A/N: For the first submission I make in the year, I will sacrifice a number of other stories to summon this one. Approximately 2000 words, minus A/N's in 7 days.

This is started in response to the flood of stories I'd been seeing wherein we have League crosses all because of "Arcane." I haven't gotten into it yet, though I've heard it was rather good…but I figured, the Piltover and Zaun region shouldn't be the only place in Runeterra we should be covering.

Where Naruto will be put in Runeterra, I will give you until the end of the chapter to figure out.

…

[Unknown Location]

Had it not been for the dour mood in the carriage, nine-year-old Naruto would have enjoyed the scenery around him. Sitting across from him was the Hokage, who was glaring at him to stay seated.

"What're we doing here?" he asked.

"You're going to stay here for some time," answered the old man, "You've caused so much trouble, that I have to send you away."

"But those shopkeepers…"

"Save it," the Hokage interrupted, frustration clear in his voice, "I don't care whether those shopkeepers deserved it or not, I didn't enroll you into the Ninja Academy so that you can waste time and money cutting class to prank villagers just for attention. You think I don't know why you went on your stupid pranking spree for the entire school year? Your teacher Iruka did the exact same things you did for practically the same reasons…and let me tell you, he eventually grew up understanding that he was wasting his time pining for a minute of attention, good or bad.

"If you think I like having to send you away, you're wrong; I'm sending you away because you've given me no choice. We're still in a bad place because of the Kyūbi Incident; we don't have enough good Shinobi to protect the village when trouble happens, so every student that graduates matters. If that year-long pranking spree is what I can expect from you the next two times then there's no point in enrolling you in the Ninja Academy; you don't deserve to become a Ninja, let alone Hokage."

"Then why are we on this trip?" Naruto asked, almost to tears.

"I'm leaving you in a new place to learn under an old friend of mine, quite possibly one of the few true friends I still have," replied the Hokage, softening his tone, "I'm hoping that the time you spend under him will be of use to you in the long term. And no, it's not just for your pranking spree that I am sending you away; I am sending you to him so that you'll learn something that you won't find in books."

Naruto stared at the Hokage with a questioning look before turning his attention back to the countryside. "Colorful" could not even begin to describe the sights he was seeing, though he could see a lot of pink and green throughout the forested landscape, interspersed with cool grays and the occasional gold and copper tones. It was as though he'd set foot in a land ruled by cherry blossoms in the middle of the hanami.

The place the carriage stopped at was strange. It was a village, but not one like he'd known; there were no hard edges, everything looked as if the building were alive. As he walked out of the carriage with the Hokage's guard detail and his storage scroll in hand, he saw that the houses looked strange, it was as if someone took some trees, added a roof, then let nature take its course to build the house. There were no hard edges, like in the pictures he'd seen in that tour guide to Piltover…even the ones he'd seen about Noxus; every shape was smooth and organic, as if they were alive.

Dominating the view was a very large building, and apparently the only one made of stone in the entire area, with dark blue-green stone floors. The pillars were white, with hints of tree branches growing into the archways…not quite as white as those buildings he'd seen in the picture books about that place that hated wizards and ninjas with a passion, but it was plenty white. There were tall, pointed archways that allowed more light into the area, allowing the golden sun to reflect off the stone floors. Like much of the village surrounding it, the entire complex looked like it was made in such a way that the architects took great pains to work with nature rather than against it. Through the archways, Naruto was able to see a few students swinging around bokken for kata; it was clear that this was a dojo of some sort, possibly for samurai given the rigidity in their forms, which begged the question as to why the Hokage would bring him here.

"Hiruzen! My friend!" called out a wizened voice.

Naruto turned to find that the speaker was an old man striding towards the Hokage, no shortage of joviality on his features. Unlike the Hokage's goatee, the man had a short-cropped beard, his long, time-worn hair pulled into a topknot behind his head; he wore a kimono over a pair of trousers tied at his knees, and over that he wore a bright blue haori. Though he was old, Naruto could see that he was still fit for his age.

"It's been a long time!" said the apparent sensei, who turned to regard Naruto, "This is the troublemaker you've been telling me about?"

"I feel that a few years under you might quiet him down," replied the Hokage, "To be fair, he's not a bad boy…he just likes to pull pranks."

The sensei huffed. "Only a shinobi would do such a thing. Still, I wouldn't worry…I'll have him straightened out within a few years."

The Hokage turned to regard Naruto, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Pay very close attention to what my friend has to teach you, Naruto; you might learn something useful."

Watching as the Hokage and his bodyguards left, Naruto took quiet steps in an attempt to sneak back into the carriage when he felt a firm grip on his shoulder. He looked up at the arm to find the sensei's warm smile on his face. "Follow me, I'll show you where you're boarding. And don't bother trying to run away; I've fought ninjas before, so I'll know if you pull a fast one on me."

As the two of them walked the halls of the massive dojo, Naruto decided to converse with the sensei. "So, you teach swordsmanship?"

"That's one of the things I teach," answered the elder, "I hope that my lessons will be carried over into everyone's lives."

"You think I can be one of your students?"

The older man let a smile form on his face. "Learning under my guidance? You don't qualify."

"Well if I worked hard, how long do you think it's gonna take for me to learn to be a master swordsman?" Naruto asked.

"It'd take the rest of your life," answered the old man, his eyes taking on a mischievous glint.

There was something shocking about how blunt the old man's answer was. "If I took the fastest way to become a master swordsman, how long would it take?"

"Well then, you're looking at ten years give or take."

"C'mon, I still wanna be Hokage. Say I took all the shortcuts, worked hard and still wound up a master swordsman, how long would it take?"

"That's thirty years you're looking at."

"I don't understand," Naruto groused, huffing in frustration, "Taking my whole life I get, but ten years, then thirty is shorter, what's with the hike in time? What if I put my time into getting this done?"

"Well then, you're looking at seventy years to truly become a master."

Naruto scoffed…he'd given up on trying to get a direct answer from the master. A good chunk of him thought that the old man was trying to play a trick on him…the other part thought that it was some kind of first lesson the master was trying to drill into him.

The master opened the door, allowing the two of them passage into the dormitory. "This is where you'll be staying during your time here," said the old master, "I hope you will learn much in this school. As soon as you're done getting acclimated to your new lodgings, we're going back down to the training grounds."

Naruto took tentative steps in, looking at everything that was within. A single window, and a simple bed. At the corner was a hand-carved wooden table with a bouquet on top, and a dresser next to it; it was a small, Spartan apartment, but there was plenty of room for him to move. Once he was done, he walked back outside to accompany the old swordmaster back to the training grounds.

The old man led Naruto back to the training grounds, only he was quick to notice two boys sparring in a different arena. The taller one was a lanky teen with his hair done up in a topknot closely tied to his head, long bangs covering the right side of his face, a pair of bokken in hand. His opponent was a smaller boy, his hair done up in a bushy ponytail behind his head that reminded him a lot of Shikamaru back home…if Shikamaru were as hot headed as he was. The two of them seemed to be the most gifted of the students in the dojo, otherwise they would've been practicing katas along with the other students instead of sparring.

As soon as they got near, the older student was quick to notice Naruto and the old man's arrival, and just as quick to parry his younger opponent's blade. "Master, what brings you down here?"

"We have a new pupil from Devari," answered the master.

There were many whispers among the students. Devari was an island where ninjas were the predominant fighting force; however, unlike the Kinkou Order ninjas, the Devari ninja were mercenaries fighting for the highest bidder. Such was their reputation that it was rumored that they even sold their services to, and were paid handsomely by the Noxian Empire. The fact that their master even knew someone from that island was enough to draw whispers, even more so that they had their first encounter with a native from that island.

"He'll be staying with us for a few years," explained the master, "In the meantime, I would like to borrow the last of your sparring time to see what he's made of."

The taller pupil looked at his opponent. "Hold back as much as you can."

The younger pupil smirked as he looked at Naruto. "Don't worry, I'll just use my left hand."

Naruto and the younger pupil stood at opposing sides in the arena, his opponent confidently hefting the bokken over his shoulder as he was handed his own, which he held in a reverse-grip. The fight began the second the old master dropped his hand…before Naruto could take his first step, the ponytailed boy cleared the space between them, forcing him to stop in an attempt to take a swing at him, only to miss. The next thing he knew, he had the 'blade' of the bokken resting against his shoulder.

"I thought you ninjas were supposed to be fast," Naruto's opponent said, taunting him, "I'm not even moving at my top speed."

"Again."

The ponytailed boy scoffed. "Try to keep up, ninja."

Naruto rotated his neck before shifting into a fighting stance before switching grips on his bokken to a normal grip. The master's hand fell, signalling the start of yet another spar, this time Naruto took the chance to charge, assaulting the ponytailed boy with a deluge of clumsy one-handed swings which he parried with a little more effort. While Naruto exerted every effort to land a hit on his opponent, Ponytail was a little more worried, but he was still able to parry each strike with a single hand. After deciding he'd had enough, Ponytail's last parry struck with enough force so as to send the bokken flying from Naruto's hand before pointing the tip of the sword at his throat.

"You sure you're a ninja?"

There was no limit to the anger Naruto felt towards Ponytail. The way he was able to block his every strike, to catch him that fast; and the smug look on his face that made him want to slap him around. And yet, he could not help but feel impressed with him…unlike most of the kids who bragged about what they could do, Ponytail had earned his arrogance through presumably years of training and talent.

"I think I've seen enough," the master interjected, cutting off Naruto's retort, "What do you think, after trading two rounds with him?"

Ponytail looked at Naruto with an appraising eye. "You're really slow, and your technique sucks…but I will admit, when you do land a hit, you hit real hard."

The master laughed. "Well then, it's settled. You have yourself a new training partner."

"But master…"

"I won't have him sitting around on his laurels, I want him to learn something during his time here," the master said, a little more firmly, "In the meantime, I expect you to get along; if Naruto fails to measure up to expectations by the time he leaves, you'll both be expelled."

Ponytail and Naruto watched as the master walked down the halls to the study, reading a scroll with tea on hand. The two boys stared at each other awkwardly as the other students went back to their sparring, only the taller boy remained.

"So, since we're stuck together, why don't we introduce ourselves?" Ponytail awkwardly suggested, "The name's Yasuo, the beanpole's my brother Yone."

"Pleased to meet you," replied the taller student.

Naruto smiled confidently. "Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha!"

Yasuo smirked. "I don't know what that is, but it looks to me like that's still a long road ahead for you. C'mon, I'll help you with katas."

…

A/N: And we are done for this year's first submission.

In any case, tell me if I'm doing anything wrong, and please keep it relevant to the story.

Whether or not Naruto will go to Summoner's Rift, that remains to be seen. But for now, I'll think of what to do for this story.