...ARCHADIA CAME FORWARD OFFERING TERMS OF PEACE. OR, AS ONE MIGHT RATHER PUT IT, TERMS OF DALMASCA'S SURRENDER.

LORD RAMINAS, KING OF DALMASCA - AND MY DEAR FRIEND - HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO ACCEPT THESE TERMS. IT WAS, THUS, ONLY WITH RELUCTANCE THAT HE SET OUT FOR NALBINA FORTRESS - NOW UNDER ARCHADIAN OCCUPATION - TO AFFIX HIS SEAL TO THE EMPEROR'S TREATY OF PEACE.

THE KING HAD SCARCE DEPARTED HIS ROYAL CITY OF RABANASTRE WHEN THE REMNANTS OF THE ORDER MADE THEIR RETURN. AND NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON, FOR A TERRIBLE REVELATION AWAITED THEM.

THE TREATY WOULD BE SIGNED WITH STEEL AND WRIT IN ROYAL BLOOD.

~ MEMOIRS OF MQS HALIM ONDORE IV

CHAPTER 12: OF THE FALL OF KINGDOMS

Many years had passed. Hundreds of years since all of his friends had died, mostly of natural causes. In all that time, the Elemental Nations had given way to the rise of new rulers. The art of the shinobi was long dead. Now wars were fought with thousands upon thousands of marching soldiers, sword and shield in hand; massive towers and castles invaded by an unending amount of men fighting for one reason or another.

Technology had rapidly advanced after the fall of shinobi. Large catapults and airships powered by "magic" moved and fought alongside the soldiers that marched to their captains' orders.

He liked the airships.

"I'll never understand how they get them to fly," a seemingly young boy said as he watched the battle overhead.

"Don't you know of skystones, boy?" an armored soldier nearby responded.

The boy laughed. "Where I come from, they needed huge balloons to keep anything in the air like that, and they didn't move nearly as fast."

"Where in Ivalice do you come from where they use balloons for airships?" the man laughed and walked away.

'Ha, when I lived there it wasn't called Ivalice,' the boy said to himself..

"You there!" a blond-haired soldier called out. He was standing over a young-looking boy who seemed to be injured. "Can you hear me?"

The soldier from before said to him, "It's as I feared. They're slowing us down."

The young blond spoke up, walking towards the gathered men in front of the boy. "Are you itching so much for a fight that you'd leave the boy to die then?" While his voice was bright and almost playful, the blond's eyes were set in an intimidating stare at the man.

The soldier backed away, unnerved by the cold blue eyes that shouldn't have been present on the younger blond man. "I didn't mean all that now," he said with a nervous laugh. "I just meant we should avoid taking damage from now on."

"I agree," the soldier with dirty-blond hair said. "Not everyone is here for the love of battle. The boy fights to defend his home." The other soldier walked away, muttering under his breath. The blond soldier turned back to the fallen boy. "What is your name, son?"

"Reks, sir," the young one coughed out. "My name is Reks." He looked weakened, but nothing a few bandages couldn't fix.

"Good, Reks. My name is Basch. You suffered some cuts, but you are still whole. Can you stand?" Basch offered his hand to the boy and helped him up. "Think you can fight?"

"I'm fine, sir."

Basch scrutinized the boy carefully. "How old are you, Reks?"

"Seventeen, sir," Reks replied.

The young blond spoke up from behind Basch, "Same as me then." He smiled at the two armored men. "My name is Naruto."

This wasn't true. By a long shot. In fact, Naruto was close to being a thousand years old. A combination of the chakra from the Kyuubi and Naruto's own connection with nature through the toads' sage training had extended Naruto's life beyond all extremes. As far as Naruto could tell, he was for all intents and purposes immortal.

He could still die through battle, assuming anyone or anything could damage him enough. His body would never grow old and break down, though. Illness and old age would never bother Naruto for the foreseeable future.

Immortality had its price, though. Naruto had been forced to watch his friends and allies grow weary and die when he could not. Some of them had even grown bitter towards him simply because he was not forced to share in their suffering. Fortunately, some of his friends had lived longer than others.

"So young," Basch whispered. "Family?" he asked the two of them.

"My brother is all I have left, sir," Reks replied. "He's two years younger than me, living in Rabanastre."

"I never knew my parents," Naruto answered, "and all of my friends died a long time ago." Basch looked saddened by this, but noticed the resolve in Naruto's eyes.

"You're both barely old enough to be men," Basch said to them. "You shouldn't be forced to wield a sword."

"No, sir," Reks countered. "I want to fight. For my homeland, for my parents." Basch looked to Naruto.

"Where I come from, children are taught from a young age to defend themselves," Naruto explained. "I'm no stranger to war, Captain Basch."

Basch's reply was cut off as another armored soldier ran up to them. "It's time, Basch! Save the discussion for later. We must reach the King before they act or all out efforts will be in vain!"

"I'm aware of the situation." Basch looked around at the gathered men. There were not even a dozen of them there, including Naruto (who could create an army if needed, but no one knew that yet). "Keep wary, we will surely meet enemy soldiers across this gate."

The men nodded and followed the captain through the gate. Sure enough, only a few moments later two men wearing different armor from Basch's group approached from around a corner.

The larger group took care of the newcomers with ease before moving on. One of their company had gone ahead with a few soldiers, likely to deal with other enemies in the tower.

Naruto took down his opponents handily. A thousand years of shinobi training made sure that he could move freely and quickly, even while wearing the Dalmascan armor.

After several encounters, Basch's group made their way onto a short bridge. The group took down the enemy soldiers quickly before making their way across, only to be stopped when a small air fighter swooped down to block them.

The small airship's guns proved more powerful than its size let on, taking down most of the company. Naruto watched as Basch pushed Reks out of the line of fire before clashing his sword against the ship's armor.

'This is getting us nowhere,' Naruto thought. 'I didn't want to show off a lot of my power here, but we've got to get through.' He began charging a Rasengan in his right hand, only to stop when Basch stepped forward with a determined face.

The grizzled man brought his hands up and shot a massive wave of energy at the airship, damaging its engines and forcing it to fly away. Naruto let the ball of energy in his hand dissipate as he stared at the captain.

"How the hell did you do that?" he wondered.

Basch spared a glance at the younger blond. "Dalmascan captains are trained in the ways of magic, son," he answered. "Let's keep moving. His Majesty should be just ahead!"

The company continued forward. "Is His Majesty unharmed?" Reks asked aloud as they moved, cutting down more enemies along the way.

"He'll agree to an unconditional surrender," Basch replied. "They would not dare touch him until the wax on his seal is dry."

"But if we arrive after he signed the treaty-"

"Wait," Basch commanded. They could hear footsteps moving towards them. A group of enemy soldiers, most likely. "Quickly, Reks, Naruto!" The company made their way up the stairs to the top area of the tower. The room where the King would sign the treaty was nearby.

"Sir!" Reks called. "We have little time! You must go to the King. I'll handle these!"

Basch looked doubtful, but Naruto spoke, "I'll stay with him. You won't be seeing us die today, captain."

Basch nodded. "Fight well," he offered before leaving.

"I always do," Naruto muttered.

He and Reks took out the group of enemies quickly. Reks had suffered a few more cuts, but Naruto looked unharmed. In fact, Reks could not recall seeing Naruto hit by any attacks since they had arrived. The seventeen year-old was about to ask his companion about this until said companion grabbed Reks and pulled him aside, just before entering the King's chamber.

"Naruto, what-"

"Quiet," the shinobi whispered. Reks looked fearful.

Silence reigned for a moment before…

"What of the two boys that were with you… 'Basch'?" The voice was unfamiliar, and it stressed Basch's name with emphasis.

"They would have been here by now." Naruto closed his eyes in focus, trying to recognize any of the voices. The one that had answered sounded familiar, but it was not Basch.

"Then they must have fallen to the soldiers," the first voice explained. "Any gain from marking them traitors?" Naruto's eyes snapped open and he had to cover Reks' mouth to stifle a gasp.

"Neither of them seemed to be from noteworthy families." Reks motioned to Naruto to let his mouth free. The shinobi did so quietly.

"That's an Archadian accent," the boy whispered. "Could Captain Basch be…?"

"Mark them traitors anyway," the voice commanded. "It will demoralize Dalmasca and prevent any future uprisings. Now, I believe we have a show to put on."

Naruto and Reks pulled further back into the shadows of the hallway as a group of soldiers ran into the treaty room, where they knew the King was now certainly dead.

"Seize the insurgent!" the leader of the new group called.

"Well, so much for peaceful negotiations," the first voice from before said.

"We'll never surrender to you!" the other voice, the one similar to Basch, countered. "We are not cattle to be sold to a traitor king!"

"But the war is over, my dear captain. You have lost." Reks made to rush into the room at that point, but Naruto quickly knocked him out through a pressure point on the boy's soldier. He had heard all he needed to hear from the treaty room.

The bodies of Reks and Naruto were not found in the tower.

A cool wind blew across the Dalmascan desert and Naruto looked at the small fire he had built. Reks had yet to wake up after being knocked out, but Naruto had carried him away from the towers easily enough.

"Naruto."

A deep voice rumbled from the back of Naruto's consciousness.

"Yo, Kurama," Naruto said out loud. "It's been a while since you came up to chat."

The fox spirit chuckled with a deep, menacing voice. "Haven't seen the need. Watching you run around this new world trying to figure out airships has been entertaining on its own."

"Damn fox. What did you come up to talk about anyway? I know you wouldn't wake up just to torment me."

The fox laughed fully this time, a full-hearted chuckle echoing throughout Naruto's mind that shook his head. "You underestimate me, Naruto." Naruto grimaced, muttering under his breath. "I want to talk about the boy you rescued," Kurama added, sounding serious now.

Naruto sighed and looked over at Reks. "I know you said I shouldn't interact much with the people of Ivalice until I learn more about the culture, but I wasn't just gonna leave him to die, Kurama."

"It's not that," the fox grumbled. "That boy was meant to die in that tower, Naruto."

"What do you mean he was 'meant' to die?"

"I mean whatever gods govern this land now, they willed that boy to die in the group with you and the captain…" The fox paused.

"Something else on your mind?" Naruto pondered, truly curious.

"If the gods of this land said that boy was supposed to die, he should have died," the fox muttered. "But obviously, he's sitting right in front of us, unconscious but very much alive."

"So what are you getting at?"

"You overturned fate."

"I what?"

"The gods, or we'll just call them 'Fate' for now, said the boy was to die, but you saved him." Naruto's eyes widened. "Yes, you have it now. Fate did not account for you intervening."

"So does that make me the master of Fate?" Naruto laughed.

"Not yet, boy," the fox grumbled. "It just means they didn't know you would be there. If Fate is still watching, they'll know that something messed up their decision. They'll be watching for something else like this happening, Naruto."

Naruto laughed and stood up to look at the night sky above him. "Kurama, you should know better than anyone that I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the #1 Unpredictable Ninja!" He pointed a finger dramatically at the sky. "I don't give a shit about 'Fate' or the gods behind it!"

Chapter 1 End

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first attempt at writing fanfiction in several years. As you have probably realised by now, this will be a crossover between Naruto and Final Fantasy 12.

Before I go any further, I'd like to give credit to Kenchi618. I took inspiration for this story from his "True Warriors Never Die" and "Shinobi of the High Seas" stories. Go check him out if you like Naruto crossovers. He does good work.

I'll be keeping just about everything for this story in English. The only Japanese I'll be keeping are things like "Rasengan" or "jutsu" that are already prevalent in the English version of Naruto. No honorifics (aside from sensei) and no Japanese technique names.

This chapter was fairly short, but future chapters will likely be longer. I will warn that I have a record of not finishing stories that I start, but I really want to write this one, so let's all hope I don't lose motivation.