Ramen Doodles
By Andrew J. Talon
Disclaimer: I do not and probably never will own Naruto or any other copyrighted works mentioned in this story. I am not writing this for profit.
Author's Note: When I have writer's block, I often write a lot of random snippets of ideas, omakes, and continuations of other author's ideas that kind of petered out. As I'm afflicted with a bit of writer's block regarding Key Through the Heart (again), I've decided I'm not going to leave you guys in the lurch. Therefore, enjoy some writing I've been doing over at The Fanfiction Forum.
School continues to drain away my brainpower, so here's a bit of an odd idea I came up with a few months ago for you to check out. I know, it seems to be yet another chapter in the "AJT can't just focus on a single story and write it" epic, but as soon as I get school sorted out, I'll be free enough to write again. It'll take a while though.
Three years. Three years had rarely seemed as long as this one, even to Jiraiya.
Two and a half years since Naruto Uzumaki had disappeared.
Two and a half year of fruitless searching, without so much as a trace. Every spy, every contact, every whorehouse and temple and favor he could pull, but there was nothing. One moment, he'd felt Naruto's chakra signature, chaotic and wild in a nearby field as he did his research, the next... Gone.
He wasn't dead, Jiraiya knew this (or refused to consider it). There had been no sign of other ninja, not a trace of blood in the air. He had quite simply disappeared.
He had nothing. He suspected Konoha had even less.
Yet he'd promised to return at the appointed time, and Jiraiya had resolved to at least keep this one. Naruto wouldn't let him hear the end of it, wherever he was.
She knew she shouldn't tamper with Mother's magic. She was only an apprentice, only a few years out of the shell, but she knew she could do this! She had to do this!
They couldn't stay for long-Prime's forces were everywhere, scouring the countryside for anyone with even the slightest hint of the Magic. Mother had not returned-Her scent was long cold. She dare not go out and search herself-She had no means of concealment.
So all that was left, as the patrols of the Warriors drew closer to the niche, was to look through the spell books. The Magic was strong in her, it was strong in Mother. The sealwork seemed simple enough, but the intention was unclear. It seemed to be a standard summoning, utilizing the Magic to bridge across great distances. She'd done it before when selecting her totem. Even now she could sense it, a furry primate somewhere in the Shadow Continent, going about it's business in a distant forest. She'd been mortified when it she had first felt it-It was not a graceful falcon like that of her mother. Even a False-Bear or a Supamara would've been better!
But her mother laughed, and simply said that she would grow to appreciate her totem. Even small animals had their advantages.
She shook her head quickly, trying to clear her distracting thoughts as she drew the contours of the seal. Ochre, blood, indigo all went into it, the complexity of the design requiring careful focus and work.
She put symbols for understanding into the sealwork, to allow her to communicate with the summon. There was no telling what kind of aid she woud receive-Perhaps a familiar, perhaps a champion. A Warrior of her own. She had to make it clear what it was she seeked, or the spell would not work.
She pulled back carefully once she was done, making sure not a line was out of place. Satisfied, she circled around the seal, placing feathers at each cardinal point. She then set her hands and head down on the ground, and focused through the initiator seal. Magic swept through her, and she felt words come to her, words in a tongue she did not understand... At first.
"From a land touched by the stars, from a land built from fire and steel, bring forth aid in mortal form, bring my enemies to heel!"
There was a surge in Magic, and she felt for a moment as though the entire world were twisting. She saw a land of forest, far as the eye could see, with a clear blue sky and birds flying high above, as though looking through existence itself...
And then, standing before her was a blinking creature, the likes of which she had never seen before. It stared at her with blue eyes, and she stared right back.
"GYAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" The creature screamed, leaping out of the seal and staring in shock.
"KWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" She shrieked in response, losing her balance and falling flat on her haunches.
"Wh-What the heck are you?!" The creature shouted.
"Me?! What are YOU!" She retorted. The Magic was working-She'd have to remember to add another seal to her collar to allow further communication. If she wanted more communication.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And I'm going to be Hokage! What the heck are you?" The 'Uzumaki Naruto' asked. She cocked her head curiously, and got back up onto her feet.
"My name is First Hatched on Sunrise, and just what are you supposed to be? I've never seen an Uzumaki before!" She sniffed him, and clucked unhappily. A primate?! UGH! Of course I'd have to get a primate!
"I'm not an Uzumaki, I'm a human! And what are you supposed to be, an oversized chicken?" Naruto asked flatly. Sunrise didn't know what a chicken was, but from the context she believed it was insulting.
"How dare you! I'm not a chicken! I'm a-A powerful Wizard's apprentice!"
"A Wizard? What the heck did you do?"
"I was trying to summon some aid," Sunrise began, but the door was quickly smashed open. Warriors poured into the nice, their blades held high. Their leader narrowed his eyes behind his steel helmet.
"First Hatched on Sunrise, of the Clutch at Dunkar, you are under arrest and to be brought before the High Council for crimes committed with magic," he stated.
"Huh? Magic?" Naruto looked at Sunrise.
"This creature is all the evidence we need!" The leader clucked.
"I was summoning aid to fight them," Sunrise growled. "Well? Are you aid or not?"
"Surrender or we will take you by force!" The leader growled again, as the rest of the flock moved in. Naruto scowled.
"What exactly do you want with her? And what the heck is going on?"
"Silence, creature! You will be brought before the Council as evidence! Sieze him!"
Two of the Warriors surged forward, blades at the ready, razor-sharp helmets ready to aid their strong beaks. Sunrise cringed. Some wizard she was, she couldn't even summon a proper-!
POOF!
Naruto was replaced by a log. The two Warriors stared in shock, before more Narutos appeared throughout the niche, attacking the Prime's soldiers. They squawked and shouted in shock before they were all summarily put down. Sunrise stared down at them, and then back up at Naruto.
"How...?"
"Well, duh... I'm a ninja. Didn't you know you were summoning a ninja?" Naruto asked flatly.
"I... I didn't know what I was summoning," Sunrise replied. The scent of something burning hit her nose, and she belatedly noticed that an oil lamp had been upended and sent crashing to the wooden floor.
"AWK! Grab the books! Grab the books and get out of here!" She cried, gathering as many of the tomes as she could and running outside. Naruto soon followed, more of his copies following him with armfuls of books.
"So... Was this all you summoned me for?" He asked. Sunrise groaned.
"No... I... I need help... My mother is gone, I'm afraid they took her."
"Well... Since you did summon me... I guess I'll help!" Naruto said.
"Eh? You-You will?" Sunrise asked.
"Sure! I mean, that's what summons do... Besides, I've met guys like those before... Really pissed me off." He smiled. "So, let's find your mother... By the way, where am I?"
"The Realm of the Prime Wizard, formally known as Kuakak province," Sunrise dutifully reported.
"... Ever heard of Konoha?"
"No. And I take it you never heard of Kuakak either."
"No..."
"Well... Once we get my mother back, she'll know how to send you home, I promise."
"Good! By the way... I don't suppose you know where I could find some ramen?"
"... Ramen?"
"Aw man...! Oh well. It shouldn't take too long to find your mother. How hard could it be?"
Jiraiya looked grave. It was never a good sign, in Tsunade's mind.
"Naruto... Where is Naruto?" She asked the moment he stepped in. His expression didn't change. Tsunade felt her heart clench in fear.
Please, no... No, don't let him... Don't let him be gone... No, please... Please!
"I haven't been able to find him," Jiraiya said. "I've... I've looked everywhere, Hime. It's like he just vanished."
"And you took two and a half years to tell me?!" Tsunade demanded. Jiraiya's frown deepened.
"I've been combing the continent from end to end trying to find him! He's not with Akatsuki-If he was, we'd probably know-"
"But you still have no idea where he is? None at all?!" Tsunade demanded.
CRACKABOOM!
A lightning strike and the resulting thunder shook the building to it's foundation. Both Sannin moved to the window, instantly zeroing in on the source of the distress. A crater was sitting in the middle of the street, obscured by smoke.
In moment they were down there, ANBU surrounding it and moving any civilians away. Tsunade frowned.
"You sense it...?"
"I do, but I don't..."
"WAAAAAARRRRKKKK!" A sound like the roar of a tiger mixed with the squawk of a large bird rose up from the smoke, as did a large form. The smoke cleared further, and the chakra senses of the two Sannin were able to "see" clearly.
What in the...? Tsunade thought. "Naruto?! NARUTO!"
The smoke cleared. The large form was unfamiliar-It resembled a penguin, if you mixed it with a hawk and made it stand ten feet tall, and replaced the beak with a mouth full of sharp teeth. It growled low at the assembled ninja, swinging a long tail back and forth behind it, large paddle-like wings outstretched in intimidation.
From the top of the creature, Naruto Uzumaki-Three years older, wearing her necklace as well as one made of bone, teeth and stones carved with strange symbols across his bare chest-grinned down at them and held up a long, curved dagger.
"Granny! Ero-Sennin! Hey, Sunrise! Sunrise, you did it!"
To add to the weirdness, a three-foot tall bird wearing bright blue clothing over pale white and midnight blue feathers stepped out from behind the penguin-like monster. It was nervously tapping clawed, three-fingered hands together.
"Uh, yes, I think I did... Are you all right?" The bird asked.
"Oh yeah, me and Pen are all right! Aren'tcha Pen?"
The named creature rumbled happily, and bowed it's head to let Naruto jump down. He grinned at the stunned Tsunade, and raised his arms to rest behind his neck.
"So... What'd I miss?"
Jiraiya stood still for a very long time, before he burst into laughter.
"Only you, Naruto... Only you..."
Basic sypnosis: I was reading John Carter of Mars, and an article on the possibility of sentient dinosaurs and what they may have looked like if they evolved. Combine that with me and you can pretty much figure out what happened.
Naruto gets summoned to a parallel timeline where the KT extinction never occurred, and instead of mammals producing a primate to become the dominant species on Earth, instead the dinosaurs continued to flourish and produced a sentient lifeform.
For whatever reason, they're at a middle ages level of technology, and also have chakra capability, which they refer to as "Magic". Powerful wizards had risen up, using sealing, what we would identify as alchemy, and "spells" to gain power and attempt to rule the world. And unfortunately, the spell that Sunrise used is soon found out by other wizards, who see in the Naruto world great potential. See, even if the dinosauroids don't have traditional jutsu, they're on a DnD level when it comes to manipulating it, and depending on who they trade with, might possibly change the balance of power in the Naruto world and cause chaos.
Or they might grant humans access to their more abundant, untapped resources in exchange for power. In the middle of these two worlds is Naruto Uzumaki, who must use new and old skills alike to allow these two universes to stay at peace.