[Started on February 12, 2021]

[23:47 hours, Philippines]


Reminder:

(1) Some character ages have been adjusted from canon

(2) Reviews are greatly appreciated and replies are given to both guests (via A/N like the ones after this) and users (via PM).


=== (Guest Review Reply) ===

Review reply to guest reviewer known as "Soul":
Thank you so much for the review, and here is my reply. First, I'll take your vote, but as you already know, this isn't a romance, so I'll (only probably) write a romance between the pairings the feel natural. Yes, that means if it doesn't feel natural, it won't happen, AND this can also open up the doors to making characters gay, straight, bi, pan, ace, etcetera. I have a lesbian bestie (who as of this writing has a bi girlfriend), what can I say? And yes, I'm straight.

Next, yes, I do plan to write what I want. It's why I'm writing this; because I want my own version people can enjoy WHILE I change the story to how I want it to go.

Finally, yes, I will allow you to "write Reading/Reacting fic for it" as you so put it. I mean, dude (or dudette), feel free! And about not reviewing as a user, don't worry about it. I promised, I'd reply to all reviews, guests or users, regardless. Unless it's spam or flames. I'll use the flames to cook the spam and eat them.

And you're most welcome! (For those wondering why? It's because he thanked me for the chapter) And thanks again for the review!


=== (Next Guest Review Reply) ===

Review reply to guest reviewer known as "DidHeJustNut":
We'll see if Monke will save them. I'll base my decision after watching the entire anime. You definitely gave me a laugh with that comment/review though. Thanks for that!


=== (Game of Gods) ===

Battle of Shingashina District, five years ago…

"Naruto! Get out of there!"

"Don't tell me what to do! I refuse to let any more of you die!"

"You can't save Kiba if you die!"

"I WON'T! Sakura! Ino! Prepare a med station! Satsuki! With me!"

"You buffoon! Shino is already dead! We weren't meant to fight Titans so soon!"

"Tell that to that thing that appeared out of nowhere!"

"But—"

"Shikamaru! I'm backing him up!"

"Satsuki! Are you letting him do this?!"

"None of you can stop him. Kiba! With—"

BOOM!

"What the—another one?!"

=== (Chapter four: Graduation, Decisions, and Attack) ===

The graduation ceremony of the One-O-Fourth Training Corps is over. However, within a clearing in one of the many forests found around the training camp, another graduation is taking place on the same night.

In this clearing, stand nine individuals draped in black hooded cloaks similar to the those worn by the Scouting Legion, but these cloaks are longer and reach the ankles of the wearers hiding everything from the neck-down. Their cloaks are also plain with no insignia or embroidery. At first, this decision caused an uproar from those in power, but with Naruto's convincing on how the colour of their cloaks alone is enough to identify them, the higher-ups caved.

Little do they know they are simply playing into Naruto's hands.

However! They are still newly acquired pieces. Pieces that Naruto refuses to play until the time is right.

The blonde leader of the now-independent Shadow Regiment does have pieces he intends to use as soon as possible, however, and this is where they stand.

Here, in this forest clearing where the nine Shadow Regiment members stand, are twenty recruits! Among these twenty are the four coming from the One-O-Fourth (104th) Training Corps: Sasha Braus, Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Yeager, and Annie Leonhart. Alongside these four rookies who were trained by Naruto Uzumaki and Satsuki Uchiha stand the sixteen other recruits who were trained by the other Shadow Regiment members present. These sixteen others are recruits from other training corps that were mustered up at the same time as the One-O-Fourth.

The night is cold, and the soft white moonlight shines down onto the clearing where the recruits stand in attention.

Naruto begins. "Recruits!"

"Sir!"

"Listen here and listen close," Naruto says in such a calm manner it sends shivers up their spines. "Five years ago, I was a mere soldier at Shingashina."

Shingashina.

The recruits cannot help but pause. Yet, it does not go unnoticed by the Uchiha present on how three recruits pause—nay, stiffen much more than the rest. Something she makes a mental note of.

Naruto, for one, continues. "I was only fourteen back then. Before that, I, along with these men and women behind me, ran the streets of the underworld as child-soldiers for the elite, corrupt, and the other gangs and mobsters." His words cause the recruits to murmur among themselves. "Now you know the hardships we faced," the blonde says making them stand in attention once again. "You now know who leads you, who trained you. We are former child-soldiers with more kills under our belts of both humans and titans than any of you."

He pauses.

"We have no qualms with killing you if you betray us," Naruto says coldly sending, even more, shivers down their spines. "If you wish to leave, do so now under an oath of silence. Otherwise, forever hold your peace."

The nine Shadow regiment members stare at each of the recruits, and to their surprise…

None leave.

"Then so be it!" Naruto's voice thunders around them shattering them from their thoughts. "From now on, you are to join one of the three military branches! However! At the end of the day, you will all be known as Shadows! You, who will be inside the different military branches, are vital to our success."

"Sir!"

The voice cuts Naruto off. "Eren," the blonde voices the interrupter's name. "Speak."

"If I may, what is our goal, sir?"

"The goal?" Naruto muses with a smile. "To no longer be birds in a cage. To see the outside world! To show the foolish religious bastards in the capital the error of their ways! But most of all, recruits, the goal is to make a better life for everyone IF possible!" He looks Eren in the eyes and asks a question he directs to all present, "Understood, recruits?"

"Sir! Yes, sir!"

"Good! Now!" As if on cue, Satsuki walks up with a set of clothes in her arms. "As you all know, the Shadow Regiment has its own uniform."

Satsuki summons a table in a plume of smoke stunning the twenty recruits. She rests the uniforms on the table.

"All I ask is for you to wear these black shirts instead of your white ones to show your affiliation to us," Naruto calmly says. "Don't worry. No one will even pay it much mind," he reassures them. "But even if they do, these are important. They will allow me to get to you whenever you are in dire situations."

"Commander," Mikasa calls coolly, "may I ask why we need these? I am strong. I—"

"Mikasa Ackerman."

The Ackerman freezes; a cold sweat grows from her.

"Did you learn nothing from Naruto?" Satsuki asks coldly. "Do want to be reminded of how it feels to be powerless?"

"N-no, ma'am."

"Let it go, Satsuki-chan," the blonde says calming his partner down. He then turns to the recruits and, with a pause as he locks eyes with each of them, he announces: "Tomorrow, your skills will be tested."

"Sir?"

"I cannot say any more than this: these Titans we're fighting? There's more to them than meets the eye."

"Sir, if I may," Annie asks, "what makes you say that? Are they not mindless monsters?"

Naruto grins. "Are they?" His question sends shivers up Annie's spine. "Look at the attack at Shingashina five years ago. It doesn't take a genius to figure out they're intelligent." And then, just as quickly as his shivering words appeared, the shivers vanish with a shrug. "Then again, I'm probably talking out of my ass. If you do look into it though, look at it from start to finish, and examine every detail."

"Naruto," a new voice calls out as a new cloaked and hooded figure drops down behind him. "You're getting sidetracked. This graduation is taking too long."

"Relax, Shika," Naruto waves the man off. Yet at the same time, he concedes, "But I guess you're right. Alright! Recruits! From now on you are Shadows! Don these shirts with pride and comfort knowing that for as long as I live, you will survive tomorrow. After all, I still haven't taught you how to use the powers we can."

Murmurs rise from the group, but Naruto claps it away.

"Alright, alright, quit your yapping. Get the shirts and get out. Your teachers and I have plans to discuss."

=== (Game of Gods) ===

While most of the recruits break off into their own groups, one recruit who goes by the name of Annie Leonhart moves off to do her own thing.

"Annie," Mikasa says catching her fellow teen's attention. "we're off to go join the others from the regulars. Want to join us?"

Annie, of course, stone-faced as ever, declines. "No. I'll look around the place for a while. It's the only chance of freedom I'll have before entering the Military Police."

"Annie, come on!" Sasha chimes in. "There's lots of food! There's—"

"Let's just go, Sasha," Mikasa says while dragging off her fellow Shadow by the scruff of the neck. "She said she doesn't want to. No point in forcing her."

"Aweee, but the more the marrier!"

"Stop whining. Where's Eren?"

"Oh! He said he'd go ahead and spend some time with Armin."

Mikasa makes a comment to which Sasha replies, but the female blonde tunes it out. She has a mission to do, after all.

Making her way through the forest, Annie, as stealthily as possible, scrounges around the woods before finally reaching another clearing after an hour of walking from their graduation area. Here, she sees an old wooden shed that is rather well-maintained. From within is an orange glow and dancing shadows on the walls. "A meeting," she guesses, and with that, she moves in to listen to the words of her Senior Shadows.

As she moves in, she at first hears only whispers.

Yet as she gets closer, the whispers become clearer until finally, she stands to the side of the window while concentrating her sense of hearing to pick out each of the words clearly.

"So only Satsuki and I will be stationed near Trost District tomorrow?"

"Yes. Neji and Tenten will be working on a few new projects regarding that thing she called a scope, Kiba and Lee will be patrolling the district to the east, Hinata, Sakura, and Ino to the west, while Hanabi and her squad will take the north."

"Those rookies?"

"Kiba, shut up," Annie hears Satsuki's voice. "She's a prodigy unlike you."

"Yeesh, I know already, okay?"

"What about Gaara and those from the Suna District underground?" This one is Naruto's voice, Annie realizes. "Where will they be positioned?"

"They'll be with Kiba and Lee as their back-up. The rest will be on their own, but that's to be expected with Kabuto infiltrating the Military Police. He said there's still no information about your father's death."

"Keep tabs on him," Naruto says. "Oh, and I want Karin and Shizune on standby."

"Got it."

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Yes, Sakura-chan?"

"What do we do if they don't attack tomorrow?"

"Oh, they will," Naruto nonchalantly says and his next words freezes Annie to the wall. "After all, if they don't, then that means that the titan-shifters Grandfather warned us about are aware of our plans, and one of them is right outside."

Run.

The leaves rustle as Annie dashes across the forest! Her eyes are wide in panic, sweat is pouring from her pores, and her heart… is hammering itself against her chest threatening to burst out of it if she dares to even rest! She cannot rest! NAY! SHE DARES NOT REST!

And rightfully so.

VOOSH!

Her head snaps to the left and sees a hooded figure. A hooded figure that is… keeping up with her?! "No! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" She moves to bite her thumb—

VOOSH!

Her head snaps right! The sound distracts her! So too does the sight for another hooded figure appears and is keeping pace! She must escape! She needs to escape! There! A huge tree! She might lose them if she gets behind it!

All the while her thoughts repeat.

"I DON'T WANT TO—"

"Hello, Annie."

"What—" SMACK "OOF!"

In an instant, Annie runs into an outstretched arm that is swung from behind the tree hitting her face which effectively flips her onto her back thanks to her own momentum. Her head hitting the ground is the only thing that wakes her up, albeit in a very dazed state.

"You woke her up when you were supposed to knock her out, idiot," Annie hears the voice of Satsuki berate the man who knocked her down.

"Another hit to head should be fine."

"Shut up, Kiba."

"Both of you, shut up," Annie hears Naruto speak. "Bring her back to the cottage. Satsuki and I will talk with her. Sakura, you're with me."

"Healing some bones instead of breaking it?"

"Both," Naruto says. "Knock her out."

WHAM!

=== (Game of Gods) ===

Annie Leonhart stirs awake only to find herself bound in such a way that she cannot move any part of her body save her eyes, and her head is tilted up to prevent her from looking down.

"Naruto," Satsuki calls. "She's up."

"Remove the Temperature Regulating Seal," Naruto orders.

Not a moment later, Annie feels the cold air around her body. The door opens and she hears the footfalls of another person stepping inside. What she notices more than that, however, is the ticklish feeling the cold breeze gives her breasts and nether region—"WAIT! WHAT?!"

"Her eyes just widened."

"Thanks for stating the obvious, Satsuki-chan."

"You love me for it."

"You sure you want to tempt me?"

The third person cuts in. "Guys, please, we have someone to torture over here. Although I doubt it'll take much."

Annie's eyes widen at how casually the sentence was said.

"You're right, my bad," Naruto says, and in an instant, Annie finds herself able to move her head… which she promptly moves to look at her—she guessed it—naked body.

"Y-YOU—"

SMACK!

Annie's head is knocked to the side as she receives a punch courtesy from the third occupant of Shadow Seniors in the room. "We're the ones who get to threaten people in this situation, Rookie, not you, you got that?" the senior orders, to which Annie nods before finally taking in their appearance.

A woman with pink hair tied into a ponytail by a green tie, green eyes to match with a green diamond at the center of her forehead? If she was actually in a less compromising position and fully clothed, she would, in most likelihood, give a subconscious comment on how the pinky has a lot of green on her save the black cloak wrapped around her.

"I think she's thinking about something," Satsuki surmises and just like that—

WHAM!

Annie makes an unsuccessful effort to curl herself into a ball as the pinky sends a punch to her stomach.

"Sakura-chan, try not to kill her, will you?" Naruto states with worry making Annie send a pained glare at her fellow blonde. This in turn makes the once-boy-and-now-man look at his fellow blonde in return. "Annie, all you have to do is cooperate with us, and we won't kill you," he explains. "By the way," he says with a smile as brings up something held between his pointing finger and thumb. "I like this ring."

The Titan-shifter's eyes go wide as she looks to her hand where the ring is supposed to be! And... just as she is shown, truly, it is gone. Her heart races as she realizes that her captors are not taking any chances with her! "No! No! No! No! I—" She is snapped from her thoughts as Naruto begins to talk.

"Also, Grandad," Naruto says making Annie turn to him, "told me just before we bothered healing you that if we injured you, your wounds would heal and if we injure you enough, they'll heal to the point where you can't even transform so don't bother. We had to beat the shit out of you too. I'm fairly surprised at how durable you are."

Annie, to her credit, looks at her fellow blonde who is spouting all these things as if he is in awe of her.

"After all! I don't think it's achievable to regrow things as fast as yours unless you're from my family!"

The blonde interrogatee is unable to hold back her question. "What?"

"Oh yeah! Let me show you!"

To Annie's amazement, the blonde man guts himself right in front of her, yet as soon as the wound appears, it actually starts to heal itself. "That's…"

"Faster than your own healing, right?" Naruto asks with a smile… before it drops from his face. "Now," he pauses as he looks her in the eyes, "back to business. Will you listen to what we have to say, or do we have to keep on beating you to the point where you won't have even the slightest chance of surviving tomorrow?"

Annie Leonhart, for the first time in her life, fully gives in to the enemy.

"I'll listen…" she mutters out in a whisper.

"Good. Now get dressed," Naruto pats her head. "Your body's distracting and talking with a boner is just really annoying."

WHAM!

Naruto falls on his face, courtesy of Sakura's fist while said girl is blushing a mild pink that almost matches her hair. Satsuki, meanwhile, gives out a few dozen barrels of laughs before falling on the floor clutching her stomach... still laughing.

Annie, to her credit, blushes up a storm that Satsuki can't quite decipher between embarrassment and anger. But! Knowing her partner's effects on people? The Uchiha guesses that the answer is… "probably both."

=== (Game of Gods) ===

The morning after graduation evening comes, and the Scouting Legion leaves the gates of Trost.

However, none of that is important for the female blonde teen with blue eyes. While her face shows little to no emotion, as it usually does, her mind is far from stoic.

"You don't want to know who the other two are?" Annie asks in shock while sitting on a chair with a cup of warm coffee resting in front of her.

Naruto shrugs. "I don't really care. They're not my problem."

"So why—"

Her fellow blonde cuts her off nonchalantly. "Because while I do dislike—hell, even despise—the government of this place? This is still my home. That and we are both raised as child-soldiers. So is every original member of the Shadow Regiment."

Leonhart chooses this to be the time of changing the subject. "So… you mean to kill us?" Annie cautiously asks.

"If it means stopping you, yes, but if it doesn't come to that and we don't need to kill you then that's cool too," Naruto replies with a wave of his hand. Annie, rightfully, of course, pales at the very calm and very nonchalant declaration.

One which she chooses to point out. "How… how can you be so calm about this?"

The man blinks. "Oh, this attitude?"

"Uhm… yes?"

"Oh, easy-peasy," Naruto smiles. "I have nothing against the outside world. They weren't the ones to take away the people I loved… but I can tell that the future looks pretty dim for us, so if it means starting a war against the world for us to survive, then so be it."

Annie breathes in as she processes Naruto's words. After a short moment of silence, she voices her thoughts while locking eyes with her fellow blonde. "You intend to live long enough to become the villain?"

Her words cause Naruto to scoff. "A villain to the world is sometimes a hero to their own people. That and Grandad has a bone to pick with the ones who created the titans in the first place, so I thought, 'Hey! Why not have the titans fight against their creator!' or something like that."

"Grandad?"

Naruto waves her off. "That's not important. Take another guess."

The Titan-shifter swallows hard. "You… want me to fight with you?" She receives a not in return.

"Ideally, yes. Honestly, if you don't, then I just hope you don't interfere."

Silence reigns between the two…

After some time, the girl asks, "So… what's this thing about tomorrow?"

"Oh, that? The regs don't know how big the Shadow Regiment is," Naruto says with a smile. "But that's the point," he continues. "We live in the shadows, in mystery. We aren't meant to be known so much. Seen, just as you do with your own shadow, yes, but hardly minded at all."

"Meaning what? You're not—"

"Answering your question?" He cuts her off. He then rightly agrees. "Right, stupid of me. Of course. It's an educated guess, really, but everyone will know that the Scouts will be leaving the wall regardless of its announcement (like I did during your graduation) or not. A good friend of mine is there so I should know."

"Wait, so why do you want us to attack—"

Naruto almost chokes. "Want you to attack?" He follows up with a laugh, "GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" before wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. Then, he apologizes and explains, "Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm betting you will attack. Or whoever that Colossal Titan is. I won't interfere quite yet as it will serve my plans well, but after that, it's your job to convince them to at the least not come after me… or face certain death."

Annie Leonhart dares to ask her next question. "And if I betray you?"

The Shadow Commander simply scoffs. "You don't honestly think that just because you're drop-dead gorgeous I'll spare you, do you?" The female blonde would have blushed were this any other situation. "I killed women and children when I was younger." It's a pity it isn't. "I don't like it, but if I have to, I don't really have qualms with doing it too."

"So… I join you or die?"

Naruto blinks. With an annoyed sigh and a rubbing on his forehead, he groans out, "Didn't you listen, Annie? I don't care what you do so long as you don't get in the way, but you joining us would be far more ideal. Still, don't get in the way and you'll live. Hell, fight with us, and we'll protect you."

Protect her? From what? From who? No, wait. A better question! "How—"

Naruto grins. "Oh, don't you know? There's this thing called a 'transformation'. Only Satsuki and I can do it, but… well, we'll be enough."

BOOM!

Annie is snapped from her thoughts as lightning strikes in the distance. Time slows as she processes her next thoughts. "I'm sorry, Reiner, Bertolt…" The people on the wall are knocked off but are able to save themselves using the ODM gear as Annie finishes her thoughts, "But I don't want to die." All the while, the last image in her mind is Naruto and Satsuki's transformation, which this time just reinforces her thoughts of not wanting to die.


=== (Next Time) ===

"Chapter Five: Battle of Trost District (I)"


Please review!


[Finished on March 5, 2021]

[00:29 hours, Philippines]


[Proofread on March 5, 2021]

[01:13 hours, Philippines]