A/N: Damn it. I've been bitten by the idea bug once again…this time in my hometown of Los Angeles. At this rate, I may beat NeonZangetsu's record for unfinished stories.

There will be no alien forces of the Darkness in this story (at least not yet). But I can assure you, the Darkness still lives.

As usual the number of reviews will determine if this is worth going past a pilot episode, so do read and review would you kindly?

[Unknown Location]

"Guardian, wake up."

Naruto groaned as he sat up, his eyes cracking open as his vision began to clear. The blurriness had faded away to reveal a floating metallic sphere surrounded by eight separate points. It looked back at him through a hole in the sphere with four squares lit up to form an X-shape. He leaped back in surprise as he began to check his surroundings. "Where am I?" he then turned to face the small thing that woke him up. "What are you?"

"I'm a Ghost," answered the little thing, the four points at the front turning. They moved in and out as the sphere seemed to be talking. "Well, I'm -your- Ghost. As to where we are, we're a long ways away from the Valley of the End. Good thing too; you just so happened to wash up in the direction I wanted to take you and—"

"Woah, woah! Slow down! What's this about being a ghost?" Naruto asked panicked.

"I am a Ghost. A computer construct designed to help you interact with the world as a Guardian and…" the Ghost had shut up when it noticed that Naruto had both a confused and wary expression on his face. "…Oh, you're not getting anything I'm saying, are you?"

"No shit."

The Ghost sighed as it looked down, nodding as if in exasperation. "It's probably better if you follow me. This way, I can explain things better to you."

He had no idea where he was. And as much as Naruto wanted to tell the little Ghost-thing where it could shove its explanation, he had no other choice. The incident at the Valley of the End had ended with him being sent down river to a strange place. He also remembered falling on…

"If you still want that explanation on what happened, I would be willing to fill you in." reminded the Ghost, "Either way, you have to come with me. There's someone I want you to meet."

No other choice. He had to follow the floating eyeball to wherever it went. Naruto followed it towards a forest, watching as it effortlessly glided past the branches to show him where to go. Fortunately, it was a straight path so far.

"What happened?" asked Naruto, pushing a branch aside, "Last thing I remember, I was being tossed into some really big rocks, and then falling down a waterfall and onto some really big and sharp ones."

"Normally you should not have survived that fall." answered Ghost, turning to face him as it floated towards its destination. "It wasn't easy to pull your body off of that rock. In fact, you would not have survived at all; regardless if your tenant managed to save you."

Naruto's eyes had widened. "How did you know about that?"

"Simple. As I brought you back from death, I had a glimpse at your chakra coils." the Ghost nonchalantly replied, "They were -very- extensive for a human. They also made you an especially good candidate for turning you into a Guardian; better than most people and shinobi I might add."

"And what's this 'Guardian' thing you're talking about?"

Ghost turned away. "It's probably better if we get to our destination first. That way, all will be explained. There is someone you have to meet."

[Elsewhere]

It was a good day…relatively speaking of course. In fact, if he were to be honest with himself, Hatake Kakashi was hitting a pretty bad patch as of late. Not only did he lose two students under his watch, but it was because of his own shortcomings as a teacher that one had defected to Otogakure no Sato, while the other was killed by his colleague in the middle defecting. It only served to rub salt in his wounds with the knowledge that both Obito and Minato-sensei would be absolutely livid with him. The former would likely just be disappointed in him, so it probably wouldn't have been so bad; but because he'd failed Minato-sensei's son so extravagantly as a teacher, it was very likely that punishment from him would be more severe. Add to that the fact that Naruto's scent was lost after the conflict at the Valley of the End, and even suicide was seen as an unfavorable option—he just could not bring himself to face either of them, living or dead.

He still visited Sakura from time to time. She didn't do so well after finding out that her own request of Naruto -and his desire to see said promise through to the end- had essentially sent him to his death. Kakashi had tried telling her that Naruto knew the risks he took when he made that promise; whether it was more for her sake, or his own, he was not certain anymore. Were it any other time, he would've been proud of the progress she'd made under Tsunade's tutelage…apparently, her perceived hand at causing Naruto's death had motivated her to no longer be weak.

Speaking of Tsunade, it took a bit of time for Sakura to do so but she managed to convince her to train her in her arts. Because of that, she would go on her way to becoming one of the finest Iryō-nin in the village. But the impact that Sakura's insistence on Tsunade had saved the woman from going into another guilt-driven drinking and gambling binge, much to Shizune's relief. From what he'd seen and heard, the female Sannin was harsh and demanding of her student; likely because she didn't want to lose anybody else.

But going back to the here and now, it was a pretty good day today. Mainly because after weeks of waiting, Kakashi's contacts had finally found his quarry. Now, Naruto's killer would be brought back to the village to face justice from the Hokage herself. He didn't care how much the civilian ass-kissers wanted their precious "Last Uchiha" to be spared any punishment; he was going to see to it that the worst punishment would be issued forth as is reasonable. As loath as he was to admit it, the Sharingan was still a very potent weapon in the hands of a pureblood Uchiha, but only as long as the weapon was raised and trained right. Hopefully, also out of Shimura Danzo's filthy hands to boot.

It took a bit of convincing, but he was able to get Tsunade to make this an off-the-books mission. If he were to be seen in any of the shinobi villages, she would be forced to deny all existence of him. All his records would be destroyed, and he would be branded as an S-class nuke-nin if he failed in his mission that 'never happened.' Given his own failings, Kakashi thought it was a fitting consequence for his mistakes as a teacher.

"Just you wait…I'll get to you soon enough." he said to himself, looking forward to completing this mission. "And believe me, you're way past a slap on the wrist now."

[Naruto and Ghost]

It took a few days of travel on foot, but Naruto was able to follow Ghost to where it wanted to go. The little machine had advised him to grab some climbing gear due to the fact that he was going into a cave with a deep pit. For some reason, he no longer had the ability to walk up and down walls…nor was he able to create even a single kage bunshin for seeing what was down there.

As he tied the rope down at a sturdy piece of rock, Naruto secured a hook to the rope. "What am I looking for down there?"

"Apart from death, something that will take you to that person faster." answered Ghost, "I've only been reactivated recently. However, my list of functions will allow me to make field repairs. Other than that, you will have to maintain the vessel yourself."

After being satisfied with how tight the rope was, Naruto began to rappel down the steep wall. "Well, whatever it is down here, I hope you're your friend's explanation is worth you getting rid of my chakra."

"We'll see indeed."

A half hour of rappelling down a steep rock wall had found Naruto's feet touching solid ground. Once he found a good footing, he turned on his flashlight, and followed Ghost to wherever it was going. The light had periodically turned to the ground so that he would avoid stepping on anything dangerous…luckily, there were no bats around.

Eventually, the two of them had finally come up to a very large and strange machine. It had a streamlined appearance that swept up to the front in a pair of prongs, and its front profile made it look like a giant 'X'. On its back was another pair of fins that formed a V-shape, and it had a pair of boxes at the bottom with round protrusions sticking out. At the wings near the body of the machine was a pair of flat, rectangular shapes that pointed forward. Time was not so kind to the machine's indigo and orange paint job, but that simply gave it a sort of antiquated beauty that added to the wonder Naruto felt when he gave it a look-over. "What is this thing?"

"A Jumpship," answered Ghost, hovering near the machine. It emitted a cone of bluish light as it inspected the now-named Jumpship. "This will be the vessel that will take you to where my creator is located. I've found it years ago, I can only hope that it's still functioning…" before it could finish its sentence, the machine gave a lively whine. "Yes! We're in luck!"

The Ghost vanished in a puff of smoke. "Guardian, wait just a moment. I'm going to warp you into the ship."

Naruto wondered exactly what the little machine meant, until he saw a cone of bluish light surrounding him. He was just about to ask when his vision was engulfed in light, and he found himself sitting on a soft seat with complicated-looking controls at his fingertips. Strange noises began to fill the air, before the area around him was covered in screens that were covered in strange text that were eventually translated to Kanji and Kana before they showed images that were apparently around the Jumpship. "What the hell is this?"

"You are in the cockpit of the Jumpship…well, your Jumpship now." Ghost explained, appearing next to Naruto's head. "The machine inside has identified you as its master. With this, you don't have to walk to most of your destinations anymore."

This was actually too cool to believe. Even more so when Naruto realized that he knew how to fly this thing. Deciding to have a little fun, and to test out his new flying machine, he gave mental commands to the Jumpship fly out of the cave. Next thing he knew, he was soaring in the clouds, spinning his vehicle in what he now knew as a 'barrel roll,' as well as flipping it over in wide 'Immelmann turns.' He felt the adrenaline pumping through his veins the second he performed the various maneuvers that his muscle-memory prompted him to try out.

"If you're done having fun, we have somewhere to go to."

"Tell me where to go." Naruto said, slowing down his flight.

"We have to head to a location to the east. It's in the middle of the ocean, so you can't miss it."

Whatever it was that Ghost's friend wanted to talk to him about, it was surely going to be a very long talk.

A/N: A bit short, but what did you expect from a pilot episode?

Anyway, it should be pretty obvious as to whom Naruto is meeting. Right now however, I'm undecided on a couple of things. One of which being what kind of Guardian Naruto could be (right now, I'm leaning towards Sunsinger or Stormcaller as his starting Class, with a preference for Hand-Cannons). The other being Sasuke's gender in this story (I'll decide what happens later, but suggestions would be nice).

Anyway, in the words of Variks, the Loyal: "Make reviews classy, or die. Your choice."

Cameos/References

The Jumpship—Gloriole Jump