The Fox and The Swords

Disclaimer: I do not own either Naruto or Fate/Stay Night

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Chapter 1: A good Deed

With a whimper of pain Uzumaki Naruto managed to crawl through the front door of his home, it was his 5th birthday today and to celebrate a group of villagers had waited for him outside his house and when he returned promptly tried to beat him to death, after the ANBU who were supposed to be guarding him cleared off the mob, they left the boy to his own devices despite the fact that he was covered in a number of bleeding cuts, was covered in bruises and had a broken leg.

"Why me?" He whispered to himself, once he had dragged himself into the lounge of his home. "What did I do to deserve this."

Although his injuries were slowly fading as his healing power kicked in, he tried to move but found his broken leg was giving him too much pain to move any further, realising he was stuck where he was until he could move his leg, he tried to get as comfortable as he could on the hard wooden floor.

Elsewhere in the multiverse.

The Sorcerer Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg master of the Kaleidoscope was watching Uzumaki Naruto with interest, contrary to popular belief he doesn't spend all his time playing practical jokes on people or manipulating events for his own twisted amusement, he occasionally does a, by his standards anyway, good deed. It is merely an unfortunate side affect that the recipients of these good deeds are unable to comprehend it as such, the other side affect is that the events following said good deed usually provide much entertainment for the sorcerer. Nevertheless, the potential for entertainment is not the primary motivation for Zelretch in these rare cases, it is merely a beneficial bonus.

Nodding to himself, the master of the Kaleidoscope opens a portal and steps through taking great care not to wake the sleeping Naruto, working quickly and with the ease of long practise, he draws a complex array of runes in a perfect circle on the floor, once it is complete he places a necklace with an expensive looking jewel attached in the middle of the array. Next and being careful not to wake the sleeping boy, he gently lifts the child's arm so that it is over the array, a few drops of blood from the cuts that haven't quite healed collect on the end of a finger and then drop off to land on the array drawn on the floor, which lights up and begins the summoning ritual. With a small smile, his good deed complete, Zelretch exits through another portal that springs into existence in front of him.

Inside the seal the Kyuubi watches with interest at the actions of the stranger, who has appeared in front of his vessel and then drawn what seems to be a fūinjutsu array on the floor, although it could not fathom its purpose. The instant a drop of its host blood hits the array though the Kyuubi can feel the vast majority of chakra being fed into it, the beast roars in a mixture of pain and rage before blacking out.

Narutos existence at this moment can be described as 'pain', it feels like all his organs are melting and each and every bone in his body is on fire. The sole reason he isn't screaming is because screaming is to painful for him at this moment, his eyes are shut tight, but through his eyelids he can see a bright light.

At the Throne of Heroes.

The Heroic Spirit Counter Guardian Emiya was waiting patiently for his next chance to enter the Holy Grail war to kill his past self so that he could end his own existence. A sudden jolt informs him that he is being summoned once more.

'I wonder how many I will have to kill this time.' He thinks darkly to himself.

To his surprise he realises that his perception is not being covered by the golden haze that signifies he is being summoned as a Counter Guardian, instead he finds himself being summoned in the more conventional sense. The summoning happened flawlessly, which means Toshaka can not be his summoner. Once the prismatic glow of the summoning dissipates, Emiya opens his eyes and gets a first look at his summoner.

'Young' is the first thing to go through his head. 'Abused' is the second thing, once he had time to take in the boys appearance, an uncharacteristic spike of anger lancing through him as he takes in all the injuries on the boy, his anger must have shown on his face as the boy recoils from him and tries to crawl away on his half-healed broken leg, a pained and terrified expression on his face. In an attempt to put the child at ease, he bows and asks a familiar question. "I am a Servant, as per your summoning I have come forth. I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Naruto was terrified, he had just endured more pain than he ever had before in his lifetime, now standing before him is a strange man dressed in elaborate black and red clothes, the man looks at him and a dark look crosses his face. Fearing another beating Naruto tries to move backwards but then the man bows to him, confused with the pain in his body mounting, Naruto hears the man say something but he can't make out the details as his vision fades to black.

Archer watches as his master slowly collapses, moving to the kids prone form Archer gently and carefully picks him up, as he carries the boy to the bedroom, as he moves he takes note of the state of the place, specifically, the fact that the building seems to be in an advanced state of disrepair, if it wasn't for the fact that it looked like his master lived here, he would assume that this was just a place for the summoning ritual to be completed. After depositing his master into his bed, he decided to at least tidy the place up and then have words with whoever is responsible for the boy, regardless he can't sense any bounded fields around the property so his first course of action is to erase the summoning array in the lounge, since preserving the secret of Thaumatagy comes first. Upon returning to the lounge is surprised to see the summoning array is gone, in its place is a small black tube placed on top of what appears to be a letter, now on guard for any potential ambushes or traps, he cannot sense any signs of magecraft but runs structural analysis on the two objects to be safe anyway, once he is sure the objects are mundane in nature he picks up the tube and realises it is a kaleidoscope.

"Zelretch." He whispers out. "What are you playing at this time you old bastard." Looking at the envelope he notices that it is addressed to himself, so he opens and begins to read the Wizard Marshall's antiquated cursive script.

Counter Guardian Emiya

I have arranged for you to be summoned by one Uzumaki Naruto, this is not the heavens feel ritual, this is not even the same reality you are familiar with, I employed a modified summoning array of my own design to achieve this which means three additional things:

First, your current existence is that of a human being, this means you will have no benefits of a class and as such you must rely solely on your own personal abilities.

Second, your existence is tied to that of young Naruto, hence, if he dies you return to the throne of heroes and back to your existence as a Counter Guardian, so as you can no doubt assume it is definitely in your best interest to keep the child alive.

Third, due to the modified array you will not have to worry about young Naruto experiencing the dream cycle, your past shall remain secret unless, of course, you choose to divulge it.

One final matter, if it comes to my attention that you have abandoned young Naruto I will make it a personal mission to ruin your existence, to the point where you will recall your days as a Counter Guardian with fondness.

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg

P.S. I will ensure that you will have an identity in this world, an old associate of mine will deliver it shortly.

Shaking his head at the message from the Sorcerer. Emiya settles down to wait for this unnamed 'associate' to show up.

Hokage's office, an hour later.

Sarutobi was calm, he had returned to his office after overseeing the celebrations, his intention was to enjoy a couple of chapters of Icha Icha before retiring for the night. Upon his arrival his eyes were inevitably drawn to his paperwork, the accursed stuff seems to increase every time he so much as looks at it. Noting that the pile had been disturbed, he looked closer and saw someone had deliberately placed something near the bottom, removing the offending document he scanned it and felt blazing anger burn in his chest. Worried about the state Naruto was going to be in, he chucked the document on his desk and spun to face the door as he was about to leave however a voice he had heard only once before in his life stopped him.

"That will not be necessary. I have taken steps to ensure the boys safety." Sarutobi spun to see Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg sitting in the guest chair, regarding him with a mildly curious expression.

"And what steps might those be." Inquired Sarutobi as he slowly took his seat and faced the Sorcerer, he was careful to not let any emotions cloud his face nor acknowledge the fact that he was in the presence of a man who was quite capable of defeating the Kyuubi in single combat.

"I have arranged for the boy to summon a guardian, one who will protect him and help him grow. Naturally this man will need an identity, I have taken the liberty of assembling one, all it needs is your signature." As Zelretch spoke he handed over two identical sheaf's of papers. Sarutobi glanced at the name and photo.

"Emiya Shirou." He voiced. "And I guess this Emiya is a man of unusual talents like yourself?"

Zelretch booming laugh rang out. "Now, Sarutobi I thought you knew better than to ask a magus about their abilities, after all we both now how that line of questioning ended up last time."

Sarutobi grimaced as he recalled his first meeting with Zelretch. He was in his prime and Zelretch was a suspected enemy nin, Sarutobi had questioned him about his motives all he got in reply was the individuals name and the fact that he shouldn't ask a magus about their abilities, the following battle, if it can be called as such, was as swift as it was one-sided. Never before had Sarutobi felt so powerless, the only thing that had come close was when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha five years ago.

Zelretch's grin widened upon seeing Sarutobi's discomfort before he continued. "But to answer your question, yes Emiya is a magus, not one on my level mind but grant him the rank of Jounin and you will not be disappointed. Oh, that reminds me, since Emiya is a magus you will need to instruct him on the use of chakra, in fact you should give the scrolls to him when you send a kage bunshin to him in a moment so you can get your stories straight."

Knowing a dismissal when he hears one, Sarutobi signs the identity document creates a kage bunshin who takes one of the identity papers, some basic scrolls of chakra awakening and manipulation and a Konoha hitae-ate, and then disappears using shunshin. The real Sarutobi then bows to the Sorcerer and says. "I humbly thank you for your assistance in this matter."

"Indeed." Is the succinct reply. "Now if you will excuse me." The Sorcerer then creates a tear in reality with a wave of his arm before stepping through with the tear closing behind him.

Letting out a sigh he didn't know he had been holding in, Sarutobi then went to his private wall safe to get out his Icha Icha needing to relax more than ever. After he had unlocked it, he opened it to reveal nothing but a single piece of paper which read:

You did not truly think I would let you off that easily did you?

Zelretch

"Dammit." Ground out Sarutobi massaging his temples to try and alleviate the building headache.

Narutos home

Emiya was in the process of tidying up Narutos apartment, he had arrived at the conclusion that the building was barely suitable for human habitation, the plumbing and electrics worked only about half of the time, any foodstuffs were barely edible, the list of potential structural hazards was immense and since Zelretch had made the boys safety his concern he was going to have words with whoever was supposed to be responsible for the boy.

His reinforced hearing picks up a whimper coming from the bedroom, he carefully makes his way to the bedroom and peers in. What he sees leaves him mildly shocked for a second before his analytical mind takes over, the boy is leaking what appears to be red prana, but he knows it is not prana, it is similar yet different, it also doesn't seem to trigger his mage sense as no smell emanates from it. He then attempts to analyse the red prana but gets the boy caught in it as well, what he learns leaves him stunned, someone has sealed a high-level demonic entity inside the boy and more impossibly said demonic entity is using its own energies to heal its captor. Leaving the room he sits at the table in the now tidier lounge, a multitude of questions running through his head.

Emiya is interrupted from his musings by a knocking at the door, standing and prepared to trace a number of blades in a heartbeat, he walks over to the door and opens it a few inches, waiting on the other side is an old man.

"Emiya Shirou." The man states, from his tone of voice Emiya knew it wasn't a question, although he was annoyed to be called that he did not let it show. "I'm here to discuss matters raised by our mutual acquaintance." He continued.

"You best come in then." Emiya replies, opening the door and admitting the man entrance. As they take seats around the table in the small lounge, Emiya accepts the sheaf of papers, the scrolls and the headband.

"First things first, I am Hiruzen Sarutobi Hokage of Konoha, I assume you have questions." Sarutobi looks at Emiya as he introduces himself.

"I do have many questions, but first and most importantly, who in Kami's name thought it would be a good idea to seal a high-level demonic entity into a young child?" Emiya did not let his anger show, even so Sarutobi still a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck as the steel grey eyes of the magus focus on to him with laser-like intensity.

Emiya listens as Sarutobi gives a brief overview of the elemental countries and the bijū, then explains how the Kyuubi attacked Konoha and how the Fourth Hokage gave his life to defeat and seal the beast. "It was Minato's greatest wish that Naruto be seen as a hero." Finished Sarutobi.

"Well obviously he wasn't very successful, he clearly underestimates human capacity for baseless hatred and meaningless destruction." Replied Emiya, a cynical look on his face. "But then that is the fate of all who tread the path of a 'hero'. Dying to save people who trample over your legacy, how pointless."

"Don't belittle Minato's sacrifice, Emiya." Warned Sarutobi. "The people of this village, myself among them regard the Fourth as a great hero, who saved the village in its hour of need."

"And yet these same people assault his legacy and leave a child whose injuries should require the attention of a doctor, to fend for himself in a house that is barely suitable for human habitation." Responded Emiya with venom in his tone. "Who is supposed to be responsible for the boy, as I am going to have words with them."

"One of them is myself." Sarutobi seemed to age several years at this declaration as he raised his hand to forestall Emiyas response. "And the other is his godfather."

"And where is his godfather?" Emiya enquired.

"He is running a spy network to further our villages knowledge base." Responded Sarutobi.

"Because clearly that is more important than the well-being of a child he is supposed to be responsible for." Remarked Emiya in a sarcasm-laden tone. "Does Naruto even know he has a godparent? Has his godfather even done one thing to help him out? Have you for that matter?" Emiya is shooting a dark look at the Hokage as he is saying this.

"I have done my best to protect Naruto from the civilian council, who clamour for his head. And certain aspect of the ninja council who want to turn him into a weapon. I did the best I could." The Hokage hangs his head in shame as he continues. "I know it hasn't been enough, but I couldn't see a way out for young Naruto. Any family that would adopt him would either turn him into a weapon at best or just plain murder him at worst."

"So your inactivity comes down to politics." Surmised Emiya.

"That is correct." Acknowledged Sarutobi, head still bowed in regret.

"Fortunately for you I am in no mood for a battle right now. Mark my words though, we will finish this conversation later." Remarked Emiya. "My masters situation aside, thanks to the meddling of the Kaleidoscope I am stuck here. So, let us do something productive like constructing my identity."

The next couple of hours was spent constructing Emiya's history and Emiya learning about chakra.

"So we are agreed then? You will train Naruto in the basics of chakra in preparation for his enrolment into the academy next year. While teaching yourself the same, with you having jounin rank and all the responsibilities that come with such." Sarutobi recited.

"Indeed, due to many years spent away from Konoha on a mission whose details are completely classified to everyone accept the Hokage, I am aware of the Kyuubi attacking and the demise of the Fourth. I am, however, unaware of Naruto's status as a jinchūriki and as such have no problems taking him under my protection. I have the right to refuse any missions for several years officially because I have spent so much time away from Konoha, I need time to re-adjust to a more civilian lifestyle. Unofficially because I'm going to be training Naruto up." Finished Emiya.

"I believe this concludes our business this evening Emiya-san unless, you have anything you would like to add?" Sarutobi shoots Emiya a questioning glance.

"There are two final matters I would like to bring up, in fact Hokage-sama." Emiya grimaces at having to show respect to the old man, but in his role as a jounin it is to be expected of him.

"Which are?" Replies Sarutobi. Trying and failing to hide a small grin at Emiya's discomfort.

"First myself and Naruto will require a larger home than this apartment, especially since this building is barely suitable for human habitation." Emiya asks pointedly looking at all the damaged parts of the room.

"It is already done, Emiya-san. Zelretch is many things one of them is thorough." Responds Sarutobi as he hands over a document detailing a home which seems to have everything Emiya wanted including a basement.

"You have my thanks Hokage-sama." Emiya makes a small bow of gratitude.

"And the second matter?" Continues Sarutobi.

"I am going to be instructing Naruto in the art of magecraft. Due to the array that was used summoned me, Naruto now has the capability to utilise it." Stated Emiya, his voice totally serious.

"May I enquire as to why you wish to instruct him in these arts?" Sarutobi voices his thoughts.

"Zelretch has made it in my best interest, to keep Naruto alive, by teaching him magecraft he will gain access to a set of skills that will give him an edge over most ninja." Emiya explained.

"I see." Sarutobi nodded. "Very well I shall trust your judgement in this matter. I will come along tomorrow when hopefully, Naruto wakes up to help you explain the situation to him."

"For him to have a person he trusts there when I explain will make things easier." Emiya admitted.

"Well then." Announced Sarutobi as he got to his feet. "I will bid you a goodnight Emiya-san."

"And you Hokage-sama." Replied Emiya.

"Oh and one final matter." Sarutobi places an envelope with some money on the table. "Make sure Narutos diet improves from nothing but ramen."

Pocketing the envelope, Emiya has a small smirk on he face as he replies. "I'm sure I can come up with something."

Emiya is slightly shocked when the kage bunshin vanishes into smoke, but shakes his head and decides it must be some ninja thing, 'although' he muses 'why ninja do the techniques appear to be so lacking in stealth?' Something to consider later he decides.

"Well, now to get re-united with sleep." Emiya mutters quietly to himself. He settles down on the raggedy sofa. And would have been pleasantly surprised to find himself almost instantly asleep.

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Authors note: So this is my first attempt at writing a fan fiction, tell me if I make any glaring errors in regard to the way magecraft works as I'm not certain if what I know is totally correct. Feel free to criticise just keep it constructive, and finally enjoy and review.