A/N: Hello people I have come to deliver you once more into the insanity of my mind via one of my fanfics. Once more I've done my best to present to you an original fanfic concept. In this case its a crossover between Naruto and a relatively unknown title. So unknown in fact that as far as I can tell it has no category on the site hence why I didn't mention it in the story description. As for what it is I'm crossing Naruto over with...well consider it a surprise for those willing to stick with me until the reveal. I will say this though, there are three obvious hints of what it is. The first is that the other thing I'm crossing Naruto with has no category on the site but has been written about before by other fanfic writers. The second hint is the quote shown below. Lastly the final hint lies in the English translation of the name of the company mentioned later on in this chapter. There are other hints as well but those are the only ones I'll admit to.
So with that said, let the story begin...
Naruto: Strange Aeons
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, yet with stranger aeons, even death may die."
Howard Phillips Lovecraft "The call of Cthulhu" circa 1928.
Chapter 1: Be careful what you wish for...
In the Elemental countries, specifically in the land of Fire, existed the ninja village of Konohagakure no Sato. Translating the complex sounded name to English one would find that it simply meant the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Hence why it was also known as Konoha or the leaf village for short. Whatever you called it, it could safely be said to be the main military force behind the Land of Fire, namely by being the training ground for the countries shinobi and kunoichi. In fact despite jealous claims to the contrary it was commonly considered the strongest ninja village in all the land thus making its leader the Hokage the strongest ninja in all the lands.
Funny thing is you wouldn't have thought that just a little less than 5 years ago...
On October 10th of that year something evil ravaged the village so utterly that it almost didn't recover. That thing was known as the Kyuubi no Yoko or the Nine-tailed demon fox the most powerful of the Biju or tailed beasts. In the end only the fourth and then current Hokage Minato Namikaze was able to defeat it. However despite what children born after the disaster were told he could not kill it, for the Kyuubi was a beast of pure energy given physical form. And so he did the next best thing, he sealed it away. Not into an object because sadly no object could hold a beast of such power for any great length of time, but rather into a living being human being...a newborn boy by the name of Naruto Uzumaki.
Thus on the very first day of existence, little Naruto was not only left an orphan by the fox's attack, he was also from then on forced to endure the fate of those known to the rest of mankind as Jinchuriki (or the power of human sacrifice). Sadly Naruto never knew any of this, for you see after the sealing the newly reinstated Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi announced to the village how the Fourth Hokage had defeated the beast and how his last wish was for Naruto to be seen as a hero. Sadly humans tend to let their emotions get the better of them, and so that wish was promptly ignored by a good 90 plus percent of the village who instead decided to direct their anger at the one who unknowingly contained the source of their pain.
So in an attempt to at least give Naruto some chance at a normal childhood Sarutobi ordered that no adult be allowed to tell the nature of Naruto's Jinchuriki status to anyone not already in the know or without proper permission on pain of death. However even this was ineffective as the adults' decided that if they couldn't tell their kids exactly why they shouldn't trust or go near him they could still make sure that Naruto was subject to one of the greatest hell's mankind could ever create...loneliness.
Now with that much needed back-story out of the way we turn to present day of the night of October 9th almost 5 years after the Kyuubi attack to find our young title character in his rather subpar room at the Konoha orphanage. Now of course in tales like this orphanages are usually never up to par, but what Naruto was going through was only just above the mark of what could be legally considered criminal negligence. Hell if it wasn't for the vitality native to the Uzumaki clan Naruto probably would have caught his death by now in the drafty room he was set up in despite what the fudged reports given to the Hokage said.
The sad thing is that the Hokage was completely oblivious to this whole mess. He was too busy attempting to rebuild Konoha's status in the eyes of the world to really go check on the boy. He could also rarely afford to send one of his ANBU to check on the boy as every ninja was needed. Especially after one of Sarutobi's old students Orochimaru had gone rouge which forced Sarutobi to deplete the ranks in a failed attempt to recapture him. Then to add further to that mess just around a year later was an incident where the head ninja from one of their major rivals the hidden cloud (or Kumogakure) had gone and broken into the village and nearly swiped the heiress to the Hyuga clan all under the guise of finalizing a peace treaty with Konoha. This forced the Hokage to reassign some of his his ninja to different posts to sure up there defenses and even further depleted the ninja ranks, thus leaving damn near no one to ensure young Naruto was actually being properly cared for.
Well that's okay, after all there should be loads of regular ninja that could check on him right? Yes in theory, unfortunately a good chunk of the regular ninja were off doing missions to get money for their village to build itself to its former status and as for the few that remained, they tended to be the ones who just plain didn't like Naruto and who were more than willing to take the orphanage's word on how he was doing.
Which leads us to our current situation, the lone figure of little Naruto sitting up in his bed, his spiky blond hair overgrown and getting into his bright blue eyes. Not that he really noticed, the poor boy was too busy bawling his eyes out as he recalled all the bad things he had gone through in his young life to care.
What bad things you may ask? Well for instance, given his young age and the sheer number of kids in the orphanage when compared to the staff, it was not surprising to know that Naruto had never really been outside the orphanage that often. It makes sense, after all children at Naruto's age need supervision and if that's not possible then logically you don't take them outside.
However that wasn't the reason behind Naruto's lack of outside contact. The few times he had been outside had been less than pleasant. He had been chased off at least twice by angry parents when he got too close to their kids and a couple of older kids had promptly pummeled the living daylights out of him when he tried to talk to their siblings. What's worse is due to the three whisker like birthmarks he had on each cheek it only took one glance from other people and they automatically knew who he was, so he couldn't even pretend to be someone else to try and make some friends. Add to that the none-to-subtle and varied insults he heard when he left the orphanage and thus going outside was not something Naruto looked forward too.
Then again there was little Naruto looked forward too, even his birthday brought up unpleasant memories.
Contrary to what a lot of people thought, Naruto was smarter than he appeared even possessing a grasp on language long before he should have. Like a lot of kids though, he had noticed that smart kids tended to not be well liked. So lately he had attempted to tone down his intelligence in an attempt to get the other kids to respond to him (though it hadn't exactly worked out). However there was one thing he could never escape and that was his memories. Like some rare individuals Naruto's memories went back to just after he turned 2 though they were rather vague. What he did recall was that each of his birthdays was an unpleasant experience, hell he was lucky to even know that he had a birthday. He honestly wouldn't have even known when his birthday was if he hadn't overheard one of the orphanage staff mention it in passing.
So having seen the celebrations the other kids at the orphanage had, Naruto had really been looking forward to his third birthday. Only nothing had happened, no one even really acknowledged that it had happened. The other kids didn't care and the adults were more concerned with the ongoing "defeat of the Kyuubi" festival that happened every October 10th. The only person who might have cared enough to wish him a happy birthday was the Hokage and he was still too busy coordinating the hunt for Orochimaru that year.
But while depressing, like any kid that age Naruto hadn't lost hope and so he eagerly waited for his 4th birthday. Once again though outside forces got in the way this time in the form of the Hyuga incident. What happened next though just seemed to prove that fate just liked screwing with the young boy.
After going through yet another miserable birthday Naruto had run out crying into the festival celebrations going on outside the orphanage. It was only later after he stopped running, that he realized he had gotten himself lost. So in an attempt to get back to the orphanage he had tried to cut through a side street...and ended up walking straight into the arms of a bunch of drunken off-duty shinobi. The resulting beating had been bad but if it hadn't been interrupted by one of the ANBU happening on the scene it would have been a lot worse. As it stood he still ended up in the hospital.
The Hokage who had been over in Kumo trying to iron out the whole mess with the Hyuga had upon hearing what happened, promptly rushed back to the village as soon as he was done with the negotiations. After getting the full report on what happened to Naruto, the old man had swiftly ordered the men responsible for this be sent to the Torture and Interrogation division before making it very clear to the ninja corps that this would not happen again. He had then gone to the hospital and apologized to Naruto for what happened even bringing him a gift in the form of his first bowl of ramen. Upon seeing the young boy's expression of joy once he tasted it the old promised to take the boy to a ramen stand to celebrate his next birthday (as he claimed he was too busy to do it in the immediate future). And so Naruto endured yet another miserable year all in the hopes of finally getting his chance at a real birthday celebration for once. Those hopes however were dashed in the most painful way imaginable all in the form of a nondescript birthday card handed to him by the none too kind personal secretary at the Hokage's residence. It read simply:
Dear Naruto,
I must apologize for not being able to tell you this in person but I will be too busy to take you to the ramen stand like I promised. I am sorry but I still wish you a happy birthday all the same.
Sincerely,
Hiruzen Sarutobi (Third Hokage)
To a boy to whom the idea of one's word being his bond was practically a religious creed this was a devastating blow. Especially since the boy had little else to look forward too in his life. Unable to bare this coming from the only person who had ever been somewhat kind to him, a dejected Naruto headed back to his "home" at the orphanage. Correction, he did head back but only after he swiped some sweets from the supplies of a food stand that was setting up for the next day's festival.
So at last we come full circle to the present moment. Our young protagonist sitting by his lonesome in his room on the fourth floor of the orphanage at a very late hour of the night. To be precise 11:58 at night. The reason he was still up was partially due to no one at the orphanage giving a crap enough to tell him to go to bed, but mostly due to a far more important reason. You see Naruto had heard the other day the old story about making a wish on your birthday and it will come true. So too impatient and desperate to wait until morning to make his wish, here he was waiting for the following day to begin while trying his best to have as close an approximation to a birthday party he could have using a cupcake he stole from the food stand earlier and a candle he found in orphanage supply closet. Lighting the candle with a match he found, he waited and waited as the seconds ticked closer towards his birthday. And then, just as the clock struck midnight he made his simple wish, the same wish that any child in his position would make
"I wish I had a family" And with that said he blew out the candle before digging into his stolen sweet. Perhaps if he was a little more worldly Naruto wouldn't have been so eager to wish for something. Because then he would have known the old saying of be careful what you wished for because you just might get it. Sadly for Naruto, there was something willing to grant his wish. Something inhuman, something malevolent, and something which unknown to Naruto was currently watching him discreetly through the window of his room...
Morning the next day did not seem to bring any welcome signs of change to the young blond boy's life. He was still in the same crappy room as before, the kids were jerks just as before, the orphanage staff were still just as indifferent to his plight as usual and as Naruto sat down to eat his breakfast he learned the food was unfortunately just as bad as it always was. With that in mind he headed out to face the other kids and there asinine behavior out in the small playground behind the orphanage. It was an overcast day and it seemed with the exception of the festival going on outside the walls of the orphanage today going to be no different than any other day. So imagine Naruto's surprise when come mid-afternoon he saw one of the orphanage's matrons walk outside accompanied by three unexpected figures.
The first individual was a raven haired and blue eyed woman of unearthly beauty. She was rather well stacked and had such amazing curves that if she were a racetrack they would have given even a formula one racer a run for his money. She wore a sexy black and white business outfit with a skirt and black heels. The second was a pudgy bronze-skinned man with light brown hair, sea green eyes, and dressed in a grey power suit. The last was a rather tall, muscular, and professional looking man who always seemed to walk in the shadows of the other two. He had graying black hair and his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. Which was odd Naruto noted, as given how overcast the sky was sunglasses would be the last thing you'd expect to see.
In any case after taking a few steps into the playground the women stopped and seemed to scan around briefly as though looking for something. Then upon meeting Naruto's own eyes she paused and nudged the other two discreetly before they all strode with purpose towards him while barely giving the matron accompanying them a glance.
Or at least they tried too. The matron was making it rather difficult to ignore her as she frantically attempted to say something (which judging by the look on her face and the way she kept glancing over at Naruto it had something to do with him). Though somewhat distant from his position Naruto was able to catch the tail end of the conversation.
"Genji-san please, I already told you without the Hokage's permission I can't let him go with..."
However whatever the matron was trying to say was immediately cut off as the muscular fellow seemed to lose his temper and he roughly grabbed the matron by the wrist so hard Naruto swore he could hear her wrist pop. She gave out a cry of pain which caused the big guy to wince and let her go.
She immediately rounded on the man to give him a piece of her mind, but before she could do so the pudgy looking guy grabbed the back of her neck and gripped her hard enough to get a wince out of her before letting go. She turned to shoot the man a look but as she opened her mouth to more than likely curse him out, a strange sort of blank look seemed to pass over her expression. Abruptly she turned and without a word left allowing the group to proceed unimpeded as they strode towards Naruto.
A few feet from Naruto the group split up with the sunglasses wearing fellow heading to watch them from the shade of a nearby tree. The pudgy stopped a few feet from Naruto and stood back as the woman walked over to stand in front of Naruto.
The whole time this was going on a whole series of alarm bells were going off and Naruto was about ready to bolt, at least until the woman spoke.
"Hello little one" said the woman in a voice so wonderful calling it angelic would be doing it a disservice. "My name is Maya Genji, my friend behind me is Kenta Aoki and the kind of grumpy looking guy in the shade is named Souta Tanaka. What's your name?"
"N-Naruto" he stuttered out. "Naruto Uzumaki" On some level Naruto knew there was something weird going on and he should just get out of here. He swore he could even faintly hear a voice that told him not to listen to anything this woman said. The moment Maya smiled and began to speak again though, that voice was violently and unceremoniously silenced.
"Naruto Uzumaki huh, that means swirling maelstrom right? Well little whirlpool I would like to ask you something, how would you like to join my family?"
"W-what did you say?" Naruto said startled
"Tee-hee don't act so silly. I'm pretty sure you heard it right the first time" she said in a cute but somewhat chiding manner. "Just in case you didn't though I'll repeat it, would you like to come home with me and join my family?"
To Naruto it was like a dream come true or...a wish.
'Wait a minute' he thought to himself 'Could the wish have really worked?'
Still Naruto was more intelligent than the average kid his age. So as wonderful as this all seemed, he still was not entirely convinced as wish induced or otherwise it still seemed rather odd all things considered. Not that he knew the mechanics of how a wish could or would work mind you, but the fact was that no other person to come to the orphanage had ever shown any interest in him before. In fact a few of the potential families when presented with the option of adopting Naruto had promptly rejected it and in fact almost looked insulted by the fact that someone would even bring something like that up. So given past experience and his above average intelligence is it any wonder that Naruto was reluctant to trust the word of this random stranger?
"Why me?" he asked "None of the other parents ever wanted me. So why me and not the other kids?" he said as he stood there waiting for her response.
The pretty lady (or rather Maya Naruto corrected himself), seemed genuinely shocked as though she expected him to just come along without any hesitation or questions. For a moment something unpleasant flashed through her expression but just as quickly as it was there, it was gone to be replaced by a disarming smile.
"Well that's an odd response, but then again from what I've seen of your life I can't say I'm completely shocked by it. So before you start thinking this is some cruel joke I'm going to prove it isn't by being perfectly honest with you Naru-chan. You see the thing is I've actually been watching you for the past couple of days. Now before you worry yourself I have to tell you I didn't come to Konoha with that intention in mind. My friends and I are actually trying to grow our company here in Konoha and while I was waiting for a chance to set up a meeting with the Hokage I just happened to see you around the neighborhood. Well I got curious about you so I decided to ask around. Now I've never been the kind of person to just take people at their word as I've found they have a bad habit of lying, something you've probably already started to learn am I right?"
At this Naruto visibly flinched and looked down at the ground. Which regrettably meant he missed the somewhat predatory look that entered Maya's eyes for a moment.
"I thought so" Maya said before tilting his head up to look at her face. "Well" she continued "Needless to say I was right to think that way because what the other people said about you seemed so outrageously horrible compared to the little bit of your life I'd seen, that I ended up sending my friends to see if any of it actually held up. Instead all they found was a sweet little boy that seemed to have gotten an especially rough deal in life. So seeing as I've always wanted kids and I don't know how long it'll be before I find the right "daddy" to give me kids of my own I figured I'd adopt you in the mean time. That way when I do have my own little bundles of joy they can have a nice big brother to help play with and take care of them. That is if your willing to come with me. So I'll ask one last time, would you like to come home with me and join my family?"
Now of course a more logical person might still have looked on this turn of events with more suspicion. After all the woman had just outright admitted to stalking young Naruto. Sadly though we're talking about a lonely and emotional 5 year old here. Albeit an unusually intelligent 5 year old but still only a 5 year old and not a mature and worldly adult. Besides despite his intelligence Naruto like most kids his age (and some adults too) associated beauty with good and evil with ugliness. And Maya was a lot of things but most certainly not ugly. So after taking that into consideration and adding in her apparent honesty about the situation, why would Naruto assume any ill intent on her part? With that in mind Naruto's following response was only logical.
"Yes, yes, YES! I would love to be a part of your family! Dattebayo!" Naruto said while loudly shouting the verbal tic that the villager's had come to expect of him whenever he got excited.
However Naruto's joy over this turn of events was interrupted moments later as Souta unexpectedly walked over to Naruto from where he was standing and proceed to belt the surprised kid in the face.
*smack!*
"Ow! Dammit why'd you punch me Datteba-"
*smack!*
"Ow! Stop doing that Datte..."
*smack!*
"Dammit Souta stop punching the poor kid!" snapped Kenta while grabbing his wrist to keep him from knocking poor Naruto unconscious. Dragging the larger man away from the boy Kenta immediately turned and dragged the larger man a few feet away.
"The hell did you do that for Souta! That was completely unnecessary!" Snapped Kenta in a harsh but whispered tone while glancing over to make sure that nobody including the kid could hear what he was saying. Fortunately nobody Naruto included seem to have noticed and even if Naruto did he was too busy reveling in Maya's subsequent doting on him (namely in the form of her hugging him while ruffling his hair and crying while profusely apologizing for letting the mean man hit him) to say anything. Assured nobody could hear them Kenta continued this time in a strange tongue.
"We go through all this trouble to find the proper person to meld with the avatar of the crawling chaos and you go and wail on him almost scaring him off in the process! You are making this mess a hell of a lot harder than it should be. Hell thanks to you and your little stunt earlier I had to use my gift to "persuade" the matron. Something which you know I can only do to so many people in the course of a day! Do you know how much harder it will be to try and get him out of here if he's resisting? I mean..."
"Hey!" Souta said cutting him off "The kid's "catchphrase" was already annoying enough the first time I heard it, the last thing I need to deal with is listening to it for another 2 hours! Not only did I get enough of that while staking him out thank you very much, I'm still freaking exhausted from watching him last night. Not to mention you know being out in the daylight makes me angsty!"
"Besides" Souta said suddenly switching back to an accented version of the language he knew Naruto would understand "The kid should be grateful, what I just did is gonna help him out in life. After all, kids gotta learn to stop with that annoying crap or people are gonna get pissed off real quick. And what better way to make him stop than by teaching the kid that sayin' weird or stupid shit is libel to get ya hit!" Shouted Souta loud enough that he knew Naruto heard every word.
Whatever retort Naruto might have thought of giving was cut off as Naruto found himself being being grabbed in a comforting embrace and pressed into the rather sizable bosom of Maya. Needless to say there were quite a few adults passing by this scene who shot Naruto dirty looks laced with jealousy. After a few more moments of bliss a heavily blushing Naruto was released from the beauty's embrace. She smiled at him, and then ruffled his hair for a bit before speaking.
"Seeing that Souta probably won't apologize I had to do something to make amends. Consider that my attempt to make up for what he did. I'm sorry for letting that happen but don't you worry, you won't have to deal with him for much longer. Once we get home we'll go our separate ways, that is unless you've changed your mind about coming with me?" She said looking like she was about to cry.
"No, no no!" Naruto frantically said "It's okay really! I know how people can be. Its okay I still really want to come with you Da- I mean yeah" Naruto said catching himself before Souta had another excuse to "help" him.
"Great!" Maya said her mood suddenly going from sad to excited so fast it would give most people whiplash "Listen before we do anything my friends and I have some business to talk with the Hokage about. So you go get your things packed so that when we're done we can just grab them and go straight home okay?"
"Okay" Naruto said "I'll go take care of that so we can see the old man and...oh, wait I just remembered I'm pretty sure the Old Man's busy today, so we might not be able to see him..."
"Oh don't worry about that" Kenta interrupted from where he was standing "I know he'll make time for us, and speaking of business, Souta isn't there some people you said you needed to meet up with?"
"What do you..." Souta began before he noticed a discreet glance on Kenta's part towards a nearby tree. One brief examination of the tree's canopy later and he saw it, a subtle but unnatural rustling of leafs so faint that an untrained eye might have mistaken them for the wind blowing through the tree tops.
"OH, that's right I completely forgot. I should probably take care of that before it slips my mind again. Actually now that I think about it, this might actually take a while. Tell you what, you and Maya go get the kid's stuff packed and I'll catch up with you guys later at the Hokage's place." Souta said not even waiting for a response from the others before walking away and headed towards a nearby dark alley.
For a time Naruto confused by Souta's actions simply watched the man walk away until Maya tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention. She motioned over towards the orphanage, smiled, and then stretched out her hand to Naruto. He without so much as a second thought took hold of it before the three of them headed towards Naruto's soon to be former home.
If only he knew what was in store for him perhaps he wouldn't have been so eager to get there...
The relatively short walk over to the Hokage residence was a rather uneventful affair for the most part. Well other than the fact whole walk over there Naruto was so excited he was bouncing up and down like a rabbit on a sugar high while crying out Dattebayo in an excited manner. Though thankfully for the general populace's sanity that had been swiftly silenced by Kenta musing aloud to Maya about maybe going back at the orphanage and picking a quieter kid which caused Naruto to instantly clam up. In any case, upon arriving at the Hokage's residence the group immediately headed upstairs to the floor where the Hokage's office was. Opening the door to the office they were greeted to the sight of the Hokage's pudgy graying haired secretary distractedly reading through some random magazine.
"Excuse me" said Kenta breaking the silence. The secretary looked up from whatever article she was looking at and fixed on one of those phony smiles that you get every time someone tries to sell you something. She was about to say something until she caught site of Naruto and whatever rehearsed line she was going to say died on her lips. A cold look passed through her eyes but before she could say anything Kenta interrupted her clearing his throat before stepping into her line of site and inadvertently blocking her view of Naruto in the process.
"Hello I am Kenta Aoki and this is my associate Maya Genji. We represent the Sanagi corporation, I believe you should be aware of our scheduled meeting with the Hokage correct?"
Sadly enough for Kenta the secretary's attention was so focused on trying to give the young blond hiding behind the leg of Maya the evil eye that she completely missed Kenta's introduction entirely. After a few more seconds of talking without so much as a response from the woman Kenta seemed to realize this as well and tried to get her attention by clearing his throat, once, then twice, however by the third time what patience Kenta seemed to have was finally worn out and he promptly brought his fist down hard on the woman's desk...
Meanwhile shortly before that whole mess with the secretary got started, two figures on the rather large balcony of a nearby building were dealing with their own situation. These two were member's of the Hokage's ANBU and were currently serving as his personal guard. All it would take was a signal they could almost instantly drop into the Hokage's office to fight off any potential attack on the Hokage's life.
Like all the ANBU each one of them wore a white mask of a different animal which served both to conceal their identities and provided them with their code names. It should be noted though that these three were not the normal bodyguards who usually guarded the Hokage. However the three who normally did the job were either hospitalized at the moment or doing various important missions. Thus as a result of this and the general lack of manpower in the village at the moment three of the older ANBU had temporarily come out of retirement to fill the gap while the normal three were out of commission. However these men admittedly weren't exactly in their prime so an additional two in the form of some new ANBU recruits were inside with the Hokage thus providing what seemed to be a fool proof system of security. Though new to the ANBU it was believed the younger group's past experience in the regular ninja corps combined with their youth would balance out the experience and age of the three senior ANBU.
Or rather that's how it should have worked, however at the moment one of the senior ANBU codename Tora was unaccounted for. Earlier in the day he had due to being the nearest ninja at the time been assigned by the Hokage to check on a little situation. Namely as to why the Hokage's earlier attempts at using his crystal ball to check in on the young nine-tails Jinchuriki had recently been met with static. It should have been simple enough job in theory but for some reason Tora had failed to report in at the designated time.
"Tora, this is Ushi your past the deadline report in" The only response on the radio was static. Ushi scanned the horizon for any sign of a distress call. Each ANBU had a single shot distress flare in case of emergencies so that if something went wrong with their radio they could call for help even on day's like this (where due to the darkening cloud cover it was getting hard to tell day from night). Unfortunately the result of scanning the skies was a big fat nada.
"What the hell happened?" asked Baku "The orphanage is only a mile and a half from here, 2 miles tops. It shouldn't take this long to get a response from him"
"Alright I've had enough, I'm gonna try one more time to raise him and if I don't get a response in 15 seconds we're heading over there."
Baku nodded his head in agreement before crouching near the edge of the balcony's railing. Satisfied Ushi turned to try to raise Tora when all of a sudden he heard the sound of wood flooring creaking from some heavy weight. He looked around the general area but not seeing anything out of the ordinary was about to go back to what he was doing when out the corner of eye, something moved. He swiftly reached for his tanto and began to scan around for anything odd.
Nothing, nothing at all, just him standing on the roof all by his lonesome...wait.
ALL BY HIS LONESOME?
He was alone, completely and utterly alone, there wasn't so much as a sign of Baku anywhere. Training said to be calm and assess the situation but frankly the suddenness of it all combined with it having been so long since Ushi saw actual combat meant his skills had become rusty. As a result as he scanned around and the seconds bled into one another instinct began to overtake training and he started to get twitchy. He turned once more trying to find something and...there out of the corner of eye he saw the vague shape of a man. Slowly the figure partially emerged from the shadows of the roof above and as it moved into the waning light of day it was revealed to be the black cloaked form of a figure wearing an ANBU mask with Tiger strips and ears.
"Tora?" Ushi asked in disbelief momentarily dropping his guard. A flash of red eyes were his only warning before the figure struck with lightening speed. It closed the gap between them in moments and before Ushi could respond it raked his right arm with a set of razor sharp claws. Ushi only barely managed to avoid a second strike before leaping back a few feet. Unfortunately for him the damage was already done, the second strike though only a grazing shot had not only shattered his mask but destroyed the integrated radio headpiece. To make matters worse an attempt to move his right arm revealed that it had been rendered immobile.
"It's amazing to me really" Echoed an inhuman accented voice from beneath the tiger mask as it played with something in its other hand. The fading light of the day revealed it to be the bloodied mask of Baku.
"I would have thought your friend would know better than to go around spying on other people's conversations in such a half-assed manner but then again you humans are so fuckin' pathetic I'm not even surprised when you can't even grasp such a simple concept as being discreet. Honestly if you're supposed to be this village's elite than I don't even want to know how bad your worst is. You know it's stuff like this that really makes me loath your species. Well that and the fact you arrogantly persist in the belief of your uniqueness and your right to lord over this world when in fact you are nothing more than a cosmic accident at best. What's even worse is that your arrogance only deepens when you do manage to gain some semblance of power, like those ninjutsu of yours. And yet all it takes is one immobilized limb and most of your fancy little ninja tricks are worth shit. Lookin' at you in all honesty, I can't hardly believe I was like you pathetic monkey's."
At that point the figure dropped the baku mask before pulling down the hood of the cloak it was wearing and removing the tiger mask from its face. Beneath the mask was revealed to be a professional looking male figure with graying black hair, a figure who if someone from the scene at the orphanage had been present they would have been able to recognize as that of Souta though the inhuman red glow of his eyes would have given them pause.
"Thankfully unlike you" He continued "I found out how stupid my mindset was in time to correct it. But don't you worry yourself about all that, cause in a few seconds what you think won't matter anymore."
Suddenly Souta's form hunched over and the sound of ripping clothes could be heard, the stolen ANBU garb struggling and failing to hold back what was held within as Souta's form grew and shifted into something inhuman. His eyes glowed an ominous red, while his hands and feet grew claws. His body bulked up until he was almost 7 feet tall and black fur could be seen sprouting all over his body. His face and ears warped becoming bat-like and his teeth sharpened into spikes. Then as quickly as the change started it stopped. A moment passed in silence and then the hunched over thing, somewhat like a wingless vampire bat and a somewhat like a great ape roared an inhuman sound before charging towards the stunned ninja...
As a certain ANBU was busy trying to fend for his life back at the Hokage residencea certain Hokage was busy trying to figure out why the hell his secretary was quaking in fear and why the hell her desk had apparently been smashed in two. Sarutobi had just been waiting for his ANBU to inform him about the status of the village's resident Jinchuriki when he heard a crashing sound and rushed out to find: one cowering secretary, one pissed off pudgy looking fellow, a gorgeous black haired woman, and...
"Naruto?" the old Hokage asked aloud. The young blond boy who had currently been staring at the smashed desk in awe suddenly turned his attention to the Hokage. For a moment he hesitated unsure of how to act. He didn't really know the Hokage that well having only met him that one time in the hospital last year. He had seemed nice enough then but given that the old man had subsequently gone back on his promise Naruto wasn't exactly sure what to make of him nor was he particularly excited to meet him. So Naruto chose to act like he did to any other person he didn't know that well...with cordial disrespect.
"Hey old man guess what! This nice lady says she wants to adopt me! Da-I mean awesome right?" Naruto said catching himself, something which caused the Hokage to raise an eyebrow in response. Whatever questions he may have asked Naruto though were interrupted as the gorgeous woman from before cleared her throat.
"Ahem, I'm sorry Hokage-dono it seems as though my company heads were mistaken in assigning me my partner on this mission. I assume they thought my compatriot would be capable of controlling his admittedly short fuse given the importance of this negotiation. It seems as though they were a bit hasty in their assessment. Though I will admit that this might not have happened if your secretary had not been so rude in ignoring us for so great a length of time, his actions were still inappropriate and for that I am sorry. As such allow me to at least try and clear the air of any potential hostilities. My name is Maya Genji and like Naru-chan said I am in fact interested in adopting him once my business with you is concluded. As for my compatriot who can't seem to control his strength, his name is Kenta Aoki. We both represent the Sanagi corporation and let me once again say that I am sorry for my partner's embarrassing behavior and that I will do my best to compensate you for the unfortunate property damage incurred due to his bad temper. I can only hope that my apology is enough to at least somewhat give you a somewhat better opinion of our company and those who work for it then the actions of my associate may have led you to form." She said while giving a rather formal bow and making sure to give the old Hokage a good look at what lay beneath her outfit.
The Hokage blushed and with some admitted effort managed to look away from the rather impressive scene before him (something which some people in the know would find was rather impressive given certain preferably hidden aspects of his personality). After taking a moment to compose himself the Hokage turned back to look at the (thankfully) standing woman before speaking.
"Yes well, as long as you do compensate me for the damaged property I am willing to overlook this one incident. After all as any person could tell you, we sometimes have to work with people whom we have difficulties with regardless of our opinions on the matter...no offense Aoki-san."
Kenta in truth looked like he did take offense but managed to hold his tongue on the matter. A moment later the Hokage motioned for Maya and Kenta to enter while giving the secretary a look that said "we'll talk later". Naruto looked like he wanted to enter as well but Maya blocked him from entering with her hand before speaking.
"Sorry kiddo adults only, but don't worry will try to make this quick okay?" Naruto looked sad for a moment but quickly perked up when she ruffled his hair. She smiled at him and as Kenta headed in with the Hokage she motioned for Naruto to take a seat and wait for her. As soon as Naruto turned to do so, Maya scanned the room and when she saw that both Naruto and the Hokage's backs were turned she cleared her throat softly. The secretary turned from trying to give Naruto another dirty look to look at the source of the noise...and saw something which caused her to promptly turned ghost white and faint.
*Thump*
"The hell was...um Hokage-dono your secretary seems to have passed out for some reason" Kenta said upon turning around and seeing the scene of the passed out secretary and young Naruto fanning her with the very magazine she was reading earlier. Immediately the Hokage rushed out of the room and upon confirming what Kenta said he made a gesture with his hand. The moment he did so two ANBU a young man and woman, stepped out of the shadows. One of them brought a small container of smelling salts out and put it under the secretary's nose. She stirred, scanned the room and upon seeing Maya proceeded to promptly pass out again.
*Thump*
"Dammit" The Hokage said before looking at the two ANBU "Towa, please bring my secretary to the hospital if you would be so kind." The young ANBU in the bird mask immediately went to the secretary but upon realizing just how much more difficult the task was than it would first appeared (the damn woman really needed to lay off the junk-food) he motioned for some assistance. His partner Komachi was about to lend him a hand but hesitated. She paused then proceeded to walk over to the Hokage and begin whispering in his ear.
"Hokage-sama is this really a good idea. I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone without some kind of protection." Her hesitance clear the Hokage whispered back in a comforting voice.
"Don't worry the others are right outside, if anything should happen they'll be right in. Besides you should have some faith in my abilities. I may be getting on in years but I can still handle myself in a fight if need be. Anyways these folks are rather well known in the business community, so it would be rather foolish for them to try anything. You go help Towa out and I'll be fine."
Her anxiety somewhat relieved Komachi nodded and proceeded to do just that. So while the Hokage and the Sanagi representatives headed inside, Naruto proceeded to head back to his seat while the ANBU took the secretary to the hospital.
Speaking of ANBU while the previous scene was going on Ushi was ducking and weaving attempting to avoid the blows from the inhuman figure before him; a task made especially more difficult by injuries gained earlier on and his aging body. Things were not going well at all for him, the figure as it turns out didn't just look like an ape it had the agility of one as well. It dodged the shuriken thrown at it before using the nearby walls as a springboard to launch itself over the aging man and sailing over the edge of the railing. However any thoughts of it splattering on the ground below were quickly dismissed as the creature promptly grabbed hold of the bottom of the balcony with its opposable feet and used momentum of its fall to swing itself over to the other side of it before leaping up and striking Ushi from his blind-spot knocking the pouch with the ANBU's emergency flare and shuriken away in the process.
It struck again knocking the ANBU back before repeating the same action as before to strike at Ushi from his blind-spot. The worst part of this whole mess was that Ushi couldn't tell which side to expect the attacker to swing up from as not only was the thing fast in its movements but any hints that might have been gleaned from the shadows were useless as the shadows seemed to respond to the thing by moving unnaturally to shield its movements from view.
Gradually as the fight dragged on though the beast seemed to be tiring of whatever probing game it had been playing with the ANBU. The aging man with his injuries lacked both the strength and the speed to impede the beasts advances. His tanto had also been knocked clear out of his hands and over the railing by the beast during the beasts first charge after its transformation. Throw in the broken arm he received earlier and the fact it prevented Ushi from using any nin or genjutsu and frankly the reason why the beast was starting to become more serious about finally ending this fight became apparent. However the beast still seemed to have a rather great amount of bloodlust to sate so rather than end this cleanly, it chose to gradually inflict more and more grievous wounds to the ninja.
Realizing this mess was going to end badly the ANBU threw down a smoke pellet from his pocket and tried to get away by leaping onto the roof of a nearby tall building. However the beast hadn't even been remotely slowed by this tactic immediately following after him. It swung onto the building's rain gutter traversing it like a monkey in the jungle before swinging itself up over the edge of the roof ...and straight into the one good fist of the pissed off ANBU.
The creature lost its balance and went over the edge. However the thing then proceeded to perform a move so outrageous the ANBU was literally stunned. In a move clear out of an action movie or Japanese anime it bounced off the roof of a tent set up for the festival, swung itself up to the buildings edge using a flagpole like an Olympic gymnast would, and then grabbed hold of the building's overhang to spin itself feet first into the ANBU's chest and sending him flying back. As Ushi landed hard on the roof the beast stood and glared at his body. Ushi wanted to move but he was in to much pain to do so. The kick as it turns out had so much force behind it, it had shattered the ANBU's ribcage and driven several bone fragments into Ushi's lungs perforating them and making breathing all but impossible.
"You know" The beast spoke mockingly "This has been fun and all, but you know what? I think I've had enough fun for today. Besides I've got shit to do." The beast then advanced forward, grabbed Ushi by the scruff of the neck, and without a moment's hesitation broke it like a dry twig with just a jerk of its wrist. It then proceeded to drag the corpse over the edge of the roof and push it over into the edge and into an open dumpster below.
A moment later the beasts body shifted back to that of Souta. Well at least until he realized that he was practically stark naked save for the remains of his boxers at which point he promptly shifted back to monster form before dashing off to get his clothes from where he had stashed them.
While Souta was off dealing with his clothing issue the Hokage was dealing with his own issues. Namely attempting to gauge the individuals sitting across from him and their intentions.
While her earlier interactions with Naruto might have suggested a kind and compassionate individual to an untrained observer Maya's actions within the Hokage's office suggested something else entirely. She was like a big cat. She was prideful and confident, never shying away from issues that other business folk would have tried to dance around. She was cunning always seeming to have an answer to any questions or concerns the Hokage raised. She was also graceful, she had strode into the office with an almost predatory air about her every movement measured and precise. Most importantly of all though was her way about her. Once the door to the office had closed her attitude shifted and she became just as vicious as the predator she moved like. She pounced on any opening offered in the negotiation and picked apart any argument set against her with relative ease.
Her partner in contrast was another matter entirely. He also was cunning but while Maya acted like a cat "playing" with her quarry before meticulously and viciously picking it apart, Kenta acted more like an octopus or squid hunting a smaller shellfish. He was smart enough to know how best to approach a situation, using rapid applications of brute force in quick succession to close in on any openings and strangle the opposition out of the person he got in his grasp. He also didn't like to stay on any one topic for too long making sure he didn't get trapped in any legalese stall tactics by either squeezing through even the most minor loophole or force his way through issues if there were none available.
These people were good at what they did and they knew it. It actually took everything the Hokage had in his arsenal and more to keep them from walking all over him. In truth it might not have been so bad if his usual advisers were present to help him but sadly Sarutobi hadn't believed this task was going to be so difficult and thus earlier in the day he had sent his advisor's to take care of minor jobs concerning the ongoing village-wide festival. Something he was severely regretting as by the time the negotiations drew to an end, the Hokage not only found himself visibly feeling each of his 60 plus years but also caused him to instinctively reach for his pipe for some comfort. However he quickly stopped himself upon remembering his manners.
"Do you two mind if I smoke?" he asked.
"Not if you don't mind me stretching my legs for a second" Kenta simply asked while Maya upon hearing the question simply shrugged her shoulders indifferently. The Hokage simply nodded his head and Kenta stood up stretching. He then proceeded to walk a short distance to look out a window near where the Hokage was seated.
The Hokage took a few puffs from his pipe, before putting down the pipe and folding his hands on his desk. A moment passed in silence and the Hokage seemed to visibly relax before he took a deep breath and finally asked the question that had been on his mind since early on in the negotiation.
"So...earlier today you both mentioned wanting to adopt Naruto..."
"Maya mentioned it" Kenta said corrected the Hokage "I have no interest in these sorts of things, in fact I would prefer that these negotiations conclude as quickly as possible"
"Ah yes, my mistake. In any case may I ask why him specifically?"
"Do I really need a reason?" asked Maya with what seemed to quizzical look on her face. "I just like him is all" she continued.
"Really? Just cause you like him?...See I find that rather odd. From what I've been able to tell you don't seem to be the sort of person to just choose something on impulse" The Hokage said incredulously.
Maya smiled slightly and shifted herself causing her outfit to ride up and give the Hokage a glimpse at what lay beneath.
"Really..." she continued "Whoever said it was an impulsive thing? Actually if your secretary hadn't so inconveniently gone and passed out on us, you would have learned from her that I've been in town a couple of days and have been repeatedly trying to set up a meeting with you. As a result of this during my time here I've noticed many, many things about this village including the young boy onto whom so much scorn is heaped. Honestly after seeing that is it any wonder that I would want to try and do something to help him out?" Upon hearing that, the Hokage visibly dropped his guard slightly and seemed to get a remorseful look upon being reminded of the young boy's problems with his fellow villagers.
"It's amazing to me really" Maya continued "I haven't even been in village more than a week and I can already tell that he does not deserve half of what he has been forced to go through. Yet from what little I've seen, ask most anyone in this village and I'm sure they'll say he has it coming, not that they seem to be willing to say why for some reason." At this the Hokage flinched but Maya either didn't notice or chose not to. At the same time this happened though Kenta started to move, walking back and forth from his spot near the window before eventually stopping just a few scant steps from the Hokage. However he gave no indication of it being intentional, and in fact seemed to just be impatiently pacing around the room. Before the Hokage could comment on this behavior though Maya began speaking again.
"People can truly act like such amazingly cruel monsters can't they?" Maya said while leaning towards the Hokage and once again showing him another glimpse of what lay beneath her outfit. The Hokage seemed to forget what he was going to say at that instance and redirected his attention back towards the buxom woman. She inched slightly closer and tilted her head cutely which caused the old man to lean slightly forward to get a better look at her beautiful "eyes". Maya in turn responded by reaching out to gently touch the older man's chin with a delicate finger before tilting his head slightly. She inched even closer bringing her lips close enough to his ear that he could hear her breathing.
"Which is why" she whispered in a sultry tone "it's so easy for monsters like my friend and I to pretend to be human" Instantly the Hokage's eyes widened but just as he reached for the emergency call button something impacted the back of his neck with a meaty THWACK! There was a brief pain and the Hokage looked back to find the source and saw that Kenta (who had apparently moved up behind him while he was unaware) seemed to have struck him. Before he could do or say anything though he felt it, something biting through his skin before slithering up to wrap around his spine. Before his brain even had a chance to process what happened though his mind simply went blank.
"Well that went easier than I expected. You know, given what I had heard about these shinobi and what they were capable of I honestly was expecting more of a challenge. Then again I suppose it doesn't matter how special you are or where you go, if you sit behind a desk for too long you'll eventually get rusty" Spoke Kenta casually to Maya. He moved slightly to reveal that instead of a human limb one of his arms was instead replaced by what looked like an octopus tentacle with the tip missing. In moments though it seemed to regenerate the missing portion before changing into a human arm. The whole time this was happening though the expression on the man's face remained totally unchanging like this was an everyday occurrence for him.
"Are we almost done here?" Asked Kenta in an impatient tone "It's bad enough it took this long to get the old man worn out enough to drop his guard but you know I can't stand being in this pathetically backwards shit-hole of a village any longer than I have to."
"Calm down Kenta, remember we still have to talk with the old war hawk when we're done here and before we can even do that we still need to get some more of these forms filled out. Just let me dig them out and...ah! Here we go." said Maya as she lay said forms out in front of the Hokage who then promptly began to sign them in an almost zombie like manner.
"Actually" said Kenta "don't worry about talking with the old war hawk, I've already planned for that annoyance" he said before tapping the button on his wrist and causing it to blink.
A few blocks from the Hokage residence in the same back alley where the unfortunate ANBU's corpse was becoming maggot chow Souta was finishing putting his old outfit back on when he saw his own wrist button beep. He smiled and was just about to get going when he heard a faint sound above him. One quick scan of the alley later and Souta began to speak in a hushed voice.
"Well this is certainly convenient, I just about ready to go try and find one of you folks to tell you the good news and lucky me I just happen to run into one of you out in the middle of nowhere."
At that moment a figure dropped down into the alley from the roof above. He was garbed almost identically to the ANBU from earlier but this one had one difference, his mask was featureless.
"Did you accomplish your goal?" answered a a quiet emotionless voice from beneath the mask.
"Yeah, yeah" Answered Souta while fixing his collar "My compatriots just finished their little chat with the Hokage. Thanks to Kenta's gift of "persuasion" the Hokage will take care of the agreed upon forms and then promptly forget about what happened. Once that's done our company will get its roots firmly established here and you'll have the extra funding you desire. Well just so long as you ensure the old secretary doesn't recover from her little episode so she can remind the old man just why he shouldn't be signing those forms in the first place. Not to mention there's still whole issue of those three annoyances I had to kill off to make him vulnerable in the first place. Which reminds me, thanks for the forewarning of them it made things a lot easier."
"It was for the good of the leaf, we couldn't afford them getting in your way. As for your other concerns they won't be an issue for much longer. A secretary more agreeable to our goals will soon be in her place and as for the missing shinobi, our insiders will ensure that they appear to have gone rouge. All you have to do is ensure your friends do as agreed and remove any trace of their assignments today from the Hokage's memories and in return you will get the nine-tails host as promised. Though as stated in our previous agreement you must return him posthaste if our agreement is to remain in effect" replied the emotionless one.
"Excellent and don't you be concerned it'll all be taken care of and he'll be back (albeit with some extra things thrown in) before anyone even realizes he's gone. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back over to the Hokage's place to go pick up the kid and whatnot."
With that said the two parted ways the strange ANBU quickly jumping back onto the roof and then out of sight while Souta affixed his sunglasses before proceeding to walk towards the opposite end of the alley. He was almost out when he tripped and almost fell over something, a quick glance revealing what appeared to be the figure of a homeless fellow sleeping on the ground. The figure made no noise or indication of being disturbed and was wrapped in a baggy jacket with the hood pulled up and a blanket covering the rest of its body. Souta was ready to gut the unfortunate bastard on the off chance it heard something earlier when he smelled it, a foul smell emanating from the figure so wretched it made a rotting corpse smell spring clean. It was so bad that were it not for the nearby dumpster Souta was sure there would have been no way for him to have not noticed it earlier. Cursing his extra strong sense of smell, and convinced that the figure was just the rotting corpse of some vagrant from the smell and lack of a response, Souta decided to just take off before the smell made him puke on his clothes.
As he left the alley though the vagrant's "corpse" suddenly stood up, the blanket dropping away from its body to reveal legs which bent the wrong way. The figure watched Souta's retreating form with its coal black eyes then as soon as Souta was out of sight, the figure casually walked over to the dumpster with the ANBU's corpse in it and reached inside. It dug around for a bit, pulled off a hunk of flayed flesh from the ANBU's cooling carcass, and then pulled the ski-mask it was wearing out of the way before it popped the hunk of meat into a deformed looking snout filled with needle like teeth. It chewed on the hunk of flesh for a bit then proceeded to affix its mask and walk out of the opposite end of the alley. It crossed the street and headed over to the nearby back entrance of a boarded up building before it suddenly stopped. Pausing for a bit it scanned the street it was on and upon seeing no one else around knocked three times on the door before opening it and heading inside.
Souta arrived at the Hokage residence just in time to meet the emerging forms of Maya, Kenta, and a smiling Naruto.
"All done I assume?" asked Souta.
"Just got to go swing by the orphanage and get the kid's stuff then we're off." answered Kenta.
"Yes I'm finally gonna have a family Datte-*smack* OW! Maya-chan Souta's being mean again!" cried Naruto.
After a bit of coddling from Maya, Naruto eventually stopped crying and the group headed off to go pick up Naruto's stuff. All the walk over there Naruto was smiling, gleefully assuming this was going to be the start of a new life with a new family. And he was right...just not in the way he expected. In fact, neither Naruto nor the individuals accompanying him could have guessed that his fate lay not it their hands, but in the hands of others who unknown to them were watching their every move at this very moment...
A/N: So any guesses as to what the nature of the crossover is?