Alright, so apparently I screwed up my priorities. Prologue has been fixed, paragraphs rearranged to fit the story. And in case if some of you are still confused, here is the timeline:

Calamity of the Fox - Kyuubi attacks.

Four years later – Naruto is publicly executed.

Three years after Naruto's execution - The Kumo-Hyūga incident.

…which would leave Naruto at age 4 when he is executed. The Hyuuga incident happens before the Uchiha massacre, so I decided it happens when Naruto would be 7 years old.

Zero no Tsukaima timeline however, is a bit all fuzzy even in the visual novels – I've been trying to find an official timeline as to when/how/what but so far, it is an arbitrary thing. Meh.

I hope this clears up the confusion.

…yeah I don't own anything. Credits to Bakasuki for translation of Zero no Tsukaima visual novel texts.

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Inseparable

A Naruto-ZnS FanFiction by
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Chapter 1:

Rebirth

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Konohagakure, October 11th - Unknown Chamber

Four years after the Calamity of the Fox

"Open your eyes, Naruto."

Someone was calling his name… who was it? It was so hard to wake up; he just felt so comfortable. It was as if he was sleeping on a feathery cloud! He never wanted to wake up. But the voice was insistent. "… Naruto, it's time to wake up."

It was the voice of the old man!

Naruto immediately sat up from the comfortable bed; he knew that when Hokage commanded you, you obeyed. He wanted to be a ninja, and if he wanted to be a ninja he knew he was supposed to follow orders. Even as young as he was, Naruto knew how important it was to follow orders. If the Hokage of all people wanted him to wake up, then it was time to wake up.

He opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar room, not unlike a hospital room except this room held no windows. The walls were pristine white, and the air smelled strongly of the cleanly smell associated with Hospitals, and Naruto silently wondered to himself what he had done this time to warrant a trip to a hospital. Even the old man had come visited him! It must have been something big.

"Ah ha ha, Jii-san! Hi! I, uh, hope I didn't cause too much trouble this time… I swear, I didn't do anything! Well, um other than that I stole that teriyaki-stick the other day… but I was so hungry, I'm so sorry that…" As the child barely tall enough to reach his thighs blabbed on about how sorry he was to steal that piece of meat, Sandaime felt something inside of him die. His eyes were threatening to break out into tears as he listened to this small, bright child blame everything onto himself - as he apologized for crimes he didn't commit, and for blames he didn't deserve.

At times like these Sandaime wished he could burn his own village into the ground. But he reigned himself in, as only he could – there was always the bigger picture to consider. He effortlessly silenced the rambling child with but a hand gesture, which he knew Naruto understood from their past interactions with the ANBU and the likes. Sandaime felt like the biggest criminal for what he was about to do, but he reasoned that this would be far better than leaving the child to the biased bigots. "Naruto, there are things we must discuss. Do you understand what happened yesterday?"

At the child's innocent confusion, Sandaime continued with a heavy heart. "Naruto, you are officially dead since yesterday."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean oji-san? I'm dead? Then are you dead too? Is this heaven?" Naruto glanced about the room in wonder, but stopped after seeing Sandaime's grave expression. "No Naruto, you are not dead. But you are dead to the world. And from now on, you are going to be a shadow." Naruto scratched his head in confusion, his large blue eyes staring up at Sarutobi's obsidian gaze. I suppose there's no way around it. "Danzou, you may enter now."

At the Hokage's call, a man with imposing aura stepped into the room. Naruto silently observed the man with quiet intensity, as he learned to not trust just anyone; it was tough living through the day, and the first lesson you learned is that you didn't trust just anybody. Oji-san was an exception in Naruto's book, and he viewed the man like a long-lost grandfather of sorts. But Naruto trusted no one else, not even his care-takers – well, not after whatever they fed him hurt like crazy, anyway. Naruto had learned the hard way to choose his meals wisely.

It wasn't a wonder that the child as young as Naruto was so cautious.

The impassive man – Danzou, as he was called – merely returned the observing gaze, his single charcoal eye meeting a pair of blue eyes with the liveliness of a marble. The silent exchanged lasted no more than a few seconds, before Sandaime coughed lightly. "Naruto, from this day forth you will be living under this man. You will do whatever tasks he sets upon you, you will do whatever he asks of you. You will treat this man as you would treat me, Naruto." Before he saw it, he felt the protest radiating off the small boy – but it was imperative that the child understood the chain of command here and now. They were already taking large risks in running this operation; it simply wouldn't do for Naruto to do as he wished after putting on that big show yesterday. "Do you understand me, Uzumaki Naruto?" Sandaime spoke with unshakable authority, and Naruto's open mouth shut with a sound. He mutely nodded, and merely contemplated his hands. He had millions of things running through his mind, but he knew better than to question the old man when he was in this mode. Even the other ninjas stayed quiet when the old man used this tone, and Naruto was no exception. It didn't mean he had to like it though, especially when he had no idea what was going on.

Sandaime nodded in satisfaction, pleased that Naruto would at least obey. It wasn't necessary right now that Naruto understood what was going on – that could be explained in years to come, maybe when he's matured a bit – but it was important that Naruto would do what was asked of him. Now the rest was up to Danzou. "I'll be taking my leave then. Take good care of him Danzou." Sandaime turned to leave as Danzou silently opened the door for the wizened Hokage. Sandaime stopped as he was halfway out the door, and then addressed Naruto who still looked confused as ever. "Naruto, this may be the last time I see you before a long time… but know this: I am not abandoning you, Naruto. There are many things at work here that you do not understand, but at least know in your heart that I care about you very much. I hope you will grow up to be a fine man, and I have no doubt that you will not disappoint me. Work hard, Naruto."

Naruto's glum look was replaced by one of determination, his earlier gloom forgotten. "I won't disappoint you ojii-san! I'll make you proud!" He loudly proclaimed in his zeal to please the old man, never mind that he had absolutely no idea what he was going to be doing. But it didn't matter – the old man was the only one who has ever believed in him – and Naruto won't let him down!

As he saw the glimpse of Hokage's sad smile before he left, Naruto vowed that he would not let the old man down… on whatever he was going to be doing.

"Now then," the man called Danzou spoke up unexpectedly and Naruto couldn't help but yelp in surprise; he had forgotten that the man had even been there. "Uzumaki Naruto. From now on your name will be Shiki Buki." Naruto frowned and was about to protest but he was effortlessly silenced by the hard gaze from the single eye that promised pain. He knew instinctively that it was a bad idea to complain around this man, let alone protest. "You will be trained to all that you can be under my guidance. You will become and accomplish what only many people could only dream of – you are destined for greatness. Forget about the past, as of yesterday Uzumaki Naruto died in the fire."

Fire. Naruto vaguely remembered being somewhere incredibly warm. A place where it was warm enough for his skin to melt… the angry gazes, the torch – the SCREAMS –

A hard slap broke the child out of his terrified state, and Naruto numbly stared at the single arm the man possessed. Danzou continued as if nothing had happened. "You will learn to control your emotions. You will learn to harness the power inside of you. You will become a weapon – a weapon for Konohagakure, for our future.

"Welcome to Ne."

And with those faithful words, Naruto's world forever changed.

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Tristain Magic Academy

Female dormitory, Private room

The left hand of God is Gandálfr, the ferocious shield of the lord. His left hand wields a large sword and his right hand wields a long spear: protect me with endless vigilance.

The right hand of God is Vindalfr, the kind-hearted flute of the lord. He dominated all beasts of life, leading me through earth, sky and water.

The mind of the god is Myozunitonirun, is the book that carries the crystallization of thought. It carried all knowledge and provided advice whenever I was in need.

There was one more person, but remembering his name gave me trouble…

Taking the four disciples, I came to this land…

Tiffania opened her eyes to the dimly lit room, the dawn's rays peaking over the towering mountains. It's that dream again. She stretched her slender arms in an elegant sweep, looking every bit gorgeous as rest of her classmates believed her to be. I wonder what it all means… But she didn't have much time to dwell on idle thoughts, as she had much to do for the day. Ever since she had been 'rescued' from Albion's forests after reviving the strange yet kind swordsman, many things have changed in her life.

Who'd have thought, that I am related to Princess Henrietta of all people…? Life was ironic this way – just when she thought she was a no-body in this world…

It still confused her to no end how things had ended up like they had. One day she had been peacefully enjoying her quiet solitude life in the forests, and the next she was busy healing up a very badly wounded boy. Tiffania had felt something call out to her that day – a familiar voice beckoned she step outside her cabin that day, to go into the forest.

That's where she found the boy of strange circumstances, holding a talking sword in his hands.

He was very strangely dressed, but Tifa had paid no attention to such details – the boy was badly injured, with many severe wounds marring the foreign attire and bleeding into the soft ground underneath him. Tifa remembered the night well – there were beautiful Full Twins in the sky, casting their captivating colors down upon the world. But this was not what made her remember this night – it was because this was the day she parted forever with the Ring of Nature, the last connection she had to her forever deceased mother. The ring contained powerful Nature magic of the elves, and it held more than enough power to grant the miracle of recovering the strangely dressed boy to full health – it was unfortunate that it only had one time use, but Tifa did not regret this.

To her, saving the life in front of her was much more important than her mother's ring – it was just the kind of person she was.

Tifa held the boy in her arms and returned to her cabin, where she took care of his minor wounds for the better part of the month. During the time she spent with him, she learned quite a bit about this young man – she did not fully comprehend him, however. The boy's name was Saito Hiraga – and he claimed that he came from another world. Apparently he had been wounded on a battle field outside the forest, fending off an amazing number of 70,000 Albion soldiers alone, so that his master and everyone else could escape the floating continent. I was wrong to call him a mere boy. He is a very brave man…

Saito seemed to be a very honest and straight forward person, as she could discern no deception in his voice when he told her of his intriguing tale of magic and wars. He was very passionate at times as well – the emotion in his voice when he spoke of his 'master' was something she could not fully identify, but it was as if every word he spoke was dedicated to this person. The myriads of colors she sensed in his voice were something to be admired; torrent of emotions flew about this man's tale, and it was if she was standing in front of a symphony of all the good things in the world.

Tiffania wished she could be spoken about in such away.

But one thing was for certain; Saito was not a bad person. Perhaps he's one of purest person she has ever met –and Tifa knew that such a person could not be evil, and so she stayed her hand in erasing his memory of ever meeting her.

So the days passed by, with Tifa spending her times watching the strange man trying to swing his talking sword (Derflinger, he called himself. What a weird sword he has) and failing to do so with mastery. She found this weird, as it contradicted his story – she asked him, "How did you fend off such a large army if you could not even swing your partner?" And then she realized from his answer that he was actually the Gandálfr, the legendary familiar of the void mage in the past. From his description, the ancient and powerful rune gave the bearer the ability to manipulate any weaponry with extreme mastery as long as it was intended to be a weapon – and now, apparently Saito no longer possessed the said rune. According to the sword, the runic marking is the link between the master and the familiar – and rune, like all magic, can be fooled into thinking that the contract had been broken. In this case, Saito's heart had actually stopped beating just before Tifa had come to his rescue, and therefore misleading the runic contract to be broken.

How odd.

But she admired him for his diligence, as Saito worked even harder to become a better swordsman even without the rune – that was something Tifa could appreciate in a person. To a person like her, who've led half her life in hiding, Saito's enthusiasm and courage was a refreshing change. But like all good things, her idyllic life came to an end when the Agnes, the Captain of Tristain Musketeers somehow found her little cottage in the woods.

Then for one reason or another she was shipped away from her house, and somehow found herself an audience with the infamous Queen Henrietta de Tristain.

­-Few days ago-

"You are, Tiffania Westwood, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Albion?" The Queen of Tristain spoke with much dignity, her charisma a natural part of her person. She sat upon her throne of Tristain Castle, where she held audience with all who wished to speak with her. The room was designed to gently remind the visitors that she was the Queen, and that her authority was supreme. Suffice to say, Tifa was a little more than just scared.

Tifa knelt on one knee, and bowed her hooded figure low. "Y-yes I am your highness. But I-I'm just a daughter of his mistress… I am a person of no importance. If you would just allow me to return to Albion…" Tifa spoke with as much courage as she could, but her words came out in a jumble as she tripped over her own words. But the Queen raised her hand, and stood up with her long Royal Scepter in her hands. With long, dignified strides the Queen stepped down from her elevated throne to greet her crouched figure.

"Tell me, why do you cover your head so?" Queen raised her hand to pull the hood from Tifa, but she flinched away as she realized what the Queen had been about to do. "Please, your highness! Anything but that, please…" Tifa chocked back a whimper, as the pressure was starting to get to her. This whole trip to this foreign country against her will was not doing any good for her mindset, and on top of that to be speaking to a Queen of all people…

But the Queen was not to be denied. "Why do you shield yourself so? I am sure by the beautiful voice and the silky locks you possess; you are quite the beauty, or at least the Gandálfr could not stop praising you so." And of your 'melons', but that's beside the point. That Saito, I swear… "Now, why do you hide your beautiful face?" She was not harsh in her questioning – it was simple curiosity, nothing more. Still, this was the Queen of Tristain – when she requested something, it might as well have been an order. Tifa sighed, and prepared for the worst. "Your majesty – you see… this is why I hide."

Tifa pulled her hood back, letting her horrific elven ears out for the whole world to see.

To her credit, the Queen had not even flinched at the sight. But Tifa could see it in her eyes: the disgust, the disdain, the judgmental view of these mere mortals –

"Why Tiffania dear, those ears must be the most adorable thing I've ever seen!" The Queen unexpectedly invaded Tifa's personal bubble, her hands reaching for the pointy elven ears. "W-wha, m-m-majesty, you can't, please -" But Tifa's cries of protest went unheard as the Queen successfully molested her ears. Tifa could only whimper as the Queen stroked her long ears in a soothing motion, an action which immediately relaxed Tiffania to the point where she was almost falling asleep.

"Now now, Tiffania. You shouldn't hide such beautiful ears. I assume your mother was of the Elf race?" At the Queen's question, Tiffania barely nodded her head in agreement – she couldn't trust herself to speak anymore, the Queen's soothing hands were somehow impeding all her thought processes. "I see. Well, rest assured – though we Tristains aren't free of prejudice, we do not hate upon those of non-human origins… and especially one of my own blood." The Queen ruffled Tiffania's long blond hair like one would to a sibling, a kind smile on her usually stoic lips.

"Your own… blood?"

"Yes, of my own blood. Your father was a brother of my father – as you know, Albion's royal family and our own are closely intertwined. Which would make you my cousin and therefore, a royalty in my eyes – your half blood status be damned." The usually stoic Queen cheerfully smiled as she turned to reclaim her seat on her throne.

Tiffania stood up a little shakily, her balance escaping her as she fought to maintain composure. However, the Queen ignored this altogether as if she were old friends with the half-elf. The air of formality was replaced with warm hospitality, as Tiffania could almost taste the warm emotion in the air. As the Queen beckoned her closer, Tifa obeyed and carefully stepped before the intimidating throne.

"Tiffania Westwood, from now forth you will discard your fake name and take upon the name of the Royalties – hence forth you are no longer Tiffania Westwood, but Lady Tiffania de Tristain." With that, Queen Henrietta tapped Tifa on her shoulder with her Royal Scepter.

Tifa was now a royalty.

-Current day-

It was still a surreal experience, to know that you are a royalty – after a lifetime of isolation, suddenly now the people were talking to her as if she was normal. Of course, given that she still hid her ears behind her cute little green cap, Tiffania still found it absolutely amazing that the people here would be so kind to her, and actually talk to her. And then there was the queen herself.

Henrietta de Tristain – she was the ruling Queen of Tristain and the wielder of one of the four Elemental Rings. That in itself was already quite impressive, but Henrietta's name went far and above that of the standard awe the names of royalty brought about in the continent of Halkeginia.

Even Tiffania have heard of the nickname of the Queen of Tristain – in Albion, the people called her the Iron Gauntlet Queen, because of her ferocity in her politics and her stoic attitude.

But she heard before that the Queen wasn't always like that…

Regardless, Tiffania had accepted the Queen as somewhat of a sisterly figure – a bit of a distant sister, but a sister nonetheless. Henrietta had provided her with everything – clothing, shelter, and even an official education in magic! Tiffania was now enrolled in Tristain Magic Academy as an official student, much to her excitement and dread.

Excitement because she loved to learn magic, and dread because she was not exactly a people person.

Speaking of school… today was the Evaluation day.

Oh no, I'm late, I'm late…

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When the Kumogakure and Iwagakure decided to go to war with Konohagakure, they did not expect the war to last for so long nor did they expect such high casualties.

The Iwa Kumo-Konoha Ninja war started six years ago, when Kumogakure sent a Jounin diplomat sent to Konohagakure under the guise of peace negotiations. The official reason was to get rid of the 'bad blood' between the nations, built over decades of wars in the past. The diplomat's true mission however, was to kidnap a child of the main branch of the prestigious Hyuuga clan, who were known for their doujutsu - the infamous Byakugan. The bloodline limit gained its infamy throughout the Great Ninja Wars, where their ability to scout and gain intelligence played a key role in Konohagakure's victory over the other great ninja villages. Kumogakure had not forgotten their bitter defeat at the famed all seeing eyes, and had deemed that even an underhanded public deception was worth the prize.

Unfortunately, the mission had failed miserably. The Jounin diplomat of Kumogakure had been brutally killed during the kidnapping, and the Hyuuga heiress had been returned safely to the walls of the Hyuuga Clan. Of course, when the news of mission failure had reached Kumogakure, they immediately pressed charges on Konohagakure for murdering their diplomat, who possessed diplomatic immunity. Kumogakure angrily threw down the ultimatum – either the head of the killer as compensation, or to war. They made this demand, fully knowing that it had been the head of the Hyuuga clan who had been the one to murder the traitorous Jounin diplomat. It was a politically brilliant move on Kumogakure's part – in one fell swoop, they would've gained the secrets to the famed Byakugan while crippling the enemy of one of their highest ranked commanders.

That was why it was all the more crushing when Konohagakure sent back the heads of every Kumo-nin who had been present for 'negotiations' in earnest reply.

It was an insult Kumo would not, and could not afford to take lying down – so the ugly head of war reared its head not a mere decade since its last performance.

Kumogakure officially declared war upon Hi no Kuni and not unexpectedly, Iwagakure also declared war on Hi no Kuni; they were still sore from the last Ninja war, and they were itching for a payback especially now that the wretched Yellow Flash was out of the scene. It was the worst combination for Konohagakure and Hi no Kuni as a whole, because of the combined might of not one, but two Great Ninja villages rallying against them.

Fortunately… Konohagakure was prepared. Well, somewhat.

The War had seemed grim at first, odds heavily favoring the combined army of Kumo and Iwa. The number of ninjas they've amassed was nothing short of astounding, as their ninja squadrons were no longer squadrons, but an entire army. An army made up of entirely ninjas – perhaps the largest ninja army ever assembled.

This was something very different from massing up an army, as this was something else entirely. Ninja by nature were extremely difficult to train, as the trend heavily favored quality over quantity in the harsh environments of various ninja villages. But because of this, a ninja was best of the best when it came to outright combat and had gained the fame of being almost inhuman in their pain tolerance and skill. If you were a ninja, you were valued at approximately five fully armed samurais – no small feat, as samurai were just a scale below fully trained ninjas.

To have amassed an entire army of ninja was something to be feared.

Compared to the combined might of the two great ninja villages, Konoha's forces seemed feeble at best – their Densetsu no Sannin were nowhere to be seen, and every ninja in every class were outnumbered at least three-to-one ratio. The only thing that Konoha had going for them was the terrain advantage of trees and secret routes – and at first, they tried to capitalize on this as Konoha ninjas tried to execute guerrilla-style skirmishes along the massive ninja army of the opposing nations. This turned out to be a grave mistake, as somehow the Iwa-Kumo nins were good, if not better at fighting in trees than Konoha nins were. The campaign turned out to be an absolute disaster, as Konoha chūnin teams were decimated left and right.

It seemed that someone had leaked intimate knowledge about the Hi no Kuni, and Konohagakure was paying for the price in full.

The Iwa-Kumo army celebrated in good cheer, as they knew they were going into this war with full knowledge of their enemies. As the saying went, "Know yourself, and know your enemy – then you will be victorious hundred times out of hundred." They knew Konohagakure's infrastructure as well as the strength of their army like the back of their hand, and was fully confident that they could not lose this war. Victory seemed imminent, as the army saw hints of the large walls of Konohagakure over the horizon…

But of course, like in all things… there were always exceptions.

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Konohagakure, Underground ANBU Tunnels - Unknown Chamber

Seven years after the Calamity of the Fox

Two months into Iwa-Kumo Konoha War

"Is he ready?" In the dimly lit room filled with scented smoke, two figures stood quietly in the darkness.

"Yes, he is beyond ready." The dark figure in the corner bristled as if to silently express his impatience on the matter. "You know what needs to be done. This is the best and the fastest way to end this war. You know it, and I know it." The man stated confidently, certain that the other person would see truth in his words.

The brighter figure sighed at the insisting tone the other man took, his guilt ridden heart weighing heavily in his chest. I know so. You do speak the truth… but will I be able to live with myself after this? To use him in this manner… it's horrible. But just as the other man had said, he knew what needed to be done. To end this war as quickly as possible, while minimizing casualties...

He thought Konohagakure was ready for this invasion: however, the enemies came well prepared and had prepared an army made of ninja, something he thought wasn't possible – and now, because of his miscalculation (he had not thought that the Iwa would jump into the foray so readily), his beloved ninja were suffering for it.

For the absolute necessity of our survival, and for the future of our generation…

"Do it."

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Author's note: All feedbacks welcome. And yeah, I messed around a bit with storyline and such… forgive this humble author, heh.

I feel bad for cutting things off here, so here's a little snack for you guys.

Preview of next chapter:

Defeated and crushed, the Kumo ninja pathetically tried to crawl away from the man, no, boy who possessed the eyes of death.

"M-Mashin, it's a Mashin…"