread across the Fire Country, Land of Rivers, Land of Hot Springs, and across Wind Country. These creatures were very hard to kill; sort of blowing them up into smithereens they could regenerate any part of their body, even the head. Any ninjutsu below C-rank was deemed very ineffective because these creatures simply absorb the chakra and became even proficient in combating their hunters.
In those two weeks, the Giants ate few hundred civilians and the few caught-off-guard ninjas stationed in those areas.
The Shinobi started to think that this new threat was more troublesome than they predicted.
The medic-nins worked hard to make as many as possible shinobi fit for duties. These first few hundred teams were deployed to evacuate civilians and to aid the smaller hidden village dealing with the new threat. Most hidden village, even the smaller ones, had sealed territory hidden in their respective elements—these would be the first shelters for the many civilians running for their life.
The shinobi of the five great villages were down to less than 40,000 ninja (chunnin and above) after the war, counting the severely wounded and the ones not fit for strenuous travel, the number were down in the 35,000s and that was not nearly enough to cover the vast Fire Country and its affected neighbors. Thus the next teams were tasked to damage control, they build connecting barriers as to stop the giants from spreading further and fortifying existing ones.
They miscalculated, though; their first observation was that these giant creatures only interested in eating human but after the first barrier was erected, the giants turned to other food source like animals, vegetation, and stones—after witnessing them crunching stones and earth, a Hyūga with activated eyes made a conclusion that these giants were after chakra, and the only way they could get it is by ingesting chakra source, the most potent being human, but then, elemental nations were territory saturated with rich chakra even from inanimate objects. With the chakra inside their body, these giants began to transform. Their misshapen and hideous body morphed into a more proportional shape. Then they started to get idea on how to move their body, and they used their new found hand-eye coordination to either scale the barriers or simply destroy them if the barrier was weak enough or started munching the chakra construct.
After the first incident of destroyed barriers, Doton specialists then tossed into a room with Uzumaki Naruto, Orochimaru, Tenzo, and Hatake Kakashi by the five Kages; those poor souls were told to solve this problem with the help of the most intimidating people in Elemental Nations. After twenty hours of bickering, intimidation, and a great dose of new fear of their heroes, the Doton users were able to create a new Doton jutsu, reinforced with seal to make it near indestructible and even harder to scale by normal means. This jutsu then was taught to any shinobi with earth affinity; hours later, teams were deployed with the Doton users that were able to master the technique.
Inuzuka Hana was one of these teams. And just her luck, her squad discovered the source of the giants.
Chapter 1.2: A Very Bad Idea
Meanwhile, in Paradis Island, the Survey Corps of the humanity got a break from any titan attack. But instead of being glad at this stroke of luck, they were nervous. Commander Shadis at the head of column tensely kept checking the horizon. Squad Leader Smith, ever the observant, picked up on this odd behavior of his usually unflappable commander. It was truly strange. This was the second day of the 45th humanity expedition outside the walls. And they had yet to encounter a single titan.
On one hand this expedition might proved to be the furthest distance they would reach in decades, but on the other hand they might not be able to learn anything new about the titan should they never run into one. Another thought crossed his mind, 'Does this means that Titan's number is finite, and not as uncountable as they assumed?' where did they go? As far as he knew, the walls were the only area where humans dwelled; did they go somewhere even more packed with human?
This was the point where Erwin saw the end of his thought and what he saw was an idea so crazy he almost didn't dare to bring it up with his Commander. He urged his mount to pick up pace so that he could reach the commander while he thought on how to phrase his suggestion in a manner that would not alarm the rest of the Survey Corps members.
The commander seemed rather relieved seeing his approach, grateful for the distraction; maybe being blunt was the way to go.
"What is it Erwin?" Keith asked, took notice on the thinking face of his subordinate.
"Commander Shadis, I have a thought," Erwin started. The commander seemed amiable, and more likely to agree with his idea. But nevertheless, he was prepared with any outburst.
"Speak," Shadis grunted his eyes back on the horizon.
And Erwin proceeded to tell his commander about his earlier epiphany, about a supposedly new human area where the titans ran off to. "We should track down the titans," he concluded.
"!"
As expected, the reaction of the commander and his fellow nearby members were phenomenal. Even Mike looked at him as if he was crazy, and he was probably right but he would convince them, the mere probability of the existence of another human outside the wall was intriguing enough, but the fact that their existence was enough to draw titans away from their territory? It must be a huge population of human, something even bigger than the humanity behind the walls.
His father was always right; they were never alone in this world.
They shouldn't have let Erwin open his damn mouth, shouldn't have make eye contacts his very persuasive blue eyes, because Erwin Fucking Smith MANAGE to convince the hardass Commander Shadis to…to hunt after Titans; to chase after the things capable of ambushing them all and eat the entire Survey Corps in few giant chomps, and Erwin Fucking Smith convinced them all to find these freak of natures' where about?!
Okay he exaggerated a bit, it was more like looking for the trails of where the titans headed than hunting for the thing itself, but it was principle of the matter, because Mike knew for a fact that Erwin was designing a formation how to increase the survival rate of the Survey Corps by EVADING confrontation with the titans, but here he was, all but clamoring to pursue after these hideous monsters.
Thus, that was how Mike ended up in the lead using his nose, for the first time in his entire career, sniffing out titans to lead the whole column after them, not away.
Mike shot another glare at his friend who was looking more excited than usual. Damn it, most of the times Mike was amused of Erwin's ability to spontaneously burst into a passionate discussion or speech or both, particularly when he got to watch it befall other people and he could witness on how those people become an unwitting fanboys or fangirls. But now, nope, he was not amused in the last.
Dear gods, if you exist, please grant him patience, lest he throttle the living shit out of his long time friend and beat the charismatic charm out of that shithead.
"Mike, do you smell anything?" Erwin asked; his voice tinged with out of character eagerness.
Mike had a lot of respect for Erwin, he would follow him to hell and back, heck he already did, since, joining the Survey Corps was ultimately Erwin's influence, (gods he was such a fanboy in those training camp days…) but this was pushing it, he felt like a dog, a hunting dog but urgh…
"Not yet," he growled, damn, he was starting to act like one too.
Chapter 1.3: Ambassador, International Affair Commander, Spy Master
Later that night, Naruto, the original, few clones with important roles, and the rest of Team Seven except Kakashi, because he was busy being the new Rokudaime Hokage—but he did send a clone, met in the hidden headquarters of Konoha's Spy Master, namely Uzumaki Naruto, whose publicly known day job was the Commander of the International Affair Department.
The hidden office was located inside the Hokage monument, occupying the space inside the Fourth through the Sixth heads. It was a very big office, but the wide space was used to its maximum capacity with multitudes of clones working and training. The old Team Seven and the new ones entered a large meeting room where the original Naruto and his disguised clones already seated.
They exchanged brief greetings and immediately addressed few urgent matters. Naruto's spy clones reported unrest in the civilian districts about the barriers and how they generally felt like they were caged under the mercy of the big bad shinobi. This commonly expressed by civilians from outside of shinobi territory that were forced to take refuge inside until the giants problem were completely solved permanently. Unused to the atmosphere of a hidden village they conveyed their lack of privacy and nervousness. This problem; noted by Kakashi and Naruto would need few friendly-civilian-expert teams as delegation.
Next another disguised Naruto clone shared the good news on how the business in Konoha started to picked up again with the refuges inside the walls; it didn't hurt to make healthy merchants feel grateful and indebted in Konoha. Sai commented on how Naruto became a true manipulator at this, which got him a childish response from Naruto.
Sai then reported the increasing weariness in the ANBU, mostly they were tired from the war, but the campaign against the giants was a pain in the ass for most of them who just wished to relax and sleep for a thousand years. Kakashi promised to give the ANBU more break time between missions and would assign them less mission related to the Giant Situation. Tenzo seemed satisfied with these solutions, so he didn't add anything.
Sasuke then brought up the end of his probation period that was approaching. He told Kakashi that he could not wait to get out of the village and to put him in Naruto's Department because there was no way for other Konoha loyalist to be able to work with him comfortably. He didn't say that he wanted to be part of the spy network and not the international affair, they already know. Kakashi nodded and sent a pointed look to his other cute little student—who was not so little anymore, kami they grow up so fast…
Next Sakura relayed the state of affair in the Hospital, on how they were sort on hands but the prosthetic based on the White Zetsu cell worked like a charm and already helped the victims of the Giants Situation. Naruto then informed her that she would get a lot of applicants of medic-nin wannabe in the near future, because of Tsunade's announcement that she would focus on developing the medical advancement after her retirement—a lot of people from across the fire country saw this as an opportunity for the next generation to be taught by the Legendary Medic. Sakura nodded, filing the information to prepare for lesson plans and training regiments needed to raise the bar of medic-nin competency.
Next, the Ambassador Clones reported on how each Great Hidden Village dealt with the aftermath of the war and how they dealt with the Giant Menaces that popped out of their backyards. A lot of their main forces were still recuperating in Konoha and helping with the new pest problem, even though their Kages were already went back to their respective village. They helped Fire Country a great deal and the ambassador was anxious on how they were going to collect to debt in the future.
Kakashi repressed a shudder, suddenly seeing a future where he was forcefully married with the Godaime Mizukage, the terrifying Terumi Mei. The Hokage shook his head to clear the image and countered the ambassadors that the rest of the world was too deeply indebted to Konoha they could extort anything from Fire Country in the next ten generations. The Naruto-clone-ambassador's eyes flashed and argued that the war was basically the accumulation of karma from the fuck ups of Konoha exploding simultaneously in a galactic-end-of-the-world proportion. Kakashi froze, and the clone realized that he crossed a line, then the original Naruto announce break, and provided hot chocolate for the emotionally wired members and ramen for the ones that missed dinner.
Thirty minutes later they were back at the meeting room, and Naruto let them know about Kiba's sister's squad discovery of a new island tethered on the tail of Tea Country; where giants seemed to origin from. To his shocked council Naruto told them of his plan about coordinating an infiltration guised in alliance offer with Suna, because he just got a memory from a clone there that Temari found a whole new continent tethered in their border. So, yes, the Sage of Sixth Path was not lying when he told him and Sasuke that he sealed Elemental Nation from the rest of the world and that seal would be destroyed once they re-sealed his mother.
He would give this mission to Sasuke as soon as his probation period was over and told him to pick two other people as his team member, and no, he may not pick Kakashi, he is the fucking Hokage—he has duties, stop giving him excuses, teme. Who do you think do his paperwork all the time already?
Chapter 1.4: North
North, the titans were heading north, every single one of them, and they would be heading that way in the next expedition. It would be very hard to convince the council to give them the permission to open up entirely different survey route. But it would not matter; their resistance would be futile, because Erwin still had numerous black mails on the more important figures in the council.
Maybe he should finish that Long-Distance Scouting Formation, ironing the kinks and present them to the council at the same time with the proposal to go north. The Commander would back him up and Chief Commander Zackly already took notice of him. So, this would not be impossible.
Sometime in the next few months, they would finally have answers.
Even Longer AN and information dump, please read, it's kind of important:
One, this turned out very differently than my first attempt, and I don't know whether to put this under a whole new story with different title or should I replace every chapter with a new one, because that's what's going to happen at this point. Of course I can steer this rewrite so that I can reach the plot points I made at the last chapter, but, what do you guys think? I put this as a new story because I need the statistic, like how many people come to read this.
Two, the part where Naruto established a spy network with his clones is from the fic "A Drop of Poison" by Angel of Snapdragons. It was a really cool story on how Naruto became quite powerful and very, very resourceful even before becoming an official genin. It was great read and highly recommended.
Third, timeline; I'm not very sure at this point, but I guess it will also be different than my first attempt at writing but it will still be before the canon SnK and after the canon Naruto. It is few months after the war so Naruto and co would still be in their teens. Aw, and I was hoping to write an older Naruto, oh well that's fine, because my favorite commander is not that old, and still yet to be commander… damn, I think I messed up, but it's too troublesome to think of a way to delay their meeting, particularly because of the revealed map of Paradis Island and how I am going to connect it to Tea Country's south tail, thus slow response from the shinobi is not a viable plot, because I have no convenient excuse.
Fourth, from the Naruto Universe—there would be so much alteration from canon that I should declare it AU.
For example, Jiraiya was more attentive in his pupil's development and so not only he trained Naruto more seriously, he gave advices, pull the kid into discussion, teach him sealing in the little ways he knew, and subtly integrate the boy into his spy network. Thus, not only Naruto is 'calmer' (in everything like talking, appearance, demeanor, with more self-assured confidence) he knows how to use his skills and power better. That's the reason, other than the fact that he made friends as easily as he inhale ramen, why he was chosen as the head/commander of the International Affair—yes, it's a new department because before the war the big fives were frienemies at best and nemesis at worst, but after, they're kinda friendly with each other so, international affairs does not mean outright 'hostile'. Anyway, Naruto's Characters that turned out differently interacted with Attack on Titans' Characters even before the canon started, so this story is AU all the way.
Sixth, I finally got an understanding about Erwin's personality. In a way he's like Naruto with his unpredictable nature. Whereas Naruto is unpredictable in being a ninja, Erwin is unpredictable in the way of a soldier in the remaining of humanity behind the walls. His schemes are full of gambles that actually pay off; acquaintances and strangers often thought him crazy and blasphemous or both, and his subordinates (and sometimes superiors too) were left confused in the wake of his action. He is also master strategist and manipulator. In an ideal world he would be the shadow commander pulling the string from behind the scenes and the people would only know him as an average employee. That sounds like Mycroft from Sherlock and it was an exciting and terrifying thought.
Thanks for reading, liking, fav, follow, and reviewing!