Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!
Prologue
Perhaps he should've known things wouldn't be so easy. Hell, he should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
The chirping noises were what saved his life; had he not heard the all too familiar sounds of the Chidori (Thousand Birds), he most likely would've been stabbed in the heart from behind and killed. With the warning, however, he had managed to substitute himself with one of the rocks that littered the scarred earth.
As he materialized a few feet away, he saw the blade of lightning chakra run through the boulder with an ease that spoke of its piercing ability.
Stumbling backwards, his chakra still feeling buggy and slippery, he nevertheless steadied himself and leveled a glare at the culprit.
The young man that stood before him was someone he had once called 'brother'. Even now, as his eyes shone with hatred and his blade shrouded with deadly lightning, there was still that ache within him at how low his teammate had fallen. He had thought, hoped that he had returned to the person he once was during the course of the war.
And, like all dreams, he could say that he knew it was too good to be true.
"Sasuke…even after all this, you still won't let go of your hatred?" His voice was low, yet heavy with resignation. Once again, he bitterly acknowledged that the others were right; he had been too idealistic, too optimistic about Sasuke's return. The others had been wary of the traitor, bar Sakura and himself, but they had needed all the help they could get to overcome the Uchiha.
It didn't help that he had arrived with Orochimaru, the Leaf's greatest traitor and murderer of the Sandaime.
Sasuke said nothing, though he closed his left eye and switched his sword to a reverse-grip. There was a lull in the moment, an extended period where they stared into each other's eyes. In that instant, Naruto understood everything.
The time for words had long since passed. Physical force was the only thing Sasuke would listen to at this point. There would be no explanation of his ideals, no attempts to reach out and try to steer him back. They had both made their choices.
Now they would have to deal with the consequences.
He winced as his chakra spiked suddenly, sending a wave of power rushing through his body that made him lose sensation in his limbs for a split second. He could feel Kaguya raging inside him, her screams faintly registering in his mind, battering against the seal that kept her stuck within him.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT.
The seal needed to be stabilized, soon. If he left it for too long, she'd just take over his body and come back, which would make all of the events that occurred since meeting Old Man Rikudou utterly useless.
Taking advantage of his adversary's momentary lapse, Sasuke launched himself forward, his body streaking across the battlefield like a bullet. Naruto cursed when he saw the Uchiha cover half the distance within a moment.
"Naruto, just deal with the Uchiha as fast as you can! The others and I will try and keep her distracted!"
He grit his teeth as the chakra surge receded somewhat, just in time to meet Sasuke's charge head-on. Coating his arms with chakra, he swatted the descending slash aside and blocked the follow-up punch. Just as he threw his own punch, prepared to crush Sasuke's throat, Sasuke opened his left eye.
The Uchiha vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving Naruto surprised for a moment. The next thing he knew, a large mass of chakra slammed into his back, flinging him towards the Shinju. As he careened in the air, his eyes caught the large mass of purple chakra that towered towards the heavens.
'Oh crap…'
Righting himself immediately, he barely managed to form a counter when the Susano'o fired its arrow towards him. Like lightning it sped through the air, slicing through the air as it streaked towards him.
It disappeared the moment it made contact with his defense, a large blanket of black nothingness that he had managed to bring out. Seven balls made of the same black chakra hung at his back, suspended in midair.
Hastily shifting the makeshift shield into two swords, Naruto substituted to avoid the volley of chakra shuriken that Sasuke shot at him. Explosions razed what little of the earth that remained, kicking up clouds of dirt and further scaring it.
Appearing a meter away from Sasuke, Naruto went through a sequence of hand-seals. "Kokuo, help me out a little! Futton: Kōmu no Jutsu (Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique)!"
He exhaled a cloud of corrosive mist, sending it coiling round his general direction. Even though Sasuke would more than likely remain at a distance and fire projectiles at him, the corrosive mist would at least ensure that he didn't try any surprise attacks from behind.
The surge of chakra that hit him was unlike the others. It flooded his pathways with reckless abandon, the intense pressure sending sharp stabs of pain through his arm. His muscles twitched once, then exploded in a geyser of blood as large bone protrusions speared through.
Naruto tried to hold in the scream that wanted to come out. Gripping his left arm, the one which was now wrecked, he swore as he noticed flecks of chakra gathering at the fingertips.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Naruto swore again when the Susano'o breathed a huge fireball towards him, large enough to seem like a small meteor.
"Shit! Naruto, aim it at the Uchiha! Hurry!"
With a clenched jaw, Naruto aimed the rapidly forming Bijuudama at the approaching fireball. The two attacks met for a moment, the roaring chakra of the Bijuu colliding with the intense flames of the Uchiha, only for the former to spear through the fireball like it was nothing.
The explosion that rocked the battlefield was incredible. Even from where he stood, the tremors still managed to send him stumbling about like a drunkard.
Focusing on the seal, Naruto flooded the construct with the chakra he had received from the Sage. When they had received the chakra, Hagoromo had instructed them on how to seal the Progenitor away…however, what he had left out was the fact that she would be sealed inside the descendant with the most potential to house her.
As a result, the Infinite Tsukuyomi was still in effect and he had no idea how to cancel it.
He tensed and swung his blade, which met Sasuke's and easily sliced through the lightning coated blade. Glaring at the unique Rinnegan that stared angrily at him, he bashed his head against Sasuke's.
"Naruto, she's-!"
His hair came to life, growing several times longer in the spans of an instant. It latched onto them both, tying their limbs and preventing them from escaping.
"Shit!" Naruto struggled as hard as he could, but he could feel the seal deteriorating further. It was taking all he had just to keep her locked inside him, and he still didn't know how much time he had left.
Sasuke grit his teeth, focusing chakra into his left eye. Madara had been able to do it, so it stood to reason that he could also utilize Sharingan techniques with his stronger Rinnegan. Empowering the jutsu with the chakra he had received from the Sage, he focused entirely on the person he had once called a friend. "It's over, Naruto! I've won! Amaterasu!"
As he prepared to cast the mighty eternal flames, unknown to the last shinobi in the Elemental Nations, something strange happened.
Optimistic and idealistic as he was, Hagoromo was not a fool. There was a reason he had bestowed chakra to Naruto first, as well as why he had changed the seal from encasing the Progenitor in the Chibaku Tensei to sealing it within the one with the most potential between the two.
Indra had been his pride, the son he had always envisioned having; he had inherited special eyes and chakra, took to his teachings like a fish to water and had been the one who shone brighter. Ashura had shown him that he was wrong, and impressed him enough to receive his blessing and be named his successor.
He had seen how Indra had reacted. Watched for generations as their descendants continued the mad cycle of fighting. Understood and hated how the Uchiha and the Senju had become.
So, when he appeared before the current incarnation of Indra, he had taken a few precautions this time around.
Sasuke screamed as his chakra was inexplicably sucked out of his body, travelling through the prehensile hair that held him down into Naruto. His eyes, wide and blazing, watched with horrified fascination as his body began to disappear, drifting apart as flecks of chakra that were integrated within Naruto.
"No…NONONONONONONONOOOOOOO!"
Naruto screamed as the Yin chakra surged into the seal, strengthening and quickly stabilizing it. Still, even though the chakra was ultimately saving him, he felt as though he was dying; the chakra raged and lashed out within him, destroying, healing and destroying his body and chakra pathways in a never-ending cycle of regeneration and destruction.
"Naruto, try and bear with it! If you give up now, this will all be for nothing!"
Even as he howled his agony to the empty world, the screams of his traitorous teammate gradually ceased as he was absorbed by the seal. The bones that had sprouted from Naruto's arms retracted back to his flesh, which sealed itself up the second it was done. His hair receded, returning to its usual shoulder length, but was now a silver colour.
Finally, as he fell to the soft earth, darkness slowly stealing his sight away, he felt his chakra stabilize.
"Wow…this place looks pretty weird," muttered a young woman as she trudged along the freshly upturned earth. Her expressive purple eyes were lit with curiosity as she moved along the beaten earth, examining the widespread lack of…well, anything. There was no indication of life as far as her eyes could see, which was pretty strange, now that she thought about it. Usually, even in the bleakest dimensions she had travelled, there was some form of life in the world, be it flora or fauna.
She wore a mostly black one-piece parka dress that has a purple hood, strings that look like controller plugs, and two huge black and purple pockets with blue circles on them.
The sleeves had two light blue stripes going all the way down while the front of the parka only contained one. The ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the parka had black and purple stripes. The zipper emblem and the back of the parka had a purple letter "N", and her shoes are black and purple. Another thing of note was the fact there was a black and purple gun holster on her left thigh that matched the rest of her outfit.
"Says you," came the voice of her companion. "Heh…seems this world's already come to an end. I was hoping we'd get here earlier and see it happen in action, but that's that I suppose."
The owner of the other voice was clearly of a different race to the young woman; she was a tiny, imp-like creature that floated on a tome beside her companion. She had lightly tanned skin and blue eyes, with very light blonde hair that messily reached her chin. She wore a red and black ear piece. She is shown to come from a purple and pink themed book and has sharp blue and purple wings.
She wore a black dress with red and white designs on it and a big pink gem at the center. Connected to it were black chained pieces to attach to the jacket/cape worn below her shoulders, which also had white detailing and pink gems. Around her right arm was a deep red ribbon.
"Have you been here before, Crostie?" Her companion asked as they continued walking in the direction they were headed.
"Nope. If I did, I would have chosen a better time to drop in."
The young woman arched a brow as she glanced at the imp, "I thought you said you've always wanted to see a world come to its end. By the looks of things, shouldn't you be more interested in a place like this?"
The imp shrugged, "There's no point in watching the climax without the build-up. If we had gotten here earlier, then I'd be stoked to see this."
Glancing up at the night sky, her dainty lips pursed in thought. "Hey, Crostie…do you think something happened here recently? I don't think this world fell apart on its own like this."
The imp shrugged her shoulders once again as she floated closer to the young woman. "Maybe, but I can't say–Oi, Nep! Look over there!"
Following the direction of Croire's finger, the young woman's eyes widened when she saw what had Croire so excited.
In the distance was an absolutely massive tree, one that reached higher than the clouds, that was steadily…shrinking, for lack of a better word. The tree seemed to be flowing towards the earth, sort of like ramen noodles flowing down her throat when she slurped them down.
In less than ten seconds, the entire thing disappeared into nothing.
"Okay…what just happened?" She asked, a little weirded out by what just happened.
"Allow me to answer that, child."
The first thing he noticed when he woke up was the clarity; while he didn't consider his eyesight bad, there was such a significant visual clarity that he might as well have been blind earlier. He could see minute details he had never picked up before, such as the little flecks of dust on the strands of lilac hair that fell from the face of the young woman watching him, as well as the intensity of her purple eyes as she watched him.
"Ah! You're finally awake!" The stranger exclaimed, the relief she felt easily conveyed in her tone. Shifting his eyes to his immediate right, he flinched as his sight distorted briefly before correcting itself. Raising his hand to rub lightly against his head, he flicked his eyes back to the young woman.
Nothing happened.
His eyes narrowed in thought.
"Um…" He glanced back at the young woman, noting the slightly nervous look she had, "…are you alright? I mean, you haven't said anything yet and I don't wanna make any assumptions or anything."
His lips twitched slightly. Raising himself from the futon he lay on, he fixed his attention on her, "I can talk, thank you for asking. Not trying to be rude, but who are you?"
She gave him a bright smile, seemingly at ease with his question. "Me? My name is Neptune. To be honest, I'm a bug hunter who explores other dimensions; I happened to pass by this dimension and saw you out cold in the dirt. My friend wanted me to leave you, but I couldn't just up and leave someone in need to die."
He blinked, surprised by the nonchalant way she had dropped the bomb of travelling through dimensions. "I…see," he paused, looking down at his body. He wondered why he hadn't noticed the cool air upon his bare skin, but that was eclipsed by the thought that he didn't give a damn about the situation. Lifting the blanket covering his body, he raised a brow when he noticed his lack of clothing and glanced back at Neptune, who was unabashedly angling herself to look at the rest of his body.
When she caught his eye, she gave him a saucy wink. "Don't worry, I didn't do anything to you. Still, I was rather surprised by the eye candy. You've got a pretty nice body." She flashed him a thumbs up, which further confused him. Was she complimenting him? "So, what's your name?"
"It's nice to meet you, Neptune. My name is…" Uzumaki Naruto. Otsutsuki Kaguya. Uchiha Madara. Uchiha Sasuke. Otsutsuki Indra. Otsutsuki Asura. He paused. A heartbeat passed, and he settled on an answer. "…Naruto."
It was at that moment that Naruto realized that the Truth-Seeking Balls he had obtained from Hagoromo were still around; rather than floating at his back in the form of a circle, they were hovering a fair distance away from him.
"Naruto, huh? Nice to meet you! Do you mind if I give you a cute nickname? I've never done that with a guy before, and I managed to come up with an awesome one while you were asleep." Neptune asked, smiling down at him.
Naruto stared at her like she had spontaneously grown a second head. "Nickname? Um…" A nickname could be cute? He wasn't too sure about that; then again, the only experience he really had to base that off was his relationship with Team 7, and "dead-last" was the last thing that came to mind when thing of a cute nickname.
Neptune closed the distance between them, her eyes gleaming in glee as she gripped his hand. "Ple~~ase? I know we just met, but we can be friends with each other and it'll be easier if we have nicknames!" She glanced to the side at a purple book that lay on the wooden table before continuing with a louder voice, "Besides, it gets a bit lonely with only Crostie around."
"I heard that, bitchface! You think I like being around you all the fuckin' time?!"
"Whoa, chill out Crostie. Wouldn't want me to smack you around while you're like that, would you?"
Naruto stared at the smaller and daintier hand that grasped his own with fascination, completely missing the fact that a voice had come from the notebook Neptune had. 'Her hands are so smooth…' He could hardly remember the last time he had felt such smooth and soft skin; bits and pieces of memory trickled into his mind, yet he could only remember feeling rough and calloused hands and flesh.
"Geez Naruto, I'm gonna start blushing if you keep staring at me like that," He could tell she was teasing, but he still felt his cheeks warm up. He didn't know why, but her rather brazen interest was
Shifting himself away from the teasing glint in Neptune's eyes, he mumbled a weak "Whatever," in response. Mentally calling out to the Truth-Seeking Balls, he shrugged off the blanket and rose to his feet.
Neptune's appreciative whistle made his receding blush deepen slightly, "You don't have any shame, do you?" He said, trying not to face the teasing smile he could feel on her face. Clenching his fist a few times to get the blood pumping, he formed the image of basic clothing in his mind and gathered chakra towards his hands.
"Well, I'm not one to keep my thoughts to myself," Neptune admitted, her eyes fixated on his behind. He glanced at her and quirked a brow when she lightly bit her lower lip. "Oh wow…" She murmured, apparently forgetting in that moment that she was voicing her thoughts out loud.
Deciding to ignore Neptune, though he felt a bit pleased at her ogling, Naruto released the breath he had been holding. "Banbutsu Sozo (Creation of All Things)". It was strange to see the materialization of his clothes; they slid on his body smoothly and comfortably, appearing on him in a manner that greatly reminded him of an illusion.
Looking himself over, he gave himself a mental pat on the back. The clothes he had imagined fitted him perfectly, and were just as cool in reality as they were in his imagination. The Truth-Seeking Balls had taken to floating behind him once again, which suited him fine at the moment.
"How exactly are you doing that, Naru?"
"Seriously? That's the nickname you were going for?" His lips twitched when she stuck her tongue out at him. "That's kinda disappointing."
"Hey!" He did not expect Neptune to flare up before him, placing her hands on her hips before giving him a look that he realized he didn't want directed at him ever again. "Are you implying that my nicknames are anything less than awesome? I'll have you know that all of my friends love the names I give them!"
'Somehow, I doubt that's the case.' He glanced out towards the outside world, his mood dampening when his eyes took in the utter lifelessness of the surroundings.
'What am I going to do now?'
A/N: So, the prologue of my Naruto/Megadimension Neptunia crossover. I had to rewrite this thing a couple of times (rearranging a few scenes to keep a few things for later) and I'm satisfied with this prologue. I was thinking of adapting Rebirth 3 to lead into Megadimension, but I scrapped that idea.
As you guys have noticed, I've been very quiet this year. Didn't upload anything other than 'The Unaided Path' and now this. The thing is, I've got myself a job as an editor, which did a lot more damage to my writing than I thought possible. Even then, I've been working on several chapters these past few weeks (whenever I felt like writing) and this chapter was simply the one closest to being complete.
Please read and review,
MaelstromBankai.