*This story will probably be continued once my story Magik is completed. It was popular and generally well received though it has some weak points I'd like to iron out.

Enjoy!

Naruto: Reign of Fire

Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the X-Men

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This is an idea that I've been pondering a long time. Many people who've read my story Naruto: Magikhave requested that the characters go to the Marvel universe but the idea never really jelled for me. I tried to go with that idea and came up with something else entirely. This story is the result. It's a cross over between Naruto and X-men featuring the characters Uzumaki Naruto and Rachel Grey Summers. This takes place during Rachel's role as Phoenix in Excalibur. Specifically it will take place during the aftermath of the Marvel Inferno crossover from the 90's (Excalibur #6). I originally considered placing it under the Excalibur section but considering the many X-characters involved I felt it would be better under the X-Men category. This will take place in the Marvel Universe (Earth-616) and the only characters from Naruto I have planned to be in this story (other than in flashbacks) are Uzumaki Naruto himself and his partner Kurama.

A couple of words of warning: I haven't read the X-men or Excalibur series of comics in over a decade and I no longer have them to reference so if I get some details off bear with me; I'm going from memory. Another thing is I really don't know modern X-Men lore. For instance; I know Rachel Summers/Phoenix is now Rachel Grey/Marvel Girl. I don't know the full story behind it but I'm not concerned about it either since it's irrelevant to this story.

As for Naruto's timeline it takes place after the battle between Kakashi, Gai and Naruto vs. Obito in Naruto chapter 596. I'm tagging Naruto and Rachel as both approximately 17 years old. For the sake of references I'm using Narutopedia and the X-Men Wiki.

{ } signifies Japanese

Chapter 1

New York Harbor, New York City, United States

A young man from the Elemental Nations was staring up at the sight before him. A colossal statue of a woman holding up a torch was towering over him and beyond it was a massive metropolis far beyond anything he'd ever imagined. Uzumaki Naruto had one overriding line of thought on his mind: "JUST WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO KAKASHI-SENSEI?! WHERE IN THE HELL AM I?!" ….Okay, that was two thoughts actually.

Naruto had been battling Tobi. Gai-sensei provided a distraction and Naruto tried to strike Tobi with a rasengan. The rasengan vanished in Kakashi's sharingan jutsu called kamui….Then what? Then next thing Naruto knew was he was fifty feet in the air and fell down into the water of this place; wherever it was….

"Any ideas Kurama?" asked the waterlogged blonde as he bobbed in the water regaining his strength. "I've never even seen pictures of a place like this….it seems so polluted here. It's like nature got stomped down or something judging by the chakra in the air."

Kurama was looking out through his partner's shocked eyes and couldn't believe it either. "I don't have any idea Naruto. Your stupid sensei was using a space time ninjutsu so we could have been sent through time or space OR both. In my centuries of existence I've never seen anything like that city. To think you humans could make something so huge is both impressive and appalling at the same time."

Naruto focused his chakra and climbed up onto the surface of the water before he started trudging over towards the island that had the big statue on it….

Manhattan Island

Rachel Summers (AKA Phoenix) was recovering from the awful nightmare that took place known as Inferno. She had been trapped in a wedding gown by a lesser demon named Crotus. She could only thank the heavens she escaped the wedding ceremony that was set up. Frankly, the redheaded teen would have liked to have hidden under a rock for a few decades after what she'd been through. Her Team Excalibur wasn't much better. Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Captain Britain and Meggan had all been through their own trials during this mess and came out worse for wear. Rachel was sitting on top of the Chrysler Building skyscraper and was overlooking New York's scenery….

Actually, her mind wasn't on the scenery at all. The people in the city below had no idea that Inferno even happened. They were oblivious to the fact heroes had risked their lives to save them….sometimes Rachel wished she was just one of those mindless citizens below and didn't have to worry about demonic invasions, super villains, aliens, evil mutants….the list went on. The truth was Rachel flew up to this high perch to tune everything out and vegetate. Her teammates were safe at a hotel though they were exhausted and Rachel just needed some alone time alone.

That's when she sensed some psychic activity to the south of where she was. Tiredly calling on the powers of the Phoenix Force that permeated every fiber of her being; Rachel Summers telepathically zoomed in on the Statue of Liberty which was southwest of her location in Manhattan.

Ellis Island

Naruto was in Nine tails chakra mode deflecting bullets off of him as armed people shouted at him in a language he didn't understand. Frankly the young jinchūriki was starting to get pissed….

Flashback….

Naruto water walked over to this island using normal chakra and soon people started shouting and pointing. Hadn't they ever seen someone water walk before? That's when several men in uniforms rushed down towards him as he came up on the shore. At first they were yelling at him angrily and then he saw them pointing the ends of metal tubes at him. He remembered a slow hunting weapon called a gun back in the Elemental Nations. They were pretty useless against a ninja and made a lot of noise. He told them to just leave him alone but then one of them shot at him. Naruto easily dodged but that caused the others to open fire en masse and Naruto had to activate his fiery chakra cloak to stop the hail of bullets raining down upon him….

Flashback End….

Naruto yelled, {"You bastards had better stop this before I come over there and make you stop! I'm getting sick of this really fast."}

The captain of the guards said, "It must be one of them muties! He's come to destroy the Statue of Liberty! We have to stop him at all costs!"

Naruto was losing his patience fast. 'Who are these people and why are they attacking me? They look like armed civilians. If I counterattack I'll probably kill them.'

'I hate to say this Naruto but more of them are coming.' said Kurama. 'You could probably knock them senseless and make them run.'

'I really can't bring myself to risk civilian lives that way Kurama, I- Wait a minute! I sense a mass of sage chakra closing on us fast.' thought Naruto to his furry partner.

The guards and Naruto all looked up and saw a bird of fire blazing roar in above them….Phoenix was angry. She sensed the psychic presences and moods of these people and this apparent mutant hadn't done a damn thing that was even remotely hostile and the stupid guards just attacked him without any provocation at all. She'd seen this hatred in mutant purges in her own timeline….Rachel's gut reaction was to fry their fucking minds just to make an example of them. In the end it wouldn't solve anything though. Swooping down near Naruto; Rachel yelled to him over the gunfire, "Are you okay?"

Naruto could tell this woman sage didn't seem to be hostile (she was using her chakra wings to shield them both). The problem was she spoke the same language that the people attacking him did. {"I don't understand you lady sage!"} he called.

'Was that Japanese?' thought Rachel to herself. She struggled for a moment as she recalled the Japanese Professor X taught her psychically. {"Hello? Can you understand me? We have to get away from here!"} she said in clipped Japanese.

Naruto smiled and said {"Finally; someone I can talk to! How can we leave quickly?"}

Relieved that the (apparently) Japanese mutant understood her, Rachel said, {"I'm a telekinetic. I'll fly us out. Hold on!"}

{"You're a tele-what?! WHOA!"} was the last thing Naruto yelled out before he was pulled off at incredible speed by Phoenix.

On Ellis Island below the guards were thinking they'd injured one or both of the mutants and forced them to run. "Stay out of our country muties!" yelled one of the guards in jubilation.

Rachel heard the parting short of the 'victorious' guard and remembered part of the inscription on the Statue of Liberty….

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

'….What a joke….' she thought bitterly to herself. '….I guess it doesn't apply to mutants….'

For his part Naruto was wondering just how fast and how high they were going to travel. {"Ummm….Just where are we going lady sage?"} he asked nervously.

Picking up on his worry Rachel smiled back at the young man who was cloaked in flames much like her own and said. {"Don't worry. I'm going to circle around and land us someplace safe. I just had to get us away from them."}

Naruto nodded and let out a breath of relief. Letting himself relax a little bit, Naruto allowed his own sage chakra to mingle with that of Phoenix Force around him….'It feels amazing….' he thought to himself. 'She's really in tune with nature chakra, even more so than I am. I guess I'll just have to train harder.'

For her part Rachel was shocked. 'The Phoenix Force….It likes him?!' She could feel her energies interacting harmoniously with the man beside her. 'It feels like he's meant to be here. What is he?'

Rachel zoomed downwards before a low level pull up and landed them out in a secluded area of a park where it was quiet. Setting Naruto safely on the ground, she immediately let go of her Phoenix form and said in a friendly manner, {"I go by Phoenix; what's your name?"} She quickly got embarrassed and mortified as Naruto dropped his chakra cloak and immediately began violently vomiting. Rachel sweat dropped as she thought, 'I guess I pulled a few too many high-g maneuvers.'

Naruto regained control over his innards a few minutes later and said weakly. {"I was fine until that last high speed dive. Everything came back up then."}

{"I'm really sorry about that!"} fretted Rachel. {"Are you okay now?"} Looking at the mess Naruto just heaved up she thought, 'Of course he's not okay Summers! He looks like he's going to die! Are you stupid girl?!'

Coughing, Naruto moved a fair distance from where he'd lost his lunch, pulled out a scroll and unsealed a canteen of cool water. Taking a few sips he said, {"I'm okay now Phoenix-san. My name is Naruto and I'm in you debt for helping me with those civilians. You have my thanks."}

Rachel still felt really bad but was very curious about this young man. The feelings she got through the Phoenix Force aside he really didn't look all that Japanese and he looked young like her. He had spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. He had some Asian features about his face but in general he could blend in fairly easy as an American. 'He's rather handsome.' she thought to herself. {"Sorry Naruto-san, I still should have been more careful."} Rachel said apologetically. {So where are you from? You speak Japanese but never would have guessed you were from Japan based on appearances."}

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. {I'm not from this 'Japan' place. I'm from Konoha in the Elemental Nations. I've never even heard of Japan. Where are we anyway? I've never seen any place like that massive city we are in and I've never heard the language around here. What country is this?"}

Now it was Rachel's turn to raise her eyebrows. 'Elemental Nations? Is he from an alternate timeline or something like I am? Come to think of it those tattoos on his cheeks look like hound tattoos like I have on mine….' {"Ummm….Naruto-san; we're in the United States and the main language here is English. Does any of that sound familiar? I've never heard of Konoha."}

Naruto scrunched up his face in concentration and Rachel thought it was rather cute. Then he said, {"Nope, I've never heard of either. You may not have heard of Konoha because it's a Ninja Village. They aren't exactly known to everybody."}

{"You're a ninja?"} she asked surprised. 'He's wearing orange! Ninjas don't wear orange; or at least none I've seen do. Kitty wears dark colors and she has ninja training. I'll have to ask her.' Then Rachel noticed he had kunai and shuriken holsters. 'Then again, maybe he is….' {"I think you'd better conceal those weapons. It's illegal to carry them openly here."}

The blonde ninja nodded and quickly hid his gear inside his orange and black jacket. Naruto then said, {"Well, one thing's for sure; I'm a stranger in a strange land. If you hadn't showed up I would probably still be on that island with the giant statue of a woman."}

Rachel laughed. 'Well, there's no doubt now if he doesn't recognize that statue.' {"That's called the Statue of Liberty Naruto-san. If you haven't heard of it then you really aren't from around here. Maybe I can help you."}

Naruto smiled happily. {"You have a nice laugh. It would be great if you'd help me out."}

Rachel smiled and blushed a tiny bit. {"Let's start by teaching you English. I can teach you telepathically but it may be a bit disorienting."}

Getting a rather pale look Naruto asked, {"It won't make me throw up again will it?"}

The redhead waved her hands. {"No, no! Of course not. Or at least I hope not."}

Seeing the panicked look in her green eyes Naruto said, {So you can just teach my brain directly?"} Seeing her nod he said, {"Huh, sounds like a Yamanaka technique. Okay, let's try it."}

Surprised at his willingness, Rachel replied, {"Alright, just touch foreheads with me and close your eyes."}

Naruto blushed at the contact and closed his eyes. When he opened them he was in his mindscape with Kurama….and Rachel who was staring unabashedly at the multi story tall fox. {"Well hello there."} said Kurama to the redhead.

Rachel Summers had faced many things but this was new. {Ummm….Naruto; I didn't expect you to manifest here in your mind or have a giant fox in here with you…."} she said weakly.

{"Should I leave you two lovebirds alone Naruto?"} asked Kurama obnoxiously. {"I never thought you'd bring a vixen in here to do 'that' but then again you humans have some odd fetishes I don't profess to understand."}

Both teens blushed atomic red and Naruto yelled, {"Shut up Ero-Kitsune! Phoenix-chan is here to teach us her language you pervert!"} Rachel was too embarrassed to speak as Kurama laughed uproariously at the pair's expense.

Rachel glared furiously at Kurama in a way that reminded that ancient fox of Kushina. Kurama narrowed his eyes and said, {"You need to calm down girl. I'm here to protect Naruto if you try any mental attacks."}

She suddenly got a sheepish look on her face and said. {"I'm just here to help Naruto Mister….ummm, Fox."}

Naruto face palmed. {"Phoenix-chan; this large, obnoxious fuzzy creature is my partner Kurama, the Kyubi no Kitsune. Kurama, this is Phoenix-chan. Be nice to her."}

Kurama sighed melodramatically. {"You never let me have any fun Naruto. You are such a killjoy. Fine, I'll learn this new language since we're linked anyway. You may address me as the great and mighty Kurama-sama Phoenix-chan."}

{"Just call him Kurama."} said Naruto with a sweat drop.

Rachel nodded weakly and said. {"It's nice to meet you Kurama-san"} blocking the giant kitsune's chuckling out she said, {I'll teach you English now Naruto-san"}

In a flash Naruto's eyes were open again back at the park. He blinked a couple of times and saw Phoenix smiling in front of him. She asked, "Can you understand me now Naruto?" in English.

Naruto smiled a nodded. "What a rush! Just give me a few minutes here."

The couple was quietly talking as they sat on the ground when a police officer walked up. "Do you two kids have a reason for lying on the ground in a public park?" he saw Rachel turn to him with an embarrassed look on her face. 'Damned hormonal teenagers.' "You and your boyfriend should take it somewhere private Miss." He said sternly.

"I-it isn't like that!" stammered Rachel. "He was really sick to his stomach and I'm watching over him." she said as she pointed over to where Naruto lost the contents of his stomach a little while ago.

The officer walked over and then cringed at the mess he saw where she was pointing. "Let's get him over to a bench in the shade." he said.

Naruto really didn't need help but after sitting down at a bench near a fountain they both thanked the officer and the policeman soon went on his way. Rachel went over to a stand and bought them each a soda and Naruto got his first really good look at her. In her red dress she was a bit racy but she certainly had the body to pull it off. She also was very beautiful with her red hair. She handed him a soda with a kind smile. "Are you okay?" she asked. "You were kind of spacing off."

'Just tell her you were lusting after her hot body and amazing curves Naruto.' supplied Kurama helpfully. 'Those were your thoughts I believe.'

Naruto blushed atomic red and screamed mentally, 'Shut up Kurama; you are not helping!' as he looked away from Rachel for a moment. Tuning out the fox's laughter; the ninja coughed. "Sorry Phoenix-chan; I got distracted."

"Just call me Rachel." she said.

"Rachel?" asked the blonde.

"Phoenix is a code name for when I'm using my powers." she explained. "It's best to keep our powers hidden or people will react violently like they did at Ellis Island earlier." Seeing his look of confusion she added, "The Island with the Statue of Liberty."

"This is a strange country." said Naruto.

"You don't know the half of it." replied the redhead.

The two sat and talked for some time and Rachel found the blonde ninja was very funny and a bit devious by nature. She honestly enjoyed talking with him. They really couldn't discuss much about their powers in public but she managed to get across that people with mutant powers were very prejudiced against so he shouldn't display any abilities that a normal civilian wouldn't have. Before she knew it Rachel had spent the entire afternoon talking and laughing with Naruto as they walked around together and she was feeling better about things. His sunny disposition seemed to chase away her depression about the whole Inferno event.

That's when Rachel received a psychic call from her friend Kitty. 'Ray are you alright?' asked Kitty. 'You said you were going to step out but it's been hours.'

Rachel mentally smiled at Kitty's concern. 'I'm fine Kitty; I found a new mutant and had to rescue him. I don't think he's from this dimension. I've been walking around with him showing him places in Manhattan. He's a cool guy but he's clueless about our society. How is everyone doing?'

There was a mental pause on Kitty's end before she replied, 'Well, Brian and Meggan are feeling weak and down but Kurt seems to be doing better. I'm okay too.' Kitty then got an interested tone. 'So tell me about this mutant you found. How old is he? Is he cute?'

Rachel chuckled a little to herself. 'His name is Uzumaki Naruto. He's turning seventeen in a couple of days and he's really cute. Actually he's more handsome in my opinion. He's really nice and funny too."

Now Kitty sounded enthused. It was rare that Rachel ever talked about a guy this way. 'Well, where are you Ray? I want to meet this guy. If he's actually met the standards of the great Phoenix then I want to check him out.'

'We're by Carnegie Hall.' answered the redhead. 'You actually want me to bring him to the hotel where the team is?'

'Why not?' asked Kitty through the link. 'You're one of the most powerful telepaths in the world Ray. If he was hostile I'm sure you of all people could tell. I want to meet this guy. He sounds like he has no place to go and might turn out to be a great ally later. Come on please?' whined the phasing, semi intangible brunette.

'Alright, I'll ask.' said Rachel. Tuning out Kitty's girlish squeal; the young telepath turned to her companion who was looking at all the buildings around them in amazement. "So Naruto, do you want to meet my friends? Kitty would like to meet you." She tapped her temple to show she was communicating telepathically.

Naruto pondered a moment and then smiled. "Ummm….okay, where are they at Rachel?"

"We're staying at the Manhattan at Times Square Hotel on Brian's Visa." said Rachel. "It's about six blocks that way." she said pointing in the direction of the hotel. After Naruto agreed to go and Phoenix informed Kitty to expect them the young couple were on their way. They made it to the hotel at sunset. "Here we are." said Rachel brightly. "A couple of my friends are still tired from the trip (Rachel explained they were in battle previously) but I'm sure Kitty and Kurt will be happy to meet you." Naruto followed Rachel through the revolving doors (which where rather novel to him), through the bustling lobby and on to the elevator which took them up to the rooms that Excalibur were staying in.

Kitty was rooming with Rachel and was eagerly awaiting her friend. She'd been bored to tears and hoped that Rachel's new friend would brighten things up. Given how depressed the redhead seemed earlier when she left and how happy she sounded now (telepathically at least); Kitty was very enthused….and if he was easy on the eyes that wouldn't hurt either….Hearing the door unlocking Kitty made sure she was presentable (for the fiftieth time) and headed over to greet them. Acting casual, Kitty was halfway to the door when Rachel opened it and she and Naruto came in and closed the door behind them.

Kitty eyes took a nice long walk over Naruto's athletic frame. 'So this is him….He's blonde, has cute whisker marks and is very easy on the eyes. He has kind of a wild, untamed look about him. Nice and firm in all the right places from the looks of him although that orange is atrocious….that can be fixed though.' Kittys trained eyes suddenly widened. 'He's built like a ninja and walks like one! Does Ray know this?! I've started training her but-' Ignoring her initial reaction to ogle a cute guy, Kitty came over and said with a lot of false enthusiasm, "Hi! I'm Kitty Pryde! Are you a ninja by chance?"

Kitty expected a reaction of at least raised eyebrows but instead Naruto said happily, "Why yes I am! I'm Uzumaki Naruto; it's nice to meet you Kitty. I can tell you have ninja training yourself."

Shadowcat was taken off guard and Rachel said. "I didn't tell him. Kitty, Naruto seems to be from some other-dimensional Japan where ninjas are common. We haven't figured it out yet but I taught him English telepathically. His native language is very close to Japanese that the Professor taught me."

"Oh….I was just surprised to meet another trained in the ninja arts…." said Kitty lamely.

"That's okay." said Naruto. "From what Rachel explained to me ninjas are kind of unheard of in this country so I guess it would be surprising."

Seeing she had an easy out of a potentially awkward conversation, Kitty smiled and shook his hand. "Well it's nice to meet you Naruto. Come on in and sit down."

Rachel sighed but smiled at her friend's antics. She knew Kitty was acting in their best interests but at the same time Shadowcat kind of put her foot in her mouth….

That's when Kurt came in through the adjoining door between the rooms without his image inducer on and only in a towel. "Ah, Kitty, before Rachel gets here with her friend could you put a fresh bandage on my back…?" Then he noticed Naruto and Rachel. "Oh! Ummm….Well, this is awkward…." said Kurt laughing weakly (and bracing for the worst).

Everyone expected Naruto to totally freak out at Kurt's fuzzy blue elfin appearance but Naruto didn't bat an eyelash having seen people that were blue before like Kisame (and things that were far and away freakier like cursed seal forms). He just waved and said, "Yo!" with a double eye smile. "No offense but I'd rather see you with clothes on. Cool tail by the way."

Kurt was honestly shocked. "Ummm….My looks don't surprise you?" he asked at Naruto's completely nonchalant attitude.

Naruto shrugged, "One of my friends back home has a form that's a cross between an ox and an octopus. His name is Gyūki. He's known as the Eight-tails."

"Oh." was Kurt's rather amazed response. "Well, since we're all good here could you bandage my back Kitty?"

Kitty was face palming. She sighed. "Sure thing Kurt; I'll be right there." 'Could we make bigger fools out ourselves? Naruto must think Kurt and I are total idiots. He didn't ever blink when he saw Kurt come out. He just commented on the towel.' "Excuse me, I'll be right back guys." she said before she phased through the wall into Nightcrawler's room. Rachel and Naruto then heard Kurt scream like a little girl and say something about putting his underwear on before Kitty bandaged him.

Naruto and Rachel both sweat dropped at Shadowcat's apologies echoing back through the door. Rachel smiled at Naruto. "So an ox and an octopus huh? Sounds like an interesting guy."

The blonde chuckled and said, "Your friends are really interesting too Rachel."

It was just the beginning of their 'interesting' friendship and maybe more...

POSTSCRIPT:

A question for my readers: If I recall correctly Excalibur started in the late eighties/early nineties. Back then we had tube TVs, VCRs and desktop computers with dial-up modems and they all were huge and weighed a ton. If I was going to stay strictly canon with this timeline I'm going to have to remember all that outdated technology. Should I stick with that or take the easy road and switch us to the digital age with Wi-Fi? It's not a deal breaker but there are some readers that might not remember that stuff (Yes, the author is showing his age).

Anyway, for now this is a short little one shot. I plan to continue it someday if the reception is good and as I complete my other stories. Currently I'm backing up all of my existing stories because I'm seeing more and more signs of another purge of everything non-G rated on FF again. I hope I'm wrong and just being paranoid but better safe than sorry.

Blue out. 8/1/15