AN: Well here we go again. A new stroke of inspiration and an overflowing muse have brought this creation to the world. To all those who are wondering about my other stories; Now that I have reconnected with my muse once more and finally have more in life than: eat, sleep, work. I promise to start updating them.
As far as this story goes, it has been an idea I thought of before and just didn't find the correct way to bring it to life. That was until a friend of mine showed me Fate/Stay night and I got hooked. So expect some elements of the series will be implemented within the story, they will however be changed to fit into the 'rules' of the Narutoverse.
I'll wish you all to enjoy reading the story, and please review.
And I almost forgot: Thanks to Dani-Of-The-Dark for being an awesome beta.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Fate/stay night I do own my leptop (kinda…well it was my fathers…he doesn't know I own it).
It is said that even the smallest of things can change the world. A butterfly, for example, by simply flapping its wings in India, can cause a hurricane in America. And a blonde, tired boy's mistake can – and will – change the future and fate of his world from the original course set by destiny. This is the story of that blonde boy: Naruto Uzumaki.
Naruto Uzumaki was a very tired shinobi. It had taken him a long while until he had finally fallen asleep last night, and the effects were showing. It was all due to his excitement of the day's coming event: Today was the day of the biannual 'Chunin Exam' and his chance to take the next step on his journey up the ranks of his village.
Slowly, forcing their way through the cracks in his wind, rays of the ever-rising sun entered his room. The low lighting revealed a messed-up one room apartment; cloths and trash were thrown all over the room in chaotic order. Some who knew Naruto would have said its state mimicked its sleeping owner's equally-chaotic mind. It didn't take long for the small lines of light to make their way onto the blonde's face and pull him back into the realm of the waking.
Mechanically like a well-oiled machine Naruto got up and went through his daily routine: He brushed his teeth, made his breakfast, put on his jumpsuit, and set up his weapon pouches. All this was done without once stepping or disturbing the mass that ruled the floor of his residence. Even still, for the first time since he had become a ninja, his chaotic living place had betrayed him. For instead of taking his well-polished and organized weapon pouch, which he had spent many times packing and repacking last night, our blonde hero had taken his academy days' pranking kit. Little did he know that it would be this small mistake which would shake the future of his world for many years to come. (AN: Well, so I love 'Stranger Than Fiction'. Sue me.)
With this mistake going unnoticed, the blonde quickly left his apartment and set off to Konoha's academy. Now that the morning haze had begun to clear of his mind, the blonde's thoughts were only focused on one thing: This day marked the next step on the path for his dream – it was one more step to proving the villagers wrong – a step on the road to being Hokage.
Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he sped along to his destination. The boy couldn't help but be happy, if only in the depths of his heart that, now, with being allowed to travel in such a method, he wouldn't need to feel the scorn that many of Konoha's other inhabitants still felt for him.
His travel didn't take long and the young ninja had swiftly reached the academy. Landing by the entrance of the teaching establishment the youth soon found his two teammates, whom were already waiting for him to join them.
"Yo, Sakura-Chan," Naruto waved at his pink-haired female teammate. He followed that by turning to face his rival, Sasuke Uchiha, with a much sorer face before greeting the boy with only a single word: "Teme".
The last syllable of his insult hadn't even left his mouth before he was sent crashing into the ground. The reason for such a weird occurrence was a fist that had found its way and hit the top of his skull. The owner of the fist, Sakura, followed her brutal attack with a very loud cry "Naruto-Baka, don't you dare insult Sasuke-Kun!"
Said Uchiha, keeping with his cool persona, turned from his two teammates. He only let a small smirk of happiness grace his face when he was sure the two were unable to see it.
The avenger waited quietly for his two other teammates as Sakura helped Naruto fill out his qualification form to the upcoming event. Even now it didn't escape Sasuke's notice that the usually cheerful and overly clingy Sakura wasn't her usual self.
Still, it didn't take long before the members of team seven were all set up and stepped into a test which would change their lives as they knew them forever.
*-* (A few hours later)
Three figures could be seen standing in front of a menacing steel gate. This gate was one of the many entrances to Konoha's 44th training ground, which was also known as the 'Forest of death'. After successfully going through the first phase of the Chunin Exam, Konoha's gennin team, number seven, were waiting for the second phase to begin.
The previous stage was a harrowing experience to the blonde member of the team. His bad experiences with written exams, as well as the sadistic mind games played by Konoha's chief interrogator – the proctor of that stage – were almost enough to break him. But, in the end, his strong resolve and great amount of luck were enough to carry him and his team to the next stage.
Unlike the previous stage, which dealt with both the information gathering skills of the young Chunin hopefuls, Stage 2 of the exam was a different type of exam. The remaining 72 Chunin hopefuls were to take part in a large scale survival exercise. A simple task, if not for one catch that the survival exercise had been taken to the extreme. Not only did the participant need to live for five days in the horrifying Forest of Death – one of the, if not the most, dangerous places on the continent – but they also had to fight other teams. Those fights, which could and would most likely be to the death, were to be fought over at least one part of a set. Two scrolls, one brown and named 'Earth', and the other white and titled 'Heaven'.
The gates were just about to be opened as Naruto started checking his equipment. His orange-clad hand reached back and dislodged his weapon kit. Bringing the kit to his face, Naruto couldn't help but smile to himself. Smugly the blonde was praising himself for being so smart to check his things before the exam started. In fact, he was sure that this action will get him praised by Sakura for his ingenuity. The boy had already started to imagine what could happen later on when he told his pink haired teammate of his idea only for it all crumble to dust. Looking into the pouch only one thought rolled his mind: "Shit…"
Naruto couldn't help but curse himself internally when, instead of looking at his weapon kit that he had prepared late last night, he was now looking at his old academy days' pranking kit. His own personalized stink booms, high grade itching powder inside of a smoke bomb, paint capsules, and several other items from his pre-gennin days were all neatly ordered within the small beg. "I'm so screwed…" Naruto kept repeating to himself, all the time his mind was trying to think of how the hell he could have made such a stupid and moronic mistake.
Why did he switch between the two kits? The short boot of panic soon calmed down and was replaced by a deep feeling of resignation. "I guess they're right…" he thought, his shoulders sagging as a sigh escaped his mouth.
Slowly the blonde raised his head. He had resigned himself to what was about to come, as he faced the truth of the situation. Almost robotically, he turned to his two teammates, both still unaware of his plight. One was as stoic as a stone while the other was looking at the first, her eyes sparkling with admiration.
Naruto was about to speak, ready to tell the two about his mistake, if not for a sudden idea (which had nothing to do with the influence of a certain bored, foxy individual). This new idea came to him, with all the power of an exploding tag. "Wait!" he shouted inside his mind, his face slowly gaining more of his usual luster "So what if I forgot my weapons at home? I'll just show them all." A cocky smile started to rise on his face "I'll go through this exam with my pranking supplies and still win, and, when I'm done with this stage, they'll have to make me a Jounin." By the time he was finished with that line of thought, his smiled had turned to his trademarked fox grin, and his face was lit with all the power of the sun.
With his resolve restored, and now more than eager to prove his worth, Naruto moved forward. He took the lead from his two teammates and hopped right through the now-open forest gate.
*-* (A few minutes later)
The team was hopping from tree to tree in the forest for just five minutes before the first series of screams were heard echoing throughout the woods. The screeches caused the three members to stop.
They were a bit disturbed by the sounds, but, soon enough, they were able to soldier on, each of them focusing on their own personal goal. It had gone without saying, but the screams were actually more a relief than worrying. The forest's heavy atmosphere, as well as active wildlife, were getting to the three youth far more effectively than any human sound could.
It was a few more minutes of tree hopping later when Naruto felt a call that not many men could ignore. But he pushed forward, promising himself he would answer it when he had the time. But as the three moved on and on jumping and hopping, well, let's just say it got old very fast.
"Guys…" Naruto said a bit sheepishly, even with the meager amount of tact the blonde had, he knew that it wasn't an appropriate time to ask what he was about to. Still, some things just had to be done.
Still hopping from one tree branch to the next, Sasuke turned and looked at his blonde teammate with a bit of a glare. "What, Dobe?"
The Uchiha's question was soon joined by a similar one from the female member of their team. "Yeah, what do you want, Naruto-baka?" She was a bit annoyed because Naruto broke her fantasy of being alone with Sasuke.
"Well you see..." Naruto started a bit squeamish at the anger directed on his person "I kinda…mighta… never got to use the toilet before the first exam started, and I really have to go." To emphasize his need the blonde was twisting and squirming all the while still moving at the same pace as before.
"Just hold it in until we set up a camp or something," Sasuke barked at him. Sometimes his blonde teammate's antics got deep under his skin.
The Uchiha was actually forced to dodge a branch as he moved his head back to the front, the act increasing his anger at the blonde.
"I can't…" Naruto answered, his squirming getting more intense. "I'm about to explode." The last part was almost said as whine.
Sasuke thought for one moment before making a sound of discontent with his tongue and stopping on a tree branch. He decided conceding to his stupid rival's needs was better than not. Just imagining what could happen if he wouldn't do so was enough to persuade him. "Fine," he said with a relenting tone.
Not even pausing to say 'thank you' to his teammate, Naruto, in a much more graceful than usual form stopped and turned to face a tree trunk. The blonde's hands were just reaching to open his trunks zipper when Sakura bonked him on his head. Her act was accompanied by a shout of "Not here, you idiot! You don't do such things in front of a lady! Go find a bush or something." In her mind, she secretly hoped that Sasuke would follow the blonde's example and do the exact opposite of what she said.
With the highest speed available to him, Naruto left his two teammates. He was in such a great need that he didn't even bother to give a retort to the pink-haired female's words. Not that he would, as his crush was more than enough to justify her actions.
Soon enough, after he made sure to put a small distance between them – so as to not to offend Sakura even further – the blonde was about to finally release himself.
As he was hopping in place, a though occurred, he didn't have any weapon. If anyone were to attack him right now, in this vulnerable state, he wouldn't be able to defend himself.
With haste, born out of necessity, Naruto's fingers created a cross-like shape. The youth was soon greeted with a soft plume of smoke; a shadow clone was born.
Not even turning to acknowledge his creation Naruto barked out his order: "Hide and warn me if someone's coming."
The clone obediently nodded, he knew how bad his creator felt at that moment and forgave him for his harsh treatment, making said creator smile at the lack of the usual defiance.
While the original was answering Nature's call, the clone had moved a bit further back. Looking at his surrounding, the clone noticed the many scattered weapons littering the area.
Smiling, the construct made a ram seal and, with practiced ease, used his creator's transformation technique to turn into a kunai. Luckily he did so just moments before a jumpsuit wearing ninja came into sight.
The rain ninja, Oboro, had followed the small blonde ever since he split from his team, planning to take him down with his back turned. After that, he would join his two other teammates and help them finish the other brats off.
Jumping to the best vantage point behind the blonde, Oboro had to hold himself from cursing as he hit a discarded Kunai on one of the tree branches. The metal object had even nicked his leg. Feeling a bit vindictive the white-clad gennin kicked the offending object off of the branch. It was due to this moment of anger that he never noticed the distinctive cloud of smoke coming from the now dispelled clone.
Finally relived of his burden, our hero was about to zip his trousers and turn around. He was stopped, however, when the memories of his dispelled clone entered in his mind. Naruto didn't have time to question the memories, their truthfulness, or even why he had ever noticed, because, from what he had seen, now was not the time.
His mind working as fast as possible. The youth went into full alert mode, waiting for the ninja who dispelled his clone to attack him. He wasn't disappointed, as not but a few seconds later, Oboro jumped towards him from the tree line.
The trained ninja was certain he would catch the blonde unaware as he sailed through the air. But, just when he was just about to reach for his target, Naruto acted.
Swiftly, the blonde landed a powerful roundhouse kick to the white-clad ninja's midsection. The surprise attack propelled Oboro straight into one of the forest's massive tree trunks. The crash, as well as the kick, knocked the white-clad boy out for the count.
Naruto was experiencing a surprising amount of emotions as he looked at the downed ninja: happiness from taking a person out on his own, wonder at the truthfulness of his clone memories, and a tiny bit of confusion as to what he should do now. Taking a deep breath, trying to concentrate on the situation at hand, it was like Iruka always told him: deal with the now first, you can think things through later, or, at least, that was the gist of it. It was an advice he followed in every instance of combat that he fought thus far, and it didn't disappoint.
Focusing, Naruto was able to let his instincts and strategic mind take over, and, quickly – more so than one would expect of the blonde – a plan was hatched.
With a decisive step, Naruto went to the other boy's unconscious form and started to search his body. He was happy to find a scroll in the rain ninja's pouch. It was, however, a heaven scroll: the exact same one which he and his team had. Still, the blonde decided to keep it. He had a feeling that having a spare couldn't be too bad.
As he was about to leave the downed gennin, Naruto's eyes noticed a fact he had missed in his earlier focused state. There, on Oboro's right leg, was a still bleeding cut, a cut, which if his clone's memories were to be believed, was caused by his previously-transformed clone.
As the blonde's eyes locked on to the cut, a new and amazing idea reared its head in the depths of his mind. If his transformed clone was able to hurt his enemy while in the form of a kunai, he could use the shadow clone technique to create the weapons he needed for the exam. And, if it would work, he was sure to be promoted.
Before he could delve further into his thoughts and fantasies, the blonde remembered where he was. Feeling that he had spent too much time away from his teammates, the blonde backtracked his steps, leaving his newest idea on the back of his mind. He would pursue it, but it was something that he could try later.
As he returned to where he left his two teammates, Naruto was witness to a ninja wearing the same team cloths as his attacker fighting Sasuke. With no weapon and his idea still untested, Naruto did the only thing he could think of doing.
He jumped into the air and turned to face the attacker. At the height of his jump, Naruto crossed his fingers and created a shadow clone just above him. Knowing his job the clone twisted its body before unleashing his strongest kick at Naruto's sandals. The chakra empowered kick sent the original Naruto traveling in at breakneck speed towards his target.
As he was traveling in the air, with his now-amplified speed, Naruto shouted out his new and innovative attack's name "Uzumaki Taijutsu Secret Technique: Superman Punch!"
The shout caused both Sasuke and his opponent to look up.
They were both surprised to see the orange form of Naruto, his punch cocked back, coming at them with great speed. With his better reaction time, gained from his Shringan, Sasuke was the first to recover.
Moving faster than his stupefied opponent could react, he was able to grab the white-clad rain ninja, leaving him open for Naruto's attack. It was only a moment later that the blonde's punch hit true and knocked the ninja away.
Quick to recover, and seeing that he was now even more outnumbered – or 'unlucky', as he would claim – the rain ninja fled from the scene.
A tense moment passed after the escape of their white clad enemy as team seven waited for more to come. Only when they were finally sure no new attacker was coming did the Uchiha of team seven turn to Naruto and said "You're late".
"Yeah, sorry about that," Naruto answered as he pointed at the path taken by the escaping rain ninja. "That guy's teammate tried to take me out while I was doing my thing." Then crossing his hand, with a frown adoring his face, the blonde bemoaned: "Really, they have no respect for a man's needs."
Both Sasuke and Sakura couldn't help a small chuckle at the blonde's words before they turned serious once more. That the other teams would copy one of their own had almost shaken their resolve.
"Look, we can't let such things happen again. Those two almost caught us off guard," Saskue said as his two teammates set beside him. "If they hadn't made a mistake, we would have never known it wasn't Naruto that came back, and they would have had a golden opportunity to take Sakura and me out, as well as our scroll."
At the mentioning of the scrolls Naruto was about to interrupt but Sasuke didn't give him the chance.
"If we are separated again, even if you see one of us, don't trust us. It could be someone pulling the same trick."
Both Naruto and Sakura stiffened at that. "So, what will we do?" asked the pink-haired female.
Silently happy to show his superiority, the young Uchiha explained his plan: "We'll make a codeword, just in case. If they get it wrong, assume they are the enemy, no matter what they look like." His two teammates nodded with acceptance, even if the male of the two didn't like following Sasuke's orders.
"Listen carefully, because I'll only say it once," Sasuke proceeded, all the while making sure that their underground eavesdropper would hear every word.
"The nin song, Nin Machine… When this is asked, answer with: A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi. Hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill-prepared."
Sakura was quick to accept and memorize the codeword, but Naruto wasn't the most studious person and wasn't able to do so.
"Wait," he said to his now-rising teammates. "That password is impossible to remember." His words only got him a scolding look from Sakura.
"Are you stupid?" She admonished him, her voice dripping with superiority "I already memorized it."
Despondent, but not defeated, Naruto made one last attempt. "Are you sure the password has to be…" He was never able to finish his sentence, as the wind started to pick up in a way only an enemy attack could cause, and he was soon swept away from his two teammates.
