A/N: I shall sacrifice 3 "First Male Nin" stories to summon a new work, this time inspired by my recent return to the MtG scene thanks to "Arena" (ironically enough). I haven't been playing since about 2008, nor have I followed the lore much, which will be a challenge, but it'll be a bit of an experiment to see what would happen if Naruto were to be trained by, and became a Planeswalker.
Depending on how I feel, harems will be possible, and I'll try to keep the number in the single digits if at all possible.
Also, as of now, I will play a game with you: instead of telling you of all the references, I challenge you, the reader, to catch them all. Beside the cards used, it's up to you to know who shows up or is mentioned.
Without further ado, I present to you, a new fic.
Enjoy.
…
[Unknown location]
All was silent as a middle-aged man sat cross-legged on a rock, eyes closed while deep in meditation as the winds brushed past him, his ebon hair billowing in the air; the goatee he wore gave the impression of a sage that had been tempered with years of wisdom before becoming a sage. He had the battle-scarred musculature of an experienced soldier, the only articles of clothing he wore were a pair of trousers and scaled boots. Resting across his lap was a long spear, its massive, broad blade broken diagonally in half, a set of parrying lugs extending from its tang and rings on one side.
In his meditations, he felt the power of the environment he'd found himself in. It wasn't like his home, but the power of this place was just as strong, and brimming with life; the knowledge of the plane filled his mind, and he learned all the spells he could. Such was its potential that it was perhaps worth a return at the very least.
The sage was roused from his meditations when he felt a disturbance approach…like a flame that was used to guide lost travelers. Curious, he sat up with every intent to investigate, looking over the edge of the cliff to watch as a group of five men stood over the unconscious body of a babe placed over a rock. The men were rabble, though he could see that all five of them carried themselves as soldiers, each of whom wore a headband with a metal plate on their foreheads with a stylized leaf carved into it; the boy on the other hand, was brighter than the rest…the sage could feel power within him.
One of the men drew a knife from a pouch at the small of his back, ready to stab the child, earning the sage's disgust as disappeared in a burst of flame, then reappearing behind the would-be child-killers with fury in his eyes.
"In my home, only the weak choose to murder children before their first step," seethed the sage, getting the soldiers' attention, "In this matter, it offends me that the first people I encounter are lowly cowards such as yourselves."
"This does not concern you, stranger," said one of the soldiers, his voice taking on an edge as he gazed back at him with hate in his eyes.
"That thing is not what you think it is!" shouted his colleague, "He's a monster wearing the face of a child!"
"He does not even deserve to breathe the same air as us normal people!"
The sage stared at the gang, watching for the slightest movement readying his spear. He had never met these men until this day, and yet his instincts had called for their death…to exile them from this plane of existence for the good of all. This would be a simple bout.
Before he could make his first move, one of the soldiers vanished in a puff of smoke, and in his place was a volley of daggers flying in the sage's direction; the sage was able to avoid the volley just in time to bring the broken blade of his spear to bear, hewing into his shoulder in one go. His comrade was barely able to avoid the next slash, suffering a gash across his chest before the sage followed through with a stab, which was parried inefficiently by a dagger. The broken spear was knocked out of the sage's hands, before he was kicked away, giving the soldier ample time to clap his hands together in various gestures. In turn, the sage channeled energy from his surroundings into a red, glowing sphere in his hand.
"Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!"
"Scorching Dragonfire!"
The soldier took a deep breath, spewing a gout of flame from his mouth; in response, the sage threw his hand forward, issuing forth a larger, more intense stream of flames from his palm that consumed the one fired off by his opponent before consuming the soldier instead. His colleague reappeared at the sage's side, ready to perform another series of hand gestures while the sage collected more energy from his surroundings into his hand. He threw his hand into the air, releasing the energy to open a portal above him.
"Bogardan Hellkite! Burn my enemies to cinders!" declared the sage, a large pillar of flame issued forth from the portal, falling upon the soldier and burning him to ash.
As the flames died out, the sage saw that only one opponent was still standing, glaring at him with no small amount of hatred in his eyes. Before he could do anything, the remaining soldier watched as something large sped out of the portal, looping upwards and coming to a stop in midair as it spread its wings, glaring down at him, its hovering form revealed by the moonlight. It had a long neck, with forward-facing horns framing its long, reptilian face, and was covered in hot grayish-green scales all over its body. Its forelegs and long, sinuous tail were covered in spines, and its hindlegs were powerful enough to support its weight in a quasi-bipedal stance. The creature had a sadistic look in its eyes as it gazed upon him, drinking in his terror as more flames gathered in its fang-laden mouth; the soldier was barely able to scream as he too was consumed in a pillar of flame.
With the area cleared, the sage dismissed the dragon with a wave of his hand before turning his attention to the boy. As he lifted the child to inspect him, the first thing the sage noticed was that the whelp had three whisker marks on each side of his face, and his sun-kissed hair; strange for a plane not too dissimilar to one . While there was already a fount of power emanating from the boy, what interested the sage was the spark that seemed to shine within him, much like his own. There was no doubt in his mind that the whelp was like him, and was in desperate need of proper training.
The sage thought of the times in the past in which he had been used, his plane and mind destroyed by his own master. In the end, he'd found a true master to learn under…one that helped him remake his plane in his own image, and it was the start of his redemption. He'd spent enough time in his reborn plane that he'd begun to wonder if that was all there was to his life…that perhaps it was time to teach a new generation.
All thoughts had come to a halt when the sage felt multiple presences nearing him; before he could begin to focus energy for his next spell, he found himself surrounded by more leaf-soldiers. All of them were ready to fight, though he could see several hounds in the group, all of whom were too terrified to even bark, making their handlers nervous as they looked back at him. He could hear the sounds of murmuring as the soldiers talked among themselves.
The leaf-soldiers were accompanied at the forefront by an old man in white robes, wearing a conical hat with the Kamigawa word for 'fire' written on the front brim. Whoever he was, the man carried himself like a khan who had seen more than his fair share of battle before entering the battlefield of politics.
"Stranger! Leave the boy, and we will have no trouble!" commanded the old man.
"And I have no intention of causing grief," replied the sage, "I am merely a traveler that has come to explore."
"A mere traveler would not have been able to cause this much carnage," countered the khan, eyeing the corpses and scorched earth on the ground.
The sage stared at the older man. "If this carnage weren't necessary, then this boy would have been slain by your own soldiers."
"And I appreciate your rescue of young Naruto," continued the khan, "But he belongs to our village. Leave him to us, and I assure you he will be protected."
The sage scoffed, his disregard of the man deepening by the second as he subtly channeled energy into his broken spear. "Liar. You say the boy is safe with you when your own soldiers are perfectly willing to kill him on your orders?" There were no words from the leader; the moment of pain before the furious glare he returned was telling enough for the sage to realize the truth. "So you never sanctioned this travesty? I have no love for the khans that ruled the clans in my home, but I have even less respect for a khan that is powerless to enforce his rule. The boy comes with me, and there is nothing you can do or say to change my mind."
"Then we will have to kill you as a kidnapper," warned the leader, his soldiers tensing as they awaited his command.
The sage sneered, the sufficient amount of energy collected in his spear as he thought of the best place to go. "You speak as if you could stop me. I do this for the boy's own good…if I leave him here with you, can you guarantee that this incident will never happen again?"
There was a moment of silence between the two parties as the tension thickened. It wasn't until the leader sighed with resignation in his voice.
"You're right, I can't promise that this won't happen again," he finally said, before his voice took on a harder, more determined edge, "But I still can't, in good conscience, allow you to leave with him. Therefore, I propose a compromise."
The sage looked at the khan suspiciously. "What are your terms?"
…
[Elsewhere]
He'd seen it all unfold.
The man who had appeared from out of nowhere, his rescue of the boy, and his ability to kill shinobi as if it were child's play. That he was able to readily use senjutsu chakra without a single hand seal was already noteworthy; that he was able to summon a creature that did not belong to this world was mind-boggling.
Oh, he'd heard of him; as a matter of fact, mother had once talked about the people like him in passing. According to her, they were of different races with different abilities, but they were all very powerful beings, and they each had the ability to traverse different planes of existence. It was said that they'd defeated the great elder dragon Nicol Bolas with the aid of his brother Ugin, and left him to languish in his Meditation Realm crippled and utterly humiliated. They were perhaps the closest thing to a real enemy that the Ōtsutsuki Clan truly feared…one that they could not afford an all-out war with.
There was a plethora of emotions that ran through the watcher's mind, until he settled on anger. With the Kyūbi and its container no longer in this plane of existence, mother's awakening would be set back greatly. And thanks to the meddler, the worst thing was that there was nothing he could do about it even if he'd tried━not until the Jinchūriki was safe to abduct.
One way or another, he would have to report this to Pain, and he would recommend that they lay low; to postpone the plan to gather the Bijū until they found a way to separate the boy from his benefactor.
But one thought above all others concerned the spy: if that meddler could come to this plane, there was the possibility that more like him could show up…and if they decided to sound the drums of war, then it could spell the end of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
Either way, this situation was out of his hands.
All he could do was wait and see how the future unfolded.
…
[Unknown Location, years later]
The sage sat at the campfire, looking into the mountainous expanse as a teapot boiled, contemplating the years that went by. He could feel the energy of this Plane coursing through his veins.
It'd been almost fifteen years since he'd taken the child from his home, and he'd encountered many ups and downs in regards to his apprentice. At first, he'd had to deal with the energy he had, but he was able to settle him down as time went by; in time, the boy had shown much promise under his care, learning the art of spell, staff, and sword. At the same time, he was told of the many Planes that existed in the multiverse, and that he had the capability of traversing those Planes. Some days were frustrating, others were rewarding; he'd made many memories with the boy all the same and wouldn't trade them for the world. Perhaps this is what fatherhood is like, he mused to himself.
As soon as he was ready, Naruto was sent to a different Plane to learn on his own, and to find his way of planeshifting. The place he sent the boy to was one that he'd heard of in whispers, one where mages were sent for higher education. He'd not had contact with his apprentice for five years, but he felt it was as good a place as any for the boy to learn to survive in civilization.
Feeling the arrival of a guest, the sage pulled out two cups from his rucksack and poured out the milk tea, unperturbed as a blond boy with whisker marks on his cheeks faded into existence. He wore a white tunic and beige trousers that ballooned over his calves, a pair of leather boots at his feet, over which he wore a travelling robe that provided adequate protection from the elements. He was armed with a long, winged spear with a rune-etched head secured to a rich wooden haft with a lacquered brass ferrule, accompanied by a sword in the event the fight came too close for comfort.
"It's good to see you again, my apprentice," greeted the sage, offering a cup to the boy, "How was your time in a different Plane?"
"All things considered, I think I had a pretty good time," answered Naruto, gratefully accepting the tea. "Learned a lot there, had some fun…though some people just have no sense of humor."
"They expelled you for causing too much trouble?" asked the sage knowingly, savoring the light saltiness of the tea.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I graduated!" defended the boy, puffing up his chest until he noticed the skeptical look on his teacher's face, "Well maybe I wasn't the perfect student, but I still graduated. And yeah, I did almost get expelled for that last prank on that gang from Silverquill; totally worth it though, those guys were bullies. I'm pretty sure Professor Vess approved though."
The sage eyed his student with curiosity in his eyes. "Professor Vess? As in Liliana Vess?"
"Yeah," Naruto answered, taking a sip of his tea, "She was actually a pretty cool teacher…if a bit strict. Unfortunately, she's with Witherbloom so I didn't have any of her classes; she did, however, bring me in to meet these cool twins. I think they know I'm a Planeswalker; they gave me pointers on how to Planeswalk, and I went to several Planes because of it."
"Then they are likely Planeswalkers themselves," answered the sage, pouring himself another cup, "I've heard tales of the Planeswalker Liliana Vess in my time, few of them good; though I suppose that she's had time to settle down and reflect."
"So where are we going next, Master?"
"We are going nowhere, because there is nothing left for me to teach you," answered the sage, raising a hand for silence when the boy was about to speak out, "I've merely taught you the basics, which is why I've sent you to a different Plane; not simply for you to figure out how to Planeshift, but to get a proper education that I couldn't give you on my own, and to teach you independence."
"But this is my home," argued the student.
"Only because you grew up here," reminded the teacher, taking another swig of his tea, "You have a potential that has yet to be realized, Naruto…one that cannot be realized as long as you stay here with me." Naruto was silent, contemplating what his teacher had told him. "Do not mistake my intentions: I've come to appreciate our time as master and apprentice, but now is the time for you to leave the nest. Go to your home in Konoha, and allow your experiences there to teach you when you explore this Plane; when you have learned all you can, visit other Planes. And when you come to find me in my home Plane one day, I hope it will be as equals."
There was nothing said between master and student, their argument continued as they looked at each other. After a few seconds of silence, Naruto sighed in resignation before toasting with his teacup. "I'm gonna miss you, master."
The sage said nothing, watching as his student downed the last of his tea before walking into the forest. "And I shall miss you too, my apprentice."
"So this is where you've been passing the time," noted a feminine voice from behind.
Knowing who the speaker was, the sage turned to find a new visitor leaning against a rock, looking at him with amusement written on her features. She wore white and blue robes and dark gray trousers under a boiled leather breastplate and pauldrons, vambraces, and boots that provided basic protection while giving significant leeway to mobility. And while he knew the woman to be skilled with a staff, the sage knew full well she was as capable with her fists as she was with spells.
"It has been a long time, old friend," the sage acknowledged, "I would've thought you'd be at work at Tarkir, satisfying your dragon lord's hunger for knowledge as well as your own."
"Even I need to leave the archives every now and then," answered the woman striding towards the campfire while pulling a teacup from her satchel, "So how does it feel, being a teacher?"
"It has its ups and downs, especially with the homesickness," answered the sage, "But ultimately, the tale is not over until he starts traveling to other Planes; and when that happens, I hope to hear what future he has carved out for himself."
"To the future," replied the woman, toasting her friend.
The two of them drank deep of their cups, before each disappeared in a pillar of flame and water.
…
A/N: …and now we're done.
I wonder who has caught on to the identity of the sage and his friend?
And yes, Naruto was enrolled at, and graduated (barely) from Strixhaven…you're free to guess which college he attended, but I'll reveal the answer at a later occasion.
Hopefully this story is up to standard…and that I've done MtG lore justice here.
Let's see what you think.
…
Cards used:
Scorching Dragonfire (1)(Red)—Instant—Scorching Dragonfire deals 3 damage to target creature or Planeswalker. If that creature or planeswalker would die this turn, exile it instead.
Bogardan Hellkite (6)(Red)(Red)—Creature: Dragon—Flash, Flying: When Bogardan Hellkite enters the battlefield, it deals 5 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players
