Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Sonic franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.
Thanks for reading and please enjoy
A Maelstrom's Mobius Misadventures
-Chapter 1-
It was a lovely sunny day within the village of Konohagakure, with birds chirping as they soared through the clear skies and a gentle cooling breeze blowing by. And it was here that we find a certain whisker-faced orange clad boy otherwise known as Naruto Uzumaki making his way down the street looking like he just got the crap beat out of him.
His signature orange jacket had covered in mud stains and sported a quite few tears while the front was opened up to show some bandages wrapped around his chest. Even more wrappings were tied around one of his hands and more than a few band-aids could be found smattered across his body, most predominately the large one that was covering most of his left cheek.
Yet despite his battered appearance, the blonde couldn't have looked any happier with a huge grin on his lips as he stepped into his favorite food stand ever, Ichiraku's Ramen. Hopping into the nearest open stool, he cleared his throat loudly while pulling a toad shaped wallet and slapping it on the counter. "Hey Teuchi-Jiji, I'll take three Narutomaki Specials please."
"The usual, got it," Teuchi, an elderly man that stood behind the counter, said with a grin as he began preparing everything with practiced ease. However, his good mood quickly faltered when he finally noticed the boy's roughed up state, an exasperated sigh escaping his lips while chopping ingredients. "Another rough day at training I see."
"You know it! I ran into Tenten, that girl with all the weapons I told you about from the prelims, and she agreed to spar for a bit!" Naruto exclaimed happily, stretching in his seat until his back popped with a satisfying *crack*. "Man you should have seen it, her aim alone was crazy. I swear she pinned a mosquito to a tree from a hundred yards without killing it."
"I could believe it," The elderly ramen chef said while looking over the boy's various injuries in concern. "However, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you just in here this morning complaining about having been told to take the day off because you overworked yourself… again?"
The slight flinch he got at that question was all the answer he needed.
"Oh… did I say that? I don't seem to remember, maybe you were just hearing things," Naruto scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile, trying to play if off. However, all he managed to do was earn himself a dry look from Teuchi as he served up his first bowl, making the whiskered blonde deflate in his seat. "Come on Jiji, don't be like that. The finals for the Chunin Exams are just three weeks away, I don't have time for taking a day off."
Rather than say anything in response all the elderly cook did was shake his head with an exasperated yet amused shake of his head and get to work on the next bowl. He knew better than trying to argue with the orange clad genin once he had his mind set on something, it was about as effective as arguing with a brick wall.
Seeing this as a victory, Naruto grinned brightly while he picked up a pair of chopsticks and scooping up a big heap from his bowl. Drool oozed from his lips as the delectable scent wafted into his nostrils, his stomach roaring in anticipation for the coming meal.
"Itadakima-OW!" Sadly, those heavenly broth soaked would never reach their rightful place in his mouth as a slender hand suddenly grabbed his ear and gave it a harsh tug. "Ow! Ow! Hey, let me go!"
Dropping his food, the blond quickly grabbed the offending limb and tried to pry the offending limb off as he spun around to face the culprit. The moment he laid eyes upon the one who was responsible though, any and all protest abruptly died before it could even make it past his lips. Towering over him was a young woman with long brown hair held back by a white bandana and charcoal black eyes stared down at him with a disappointed glare.
This was Ayame Ichiraku, daughter of Teuchi and fellow ramen maker, although at the moment it seemed she was more interested in hacking up some Narutomaki, or more specifically Naruto himself.
"A-Ayame-nee… I didn't see you… how's it going?" He nervously stuttered out with a wobbly smile before yelping when Ayame pulled on his ear even harder.
"What's this I was hearing about you going to train after being specifically told not too?" She demanded while dragging the blond up to his feet.
"Owww! Ease up will ya!?" Naruto yelled out while tugging back, struggling to get himself free until Ayame finally let him go. Rubbing his throbbing ear with a grimace, the whisker-faced teen held up his free hand in surrender as he felt the brunette's gaze continue to bore into him. "It's not that big a deal Ayame, I just had a little spar, honest."
"Oh really," Ayame grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled up his sleeve to reveal the bandages that were wrapped up all the way to his elbow. However, this also exposed the deep red stain running almost the entire length that had already seeped through the white cloth. "You call this not a big deal?"
Chuckling awkwardly, Naruto quickly yanked his arm free and hid it behind his back while slowly backing away from the upset girl, only to end up bumping into the counter.
"Well maybe things got a little rough-YEOWCH!" Was about as far as he managed to get before Ayame grabbed his other ear and gave it a VERY strong tug. "Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry nee-chan! I won't do anymore training today! Promise!"
"That's better." The young ramen chef said with a nod, letting the blonde go once more and joining her father behind the counter, the heading straight into the storage room.
Meanwhile, after sinking back into his seat, Naruto groaned in pain while nursing both sides of his head. "I should have seen that coming."
"You really should have," Teuchi said with a chuckle, ignoring the dour look Naruto gave him as he set the last bowl of the battered blonde's order out for him. "You know how worried about you she's been lately, ever since you've gotten that headband you've been an even bigger trouble magnet then ever."
"Hey… I'm not that…" Naruto started to say, only to trail off when Teuchi gave him a very pointed look. "Alright, so maybe I'm a little accident prone at times."
Before the chef could say anything, a ladle shot out and whapped the blonde over the head, curtesy of a returned Ayame. She wasn't alone though as she cradled a pure white bunny in her free arm that sniffed the air as it looked around curiously, a little black handkerchief wrapped around its neck with the Kanji for "Senbon" stitched on the back in gold.
"You forgot to add reckless, irresponsible, and completely foolhardy." She stated as she walked back around and took a seat beside the blonde.
"Don't think I have forgotten what you told us about your first mission outside of the village mister impale-himself, or what happened during the first two parts of these exams," Ayame continued before muttering a soft thanks to her father when he served her a bowl as well before he went off to make a fresh batch of noodles. At the same time, she gently set the bunny down on the counter, only for the little white bundle of fur to hop straight onto Naruto's lap and curl into a ball. "Every time there's danger of any sort you run straight for it like an all you can eat ramen buffet."
"Hey, it's not like I go out of my way looking for trouble," The whiskered teen said while gently scratching the bunny's ears, earning a content clucking from the bunny as it snuggled against his belly. "And besides, if it wasn't for the whole mess during the first mission, you wouldn't have Senbon here to spoil all day. Isn't that right little guy?"
Sadly though, his attempts at appeasing the brunette were proven to be in vain, evident by a swift strike across his noggin by her mighty ladle. "This isn't a joke Naruto, you are going to get yourself killed if you keep acting so-"
…
…
"Hm?" Teuchi stopped mid-mix with a confused grunt when his ramen stand was suddenly filled with nothing but silence. Looking up from his work to see what was going on, the elderly cook grew even more confused upon finding that that Ayame, Naruto, and Senbon were nowhere to be found, their seats just empty and food completely untouched.
Stepping out of his stand, he looked around for any sign of the squabbling duo outside but was once again met with nothing aside from a few random passerby.
"Where did those two go?"
-Meanwhile, Location Unknown-
Within a brightly lit room made completely out of pale gleaming metal sat a complex looking device consisting of a raised circular platform and a trio of equidistant metal spires rising around it like claws.
[All systems powered, commencing preliminary energization test sequence gamma.] A synthetic male voice said as the machine was enveloped by a soft green glow and a thick glass cylinder was lowered from the ceiling over the platform, locking into place with a *Hiss*. A rhythmic hum filled the air in sync with pulses of energy that flowed across the strange device, gradually growing fast and faster with each passing moment.
Then with one last vibrant pulse, a static-like flicker filled the empty cylinder before a familiar trio seemed to just pop into existence within, floating in the air like they were still in their chairs.
"-Care-AH!" Ayame yelped in shock as she suddenly found herself falling on her ass once gravity took back over.
Naruto was much quicker to react thanks to his natural reflexes and landed nimbly landed on feet with his hands darting out to catch Senbon midfall. Gently tucking the furball under his arm, the blonde quickly went to help Ayame back to her feet. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but what the hell just happened?" She grumbled while rubbing her rear end with a grimace, before her expression turned to one of confusion when she noticed their surroundings. "And more importantly what is this place?"
"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling it's no place good," Naruto handed Senbon over to his sister-figure and walked up to the closet part of the tube, running one hand along the glass while rapping against it with the other. "I know one thing though, we're not sticking around long enough to find out."
Rearing an arm back, the blonde clenched his fist and slammed it into the glass as hard as he could, causing the entire cylinder to tremble. Yet all this managed to achieve in the end was a minute crack, barely even an inch big, where he'd struck.
[Alert! Intruders detected! Alert! Intruders detected in Research Lab One Four Four!] Correction, it also set off the alarms.
"Or maybe we are, stay behind me." Naruto jumped back and stood in front of Ayame protectively with his fists held up as a part of the ceiling just outside the tube opened up to allow a screen on a mechanical arm to be lowered into view.
[Well, well, well, what do we have here? Two little rats caught in my trap] A cruel voice echoed out as the screen turned on to reveal quite possibly the ugliest face the duo had ever seen. It was a man with bulbous head, completely bald with two metal caps where the ears would have been, and a messy orange mustache. His ridiculously large mouth was set in a dark grin that caused his neck to fold over in a flabby mess while deep red irises gleamed with interest from the black abyss of his eyes. [And what a surprise, I'd expected to see that miserable Hedgehog and his little friends, not two fellow Overlanders. It would seem my Robo-Porter does need a few adjustments after all]
If one were to look closely they could almost see the question marks floating around Naruto and Ayame's head as they took in the man's words. Overlanders, a trap, and did he say something about a Hedgehog?
'Great, we've been kidnapped by a deranged psycho…' Ayame thought with a nervous shiver, hugging Senbon close.
"Okay, first off asshole, we have no idea who the hell you are or what the hell you're talking about," Naruto said while cracking his knuckles, causing the smug look on the man's face to vanish. "And quite frankly I don't give a fuck either. You kidnapped us and that's all I need to know. Now I'm gonna give you five seconds to let us out of here otherwise I'm gonna introduce your face to the bottom of my foot. And trust me… the meeting will be intimate."
…
"D-did you seriously just threaten and insult the crazy man holding us prisoner!?" Ayame whisper-screamed into Naruto's ear, cowering even further behind him when she noticed the sadistic smile forming on said crazy man's lips.
Naruto didn't say anything back, merely reaching into his kunai pouch while keeping his attention focused solely on their captor who burst into a fit of chuckles. [My oh my, you are quite a mouthy one aren't you? You must really not know who I am if you dare speak so callously with me, well boy allow me to introduce myself. I am Ivo Robotnik, but you could get used to calling me by my proper title, master.]
"…Times up." Was all the blonde said just before he and Ayame were enveloped by a large puff of smoke that completely filled their glass prison.
[Hahaha! And what pray tell was that supposed to accomplish exactly?] Another laugh escaped the now named Robotnik's lips. [You must be as dumb as you are loud if you think a little smoke would-]
The sadistic scientist was cut off by a bunch of loud grinding screeches and something flashing inside the smog filled cylinder. Several lines started to form all over the glass a second later before the entire thing suddenly just fell to pieces.
Without anything keeping it in place anymore, the smoke drifted away to reveal Naruto standing over a huddled Ayame and Senbon protectively while hefting a colossal sword onto his shoulder that he definitely hadn't had a second ago. Almost twice as long as he is tall and over a foot wide with a single razor-sharp edge, the weapon looked eerily similar to a giant butcher's knife, even complete with a large circular gap near the end of the blade and a half circle divot a foot or so up the blade's base.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," He said before appearing right in front of the screen in the blink of an eye and spearing his sword straight through it. Pulling his blade free with a tug, the blonde was quick to swing again, this time slicing the entire device clean in half for good measure. Naruto then bolted back to the platform, grabbing Ayame by the shoulder and pulling her back up to her feet. "We need to get moving, it's never that easy."
"R-right." The brunette stuttered out, her entire body trembling as she unsteadily followed the orange-clad teen's lead, hugging an equally shaking Senbon to her chest for comfort.
Thankfully finding a way out wasn't a problem, there was only one door to try and all it took was a single swing from Naruto's cleaver to smash the thing open.
[Targets acquired] "Shit!"
The couple dozen armed robots grouped up in the hallways on the other side of it however were another issue entirely…
Using his sword as a shield, Naruto grunted as laser bolts slammed into it, pushing him back several inches until he managed to ground himself by impaling his weapon into the floor.
"Like I said, never that easy!" He yelled over the gun fire and explosions, grabbing Ayame holding her close as several rounds flew dangerous close by.
[What do you think of my SWATbots brat? They will make you pay for destroying my Robo-Porter!] Robotnik's voice echoed out as his face appeared on several different screens placed all over the place. [You may as well surrender now and I might just let you live still]
"Oh shut up already you-Fuck!" Naruto started to yell back only to be cut off when a lucky shot bounced off the door frame and struck his shoulder. Grabbing the wound with a hiss, he hugged the back of his blade while carefully peering through the divot in the sword's blade, doing his best to note where all of the bots were before making a cross shape with his hands. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A massive cloud of smoke erupted all around the blonde once more, causing the assailing robots to briefly stop firing. Looking for any signs of their quarry, they held position and waited for the smoke to clear with their guns trained and ready to fire again at a moment's notice.
[What are you doing you buckets of bolts!? Keep firing! Keep Firing!] This apparently wasn't enough for the obese man in charge though as he screamed at them at the top of his lungs. To be fair, his worries were well founded as a dozen whiskered blondes rocketed out of the smoke and straight at the robots, slamming into them before most of them could even pull the trigger. [What?! What is this madness!? No Overlander can do that!]
"That's cause I'm not an Overlander!" One Naruto shouted back while ripping a nearby screen off the wall and smashing it over a SWATbot's head. Grabbing it by the shoulders as it stumbled back, he then hoisted the entire robot into the air and slammed it into another one hard enough they exploded apart in a shower of parts and oil.
"I'm a Ninja!" Another said while stabbing a kunai through a bot's eye before bursting into smoke when it got shot in the back.
Vengeance came swiftly for that particular clone as the original sliced the robot responsible clean in half as he charged through the battle zone, sword in hand and a terrified Ayame clinging to his back. Not bothering to even look at what he cut, Naruto simply hacked at anything in his path with wide sweeping swings until he finally burst out the other side of the clusterfuck of clones and bots.
With nothing obstructing his way now, the blonde put the sandal to the metal and bolted away as fast as possible, turning into naught but a screaming orange and white blur zig-zagging through the hallways.
'Dammit, which way is out of here? Everything looks the same!' Naruto thought with a frown as he ran through the maze of corridors, checking room after room to no avail and leaving a mess of destroyed doors in his wake. Partially prying one particularly large door open, he took a glance inside before immediately stepping back and slamming it shut as a large laser blast narrowly missed his head. 'Definitely not that way, god what I wouldn't do for a map right now.'
The next few doors held similar receptions, with more of those SWATbots appearing around each corner. Thankfully they were really slow, at least compared to a ninja, so all he had to do was keep running and occasionally leave a few clones to keep them preoccupied.
As he was dashing through what had to be the hundredth doorway though, Naruto stumbled when part of the floor suddenly opened up and his foot sank into a pool of thick green slime.
"Shit! I'm stuck!" The blonde swore as he tried to pull his leg free, only for the viscous sludge to keep a firm grasp, holding him in place like glue. "What is this stuff?"
[That would be good old fashioned Mega-Muck, a classic of mine for dealing with speedy little pests like yourself] Robotnik's voice rang out from seemingly all directions once more while part of a wall rose up to reveal a large energy cannon. [Now be good and hold still… this will only hurt immensely]
"Oh son of a-" Thinking fast, Naruto tossed Ayame and Senbon off his back and out of the line of fire before holding up his sword defensively just as the weapon fired a massive beam of energy.
"Naruto!?" Ayame screamed in horror as she could do nothing but watch the whiskered blonde be engulfed by the blast, shielding her eyes as the light seared her eyes.
[Hahaha! And that's what happens to those who dare oppose me] Sadistic laughter filled the hallway as the blast died down, leaving the hall scorched and half molten with smoke lazily drifting through the air. [I had been planning to save that one for that miserable no good Hedgehog but this seems like a good test run at least.]
"You better go back to the drawing board then fatass."
[What?!] Was all Robotnik managed to get out before a familiar sword flew across the hall, it's blade glowing bright red as it sliced through the wall mounted cannon with ease. This also had the added benefit of clearing away the last bit of smog to reveal a very annoyed Naruto, several parts of his outfit smoldering, his face a sunburnt red, and the sleeve on his left arm was almost completely burnt off with the flesh underneath covered in second degree burns. [Impossible! How are you still alive?!]
"Trade secret," Naruto stated while pulling his foot free of the Mega-Muck, the heat of the blast having baked the once sticky substance into harmless rock that shattered like glass with a single tug. Zipping across the hall to the destroyed cannon, he grabbed the handle of his sword and tore it free, twirling it several times to help cool the superheated blade back down. "Oh, and thanks for showing us the exit finally."
[What foolishness are you spewing now?] Naruto could practically see the confused look Robotnik had as his disembodied voice echoed through the corridor, causing the blonde's lip to twitch upwards despite his current condition.
"It's simply really," Jumping back to Ayame and Senbon, Naruto quickly grabbed them and slung them onto his back before running straight back the way he came. The reason for this was made clear almost immediately though as he hopped straight through the gaping hole the cannon blast had left in the wall, and every other wall behind it. "You just opened the front door for us."
[AAAGH! Don't think I'll let you get away with this! You will pay!] Robotnik screamed after the fleeing group, his enraged shouts echoing ominously through the damaged building.
"Jeez, that guy really can't shut… up…" Whatever snappy quip Naruto was about to say died on his lips when he reached the last hole and found himself outside at last. His eyes widened in disbelief as he was greeted to the sight of a huge sprawling city with hundreds of tall gleaming metal buildings stretching high into the sky, with him and Ayame being about halfway up one of the tallest.
The sky was choked with clouds of pitch-black smog that was spewed out of massive factories that made it almost impossible to tell whether it was day or night. Rubble and garbage littered almost every street, piled up in massive heaps haphazardly, and the only form of natural life to be found were old dead trees that looked ready to crumple into dust at any moment.
"Where the hell are we?" Naruto muttered to himself under his breath, his gaze sweeping over the entire city several times as he tried and failed to comprehend what he was seeing. He was snapped out of his thoughts though when a marching sound from behind reminded him that they weren't out of the woods yet, figuratively at least. "Hold on tight Ayame, we're taking the express route down."
"I was afraid you were going to say that." The brunette whimpered as she clung as tightly as she could while Senbon buried himself even further into her robe with a nervous squeak.
Then without further ado… Naruto jumped.
A few moments later a horde of SWATbots swarmed the gap in the building, their red visors roving around the area in apparent confusion. One even peeked over the edge, looking at the ground below in search of their missing quarry only to met with nothing but rubble and dead trees. [No sign of targets, it appears they've escaped the premises]
[Then deploy the Hover-Swats! I want them found and destroyed immediately] The sound of something breaking echoed over the radio as Robotnik yelled, the rage in his voice palpable to those listening.
[Right away master] The robots all said in unison before marching away to do as they were told. As soon as they were out of sight, a 'pile of rubble' on the ground crumpled away into a pile of cloth to reveal the fugitives underneath.
"Ninja tarp, never leave home without it." Naruto said with a smirk, stuffing said tarp back into a pocket while hurrying into a nearby alleyway and disappearing into the shadows. Sprinting along the narrow path, he did his best to stay low and under cover, his eyes and ears peeled for any sign of danger.
Only once he was he was certain they were out of sight did the burnt blonde stop running to catch his breath. Leaning against a pile of broken electronics, his sword clattered against the ground as he grabbed his burnt arm with a grunt.
"Naruto? A-are you okay?" Her concern for the boy overriding her terror, Ayame got off his back and knelt beside him to get a better look at his injuries. However before she could get more than a glimpse Naruto pulled the limb and pointedly keeping it out of her line of sight.
"Don't worry about it, I've had worse than this before," He quickly waved her off before grabbing his weapon and slinging it onto his shoulder. "Besides we have bigger problems to worry about, like getting the hell out of this place."
"And how are we gonna do that? We d-don't even know where here is," The brunette pointed out, her shoulders starting to tremble again as she hugged Senbon for comfort. "I-I've never even heard about a p-place like this before."
"Me either, which is just all the more reason too-" Naruto froze mid-sentence when he heard something clatter to the ground, his head snapping towards the source of the noise. Without hesitation he slashed at a nearby canister and split it clean in two, revealing a figure that had been hiding behind it with a startled yelp.
Before whoever it was could react the blonde appeared right in front of them in the blink of an eye and slammed into them with a shoulder bash that knocked them into an alley wall. Stunned, the figure could do nothing as Naruto charged them again, his blade gleaming in the dim light as he swung.
"No! Wait!" *Clang*
Naruto's breathing was short and ragged as he glared at the figure, their neck trapped in place by the divot of his blade. However, after a few moments, the anger on his face faded away into confusion once he actually got a good look at who he'd attacked.
Rather than another robot like he'd expected, the whiskered blonde instead found himself face to face with… an anthro chipmunk girl? "What… the… fuck?"
-End Chapter-