A/N: So, here is my first attempt at a crossover! Before I let you guys go ahead and read it, though, you'll probably need some background info:
I've messed around with this a little bit and this is what I've decided: There are two main factions in the world after the Zero Requiem – the United Federation of Nations (UFN), and the Hidden Villages of the ninja. Basically, after the Zero Requiem knowledge of the Hidden Villages has increased throughout the UFN, and people are now aware of how powerful they are. There have been a series of incidents that have made things very tense between the two groups, and things have gotten so bad that there is a risk of open war. So this story is pretty much a clash of power.
Oh, and I've re-established the Knights of the Round as 'Defenders of the Peace.' They'll be featuring a lot in this story, along with the ninja from the Leaf Village that we all know and love! You have to bear with me through this chapter though, it's just an introduction to the plot.
This is what I've put together for the Knights
Knight of One – Gino Weinberg
Knight of Two – Kallen Kozuki
Knight of Three – Li Xingke
Knight of Four – Kyoshiro Tohdoh
Knight of Five – Anya Alstreim
Knight of Six – Nonette Enneagram
Anyway, enough blabbing from me, I hope you like the story :)
Chapter 1: Prelude to War
Tsunade sat in her office, staring contemplatively out the window. She had a small cup of sake in her hands, tactfully hiding it from view with her body.
"Lady Tsunade!"
She yelped, dropping the cup, turning to see a very irritated Shizune glaring at her with a sheaf of papers in her hands. She slammed them down onto the desk.
"You were supposed to be taking care of these!" she said.
"Give me a break, Shizune, I've had a long day," Tsunade sighed.
"It's nine in the morning!"
"You have a point."
Shizune looked like she had something to say, but she seemed hesitant. Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Shizune?"
"You know how you wanted me to update you on anything to do with the Knights of the Round? Well, something's come up."
"Go on," she urged.
"There's been a murder. Lord Ruben Ashford was killed on UFN territory last night by a band of rogue ninja. The Knights have expressly denied ANBU access to the crime scene, and are heading the investigations on their own."
Tsunade swore colourfully. Tensions between the Hidden Villages and the Knights of the Round had been bad enough as it was, and this was just the thing that could make them declare open war. A member of the UFN dying at the hands of ninja – and worse, on their territory.
"This Lord Ashford, who was he to the Knights?" she asked.
"He was the headmaster of Ashford Academy. During the Black Rebellion, the school was used as a base of operations on more than one occasion. From what I've heard of him, he was a highly respected nobleman. And…" Shizune hesitated. "His granddaughter, Milly Ashford, is very close friends with Lady Kallen Kozuki, Knight of Two."
"Perfect," Tsunade muttered sarcastically. "We've managed to piss off the Knight of Two." She raised her voice. "Have they made any moves against us?"
"ANBU haven't noticed anything particularly suspicious. They've tightened security on their borders, but other than that, nothing's happening."
"Which means they're still deciding what to do. This could be very bad for us, Shizune. What have the other villages said?"
"Both the Raikage and Kazekage are preparing to defend their villages against attack. The Mizukage and Tsuchikage have not yet sent word to us, but they seem to fear the worst as well."
"We can't risk open war with the UFN. Shizune, send word out to the other Hidden Villages. We need to make a move before the Knights of the Round decide they don't want us around anymore."
…
Gino Weinberg, Knight of One, strode through the halls of the Tokyo Settlement, making his way to the main conference room. He passed several soldiers on the way, all of them skirting around him, sensing his foul mood. Reaching the conference room, he walked straight in and took his seat at the head of the table.
"You took your time getting here, Gino," Nonette said, sour as always.
"I got held up," he replied shortly.
Kaname Ohgi, Prime Minister of the United States of Japan, had cornered him on his way over, demanding to know what he was planning to do about the development in relations with the Hidden Villages. He put that conversation out of his mind, and focused on the scene in front of him. The re-established Knights of the Round sat in order of rank around the large table that lay in the centre of the room. So far, there were only six of them, but they were six of the deadliest fighters the UFN had to offer.
"Let's just get on with the meeting. I have to be back in China by this evening," Li said. He had been appointed the new Knight of Three, though it had been very hard to persuade him to take the role.
"Right," Gino agreed. "Let's get straight to the point then. I'm sure you've all heard of the murder of Lord Ashford." He was met with nods from around the table. "A small group of ninja fought their way through our borders and attacked him on our territory. They escaped before they could be apprehended, and currently we have no clue that could lead us to them. The Hidden Villages have all denied being responsible for this attack, saying it was a band of rogue ninja, but-"
"You think they were acting under orders from someone," Tohdoh, Knight of Four, interrupted.
Gino nodded. "Under normal circumstances, rogue ninja wouldn't dare to come close to our borders. They fear a military retaliation just as much as the Hidden Villages. Someone paid them off, from the villages or elsewhere."
"You want us to decide whether this merits going to war," Anya said matter-of-factly. She had been promoted to the Knight of Five after the Zero Requiem, and had expressed a strong interest in the activities concerning the ninjas.
"I don't think it is," Kallen spoke up. Gino was surprised at how calm she was. He'd seen how devastated Milly was at the news, and the two women were very close. "Think about it: they're just as threatened by us as we are by them. They've put a lot of effort into convincing us they want to avoid open war, and I doubt they'd throw that away by assassinating one of our people."
"But Ashford was the main objector to coexisting with the ninja. If they wanted anyone out of the way, it would be him," Nonette pointed out.
"Which makes it all the more suspicious that it was him that they killed. I agree with Kallen. This wasn't done by the villages. They're more tactical than this," said Li.
Anya agreed quietly.
Gino brought the attention back to him. "So we don't make a move against them. I say we tighten border control even more, and have scouts sent out every so often to keep an eye on the ninja. We wait for them to make their statement, but until then, no military retaliation is authorised, understood?" The Knights nodded. "Kallen, Anya, I want you both to remain here in Tokyo. You'll head all further communications with the villages."
…
Directly after the Ashford incident, Tsunade had sent out a message to each of the four Kage of the main Hidden Villages: the sand, the mist, the cloud and the rock. She had detailed her idea for a new S-Rank mission – each of the five villages would send out a jonin emissary to form a squad that would be sent out to the Tokyo Settlement. They would begin peace negotiations with the Knights of the Round.
The other Kage had agreed, and shortly after Tsunade found herself standing at the gates of the Leaf Village, watching Shibi Aburame – their representative – leave with four other jonin. In a matter of seconds, they had disappeared from her view.
"Good luck," she whispered after they had left.
…
The team of jonin arrived at the Tokyo Settlement, escorted by seven armed guards. Aburame understood why they were there, and none of the other ninja seemed to object to them either. He doubted they could even if they wanted to.
They were shown into an elegant room and invited to take a seat at the long table at the centre of the room. Shortly after, the door was opened wide and two Knights walked in, followed by a couple of scribes. They each took a seat on the opposite end of the table, leaving the scribes to sit against the far wall.
"Welcome to the Tokyo Settlement," the redhead spoke up, and Aburame couldn't help but notice how young they both were. "I am Kallen Kozuki, Knight of Two, and this is Anya Alstreim, Knight of Five."
Despite her age, she radiated a calm and confident aura, and Aburame immediately knew that she would make a deadly enemy. He could see straight through her relaxed posture, to the cold, calculating soldier beneath – he knew she had already assessed and made judgements on all the jonin present.
The smaller Knight – Lady Alstreim – spoke. "Before we begin, I just want to make it clear that we have no intention of fighting the Hidden Villages, and we'd like to avoid that at all costs."
The tension in the room suddenly broke, and the ninja around him visibly relaxed. Aburame looked at the small Knight curiously. She also had a deadly streak to her, but unlike Lady Kozuki, hers was hidden behind her placid appearance. Her quiet words were said in a monotone voice, but they held a strange power. They were exactly what the Lady Hokage had said they were – killers, albeit killers with a conscience.
The Rock Village jonin – Misaki – was the first to speak. "So do we. But I think we can all agree that there are several issues that need to be addressed before we start talking about coexisting in peace."
Lady Kozuki nodded. "First and foremost, let's get to the main issue at hand – Lord Ashford. We have decided to trust you when you say the Hidden Villages were not behind the murder, but the rogue ninja who are have been allowed to roam free in your territory."
"We have not been idly sitting by," Sanae – the short-tempered Mist jonin - said frostily. "Our ninja have been attempting to track down the ninja since the incident occurred."
"Which is the problem," Lady Kozuki countered. "The Prime Minister has made it clear that he wants to head the mission himself, as it was Japanese land on which Lord Ashford was killed. He has requested that you allow a team of his choosing to cross the border and pursue the rogue ninja so we can bring them back for questioning."
There was a silence as the jonin processed the information.
"Giving you free access to our lands is a major request, Lady Kozuki," Akio – the Cloud jonin – pointed out. "Even if we do agree to it, there will be many people who won't be happy with this."
"We understand that, but since the whole purpose of this meeting is to make changes to our current situation, I'd say it was a good first step, wouldn't you?" Lady Alstreim pointed out.
A couple of the ninja nodded almost imperceptibly, but remained unresponsive.
"Would our proposition be more acceptable to you if we allowed a team of ninja to accompany them?" the redhead asked.
Aburame looked around at his squad. They looked doubtful.
"Yes," he said finally, when no one else spoke. "We will allow this to happen, but the team you send will be under constant surveillance by our ninja. If they decide that any actions taken are suspicious, they will be authorised to detain your people for questioning."
Both Knights nodded in agreement. "And now we get to the peace agreements," Lady Alstreim said.
"All five of the main Hidden Villages have made it known that they are interested in forming an alliance with the UFN," Aburame explained. "The Hokage of the Leaf Village has taken charge of this endeavour, and she is willing to meet with you in person to discuss the details."
"But before that can happen, we need to know that this alliance is something you would be interested in," Misaki said.
The Knights shared a quick glance. "An alliance is a good move to make," Lady Kozuki said. "It will definitely be of great benefit to both sides, but there are some issues with the idea."
"Aren't there always?" Sanae said. She addressed Lady Alstreim. "Like you said, we need to make a change, and that's never going to happen unless we take risks."
"Fine," Lady Kozuki said. "I think we have achieved what we came here to do. The Knights of the Round will meet with the five Kage of your villages, and hopefully we will be able to form an alliance and put an end to all of this tension."
Aburame opened his mouth to agree, but a low rumbling cut him off. It got increasingly louder and long, jagged cracks appeared in the walls. They spread across the ceiling, and the Knights sprang to their feet, weapons ready. The ninja did the same – just as the ceiling crashed down on top of them.
Lady Alstreim and Lady Kozuki were both faced with the worst of the rubble, and as they dodged the falling debris, black-clad figures surrounded them. Lady Alstreim was attacked by three of them at once, and she fell to the floor, disappearing from his view under a pile of stone. Lady Kozuki had a blade in her hand, flashing menacingly as she managed to take down two of her attackers before she was taken down from behind.
Before Aburame could move to help her, several masked ninja came down through the gaping hole. Without hesitating, they cut through Misaki viciously, moving swiftly on to attack his other teammates. He raised his arms, and a stream of his kikaichū bugs flew out of his sleeves, forming a barrier between the oncoming ninja and his squad.
Unfortunately for him, that left him exposed to any attack. Quick as a flash, one ninja came up behind him, dragging a kunai knife through his back. The ninja jumped away as Aburame fell to his knees in shock, but before he could use his kikaichū, another took his place. Aburame felt a hand clamp around his neck and lift him up into the air. He struggled to breathe, spots dancing across his vision as he tried in vain to see who his attacker was. The ninja holding him grinned – and plunged a kunai into his stomach. Aburame gagged, blood drenching the floor beneath him. He was thrown hard against the wall, and managed to stagger forwards a few steps before collapsing to the ground.
The last thing he saw before he blacked out was fire blazing in the hands of the masked ninja, burning through his squad.
A/N: Feel free to ask any questions you have about the crossover, and let me know if there are any massive plotholes I need to fix :) I promise this will get more interesting when I get to the main storyline - which will probably be around chapter 3. Anyway, review and let me know what you think so far!
