CoG: Raven and Jackdaw

by NorthSouthGorem

His body was destroyed, his spirit brought to the point of nonexistence. But Naruto did not give up, and neither did the Kyuubi. Fortunately for them, Ravirn is the helpful sort. NaruHinaFuu. Powerful, Chaotic Naruto. First fic of its kind. A Tale of the Gor- sorry, UDOM. "This is not the beginning, but closer than most."

1. Chapter 1

AN: Introducing the very first Naruto and Ravirn Crossover ever; CoG: Raven and Jackdaw! Here's hoping I don't screw it up. And yeah, I know I'm supposed to work on my other stuff, but I just can't help it.

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto, while Ravirn is owned by Kelly McCullough.

"Speech"
Typing
Thoughts
Inner being to outer being
Bijuu/Deity/Power
Jutsu/Technique/Spell

Chapter 1: Beyond nothing, and the unison of one and a half souls

At the border of Hi no Kuni, two boys faced off in the Valley of the End.

Sasuke Uchiha stood at the foot of a statue of his ancestor, Madara Uchiha. His skin and hair were tinged gray from his Level Two Cursed Seal, and a pair of webbed, hand-like wings sprouted from his back. A ball of black and silver lightning crackled in his hand, giving off the sound of a thousand birds taking flight.

Across from him, crouching on the foot of Hashirama Senju's statue, was Naruto Uzumaki. A translucent red cloak covered his form and his normally blue eyes red with slitted pupils. He clutched an orb of swirling chakra in one hand, which was surrounded by the red energy.

The two of them stared each other down solemnly. Then they moved. Both leaped from their perches, their attacks roaring in their hands. This would decide everything, that much was certain. They drew closer and closer, friends turned enemies. Three seconds remained until the great moment.

Two seconds.

One second.

And here it was, the instant of truth.

"Chidori!"
"Rasengan!"

The two Jutsu clashed with each other, their individual chakras exploding in all directions and mingling. Then the energies curved inward on themselves, forming a small, dark sphere, which began to grow, light spreading from its center.

Within the bright confines of that sphere of conflict, the two boys floated, a foot away from each other. The outcome of this battle would now be determined by the next action that they took. However, the outcomes of those actions could be altered by the slightest detail.

In other words...anything could have happened.

Anything did.

The force of the two attacks was so strong that the fabric of reality briefly tore, exposing the Primal Chaos beneath. Naruto's attack was the stronger, so the tear was larger at his end. With a cry of surprise, he was sucked into the stuff of creation before the rip closed over.

Sasuke blinked. He was standing on the surface of the water at the base of a waterfall. Why am I loitering around here? he thought irritably, turning to keep walking, I need to get to the border! It's odd, though...why do I have these injuries? Did I fight someone? Was it Naruto? He stopped, shaking his head in confusion, trying to clear his head. "Naruto? What the hell kind of name is that?" He put it out of his mind and kept running.

(?)

Naruto couldn't even scream as the Chaos ate through him. It was painful beyond anything he'd felt before as parts of him melted away to nothingness. Still, the first time he screamed, his vocal cords had been burned out, along with his tongue. His eyes had long since been destroyed, but somehow he could still see the roiling, endless colors. Is this where it ends? he thought, I fight with the teme, somehow blow a hole in the world, and end up being dissolved by some weird stuff? A deep sense of self-disappointment filled his heart as he thought of all the people back home. Sorry, Sakura-chan…I guess I broke my promise… But now, a sense of peace was coming over him. Bushy-brow, I hope you gave that bone guy an ass-kicking. Chouji, if you died, I'll kick your fat ass back to life! Same to you, Neji. Shikamaru, you lazy bastard, you'd better make sure everyone gets home. Well, everyone except me, that is. Who else would I miss? Oh yeah, there's Hinata. I'm sorry I never got to talk to you much, but maybe…could we have been friends? I would have liked that, I think; you were a nice person. You know, it doesn't hurt so much anymore. Little did Naruto realize, but the Chaos had almost entirely eaten him away. Huh, I should probably breathe sometime. Oh wait, my lungs are being eaten, never mind. Hey Kyuubi, you know you can probably get free in here, right? This stuff feels a lot like your chakra, so it might make you stronger. Naruto felt a faint burning around where his stomach used to be. Ha. I knew you wouldn't resist the chance to leave. It's alright though, I'm dying anyway and there's no one to hurt here.

When the great Nine-Tailed Fox finally burst free of the prison holding him within the boy, Naruto had been dissolved almost entirely. All that was left was the headband. No! I won't let this go! He thought, suddenly defiant. With more concentration than he'd ever mustered in his life, he enveloped the headband with his consciousness, making it the center of his being and shielding it from the corrosive stuff around him.

"It's useless," The Kyuubi pointed out in a bored voice, "The Chaos here is wearing your soul away. Once you're gone, that little scrap of metal goes too."

I don't care! This thing shows that I am- was! –a Konoha ninja! If I'm gonna be erased, that's what I'll be before I go! I am a Konoha Shinobi! I'm…I'm…Who…who am I? The consciousness and soul formerly known as Naruto was starting to disburse, losing its sense of self.

The fox shook his head and turned to walk away. "Fool," It muttered, "All that talk and now you can't even remember your own-" He stopped as a flickering feeling of numbness cut through his mind. "W-what? This place is affecting me too! But that's impossible, I can't be taken apart like this-" Another shock caused him to turn. "No…" Pale gray chains were extending from the ruined soul behind him and wrapping around his body, pulling tighter. With a thrill of horror, the Kyuubi realized what was happening. Even though the seal had been broken, the Shinigami's power was still binding their souls together. If Naruto stopped existing, he, the Great Kurama, would not go to the Death-God's stomach. No, he'd follow the boy very closely into oblivion. "NO!" He grabbed the tiny headband with the soul still on it. "I WON'T GO BACK TO THE DARK!" The Kyuubi roared with rage, and the Chaos around him responded; it gathered in front of his maw, forming a large, very potent ball and mixing with his youki. "Bijuudama!" (Tailed Beast ball) The orb of focused Chaos-youki exploded in a straight line as the ninth Bijuu vented his rage before him. The barrier of reality could not stand against the assault.

(9780441?015382 AKA Raven House)

[POV Change]

Just once, I want to be able to visit my own home without something going awfully wrong. I'd blame Fate for this, but since I know that they can't control my thread, I guess I'm stuck with the blame for this one again. I mean, one moment I'm lying down, trying to sleep (As usual, I can't), the next, there's an explosion so powerful the sound throws me out of my bed before the tremors can.

"Chaos and Discord!" I yelled, stumbling out of my room. I had to yell to even hear myself, "Mel, you still there?"

Melchior, my blue web-goblin familiar, ran up, looking a nice sky color. "Here, boss!" he shouted. Then, "Who did you piss off this time?"

I put on my most offended face. "Nobody!" I said indignantly, then amended, "Recently. At least, no one who'd make an explosion to get in."

"What about Eris?"

"I have not pissed off Eris lately." My voice was decidedly proud at that accomplishment.

Mel didn't look convinced, but at that moment, the faun-butler Haemun came running up, wearing one of his usual horrible Hawaiian shirts and looking alarmed. "Master Ravirn, there's a giant fox standing at the shore! It's speaking in Japanese so I can't quite understand it, but I think it's saying something about a soul."

Well, crap. There went my peaceful vacation.

When I'd gotten my clothes on, I went as quickly as was possible without looking like I was panicking. While I may have moved out of this place a while ago, Raven House was still my home; the place I'd brought into being from my subconscious. I was the king here. I was in charge while I was present. I was...

I was staring up at the largest fox I had ever seen. "Sweet Necessity," I groaned, "Why does this always happen to me?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm no stranger to giant animals. Hell, I leased this house out to Cerberus, as well as the Fenris Wolf, to use when I was out of the pantheoverse, and they were each large enough to eat me. Also, I was on speaking terms with Jormungand, who was so large he could girdle the earth. While this huge vulpine was nowhere near as big as the Midgard Serpent, it certainly looked ferocious enough to punch out Cerberus with one of its very human-looking hands. Also, anything that could blow up the Primal Chaos was definitely something that shouldn't be messed with.

The three-headed canine in question was facing down the fox. The right Doberman head, Bob, was snarling and barking in challenge. The middle Rottweiler head, Dave, and the left Mastiff, Mort, were both regarding the potential intruder suspiciously. Mort saw me first. "Oh good, there you are," he grunted, slightly relieved.

"You know, you really should tell us when you're having a friend over," Dave said dryly, "It's not polite to have them just crash in uninvited. Bob, shut up," He added to his subordinate head.

The Doberman gave one last growl, glaring at me. "I don't know how, but I just know this is your fault!"

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I know attract trouble like you attract fleas-"

"Hey!"

"But for once, I had nothing to do with this. I think." I turned to look the nine-tailed fox in its vast red eye. There was no need to alarm it unnecessarily, so I kept my sunglasses in place. "Sorry for ignoring you," I said courteously, "But would you mind telling us why you're here?"

There was a look of uncertainty in those eyes. "O ningen dake nani o itte iru?" (Just what are you saying, human?) it asked in a deep, rumbling voice.

Oh, right. Haemun had mentioned that it spoke Japanese. Fortunately, I had a translator on hand. "Hey Mel, you still here?" I asked, not turning my head. Looking away from this thing could be disastrous.

"Against my better judgment, boss, yeah." The blue web-goblin muttered from behind my legs.

"Don't call me boss," I said distractedly, "Can you rig up something to help with communication?"

He thought for a moment, his brow scrunched up. "Sure. Just say the word, boss," he said, his scratchy voice sounding contemplative. With his upgrade to the multiverse's first Quantum Laptop, Mel had become rather good at coding his own spells over the years. Much better than I'd been; all I had to do was put a name to them, like now. While Mel was an AI with free will, he still liked me to give him the old commands.

I thought for a moment. "Er...alright, got it. Melchior. Tower of Babel, Please." I had at long last gotten used to substituting the voluntary 'please' command for the old compulsory command 'execute.' It was much more polite, and showed that I respected Melchior as my equal and partner, which I did.

My partner rolled his eyes at me. "Way to be original," he said sarcastically, then, in a flat voice, "Executing." He began whistling a rather simple code, though a bit long.

I felt a tingling in my ears and throat as the spell took effect. I cleared my throat and spoke to the fox. "Sorry about that, but I couldn't understand what you were saying," I explained, "May I have the pleasure of knowing whom I am speaking to?"

This seemed to please the beast. "I am the Kyuubi no Yoko," it growled, "About time someone showed me respect. And who are you, human?"

Great. An arrogant one. Best be careful. "My name is Ravirn, Kyuubi...san? But I must add that I am not a human; I'm a demideity, as well as a Power of Chaos."

The vulpine seemed taken aback. "A demideity, you say? What does that mean? And I suspect that whatever a Power of Chaos is, it has something to do with the fact that your chakra is much like the stuff I was just in." I explained that being a demideity meant that I was descended from one or more of the Greek Gods. I had no idea what chakra was, and Kyuubi seemed resigned when I said as much. "I see. I've come to another world entirely. No matter; it seems I must start from the beginning."

Haemun, anticipating my needs as always, brought out a couple of chairs for me and Mel. Cerberus had loped off, losing interest.

The great fox told us about a world where all humans possessed an energy within them called chakra. They could mold that energy within them to perform supernatural feats, and the people who learned to do so were called Shinobi; it sounded a lot like the heavily processed and refined Chaos that was used to power the mweb.

"However, before the humans learned how to harness their chakra, there was a demon that roamed the world, causing devastation and ruin wherever it went. It was known as the Juubi, or Ten-Tails."

"Why, did it actually have ten tails?" asked Mel jokingly.

Kyuubi just blinked at him, causing my partner to gulp and shrink a bit. "Yes, it did," it said, "That's why it was called that. Anyway, one day, a human known as the Sage of Six Paths appeared out of nowhere. He had discovered how to manipulate his own chakra and was attracting quite a following as he taught others to do the same. He faced the Juubi and sealed it into himself."

I wasn't quite sure I'd heard that right. "He sealed it into himself? Could you run that by me again?"

The fox lay it's long head on its forelegs. "It's exactly as I say. He took the giant chakra demon and sealed it into his own body. The problem was, he knew that the beast would break free when he died, so he took some steps. On his deathbed, he took the Juubi's body and sealed it away physically, creating the moon." Okay, so this Sage person sounded like a pretty powerful guy. Sealing away some terrible monster and creating the moon at the same time (While dying, no less!) sounded like something the gods would do. When I said as much, the fox snorted. "You would think that, but that man was undoubtedly human. After he sealed away the body, he took its chakra and split it into the nine Bijuu, or Tailed Beasts. I myself am the strongest, with my nine magnificent tails." Here, it swished its nine long tails through the air, looking proud of itself. It went on to explain, though not in detail, how the Sage named each of the new Bijuu, and then how each beast came to be sealed inside humans belonging to each of the five 'great villages.' I didn't interact with humans much anymore, but I could respect a race that could seal nine beings like this fox. Just sitting where I was, I could feel the sheer power Kyuubi gave off.

"What about you?" I asked, "Were you sealed as well? I mean, you're obviously free now, but..."

The chakra demon growled, causing the ground to rumble. "As loath as I am to admit it, I was indeed sealed within humans myself," it admitted, before adding, "I, however, only had three Jinchuuriki counting this one, which is more than I can say for the others. Shukaku, the Ichibi, got sealed many times, with his soul being stuffed in a kettle in between." The smug glee in the fox's voice told me it didn't like this 'Shukaku' very much.

"So what happened to your hosts?" I asked.

It gave a vulpine shrug. "My first container, a woman called Mito Uzumaki, would have died of old age, so I was transferred to the next one, which caused the first one to die anyway. Then my second host, Kushina Uzumaki, became the wife of that detestable Yondaime, Namikaze, and got her fool self pregnant."

The note of resentment in its voice got my attention. "Who's the Yondaime? Also, what exactly was foolish about her getting pregnant?"

The Kyuubi explained that the village leader was known as a 'Kage,' and that the Yondaime was the fourth 'Hokage' of the village Kushina fought for. "When a female Jinchuuriki gets pregnant, it causes the seal holding the Bijuu to weaken temporarily. On the eve her child was born, I made a bid for freedom. However, someone was waiting. A man with an orange mask; he stole Kushina right out from underneath Namikaze's nose and fully extracted me from her body. Such a thing would kill any normal human, but Kushina's Uzumaki blood allowed her to survive. But then..." It roared, suddenly furious, which made my ears ring, "That masked man used a Sharingan on me and took me over! Me! The Kyuubi no Yoko, forced to do the bidding of yet another goddamn human! He made me attack the village, Konohagakure, but then," Kyuubi growled, "That blond baka, Minato Namikaze, sealed me away again, into his and Kushina's son no less. But it wasn't just any seal, oh no. He summoned the Shinigami itself to help, and I lost my Yin half entirely."

"Shinigami?" asked Mel, paling at the implication, "Stop me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean 'Death-God?'"

I made a mental note to never mess with this particular race of humans. Not only could they seal away powerhouses like Kyuubi, they could summon a God of Death too?

"Yes," Said the fox irritably, "The result is that my Yang half of my soul, the one you see before you, is tied to the soul of my current host, Naruto Uzumaki. Should he die, or his soul be destroyed, I would follow."

"And where is this Naruto Uzumaki, if you're standing here?" I inquired. I already had suspicions, of course, but I could have been wrong. After all, the fox had blasted his way into the Dec-Locus from the Primal Chaos...

The Kyuubi held out a hand-like paw. A smaller paw made of a strange orange energy extended out toward me, holding something. I noticed that it, along with the fox itself (It was getting really annoying to not know what gender it was), were made from the same energy. The similarities were faint, but this 'youki' stuff was definitely a variant of Primal Chaos. Then I took notice of what the arm was holding. It was a thin scrap of metal, engraved with what looked like a cross between a spiral and an arrow. There didn't seem to be anything special about it. "What am I looking at here?" I asked, "I mean, it's a nice engraving and all, but what significance does it have?"

Melchior was squinting at the bit of metal curiously. "If I use my inner eye, I can sort of see something there..." he muttered.

"The stubborn gaki wouldn't let it go," said Kyuubi, "To him, that headband proved that he had triumphed and become a shinobi. As if such titles mattered. When the Chaos out there dissolved his entire body, he wanted to make sure that thing would be the last to go."

That sounded ominous. I opened my own inner eye to see what Mel was talking about. "Powers and Incarnations!" I swore, jumping back. Whoever this Naruto Uzumaki kid was, stubborn didn't even begin to describe him. He'd bound his consciousness to that ordinary metal piece, long after his body had been destroyed. I could understand the difficulty of such a thing; after all, I myself had been dissolved in the Primal Chaos before. The first time I'd pulled myself back together out of sheer luck. The second time I'd had my sword, Occam, to keep my sense of self sufficiently intact. But this boy, this mortal, if I was understanding this right, had managed to survive even for a few minutes in the Chaos by clinging to an ordinary scrap of metal! I was in awe. A person who was as hard to kill as me is someone I'd tip my hat to (If I had one), and Naruto Uzumaki, whoever he was, was definitely in that category, from where I stood at least. "What do you want us to do with him, Kyuubi-san?" I asked, gently taking the ensouled metal from the energy arm and looking it over reverently, "Also, do you have another name that we can call you by? Sorry, but it's getting rather wearing for me to refer to you as 'fox' in my head."

The fox (see?) huffed irritably. "The name that the Sage gave me is Kurama. As for what I want," it flared its nine tails, "I refuse to have my immortality bound by the soul of an already-dead brat. I, the strongest of the Bijuu, would be the laughingstock of all the others. Ravirn...in this world of yours, do you have a method for fusing two souls together? After all, even the Shinigami cannot bind together a single soul."

"I...wait, what?" I asked, not sure if I'd heard right, "you want to merge your soul with this guy?" To tell the truth, I had no idea how to even write a program like that. My expertise lay in loopholes and the hacking and cracking of others' codes; the only person in this universe I knew who dealt with souls was Hades, and there was no way I was going to steal from him again, not even for this giant Chaos-Fox.

Just as I was about to tell Kurama that I could not help him, Melchior suddenly got my attention. "Hey boss, incoming email with an attachment."

This could not be a coincidence. "Who's it from?" I asked, resigned to the worst.

"It's from NecessityNecessity..." Oh no. Not the dreaded 'dot-dot-dot' address. Necessity, the Fate of the Gods herself, was getting herself involved in this mess. Persephone, I know you like me and all, but could you please stop throwing all this crap at me? I had Mel switch to his laptop form so I could get a look at the attachment that had come with the email. In typical Necessity fashion, there was no explanation as to why she'd sent it; there was no need. I opened the file and found the blueprints for a program that would do exactly what Kurama was asking for. I looked it over, analyzing it fully, letting the details come to me. As expected of Necessity, the spell was designed to only work on those two specific souls and was ironclad. Towards the end of the code, however, I noticed a slight problem. A half a section was missing, as if it required another program to work. I scrolled back up and saw, just before the missing segment, a statement allowing for 'a onetime use of administrative abilities for the purpose of this spell only.' The diamond circles in the back and palm of my right hand throbbed when I read that.

"What is it?" Kurama asked as I looked up.

I tried to smile, though I think it came out a bit strained. "Good news, Kurama-san. My...boss, for lack of a better term, has just sent me a spell that will allow me to help you."

The nine-tailed fox sat up straighter. "Really?" it asked, looking unsure, "I was not expecting this, but you can really do it?"

"Yeah," I said, getting ready to run before it could turn around and get mad for what I was going to say, "But there's a slight catch."

The massive eyebrow ridges furrowed suspiciously. "What catch would that be?"

I gulped. "Er, well, the program requires me to use some...influence, you might say, to determine the outcome of the procedure."

"Meaning?"

Mel switched back to his Goblin form. "What featherbrain here is trying to tell you is that you'll have to rely on him entirely to see which one of your souls ends up being the dominant one," he said exasperatedly.

"What?" roared the Kyuubi.

"Hey, don't look at me like that!" I said defensively, "That's the only way the spell will work. I doubt Necessity will just let me write one that specifically gives you the choice, even if I had that kind of skill."

Kurama looked down at me, looking angry and doubtful. "How do I know you won't give control over to the boy?" it asked.

I just shrugged. "To tell the truth, you don't. Hell, even I don't know what I'm going to do when it comes down to it." I pulled down my sunglasses and looked the Kyuubi in the eye, letting him see the Chaos that churned where my eyeballs used to be. "I think the better question is, are you going to go through with it anyway?"

I've faced down beings ten times stronger than me before. I hadn't necessarily beaten them, but I hadn't been killed by them either. This giant fox was just another such being. I heard Melchior suck in a breath as Kurama stared into eyes that were no longer there. Finally, it grunted. "Very well, Ravirn," it said, "Come what may, at least I won't be able to say it will not interesting."

"That's the spirit!"

Mel shook his head in disgust. "Yeah, we're well acquainted with that 'spirit.' Resignation."

A short while later, we were standing in the large open field behind Raven House. I had Melchior whistle up a trio of lasers and cut a giant ritual circle into the turf in preparation for the spell. I gestured to Kurama to get into the middle of the circle, placing the metal plate with Naruto's soul inside when it did so. "Now what?" asked the destructive entity.

I closed my not-eyes and drew on my store of anger, which summoned my Fury-blood-and-diamond, four-edged sword, Occam. "Now we begin. Melchior, you got the program ready?"

"Downloaded and ready to go, boss!"

"Mel?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't call me boss.

Mel smirked at the old joke. "Sure thing, boss."

Sometimes I don't know why I even bother. "Alright, Kurama-san, brace yourself. This is probably gonna hurt. Melchior. Spirit-Meld, please."

Melchior's green eyes dimmed. "Executing procedure," he said in a monotone. The circle began glowing with a red light. "Analyzing soul components." Kurama took on a blue aura, as did the headband. "Dissolving corporeal boundaries." Here, Melchior began whistling in a self-harmony, the two strings of code undulating high and low before meeting in a 'middle' tone and staying there for a second. Both Kyuubi and headband dissolved, the two blue auras mingling into one big cloud. The circle switched from red to blue. "CodeSpell required for final fusion."

Now it was time for me to go to work. I wrapped the fingers of my left hand around Occam's blade and tugged. The four edges easily sliced through my skin; however, instead of drawing blood, my special sword drew Chaos from my veins, which quickly coated the blade. With concentration, I reversed my grip on the sword so the blade pointed downward and approached the glowing ritual circle. I took careful aim at a particular mark in the boundary and stabbed the Chaos-laced tip into the earth. Power sang through the blade and resonated in my bones, causing the feathers I didn't have to stand on end. Occam possessed the ability to show me potential futures as if I was Necessity herself and choose which path to follow. My vision split. In one future, I chose wrong and the whole thing exploded, killing me. In another future, I chose to make Kyuubi's soul dominant, dissolving Naruto Uzumaki's soul. However, since Kurama was only half of a proper soul, it would be unable to resist the pull of its other half and be consumed by some great entity, who I guessed was the Shinigami. In another, I chose to override Kurama's soul in favor of the boy. Without the fox's strange energy, Naruto's soul would pass on, possibly to Hades, which I did not want on my conscience. Finally, I saw a future that looked promising. The Raven whispered in my ear, telling me to go for it, and for once, I agreed. No point in wasting time. Reaching inward, I opened my link to the Primal Chaos and called on the shadow of The Raven to enforce my will. I made my choice.

I only hope I chose right.

[POV change]

(Scene change: Naruto-verse)

Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage, was dying. I knew this was coming, he thought frustratedly, I saw that this would happen the moment that bastard came near me. Damn it all!

His body floated in front of a giant stone statue of a head with nine eyes. A stream of youki was flowing from his mouth and nose as Akatsuki drained the Sanbi from his body. When the process was complete, he would die. Two giant hands stood on either side of him, emerging from the ground. Ten figures stood on each outstretched finger, but only two of them were actually present. The rest were all holographic projections.

"Man, how much longer is this gonna take, un?" Asked a man with blond hair and one visible eye.

"We're almost finished," their leader replied. The only distinguishing thing about his projection was that his eyes were a washed-out purple color and possessed a number of concentric circles. "Do not lose concentration now. If we fail now we'll lose the Jinchuuriki too early and have to wait for the Sanbi to reappear in a few years."

"Hmph, like the Kyuubi?" asked a figure with green and red eyes, "I heard it's Jinchuuriki got himself killed by your own brother, Itachi."

A man with red Sharingan eyes said nothing.

The tallest among them sighed. "I know! It totally sucks; now we'll have to wait who knows how long for it to come back so we can catch it ourselves. A fun fight, but I'm not gonna look forward to fighting it myself."

A loud, harsh birdcall rang through cavern.

"What was that?" asked the sole female in the group.

"Itachi, did you let one of your crows in here?"

"...No..."

A particularly strangely shaped silhouette spoke up. "...Guys?"

"What is it, Zetsu?" asked the leader.

'Zetsu' began speaking, his voice switching between a curious, lighter voice that used normal Kanji and Kana, and a rougher, darker voice that only used Katakana. "I think we might have a problem. I mean, I only really noticed when that sound started, but something's up with the Jinchuuriki. The Sanbi's not coming out anymore."

It was true. The flow of youki into the statue had stopped entirely, as if it was frozen.

Yagura felt something, as if Isobu was attempting to drag itself back into his body. But the seal was gone. That meant it was aiming for his very soul. If it'll get me out of here, I'll do whatever it takes! he thought angrily. In his head, he heard another cry, as if whatever bird it belonged to was urging him on. With a huge effort, Yagura stretched out an arm, took hold of the chakra and pulled. Pain roared through him as the Sanbi was sucked out of the Gedo Mazo (Outer Path Demonic Statue).

"What?" asked the leader in alarm, "Deidara, Sasori, stop him!"

Yagura fell from a great height, but only faintly felt the impact of his body on the ground. All he felt was pain as his soul melded with that of Isobu. His body began to fluctuate rapidly. Yagura. Isobu. Human. Bijuu. Yondaime Mizukage. Sanbi no Kyodaigame. Zero. One.

Neither...

Both.

"What the hell?" asked the blond man, looking at their target, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Sasori-dana?"

The hunchbacked masked man next to him just growled, "I see it, you fool."

Yagura stood, shimmering with a pale blue-green aura. Above him stood a replica of the Sanbi, made of the same energy. Both bodies spoke at once. "Catch me again if you dare!" Then he was only Yagura again, running for the exit.

The blond began throwing clay birds and grasshoppers at the vessel. "Dammit, you're not getting away!" he yelled.

"Like hell I'm not!" Yagura dived out of the way of the explosives. He touched down in a roll, incidentally coming to a stop next to a puddle. Glancing at it, the scarred man felt a pull in the back of his mind, along with another bird cry.

A scorpion-like bladed tail lashed down on his head from the hunchbacked man. "How annoying. Don't get distracted, Mizukage-sama," the man muttered sarcastically.

Yagura's eyes widened and he lunged at the puddle. As his hand touched the water, he experienced a strange sensation. It was as if all the water in the world was his gateway...

Sasori's tail smashed down on the stone floor where Yagura had just been standing. "What? Where'd he go?" The Mizukage had vanished into thin air, leaving only ripples in the shallow puddle.

"This is troubling," the leader said darkly, his purple eyes narrowed, "Whatever jutsu he used to escape, I could not see it."

"L-leader-sama?"

He shook his head. "Forget about the Sanbi for now. He's alive, so we'll be able to capture him again. For now, we should let ourselves disappear for a bit. Kakuzu, Hidan, consider your mission for the Nanabi postponed."

The members all grumbled, but their projections faded away.

In Amegakure, Pain turned to a man with an orange, spiraling mask. "There is a problem, Madara-dono...something unexplainable happened and the Sanbi escaped."

A single Sharingan glowed from the mask's eye-hole. "What about Yagura? Is he dead?"

"I'm afraid not. He somehow countered the Genryu Kyuufujin (Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals) and sealed the Sanbi back in himself, then escaped using an unknown method."

Madara cursed. "Damn. On top of losing the Kyuubi, we couldn't even seal the Sanbi. This is a major setback. Was there anything odd that happened beforehand?" he asked shrewdly.

The man with piercings shook his head. "There was a birdcall just before it happened, but that could just be a coincidence."

However, the mastermind took a step closer. "What kind of bird? A Raven?"

"It could be," Pain said neutrally, "Why, what's so significant about a raven's call?"

The red eye changed for an instant. Honed by his bloodline, Nagato's Deva Path saw the red become overtaken by a dull silver color, pupil and all, like a smoky mirror, before it was gone. "It's nothing," the masked man said lowly, "Just remembering...an old enemy of mine."

.

AN: And there you have it. Here's the first chapter of my newest fic. Like Pen to the Paper, it's the first fic ever on this site to be a crossover of Naruto and Ravirn. I hope you like my ideas.

Summary time:

1. First thing you should know. Even though this is a CoG fic, in terms of Chronology, the Gormim have not formed as a group yet. There are only UDOM, who may or may not appear.
2. Naruto and Sasuke fought in the valley of the end. In all the other fics I read of this fight, some little detail affects the final outcome. So in this, all that potential 'something' built up and tore the universe, causing Naruto to disappear from the universe.
3. Since Sasuke was the closest to the event when it happened, Naruto was wiped from his memory. Other people will remember who Naruto is, but for Sasuke, Naruto Uzumaki is just a bunch of meaningless words.
4. None of the Bijuu will have genders.
5. It felt more accurate to write things from Ravirn's point of view in a first-person way. It's how the books do it, so that's how I'll do it. Not all the time, granted, but most of the time, and only when it's for Ravirn.
6. Ravirn's world is like this. His normal world is a Multiverse (Each little world is known as a Dec (Decision) Locus), in which the Greek Gods are real. Ravirn is a descendant of a Greek deity (more on that in a later chapter) and was named as a Power of Chaos, known as the Raven. If you'll notice my typing, sometimes I capitalize Raven and sometimes I don't. It kinda symbolizes the significance of what a person is talking about.
7. In Ravirn's world, there are alternate worlds known as Pantheoverses, or MythOSes. At the end of his series, Ravirn goes live in a MythOS where the Norse Gods are real, but in my fic, he still visits his old home, Raven House.
8. In Ravirn-verse, Magic and Technology have combined, so spells are done by whistling in code. The whole thing is normally powered by this thing called the mweb, which is like a magical internet connecting all the Dec Loci. Another way of doing magic is by tapping into the Primal Chaos that runs between worlds.
9. The form that Primal Chaos takes on varies from Pantheoverse to Pantheoverse. In the Naruto-verse, Chaos is like a combination chakra, youki, and natural energy. Primal Chaos, no matter what form, is deadly to most beings. Only beings like Ravirn can work with it reliably, and even then must be careful.
10. Ravirn has a history of pissing off incredibly powerful beings but always manages to survive/escape. Not only that, but he managed to come back from ceasing to exist. Twice! The fact that Naruto, who is a human, managed to cling to existence like he did, is an impressive feat that Ravirn can relate to.
11. Spells, codes, and programs are basically the same. It's really difficult to remember complex codes, so sorcerers create familiars to remember for them. Melchior is Ravirn's familiar/partner, a web-goblin. He has the ability to turn into a laptop, and was upgraded in Book 3 to be able to work spells with more complexity.
12. Also in Book 3, Ravirn's sword gave him the ability to see branching futures and act accordingly, though the ability was only a one-time thing. Now it's just a cool, really sharp sword that's fused with his hand.
13. As a mark of Ravirn's status as a Chaos power, his eyes have become replaced by Chaos.
14. Kurama has fused with Naruto's soul. However, since the Kyuubi was once a part of the Juubi with the other Bijuu, this sets off a chain reaction with the others.
15. If any of you read the Ravirn series, you should recognize what just happened with Tobi's eye. Also, I know he's not Madara, but nobody else knows that.
16. Naruto will eventually be returning to his own world.

And that should wrap things up. Sorry about making the summary so long, but I wanted you guys to know what Ravirn's all about. Hopefully the next chapter will explain more.

Also, in case you did not read the summary, this fic is going to be NaruHina. This is non-negotiable. That is all.

Please be sure to leave a review before you go.

North South