Alright, so this is my first fanfiction. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, leave a reply and I will see what I can do.
I do not own Naruto or Gears of War
The Fourth Carmine
For the vast majority of the Elemental Nations, the tenth of October was but another day in the many others in the year, but there was one exception. Konohagakure no Sato was in flames, and despite being called the Land of Fire, this was definitely NOT normal. The reason behind the flames and the other various destruction that spread across nearly a third of the village was caused by the Kyuubi no Kitsune, or the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Massive white claws tore up the landscape while gale-force winds, caused by the beast's massive rust colored tails, served to spread the flames and topple structures, as well as blowing back those ninja unfortunate enough to not have sturdy and substantial cover at the time. Teeth, nearly as large as its claws, tore apart any ninja unfortunate enough to get near its maw. The shinobi and kunoichi of Konoha were fighting valiantly against their foe, despite their almost certain demise. Although the sounds of battle permeated the air, the rivaled sound of the dying, the wounded, and the mourning could easily be heard beneath the frenzied combat.
Many of the screams soon turned to cheers as the Fourth Hokage appeared in a flash of brilliant yellow light. The Fourth Hokage, who went by the name of Minato Namikaze, was considered to be one of the greatest shinobi in Konoha, and perhaps even in all of the Elemental Nations. Alongside him, or underneath him, was Gamabunta, the boss summon of the Toad summoning clan; one of their fiercest warriors and the longtime friend of Minato. Gamabunta was a rust colored toad of massive stature, larger than the vast majority of the buildings in Konoha. A long scar, worn proudly, adorned his face travelling from the near top of his head through his left eye and past the left corner of his mouth, stopping just after his jawline. A dark blue happi vest with white trim adorned his body, and a large pipe hung loosely from his lips. Across his back was a massive tanto, as Gamabunta was tall, its hilt and sheath were a greyish white, with nary a flaw to be found.
Upon looking around, Gamabunta knew why he was summoned, and he was none too pleased. "You've GOT to be kidding me here, right?" Gamabunta said in disbelief.
"I'm afraid I'm not," Minato said with a tired sight. "I need you to hold him, for just a moment. I've got a plan to seal this thing, but I can't do it here." Gamabunta grunted in response, and charged the Kyuubi with a speed ridiculous to what one might expect of a creature his size. The Kyuubi, too focused on destruction, didn't notice the massive toad and the rider on its head rushing towards it until Gamabunta's shoulder crashed into the Kyuubi's upper chest. With the element of surprise on his hands, Gamabunta quickly started grappling with the Kyuubi, attempting to hold the beast long enough for Minato to do whatever he was planning on doing.
Thankfully for Gamabunta, the Kyuubi didn't have much time to resist, as Minato quickly used his signature technique, the Hiraishin no jutsu, or the Flying Thunder-God technique, and transported the Kyuubi to a far off and unknown location (to Gamabunta and any other observers, at least). Despite the fact that the Kyuubi never got an attack off on Gamabunta, he was still injured. By touching the Kyuubi, even for a short period of time, the skin on Gamabunta's hands, arms, and chest were burned. The Kyuubi's chakra was purely demonic and highly corrosive. Regular chakra, the building blocks of the shinobi forces and life as the citizens of the Elemental Nations knew it, would never have this effect. This demonic chakra could only be found in nine beings: the nine Bijuu, each different than the last and each controlled by a hidden village against their will. With Gamabunta's injuries, he disappeared into a massive cloud of smoke, back to his home to recover.
Minato had just transported himself and the Kyuubi to a secluded location, a clearing far away from the nearly torn apart village and its people. The clearing was not empty when Minato and the Kyuubi appeared, there were two others. One, a red haired female who looked like she'd just run 2 triathlons in one day with not even an hours rest. Two, a small baby, not even half a day old, with a head of golden yellow hair. These two people, (SPOILER ALERT (hardly, but hey)), Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze respectively. Naruto was in a non-descript crib on what appeared to be some sort of alter of stone, which was covered in strange black markings that would appear to be just random scribbles on the ground to the untrained eye. In truth the squiggles and markings surrounding the stone alter were a highly complex fuinjutsu (sealing techniques) formulae, whose purpose was known only to the two adults.
As soon as Minato and the Kyuubi appeared in the clearing, Minato yelled out, "Now Kushina!" As soon as those words rang out, Kushina gave a pained grimace as golden chains of pure chakra burst forth from her body. These chains quickly wrapped around wrapped around the Kyuubi's form, and attempted to restrain the Kyuubi for what was to come. The Kyuubi put up much resistance and Kushina's grip with her chains grew weak. Here, Minato used his Hiraishin to teleport himself in front of the crib/alter, and began a series of hand signs.
As Kushina's chains and her body weakened, the Kyuubi took the opportunity to use one of its many tails to take a swing at her and Minato. Minato got out of the way without much trouble, although he had to take a pause in his hand seals to do so, but Kushina wasn't quite so lucky. The Kyuubi's tail smashed right into Kushina with immeasurable force and sent her, and her chains, crashing through a few large trees nearby. One might wonder how someone could possibly survive being sent through massive trees such as these, but ninja are made of sterner stuff, and Uzumaki are made sterner still.
Minato, seeing the love of his life being attacked with such viciousness cried out in worry and rushed through the seals even quicker than before, panic and anger fueling his intricate movements. After a few moments of wondering what the hell had just hit her, Kushina rose up from her sprawled position on the forest floor.
"Ooooh that damn fox! Just wait until I get my hands on you again, 'ttebane!" Kushina exclaimed with a fiery anger. She rushed back towards the clearing as fast as her physically exhausted body could take her and arrived just as the Kyuubi thrust one of his massive claws towards Naruto's small infant body and Minato's form, which happened to be lined up quite nicely with his son's. With all the speed of motherly instinct, Kushina rushed as quickly as possible and leapt in front of the Kyuubi's claws in a vain attempt to stop it from hurting her precious child.
Minato, having finished all of the hand seals, yelled out, "SHIKI FUJIN (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)!" At these words, the previously black markings and symbols started to glow like embers of a raging fire. The markings twisted and turned and before long a ghostly image appeared behind Minato. The image appeared to be a ghoul cloaked in a white robe with long, wild, white hair, through which two red horns protruded. In its toothy jaw resided a small, dagger like object. The ethereal creature reached out a long, gangly arm towards the Kyuubi, whose claw inched closer and closer towards the young infant on the alter. The ethereal being, just as Kushina leapt in front of the incoming claw, grasped the Kyuubi and began to tear its volatile chakra in two.
The Kyuubi whose momentum couldn't possibly be stopped with just a single touch, continued onward to pierce both Minato's and Kushina's abdomens, spelling an almost certain death for the both of them. Naruto's small body, however, was spared due to the resistance of his parents bodies against the claw, as well as the Kyuubi no longer thrusting towards him. The claw sopped mere inches away from his tiny head.
The Kyuubi, meanwhile, was thrashing around, attempting to dislodge the specters hand from its body to no avail. The specter was finished with the first part of its task, ripping the Kyuubi's chakra in two, and now started with the second task, shoving the two severed halves into two of the three humans before it. One half was thrust none too gently into Minato's still breathing body, and the other went into young Naruto who still rested peacefully on the crib/alter. However, something strange happened when the specter reached towards Minato to complete its third and final task.
As the specter reached into Minato's back to retrieve his soul, which was the price necessary for the Shiki Fujin, the scripture of the seal array across the ground started glowing white, and lifted off of the partially blood soaked ground. The scripture now swirling wildly around the alter, compressing in on itself. It started slowly at first, but grew quicker and quicker. By the time the whirling scripture reached the diameter of a baseball, the Kyuubi's physical form had disappeared, and Minato and Kushina fell to the ground in a bloodied heap. As quickly as possible, Kushina crawled towards her baby boy, so that she could hold him at least once more before she passed on the next world.
As soon as Kushina cradled Naruto to her chest with tears streaming down her paling face, the specter finished taking Minato's soul. His time in this world was up. His last vision in life was the condensed scripture of his sealing technique bursting form a near blinding white light, engulfing his wife and newborn child. When the light died down, there was nothing but blood and trees.
'Where did they go? What the hell went wrong? The technique wasn't supposed to do this!' Minato thought mutely. With the last of his breath, Minato whispered to whatever deity he thought that might be listening, "Please…. Let them be safe…" With these words and a single tear falling softly from his now dim eyes, Minato Namikaze, fourth Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, the Yellow Flash, was no more. When the body of Minato was found, his village knew not how he fell, nor the fate of his family. All they knew was that the Kyuubi was gone and the village was safe for another day.
In another dimension, another world, and another time, the setting was strikingly similar to the first. Buildings burning, the bodies of the dead and injured were strewn across the streets, and the sounds of fighting permeated the air. However, there were several key differences. First of all, there was no colossal beast of pure malevolent energy attacking. Second, the sound of fighting was much louder, with the sounds akin to the sound of a very loud, snapping broomsticks against stone surfaces. Third, the sky was blocked out not with smoke, but dog-sized, black, floating creatures that resembled some sort of amalgamated octopus or squid. They were everywhere, and occasionally several would come hurtling towards the earth and explode violently. Lastly, this was not just one city under attack, but an entire world.
The world of Sera was burning, and the blood of its inhabitance ran like wide rivers throughout every established city. The city we find ourselves in at the moment, however, was known as Jasper, a northern port town in the country of Tyrus, capital country of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, or COG, for short. The COG have been fighting a furious war, or slaughter depending on who one talked too, against a previously unknown foe, the Locust, who had emerged from the ground just six months prior and immediately started warring against the Humans of Sera.
The gears, as the soldiers of the COG army were called, were just ambushed after clearing out a medium sized Locust force. They had been sent to the area to evacuate all the civilians that they could find, but the vast majority of those they found had been quite literally torn apart or riddled with so many holes that they might as well have been a pile of bloody mulch. Soon after the ambush started is when Kushina and Naruto were found.
A rather medium sized muscular teenager, dawning darkish blue and grey armor with a similarly colored helmet and baby blue eye lenses had just taken cover in a nearby house from a few Locust forces that had slaughtered his squad with their MK-1 Hammerburst assault rifles. Panting, he attempted to quickly reload his shiny new MK-2 Lancer assault rifle, which was only recently released among the COG forces, equipped with a vicious chainsaw bayonet. However, panic and mass amounts of adrenaline caused him to drop his clip. His last clip, to be specific.
"Aw shit!" The teen yelled in a hushed voice. He quickly dropped to his hands and knees, trying to find his clip in the unnatural darkness. His near-frantic search led him to the next room, where upon finding his final clip, cried out, "Aw HELL yes!" Silence followed this exclamation; no sounds of fighting, no cries of pain, no nothing. This silence did nothing to calm the teen's nerves, as he took the next moment to gaze upon his new surroundings. The architecture of the room was classic of the average Tyrus home. A concrete base, wooden walls, a fireplace, etc. The décor was rather average as well; paintings of ships on the walls, knickknacks on the mantle above the fireplace, random scribbles and symbols of an unknown language surrounding a nearly blood-soaked red haired lady, stripped wallpaper…Wait, what?
The teen rushed towards the bloodied red head, and quickly checked for a pulse. The second that he touched her, her hand shot up and roughly grabbed his shoulder. Her head rose and amethyst eyes, still bright despite the massive amounts of blood surrounding her, pierced through the lenses of the teen's helmet and fully capturing his gaze. The teen, started with the sudden movement, tried to pull away. However, the woman was much, MUCH stronger than she appeared, and kept the teen from going anywhere.
The woman mumbled something of which the teen could not quite hear. "Hey, are you okay? I need to get you out of here, and ASAP!" The teen told the woman. However, she did not get up, nor try. Instead, she started to pull the teen closer, and said what she had before, only louder. Unfortunately, the teen had no freakin' clue what the hell this lady was saying, as he didn't speak the language that she did.
"Lady, you need help! We've got to hurry, the Grubs could come in any second now!" The teen stated in a hurried tone. The woman made no motion of comprehension as she produced a bloodied blanket from her bosom, and pushed the child towards the teen. Once again, she stated the same words in her unknown language, and it was there that the teen got the gist of what the lady was trying to do.
"Are you kidding me? It's a war-zone out there! I can't take him!" The teen nearly yelled, but the lady wouldn't budge. Instead she reached down into the ever expanding pool of her own blood, and started to draw a strange symbol on her neck. The symbol was similar to those that the teen saw on the walls. When the lady finished, the bizarre symbol glowed orange, and a soft, pained voice sounded throughout the room.
"Take him… Please… Protect him… Protect my little Naruto…" The lady whispered, her voice and eyes desperate. After a moment of consideration, as well as slight amazement at her random action and newfound ability to speak English, the teen nodded, sheathing his Lancer on the magnetic holder on his back and took up little baby Naruto in one hand, drawing his Snub pistol with the other.
With this, the lady gave a soft smile, her teeth stained red with her own blood. Kushina ran her fingers gently over the whiskered cheeks of her child, telling him to always eat his vegetables, to always to what he felt was right, and many other words of wisdom that she would be unable to give him later in his life. She apologized to the child while tears spilled freely from her dimming eyes, telling him of how sorry she was that she wouldn't be there for him, that she wouldn't get to shower him with all the love she could manage. Her breathing slowed with every phrase until her last, where she told Naruto that she loved him with all of her heart and more, and that she would always be with him no matter what. Her eyes closed for the last time, and her hand slipped from Naruto's serene face and falling to the ground. Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze was no more, leaving this world for the next with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
The child, who was previously asleep, awoke to being wet, sticky and none too pleased, and started to cry. The teen tried to comfort the child, but to little avail. Just then, the teen's previously dark radio sounded.
"Omega, Om –kssh–, do you read?" The teen quickly reached up with his pistol-armed hand and pressed a button near where his ear would be.
"Command, this is Private Carmine, reporting!" The newly identified teen stated.
"What's your statu –kss– vate?" Asked Command, the voice on the other side distraught.
"The rest of my squad is K.I.A, I found a civvie in a house that I took cover in. Orders sir?"
"Briga –kssss– arkin has issued a retreat order, get your ass and that civ –kssss– back to the Centaurs immed –ksskskksss–" With that, the radio went down.
Carmine checked his Snub pistol clip, and thought to himself, 'This is going to suuuuuuuuuuuck…" and sprinted outside of the room, and subsequently the safety of the house.