Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or final fantasy 4… or is it 2… gah stupid numbers…
It was another normal day for Naruto, the weather was good, he was healthy, and of course he felt the stares of the adults on him. It was the same every day and just like every day he ignored the stares. He had gotten over the cold stares from the adults when he was six years old. He had gotten over the fact that he had no parents to take care of him. He had also gotten over the fact that he would have no friends at all.
Whenever he tried to make a friend the parent of the child would intervene, or the kid would come the next day to break up with him. Yup this was all normal for the seven year old Naruto. The only thing that had changed since his birth was the assassination attempts. After the third had caught wind that Naruto had been lying to him about these attacks the hokage had at least one ANBU watch over him 24/7, not that it mattered, nothing mattered to him at all anymore.
Just like a normal day he headed off to one of his few sanctuaries, the library. Surprisingly nobody dared attacked him there, it was as if he didn't exist to anyone in the library. The librarian never paid much attention to him however, if he had a question the librarian would answer him. If he had a problem the librarian would help him. All in all it was one of the few places in which he was safe and actually helped.
Going in through the door he saw the familiar sight of the librarian sitting behind his table. The librarian didn't even look up when Naruto entered the room. "Yo Hiragi-san,"
"Yo," Hiragi replied without looking up from his table. Passing by the bored librarian Naruto entered his usual spot, the back of the room lodged in a corner where nobody could see him.
"Let's see… I think I put them here," Naruto said to himself as he looked around the shelves. "Got em," Naruto said happily to himself. From the shelf he pulled out four scrolls and one book. Three which were on chakra control, one on jutsus, while the book seemed to be some kind of fantasy adventure.
"Seems like the group is finally together… all they need to do now I take down Kefka," Naruto read on to himself as he became totally engrossed with the story, so engrossed that he didn't notice something strange with his usual spot. In the corner under some books a small tag lay there, it was colored so that it would blend in with the wooden walls. Nothing seemed strange about it until it started to fizzle a bit.
When Naruto did notice the sound his face blanched, he knew all too well what that sound meant. Quickly grabbing the scrolls and book Naruto made for a mad dash out of the corner only to soon feel scorching heat surround him. The exploding tag had gone off and was surprisingly stronger than normal ones, strong enough to blast Naruto forward a couple of feet before making a fire form, surrounding him.
"Naruto, Naruto!" Naruto heard Hiragi yell, he tried to respond but for some reason he felt too weak to respond. "Damn it I should've known," Hiragi yelled, his voice getting closer with each word.
"Hi-ragi-san…" Naruto managed to say weakly before coughing a bit. Slowly he started to crawl forward only to stop when some of the ceiling fell down on top of him, one piece hitting his head. 'Is this how it's going to end?' Naruto thought weakly as the smoke blocked out his view, suffocating him at the same time.
"This is your first summoning, do you think you can do it Rydia?"
"Hai" Naruto started to here voices of people that weren't around him. However, he wasn't given time to ponder on what was happening as a bright light surrounded his body. The fire didn't seem to get to him anymore, instead he felt his body get a bit lighter. Than in a flash of bright light his body disappeared.
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Today was a special day for a six year old girl Rydia. Today was the day in which she was allowed to summon something, or someone from Feymarch. "This is your first summoning, do you think you can do it Rydia?" Rydia heard her mom ask her in a worried voice.
"Hai" Rydia replied in a happy manner before she started to channel the mana needed to cast a summons. With all things ready all she needed to do was picture someone or something that would help her. Particularly someone who could help her, play with her, and protect her. With those thoughts she continued with the summoning. In a few seconds a form started to appear in front of them. When the bright light died down the people of Mist, at least those who were present, to see a boy, around the same age as Rydia, appear in front of them with multiple burns.
It didn't take even a second for Rydai's mom to respond to what she saw, "Quickly someone get me some ointment!" she shouted as she rushed over to the boy. Broken out of their stupor the people quickly rushed to gather ointment, while others rushed over to the boy's side.
"Okaa-san?"
"Don't worry, you did nothing wrong… now just go inside the house and wait for me," Rydia's mom said as she started to form some mana into her hands. "CURE!" she shouted as she unleashed her white magic onto the boy. Surprisingly her white magic seemed to bounce right off of him. The answer came to her quickly as something red seemed to seep out of the boys stomach. In an instant the red energy, that emitted strong feelings of malice, covered the boy completely.
"GAHH," hearing the agonizing screams of the boy she became a bit concerned on what to do.
"Rachel (1) we have the ointment you asked for," one of the villagers said as he approached Rachel with a vile.
"Thank you, put it down over there," Rachel replied as she concentrated on the boy. The aura he had around him seemed to burn the area around him, however, it seemed like it was helping him, protecting him. The burns on him started to disappear slowly but steadily, but not without the price that the red aura brought.
Suddenly Rachel came up with an idea, conjuring up some mana again she focused it on her target, the boy. "Dispel!" the white magic spell hit it's target. At first nothing seemed to happen, than the red aura seemed to recede bit by bit till it was gone. "There we go," Rachel said before applying ointment over the severely burned portion of his skin. "Cure" when the spell worked Rachel gave a sigh of relief.
"Well he's out of danger now," true to her word the blond boy in front of her was finally breathing normally. "I'll take him to my house," Rachel told the other villagers before picking up the boy and heading to her house. 'Something is not right here at all,'
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'Where am I?' Naruto thought as he started coming to. 'Why am I in such pain… why does my head hurt so much?' Naruto thought as he tried to sit up only for his body not to obey him.
"Okaa-san he's moving!" Naruto heard a girls voice say next to him. Weakly he struggled to open his eyes, after a few seconds he managed to open his left one. Peering to his left he saw the owner of the voice. It was a small girl with strangely green hair.
"He is? Ok I'm coming up," Rachel said as she started to move up the stairs. Meanwhile Naruto started to move his body up inch by inch so he would be sitting down. When he was sitting down he had opened both eyes and he could see the room fully. "Oh so you really are up, are you alright?" Rachel asked as she entered the room.
"I just ache in a few places… but I feel better than before… I think," Naruto said still unsure why.
"That's a relief… now can you tell me who you are and where you come from?"
"My name is Naruto… where I come from…" Naruto mumbled to himself before his hands bolted to his head, "My head hurts… I can't remember,"
'It's that wound on his head… amnesia probably,' Rachel thought, "I guess we can't do much but wait for your memory to come back…"
"Neh do you come from the summon realm, Feymarch? What's it like there? Do they have houses, and flowers, and…" Rydia kept on going on and on.
"Rydia don't bother him too much,"
"Hai,"
"Um… what will happen to me if I don't remember who I am?"
"Don't worry; we'll take care of you until you remember who you are and where you come from,"
"…Thank you," Naruto said weakly before he fell back down.
"Don't mention it… just rest right now and regain your strength," Naruto than closed his eyes and just slept.
"Mom is he really the boy I summoned?"
"For now we are not sure… I suggest you get some sleep for now too… you should be a bit tired, after all you did someone today,"
"Yatta so he is my summon, someone who'll help me, play with me, and protect me!" Rydia gave a cheerful grin.
"We'll see about that Rydia-chan… now go to your room and get some sleep,"
"Hai," Rydia gave Naruto one last look before heading towards her room.
"I should probably communicate with the people of Feymarch and see what they know," seeing the boy breathe in a relaxed manner gave her ease as she left the room.
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Everything was dark; wherever he looked he only saw darkness around him. Even though he felt scared by the darkness it felt like it was a part of him, in fact it felt like it was all he had. He didn't know why but it felt right for him to just slink away inside this black void, a place with nothing, where he couldn't be harmed, where nothing mattered anymore. If only he faded into the eternal darkness around, than the pain would just disappear… but what was the pain he was feeling.
Before he could muse any longer a voice shook him, "THAT'S ENOUGH BRAT, IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP!" as suddenly as the voice came it disappeared, along with the black void.
Opening his eyes all he saw was a bright white light which stung his eyes for a bit. Once his eyes started to get adjusted to the light he found himself in the same room again, inside the same bed. 'I think I can move now,' Naruto thought as he slowly moved his body out of the bed. Taking slow steps at first to make sure his body wouldn't break down on him Naruto was relieved to find out the pain was completely gone.
With skill and ease Naruto moved down the house without making a noise at all. He didn't know how he could do this but didn't dwell long on it at all. What mattered to him now was just exploring his surroundings and getting more information. It all felt natural to him to seek out information in a stealthy manner, in fact it felt like he would die if he was caught.
'Probably something to do with my past,' Naruto surmised before continuing on. Walking down a hallway he didn't expect to have one of the doors open up suddenly with a green haired girl standing behind it.
There was a moment of silence as the two kids stared at each other. Blond met green and time seemed to stop right there. Suddenly Rydia smiled, "You've gotten better!"
"Yeah… I have," Naruto said a bit nervous. It was strange, for some reason he felt like he had to stay away from the girl or else something would go wrong; however, he didn't want to go away, instead he wanted to find out more about the girl whose mom had apparently saved him.
"That's good," Rydia gave him an honest smile, she was six years old after all. "Do you want to play with me now that you're better?"
"Play?"
"Yeah you know, play with dolls, talk, fun around…"
Although Naruto looked calm on the outside his mind was in shambles. For some reason the word play made him feel defensive yet longing at the same time. He didn't know why… he didn't know if he should… it just made his head hurt even more. In that instant he received a vision of a kid with black hair around his age. It only lasted for a second before it was broken by the girl.
"So you want to play?"
"…" he opened his mouth but no words seemed to come out. 'Yes I want to play,' the words were stuck in his throat.
"You can't talk? But you just did yesterday,"
Naruto tried to open his mouth to talk only to stop when he felt someone behind him. As he turned he got a vision, one that had angry looks from adults. Looking behind him he saw an adult with an unreadable expression.
"So you're up and walking," Rachel said as she read the expression on Naruto's face. It was one of complete fear as if she was going to do something to him. 'One to help Rydia,' Rachel thought back to the conversation she had with Asura.
Flash back
"Summon," Rachel shouted from a secluded area in the mountains. In a burst of mana the human realm connected with Feymarch to bring forth the queen of the summons Asura. Her appearance however was one of an old woman in plain old clothes.
"It's been a while Rachel,"
"It has Asura-sama… there is a reason for me summoning you here today,"
"Is it about that boy Rydia summoned?"
"How did you…"
"It is nothing to fear my child… although we do not know where he has come from we do know this. He has been summoned for a purpose, one which is to protect Rydia from the events that are to take place soon, the other is one of his own. Though he may be here now remember this, once his purpose is done he will return back to his own world, just like the Eidolons,"
"Events to come?"
"I can not tell you more or else I might change fate itself… no fate has already begun to change,"
"Will… will she be safe?"
"That all depends on the boy. I have said enough, I will take my leave now,"
"Thank you Asura-sama," just like the way she came Asura disappeared in a flash of white light, leaving no sign that she had come here.
End flash back
"Are you alright?" Rachel reached for the boy only for him to tense up when her hand came near him.
"I'm… fine," Naruto said slowly. He was expecting something bad to happen only for the hand to come down gently on his head.
"Well if you're fine than you should be fine playing with my daughter right?"
"…"
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"You… you won't be angry at me?"
"Angry, why would anyone be angry at you?"
"I don't know… I just…"
"Don't say any more… I don't know what happened in your past life but nothing bad will happen to you as long as you're with us," Naruto loosened up a bit.
"Thank you," Naruto said as tears started to fall out of his eyes.
"Hey are you alright?" Rydia asked in her child filled curiosity
"Yes I am," Naruto said quickly wiping his eyes. "So what do you want to play…"
"Tag! And my name is Rydia!" Rydia said before running up to Naruto and tagging him on the shoulder, "Tag you're it,"
"Hey that's not fair," Naruto shouted as he ran after Rydia, his tears quickly forgotten.
'Fate is being changed…' Rachel thought before turning her attention to the two kids running around the house. 'It's been a while since Rydia had anyone to play with… especially because she can summon beings of Feymarch,' she was broken out of her thoughts when she heard something break and some shouting come from the neighbors.
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A month later
"Rydia-chan where are you?" Naruto asked as he wandered around the house looking for Rydia. The month he had stayed here was one that had changed him a lot. It took a while but Naruto was breaking out of his shell bit by bit, Rachel and Rydia even got him to talk comfortably with the neighbors. Although he didn't remember much of his past he did have five readable items. Though Rachel and Rydia couldn't make out anything on it Naruto could perfectly read everything on the paper.
Naruto ran out into the yard only to jump quickly away as a small fire started in his place. "Rydia-chan you know how much I hate fire!" Naruto shouted as he looked of to his right. There stood Rydia in her green glory, from green hair to a green dress, it was just like how he was addicted to the color orange.
"Damn," Rydia said under her breath before putting her hands in front of her. "This is revenge for that cookie you stole from me last night," (remember they're still kids)
"Not good," Naruto said as he started to run only to feel his leg be encased in a solid block of ice. "Have mercy Rydia-chan… I mean it was only a cookie…"
"Only a cookie that I've been saving the whole day, hiding it from mom, just so I could eat it at night!"
"Rydia-chan just calm down and lets talk about this in a nice peaceful…" Naruto never got to finish as a bolt of lightning hit the spot where he was originally at. "I knew Rachel-san should've never taught you black magic," Naruto yelled as he tried to dodge the lighting bolts, which was quite hard with one leg being encased in ice.
"Hold still so I can kill you… it won't hurt I promise," Rydia shouted as another bolt of lighting landed where Naruto was at.
"Nobody would stay still for you Rydia-chan!" Naruto shouted back. Raising his fist he slammed it into the ice which effectively broke it. For some strange reason Naruto seemed to have inhuman strength. Rachel thought it was a side effect from being summoned, but they weren't sure. "I'll see you later Rydia-chan!" Naruto yelled before jumping to the roof.
"Stop cheating and get down here Naruto!" Rydia shouted only to see Naruto well out of the village. "When he gets back here I'm going to force him to teach me the stuff he does with that chakra,"
With Naruto
Naruto was well out of the village continuing to the west side where it was grassy unlike the east exit where it led to a desert area. Continuing west he soon came to a cave which he entered. It was in this cave which he could relax. It was also a place in which Rydia could never find him. The monsters here didn't pose a threat to him as they just avoided him, any that did come close were easy to kill.
Taking a jump he landed on the stream without falling in it. It was in the chakra exercises which he found in the scroll that had come with him apparently. He was already good at this exercise but it was still fun to do and there was still room for perfection. Landing on the water he let the current take him under the bridge which connected small islands in the cave.
Lying down he applied chakra to his back so that he would just float around he set about thinking. 'I should keep what I remember a secrete from them,' Naruto thought as he reviewed what he remembered. From what he knew his original world was one filled with ninjas, or at least that's what he picked up from one of the scrolls. Other than that he didn't know much, except a burning sensation which his skin could still remember the pain from.
"Boy you're back here again," looking up Naruto saw mist form above him.
"Yo dragon anyone suspicious come here today?" Naruto asked as he sat up.
"Nothing suspicious here… so why are you here again?"
"Can't a guy come here to relax from time to time,"
"What did you do this time?"
"…I got Rydia-chan angry at me…"
"With what?"
"A cookie,"
"A cookie… I guess kids are kids," the mist spoke in a manner that made it sound amused.
"Well she's scary now that she knows three black magic spells…"
"But doesn't she always heal you after with her white magic?"
"That's true…"
"So what are you going to do now?"
"I'll go back to apologize… after I finish this new thing I've been trying with chakra!"
"Shouldn't you be mastering those white and black magic spells like Rydia has been doing?"
"I will… but I really want to learn more about chakra before I master any of the spells,"
"It's because you don't have enough intelligence to amek any of your black magic spells effective,"
"Hey I resent that!"
"But you do have great sprit… maybe white magic is better suited for you,"
"White magic huh," Naruto said absent mindedly as he formed chakra around his arms. The charka soon started to take shape turning into something like a pair of gauntlets which covered both of his arms up to his elbows. "Dragon can you hit me with one of your attacks,"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes… I'm testing something out right now,"
"Ok, don't tell Rachel-sama I did this though," in a quick motion the dragon's tail emerged from the mist and slammed into Naruto's right hand. As expected Naruto was thrown across the cave into another wall creating a small crater.
"Boy are you alright?" the mist asked floating above Naruto's current location.
"That hurt," Naruto said pulling his body out of the crater, "However I didn't feel… well almost felt nothing when you hit me with my chakra covering my arm,"
"Hmm… it's like a protect spell than… and if what you said is really true that it's stronger than a regular protect spell,"
"But it does take a lot of chakra for me to use… but I have a mana supply left to use my spells,"
"Well that's good but I think you should go home now… it's getting quite late,"
"Alright see ya mist dragon," Naruto said quickly jumping towards the exit of the cave. Once out he indeed saw the sun setting beneath the mountains. 'I hope Rydia-chan calmed down a bit… I don't want any more burns on my body,' Naruto entered the city only to stop when he saw Rydia standing near the entrance. She had an unreadable expression on her face which scared Naruto even more.
"You're hurt aren't you," Rydia asked as she rushed over to him looking at his arm. There was a small bruise on it.
"It's not as bad as you think," Naruto said rubbing the back of his head. When he brought his hand in front he noticed a bit of blood on it. "Ara…"
"Naruto you're bleeding!" Rydia said in a worried voice as she started to panic.
"I'll be fine," Naruto said only to feel a bit light headed. "I'll be fine…"
"No you're not! We're heading home right now so I can help you!" Rydia said as she put Naruto's hand over her shoulder and tugged him home with her.
"Rydia I'm fine…" Naruto said only to be gently laid down on the bed.
"Since mom is not here right now I'll try my best to take care of you," Rydia said as she put her hands over his body, "CURE!" Rydia shouted releasing a burst of mana over Naruto's body. His wounds started to visibly heal and the bruises disappeared.
"Thank you Rydia-chan," Naruto said in a tied voice.
"Don't worry Naruto… I'll do everything I can to help you,"
"That's my job," Naruto said with his fox like grin before he fell asleep.
"Baka," Rydia said leaning against his body letting sleep over take her.
"Looks like they fell asleep," Rachel's voice came through the door as she opened it softly. Stepping in she saw the two sleeping figures, Naruto in the bed while Rydia slept on the side of the bed with her hands on Naruto's body. "I really should put Rydia in her bed… but this is just too cute," Rachel said as she lifted Rydia and moved her into the bed with Naruto.
"Sleep well… and don't think know what you did in Mist cave Naruto… my dragon reports everything to me," Naruto couldn't help but shudder in his sleep.
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He was back here again a void of darkness. Just like last time he was in this suffocating darkness he couldn't feel anything, see anything, or hear anything. Although he enjoyed being alone the last he was here this time it felt wrong. It felt as if he was missing something… Suddenly an image of Rydia appeared in front of him.
"I'll do everything I can to help you," her voice started to echo throughout the darkness that he was in.
"Rydia-chan," something wet started to go down his face, reaching for his eyes he wiped away his tears that was forming in his eyes.
"You'll always be alone… you're destined to be alone," a voice said from the darkness making the image of Rydia disappear slowly, "I'm only doing this to protect you… so you won't get hurt even more,"
"Why? By doing this aren't you hurting me even more?"
"You wouldn't understand… when the time comes and your memory returns you'll see why,"
"But I don't have my memory right now, and if I'm right that means I can change,"
"You just don't understand… you won't be here forever… it's only for the moment, until you're finished with your task will you stay here… and things change whether you like it or not,"
"How do you know all this?" Naruto shouted out into the darkness.
"Because I'm the one who has protected you all your life!" the voice said, in a burst of red a face appeared in front of him which looked like one of fox.
"… can you help me with this… help me stay here,"
"…You like it here don't you," seeing no change in expression the fox gave a sigh, "I'll see what I can do about this… just don't die boy," with that the red fox disappeared along with the darkness. In it's place it left a smiling Rydia only she was taller along with someone who looked like him only he was taller and had red black gauntlets on.
Next to them were also different people, a blond haired man who seemed to radiate some kind of holy light. Two kids who he was sure had to be twins. A man carrying a harp which he knew had to be one of those bards. A man only wearing pants which he heard had to be a monk from Fabul. A man in white who made him look like a ninja. A woman who radiated a strong sprit one needed for a strong white mage. There was also a man with a spear and heavy armor.
Before he could see more though the image disappeared and he woke up to see Rydia holding him tightly. 'What is my task?' Naruto thought as he slowly got out of bed and headed downstairs, 'I must get stronger though to protect Rydia,' Naruto thought as he headed out to Mist cave to do some more training.
"Fate has changed yet again," Asura said from her throne next to Leviathan who still in his human form didn't seem fazed.
"This was bound to happen… we can only count on him to make the right choices," Leviathan said before staring out into space like always.
A/N: Um yeah I have revived again… I'll start working on my other stores which need work. But anyway I started to play on my ds again and came across FF4 which I never did beat on the snes but hey. Anyway hope you like this story.