Anything Goes

Written by Shaun Garin

Choices change a single aspect of one's life. In one world, the Nine Tails was never woken from its seal and set on Konohagakure, and thus, Uzumaki Naruto grew up as a normal child.

In another world, other children bore the weight of the nine tails. And yet in some other worlds, all that was left was a desolate ruin because no child had been born that night and right for the seal.

It is in one of these worlds where the Tailed Beasts do not exist, and ninjas thrive that a young man finds his destiny to be a little short-ridden as his life nearly ends in the blink of an eye.

Naruto Uzumaki was one of those kids who were considered to be the top of the class despite his average grades. It was because of his lineage, being the son of Kushina and Minato. The Fourth constantly wondered why his son was so average, and Kushina encouraged the pranking.

All of this would be brought to an end as Naruto was struck by an attacking force, one that he had been not prepared for. It looked like a mantis, and as the scythe like blades slammed home, all he could think of, was that his mom was going to be really pissed when he died.

Hinata Hyuuga was indulging in her usual activities, i.e., stalking. She really did like Naruto, and it wasn't for the same reasons this time around. Recently, the Hyuuga Patriarch had engaged her to Naruto to strengthen the "wellbeing" of the clan. With such powerful Uzumaki blood in their family, the Hyuuga would prosper.

That was until the mantis-like monster ended Naruto's life with curved blades.

Letting out a terrible shriek of pain and anguish, Hinata charged the attacker and managed to land a blow, blasting it backwards. The attacker was surprised but blew her into the sky. Hinata knew she was dead when she landed, no time to twist into a fall that could save her some injury. But it was not to be, as a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her jacket, halting her land.

"Oi, idiot child," snarled the hand. "You need to get going. This is an adult fight."

"Anhk!" snarled the attacker. "Why do you protect the human?"

"Human greed fuels us, and it's not like you're putting those Cell Medals to use," snapped Anhk. The hand seemed to smirk at that. "Oi, kid! Do you want to live forever? Do you want to protect people?"

"I…" Hinata looked over at Naruto. Blood, ogod there was so much blood!

"Yes! I want to save Naruto-kun!"

"Good answer."

Hinata breathed heavily as she stumbled to her knees. She had never felt so drained before as the coins fell. She had killed it, taken a life. The Yummy, as they called it, was just a doll but it didn't make her feel any weirder.

The armor on her body flickered away as she turned around to Naruto. "Naruto-kun, hang in… there…?"

Naruto's body was rising up as the clawed hand was pulling it and his eyes opened, a red slit-like appearance and his hair turned blood red. "This body will do," said the possessed ninja. "It'll be much easier for me to move around."

"Eh? W-what about Naruto-kun?" demanded Hinata as the wounds healed right before her eyes.

"He's around," said Anhk lazily. "All you have to do is to do what I say, and we'll all be good…"

Let's take a step back from that world and peer into another. Choices. They surround us day by day, and each world is different from their upbringing. Look at this girl for instance, one Subaru Nakajima. On this day, she hadn't wanted to go to the airport with Ginga, and as such, the explosion still happened. But due to the actions on this world, she never met Nanoha Takamichi, her idol.

Let's see what could have happened after that….

Subaru trudged through the streets, hands in her pockets. "Mou, finding a job is so hard," she muttered as she wandered through the streets of the Mid-Childa capital on foot. With no drive to become just like Nanoha, she had become sluggish in her teenage years.

Watching a group of TSAB potentials jog by, she shook her head. That was Ginga's passion, not hers.

Pushing the door open to a dojo, she called out, "Anyone here?"

"Oh ho," remarked an elderly voice as Subaru looked down at the old man openly leering at her breasts. "This looks like quite the subject to be able to open the gates to our school!"

"E-excuse me?" demanded Subaru as she delivered a punch at the elderly man's face. Which missed. And what followed afterwards was a tableau of insanity as martial artists came out of the woodwork.

Choices. In that world, Subaru Nakajima became the newest heir to the Ryozanpaku, a dojo hosting the most powerful martial artists in the world. She met and trained with each of them, eventually entering a competition, where she met Tiana Landster, a newly established member of the TSAB. Some choices run parallel with each other, but at the same time, some different.

While Subaru never entered the world of the TSAB, she was still instrumental in helping bring down the activities of Jail Scagaletti, albeit in a roundabout manner.

Another world, more choices. On this world that we call Earth, there was a young boy called Negi Springfield. If you change one thing in his history, then would things have gone better for him? Perhaps.

In this world, Negi was hidden away from the people, and grew up in the City-State of Aradine. It was here that he attended Aradine's Boy's School as a perfectly average member of society…

"Negi!"

Negi looked up at the call and he waved. "Ah, Collet-neechan!"

The bouncy demi-human jogged up to him and gave him a hug. "I got into the Aradine Mage Knight academy! See?" And she showed off her acceptance letter.

"Oooh! That is incredible Collet-neechan! I can't believe you got in!"

"Hey, what's hard to believe?" pouted Collet, poking her "little brother" in his cheeks, making a squeaky noise. "You little brat."

"Awwww," chuckled Negi. "So are we going to celebrate?"

"Yeah, we are. C'mon, we need to pick up my new roommate, Yue."

Negi blushed a little at that and Collet gave him a knowing smirk. "So Negi, you like Yue?" she asked innocently.

"What? Y-yeah, but just as a friend, really!" he insisted. "Besides, she's five years older than I am. She'd never go for a guy like me."

Collet laughed as she ruffled the boy's hair. "Give it time. Five years isn't such a bad thing. Who knows? She might like you back!"

"You think?"

"Don't push your luck."

"GAH, oneechan!"

Choices create waves, rippling outwards and affecting things, places and people. Three glimpses into three different worlds; what else do they entail? One can say that these choices have ricocheted across the worlds.

Let us glimpse into one more world, a world where it tells the tale of a Key and a Boy who would be Hero.

Riku squinted in the light of Traverse Town as he looked up at the dog and the voice cutting into his hearing. "..ku! Riku!" Sora sighed thankfully as his friend came to. "You're awake."

"Barely," grumbled Riku. "What happened?"

"Our island, our home, was swallowed up by the darkness. I don't know if anything survived," said Sora sadly.

"I see… what about Kairi? Is she here with us?"

"I haven't found her. Those black things are out there, and I can't exactly hurt them with this," said Sora, holding the wooden sword. "You seemed to be able to do so though. With that thing."

Riku looked at the gold and silver key in his hand. The dog barked happily. "Huh, I guess you're with us too, huh, boy?"

The dog, who they would know soon as Pluto, nodded and galumphed out into the open where it darted around a corner. Helping his friend up, Sora added, "C'mon Riku, let's get you to an inn or something."

"Right."

"You know, they'll keep following you two," said a female voice to the side. "As long as you wield the keyblade."

Both boys' expressions lit up in delight. "Aqua!" they exclaimed, happy to see their babysitter.

Two boys, two courageous hearts, one keyblade. In a world where the keyblade did not go to Sora, he eventually finds his own to help seek the balance in the light, as a heart that had once been lost guided them on their journey. A heart of darkness and a heart of light, intermixed together to find the friend they lost. Together with friends, they stopped the Seeker of Darkness, and restored balance to the world.

Would it be so bad, if Aqua had not been trapped in the darkness, almost unable to see the light? Maybe if she had a role in raising the kids who would be heroes, they would have stood more of a chance against the tide? Who knows?