Warning! This is my first time writing fanfiction, so please point out anything that could be improved on or if something doesn't make sense.

Creative criticism is welcomed, flames will be deleted with extreme prejudice.

Edit as of 29/OCT/14: Parts referencing Naruto's 'apprentice' have been removed. This is due to a timeline error on my part. Apologies.

I will include a brief timeline of events in the authors note in chapter 5 to hopefully make things a little clearer. thank you for your patience as I clean this up a bit, Blue.

Most of all, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the Inheritance Cycle

The Gate towered in the distance. Even from here he could see the tale tell signs of life, wisps of smoke from fires, glints from metals under the noonday sun and faint sounds, as his enhanced senses picked up the indistinct noises that drifted on the air.

'It' was a city, a Dwarf city to be exact, and the city's name was Orthiad. He remembered one of his visits here many, many years ago.

Naruto Uzumaki, so old that he no longer remembered his age, was back in Alagaesia.

Naruto pulled up the hood of his traveling cloak, beginning to meld with the scenic backdrop. He didn't want to be draw unnecessary attention, and while his height may have stuck out, he wasn't a ninja for nothing. Ditching the road before he was in proper sight of the lookout towers, he travelled parallel to the road going some distance into the dense foliage that was common in these mountains.

The first indication that something was wrong was wrong was the smell. Naruto cringed at the unexpected stench that drifted on the wind, the smell of unwashed bodies, sweat, blood and death.

The second was the Beings, they looked not at all like dwarves. The figures on the walls and at the gate would have towered over the undersized people of his memories and sprouted horns from either side of their heads. The monsters stood a good six, seven some even eight feet tall! The language was different too, Naruto caught snippets of conversations with his enhanced hearing and instead of the Dwarven language, was greeted with harsh, guttural sounds.

However the last, and most important, was the emblem hanging from the walls atop the gates. The fiery insignia of the traitorous monarch.

Naruto's expression hardened. It was time for his vengeance to begin.

The valley widened throughout the morning as the rafts swept toward a bright gap between two mountains. They reached the opening at midday and found themselves looking out of shadow upon a sunny prairie that faded into the north.

Then the current pushed them beyond the frosted crags and the walls of the world dropped away to reveal a gigantic sky and flat horizon. Almost immediately, the air grew warmer. The Az Ragni curved to the east, edging the foothills of the mountain range on one side and the plains on the other.

The amount of open space seemed to unsettle the dwarves. They muttered among themselves and glanced longingly at the cavernous rift behind them.

Eragon found the sunlight invigorating. It was hard to ever really feel awake when three-quarters of the day was spent in twilight. Behind his raft, Saphira launched herself out of the water and flew up over the prairie until she dwindled to a speck in the azure dome above.

'What do you see?' he asked

'I see vast herds of gazelles to the north and east. To the west, the Hadarac dessert. That is all.'

'No one else? No Urgals, slavers or nomads?'

'We are alone.'

That evening, Throv chose a small cove for their camp. While Duthmer fixed dinner, Eragon cleared a space beside his tent, then drew Zar'roc and settled into the ready stance Brom had taught him when they first sparred. Eragon knew he was at a disadvantage compared to the elves, and he had no intention of arriving in Ellesmera out of practice.

With excruciating slowness, he looped Zar'roc over his head and brought it back down with both hands, as if to cleave an enemy's helm. He held to pose for a second. Keeping his motion under complete control, he pivoted to the right -twisting Zar'roc's point to parry an imaginary blow- then stopped with rigid arms.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eragon noticed Orik, Arya, and Throv watching. He ignored them and focused on the ruby blade in his hands; he held it as if it were a snake that could writhe out of his grip and bite his arm.

Turning again, he commenced a series of forms, flowing from one to another with disciplined ease as he gradually increased his speed. In his mind, he was no longer in the shadowy cove, but surrounded by a knot of ferocious Urgals and Kull. He ducked and slashed, parried, riposted, jumped to the side, and stabbed in a whirl of activity. He fought with mindless energy, as he had in Farthen Dur, with no thought for the safety of his own flesh, dashing and tearing aside his imagined enemies.

Eragon continued his death-dealing dance with impeccable precision, not a single movement was wasted nor a pass of his crimson flushed blade without imaginative bloodshed.

Spinning, he ducked under a nonexistent halberd that came swinging past, running his blade down the shaft and into the chest of the illusory foe.

Turning again to sever an arm he felt something deep inside him building. Not letting it bother him, Eragon blocked a fictional strike before lashing out with his foot that would have crippled the rival fighter at the knee. The foreign sensation kept building, feeling almost as if he was reaching for magic but unable to breach the wall in the recess of his mind.

The alien feeling continued to build and Eragon let it. He felt sorrow, wrath, excitement, bloodlust, anger. All of them but at the same time, none at all.

He spun Zar'roc around, the sensation reaching towards it's climax as he attempted to flip the hilt from one palm to the other, then dropped the sword as a jagged line of excruciating pain divided his back. He staggered and fell. Hearing the startled cries of Arya and dwarves. As he lay in the dirt and sweat, a red haze perforated his vision like a bloody veil dropped over the world bringing with it a seemingly mad snicker that drifted on the breeze.

And just like a dam bursting, the aura that filled his body exploded forth. It blotted out all thought and reason, overloading his senses to the maximum, and darkness descended. Leaving only a screaming husk in it's wake.

So first chapter down. Tell me what you think of it! This is my first time writing fanfiction so hopefully it's up to your standards.

All chapters are currently under review by myself for inconsistencies that don't match with my altered plot. Therefore Naruto's apprentice has been removed as it clashed horribly with the timeline of events in alagaesia.