Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own the Nasuverse. I barely understand some concepts in both worlds... I just depressed myself.
WARNING: OOC in some parts, incomplete understanding of lore, little more understanding of the whole Nasuverse.
I would like to thank Rein Hellfire for giving me permission to use his story Fate: Zero Hour.
Prologue: Fate/Zero - The Summoning
What a lovely night. Was the thought going through the head of a man as he gazed across the night sky in London city. "What peace. I wish it will stay like this forever."
"Unfortunately, you know it will not, young magus." An old voice spoke from behind as the man looking towards the city moved his head to see who had disturbed him.
"Why are you here?" The man asked questioningly, mildly surprised by the other man's appearance.
"I think you you why I am here. News has already spread about the upcoming war."
"That it has, that is has." The man said before gazing towards the city. "But I happen to guess that you know of my part in this war."
He said it more as a statement.
"Yup."
"You know that I detest war."
"Yes."
"Especially a war that has had absolutely no victor for the past few hundred years."
"Uh-huh."
"So in summary; you want me to participate in the Heaven's Feel."
"Good heavens! What made you think I would ask such a thing?"
The first man gave the second one a deadpan stare. "Why else would you seek me out, you old vampire."
"Hmm, point. So, are you going to participate Naruto."
The first man, Naruto, sighed. "It's not like I have a choice old man."
The blond-haired man, Naruto, was tall- about six feet in height, give or take a few inches. His spiky blond hair had two bangs that framed his face, and the back was shoulder length. He was well built, but not overly so, more like a martial artist or runner's build, and he had piercing cerulean blue eyes that danced lively, but had a jaded look in them... As if he had seen far too much in his many years of existence.
His most noticeable features, though, were three whisker marks adorning both of his tanned cheeks. It could be noted that he was quite handsome, almost edging into the 'pretty boy' category. Compounding this image, he was currently sitting, feet draped over the edge of what he was on, dressed in a completely black suit.
The other man, Zelretch, or more specifically, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, was a graying old man, with gray hair, gray beard, etc. He possessed remarkable crimson eyes, and was also dressed in black clothing of a different fashion.
He was a vampire, or more specifically, a dead apostle ancestor, and master of the Second true magic, "Kaleidoscope".
Naruto took off the glove and exposed a glowing, stylized sword-like mark on his left hand. "This thing appeared about a week ago."
Zelretch whistled. "Ah, so the rumors are true."
Naruto scoffed as he looked back towards the vampire. "Yes, they must be. I've seen your bats hanging around me 24/7."
"I was merely watching over a fellow practitioner from those who would serve to harm him."
"You mean watching me for blackmail material for later."
Zelretch raised his hands. "Got me there."
"Mind you though, even though I know the rules and history of the war, this little detail still eludes me." He then rolled up his sleeve to reveal to Zelretch something that even surprised him in his many, many years of living. A second glowing mark, taking the form of four different angelic wings on his forearm.
"Now this is interesting." the old man smiled in excitement. "It seems as though the grail knows you are special as well, oh Sage of the Forest."
*sigh*"Give me a good reason to fight in the Heaven's feel." Naruto said as he rolled his sleeve down and picked himself up.
"Well..." Zelretch sighed. "The prize for winning is... A wish."
"A wish? Surely you must be joking?"
"No, I am not. You get an actual wish. As in, your deepest desires will be granted."
Naruto went silent. "A wish, huh. So, these wars have all been over a mythical wish-granting device."
"Yeah."
"And... It can..."
"Yes, it can actualize miracles and accomplish the impossible."
"..."
Zelretch smirked. "So, now you're actually considering it."
"No." Naruto said with a sad smile. "I have no regrets about my life, you know. I lived it to the fullest, and will keep living it until the day I die… That is if I die."
"After everything you've experienced, walking down a path of bloodshed. Don't you want to change that? Make it so that all of those losses never happened?"
The younger man shook his head. "If I rewrote the past like that, I would be spitting on the corpses of all of my friends and loved ones. I mourn and remember them, but I won't regret the decisions that I made, ever. I don't have a wish that I would like to see made true."
"You have been chosen already though. The grail wouldn't choose you, unless there was something that you wanted, some inner desire."
Naruto looked eyes onto his old friend. "I am well aware... "
"And you do know that the grail is capable of bringing back the dead, don't you?"
Naruto raised his voice. "Zelretch, don't tempt me. Please, I beg you."
The old magician complied. "Can I not convince you then?"
Long minutes of silence, in which both men regarded each other silently, one with piercing cerulean eyes, the other with crimson.
Eventually, the younger blond spoke.
"We both know that I have already decided what my course of action is to be…" He sighed. "I will participate then."
"In that case..." Zelretch pulled out a case. "May I come with you then, for the summoning?"
"You may." Naruto said as a light appeared in his hand as he brought forth his magical object. A long white cane with a blue crystal that glows whenever he channeled his magic.
Zelretch looked out towards the city. "By the way, why did you chose to come here of all places?"
"It sooths me." The blond said as he struck his cane on the ground as a light enveloped them both. When it had passed, they were gone, leaving the tower barren as it chimed for the city to hear.
-FATE/ZERO-
The blond-haired man hummed quietly to himself as he continued laying out the summoning circle in the middle of his modest apartment. It had been a while since he had lived for strictly for himself. It seemed as if his relatively normal (For him) lifestyle was about to change, radically at that.
Although, he mused, I cannot be classified as strictly human now... Can I? Because of that little factor. Thank you once again master.
Naruto Uzumaki admitted that he was a flawed existence. He watched his best friend killed right in front of him. He lost all capacity to care for other beings after his friend died. No, his love...
And the person known as Naruto Uzumaki, after realizing that he was a competitor in the fourth Fuyuki Grail War, laughed at the very concept. A war that would grant the winner one wish. One single wish. What a selfish idea.
He was already dead the minute she died. A dead man had no business living when others suffered. And dead men had no right in wishing for things, not when there were other people out there. And yet, he found himself a master in this war for a selfish desire. However…
Naruto shook his head clear of the depressing thoughts. He cleared his throat and stood up.
"It's almost time then. At midnight- that's when my powers will be at their peak."
"Are you sure that this circle will be enough though?" the old vampire spoke up from his corner. "I thought that the circle had to be made of blood."
"It doesn't need to be. The magic circle just acts as a means for the spirit to enter this world, a door if you may. My mana and the grail will do the rest."
He was currently standing in the middle of a spacious room in a penthouse apartment suite, which had a circle imprinted on the middle of the floor. He then went to his couch and started rummaging in a bag he had left there, looking for something.
"I assume that you already have a catalyst for the spirits then?"
His answer came when the blond magus pulled out the object he was looking for. A flag. The pole of it was thin but looked like it was in perfect condition despite how old it seemed, the flag itself was white in color with a golden border and crown like design in the center and was tied to the pole with a golden rope.
Zelretch looked at the flag in interest.
"This will act as a catalyst for one of the spirits that I will summon, if what my information says is right then this is Luminosité Eternelle: God is Here With Me."
"Ah, the flag of Joan of Ark. Impressive. But what about the other spirit?"
"I still haven't found the other catalyst yet. I was about search for it when you arrived."
"In that case…" Zelretch pulled out a box. "A gift, I'm sure that you will appreciate it."
"I assure you I don't need your-!" he stopped mid sentence when he saw the old vampire open the box.
In it was a sheath, a sheath for a sword. More specifically, a European Broadsword. It was a luxurious piece of equipment made of gold and decorated with blue enamel that seemed more like a treasure to show dignity and nobility, like a crown or staff, than a weapon. It was inscribed with Fairy Letters on its center to signify that it was not, in fact, a work of mankind, but something... More. It was something that Naruto never thought he would set eyes upon again, Avalon. The ever-distant Utopia.
It was just as he remembered it, one of the most beautiful things that he had seen.
Naruto walked over to the old man. "Zelretch... where did you get this?"
"Think of it as a gift from the Einzberns, after they had excavated it from Cornwall they had it shipped to their castle immediately." Zelretch explained as he handed the sheath over. It would be… Entertaining to see the boy's reaction to see the spirit it would summon. Even if it was a pain in the ass to actually steal the sheath.
Zelretch is quite possibly the biggest troll in the nasuverse though.
"Thank you… Zelretch." The magus responded after some silence. "This means a lot to me."
The blond then looked at the clock on his wall and sighed. "Might as well get the ritual started."
It was 11:59 pm. One month before the Fourth Fuyuki Grail War. An apartment in Tokyo, Japan. The residence of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed magus, apprentice to Wizard... Merlin.
He stood before the circle with waiting when he noticed the clock tick over to twelve. The blond-haired Magus began the incantation. The circle, that circle began glowing. Theatrics were not needed in a summoning. The only things required was an artifact, to better the chances of choosing a select servant, and a circle with a Magus. The grail did the actual summoning.
"Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Merlin."
The glowing increased, and the blonde magus could feel the mana surging through his circuits like blood through veins.
"The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate."
More mana flowed, a buzz of power emerged, grating upon sensitive ears. Avalon and Luminosité Eternelle began glowing, as if they could sense the return of their respective masters.
"Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill)."
Was it worth it? Was it worth conducting this ritual and beginning another conflict?
"Repeat every five times."
"Simply, shatter once filled."
It probably wasn't. Naruto himself had no clue why he would even want a wish. He had already lived his life, and he never regretted the painful path he took.
"――――I announce.
Your self is under me, my fate(doom) is in your sword.
In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer."
So, if the blond had one wish that could be spoken in coherent words…
"Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead."
Naruto was tired of war, oh so tired. He'd participate in this one conflict after the other, if only to protect those innocent lives that were endangered by this conflict. Whoever devised this entire system should be kicked in the balls for making it take place in a populated city.
In the corner Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg shivered, along with another, Matou Zouken.
The other reason? Some deeper, darker, desire that conflicted with every single one of his ideals.
What is my heart's true desire then? What is my desire?
"You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――"
And with a bright light, a blinding light-
The world disappeared in a flash of white, a burst of energy.
And when all had settled-
Smoke billowed from the summoning circle, and the silhouettes of two slim figures was discernible. Then they spoke.
"I ask of you, are you my Master?"
Three weeks before the start of the fourth heaven's feel. On what could be called a night of fate. All stories begin at a single point, at a beginning. And so, the story begins, a tale of masters, of knights and heroes. A grand tale, a sad tale, one that would have ended in tragedy, but instead will take a different path.
Whether for better or worse is to be determined.
A/N: I hope you all like my version. I'm going to skip directly to the start of the war next chapter.
Please read and review. Constructive criticism is appreciated, ideas for the story, anything. Flames will be read but ignored.