A/N: (EDIT) SO BE IT.
I warned you. I asked you all to be nice and respectful. I have cried and begged and pleaded for the harassment to stop, but this...this...THIS! I'm so over and done with getting flak for trying to write a series, a SIMPLE COHESIVE SERIES and all I do is get shat on.
T_T
So.
Wasting my talent, am I?
Lost my damn mind have I?
Only capable of updating Fate stories, am I?!
One trick pony with a hard on for Naruto, am I?!
No, no, by all means! Lets keep reading down the list of insults I've been getting lately and see just how riled up I can get! Apparently I'm also irrelevant, retarded, not interesting and an utter failure as a person. And lets not forget that one chap with the sock-puppet accounts who enjoys spamming my stories with senseless hate telling me to kill myself.
Really?
...Really?
...REALLY NOW?!
Sorry for all this but I'm absurdly pissed off at the moment now. Someone even suggested all my stories are "most unlikely" to be continued. How many times do I have to say that the "Most Unlikely" series is one big story told from different perspectives? And still I get flak for trying to write, for trying to make people happy. God forbid I actually update my other stuff!
Fine. Whatever. I see how it is.
I've been on this site for TEN SODDING YEARS. Not only have I finished other stuff by now, but I've also branched out and broken ground where others wouldn't tread. Look, I know I ain't the best writer on this site. That much is abundantly clear. There are others on this site better than me, much, much better at that. I wish had even a tenth of their ingenuity. They're the true trailblazers, the sort that aren't afraid to take a new approach to things. That honor goes to folks like Perfect Lionheart, Crossy Cross, Silver Queen, and others, the list goes on and on. Frankly, I don't even count myself in the top ten.
But folks like what I do and I think I'm decent hand at it. Crossovers are my thing. They always will be. That's where I shine. And I HAVE written other stories that aren't about Naruto. Game of Thrones, Bleach, Mass Effect, and more!
*exhales deeply*
I do apologize for flipping my lid there.
WARNING!
ALTERNATE UNIVERSE AHOY!
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED ME HEARTIES!
YES this is connected to the "A Most Unlikely" Series.
This is meant to make you laugh, cry, and hopefully, want more.
There, now that we've gotten that disclaimer out of the way, I can explain.
So here's the premise if for some reason you didn't read the summary: Orochimaru decides to hedge his bets like the bastard he is and unwittingly creates a legend for the Throne of Heroes, the most powerful one yet. There's just one problem. A certain Beast is out to erase this "legend" before it can even begin. And, well, the multiverse just can't have that. So it sends backup. IN. BLOODY. SPADES. Needless to say, shenanigans ensue.
The task? Keep Kid!Naruto alive until he's capable of dealing/evading the Beast on his own.
Of course that doesn't end well, which in turn leads to more shenanigans.
In another words, a reset of sorts.
Sound familiar, no?
Chunin Exam Day was actually quite the influence for this story, so I paid it homage of sorts here in the title. I wanted to try something to new, so here you go, have a this mad concoction that I totally wasn't high while writing. Nope. Not even a little bit. Here, like in "A Most Unlikely Card" we see just HOW Naruto becomes a legend.
The difference being?
Well...lets just call this Naruto one of three potential outcomes of A Most Unlikely Card when it wraps up. One is Snatcher!Naruto, a sarcastic bastard who keeps order and does what his self-given name says on the tin: he snatched up bad guys and keeps things in order, more or less. Another is Summoner!Naruto, who wields Servants like cards while utilizing his abilities alongside their own on a name-to-name basis.. And the third...well. He dead, so outcome C doesn't count.
And yes, Snatcher is meant to remind you of THAT Snatcher from A Hat In Time...just less of a dick.
This Naruto's quite well adjusted by comparison...though he does not enjoy having his vacation hijacked.
This. THIS! Right here! Is where everything starts to come together. It may not seem like it at a glance, but this was all planned. The Kin bit miiiiiiiight have landed in here because everyone was upset that she got her arse handed to her in A Most Unlikely Duo. So here.
As ever, this will be gone in TWO DAYS if folks don't like it. I really do hope you like it...
So! Clarification! The setting is the tower inside the Forest of Death.
Just before the preliminary matches, in case one wonders.
And someone's been cornered by a certain sneaky snake...
I'll be updating Sage of the Moors next.
Followed by I Am Not A Dragon.
Peace, peace, aaaaand out~!
Get ready to laugh!
"There will always be someone better than you.
There will always be someone stronger than you, or faster.
The trick is to be SMARTER than them. Be clever. Be better than them.
And if you can't be smarter? Be fiercer. Rage against them, kid. Roar! Terrify them!"
~?
A Most Unlikely Exam
You know, I'm getting REAL sick and tired of your crap, Beast.
I mean, its annoying enough that you're trying to wipe us all out across the multiverse; but now you've gotta screw with the timeline at that? How dense can you be? C'mon, kid. Just plain rude, that is. Downright petty, if I say so myself. You couldn't take a few of us in a fair fight-or maybe it was Foreigner that kicked your ass to kindgom come?-so rather than wait and build up your strength like a man and wait us out, you have to actively screw us all over. Not just by going back in time, no no no, because that would be too simple to fix, but by actively interfering in pieces of the past? Seriously?! Oi! Do you have any idea how difficult you're making my job right now?! How can someone exist if they don't have a past?
Guess what!? They can't, idiot!
That damn Throne's gonna burn my ass if I screw this one up!
If you start pulling one string the whole damn tapestry might come unraveled! Are you TRYING to destroy everything?! Don't answer that!
Punk-ass kid with your punk-ass temper tantrum ruining MY vacation...everything was nice and calm until you came along! Even that daft hornsey bastard wasn't trying this hard to break reality! Why can't you just crawl back in your hole and we'll do this again in another hundred years. Go on now, shoo! I said scat! Scram!
You don't mess with time! That's literally our ONLY rule of our Contracts!
And guess what? Yours just expired!
But noooooo, you've gotta be like this, and now I've gotta track you down! Do you have any idea how delicate this whole thing is? One slip up, one change, and everything might go out of wack! One of the kid's legends might never be born or worse, fade from existence completely! I hope you're satisfied, Beast! Because wherever you are, whenever you went, I AM going to get there before you and I will tear STRIPS out of your soul by the time I get through with you! There won't be anything left for the others once I-
Eh? What's that, honey? He went when? Where? All the way back there?
You know what? Nevermind? I'm fine. Yeah. Totally fine with this.
Someone has to do the dirty work, I suppose.
Someone has to clean up these messes.
Someone's gotta be the Snatcher.
Lets get to work, ladies!
(...0o0o0...)
Kin stared into the abyss and it grinned back at her.
She couldn't move, could barely even bring herself to breathe. The very act of staying conscious required a physical act of willpower on her part, one that was even now beginning to falter. A small whimper started in her throat and she stubbornly choked it down as she gazed up into those golden eyes. They were not the eyes of a man, but a snake, a creature so beyond her that her heart wanted nothing more than to hammer right out of her chest and fly far, far, far away from here. And Orochimaru was on her her side! Supposedly.
He'd cornered her in the tower before the other teams arrived, cordoning her away from teammates for some purpose she didn't understand.
She desperately, desperately wanted to understand; because if she didn't understand then her mind was going to go off on a tangent, and that meant she was going ramble like an utter idiot until she calmed down. Again, unlikely given the rapid rate of her pulse. He'd all but backed her into a corner, both literally and figuratively. She could no sooner escape than she could force her heart to cease beating.
And then he spoke:
"I have a task for you, little Kin."
At these words, the blackette shot ramrod straight.
Loyalty fought against fear and the former won out, but only just.
Fingers of fell ice sank into her spine, chilling her very soul to the bone. Did a soul have bones? Theoretically the soul was immaterial and thus shouldn't have any such structure, although many theorized-oh gods, she was rambling again. Of course she was! The poor girl was scared out of her mind! You try coming face to face with the living embodiment of death when it was angry and see how well you stack up to him! Especially when said creature can kill you with a flick of his wrist!
No, she could do this.
She would do this.
She had to.
"Y-Yes, my lord Orochimaru." it took all she had just to stutter the words out, such was her fear. "What do you desire?"
She owed him her life. Her everything. Without him, she'd just be another orphan on the streets, a silent stray snatching scraps in the gutter. If he hadn't plucked her out of that life she would've wound up in a brothel or worse...and what was to stop her from going back to it? Or worse, simply being killed once she expended her usefulness? No, she'd do anything for him. She had to make herself useful. She had to be useful, to show she was worth something, that she had value in his eyes, lest she be thrown away like so much trash.
Something in her quailed.
She'd do whatever he asked of her.
So long as he didn't make her fight the Uchiha.
No, no, no! She wanted no part of that nonsense! None at all!
While she may not have been strictly awake for that incident-damn Yamanaka wench-her teammates had told her all she wanted to know on the matter. They'd filled in what had once been an innocent gap in her memory with an utter horror story, one she had no desire to face. That...that thing was not human. Anyone bearing a fragment of Orochimaru's power was someone to be appeased at best, feared at worst, and avoided at all costs if she could help it.
As if sensing that very thought, the disguised sanin tittered softly.
"Kukuku! Do not worry, little Kin." he was patronizing her of course, as he always did, but she daren't correct him, "I have no intention of sending you to the slaughter...yet." Those golden eyes gleamed at her in the dark as she gazed on, spellbound. "You have a far higher purpose to attend to. One might even call it a mission of sorts; the success of our little coup may well depend on you."
On me?
Her brow furrowed in mild consternation, belying the tension boiling in her breast.
"I don't understand." the words emerged as a squeak "What do you want me to do, my lord?"
A pale hand ghosted under her chin, lifting her visage to meet his own, and try as she might she couldn't look away.
"Are you willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish your task?" that eerie, slitted gaze bored into her own, hypnotically. "No matter the cost?"
She nodded numbly.
And that sickly smile broadened.
"Good girl. Now, then. This is what you will do...
It was not the task she had expected. Not at all. Far from it, in fact.
The "mission" Kin was given turned her pale face scarlet, but she accepted it nonetheless. Orochimaru was nothing if not precise; he laid out her task for her in clear and concise terms. A small, tiny voice in the back of her head that served as her conscience protested, but she quashed it with an effort. It would change her life forever. Whether it would be for the better...well. That remained to be seen.
For it was then that the sanin's smile turned ugly.
"Excellent." those pale palms collided in a gentle clap as he crept in closer. "I knew you wouldn't fail me. Now, we'll have to sink those precious memories of yours."
"What?" she squeaked the words out, a spike of fear stabbing into her heart.
Kin's resolve faltered and she tried to take a swift step backward. Unfortunately this proved nigh-on-impossible given that her mentor had already back her into a corner. There was nowhere to retreat to, nothing to throw a substitution jutsu at. Nothing at all. Some of her fear must've shown through; because the bastard actually started to chuckle.
"Why, In case you're captured of course." his approach didn't falter in the least. Were his hands glowing, or was it just her imagination? "We can't have you leaking information. After all, you swore to do whatever it took to accomplish your task, did you not?"
"I...no." her resolve crumbled. "I can't do it. You're asking too much."
Then that same sly smile stretched across his face and nonononopnopenope!
He laughed that eerie laugh of his. "My dear, its far too late to have second thoughts."
Most of them may have been bad memories for the orphan, but they were her memories, and there were good ones scattered like lost jewels among them. When she'd learned her first true jutsu. Her first memory of sleeping in a real bed. Her tenth birthday, a quiet thing that she'd celebrated alone. Memories were mean to be treasured. To ask her to discard them...to forsake the very core concept of her identity...the teenager's very soul cried out against it this atrocity. But there was nothing she could do. There was no reason she could possibly give-no empathy for her to appeal to.
In the end she tried to run; to wriggle past him and bolt.
Needless to say, she failed horribly.
Orochimaru was a master ninja; he'd developed ninjutsu that others didn't even have names for yet. Stopping her was child's play for one such as him.
In the last instant before he laid hands on her head, Kin realized the true horror of what the snake sanin intended; not only was he going to make her a sleeper agent to fulfill his goals; but he was about to eradicate entire swathes of her past solely for the sake of fulfilling his task. What couldn't be sealed he would simply be...erased. Theoretically some of those memories might well remain in a dormant state if left untouched by this ghastly procedure but others vanished even as she clung onto them. Hate bloomed, a deep festering anger-that someone would do this to her!-but then that too, was quick to fade.
And then there was pain.
Kin couldn't say whether she screamed; rather, she soon forgot even the memory of screaming at all.
She forgot a great many things, and when Orochimaru was done she could barely bring herself to care. Content with his success, the sanin slithered away, trusting in her to recover. Kin trailed after him like a lost shadow, small and broken, led away in quiet compliance. The Sanin never once spared a thought for her, nor the horror of what he'd done. He hadn't been truly sure it would work at that; the last individual he'd attempted that old jutsu on had wound up a drooling idiot; which was in part why he oft refrained from using it. Still! This was no time to hesitate. He had a jinchuuriki to subvert, and the girl would play her part to the letter.
Supreme in his confidence, he didn't even bother to ascertain his surroundings; nor did he consider the possibility that someone might've noticed the girl's screams.
A moment passed.
Then another.
Another.
Finally, nearly two minutes after their footsteps faded into the dark, something stirred.
A silent ripple of the slate-grey floor rose in their absence, shifting and sliding aside with sluggish tenacity.
Little more than a sliver of stone, one that oozed and pooled as someone passed through it from the bedrock below.
An orange spiraling mask bearing a single eye-hole rose from said ripple, followed by a black-gloved hand. It glanced right. Then left. Right again. Slowly, carefully, the owner of said hand peeled the mask away to reveal familiar eyes and whiskered cheeks framed by blond hair alongside a sly smile. In another world, another realm, another universe, this mask once belonged to an individual called "Tobi", once upon a time. Said owner had unfortunately lost it quite some time ago before his death; this was, most assuredly, not Tobi's face.
Still, that eye-and this jutsu-had proven so damnably useful that he'd taken them for himself.
If you don't know who this is by now dear reader, well...you simply haven't been paying attention.
One he was certain he wasn't being observed, the owner of said mask pulled himself the rest of the way out.
Shaking himself like a wet dog, the newcomer carefully planted the mask back over his face, rolled his shoulders, and stood in the ensuing silence. For a long moment, that mask regarded the way Kin had come. Fingers drummed impatiently against the wall as their owner debated taking action but-reluctantly-decided against it for now. He really wanted to send someone after them; or barring that, simply step in and smash the snake's skull into paste, just as he'd done in his own world.
But he couldn't.
Rather, he shouldn't.
He really, really, REALLY wanted to.
His fingers twitched again, itching for a weapon.
This place brought back memories, and not all of them pleasant.
...no. He was here to hunt monsters-one wearing his own face at that-not play hero to every damsel in distress. His contract was clear, and for better or worse he was bound by the rules that had been written. He couldn't interfere. That much was clear. Preserve the timeline, keep the kid alive, beat back the Beast and get out. Of course, that didn't mean he was about to simply let this horror go unpunished. He wouldn't. Every contract had a loophole, and this one was no exception. After a moment's consideration a plan began to brew in the back of his mind. Whistling softly to himself he spun about and stalked off in the opposite direction.
"Well, well, well!" the young man hummed softly to himself behind the mask as he slipped back into the shadows, "That wasn't supposed to happen this time around. Gonna have to do something about this...
He really was too honest for this shtick.
So much for a staying out of it.
Bugger.
(...Several Hours Later...)
He had to fight her?
As a young Naruto Uzumaki looked on the screen slowly cycled to a halt, revealing the contestants for the first bout. Bold letters only further affirmed his silent fear. The preliminaries were unexpected enough on their own measure, but he hadn't thought they'd actually select him in the first round. That was...oddly worrying for some reason. His chakra hadn't felt quite right since he'd fought that snake freak back in the forest, but there was something else, a terrible horrible feeling that he was being played somehow. Yeah, that was definitely his face up there of course, but who was the girl opposite him? He'd never seen her before in his life.
Behind him, he heard Sakura suck in a sharp breath.
"What? What?!" he sputtered. "Did I miss something here?!"
Unbidden, his gaze strayed back to the gold letters jutting out in poisonous relief:
Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kin Tsuchi.
Without thinking he began to search for her amongst the other genin.
She was easy enough to find once he knew what-who!-to look for in the rest.
Fair of face with dark eyes and darker hair, so long that it nearly brushed her feet before being bound by a violet ribbon. Like any shinobi worth their salt she bore a forehead protector bearing the symbol of her village in the stark silver relief of a musical note. Similarly, she was clad in loose green vest that somewhat resembled a traditional flak jacket, complete with snake patterned pants a likewise-styled skirt over it, to match another such-patterned scarf wrapped tightly about her neck.
Still, the poor girl looked about as nervous as he felt. Although...
...the hell was with the snake theme, there?
Oh, if only he knew.
Her gaze caught his as she descended the steps leading to the arena and something in him lurched. It wasn't the way she looked at him; it was the fear in his eyes. Not of him, but...everything. Sheer, raw terror. No, he knew that look. There was more to it than that. Much more. She was sweating. Her movement seemed wrong somehow. Stiff. Almost jerky by comparison, given that she was all but stumbling down the steps. As if she were scared out of her wits, or had forgotten how to walk. Weird.
Who forgot how to walk?
Still, everyone was looking at him and no one was saying anything, so he felt he should do something.
So why couldn't he?
For once in his life, Naruto's usual exuberance eluded him; he couldn't bring himself to shout, or declare that he would win, or even smile. Everything felt somber. As if the world were watching him.
Halfway to the steps he glimpsed a strange man wearing an orange mask.
Clad in the standard attire of what one might expect of a Konoha Anbu, he nevertheless radiated a strange sense of familiarity. And he was wearing orange! Some silent part of his soul silently approved. As if he he'd seen him somewhere before. Weird. He'd never even seen this weirdo before; let alone noticed him until now.
Bah!
Certainly no one special.
Probably just another guard for the old man.
Thus it came as quite a surprise-yes quite the surprise indeed-when said stranger caught him by the arm and held him back. Naturally, Naruto's first instinct was to struggle, to jerk away from them. That only made his captor clamp down all the more, to the point of physically restraining him.
"Hold up there, kid." the masked man whispered in his ear, his voice low and serious. "Might wanna take it easy on her."
Naruto goggled up at him. "What?"
"She also uses a nasty genjutsu," his would-be ally continued conspiratorially, as if they were discussing nothing more than a passing cloud, "So beware the bells. Oh and try not to make her cry." that mangled mask tilted curiously to the left. "Poor girl's in over her head already with Orochimaru for whatever that might be worth, and it wouldn't do to break her anymore than she already is. I mean, look at her." his head jerked down toward the arena. "Looks like she'd fold over at a strong gust of wind at this point."
"I...you...what?" by now, the boy's eyes were veritably spinning in confusion. "What does that damn snake have to do with this?! Who are you?!"
He never got his answer.
"None of your damn business. Try not to die no me, now."
Five clawed fingers brushed against the baffled boy's lower torso and he felt something loosen deep inside his chakra coils, something he hadn't even truly been aware of until this very moment. Then, before he could even open his mouth to ask what he'd done to him, the stranger broke the genjutsu, gripped his arm with impossible force and performed a vicious judo throw right then and there. With him on the receiving end of it! Blue eyes bulged as he realized what was about to happen; even then he wasn't quite fast enough to escape-not in time at any rate.
"What are you doing-WAAARGH?!"
Poor boy; he barely had time to yelp before he found himself heaved arse-over-elbow into the arena below and flung with frightful speed. Mercifully-or not given the rather mercurial whims of fate these days-his whiskered visage absorbed the worst of the impact as he landed facefirst in the stone.
A muffled smattering of nervous laughter arose from the stands, and despite herself, Kin winced when her opponent didn't get back up.
"Oops." she almost heard the masked man mutter to himself. "Forgot how weak we were back then...
The hell does that mean?
Indeed, in spite of her best efforts to the contrary, Kin caught herself blinking, almost feeling sorry for the poor boy. That looked like a rather bad fall; she'd seen shinobi die from less in Sound...yet when she reached for a memory, it eeled through her grasp, leaving her ill at ease. Why? What did she have to worry about? She was here to fight and...why was she here to fight again?
"Are you...alright?"
Quick as a bolt-and much to the relief of everyone watching-Naruto jolted upright. "I'm fine!"
To actually have someone-much less a kunoichi from another village-actually ask after his wellbeing was...well! He wasn't sure what to make of it. Nor her, for that matter. That someone outside of his sparse circle of good friends would even deign to inquire about his health was so revolutionary that it actually stopped him for a moment. Sakura never asked him that. Nor did Sasuke. Even Kakashi-sensei. The realization humbled him, if only for the merest of moments.
Of course, being Naruto, he immediately spoke his mind on the matter.
"Gee, you're kinda nice aren't ya?" a bright, exuberant smile bloomed on his face. "Lets have a good match!"
Kin felt a sudden surge of heat rise in her cheeks and stubbornly stamped it out. Shaking her head, which in turn caused her long midnight-black hair to snap back and forth over her shoulders like a whip, she frantically fought to marshal her thoughts. Stupid girl! Focus! Don't let him get in your head!
So distracted was she by her own myriad turmoil that Kin never heard the proctor commence the match.
One moment she'd been watching his crouched form, tensed and ready to spring.
She never saw Naruto move.
The next, there was pain.
Pain!
Breath rushed out of her as she folded around the fist lodged in her solar plexus. Air rushed out of her lungs as she gasped, squeaking for breath that wouldn't come. Her opponent looked just as shocked as she did when he stumbled backward and left her to crumple to her knees; as if he'd expected her to dodge in the first place. Ordinarily she would have...if most of her memories-and a good portion of her instinct-hadn't been carved out of her like a rotten watermelon. Where once she might experienced anger or even rage at being bested, now she felt only shock, shock that was immediately overridden by something far more poignant.
Fear.
Her eyes widened and her resolve crumpled. So too did her body. Like a wet paper bag.
Say what you would about Naruto Uzumaki, but when he hit someone, he hit hard. By the time she realized she'd blacked out for a handful of seconds, it was already over. When she came to, she found herself sprawled out across the floor and her opponent gaping at her like a fish, arm still half-extended from the clumsy punch he'd thrown. Blue eyes strayed to his fist, then to her. Back to his fist. Back to her. Even as she struggled to muster some semblance of her strength to do something-anything!-her body betrayed her and she collapsed.
"Winner," Hayate croaked softly into a clenched fist, "Uzumaki Naruto."
Scarce had he spoken than Kin's opponent rushed to her side.
"Oh, geez!" distantly, she felt a hand center against her back. "Are you okay?! I didn't mean to hit you that hard!"
Kin could only bring herself to cough all the more despite his words, or perhaps in spite of the small palm tracing rough circles against her back. Once upon a time, her first instinct would have been to swat those clumsy hands away, to snap at him for defeating her but something stilled her at the last second. Now? She only stiffened. wasn't used to being...touched. Not by her teammates, or anyone for that matter. Yet she sensed not so much as a glimmer of malice in him, nor the awkward way he fussed over her. He was almost gentle, in a boyish, ignorant way.
"Here, let me help you back to the stands." Before she could think to thank him, he summoned a pair of shadows clones.
The kunoichi felt her eyes bulge slightly and tried to wriggle free, to no avail. They already had her.
"No, really, I'm fine." she tried to squeak out, tried to deny him. "There's no need to-
"And I deny your denial!" the boy scoffed. "C'mon, its just this way...
High in the stands, a certain snake stifled a smile.
A man in an orange mask sighed softly.
And the world began to change.
A/N: Poor Kin.
I promise she'll get better.
As to the rest of the story though...
...
...
...
Ha.
Haha.
Hahaha!
AhahaAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
I regret nothing.
You are going to imagine this Servant!Naruto with Snatcher's snark.
My words compeeeeeeeel you. I've finally discovered what A Hat In Time is and holy hell I just had to do this.
Snatcher!Naruto certainly isn't a class, its just one I made up on the fly. It certainly sounds better than Cleaner!Naruto. Seriously, Cleaner?! Is that a thing?! Because if it is, it shouldn't be. Just try to imagine it for a moment, if you will"
Beware thine mop and sponge Feeeaaar them!
Fear my blasted bucket and pail!
UNLIMITED WATER WORKS!
*cackles*
I had an absolute blast writing this! The laughs! The tension! The drama! The hints of perceived romance! While this may not be a PURE Naruto story, it'll still be a blast to write. Lets face it folks, if Naruto had a slice of humble pie dealt out to him this early, it would actually influence him a bit. Worse, a close win like this would be one he wasn't proud of.
Gee, I wonder what Kin's so-called "Mission" is. Ought to be obvious.
Though this may SEEM a pure Naruto story, its still connected to the "A Most Unlikely Series".
Hence the crossover tag. Didn't seem right to label this as a pure Naruto story, given where and when it takes place.
The previews-though thar be but two-give a startling hint towards that.
In short, Beast is trying to cheat by going back and eradicating a certain Servant!Naruto before they became a legend, thereby erasing them from history. Using minions at first, but its not above all but wrecking the world to get at him if need be. Scary, right? If you die before becoming a hero, those deeds never happened; they never get recorded. Ergo...poof. Gone. *shivers* Thankfully there is a failsafe system in place to prevent such an occurrence.
As a wise woman once said, the universe doesn't like its peas mixed with its porridge.
In return? Our crazy boy has one of the most powerful Servants sent after him.
You've already seen him, and the previews flat out reveal him.
His title is a deliberate nod to A Hat In Time.
So In the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
And enjoy the previews!
Potential ones at that!
Get ready to laugh!
Which do ya like?
(Previews!)
"Do or do not! There is not try! In you go, now!"
"Will! You! Stop! DYING?!"
Naruto yelped and ducked each swing. "That's an unreasonable request!"
"I...failed?"
His savior flicked his forehead.
"Yes. You did. Now go out there and fail again until you get it right. Chop chop!"
The masked man uttered a jaw popping yawn.
"So...you gonna tap that or what?"
"I'm thirteen!"
"And?"
"I...you...what the hell was that?!" Naruto sputtered! "That thing...it tried to kill me! It had my face! What's going on?!"
"Was I ever this noisy?" his savior sighed. "Well, I guess I better be blunt about it...you're totally screwed."
"EH?!"
Naruto looked up. And up again. Up. Even then he couldn't quantify what-who!-he was looking at. With a soft sigh, the stranger reached up and plucked off the orange spiral mask they wore. His own face gazed down and back at him, blue eyes hardened by years of service. That was him?! He grew up to look like that?! He looked awesome! Perhaps gleaning the awe in his eyes, this towering stranger with his face knelt down and ruffled his hair as a big brother might towards a younger sibling.
...welcome to the multiverse, kid."
His companion's reaction was...another matter.
"SO SMALL! SO TINY! HE'S ADORABLE! I WANT TO SQUEEZE HIM!"
The man who had thus far only identified himself as "Snatcher" bopped her head.
"No! Bad! Tiamat! You'll break the brat! We've been over this! He can't be a legend if you crush him to death!"
R&R~! =D