A League of His Own

by Garnetio Solozari

When Naruto decided to leave Konoha during the month before the Chuunin Exam Finals, he figured he'd work on the basics and try to learn a new technique. Simple, right? Nothing with Uzumaki Naruto is simple, and his nostalgic trip back to Wave swiftly turns into an epic journey that will answer a few of his oldest questions, while simultaneously creating several more.

2. Chapter 2

Here we are with another chapter for ALoHO, despite my attempts to stay away from it. I used to enjoy playing LoL a lot, so my fanboy side won't let me leave it alone. As per my own preferences, this story has no set word count, I just keep typing until I get to a point where I can comfortably leave you all hanging. In this chappie we will be meeting several new characters, some of which may or may not play an important role in future events. A lot will surely happen, though at this point who the hell knows really?

A review mentioned that a lot of clichés were giving the story a bit of a bland after taste, like Sweet n' Low. With that, I was inspired to change up a few things with how I initially planned to proceed, and hopefully the clichés I settled with (because at this point being original is highly unlikely) will at least keep things mildly interesting. I can safely say that after the Finals, I will be moving to abandon canon and keep the clichés at bay with well placed wreaths of garlic.

Also, suggestions are welcome in terms of LoL champs you want to see make an appearance, possible pairings, and anything else that you'd like to see happen. I do not take orders, but I do listen to requests. I love you senpais, remember that. (not creepy at all)

Also, as an aside, please let me know if you guys need a key to help explain how different bits of dialogue are to be interpreted. I tried to make sure that each bit of speech was attached to enough descriptive writing to clue everyone on to who was speaking, and how, at any given time.

-~Link Start~-

"You've been sulking for far too long… I must insist you stop, before I end you."

Naruto was laying flat on his back in the middle of the central chamber of his Mindscape, and of course that meant he was in the company of the Nine Tailed Fox. Neither party had said much over the course of his time there, which had been perfect for both of them… at first. While Naruto was content to stare blankly into the endless abyss of darkness that made the ceiling of this horrid sewer, Kyuubi had tired of watching the child lay about so lifelessly. Of course he didn't actually give a damn about the boy that would be preposterous. No, he was growing extremely irritated having to share his temporary home with a filthy, insignificant human being. If the insufferable little whelp was going to barge into his cell and hang about for what was going on hours… the least the little shit could do was whimper and cower in fear of his awesome hatred.

Naruto didn't seem to hear the Kyuubi's growling voice, nor did he respond to the vibrations that said demon's footsteps birthed with each angry stomp. The great beast was pacing back and forth, hoping that with the passing of the bars he might see the boy shift as if he were a mere frame in a series of photos. No matter how roughly he thrashed about to make noise the boy simply sat there, or rather he lay there, unmoving and indifferent to the world around him. It was infuriating.

"You worthless, mindless, hairless ape! To think I must suffer being trapped inside something so weak as to break from a simple truth! And you aspire to be a Kage?! There are greater men than you who scrape the bottoms of boats for coppers!" The Kyuubi lashed out against the bars in another futile attempt to weaken the seal.

For the first time the boy stirred. Naruto's half-lidded eyes turned to stare unblinking toward the Kyuubi who had frozen in mid swing as intense red met darkened cerulean. For a moment the Kyuubi thought he'd simply moved due to the shifting of the Mindscape, but that theory was shot when the boy turned his head completely on its side. Those eyes… those damned eyes that reminded him of the man who put him in the boy. How he would like to rip them from the child's skull almost as much as he would love the chance to devour the eyes of every Uchiha, alive or dead. The Kyuubi settled down slowly before lowering his head enough to be nearly eye level with the cockroach festering in his den.

"Speak, wretch, before I grow even more weary of you and truly break from this hell…" The Kyuubi knew that he couldn't break free, not with the original seal and the damnable seal placed on by the snake further disrupting the chakra throughout the puny child, but he could possibly provoke the boy into showing some life!

Naruto seemed to be sizing up the Kyuubi slowly, his eyes never gaining any warmth or recognition, and then he spoke softly, "You talk too much, bunny-chan."

The tails of the beast lashed harshly in the background like great serpents of destruction, "You… this is akin to the pot calling the kettle black, flesh bag."

"Relax, bunny-chan, and be quiet…" Naruto retorted before focusing back on the void above.

"You do not speak to me like this, do you understand?! I will crush you, and then burn what is left, and then scatter the ashes into the wind with a wave of my tails so that even in oblivion you will be nothing! You are nothing, human!" The Kyuubi could only snarl as his massive hand like paws scraped and bashed against the invisible wall created by the seal on his cage.

Naruto let his eyes blink as the growling and snarling continued on for what could have been hours for all the attention he was paying it. He knew that he must have gone through another traumatic shock, but unlike last time when he was saved the backlash thanks to his collapsing into the Mindscape, this time it was as if his mind was being suppressed into a submissive state. Though the Kyuubi was acting harshly he knew that the giant monster was trying to bring him out of his funk, but no matter how much he wanted to move something was telling him, demanding him, to ignore the Kyuubi. Everytime he let his mind wander towards the subject of his father a phantom pain would surge through his head and he would go blank once again. What could be happening to him?

The Kyuubi had settled down and sat on his haunches to observe his container quietly after his immediate rage had faded. Without the ability to connect with the young teen like he could before there was no way to tell just what state Naruto was in. This 'not knowing' that Kyuubi had once brushed off as a human condition left a sour taste in his mouth, and he didn't even have taste buds for crying out loud! A being of pure, seething fury reduced to ignorance… what was the world coming to? He attempted to forces his chakra through the seal for the thousandth time since the boy had left the Forest of Death, and once again he was left with nothing but failure and unfathomable displeasure.

"Hey, bunny-chan?" Naruto's soft voice echoed through the chamber bringing the fox back from his inner musings to the infuriatingly annoying reality he was forced to endure.

"Yes, meat sack, what is it now?" Even if he was pleased to see the boy speaking up again, he wouldn't admit it, and neither would he cut the little bastard any slack if he could help it.

Naruto kept his eyes glued to the ceiling of the chamber as he took a deep breath, "I'm sorry."

The Kyuubi's claws scraped across the floor of his cell slowly as his muscles clenched tightly, "What did you say…?"

"I said, I'm sorry. For a couple of things, I think, but… for right now, I'm sorry that I've been in here so long. It's hard for me to explain… but something is keeping me here." Naruto let his head fall over to face the large fox with his nearly dead eyes blankly pointed toward his tenant's large, menacing red eyes, "Every time I try to sort out my thoughts… I get a really strange headache… and then I get confused again."

The demon's eyes narrowed slowly before he spoke in a mixture of soft and concerned, and tamed fury, "Turn your head away from me… and then think of your father, Namikaze Minato."

Without thinking of anything specific Naruto let his head slowly turn over until he faced away from his inner beast. When he was sure that he could turn his head no further he let his mind center on the face he'd seen on the wall of the Hokage office hundreds of times. That man was named Namikaze Minato, known as the Yellow Flash by his enemies, and beloved by all for his position as Yondaime of Konohagakure. That man had fought countless battles to protect his home and eventually went on to help win the Third Great War. That man had traveled to Wave once and met the steam golem Blitzcrank, and the metal man Viktor. That man was his fath-

The Kyuubi saw the body of his container, at least the mental projection of the boy, tense. And then there it was, the proof that his suspicions were correct. Just beneath his hair near the base of his skull began to glow bright red. Despite his concern for the boy being non-existent, something about this whole situation left him feeling disgusted, furious, confused, and perhaps even a little… guilty. The latest of those feelings only stirred his fury into a whirlwind that threatened to tear the entire Mindscape asunder. How dare, whatever, whoever… nothing made the Great Nine Tailed Fox feel anything but condescension, carnal pleasure, or satisfaction!

"Stop thinking, boy… let that empty head of yours rest and think of nothing. Perhaps dream of your precious ramen, or that pitiful ambition of becoming Hokage." The Kyuubi let his body sink to the floor before curling into itself, one lone eye half lidded to focus on the boy.

Naruto felt his pain ease and let the words sink in. Even though something… someone… was whispering to ignore the fox, the idea was in his head and soon it became his own. He wanted to rest his mind and let his thoughts go. He felt really tired, and yet he knew he wouldn't sleep either… or perhaps he couldn't sleep. With his mind going blank for the first time in hours the darkness around him began to consume all. The fox and his cage vanished slowly and whatever he could see of the walls seemed to shimmer and fade too. No more thoughts of Kyuubi, no more thoughts on the Fourth Hokage, and no more thoughts of his parents.

-Line Break-

Viktor had spent years of his life working tirelessly to improve his understanding of the human body. With every answered question, several more would present themselves for debate and further study. If he were to herald the coming of the Glorious Evolution, he would need to perfect every facet of the human condition to the calculated efficiency of mechanical design. It seemed that nothing would ever lead to complete perfection… and it used to infuriate him to no end. The human structure was supported by weak, brittle bones that worked to house delicate organs and support weak muscles. The skin was sensitive to most every natural condition, pathetic. He spent days, weeks, months… years studying every level of the living body of man, always scoffing at how inferior nature's designs were compared to his own.

Regardless of his feelings though, he was still well versed in nearly all medical fields, anything to aid in the success of his Hextech enhancements. None of his skill or knowledge could have prepared him for what he found after examining the body of the young boy who'd wandered into his dusty old home. He had first assumed that the human boy had fallen victim to severe shock, typical of the emotional tendencies of teenagers. Blitzcrank had informed him of the situation concerning Minato, and while he was oddly saddened by the news, it still didn't answer the question that was burning in his mind. Why did this child, this Naruto, react so violently to the discovery of his link to Minato? He had to understand, so he set about conducting a full physical examination of the boy's body.

Blitzcrank had been generous enough to help move the boy to one of the few furnished rooms in their old facility, an inactive medical bay. Long had that particular portion of the facility been without power, but some rewiring and some well placed bursts of Mana helped to reawaken the dank ruins. Viktor knew they wouldn't have enough juice to take advantage of their more advanced technology that he'd snagged from Zaun, so he settled for their more mundane, magically powered tools. The whole process took hours, and the lack of physical response from the boy was alarming even to his old circuits. During their seventh hour of observation is when the first breakthrough had been made. Located near the base of Naruto's skull was some odd, dangerous looking set of runes that neither he nor Blitzcrank found familiar.

Attempts to alter something of such power were shoved aside in favor of keeping the boy from further harm, but they knew his condition was directly linked with the odd markings. Every so often the boy would tense, and the runes would glow a fiery red. The whole thing was mind boggling, but Viktor was nothing if not patient when observing something new and worthy of study.

Viktor brought up a large image of the markings on a monitor set into the wall above Naruto's observation table, "I cannot say for sure… but this is oddly reminiscent of the status spells cast back home. The energy it gives off isn't inherently dark, but there was ill intent lacing the power used to activate this curse."

Blitzcrank walked slowly to join his father and observe the markings. They'd had a hard time getting a good image of it without having to cut the hair, but they didn't want to risk causing further damage by disturbing the area. His skull like head turned to gaze down at Viktor, "I believe you are correct, father. Often times such marks could even be built upon, increasing existing effects or producing new ones. 'Stacking' was quite troublesome on the Fields of Justice."

"I would like to try something… I don't want to waste it, but I think that it has sat inactive for long enough. Go, my son, and fetch the Crucible from Storage Room 248." Viktor never took his glowing eyes off the image in front of them, and even as Blitzcrank's heavy foot falls echoed through the room he remained focused.

Tapping a few buttons on the console in front of him he had the image shift and turn several times. From every angle the blasted thing was impossible to understand with his limited knowledge of the world's runic alphabet. Tearing his glowing eyes away from the screen for the first time in what may have been ten to fifteen minutes he huffed and hobbled back and forth to busy his old leg motors and contemplate on the situation. Whether the Crucible was able to remedy the situation or not, understanding the problem would prevent it happening again. It reminded him of his first experiments at augmenting the human brain. So many test subjects… their sacrifice was necessary, or so he told himself time and time again. The first step to solving any problem was always to identify the problem, but where to start?

The rumbling of the floor reminded Viktor that Blitzcrank had gone to fetch the Crucible, and unfortunately he had come no closer to figuring anything out than he was before. It was practically unheard of for his augmented mind to perform so badly! Said steam golem lumbered into the room carrying a large crate that looked to have seen better days. Despite the outward appearance, what with the stains and cracks, the contents of the container were undoubtedly in perfect working order. Viktor waved over toward a cleared space near the center of the room, "Good work, I will see to that in a moments. Come, help me collect my thoughts."

"How can I help you, father?"Blitzcrank sauntered over toward Viktor and the still unconscious Naruto.

Viktor thought for a moment before eyeing his oversized companion, "Tell me, of the tomes and scrolls that Minato left behind, did any of them make reference to such things? Perhaps calling them curses, marks, ritual glyphs, anything?"

"One moment, processing all data references linked to Namikaze Minato… complete. One entry confirmed under term 'Curse' located in scroll labeled Worrisome Seals and How to Identify Them." Blitzcrank walked over to one of the inactive consoles while Viktor followed, curious as to what his creation had found.

The console that Blitzcrank had accessed burst to life after a very subtle nudge of Mana was forced through its circuits. Being a simple information terminal it wouldn't sap enough power from the facility's primary power supply to threaten the stability of the energy grid. Viktor's eyes scanned through each file that his son sorted through until he recognized the data entry made to record the scroll that Blitzcrank had mentioned. The first entry was a basic description of the Sealing Arts as dictated by someone named Uzumaki Kazashi, followed by several entries detailing several basic uses for seals. So far the old mechanized man found nothing of note, until he saw Blitzcrank access an entry about something called Cursed Seals, some form of forbidden sealing method by the cautionary notes littering the entire entry.

"My boy, cross reference the image we took of the markings on Naruto with the diagrams in this file, in fact check every diagram we have from that particular scroll just to be safe." Viktor placed an rusted hand on Blitzcrank's arm for support as he leaned forward toward the monitor.

Without a word in response the large automaton flicked through several commands that brought a plethora of life to the glowing screen. In no time at all several results were displayd in small windows all over the screen. According to the data collected there were several similarities between some of the more detestable forbidden seals and different elements of the markings on Naruto. Even without full knowledge of the 'Art' of sealing, Viktor could tell that Naruto had suffered several injustices, some that both brought new horrors to him, and terrible memories from his darker past. Blitzcrank stood motionless as his eyes took in every detail for future reference, but as each image was burned into his internal memory the sentient portion of his mind grew more and more infuriated.

"Data recording complete… Father, what do you make of all this?" Blitzcrank turned his metal skull toward Viktor and the techmaturgist could see a burning fury in those bright golden eyes, "If these results are correct, what does it mean?"

"Simply, my boy… it means that someone has been manipulating this boy, and likely this has been going on for a very long time. I do not wish to discuss this until the boy has woken up-" Viktor stopped abruptly in the middle of his sentence when the subject of their discussion began to groan.

"Why does everyone have to be so loud while I am trying to relax…?" Naruto mumbled into the exam table he was currently laid out on.

"Naruto, how are you feeling?" Viktor asked calmly while slowly limping his way back over to the examination area, "You've been unconscious for about seven hours, we began to worry and have done a few tests on you. Nothing invasive, I assure you."

Naruto slowly turned over to lay on his back, thanking Kami for the sweet relief of darkness considering he was likely in some kind of hospital if they ran tests. Hospitals were detestably bright, something he was unfortunately familiar with, "Besides feeling like Sakura-chan spent the past week hammering my skull inside out, I feel like a ramen special."

"I'm not sure what a ramen special is, but I am assuming that you are suffering some form of head pain. Unfortunately, I was expecting as much." Viktor exchanged a look with Blitzcrank who had walked over to join the two of them.

Naruto looked at Blitzcrank and gave the big guy one of his big grins to reassure his newest friend that he was all right, and then he realized what Viktor had said and looked back towards the decrepit old bot, "Oi, old mech, what do you mean you were expecting that? Did you bang me over the head?!" Naruto pointed a rather steamy, accusatory glare toward Viktor who could only laugh at the comical look the teen was giving.

"No, in fact I've never been one much for physical confrontation. If you would indulge this 'old mech' and answer me a question… what do you recall of our conversation before you fell asleep?" Viktor walked closer to look Naruto in the eyes.

Naruto looked back into those dimly glowing lights wondering if there were real eyes somewhere hidden behind that strange energy, "I remember you introducing yourself, I think… no, I was looking at you from behind that weird fountain, and I heard you both calling my name. Then… it gets all fuzzy, I don't know."

"Relax, boy, all is well. If you are up to it, I would like to ask you another question." Viktor could feel every fiber optic in his system practically singing with curiosity and wonder, but he knew that to get the information he desired he would have to be patient, especially with a teenager who had already shown signs of instability.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while eyeing the curious robot, "Uhm… sure, old mech, what's up?"

Viktor seemed to hesitate, his head shifting slightly toward Blitzcrank who stood motionless by Naruto's side, though his gears were quietly humming. Turning back to the teen on the table he spoke slowly, "Do you recall anyone ever placing a seal on the back of your head?"

As the words ran through his head Naruto felt the dull ache start to intensify causing him to moan and grip his head. Viktor saw the boy swaying and barely had time to react before Blitzcrank used his large metal hands to support the boy in case he fell unconscious again. With the teen held firm Viktor hurried over and found the seal burning brightly again, this time with only specific markings radiating the negative energy. Without letting his mind wander to second guesses and doubtful miscalculations he swept across the room quicker than he had moved in well over a century. When he came upon the old crate that his son had dutifully fetched from whatever wretched corner it had festered in he forced he aged locking mechanism to crack open before shoving the top to the floor. Dust and questionable debris scattered through the air before settling enough for him to view the contents of the long forgotten treasure.

On first glance it would appear that he'd discovered the world's most overly hyped old bucket. The large basin was made of an ancient material that without proper study may well have been mistaken for bronze. The outer design was much more angular than the inside would suggest with six identically measured sides. One of the sides was decorated with two special runes long since forgotten with time with some form of red dye or paint. The cover had been designed similarly with six identical triangular sides leading up to the center where a small spout sat either to loose excess fumes or provide ease of pouring, neither seemed very likely and yet there were no records to suggest just why the object had been designed as such.

"Mikael's Crucible… it has been too long since this relic has done any good. Without a proper source of Mana to replenish it, this may be its final deed… let it be a worthy one." Viktor let an old hand gently run across the cover of the crucible before he tapped into the Mana reserve within the relic. An all too familiar sensation went up his arm and through his body. Focusing this new power toward his staff Viktor looked over toward the examination table where Blitzcrank had gently placed Naruto into a prone position so that the seal was visible. Directing his old staff toward the boy he could see a visible projectile of ancient magic shoot clear across the room and slam directly into the seal. What came next, while expected, still shocked both creator and creation, nearly making them both gasp, despite their lack of functioning lungs.

It happened in an instant. One moment there was a dull throbbing pain dominating a majority of his head. The next moment, the pain seemed to condense into a sharp piercing centered near the base of his skull. It was unlike anything he'd felt before, and was so intense that even as his mouth opened to scream he could not inhale enough air to produce a sound. All at once a decade's worth of memories flashed through his mind causing his body to become catatonic.

-Line Break-

A four year old Uzumaki Naruto was sitting contentedly in one of the nicest beds he'd ever been in. He'd never been to the hospital before, and even though he got hurt bad before being brought there, it was still an exciting day. It hadn't been that bad really… just two weird guys throwing a sake flask at his head when he was out for a walk. It was strange though that they ran away so scared when this red stuff came out of his head to heal the cut. Yeah it was scary, I mean come on, that stuff looked like it might be really hot! Turned out it was super cool stuff that fixed up his head in no time and as soon as it was done it went back in.

The really scary guys with the weird animal masks jumped down at him out of no where moments after his the glowing friendly stuff went away, and they took him to the hospital where a bunch of nurses and doctors rushed him into a bunch of cold rooms. They gave him a ton of needles that really stung, but they told him it was all to make sure he was okay, so he made sure to stay strong and not cry. A few of the people taking his blood had been giving him really mean looks, but that seemed pretty normal around the village, especially since the orphanage sent him to live in the streets. The needles they gave him hurt a lot, a whole lot, but after getting hit in the head by a flask a needle is a silly thing to whine about.

After things had quieted down he was left to rest while they went and checked all his stuff. He couldn't sleep with all the excitement, but he did really enjoy the bed. At his little apartment the Hokage had given him his bed had lots of holes and springs were always poking his back. It sucked, but he figured he could buy a new one as soon as he found a shop that would sell him one, though he could never save much of the money the old man gave him each month. Whatever, at least he had a bed, and even if it was uncomfortable it was better than the cold floor.

He was broken from his thoughts when the friendly face of the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, came into view from the now open door, "Hello there Naruto-kun, I heard you ran into some trouble earlier?" His voice was kindly, though there was a tone of something hidden underneath that façade that Naruto was picking up on but couldn't place.

Trusting the old man more than anyone he gave a broad smile before excitedly replying, "There were these two big guys with mean faces, and they saw me walking home from the park, and one guy threw this really heavy bottle at me. It hurt real bad, and I felt this sticky stuff on my face, but then this really cool red stuff came out and fixed me up real fast! I've never seen that stuff before; do you know where it came from? Oh, maybe I got some super cool bloodline!"

Naruto's excited face fell and slowly turned to one of horror as he felt an incredible pain in his stomach. Looking down he saw that the friendly old man, the man who often helped him when no one would, the man he considered a grandfather, had buried his fist deeply into his little stomach forcing out his breath. Everything faded to black slowly as he tried to look back up, and all he saw was the shadowed face of the Sandaime looking at him with an apathetic expression. When the darkness finally overwhelmed him he fell into a dreamless sleep that would last for several days.

When Naruto returned to the land of the living he felt strange, as if he couldn't really think straight. He tried to remember where he was, but that became rather obvious once he inhaled the scent of harsh cleaners and medicine around him. Somehow he knew he was in the hospital, but instead of feeling excited and curious he felt wary and concerned. He opened his eyes and found the room both familiar and foreign right down to the little details like the small water stain on one of the ceiling tiles of the drop ceiling above him. Scanning the room he could swear that he'd seen the Hokage there, but that couldn't be because he'd only just woken up.

"Take it easy Naruto, you took a nasty bump to the head." Naruto turned to the corner of the room to see the very man he'd been thinking about appear practically out of no where.

The little boy rubbed the back of his head and flinched at the dull pain he felt there, "Ano… I guess you're right, it still hurts a little… what happened?"

Hiruzen watched the boy for a moment before discreetly forming a few hand sighns with his right hand to activate the seals he'd ordered placed on the boy. On cue he could see the boy's eyes glazing over as the seals went to work. With that done, it was time to test them, "Why don't you tell me what you remember…?"

Naruto's eyes took on their natural look before he tilted his head cutely, "I think I ran into a couple of mean guys, but everything else is fuzzy. Sorry, old man." Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Listen, Jinchuriki…" Hiruzen took on a firm tone.

Naruto stiffened before his eyes glazed over and he locked gazes with the old Hokage, "Hai, Hokage-sama…"

Hiruzen walked over to Naruto while speaking slowly, "You mustn't blame the civilians for what they do… they are just stupid. You cannot hurt someone for behaving stupidly, understood?"

"Yes, I understand, villagers are innocent…" Naruto's voice took on a monotone as his mind easily accepted his instructions.

"Whatever they say, listen, but do not accept it. Their approval is very important, and you must fight for it, no matter how long it takes." Hiruzen glared harshly at the boy as the child hesitated, "To be acknowledged and seek acceptance from the village… that is your only purpose, understood?"

Naruto's shaky voice replied moments later, "H-hai, Hokage-sama…"

"Women in general are not to be trusted. Every action they take should be considered hostile, and you must be wary of them. Avoid if at all possible. Should this prove impossible, then act on impulse, improvise, but never consider your actions for too long." Hiruzen intoned while keeping his focus on the boy's eyes.

Naruto replied without hesitation, "Hai Hokage-sama, I will be careful of women."

"Rest now…" Hiruzen commanded, and he was filled with a sense of satisfaction when the boy slumped back with his eyes half lidded.

"If that look is anything to go by, I would say you are pleased with the results…?" A new voice echoed from one of the shadows along the walls.

Hiruzen never turned from the child as he replied, "Jiraiya-kun, I thought you would have left as soon as the sealing was complete. Come to observe your masterwork?"

Jiraiya walked out of the shadows like a specter. The man was aged, but respectably well managed. His green short shirt kimono and matching pants worked to conceal the details of his physical build, though any seasoned ninja could tell just by his stance that he was not a man to take lightly. Reaching into his red haori he removed a sake flask before taking a rather hearty swig. Hiruzen eyed the man's actions with an analytical glare before turning back to Naruto. Seeing the old man hovering over the son of his former student he decided to join him, "I am an expert, not a master. This work is the best I could do with my limited experience." Jiraiya was never a man to be modest, so Hiruzen quickly understood that his former student had little faith in the seals he'd placed for him.

"I noticed the boy hesitate once… care to explain?" Hiruzen quirked an eyebrow while looking at the white haired man standing on the opposite side of the hospital bed.

Jiraiya gently flipped the boy over onto his stomach before pushing chakra into the child's system, focusing near the spine so that the seals came to life glowing a light blue, "As you can see I followed your orders to the letter. A three layered seal was no walk in the park, but at triple S rank pay it was worth the pain in my ass. The base is a Repression seal designed to keep the boy from remembering anything that you order he forget. I was watching your experimentation… was it necessary to test this out seven times in such quick succession?"

"I have learned the hard way that there is no such thing as being overly cautious. I wanted to test the limitations of the seal, and I am pleased with the results. The boy will never remember having seen the power of the Kyuubi, and any future slips can easily be blanked from his memory. I will not have him aware of his burden until the time is right."

Jiraiya eyed his sensei with a knowing look, "I would suggest that you use the seal with caution. Certain memories cannot be repressed so easily. Particularly happy memories can break the seal entirely."

Hiruzen huffed indignantly, "I noticed… that troublesome noodle merchant and his daughter have left a rather positive impression on him. After three attempts to have him forget about their kindness, I admit defeat."

"I suppose that must have something to do with your last little instruction using the Obedience seal?" Jiraiya mused aloud with a small smirk tugging at his lips.

"This is for the greater good, Jiraiya. The boy must have focus if he is to be used properly. Should he let his hormones rule him and seek out companionship he would lose his purpose. Without purpose, he has no use." Hiruzen's eyes blazed with conviction.

Jiraiya raised his hands in a placating manner, "Relax, I don't need this to devolve into another lecture about my hobby. Moving on, the Obedience seal is pretty self explanatory. As you are aware the seal functions with a verbal key to activate. All verbal cues after activation are meant to give the sealed not so subtle suggestions to follow all orders given. From what I read in the Uzu scrolls I snagged in Water Country the effectiveness of the seal is directly associated with the willpower of the sealed. The Gaki here must have a lot of trouble with the villagers, so their approval isn't exactly a high priority. Chances are he'll learn to accept their behavior or ignore it, and subconsciously he will work toward the goal you've set for him."

Hiruzen nodded slowly as he watched Naruto's nearly closed eyes looking toward each of them whenever they spoke without comprehending anything, "And what of the final seal?"

"That would be the Spiritual Suppression seal, a bit less complicated than it sounds really. In essence this seal will thwart any and all actions that influence the spiritual growth of the sealed. This includes scholastic learning, chakra usage, and even meditation. Any kind of mental focus will be disrupted or blocked entirely. With limited physical education and a lack of mental focus he will be forced to rely on the chakra of the Kyuubi, as per your insistence." Jiraiya paused as he gave his sensei a wary glance, "I have to ask… is this about what Minato found?"

Hiruzen took a moment to respond before letting out a deep sigh, "Yes… his notes spoke of something… a sleeping army, Jiraiya. Even he was convinced that harnessing a strong enough chakra source was the key…"

"You need to let go of that foolish idea, sensei. Minato was no warmonger, no matter what he may have written in his journals. I've read the entries dozens of times. He wasn't going to resurrect an army, he was trying to rescue a civilization. If you ask me the whole thing sounds like a poorly told fairy tale." Jiraiya flinched when he felt the killing intent wash over the room from his sensei.

"I have done far too much up to this point to turn back now. One way or another that fairy tale is real, and I will be ready to sacrifice whatever I must in order to make it a reality. This boy… he has no future in this village save acting as the scapegoat for the true villain in all this. He will become a tool, a means to the eventual end. And should Minato have been wrong… then we'll still have the beast on a tether. Nothing, not even the child of my former successor, outweighs the safety and prosperity of Konoha. "

~Memory Transition~

"Hey old man…" Naruto, now age nine, sat sulking a little on the leather couch in the corner of the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen found the distraction from his work welcoming and took the opportunity to light up a bit of his special tobacco, "What's got you looking so depressed, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto let his short legs kick slowly back and forth in a very childish manner while he eyed the floor, "No one likes me at the Academy… they say I'm dumb, and they like to tease me about my height and how skinny my arms and legs are."

Of the ANBU located around the office, not a single one of them could resist picturing how to appropriately deal with the bullying taking place in their Shinobi Academy. To their shock, Hiruzen scowled at the boy before signaling them all to leave the office with a subtle hand gesture. They dared not hesitate a direct order, and as soon as the lot of them were outside the office perimeter a privacy barrier had been erected. With his would be audience out of the way he set his elbows on his desk and closed his eyes, "Listen, Jinchuriki…"

Little Naruto stiffened and his eyes glazed over, "Hai, Hokage-sama…" The young boy rose to his feet before walking over to the desk to stand by Hiruzen and peer up into the old man's eyes.

The withered old Hokage looked impassively down into the dulled cerulean blue eyes of his ward with little empathy, "The other students don't matter, Naruto-kun… none of them. If you don't want to be there, then you just leave, understood? In fact… you don't need to listen to your instructors either. They're all out to get you… trust no one… no one except me."

"Hai, Hokage-sama…" Naruto's voice was low and depressed, as if he were acknowledging the words without fully accepting them, something the Sandaime took note of.

Hiruzen grumbled angrily as he recognized the weakness in the boy's voice, "That is all, Jinchuriki."

Naruto's eyes regained their color and the boy stood blinking before giving a sheepish grin at the old man, "Hehe… did I zone out again?"

"Yes you did, Naruto-kun. Anyway, how are you feeling?" Hiruzen let his eyes fall to his desk, though he watched the boy out of the corner of his eye.

Naruto thought for a moment and his little mind worked hard to piece together his feelings. His smile settled into one that was void of any true joy, "Better than ever!"

The elder Sarutobi was not the Hokage for nothing, and he could tell a fake smile a mile away. Still, this fake happiness, whether a mask or not, was better than the boy showing his depression openly. Should the meddling council take notice someone may try to sabotage his plans and help the boy. God forbid any of the Shinobi Council members take notice of the seals placed on him. Too many questions would be asked, and if their pretentious noses began sniffing around… he would hate to have Danzo get involved…

~Memory Transition~

Sarutobi Hiruzen walked along the foot path in one of Konoha's less frequented parks with his alleged surrogate grandson Uzumaki Naruto. The boy was twelve years old and looking a little more downtrodden than normal. He'd been feeling much lonelier than normal, which he had assumed would stop after he'd been assigned his new super amazing ninja team. He'd nothing in common with either of his teammates, and neither of them seemed to want anything to do with him. The child was currently complaining about the completely biased training schedule that his sensei, Hatake Kakashi, had been issuing his students. Hiruzen outwardly nodded along while he let the boy vent, but inwardly he was grinning rather viciously.

Of course he knew exactly what was going on with the boy's team, he had set the teams up after all. Granted, the system had acted in his favor in this particular instance, but there had been a few petitions from perspective Jonin to take the boy on their teams, even a few reserve teams that had taken casualties. With tradition on his side he was able to stall each and every one of the requests with a simple and believable lie. The dead last of the graduating class must always be with the top male and female graduates, and Naruto had ironically succeeded at becoming the absolute worst graduate, possibly of all time. And how perfect it had been that the top male graduate had of course been the Uchiha brat, an arrogant little whelp with a superiority complex that just so happened to flare up whenever he and the blonde were within ten feet of each other.

With the potential for an awakening Sharingan on the team, it was only fitting to push his least productive Jonin into accepting the team. He knew the man all too well and his failings in the past would practically demand him to take on the Uchiha and groom him into the perfect little Konoha ninja. With the man's focus on the Uchiha, he would completely neglect his other students and further sabotage Naruto's growth so that the boy would be pushed further toward his ultimate destiny. So what if Kakashi found out some day down the line that he'd thrown his sensei's son to the wolves? And to rid the world of another Haruno after he'd had that loud mouthed mother of hers' voice box irreparably damaged was all the more a bonus.

"…And then he just has us running all these pointless drills all day, and then he gives Sasuke a couple of these cool looking scrolls! I asked if I would get one, and he just smiled and pat my head like I was some kind of dog!" Naruto huffed as he crossed his arms, his bottom lip pouting like a flustered five year old.

Hiruzen plastered on one of his patented grandfather smiles, "Naruto-kun, I'm sure he just wants to make sure that everyone is on equal footing. After all, you already have the Shadow Clone technique, which is a very high ranking Ninjutsu. You do want your new friends to catch up… right?"

Naruto looked down at the ground while his body tensed, "Old man, I just… I know I'm lagging way behind Sasuke and Sakura in a lot of the basics… Iruka-sensei tried to help me out, but I just couldn't get it. Kakashi-sensei is super strong and I know he could teach me a lot, I want him to… I want to be the best that I can be, ya know? Maybe I could try talking to him in private, or ask Kakashi-sensei to Ramen Ichiraku and ask for tips over dinner. You think I should?"

The Sandaime internally growled at the mention of the thrice accursed Ichiraku family. How many times those people meddled in his plans by giving the child somewhere to escape his troubles… it was troublesome. His previous attempts to influence the boy away from them had failed miserably, and the Ichiraku weren't the only people the boy had grown to trust. Iruka, that worthless little eternal Chuunin, had wormed his way into Naruto's heart the night of his failed graduation. Several clan heirs in his graduating class had formed a posse that their senseis often called "The Dropout Princes" due to their repeated escapes from class during the day. The little hell raisers had connected to Naruto and become loosely connected friends, and those bonds would not be broken regardless of how many times he tried to adjust his memory or influences his mind to detach from them.

"Listen, Jinchuriki…" Hiruzen had grown weary of the phrase over the years, but he knew that what he was doing was… necessary.

Naruto stopped mid-step and turned to face the old man with lifeless eyes, "Hai, Hokage-sama…"

Hiruzen sighed deeply as he turned to look into those eyes that reminded him more and more of Minato with each passing year, "Your Jonin sensei… he must focus on Sasuke… this is how it must be, by order of the council… there is nothing anyone can do, understand?"

Naruto's eyes stared unblinkingly back at Hiruzen for several moments without him uttering a single word. The glossy texture fluctuated several times and caused Hiruzen a significant amount of worry. Should the seal collapse, not only would the boy likely remember everything… he may even become severely brain damaged and rendered invalid. This had always been a very real threat, but Jiraiya had been on hand at least once a year to keep a close watch over the seals. This would mark the first time since their placement all those years ago that the seals showed true signs of weakening. To his immense relief, the boy's eyes settled and his body seemed to calm again before he finally spoke.

"…Hai…" Naruto's voice was very shaky, and there was an underlying sadness that would have broken the heart of anyone… save the very man whose heart should ache the most for his crimes against the child.

"Someday, Naruto-kun, you will fulfill your destiny and all of this… all of this will prove to have been necessary. You will bring this village the power it needs to influence peace across the Elemental Nations, by bringing it to its knees." Hiruzen let a hand rest on the shoulder of the entranced young boy before him, the tear running down the cheek of the child falling unnoticed.

-Line Break-

Naruto's eyes shot open as he loosed a scream of pain that slowly morphed into a roar of emotional agony. Nearly eight years of memory repression, manipulations, and spiritual suppression tore through his mind like a maelstrom. A familiar red glow formed around his head whipping up a whirlwind around him with its intensity. He could feel it burning like fire, and yet the pain within his mind slowed and retracted to a dull thud that spread like waves in steady water upon each pulse of his heart. The thudding slowed and then as quickly as it began it ceased entirely leaving him to vent his frustrations without the taint of pain to warp his cries.

Viktor and Blitzcrank stood silently near the wall, their backs pressed firmly to solid metal and concrete from the force of the winds issued from the boy. Blitzcrank couldn't understand what had happened, what he had seen. The strange curse on the teenager's neck broke three times, each time causing the boy a great deal of pain if his contortions were any indication. Then, a fourth marking appeared on his stomach over an even more complex array of runes. While the complex arrangement was left unchanged, the secondary markings shattered, and with it a torrent of power unlike anything he'd ever felt in his entire life surged forth. Even his experiences in the Rift when battling against the being Xerath paled in comparison. The boy contained something akin to the strength of ten Nexuses.

Viktor kept his eyes locked on the youth as the storm of energy that he'd released settled down. The very air seemed to hum with energy, and several of the monitors and consoles around the medical lab were alive with light, some flickering from energy overload. The cries he was issuing were full of anguish and despair… the pain of betrayal. He knew this feeling all too well, the pain of knowing that one he'd placed his faith in had done him a great disservice. A feeling he had long ago tried to eliminate surfaced as his body moved on autopilot toward the boy. This feeling was sympathy, or perhaps empathy…

"Naruto… what happened?" Viktor used as gentle a tone as he could, his old voice synthesizer making it difficult, but not impossible, to express subtle emotion.

Naruto had taken to a position on his hands and knees as his fingers curled into tightly tensed fists, "That old… idealistic… insufferable… back-stabbing monster! He used me… he… he manipulated me… like I was some kind of… puppet for his sick, twisted goals! Eight years… eight years I was…" Naruto was speaking slowly, his mind sluggishly coming to life with each passing moment. Previously untapped knowledge and comprehension came to him in a waterfall.

Viktor rested an old, rusted hand on the teen's shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze, "Take it easy boy, relax… you are becoming hysterical. You need to breath or you will end up losing consciousness again."

Naruto flinched away from the touch. It reminded him of all the times the Sandaime had put his disgusting hands on him. Every time that man had laid a hand on him while whispering his sweet words of wisdom… all the walks in secluded parks and back streets. Every time the old bastard took him out to eat or just for a stroll… it had been to issue more of his commands. He'd tried to take Ayame away from him… he tried to take Iruka away… he wanted Naruto to be a dumb, defenseless little battery for his scheme to manipulate his father's work. That thought snapped him out of his ramblings and his cold cerulean blue eyes turned to look right into the glowing circles that stared at him with the machine equivalent of concern.

"Viktor-san, I need you to tell me everything that happened between you and my father." Naruto leapt down from the table, his body moving with a grace that he never knew before.

Viktor observed the young man with an analytical eye. He could tell that something was very different about him. There was confidence where before there was cautious optimism. There was grace where before the boy had a sort of tempered clumsiness in each of his movements. The false mirth and glint of mischief he'd seen before was replaced with cold calculation and unmasked disdain, though it was definitely not directed to either him or Blitzcrank. In fact, the child seemed much more at ease around him and his golem companion. These observations took all of a moment for his highly augmented mind to process before his old body limped with renewed vigor out of the room, "Follow me boy, it would be best to explain in my laboratory."

Naruto followed without hesitation, throwing his coat off as he stalked behind the robotic scientist and tossing it into a pile of rubbish in the corner. Blitzcrank followed after, his eyes lingering on the discarded old jump suit top for a moment. There was something odd about the gesture, like watching an animal shed its skin, 'What is this feeling? It is like a foreboding, and yet… it is as if something good is coming rather than something bad.'

Viktor let a burst of power fire from his staff as the trio found their way back to the lab where the Nexus Fountain stood dull and lifeless in the center. The old bot began to rummage about the mess of papers and books as his voice rang through the chamber, "Sixteen years ago Namikaze Minato performed a service for the Daimyo of the land we are currently a part of. In return for his great service he was given a copy of a very detailed map, one created by the only other human to ever stumble upon this place. His name was Tadataka, and the man was a great visionary and explorer. Anyway, Minato found our Underground Shelter and immediately assumed that it belonged to someone sinister… Oro something. Regardless, the young man came in here guns blazing and demanded that we submit to questioning."

Naruto listened intently; his mind never so focused as it was now that he was free from the damnable influences of the Obedience and Suppression seals, "Figures, the two of them had a… disagreement, if the history lectures and text books are accurate. I imagine Tou-san was worried that the snake was here in Wave continuing his horrid genetics experiments."

Viktor paused in his searching and his body tensed for but a moment before resuming his actions with renewed fervor, "Quite, but you can rest assured that he found no evidence to support the claims, and that is when the two of us struck a deal. Before I tell you more about that, it would be best if you learned a little more about me, Blitzcrank, and where we originated from…" The last of the papers he had been shoving about was gone to reveal one of the oldest books Naruto had ever seen. It was bound in fine black leather with nary a single indication of any damage, save for the incredibly stained pages within. Centered on the cover was a circle with gold trim surrounding a rich blue that seemed to move about like the surface of water. Emblazoned over the odd circle was a large symbol that Naruto had never seen before composed of two intersecting lines that created a ninety degree angle that opened toward the upper right hand corner of the tome.

Viktor waved his staff over the strange book and to Naruto's surprise the heavy thing started to float as if riding on rising air currents. Alarmed, but not put off, Naruto stood in a tense stance ready for anything, yet lacking any sort of threat that would instigate conflict where there was none. The book floated slowly toward the space between the three of them and then opened up. The pages flipped quickly, skipping several chapter by the looks of it, and then came to rest on a page that held a highly detailed map of lands that were completely unfamiliar to the young ninja. Naruto spared a glance over toward Blitzcrank and even without proper expressions the machine seemed almost nostalgic. Hearing Viktor's grating old voice brought Naruto's attention back to the large floating text.

"Before I speak, I would ask what you understand of Time and Space, as a science and not the literal." Viktor was quick to add the last bit when he saw the questioning look on Naruto's face.

Naruto placed a hand on his chin as he thought, "Unfortunately, my knowledge is very limited right now. I have been… held back for a time. Explain what you must freely."

Viktor gave a nod before continuing, "Very well, first I will simply state that in the eternity of the universe there are several dimensions all layered parallel to one another, and each with unfathomable amounts of differences and similarities. There are spaces in between where the physics of reality cease to exist, and only a handful of people have ever truly touched upon those realms. Everything in this facility, including myself and Blitzcrank, are from one of these alternate dimensions of reality."

Naruto was overwhelmed by this information, and for all intents and purposes he was willing to deny all of it as a rather complicated ruse. Another dimension? Infinite alternate dimensions? The whole thing was highly suspect. Scowling, he narrowed his eyes at Viktor, "You're telling me that you're from some other world? You want me to believe the two of you are aliens or something? You think I am that stupid?"

Viktor showed no signs of being put off by the blunt accusatory tone Naruto was using, "No, not another world, boy. We are from this world, but another layer of reality. Our two dimensions were the closest together in terms of similarities, or so we assume based on the information we have been able to collect."

"So where exactly are you from? What dimension?" Naruto crossed his arms, willing to see how deep the rabbit hole would go and if he would be able to stomach this pack of hogwash.

"Our version of this world was known as Runeterra, and where your Elemental Nations are situated was the Super Continent of Valoran. Instead of countries named after elements and natural resources, our lands were divided into City-states, each with their own governments and militaries. Sadly, our worlds have one absolute similarity: war. Much like the wars that have ravaged a good deal of your Elemental Nations, it was war that brought Runterra and all her people to their knees." Viktor gave his staff a small wave sending the pages of the still floating book flipping forward to depictions of battles, some more detailed and detestable than others.

"On Runeterra there was a magic, or Mana, that saturated the land and sustained all life. According to legend there were artifacts of immense power known as World Runes said to have had a hand in the creation of Runeterra. As is the nature of things, what was once a source of creation and life, eventually the World Runes became a source of destruction and death. With such power on the loose, nations sought them as a means to combat the rising power of their rivals. The Rune Wars began as a ploy by several nations to seize land and power from their neighbors. Calamity after calamity taught them nothing, and eventually the entire world was on the verge of collapse.

While your people wage wars with elemental abilities and physics altering techniques, your ways pale in comparison to magical warfare. Imagine entire settlements engulfed in a sea of intense fire. Picture whole mountains shattered by a simple incantation. These were the feats of powerful magicians that used their knowledge to lord over common man and obtain political power. Greed my boy, greed, lust for power, and endless consuming hunger that had been left unchecked for centuries. And then, as the world teetered on the edge of destruction, people finally realized the error of their miscalculations. Powerful storms, acidic fallout, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions… life was hell and we had no one to blame except ourselves.

The most powerful magicians in all of Valoran came together to form a council in order to seek out a solution, some way to save Runeterra. Their answer came in the form of… The League of Legends." Viktor flashed through several more pages until he had the book freeze on a depiction of several magicians standing together in a circle, each hovering over a crystal of some kind, "The League of Legends was designed as a means to resolve large scale political conflicts in a controlled, stable environment that would eliminate the use of wide scale magical spell work. If the nations had no need for such devastating magical abuse, then Runeterra would be allowed to rest and heal."

Naruto looked closely at the picture of the young magicians and their odd orbs, "I'm not quite sure what the League of Legends actually is. From your story, it sounds like a gathering of powerful people. It would be like having all the most powerful ninja in the Elemental Nations living under one banner."

Viktor hummed softly, "Close… though the League was far from an alliance. In fact, members of the League would often go to extreme lengths to demonstrate just who they were and where they were from. The League was never meant to bolster true peace… it was meant to control conflict. Matches were nothing more than organized battles between small groups of warriors, known commonly as Champions. What began as a means to solve differences slowly devolved into a spectacle that was beheld all throughout Valoran. Mighty men and women who had volunteered to battle for their homelands became celebrities, and some thrived off of it. It became less about the political gain, and more about the great games that people would bet on, sometimes going so far as to assassinate rivals over misplaced wagers. And then… the summoners who controlled the matches became… tainted."

"Summoners? What exactly is a summoner?" Naruto interrupted Viktor for the sake of understanding where the current tangent was going.

The man bot nodded as he recalled everything he knew about the odd magicians, "A summoner was a magician who studied the arts of Space and Time in order to summon objects, both biological and artificial, from one location to another by tapping into the realms between dimensions. In order to fuel this highly unstable magic the summoners would use powerful fountains of natural Mana that we called Nexus Fountains." Here Viktor walked over to the large fountain with the floating crystal and gestured nonchalantly, "Much like this, only much more aesthetically pleasing. Summoners had to study for years before they could attempt to summon anything, and several more years would pass before they were allowed to summon anything biological. Often times summoners would retire having never been able to participate fully in League matches. You see, summoning magic takes a heavy toll on the practitioner, and only few ever delved into their studies far enough to avoid the fatigue."

Naruto gave a small nod while his eyes trailed over the oversized gem stone, "Okay… so when do we get to the part that involves my father?"

"I will tell you soon. For now, I have a bit more to explain, so be patient." Viktor almost laughed when he saw the childish pout on Naruto's face, but he was able to keep himself together in order to get this story over with, "As I said, the summoners became tainted. While the Champions and their respective homelands spent their time squabbling over matches and political intrigue, the League was slowly infected by something dark… something sinister. As it spread, the matches became even more troublesome, and the Champions took notice. First summoners spent entire matches forcing their Champions to commit atrocities, and other times Champions would be left to slaughter while their summoner became distracted.

Of course the intricate magic of the arenas kept true death at bay with powerful rune work, but being killed is in no way a pleasant feeling. The complaints grew in number as the troubles became more apparent. And then the taint made itself known… it took over the bodies of several summoners in order to speak to us. I still remember watching their skin turn as black as night… their eyes grew hollow before turning a brilliant golden yellow. And then they spoke… and their voices were unlike anything we'd ever heard before. We are the Toxic, and we will consume this world…"

"The Toxic? That's a bit lame…" Naruto grumbled as Viktor gave him a look that, while void of any possible emotion due to a lack of facial characteristics, was definitely indignant.

Viktor grumbled a little himself before tapping his staff lightly on top of Naruto's head, "Fool, this is no laughing matter. The Toxic were classified as a symbiotic life form with links to another dimension referred to as Terra Prime. Unwittingly, one of our lower level summoners had been tapping into the Time and Space magic realms between dimensions and brought some kind of… infectious disease over into our realm of reality. It spread through the ranks of summoners so quickly that by the time the League was aware… they'd already slain the Council of Equity… and declared war on Valoran."

"So… you're telling me that some fool trying to make a name for himself ended up opening the door for some hell spawn, and then it spread like a virus to anyone who used Summoning magic and took over their bodies… and then they killed off the leadership of the League and started a war?" Naruto stood trying to sum up everything Viktor had told him so far. Of course the back story was important, but this disturbing turn of events was most assuredly leading toward what his father had to do with these alleged dimensional hoppers.

Viktor grunted with a small nod, "The war escalated and magic was cast across Valoran tearing the very foundations of Runeterra apart. All past grudges were cast aside to do battle against the Toxic Summoners, but nothing we did could stop their uncontrolled magic. Champions were forced to sever all of their previous ties with any and all summoners, even those allied with our cause. One by one, each city-state fell, thousands perished, and the remaining resistance members fled to the ruins of what was left of the League of Legends. It was there in that final moment when one of our own came forward to provide us with one last chance at survival.

His name was Zilean, also known as the Chronokeeper. He was a powerful sorcerer, the last of his people, tormented by a terrible magical disease. You see, as his name suggests, his magical talents laid in the dangerous field of Time and Space. His studies inevitably left him vulnerable and he developed something called chrono-dysplasia. While his physical body would remain in the present, his mind would be subject to harsh shifts in the perception of time itself, meaning that he would be forced to see the past, present, and future at any given moment with no way of regulating it. A terrible curse to be sure, but he was the one that provided us with the plan that would eventually save us all, or so we'd hoped."

By now Naruto had taken to sitting with his legs crossed and his face in a slightly comical foxy squint. All of it sounded incredibly ridiculous, but at the same time the machine man gave no indication that he was lying. The idea of several parallel realities all piled on top of each other was slightly easier to swallow than everything else due to his limited understanding of summoning beasts. His sensei, the bastard that he was, had summoned talking dogs to aid their team during the mission to Wave. When he'd been given the chance he spoke to one of them about where they came from and he'd been told that they lived apart from the Elemental Nations in another dimension. At the time he'd been forcefully made a naïve and gullible moron, so he'd accepted the vague explanation without fuss. He knew Viktor wasn't finished with his tale so he held his tongue, but he had several questions brewing he was eager to ask.

"Runeterra was doomed to oblivion, our forces were on the brink of collapse… so we made the ultimate sacrifice. Zilean was familiar with the unknown realm between dimensions, and he devised a plan to send what was left of the League of Legends, everyone and everything within the ruined halls, out of Runeterra's realm of reality and into another. This alternate reality would need to be similarly designed, with the proper atmosphere and vegetation to sustain our people. Because of the risk of death… I volunteered to be the first." Viktor turned toward the Nexus Fountain and took a moment to let his mind settle on the memories, "I abandoned my humanity in pursuit of the perfect mechanical evolution of man, and because of this I was not subject to the same limitations as the others. There were others who could survive… others who were unaffected by the passage of time, but I was the only one among us with the intelligence to adapt our technology here… I was sent here with a collection of our relics, while everyone else was forced to remain between dimensions in stasis. The process was referred to as Reverse Summoning, in which the League structures and the survivors within would be pushed away instead of pulled. Zilean led the mages in their attempt to rip open Time and Space, but I have no way of knowing if everyone else survived the tear.

Blitzcrank was the only other Champion physically able to join me, and together we have spent… many decades trying to adapt the Nexus Fountain to the natural energies of this dimension, with very little success. I theorized that if we found a potent enough source of power that we might jumpstart the Crystal Capacitor into converting the Natural Energy around us into a steady flow of Mana. That would allow for a focus to complete the Reverse Summoning that Zilean performed to send the League here. And that, my boy, is where your father came in."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly as his mind slowly put the very obvious points together, "So then… he promised to help secure a powerful enough source of energy to help you get this piece of junk working properly?"

"This piece of junk is the cumulative work of myself and my creation over several decades of hard work." Viktor replied indignantly.

"…Does it work?" Naruto dead panned while eyeing the mechanical man.

Viktor felt a large accumulation of condensation form on the outer layer of his cranial carapace, "…No."

"Right… okay, so if I get this straight, you've spent decades trying to make a machine convert Natural Energy into this… Mana stuff. So what, there's chakra just sort of flowing through everything?" Naruto was really trying to reign in his childish skeptical tone, and of course failing.

Blitzcrank stepped forward to speak for the first time since the three of them had left the medical bay, "Negative, Naruto. Natural Energy is a unique power source generated by nature itself. According to limited information left in our possession by your father, Natural Energy is a source of power utilized by very few sentient species, and even less among the inhabitants of the Elemental Nations. Our theory is that this Natural Energy was once a source of power on Runeterra before the creation of the World Runes, however historical records available do not date that far back."

Viktor rejoined the conversation as he hobbled over to Naruto, "We've studied this energy meticulously and we are absolutely positive that our Modified Nexus Fountain will work. We just need some kind of initial boost to get the Capacitor up and running, and if Zilean is still watching he will complete the Reverse Summoning… Minato was the one to suggest using chakra, though we are still unsure of whether or not the Capacitor will accept it."

"And what makes you so sure that this is all even worth the trouble? What hope do you have that your people are even alive out there… where ever out there is?" Naruto stood up to look Viktor in the eyes, cerulean blue staring into two pools of dimly burning gold.

Viktor did not back down or turn away from the intense skeptical glare that Naruto sent his way. Instead he steadied his hold on his staff and stood slowly until he towered over the young teen. Joints ground harshly while several vents in his metallic body loosed steam that smelled of burning oil. With a deep intake of air he growled out a plume of hot steam that even Naruto's stubborn hair faltered under. Naruto didn't back down even as those two golden eyes burned with a new intensity.

"Because I must. I made a promise to do whatever it took to bring them here. Not many of them had much faith in me, and what truly worsened the blow was my own understanding that their lack of faith was justified. I was a selfish creature, arrogant in my beliefs, and I made many mistakes that I will never be able to take back. But, I can do the right thing now, and into the future. I can be redeemed, and perhaps one day my dreams will come to pass the right way."

The two men, one ancient and one a mere teen, were silent for a long while simply glaring into the other's eyes. For Viktor, he hadn't felt this strong in many years, his conviction the fuel to his inner fire. He hadn't spent this long planning, preparing, and desperately clinging to functionality for some little boy to challenge his beliefs and make him doubt himself. He would stand up for himself, for the belief that his fellow Runeterrans put in him, no matter what this child threw at him. He was ready… so of course he might have been thrown off by the sudden one eighty that the ninja went through. A large grin spread across Naruto's face as a determined glint shined in his once glaring, accusatory eyes.

"Okay old mech, where do we start?"

-Line Break-

Sarutobi Hiruzen was not a particularly unpleasant man to be around. Having spent years training himself into the ground as a younger man, surviving two wars, and surrounding himself with some of the most powerful men to walk the Elemental nations had served to humble him. He would freely admit that he was an old man, albeit a very powerful one, and that with as much power as he possessed… he wasn't all powerful. That being said, he'd like to think that nothing ever went on in Konoha without his knowledge… which is exactly why the normally pleasant man was a fuming mess of anger and frustration. The reason: Uzumaki Naruto, his little pet project, had somehow slipped out of the village without so much as a Kami damned alarm being sounded!

It had been days since Naruto had gone missing… and the only reason he even knew this was because he'd found the signed paperwork permitting the boy to leave… in his own hand! In a panic he'd interrogated his entire unit of the ANBU, his personal guard, to ascertain when the boy had actually been in his office to make such a request. He knew there were some among his guard who favored the boy, much to his annoyance, but those particular ANBU had been relegated to tasks outside the village to keep their meddling to a minimum. Of the guards who he could trust to leave the boy to his devices, he discovered that the three who had been on duty in his office that day had… accidentally… deactivated their air filtration units while he'd been indulging on his favorite exotic tobacco. The entire village fell unconscious for five minutes under the weight of his immense killing intent upon that discovery.

To make things even worse, he had no idea who the hell had been working his front desk that day. His secretary was still on sick leave having caught some form of full body flu, and with the threat of his former student looming he hadn't been very picky with her replacement that day, even going so far as to forgo the paperwork involved and simply handing out C ranked pay to the shinobi from his wallet! Damnable tobacco had given him only hazy memory of the ninja, and there were far too many brown haired ninja in his militia to go on a witch hunt. Any and all meetings that day had been unscheduled, so that left no one with any recollection of just who had been sitting at that desk.

The only solid information that he had on the boy was his departure time at the Main Gate security booth, the signed receipt for the Travel Pass to show that the boy had at least gone the legal route, and the destination on said receipt. With that in mind he sent out his best trackers to fetch the boy under the guise of an emergency. It would be a simple thing to erase the boy's memory of the entire trip, and then things could be settled. Unfortunately, upon arrival at the coast of Fire Country, some kind of flashflood had wiped away all traces of the boy's scent from the area. Without a proper trail to follow, the team would likely be searching for a couple weeks. Hopefully the people of Wave would be cooperative with his team, otherwise they would be stuck searching the entire island nation.

Currently the Sandaime was sitting at his desk puffing away at some of the best locally grown tobacco to avoid the stronger imports while on duty. With his years of training to fall back on it was no surprise that he detected the presence of his old student as the man slipped stealthily through the window, "Jiraiya-kun, would it kill you to enter this office in the conventional way?"

The overly tall, white haired Toad Sage let loose a hearty bark of laughter while his camouflage technique faded in a shimmer of chakra, "You of all people ought to know just how unconventional I am. After all, it was you who taught me." Jiraiya sat with a small, smug smirk on his face on the window sill.

"Of course, but I never taught you how to move about like some kind of delinquent… that would be something born into you." Hiruzen spun his chair around to face his student while leaning back into his high backed chair, "Have you found anything that might lead us to…?" Somehow he could never bring himself to call Naruto by his name, let alone refer to him as a person when not forced to by the boy's presence.

Jiraiya suppressed a frown as he listened to the rather unpleasant tone that his sensei took when referring to Naruto. All those years ago when he had been commissioned to seal the boy's memories and place the Obedience and Suppression seals on him he'd been a different man. At the time he had been desperately seeking the approval of his sensei. When Orochimaru defected from the village it had been a heavy emotional blow to Hiruzen, and with Tsunade's eventual defection, albeit a legal one, Hiruzen openly criticized his students for their faults on multiple occasions. Jiraiya, always the underdog, the clanless loser, the slow learner, he wanted to prove that his sensei could be proud of him. When the old monkey had sent word through his spy network that he needed help with a seal, he leapt at the chance to prove his worth.

Now, so many years later, he could only look back and wonder if it had been worth it. The relationship between he and his sensei had grown strong, but it was at the cost of an innocent child's freedom. Often times while drowning in sake and surrounded by common harlots he would lapse into thoughts about the little blonde boy that he had signed over to the Devil's mercies. The greater good… it was a hollow concept now. Over the years he'd been called back to reapply the seals and strengthen them when they'd been damaged. On each occasion he found his eyes lingering longer and longer on the face of his former student's son. Every year the boy grew and every year it was like watching the growth of Minato all over again.

Steeling himself he let all of the usual mirth on his face vanish into a stone of indifference, "Unfortunately, no… I sent word to my people in Wave and it looks like he never made it there. Reports of bad weather recently could hint at a change of plans."

Hiruzen rubbed his chin in deep thought. If Jiraiya was correct then there would be no point in sending any back up teams to Wave, "I see… I will have to recall my tracker team then, they would only be wasting time and resources if they entered Wave. I can rely on your people to keep their eyes out for him, yes?"

"Of course sensei, they will send word to me immediately if they spot him. I'll spread word to most of my people in Fire Country as well, see if the gaki has wandered anywhere closer to home. With all the landslides in the area near Wave it's likely all of his tracks will have been torn up by now. Eye witnesses are our only real lead at this point." Jiraiya had to suppress a small smirk as he watched the old man swallow his lies like a cheap escort.

Said old man had already finished writing out his orders on a small form before stamping it with his seal, "Excellent, excellent, I have enough on my mind right now with Orichimaru lurking about. I leave this whole affair in your capable hands. If we are going to realize Minato's goals we will need the power of the Kyuubi. Bring him back." Hiruzen summoned his current temporary Chuunin assistant to take his mission update to the Communications office.

Jiraiya took his leave back out the window and leapt across several roof tops with a rather satisfied smile on his face, 'Naruto… I'll never be able to look you in the eyes after everything I've done… but on my honor as a shinobi, I'll do what I can from the shadows to keep you safe from that scheming old monkey from now on if it kills me.' The Toad Sage thought about the reports of landslides blocking the route to Wave and how he'd accidentally been practicing some of his Earth techniques in the area. The giggle he let loose would put the perverted giggle he was famous for to shame.

As Jiraiya switched directions toward the Hot Springs for some under cover research he spotted the unmistakable silver hair of that miserable Hatake Kakashi. Putting on a neutral smile he waved the Elite Jonin down, barely catching his attention as the man made haste toward the Market District. The two halted their acrobatic leaping on opposing sides of the same roof before walking toward one another leisurely. Jiraiya lifted his hand up in greeting and received a lazy wave in return, "Yo, Jiraiya-sama, haven't seen you in a while."

Jiraiya found the laid back attitude the man exuded pretty lame, but then again he most often greeted strangers with a song and dance so… perhaps he was biased, "Kakashi, good to see you're doing well. I heard about your rookie team securing two spots in the upcoming Chuunin Finals. You must be proud, eh?"

Kakashi gave a half hearted shrug of his shoulder before pulling out an overused little orange book to read through casually, "Clan heirs, what can you do, ne? Kurenai and Asuma both have students in the Final as well. "

"How are the boys doing in their preparations?" Jiraiya couldn't alert the damnable Jonin that he was privy to more than he ought to know. As far as Kakashi knew, Naruto was no one important enough to consider more than a few moments, regardless of the boy's unique condition. If it seemed Jiraiya knew more about Naruto than the simple passing of names, it might arouse suspicion and Hiruzen was nothing if not paranoid.

Kakashi gave the page of his book a gentle turn while barely glancing away from the fanciful text, "Well, Sasuke is currently working on his elemental chakra manipulation and physical conditioning. I have something special in mind to teach him, but I won't say until I know for sure if he is capable or not."

Jiraiya hummed quietly in a mock impressed tone while inwardly he was uncomfortable with what the younger man had told him. There were only a few things that Kakashi might be going through such trouble to teach, and hearing about elemental manipulation made him uneasy. By all accounts the boy was an unstable flight risk, and even the council often debated on allowing him to continue his shinobi career. Jiraiya would have sent the emotional little bastard straight to Danzo, but the boy had accumulated too much popularity in the younger civilian population for him to suddenly go missing. Shaking such thoughts from his head he moved along to what he was far more interested in, "Very promising indeed. I hear he will need every advantage he can get facing that Gaara menace. What about the other one, Naruto I think his name was? I hear he is going to be facing that horrid little Hyuga prodigy Neji."

"Neji may be a little harsh, but his skills are out of this world. Naruto will be pummeled into near death in the first ten minutes. No matter the training he will fall, so I have decided to stick with his more promising teammate. He may not like it, but he must respect the facts of the situation. Once Sasuke makes Chuunin he will likely be sent on more advanced missions and I will have plenty of time to refocus on my other two students." Kakashi gave a sigh after he'd finished his speech feeling the mental fatigue of trying to justify his actions for what felt like the hundredth time. Asuma and Kurenai had both been particularly displeased with his explanation, though eventually they dropped the subject to pursue more pleasant conversation. Unfortunately, Gai found it near impossible to hold a grudge against him, even though the Green Beast had been adamant with his displeasure over the news.

As much as he would have liked to dispute the words of the lazy Jonin, Jiraiya was all too familiar with how poor Naruto was likely to fair. Hell, he'd more or less assured the kid would fail… no, not more or less, he had been the key to the boy's failures his entire life. That crushing truth left him without a retort, nor the energy to think of anything to say in general. One would think that the orchestrator of the piece would revel in his own success, but this particular work was akin to the saddest melancholy. Not to be caught out, he masked his emotions with one of his best smirks before he spoke, "Well, try not to be too late this time, ne? Wind and Fire country will send their most prominent lords and ladies to attend. We need our stars on display!"

"Maa, maa, not to worry, I've just recently got a new watch. Waterproofed." Kakashi waved his hand back and forth before peeking his lone eye over the top of his book, "By the way… why so curious about Naruto, hm?"

Jiraiya now waved his hand in a dismissive motion, "Sensei was asking for me to have a look for the brat. Seems he snuck out of the village."

Kakashi snapped his book shut with a sharp slap, "H-he what?" All traces of his lazy attitude were gone as a look of regret just barely touched on his half lidded eye.

Jiraiya inwardly smirked at the sudden shift in mood, though he chose not to show that he'd noticed the slight stutter, "Yeah, weird eh? I was told to keep it under the radar, but as his Jonin sensei I thought you ought to know. Maybe you'd seen him, or might know his hiding spots or something, ya know?"

Kakashi held Jiraiya's gaze for a few moments before closing his eye and rubbing his chin, "…I will keep an eye out whenever I am near the village. I never thought he would defect…"

"Oh, no he didn't defect Kakashi, he filed for a Travel Pass a couple days ago, all signed and approved by the Hokage… while he was under the influence." Jiraiya gave a small chortle to keep the mood from becoming too serious, "Don't let that slip by the way, sensei would kill us both."

Kakashi was torn between worry and relief. Relief because his student hadn't defected and become a missing nin, but worry because the boy was as threatening as a baby fox. Fox… the boy was a damn target for enemy villages, regardless of how hard they had tried to keep his identity a secret. With the legal paperwork he couldn't legitimately hunt the boy down… and then he had Sasuke to mentor as well. Damn that blonde idiot, he would create a mess like this while so much was going on all ready. He heaved a heavy sigh, "I'll take it to the grave. Please, if you hear or see anything, have the Hokage send me word one way or another."

Jiraiya gave a large grin and a thumbs up before vanishing in a burst of smoke. Kakashi stood for a few moments mulling over everything that he had just learned. Naruto, his annoying, naïve, knuckleheaded student had left the village the same day that he'd fed him that lie about the Uchiha and the council. He could still see the betrayal in the blonde's eyes as he submissively accepted his words with full and undying trust. In the ninja world it was near impossible to believe in anyone or anything with nothing but deception staring you in the face each day. Naruto though, he was a very trusting person who wore his heart on his sleeves. The only thing he never believed were Kakashi's ridiculous lies regarding his tardiness. In all other aspects of their relationship as sensei and student, Naruto looked up to him like neither of his teammates ever did. Even Sasuke who had received the most of his attention often scoffed at his advice and took to his lessons with half hearted enthusiasm. If he told Naruto to run twenty times around Konoha, he would run thirty times to prove that he was ready for more.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai to knick his thumb before blurring through several hand signs. He slapped his palm to the ground while uttering the familiar summoning technique under his breath. A small plume of smoke burst forth after a moment and quickly dispersed to reveal his most trusted canine companion. Pakkun, the mini pug ninken, was the smallest member of his pack and a fiercely loyal ally to Kakashi and the village in general. His fur was a rich brown with a much darker brown dominating his little snout. Like his pack mates he wore a blue vest, a sort of uniform to help identify their pack and help them stand out when fighting or tracking alongside the ninken of the Inuzuka clan. The little hound looked up toward Kakashi with his normal lazy expression, though the trained eye could see that he was tensed and ready for anything.

"Yo, Kakashi… the heck you summoning me in the village for? And are we on a roof?" Pakkun pawed lazily at the air with his bandaged right leg.

Kakashi knelt down so that he could speak with a lower voice, "Oi, Pakkun, sorry for summoning you like this but I need your help with something. You remember Naruto, right?"

"Hmm, the orange one that smells of noodles and bad decisions?" Pakkun let a very small smile touch his normally drooping lips, "How is the kid? From what I remember, he was the only friendly one, if a little odd."

"That's kind of what I need your help with. You see… he left the village the other day and I want you to find him and possibly get him to come back. A lot is going on around here and his leaving alone is only going to make things more troublesome." Kakashi had enough dignity to scratch at the back of his head sheepishly.

Pakkun quirked a brow, "You don't know where your student went? Shouldn't he have checked in with you before running off? Did he defect?" The dog's voice took on a deadly tone while memories of his time assisting with tracking Orochimaru flashed through his mind.

Kakashi quickly held his hands up in a placating gesture, "No, he didn't defect; he got legal authorization to leave. He probably went off to train somewhere with the Finals coming up."

Pakkun leveled his eyes on Kakashi with a bemused expression, "You are speaking of the Chuunin Exams?" The following nod gave the dog cause to continue, "As his Jonin sensei you should know what your student is doing to prepare for his promotional exam."

Kakashi rubbed at his eyes with his right hand, "I don't want to talk about this right now, I just want you to try and track him using his scent. It's bound to be all over Ramen Ichiraku so start there. Worst case scenario go check out his apartment, it's in the tallest building bordering the Red district, okay?"

Pakkun let out a small indignant huff before rushing off in a blur. Kakashi stood up and hummed while wearing a tired expression. In the span of no more than fifteen minutes his entire day had been ruined. He just knew his training session with Sasuke that evening would end up being a huge pain. Good thing he was on his way to pick up the latest edition of his favorite books… oh, and that spare set of clothes for Sasuke, if he had time.

-Line Break-

"I would like it to be well noted that I am not comfortable with my current position…" Naruto added an extra little huff at the end to emphasize his displeasure.

The blond teen was sat in the middle of the laboratory in roughly the same location where he'd previously been sitting listening to Viktor spin his little tale of glory, sorrow, and eventual hope. Now, sitting in the middle of a stone floor, while mildly uncomfortable for one's back, is not a completely terrible place to be. No, the source of his discomfort may have had far more to do with the several dozen cables attached to his body via suction cups, clamps, electrical tape, and he could swear that he felt moist chewing gum on his back. His right brow hadn't stopped twitching since the moment he'd been told to strip down to the bare essentials, which rounded out to his tattered old boxers.

Blitzcrank was stationed near the Nexus Fountain with some kind of handheld panel that looked incredibly odd in his oversized hands. The speed with which he punched in… whatever he was typing… was incredible. Some Jonin didn't have hands that nimble, though a part of him wondered if the big bot wasn't just trying to appear busy in order to mask his amusement at the teen's predicament. Viktor was by far the most active of the three as he hobbled from one work bench to the next searching through scraps for anything he might have overlooked. His muttering in their weird language was grating on Naruto's nerves, especially when he would go through what was clearly a string of colorful curses. Upon hearing Naruto's latest little complaint Viktor groaned, or at least it sounded like a groan, it could very well have been some of his gears shifting… yeah, "Relax, will you? I am done, I am sure of it this time. Blitzcrank put that down and stand over at the Rejuvenation Platform."

Naruto watched the golem remove the little console that he'd been toying with before walking over to the raised platform near the back of the lab. The ninja was stuck facing the fountain so he was unable to see just what the large metal man was doing, but the silence left him picturing Blitzcrank twiddling his thumbs in a timid, comical fashion. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Viktor walking over to the Nexus and giving the fountain a rather swift kick, which of course caused the entire thing to hum a little louder, though it also sounded like it was sputtering and wheezing, "Old mech, should you be kicking this thing? It looks older than you for crying out loud!"

Viktor looked over at Naruto with little shutters narrowing the glowing holes of his eyes, "Very funny, boy… and I can do what I want, this is my Nexus. Now, what I want you to do is channel your energy slowly, and then gradually increase it over time. If it works… well, you'll pretty much know right away."

Naruto grumbled softly before assuming a slightly sloppy meditation position. He'd always found it hard to focus while trying to meditate. It was like his mind would wander whenever he tried to work with his his chakra, which nearly stunted his ability to access it in the first place as a child. Since then, no matter what he did, he found it increasingly difficult to keep his mind centered on one thing, giving him the appearance of some hyperactive lunatic. That had been the unfortunate consequence of the seals that had been placed on him by the Hokage. The damnable Spiritual Suppression seal was by far one of the most despicable things in the world, and Naruto was glad to be rid of it.

With nothing hindering his progress he found that accessing and commanding his chakra was exponentially easier. Oh, that isn't to say the boy had the chakra control of Kami, but it did mean that practicing and improving would be much simpler. For now, he could only do his best to follow the instructions that he'd been given. As if on cue, he felt the chakra he was gathering drain away leaving a tingling sensation on each spot that they'd attached their cables. Bit by bit he would increase the amount of chakra that he was gathering and the machine would greedily take it away. Even with his large reserves he could feel the strain on his body, sweat forming on his face and chest. With a grunt he pushed forward, but he could tell he would be drained dry by the time the machine finally had its fill, if it ever did.

'Gah… what did I get myself into here? I'm just a Genin for Kami's sake!'

"This is something to behold. The noisy worm is actually being humble for once? Have I been sent to heaven?" The voice of the Kyuubi echoed through his mind causing his focus to slip for only a moment before he ground his teeth and got back on track.

'Is that you, bunny-chan?'

"I swear on my nine tails… you will suffer a thousand deaths when I finally break free from your troublesome stomach."

'Yeah, I will suffer, kill all humans, I get it… can you just hush a little? I am trying to power this stupid thing for these crazy robot people and I think I am going to die!'

"Feeling weak again, eh~? The pathetic ape's getting tired~?" The Kyuubi couldn't help but relish in the suffering of the teen that kept him imprisoned.

'Look, if you don't have something constructive to add to this conversation then you an go back to being a lazy fuzz ball!'

"As much as I do love to watch you fail, and you do fail quite often, this particular instance of failure could potentially harm me as well, and we cannot have that. So, being the benevolent Demon Lord that I am, I'm going to lend you my power. Do not think that this means the two of us are allies, because as soon as you let your guard down I will rip my way out of your pathetic body and devour the leftovers to sate my thirst. Go on, take what you need, I have plenty…"

Naruto sucked his teeth at the damned fox laughing malevolently from within his mind. Within a fraction of a second he could feel his own chakra mixing with the thick, acidic chakra of the demon. The burning was unbearable, but he steadied himself and focused on the task. Now, with the potent chakra being siphoned into the machine, he could just barely hear the rich humming of the Nexus as it was brought to life with the influx of powerful energy. The sounds overwhelmed Naruto's senses and he couldn't hear Viktor's cries of joy, nor the following orders to stop. All Naruto could hear was the roar of his chakra flaring about his body. His eyes were shut tight to shield his eyes from the undoubtedly blinding light of his chakra. He didn't know when it happened, but at some point his chakra had stopped being drained, which meant the demonic chakra had no where to go and was built up inside him.

"Oh, I suppose I should cut you off now, considering all of that blood and burned flesh… sorry~"

'Stupid… fox… this is going to hurt like a mother-'

Viktor and Blitzcrank watched in awe and horror as Naruto's blue chakra flames shifted to a brilliant violet that swirled and wrestled like it was struggling. The Nexus came to life and spread power quickly through the entire facility. Viktor heard the sound of rushing air and he could feel the Mana saturate the lab much like it always had back on Runeterra. Turning, his eyes brightened when he saw Blitzcrank engulfed in a green beam of light. The rusted old golem slowly brightened as decades of damage were removed in mere seconds. Broken spikes rebuilt themselves out of nothing, rust stains seemed to peel away to reveal the rich golden shine that Zaunites had admired during his years of service.

"Yes, my boy, you've done it! The Nexus is already converting Nature Energy into Mana at an alarming rate! Naruto, you've done it! Naruto…! Stop my boy, err… Stop! Do not over work yourself! Blitzcrank, remove the cables, quickly!" Viktor rushed over to the boy only to feel his aura shift from the writhing violet flames to a brilliant red that swiftly took the shape of an enormous fox head.

As the old machine stepped back he could feel trace amounts of fear in his systems, something he hadn't endured in many decades, not since he'd abandoned his humanity. As he looked up into the eyes of the large energy beast it turned to face him with a terrible Cheshire grin. Viktor looked away from the monstrosity toward Blitzcrank and he was relieved to see he'd unceremoniously torn the entire cluster of cables directly out of the Nexus. That momentary relief was crushed as the energy around Naruto only grew more malevolent, and the boy was screaming in pain. Looking down he could see the teen's skin peeling, and the floor was pooling with blood. He heard a chuckle from above and his eyes turned back to the flaming fox.

"Remember this day, tin-man, and remember what you have seen. This is what truly lies behind his wretched smiles… this is the beast that he hides beneath the surface. I wait, and I watch, and one day I will be free… and I will collect the debt that you owe me for my services here today." The voice of the Kyuubi echoed through the facility followed by his horrid cackles that sent shivers down Viktor's entire chassis.

Just as the fox spirit sank back into Naruto the boy wrenched back, his body arched, and he screamed out an inhuman roar of mixed fury and pain. And then the energy exploded from his body sending Viktor and Blitzcrank sailing backward and nearly destroying most of the lab. The natural defensive barrier that every Nexus formed when fully operational suffered a great deal of damage, but the Nexus Fountain was left completely unharmed as it gathered copious amounts of Natural Energy to convert into Mana. As Viktor pulled himself to his feet on shaking joints he turned his eyes on the boy only to gasp. Only one thing came to mind:

"Get him to the Rejuvenation Platform!"

~Scene Shift~

Naruto wasn't in any mood to try and contemplate what the hell had happened; all he knew was that he was in an incredible amount of pain. He opened his eyes only to utter a few of the choice words that he remembered hearing Viktor grumbling earlier during his little fits in the lab. The lights, where ever he was, were situated right above his head and they were an ungodly bright white. The smell of antiseptic assaulted his nose nearly forcing bile to rise up out of his stomach. The only positive thing of note was the incredibly firm mattress he was laying on, quite unlike the bed of nails that he slept on back in his apartment. Bright lights… a nice bed… antiseptic…

'Oh Kami, I'm in a hospital…'

A feminine voice floated through the air in response to his small bit of cursing, "Watch that mouth of yours, you're in a medical bay."

"Listen, pretty-voice-hime, I don't speak… err… basic? I think that's what its called." Naruto groaned softly in as respectful a tone as he could muster while laying an arm over his eyes. He could feel the cloth of medical bandages rubbing his face and the strong scent of antiseptic only grew more potent.

A few moments passed while silence prevailed. Naruto found no fault in a lack of noise due to the small headache he was sporting at the time. His young and inexperienced mind assumed that whoever had spoken was simply trying to remember how to speak in his tongue, much like Viktor had stuggled momentarily during their first meeting. Little did he know, the speaker was sporting a harsh glare while struggling with a very prominent blush. Growing tired of the silence Naruto removed his arm to slowly open his eyes. As the spots faded a blur slowly came into focus. Dark hair, either a very dark brown or black, was the first notable detail. There was a lot of it that he could see, and the high ponytail style hinted that it flowed quite far down, perhaps mid to lower back. Next came skin, smooth with a healthy pale glow, accented by a set of cute pink lips that were most definitely set in a small frown. This woman, for they could only be a woman judging by their general figure, was wearing what he supposed was some kind of nurse's uniform, or at least a costume version. A sleeveless white, skin tight 'coat' did very little to hide her womanly assets even while all of the buttons were fastened neatly. The folded collar was accented with red lines that wrapped around and ran down the sides of her front drawing one's eyes south toward her dangerously short, white shorts and matching thigh high white socks.

The woman cleared her throat to attract Naruto's wandering eyes back toward her face where he was met with a set of beautiful green eyes. Naruto would have marveled at them if it weren't for the rather pointed glare they were giving him, "I would thank you to keep your yes where I can see them, little boy."

Naruto took a deep breath and sighed heavily while resting his head back, "Right, sorry."

The woman seemed taken back by his response, but he could care less really. He'd been caught checking her out, so it was natural for her to react harshly like that. He mentally thanked Kami that his Obedience seal had been removed lest he would have been cowering like a traumatized puppy under that glare she'd sent his way. Figuring she was likely there to oversee his recovery from whatever happened he decided to get some answers, "So, what's the damages?" Naruto mentally prepared himself for the list of ridiculous injuries he likely sustained.

The nurse eyed him warily before speaking slowly, "Well, you were moved to a Rejuvenation Platform after your incident in the lab. Viktor explained to us that you had suffered some kind of severe trauma after accessing a potent source of sentient energy. According to him, you sustained multiple burns that resulted in a great deal of skin and blood loss. We ran a few tests and found some cases of internal damage as well, though by the time we arrived you'd already begun healing at a staggering rate. Between that and the Rejuvenation Platform, all we had left to do was ensure that you were properly bandaged to reduce your chance of infection, though it is likely you'd have been perfectly fine. However… you've been unconscious for several days."

"Oh sweet Kami of Ramen, Tsunami-chan is going to kill me." Naruto groaned as he slowly sat up, much to his nurse's ire, "No worries, I've walked away from worse than this with a lot less medical care, trust me… what was your name?"

The woman pursed her lips as she watched her patient stubbornly wave off her advances to aid him back into bed, "Call me Akali, and you really shouldn't be getting up, you haven't even had anything to eat or drink yet."

The blonde chuckled morbidly, "Trust me, when I get back to my friends, I'll probably die eating and drinking. I need to find Viktor and… wait." Naruto froze as his mind finally kicked on, "The Nexus Fountain… all his friends… what happened?" The boy rubbed his temples a bit to try and recall anything from the lab earlier in the week.

The now named Akali stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Relax, you likely won't be able to remember much. Viktor said you wouldn't respond to his calls and then you suddenly… exploded."

Naruto looked up into her emerald eyes with a pleading look on his face, "Did it work? I didn't ruin his work did I? I lost control… I let the fox get involved… I-I couldn't stop the chakra from-" He was silenced by a firm hand resting over his lips, an action that brought a dusting of red to his cheeks.

Instead of another glare or haughty look Akali smiled warmly at him, "It worked. Everyone's okay, we made it."

Naruto felt relief wash over him as he shut his eyes to stop the tears threatening to fall. It wasn't so much that he'd saved a bunch of strangers, nor was it the fact that he'd helped a couple of crazy old robots that he now considered friends… it was that for once in his life he had accomplished something that he chose to do. Up until the day that he'd left Konoha for his training trip everything that he'd done, good and bad, had been orchestrated nearly every step of the way. It left him feeling empty and worthless, two feelings that he'd been struggling with even before the seals had been removed. Knowing that he'd been able to do something, even if in the end it didn't help him in any way, was a tremendous boost. Having saved countless people from floating in nothingness for eternity was a pretty solid bonus.

Feeling a sudden boost of energy he let the joy explode out of him in the most childish fashion he could muster. He leapt up on the hospital bed, thrust his fists into the air above his head, and cheered long and loud. Soon after he was singing praises and dancing in a small circle, all the while completely oblivious to the fact that he was wearing only a loose fitting hospital gown. Akali stood with her face turned to the side, her face ablaze with a heated blush, her hand cupped next to her eye to block the view. This was the scene that Viktor walked in on during his routine trip to check on his little blonde friend.

Naruto stopped his little dance when he heard the door to the room shut and he turned to face his new guest. Viktor was no long hunched over and holding tightly to a staff as he once was. Instead, he was standing tall with a sort of rigid grace that reminded him of the strict samurai that they'd learned about in the Academy. He'd opted to cover most of his mechanical body with a long dark leather coat and dark grey trousers. What one might mistake for thick armored boots and gauntlets were most certainly his hands and feet, just augmented with heavy armor. A rather imposing power node protruded several inches out of his chest that glowed red. A large cable wrapped loosely around his left side and up into the back of his shoulder where a large… thing was perched like some kind of bird. As Naruto watched the strange thing it moved on its own, startling him a bit. It had three long claw like extensions that surrounded a glowing eye at the center. The thing seemed to purr like an animal, and if he'd seen properly, it even nuzzled into the side of Viktor's head. The faded golden glow that had once seeped from his eyes had turned a bright and steady red to match the rest of his mechanical features.

"Good to see you've finally woken up, boy." Viktor's tone sounded relieved and a little amused something that caught Akali by surprise, though she hid it well. Seeing Akali in the room Viktor seemed to perform some kind of scan before he chuckled in his gravely robotic voice, "Was that particular ensemble really necessary?"

Akali caught on to what he was insinuating and crossed her arms with an indignant look on her face, "This is the same uniform that I used while working at Ionian General Hospital."

Naruto leapt down from the hospital bed to move up close to Viktor and examine him, "Whoa, old mech, is that you?" Naruto's voice rose from mildly surprised to childish glee, "This is so cool!"

Akali snorted rather unladylike while trying to suppress her laughter, "…Old mech?"

Viktor visibly stiffened before his head turned mechanically slow toward Akali, eye shutters narrowed, "You heard nothing…"

Naruto walked around behind Viktor to take in the full picture and then jumped slightly when the strange attachment to the old bot's shoulder swiveled around to watch him with a curious, animal-like wonder, "Whoa, that's so creepy cool…" He chuckled when the thing seemed to tilt and snapped it's blade arms a couple times as if clicking out some form of speech.

While his Death Ray Enhanced Weapon, or Drew for short, kept Naruto busy Viktor turned to Akali with a more serious tone of voice, "How is he doing?"

Akali turned her back toward Naruto to keep her voice mildly muffled, "His recovery is like nothing I've ever seen. Even the Might of Demacia could never match such speed at healing. If nothing changes, he will be free of his bandages by the end of the day. He may even escape scarring, which shouldn't be possible since he is most definitely a normal human."

"Is it healthy for him to be moving about like this? You know the higher ups have been pressuring us to see him soon." Viktor glanced over at the energetic youth attempting to challenge Drew to a game of rock-paper-scissors.

Akali gripped her own arm a little as she scowled, "I know, I know… I would much rather he stay here for now and finish recovering. I mean, I understand the rush, but-"

Naruto interrupted their conversation as he poked his head between the two of them to peer up at their faces, "First of all, I'm standing right here so the whispering isn't helping much. I've always had better hearing than most, hehe. Second, and I cannot stress this enough, I've walked away from worse than a bit of burned skin. One time I had a fractured skull, broken arm, and half the skin on my left knee missing. I was out of the hospital in a day. So, who's asking for me?"

Viktor turned to face Naruto while Akali looked away with a slightly disgusted look on her face, not because of the teen, but rather because of the image he portrayed. The hell kind of life has he led where full body burns, broken bones and possibly worse are a walk in the park? The mechanized man looked down at the teen with his bright red eyes before speaking, "Well, Naruto, some of our best and brightest have formed a council of sorts to decide our next moves, and they've been rather eager to meet our savior. The past few days have been quite hectic around here you know."

Naruto let out a deep sigh as he could feel his small headache evolving into a migraine, "Why do people always have to form councils? Everyone always ends up pushing their own agendas and nothing ever gets done."

Viktor and Akali both laughed lightly at his statement and the subsequent pout he adorned afterward, "If you are feeling well enough to move then it would be wise to get this particular event over with. There are clothes for you in the bedside table there. Unfortunately your original set was damaged beyond repair, and we still haven't found out where your jacket went."

Naruto waved off Viktor's worries with a dismissive gesture while walking over to the bedside table that had been indicated, "Forget about it, that orange menace was hardly fitting for a shinobi. It was forced on me…" Naruto's voice was laced with venom. While Viktor understood what Naruto meant, Akali was left confused, and her eyes seemed to twinkle at the word shinobi. The young woman quickly turned around as Naruto shed his medical gown to get dressed.

"Did you say that you were a shinobi, Naruto?" Akali couldn't contain her curiosity for long, and she'd never met anyone outside of her clan that practiced the art of Ninjutsu.

Naruto wrestled with a pair of boxer shorts before eyeing a pair of denim slacks of a design that he was unfamiliar with, "Hai, Akali-san, though to be honest I'm probably the worst shinobi in history, not that I had much say in the matter. I'm really good at stealth and infiltration though, if that counts. Usually the things I excel at are considered useless."

Akali frowned as she listened to him go on about his shinobi skills and the pitfalls he's suffered along the way, "Stealth and infiltration are the two most important aspects of being a proper shinobi. We work in the shadows after all."

Naruto finished zipping up the small zipper in the front of his new pants and then looked up at her back curiously, "We? Are you a medical ninja?" His voice took on a hint of excitement that brought a small smile to Akali's face as she pictured the light in his eyes.

"I'm not sure what a medical ninja is here in this world, but I don't use any of my shinobi skills to heal if that is your question. I just happen to be very skilled in the medical arts and I often work at the hospital while not working with my clan." Akali let a little pride seep into her voice as she spoke of her work with the hospital. Spending most of your life learning to kill to protect the equilibrium of the world gives one perspective. To save a life is more important than to take one.

"No wonder you wear those kinds of clothes then. More mobility, the added bonus of seduction tactics, and the material doesn't make a sound… you really ought to be teaching the girls back home." Naruto casually voice his opinion without much thought to what he'd said.

Akali's fingers brushed against a hidden scalpel tucked away in an unseen pocket on the side of her shorts. She was torn between feeling slightly flattered that he'd approved of her, flustered that he found her outfit seductive, and irritated that he'd insinuate that she would resort to seduction tactics to get the job done. She was the Fist of Shadow for God's sake, her entire body could be considered a deadly weapon! Perhaps that thought hadn't been worded correctly, because her face lit up as if on fire.

Sensing the tension coming from his fellow Champion Viktor took the initiative and stepped forward, "We'll have plenty of time to learn more about each other soon. Now finish up so we can head to the War Room."

Naruto stood up and stretched his limbs a bit while testing his new clothes. They'd given him a form fitting long sleeved black shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, and a pair of light leather shoes that made his feet feel hot. Looking toward Viktor he gave a slight nod, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be, just wish I had a hot bowl of ramen before being thrown to the wolves."

"Not to worry, we can get something for you to eat before we join the others in the War Room. Knowing them they'll be in session for at least a few more hours. In the meantime I'll fill you in on everything that's happened since your incident in the lab." Viktor gestured toward the door with a sweep of his arm.

Akali turned toward them now that her mixture of emotions had been reeled back in, "Take it easy on your body, Naruto, and be sure to eat plenty of food. Your body showed signs of malnutrition and that will hamper your rate of recovery."

Naruto waved casually toward Akali while he walked to the door, "Sure thing, Nurse-hime, thank you for looking after me." He flashed her a big grin before stepping out into the hall.

Viktor stopped on the threshold before looking back, "I'll be sure to keep the young ward out of trouble, Miss Akali." With that, the cyborg left the medical bay.

Akali stripped the bed clear before tossing the bloodied sheets and blanket into a hazard bin in the corner. She then walked over to the chart hooked onto the foot of the bed before glancing over all of the test results for what felt like the thousandth time. As a medical professional she desperately wanted to know just what the teen had gone through to leave him in such terrible shape, and that wasn't even considering the damage from Viktor's Nexus incident. She put the chart under her right arm before slowly melding into the shadows around the room.

'What's your story, kid?'

~Scene Shift~

Naruto couldn't believe how much different the facility felt only a few days prior. Upon closer inspection he'd realized that the room he'd been shacked up in was located directly next to the larger medical room he'd woken up in after his seals had left him nearly comatose. The first change that he noticed, mostly due to being the most obvious, was how much warmer the corridors seemed. Before, the eerie blue glow gave the passages a creepy atmosphere that accented the slight chill in the empty facility well. Now, not only had the temperature change to a much more comfortable scale, but the crystals had brightened significantly and changed to a much warmer shade of bright gold, almost as if a small fire was kept in each of the little gems.

Then, as the two of them began their journey to secure some food for the young teen, he noticed that previously empty rooms were full of furniture and storage shelves. There were some offices, a few libraries judging by the amount of heavily packed book cases, several lounges, and what he could only assume were sleeping quarters with multiple sets of bunk beds. There was hardly a set pattern to how the rooms were organized, which led him to believe that most of it had been set up rather hastily. Viktor noticed the contemplative look on Naruto's face, "You have questions?"

"Yeah… this seems like a lot of work for three days. Not sure how you all did it, even if you had a few hundred people. And there are some rooms here that were completely caved in before and now they look brand new." Naruto emphasized his point by gesturing to anther storage room that had been left open. Inside there were several hundred crates of goods labeled in an odd angular alphabet.

Viktor chuckled a little at Naruto's very confused expression before looking ahead of them, "During the initial Reverse Summoning, due to a lack of focus, Zilean and the Loyal Summoners of Runeterra were only able to send a very small portion of the original League of Legends campus here, along with myself and Blitzcrank. The whole thing had been very messy, but enough supplies had successfully made it here with us to construct the Pseudo Nexus. With your help we were able to establish a proper focus for Zilean to complete the Reverse Summoning with proper strength and accuracy. I'm not too well versed on the subject, but from what I can gather… the shift in reality caused by the Reverse Summoning forced space here to bend and ripple until everything fit properly. Or perhaps whatever space we needed sent the imposing physical matter into the empty space between dimensions. You… aren't following me, are you?"

Naruto was staring up at Viktor with a very blank expression as his brain burned trying to keep up with the absurd science fiction nonsense the robot man was spewing, "I think I understand what your saying, just not what any of it means. Even without those nasty seals on me I'm still just a thirteen year old, I ain't no scientist."

"Hmm, true… I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it until we've got you up to speed." Viktor hummed softly while his metallic fingers tapped away at his solid iron chin.

Naruto's ears would have twitched if that were at all physically possible, "What do you mean got me up to speed?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously while he looked at the mechanized man.

Viktor looked back at Naruto before chuckling, "Worry not, we'll discuss that after we've been to see the upper brass. For now, I think I ought to introduce you to our resident chef." He gestured to a set of double doors set into the stone wall made of what could be fine oak wood, though there were signs that the portal had been augmented in some way or another, due to their utter weightless feeling when Naruto gave them a gentle shove.

The room was just as warm and welcoming as the hall, if not more so thanks to a roaring fire set into the far left wall of the chamber. The chamber itself was rather large with an upper floor built to resemble a balcony, all a fine dark wood that went well with the orange glow that seemed to radiate from no where and everywhere all at once. Round tables were set about the room each with four or more chairs that, while not built for a Kage or Daimyo, looked comfortable enough. A similar scheme was reflected on the upper floor, though the spacing was much larger, likely to cater to more private parties. Built into the back wall opposite the entrance was a bar, and the unmistakable kitchen area where some of the most magnificent scents were drifting from.

What caught Naruto off guard wasn't so much the décor or the aromas so much as the sudden burst of sound that hit the pair of them like a wave. They'd just been outside in the near silent corridor, and then bang, the doors open and the sound of at least a dozen upbeat conversations roared to life. No one took notice of them as they entered, and Naruto felt thankful for the fact, remembering his arrival in Wave. Most everyone in the room were human, key word being most. As Naruto scanned the area he saw a table surrounded by small… furry people, no taller than Inari or Konohamaru back home. Knowing better than to openly stare at them, considering how he felt when he felt the eyes of others honed in on him for too long, he looked away and caught sight of three large bears, each a different color and wearing heavy armor that interlocked with several plates each several inches thick.

Naruto let his eyes wander again trying not to linger for too long, and he spotted a table of rather large men, each covered in clumps of unruly hair that stuck out in several directions. Their speech was harsh and guttural, and they performed rough hand gestures as they spoke. The boy spotted three clubs made of various substances, though they all gave the impression of being incredibly durable. Just as he shifted his gaze away from the odd man-like beings he had to leap back, pulling Viktor along with him as a man with a girth that even the Akimichi clan would have trouble matching slammed through several empty tables. Naruto's nose crinkled as the stench of strong alcohol overwhelmed him and threatened to introduce him to his own bile. The man was huge, obviously, and his large arms bore several unique tattoos. The top of his head was smooth and bald, yet around his neck and down his back he wore thick locks of fiery ginger hair. His beard was long and hearty, braided neatly despite his slightly wild look.

Viktor straightened up and brushed his coat as he watched the cumbersome man gather his wits and give his own robust gut a very resounding slap, "Thank you for that Naruto. Gragas, what have we told you about your rough housing?" Viktor adopted a stern tone as he eyed the round drunkard.

The now named Gragas turned, nearly toppling another table with his swinging belly, before laughing heartily, "Oh aye, ye don' need to tell me again, tha' was a wee accident!" Naruto noted that this man spoke with a very thick accent, even if the teen couldn't understand a word that was spoken.

The blonde shinobi gawked as the large man pulled a hefty cask seemingly out of thin air. With a resounding pop the thing had been opened, and the next moment the man had lifted the cask to guzzle down a torrent of questionable, purplish-blue liquid. Viktor couldn't suppress a deep groan, "Still celebrating I take it?"

"You know it, ye old cog smithe! Why don' ye sit a spell and join me!? Bring the wee lad there, we'll see 'im right pished 'fore the day is through!" Gragas laughed merrily while giving his gut another slap, something that Naruto found both disturbing and hilarious.

"We'll take a rain check on that, we need to get him fed and then he needs to see the council." Viktor would surely have rolled his eyes at the resounding groan and subsequent belch that Gragas loosed upon the mention of the council, "Yes, yes, people working is just awful, I know. Just try not to break anymore tables, Morgana is going to end up cutting you off… in more ways than one."

Gragas chuckled between drunken hiccups as he wiped a particularly annoying dollop of wine from his thick mustache, "Relax, tha' lass wouldn't 'urt a fly."

Viktor was about to retort when an eerily sweet voice echoed through the room causing all conversations to stop on a dime, "Gragas… that pile of wood wouldn't be my tables… would it?"

Naruto peeked around a suddenly stiff Viktor toward the bar and his eyes widened while his cheeks flared up. Standing behind the counter was a beautiful, fair-skinned woman with flaming red hair draped down her back and the left side of her face hiding the respective eye from view. Said eyes were eerily absent of irises and pupils reminding him of the Hyuga back in Konoha. She wore a white chef's hat and matching top with two columns of buttons lined down her front, the latter hugging against her curvaceous body nicely. Naruto could just barely see the beginnings of a long, darkly colored skirt that flowed down to hide her legs from view. And when the teen let his eyes travel back up he finally took notice of her most identifying features: a set of dark feathered wings protruding from her back and hanging over her shoulders, and two long, pointed ears peeking through her luscious red locks. The wings looked slightly ragged, and yet that did nothing to take away from their beauty, perhaps even making them more beautiful because of their unique twist on the angelic white cliché.

The woman pointed a small glare toward both Viktor and Gragas, clearly blaming the two of them for the damage to her tables, before her eyes settled on Naruto and softened immediately. The winged woman gave a warm smile briefly before shifting back into her glare for the two adults both now attempting to not make a sound, "I expect the two of you to fetch me a table and chair set for each of the ones broken within the next fifteen minutes…"

Viktor looked ready to protest when Gragas used one of his obnoxiously large hands to grab the tech professor and yank him from the chamber in great haste. Naruto huffed while shaking his head at the antics of the two adults, one of whom was far beyond old enough to know better than to argue with a lady. That said, Naruto winced as he remembered every time he'd cowed under the glare of a lady in the past, and all he could do was curse the Sandaime's grave. Deciding to be out of the way for the new furniture he walked over to the counter, and by way of her proximity, the beauty behind it who was standing with her hands on her hips waiting to watch the troublemakers fulfill her request.

Naruto felt inspired to at least try and defend his new friend, "That big guy is really the one who made that mess, chef-san. Please don't be too angry with Viktor."

The woman glanced over at the young teen before flashing another warm smile that shifted into a playful grin, "Well, Naruto, where would the fun be in only tormenting one of them? Two scared men is better than one."

Naruto blinked before tilting his head, "Hey, how do you know my name, chef-san?" Let it be known that Naruto is nothing if not entirely blunt. Like a smooth rock.

She gave a giggle behind her hand, her palm facing him so that he could see the light pink of her skin, "You're a hot topic around here, Little Savior."

"I… don't know how to feel about that title. Little Savior sounds like I am some kind of kid." Naruto grumbled rather maturely, at least in his opinion, "Well… you know my name, so can I know yours?"

She let one of her long nails flick his nose lightly which caused him to cringe, "You may call me Morgana. Also known as The Fallen Angel. And while I am on duty here in the kitchens I am known as the Succulent Sinner!" She punctuated her little proclamation with a sharp cackle while holding two small flames in her palms that glowed like the light of a wood burning stove.

Naruto groaned and rested his head on the counter, "Come on, you have such cool titles and I am stuck with Little Savior… this is so unfair."

Morgana couldn't help but laugh at his sullen expression before leaning on the counter so that her face was close to his own. She then smirked before speaking in a sultry tone, "How about I cheer you up by making you a little something to… make your mouth water?"

Naruto's cheeks went red before he turned to mash his face against the counter top to stem the flow of his nose bleed before it could create a mess, "Surprise me…" Naruto couldn't think straight enough to ask for anything specific to eat.

The dark angel just giggled before walking off to the kitchens, though she kept a small order window cleared so that she could keep an eye on her impromptu slaves. Naruto sighed in relief when he found his view absent one dangerous temptress. Being seated on a stool he turned his body around to observe the goings on of the other patrons quietly. It was strange being surrounded by so many odd people, and yet he wasn't all that uncomfortable. Having spent most of his life surrounded by humans who made it a point to make him feel unwelcome, it was refreshing to be around people who could look his way without sneering. It had been different in Wave, yes, but there he was still out of place because the people there practically worshipped the ground he walked on, though that might be a bit of hyperbole on his part. Here, hardly anyone recognized him, and any looks of recognition he did get were followed by a simple nod of acknowledgement before he was left in peace.

However long he'd spent observing the people around the room he didn't know, but he was woken from his musings by Viktor slipping onto the stool by his right side. The teen turned to the tall robo and gave him a small smile, "So… you finished with those errands?"

Viktor felt the urge to be incredibly annoyed by the simple question, but he couldn't comprehend why. Attributing it to the fact that he'd been roped up in one of Gragas' messes, he gave a small sigh, "I suppose it wasn't so troublesome that I can complain. Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet, Morgana-san is making me something in the back. She went in about three minutes after you two left." Naruto turned to face the counter again before leaning over it, "So when were you going to tell me that people were calling me Little Savior?"

Viktor glanced over at him before chuckling, "I didn't think it was very important, so likely never. Why? Does the name bother you?"

"…A little. It sounds childish. I'm a shinobi, damn it. Even if I'm not the best one, I'm still considered an adult now that I have my license." Naruto sighed while rubbing his arms where they were still a bit sore, "So… want to tell me about everything I missed while I was out?"

"As much as you would think there is to tell, there really isn't. After you… well, exploded, I had Blitzcrank take you to the Rejuvenation Platform in the lab as quickly as possible. Your damage was severe, both internal and external. Even the RP had trouble regenerating most of the damage, but thankfully so long as we kept you there you would never bleed out, but it seemed something was fighting against the healing process. Meanwhile, the Natural Energy of this world proved to be far more potent than we'd anticipated, and within an hour the entire facility had been powered up. It took another three hours for the Nexus to generate enough energy for the Reverse Summoning.

There was no warning, no preset time to be prepared, the Reverse Summoning just happened in the blink of an eye. One moment the empty halls echoed with the breeze, the next everything burst into life as entire rooms and new levels of halls just appeared out of a warping haze. And then the people began to form in massive bubbles of pure Mana. First there were a few, then dozens, and then hundreds of them had appeared. As the light faded, I saw my fellow resistance members, each one never having aged a day. The only one who didn't appear was Zilean, and no one was aware of exactly what occurred between dimensions.

After the initial chaos had ended each faction assembled their people in order to choose our leadership. Trust me when I say I am glad that I held no political sway in my home, Zaun. The council was formed to discuss how we would move forward from here, but nothing has been decided. I… may have let slip that you were the one who provided the key needed to jumpstart the process to complete the Reverse Summoning, which inadvertently led to their demanding an audience with you." Viktor attempted to keep his eyes facing forward, but failed when curiosity got the best of him and he glanced back at Naruto. Two blazing cerulean eyes were boring into him with unchecked outrage.

"So that's why these people are calling me Little Savior? All I did was get your machine working, you're the hero here! I'm just a Genin, these people are going to expect some kind of… frigging prodigy!" Naruto raged in a harsh whisper so that the two of them wouldn't garner any undue attention.

At that moment Morgana appeared in front of the pair with two large plates of fresh food. There was a healthy serving of stir fried vegetables, tofu, medium rare steak, a bowl of miso soup with a boiled egg, and a small platter of sweets to finish off his meal. Viktor eyed the food with a look that spoke of longing. He had forsook his human need for sustenance long ago in favor of healthy, efficient motor oil. That didn't stop him from remember just how incredibly delicious food had been, regardless of how inefficient the process of digestion was in terms of generating energy. Meanwhile Naruto stared hungrily at the generous helpings of food with his own look of longing. He'd seen people enjoying such food through the windows of restaurants in Konoha enough times to know that everything was extremely tasty, though he wasn't sure whether to eat it or just enjoy the scents and sight of it.

Morgana offered the teen a set of chop sticks while flashing another warm, friendly smile, "Go on, dig in before it gets cold. But eat slow, or I'll smack you a good one. There's no excuse for poor table manners, especially while I am on duty."

Naruto took the offered utensils and then offered a quick prayer before digging in with gusto, though he was sure not to make a mess. True to her word whenever he let his excitement get the best of him he would be promptly smacked over the head with a small paper fan by the lovely lady chef. Viktor busied himself by working with a little portable console that he placed on the counter. Naruto caught sight of the floating screen and was lost in childish wonder. Reaching over, he gently flicked the edge of the bright blue screen, shocked that his finger went clean through and didn't even disturb the images. The man bot noticed his actions and chuckled lightly.

"Hey, Viktor, not that I don't think the new look is really cool… how did it happen?" Naruto returned to his food while he kept an eye on Viktor, his question slipping out between bites.

Viktor hummed softly while he thought over his current look, "Well, over the decades I used every piece of equipment I had to keep the Pseudo Nexus up and running, so I hardly had anything to maintain myself. When the Reverse Summoning was finally complete my entire stock of spare parts arrived along with the rest of my storage. I call this my Creator suit, a little something I designed when I debuted my precious children to the League."

"No offense, but can you even be a dad? I mean, I'm not experienced or anything like that, but when old man Teuchi explained the birds and the bees he-" Naruto was cut off by a gentle, feminine hand pressing over his lips.

Morgana gave him a pointed look that told him to shush, "Not where people are eating, Little Savior."

Naruto groaned into her hand while rolling his eyes at the use of his new title. Viktor and Morgana laughed at his expense while he simply crossed his arms and tried his damnedest to look indignant. Morgana gathered his empty dishes to clear up space before sauntering off into the kitchen, turning to wink back at Naruto when she felt his eyes on her back. The resulting blush and squint only served to make her laugh again before she vanished into the back. Viktor merely shook his head before looking at the blushing blond boy with as sympathetic an expression as his expressionless iron face could muster.

"Anyway, to answer your question, they weren't my actual children. I designed several special mechanical beasts using data collected by observing several of the Void creatures that served as Champions in the League. My recreations were faster, stronger, and under absolute control… something that many feared, which is exactly what I wanted at the time." Viktor looked down at the screen glowing in front of him where designs for something eerily reminiscent of a fox could be seen.

Naruto tilted his head, "You wanted to be feared?"

Viktor turned off his little console and placed it in his pocket, "Yes, I did, because at the time I was driven by my goal to bring about my Glorious Evolution. There were people adamantly opposed to my ideals, and I wanted them to understand that I would have my way, and they could either go with it or suffer beneath my boot. I saw myself as the hero that no one knew they needed, when in reality I was building myself up into a villain. It took the world ending for me to wake up from my insanity, and by then it was far too late to make up for the past. I was only lucky that everyone agreed to let me be the one to Reverse Summon here first."

Naruto gave Viktor a punch in the shoulder that nearly sent the bot off his seat. When Viktor regained his balance and turned on the teen he found him casually nibbling on a muffin decorated with a deep, blood red heart, "That was for being an idiot. From now on, if I catch you being an idiot again I'm gonna punch you again. And don't get mad, you know that hurt me more than it did you. I…forgot that you were made of pure metal." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head while chuckling through gritted teeth.

Viktor sat silent for a few moments before he began to chuckle, and then the chuckle evolved into a full blown laugh that got people nearby to join in due to his odd, accented laughter. When he calmed down he gave Naruto a light slap on the back, "Come on, grab that last cream puff and we'll set off for the War Room."

~`End Line'~

Figured I better stop there or I would keep going on and on until another ten thousand words got away from me. This story has no set amount of words per chapter like my other fics simply because I love Naruto and LoL so much that I don't want to stop when I get started. Not much to add here that wasn't mentioned in the A/N up top. Read, enjoy, review if you like, and share with your friends!