I'm going to say this once: I don't own Naruto or Final Fantasy, or anything at all, really. But wait... wait and watch, and one day I'll own everything. EVERYTHING! The whole world will be mine for the taking, and no one will stop me, because no one can stop me. Ha... ha ha ha! Mwu ha ha ha ha ha! Bwa ha ha ha ha- (clears throat) ahem.
Rated T for language & violence.
I just thought that you should all know that I have a habit of reading or hearing things and incorporating it into my writing. I'm like Kakashi that way. So if you see anything that appears to be stolen from someone else, let me know and I will do something about it. It is unintentional, unless of course it is obviously intentional, in which case enjoy it.
Chapter 1: Arrival and Departure, Hello and Good-Bye
It is a truth of this world that all stories must have a turning point, a climax. And it is also true that at this point, the entire direction of the story must change. Maybe it's when a son becomes a father, or when a student realizes he loves to teach, it is an event that is unparallelled in its importance.
For life, and for me, it is no different. At some point something happened to make me the someone I am today, and over the years, I have decided that this is that point, that this is where everything changed. This is where I decided that the guarded would become a guardian, and where he who had to be saved would become the savior. This... this, comrades, is my story.
--
My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and when I was seven, I was involved in a little incident.
See, on my seventh birthday, which coincidentally falls on the same day as the Kyuubi's assault on Konoha, the residents of my village got together for a memorial of sorts. And, as what always seems to happens at memorials, people got drunk. Well, some stuff happened(part of which was kinda my bad), and the mourners ended up pursuing me in a village-wide chase.
Guess how that turned out.
They trailed after me for a bit, letting me scurry around before I was eventually cornered in an alleyway. For a second there I thought I was going to die, and let me tell you, it was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. You can't imagine the fear that I felt at the moment, and to be perfectly honest, neither can I. Not anymore at least.
Anyway, it was at that particular moment in time when he appeared, in all his italicized glory.
He was standing on top of a building, looking down at us, and drinking out of a large, white canteen he had tied to his waist. He wore a red coat, held partially closed by two brown belts looped on top of a silver one. His scarred face was half-obscured by a pair of dark sunglasses, while the high collar of his jacket blocked the lower half. For a moment, I had thought that he was missing an arm, but I would soon learn that it was just tucked into the inside of his coat. What really drew my attention though, was the sword that he seemed to have stabbed into the roof of the building.
Letting go of his bottle, the man in red allowed it to drop and hang lazily at his side. I'm pretty sure I remember hearing a sigh or a groan, or something to that effect, as he lifted his blade out of its resting place.
The stupid drunks didn't even notice him, which ispretty sad considering the man wasn't even trying to hide the sheer amount of presence emanating from himself.
One dude, the mob boss, so to speak, took a few steps forward, his face twisted in a savage little grin. And it was at that particular moment in time when the guy in red jumped down between me and them, and plunged his sword into the ground. I remember him, the red guy, pulling his partially hidden hand out of his coat to get a two-handed grip on his blade. Knowing what I know today, he must have flashed through his handsigns so fast that it looked like he never even let go of his sword.
"Pitiful." Speaking calmly in that oh-so-manly voice of his, the man caused an explosion to erupt from beneath the crowd, throwing them all back. "Dragon Fang!"
The 'boss' managed to recover quickly, and yelled out as he got up, waving a knife. It looked like a butter knife compared to the giant slab of steel sticking out of the ground, "Get lost, old man! You don't want to fuck with us!" Poor misguided fool, tsk tsk. Apparently, the moron was under the impression that the man in red was susceptible to intimidation.
And I may take some liberties in saying that, he was not.
My savior ripped his sword out of the ground, and hefted it over his shoulder. He scoffed, "I don't foresee any difficulties in dealing with this particular pile of garbage." (Alright, he didn't say that, but it would have been oh-so-awesome if he had) "Auron," the man said, turning his head around to look at me all badass and stuff. I must have looked confused, because he added on, "My name."
The drunken ninja didn't take too kindly to being brushed off so easily and charged Auron. So please, allow me to repeat, idiot.
Auron stopped him, with one hand I might add, and managed to wrestle, more like snatch, the knife out of the drunk's hand. He handed it to me while lazily holding off the thug, "Know how to use it?" I nodded my head in affirmation, and though you may be wondering why, that's a story for another time.
Auron's next words came with a hint of amusement, "I believe they are going to attack us now."
And attack they did. I managed to slice up a a few legs, but Auron did most of the work. There was no grace, no showmanship, no overcomplicated footwork in his movements, but it was quick, brutal, powerful and effective. Not a one was killed by him, though, and I think that shows even more discipline on his behalf, the man had just walked in on them threatening a small child.
Eventually, the ANBU showed up, drawn by the explosion made by whatever Auron had done-
Before I go on, you should know something: The ANBU are the elite, the best of the best, and the village's greatest shinobis, and all of them, all of them, are on my side. When it comes down to it, not the villagers', nor the council's, hell, maybe not even the Hokage's, mine. Maybe it was respect for what was done to me, maybe it was because of the treatment I got from the villagers, maybe it was because they were the ones that were fighting on the front lines that night and had seen what a real monster was, all I know is, that they protected me. They kept me safe, and as far as I know, they always had my back, no matter what.
Once, there was a guy who made ANBU. He didn't like me, had me confused with someone else. The idiot had the bright idea to express his opinion in the middle of ANBU headquarters. Fighting a hunter-nin one-on-one is generally not advisable, even if you're ANBU yourself. Fighting all of them? Heh. But don't worry, he's still alive, he's just not allowed around pointy objects, or dull objects, or windows, or colors. Or Anko. That last one has nothing to do with the previous four. Completely isolated incident. Maybe.
Where was I? Oh yeah, the ANBU were tying up the mob. Auron turned to me,"Your name?"
"U-Uzumaki Nar-"
"NARUTO!" I turned to see an old man calling my name. He jumped from atop a building to land next to me, and turned as he spoke to Auron and requested his name.
"Auron."
"Auron...?"
Auron peered at him over his sunglasses. Ok, it wasn't so much peering as it was telling him to drop it with his eyes. Auron doesn't peer. "Auron, just Auron."
"Well Auron-san, I must thank you, I'm not sure young Naruto here would have escaped this incident unharmed if it wasn't for your help. I am in your debt."
"No thanks are necessary. Though, I must inquire as to why a mob was chasing a small child."
"I'm afraid that I am not at liberty to discuss that information."
"Then who is at liberty to discuss that information?"
The Hokage got defensive all of a sudden, "No one."
I decided to cut in then, "Hey, hey! What's inquire mean?"
"It means to ask," Auron replied.
"Well, what did the old man say?" Some of the ANBU smiled under their masks at my complete and utter lack of respect. Then frowned once my question sunk in.
"It's a secret."
"Is that what the old man said or are you saying that?" I said confused.
"The old man."
"You don't like to talk a lot, do you?" I questioned.
"I say what I need to and speak when it is necessary," Auron said.
"Fine then, Creepy Red Man." I said childishly.
"Whatever small fry."
I screamed, "I AM NOT A MIDGET!"
"You are," he said, completely calm.
"I AM NOT!"
"You are."
"Hmph!" I said crossing my arms and turning away.
A few minutes passed. "Where are your parents?" he asked unexpectedly.
"Nowhere."
"Nowhere? You mean dead?"
"No, the lady at the orphanage said I don't have any parents. She said I didn't deserve them. That's why she locked me in my room whenever people came." I answered truthfully.
"Does this mob business happen often?"
"Not really."
Auron turned to the old man, "Hokage, I wish to become Naruto's guardian."
The old man looked stunned, well more than stunned, he was more like 'Are you fucking serious!?'
"W-Why?" He managed to stutter out, letting the disrespect slide.
Auron looked him dead in the eye. "You refuse?"
The old man seemed to realize what he looked like, "No, no. It's just I must be suspicious of your intentions, you see. It would not be the first time some seemingly harmless civilian got the idea to kill Naruto-kun as he slept."
"Because it's the right thing to do."
"It's the right thing to do?" the Hokage asked unsure of what he had just heard..
Auron cocked an eyebrow, "What of it? Is that not a good enough reason?"
"No, no, it's just that the time when people did something simply because it was the right thing to do has long since passed."
"I wish to be his guardian, and that's all one needs to be a guardian," Auron said looking around, seemingly dismissing the Hokage. No one dismisses the Hokage.
The old man having realized what happened, tried to reassert himself into more suitable position."Well, we'll just have to- Where is Naruto?"
"He walked off. He overheard us."
"What? I must talk with him about this-"
"Let him go. Give him time to think." Auron ended the conversation.
You know, I really didn't know what to think. Here comes this guy, and he saves me from getting the beating of a lifetime. Possibly even getting killed. And he wants to protect me, because it's the right thing to do. Should I feel happy that someone cares? Angry that I was some charity case? Suspicious? Suspicious. That's what had happened to me. Use to be I jumped and screamed in joy every time someone smiled at me. Now, I'm suspicious of someone who wants to guard me. NO! I won't let them win. I won't let those stupid villagers make me something I'm not! I'm going to be Hokage someday, then they'll see. But first things, first.
I rushed back to Auron and the old man. "Hey Auron!" I yelled trying to make an impressive entrance. He turned to me. "Train me!"
"If that is what you wish." And that was that. Nothing legal went down. Auron requested a house, something simple, with a big yard. The Hokage provided it. It wasn't a simple house, it was pretty big, but I suppose it depends on your definition of simple. It seemed very homey. It had a giant training ground and Auron put it to good use.
Before I go on, you need to know something. The old man, he taught me to be human. Auron, taught me to be a man. He wasn't my father, more how I imagine an uncle would act. He let me be, but was there when I need him. He did give me "the talk," though. It was not fun, for me that is. Auron seemed to be having a blast. I don't know what he was thinking. I was eight years old at the time. You'd never know looking at him, but Auron was a very crazy man. Insane actually.
Auron never took time out of the day to teach me his techniques. I wouldn't realize it until years later but, he taught me something better. He taught me how to think. He never explained what made the Dragon Fang explode, but he explained why it exploded, a physical reaction to a mix of chakra and brute strength.. Auron taught me that the knowing the basics, was ten times more important than knowing the moves.
That's not to say, I never learned to fight. On the contrary, I learned a lot. I learned by watching. You see, there were some ninja who had bounties on their heads that hung around the outskirts of Konoha. They were too strong for the police, but not so much a threat that the Hokage would waste valuable ninja resources on them. That's where Auron came in. Slice, dice and wrapped up all nice. I followed him on a number of these excursions, never getting involved, but watching. I think he knew, but never bothered to do anything about it, he was just that kind of guy. He once said that I had the privilege of doing whatever I wanted to with my life, just so long as I fulfilled my obligations and kept my promises. Naturally, I took those words to heart.
He fought too with ANBU. Not that they had problems with him. They and a few choice jounin wanted to test themselves against the "Red Devil," the moniker he earned working as a bounty hunter. I remember one pretty boy in particular who had a crush on Auron. He had black eyes and they went red when they fought. He always got his ass handed to him. His name was Itachi something-or-other.
But the majority of times I saw Auron fight, was against fiends. I wouldn't learn what they were or how and why they came to the house, but they always seemed to follow Auron. All I knew was that they seemed to be cruel mockeries of creatures that actually existed. And Auron insisted that they be slaughtered without fail. They always dissolved into lights, especially the big ones.
Whether it was fighting ANBU, jounin, missing-nin or fiends, I saw a lot of Auron's techniques, his entire arsenal, in action. Most of them were sword techniques. He was always using his sword. He never went anywhere without it, don't know where he kept it, but I know he always had it. I hate to say it, but I practically worshiped Auron. I remembered everything he ever said to me. Besides the Hokage, he was the closest thing I had to a family, a friend. Until that day..
It started off just like any other, I was watching Auron, he was in the yard and a fiend showed up. Except this one was bigger, a lot bigger, and uglier, a lot uglier, and purple, light purple. It had horns too, Auron called it a Behemoth King. At first it wasn't much of a fight, Auron slashed, the fiend attacked, but then it used some crazy jutsu I later recognized as Flare. It caught Auron off-guard and he ended up getting burns on his body. He was, needless to say, enraged.
That day I witnessed one of the sickest things I ever will. I saw the Tornado.
First Auron started spinning around, faster and faster. He stuck his sword out and and winds started to form. It was HUGE. There wasn't a single person in the village who didn't see it. Then suddenly, he stopped and slashed. The tornado rushed at the Behemoth King. Throwing it into the air and twirling it around like a rag doll. Auron grabbed the canteen off his waist and threw it into the raging winds. He lit it on fire. He. Lit. It. On. Fire. Let me repeat that, he lit a hundred story high tornado on fire. But somehow, the damn fiend would not die. But the attack did serve a secondary purpose, it alerted all the ANBU in the village that something big was going down.
I can't imagine what it was like, to arrive at the place of residence of the container of the demon who ravaged and completely annihilated your village nine years ago, only to find a gigantic demonic-looking creature, who had just survived getting caught in a flaming tornado. And who, by the way, was looking completely and utterly pissed.
But the ANBU, fought on. Despite their fear, despite every instinct in their body screaming for them to get the hell out of there, they fought valiantly. With their combined effort, and with Auron backing them up, the Behemoth King was weakened. It was Auron, though, who delivered the final blow.
He charged it one last time and slice right through the purple flesh with a devastating Armor Break. Then again with another. And then another. One after another, Auron just kept swinging. I lost count how many times he hit that thing. Again and again and again until it was finally just a mass of dissolving lights.
With a deep sigh, Auron finally lost the last vestiges of his strength. The tall man fell to one knee, bracing himself against his sword for support, and trying desparately to regain his breath.
Meteor...
An unearthly whisper passed through the battlefield, unheard by all but the most chakra sensitive. To most, it would have meant nothing, but to one, to the one who had heard that cry before, it meant everything.
"Damn..."
The light and energy arising from the corpse of the behemoth pooled together in the air, forming a single large mass of heat and power.
Then, the sky erupted into a rain of earth and fire.
All of the ANBU managed to get away, but Auron being so close, and so tired, couldn't. He got hit by at least five, all of which exploded on contact. His left arm was literally crushed by the force, and his whole right side was completely flattened. His body suffered burns all over, and every cut and scrape he had suffered instantly melted shut. And if that wasn't enough, fiends.
Fiends, monsters, animals the likes of which you cannot imagine,came out of nowhere. A literal rip in the universe seemed to have opened up with the defeat of that Behemoth King.
"What...?"
I was nine years old that day.
"No..."
And I had just lost the closest thing to family I had ever had.
"No."
Anger was all I could remember feeling.
Yes.
Yeah, anger... and rage.
Good.
Primal, animalistic, and monstrous.
Hate.
Unbridled fury, I remember unbridled fury.
And kill.
I wanted to kill something, anything, ab-so-lute-ly anything.
Hate, and kill.
Those damn fiends.
Be a good little boy now, Naruto...
FiNaLly, aFtEr sEvEn years, I hAd finally foUnd sOmeOne who hAd accepted mE, who HaD LOVEd mE, and HE had been TAKEN AWAY.
Be a good little boy and hate.
Those stupid monsters- THOSE STUPID ANIMALS!- who the hell did they think they wERE!?
And kill.
It was all sort of a blur after that, I don't remember much. But I do remember inhuman howls of pain, and primitive cries for mercy. I remember light, and heat, and red, and a feeling of being in complete and utter control. I remember wondering if I was god.
But as I stood there, amidst the dancing pyreflies and the red chakra that seemed to permeate the air, I realized something. I didn't feel satisfied. The adrenaline was gone, the sick euphoria I had felt was disappearing, and Auron was dead. I was alone again. But then I heard coughing, like someone was hacking up a lung, because someone was hacking up a lung. Auron was still alive, for now.
I dragged my body over to him. He looked at me with that damned look in his eyes and said, "I thought you'd be crying." Crying! He's going to die and his last words to me is 'I thought you'd be crying!' So I tell him, "SHUT UP!" You know what he does, he laughs, he laughs like I never thought he could laugh.
And then it hits me. So I say it, "You're a dead man."
He looks at me behind his sunglasses and says, "You have no idea how right you are." He has a coughing fit. He takes a deep breath, and I begin to think that I can hear his heart beat. "Take this." I can, it's really slow like it's about to give out. He pulls a red orb out of his jacket. "It's a record(cough)it will explain everything." I realize that it's not his heartbeat, but mine.
"Everything?" I question.
Auron doesn't answer me. "Don't talk... The fiends were... trying to kill me." He says between breaths. "I do not belong here... The fiends were... trying to send me back... to Spira."
"Wha?" I said.
"Shut up!" He screams. He has never screamed at me before. This man has something to say and he's going to say it. "I... wanted... to stay with you. You remind me... of someone." He starts to cough, really coughing, like he's going to spit up his insides. "You spent(cough) too much time(cough) with me. The fiends..." there was a long coughing fit "now see that connecton(cough) They would not have torn through the wall if they did not."
"Wait, what?"
"Naruto... the fiends will hunt you down now... just like they hunted me. You have to be ready for them."
Auron got real sad then. He looked so sad, and yet so happy, and I was so confused.
"Every story... must have an ending... and this is mine. This old fool has played at life for far too long..." He paused and looked up into the sky. "But for you... this is only the beginning. Your story... begins here. Please... Naruto, make it a good one."
Auron's gazed drifted back down to me.
"And... one last thing." Using his only mobile arm, Auron pulled me into the bloodiest hug of my life. "Naruto... I'm sorry."
Every human being has a sort of sixth sense, a feeling they get when something big is about to go down. It's not really developed like in other animals, but it is there. Right before a really big explosion, like a fireball or a whole mess of explosive tags, there's like a slow down, where our sixth sense kicks in, drowning out everything else. It's been referred to as the calm before the storm, and been compared to having your entire life flash before your eyes, I don't really know what to call it. It's so intense that even if you have no idea what's going on, your body, realizes the danger on an instinctual level.
It was like that.
One second, Auron was dying next to me, holding me, and the next, everything slowed down. Then he shattered. Just like that. The man who I would one day be proud to call my father shattered and exploded, pyreflies, little birds of light, rushing out of his body like caged beasts struggling to get free. It would have been beautiful, if I hadn't just watched my mentor die right before my eyes. As it was, I couldn't appreciate the scene, I couldn't appreciate the 'beauty.' Auron was dead. I knew I'd bounce back, because I always did, but... damn it, damn it all.
It never ends.
If I have borrowed something, I'll try and list it here:
Auron(Final Fantasy X) - One of the seven playable characters
Armor Break(Final Fantasy X) - A skill that was used to lower an enemies defense
Flare(Final Fantasy X) - A high-level attack spell
Meteor(Final Fantasy X) - Behemoth Kings used them after you defeated them
Behemoth King(Final Fantasy X) - One of the random enemies that appear late-game
Fiend(Final Fantasy X) - The name given to enemies in the game
Dragon Fang(Final Fantasy X) - One of Auron's overdrives, the game's version of a finishing move
Tornado(Final Fantasy X) - Another one of Auron's overdrives