Hi all,

This is my first fanfic and I must say that it is quite difficult to get an idea, bad or good I'll just leave you to decide, written out on paper! I might be a little obsessed over these two mangas/animes so I decided to test the waters with a collaboration of these two unique worlds. Please feel free to critique! I understand that I'll need all the help I can get.

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own either Naruto or Shingeki no Kyojin.

Edited: May 12, 2015

Blinding light erupts from a down cast sky. A dark silhouette appears in the epicenter of the flash and slams into the ground, creating an immense crater in the earth. Silence rings through the forest as the nearby creatures wait in a tense silence for danger to appear; the calm before the storm.

A figure appears from the edge of the nearby forest dressed in a long black cloak, quietly sauntering over to examine the specimen lying in the center of the barren hole. Seeing no physical damage on their subject they journey down into the depths of the earth to retrieve the seemingly lifeless person.

They run up the side of the crater with the figure cradled in their arms as if the unconscious person were the most precious of cargo. With inhuman speed they reach the top of the nearest tree knowing that they would have guests of an unsavory nature very soon. The ground shakes with the approaching footfalls of inhuman beasts, as if the unspoken thought had been transferred to realty. The cloaked figure glances once more at the boy in their arms in confirmation of identity and condition. Nodding their head once in affirmation they take off at a blinding speed into the inky black forest. One thought lies at the precipice of their mind as they carry the still figure contained in the safety of their arms away from the site of impact. The experiment has officially commenced.

Waking up to a major headache is not what I would call a good morning thought the now conscious figure as he opened his eyes to uncertain light. And why exactly is the sky green?

Taking a few moments to adjust my eyes I noticed that the sky was not in fact green, it was covered by a thick and very leafy canopy. Columns of light entered through gaps between the thick foliage of the branches, creating an ethereal sight. Looking to my left I could see an endless array gnarled limbs coated in leaves. The right side revealed the same sight as I surveyed my surroundings.

I was in a tree. What was I doing in a tree? Thinking back in order to jog his memory he found… nothing. It was as if every memory had been erased and only his vocabulary had remained, leaving behind no trace of past identity, not even a name.

Trying not to panic I struggled to remember at least one defining characteristic of myself. Anything that could turn this dark turn of events around. Looking down I could see tan hands on top of a burlap blanket. The thick material was scratchy against the palm of my hand but the chill of the dank air against my skin made me grateful for it. I found myself embedded on a crudely constructed mat that consisted of several tree branches lashed together with thick ropes. My legs were secured around the underlying branches to prevent a fall down to the unforgiving ground below, or at least that's what I assumed was the case. I carefully untied my legs before continuing my examination, at the same time wondering who had placed me in the precarious position.

Besides my hands I noticed I was wearing an orange outfit constructed of a t-shirt, jacket and pants with the hem ending above my ankles. Not exactly what I would have chosen if I had been given a choice but it was comforting to know that I must have had some sort of history with this outfit. The jacket was lined with black along the shoulders, down middle of the front and along the bottom hem with a zipper down the middle. Unzipping it I found a black shirt with an orange swirl design in the middle and underneath that some sort of armor constructed from a light but sturdy mesh material. Glancing under the blanket I examined the orange cropped pants and black shoes which revealed my toes while the top of the shoes ended well past my ankles.

Replacing the blanket I constructed a list from my quick inspection. So apparently I was a fan of the color orange, I didn't know how to buy clothes that fit properly and I was stuck in a tree. Not just any tree, but one that soared high above the ground, hundreds of meters below. Again, why was I in a tree? Glancing down towards the forest floor I found my answer.

Three beings that were as tall as a house, if not taller, could be seen from my treetop position. They had no distinct gender and large, disproportionate features dominated their faces. The creatures held large, toothy grins on their homely faces, almost as if they were welcoming me to come down and join them. Shivers traveled down my spine as I thought about what might happen if I were to inadvertently tumble down.

After these careful observations I realized that if there was ever a time to panic now would be it.

As if from a sixth sense, one noticed me observing it and jumped. I jerked up from my position on the branches and before I knew it gravity had me in its grasp. The air bit at my body and peeled my cheeks away from my mouth, setting a cruel grimace on my face as I tumbled through the air. The humanoid beings became quite excitable at the notion of me joining them that they immediately stretched their freakishly long arms towards me.

Closing my eyes and imaging a very gory and inevitable demise I was shocked when I felt my acceleration stall while being carried away from the giant people.

As one they ran towards me and my savior even though we had already landed safely in a nearby tree. Like something out of one of the romance novels Kakashi-sensei favors I was set down by my rescuer who jumped back onto another nearby branch, elongating the distance between us. Wait, who is Kakashi? I know a strangers name but not my own, how weird is that? I even knew about his dirty hobby. What are my hobbies? Apparently teasing large giants by staying in trees just out of reach was one; one that I could hopefully stop before it became a habit.

Glancing to my left I could see the stranger was politely withholding any comments, staring at me with a contemplative expression upon her face. Okay, if before wasn't a time to creeped out now surly was.

Not being able to resist the flow of questions that entered my mind, I started with the most obvious. "Who are you?"

The figure gently nodded their head in affirmative and walked over. "Who am I? A strange question coming from one that doesn't even know their own name. What is a name but a word that identifies you to others and, then again, why is it so important? Why must a person have a name in order to be considered a person? Why must they need an identity? Well, I suppose not everyone can be spoken to through the use of 'hey you' or with a grunt in their general direction. Life might become more confusing than it already is, don't you think? And so to that end I will tell you my name but you must answer a question of my own first." She said all this with a melodious voice which was quite soothing to my ears, which still held the sound of my pumping, adrenaline-filled heartbeat.

How does she know that I don't know my own name? Becoming thoroughly confused at how this conversation had diverged from a simple question I nodded my head in agreement of the term.

Displaying a wide smile with pure white teeth filed to gleaming points she approached. I could tell she was quite pretty, if not beautiful, with rich, red hair flowing to the middle of her back and a thin face complemented with striking green eyes, glowing with curiosity. As she approached I also noticed that she was quite tall. She wore a long black cloak that clung, lovingly to her every curve. A meter and a half away she stopped walking. She then proceeded to look deep into my eyes and asked "How do you feel?"

Hear me out for a moment. So I had found myself tied to a freakishly tall tree when I had woken from my slumber. Completing the picture was a splitting headache and frightening giants below. I had no recollection of who I was or where I came from, which can be supplemented with the fact that this was the last question I could have expected. Also include that I had just been saved from large abnormal humans by this mysterious stranger. The buzz I had gotten from my mishap was fading and my dazed mind couldn't even remotely compute what she had just asked.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"How are you feeling?" She repeated slowly, with emphasis on the word feeling as if to make sure that there could be no mistaking the question.

I feel like an idiot, that's how I'm feeling, but knowing this wouldn't be an acceptable answer I frowned slightly and replied "Um… confused because I have no idea of who I am, frightened because I just saw my life flash before my eyes, a life which is based off of a few moments alone in a tree, but even that's not an accurate statement because I was just freakin' about to be eaten by freakishly tall and creepy humanoid monsters! Along with that I have a killer headache! Why would this even be an acceptable question to ask in a time like this? Now will you tell me who the hell you are and why I'm in a fucking tree?"

Yeah, you could say I lost my cool to put it mildly. But, to be fair, I was in a stressful situation. There couldn't be a textbook response to this sort of scenario.

She just looked down and sighed in relief. "That's good. We thought you might have been damaged in the process of transporting you here but you seem to be normal, at least as much as you ever were. Of course an altered personality is also expected, but this should fade with time. The headache is easily explained as well. The collision when your head hit the ground made quite the impression on the earth. As far as the tree, well you found out for yourself because you wouldn't be here if not for this tree and the fact that I had to save your sorry skin."

"You're avoiding my original question. I answered your question, now tell me who you are, with none of this nonsense about identity." I replied as calmly as I could given the circumstances.

"A demanding one aren't you?" she replied sarcastically. "Oh alright, my name is Midori."

Midori. It was nice to finally place a name with the first person I had seen in this hellish place, as annoying as the process had been. "Well Midori could you tell me who I am and how I came to be here?" I asked hoping to get more answers out of the loquacious red head.

"I'm really not allowed to say much, but your name is Naruto and you are sixteen. You'll just have to figure the rest out with your foxy companion." She stated briefly with a wink before turning her back on me.

What companion was she referring too? As far as I was concerned it was her, me and those creepy ass things below. Just great, more questions with even fewer answers. But at least I had a name "to identify myself to others" as she had so annoyingly put it. Looking back at her I was alarmed to see that she was already twenty meters away and headed in a northbound direction.

"Hey where are you going?" I shouted as she kept moving, hopping gracefully from tree to tree.

"Back to headquarters but don't worry you'll be seeing me again! You might want to sit and meditate a bit on what I said, just FYI." She replied, turning her head back towards the circumference of trees. One moment she was there and the next she was gone.

Well that's just great! Now I'm stuck in this big ass tree with nowhere to go with ginormous creatures who seemed to have a craving for something human waiting below. And what does FYI even mean? What was that about meditating? My stomach decided at that moment to make an impromptu gurgle which made me realize that I couldn't even remember the last time I had eaten anything. Looking around I saw a backpack at the end of my branch, just out of reach. Scrunching down to the end of the branch I snatched the pack and traversed back to my home sweet home, also known as my mat of branches in the tree.

After a couple more near-death experiences, associated with the danger of clutching to a branch a couple hundred meters above the ground that moved with heavy gusts of wind, I finally arrived at my destination and surveyed the items contained within the bag. The first thing I noticed was a sword.

It was of a study material, but felt rather light considering the thickness of the piece. I strapped it on and proceeded to sort through the rest of the items. Some odd weapons in the shape of a knife with a pointed arrow head with a loop for a handle were nestled in a separate pack along with multiple instruments that had four blades surrounding an inner circle. The words kunai knife and shuriken came to mind as I touched the instruments. Feeling weirded out by the sudden appearance of knowledge, I decided to strap the pack on too; they looked like they would come in handy even if they did look and feel familiar in an unfamiliar way.

Along with the weapons came food in the form of dried meat with some vegetables and dried fruit. I ate these greedily, almost inhaling the small morsels. After the measly meal I scrounged deep into the bag for anything I may have missed. I was surprised to find a small note with a graceful scrawl etched in black ink. 'Don't forget to meditate before bed, remember to aim for the neck and eat your veggies. –Your loving mentor, Midori p.s. Do at least try not to die. I won't always be there to save your orange clad ass.

Whatever you could say about her at least she cared enough to tell me not to die. A lot of good that'll do me. The sun had quickly dispersed while I sat there in my castle in the sky, leaving behind streaks of pink and orange in its wake. Leaning over the edge of my nest once more I could see that the giants seemed to have quieted down since they were no longer trying to climb up the tree to feast on my savory self. Having nothing better to do I settled down into a comfortable pose that seemed both familiar and comforting. Blocking out all stimulus except my breathing I remained like that until I was unwillingly transported into a dark world that looked like a dungeon.

Dungeon would be an understatement. It looked more like a sewer due to water of the not so clear sort covering the ground and coating the walls in a sheet of slime. There were various pipes in the walls, releasing their contents in a steady flow. Dim lighting was prevalent through the whole space, but the most prominent feature was the large gate, formed from thick golden bars bolted into the walls. There was a center piece where it looked like a key would typically fit but instead of a key, was a piece of paper that read seal in familiar characters. As I approached the gate I began to feel a chilling and tantalizing evil aura surrounding the place. Looking within the gate I found myself staring into a pair of huge blood-red and slightly crazed eyes.

So glad you could join me at last, Naruto, Growled the most menacing creature I had ever seen in my sixteen years of life.

There we have it, one chapter down with many to come! I would greatly appreciate any feedback negative or positive!

~Strix