Title: Naruto: Beyond Fantasy
Category: Anime/Manga ยป Naruto
Author: Fellgrave
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Published: 10-18-12, Updated: 10-18-12
Chapters: 1, Words: 5,183

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

It was a world of grey, with immense colourless clouds stretching from the ground to the sky, and covering the horizon. And it was in the midst of this endless grey expanse that there was something quite peculiar. It was an island of clear air in the midst of the fog that surrounded everything, but it was not an empty island. In the middle of the clear space there existed what could only be described as an immense clock-tower made of a black metal that seemed to absorb the little light that there was.

It was the design of the clock-tower that made it truly strange, even considering its location. The tower was truly massive, the entirety of it impossible to percieve as it stretched high into the grey skies. It's outside looked as if it was designed by a mad artist, the walls covered with carvings and statues of impossible creatures and shapes that defied mortal perception. And above the large, surprisingly plain steel doors to the tower was a gigantic clock face, its hands a moment away from chiming midnight, the hands held back from striking the time by seven chains made of darkness made manifest, and seven chains made of solid light.

Within the open doors one could see an ever-changing panorama of gears and machinery. But all that failed to cause any interest in the being that currently stood outside the immense tower, once known millenia ago by the peoples of a long dead world as Yggdrasil. The being, who was known by so many names, an untold number created for itself and yet more given as titles for its actions over the ages, stood quietly as it watched the shifting clouds in the distance, as if trying to discnern a pattern to their movements.

The being didn't even twitch as another exited the doors to the tower and walk towards it. The second being, appeared in the form of a young woman dressed as a harlequin in black-accented red, her legs and arms bare so as to show off the myriad of arcane tattoos that were upon her skin. Upon reaching the other being, she cocked her head to the side, sending the bells of her headdress jingling and her short brown hair dancing in the still air.

They stood like that for a while, exactly how long something impossible to determine, part of the nature of the realm they both currently existed in. Finally, after half an eternity, the first being spoke, its voice, like its body, regal and powerful, ever sound spoken with a charisma that any king could only dream of possessing.

"Did you find her?" The second being nodded, once more sending her bells jumping and jingling. The first being was quiet for another moment, its thoughts far away. "Where is she?"

The harlequin dressed being smiled as she twirled around until she stood in front of the first being, who looked upon the second's antics with a cold expression. The harlequin paused and cocked its head to the side, as if listening to words only it could hear. "Little foxy ran away, didn't she. Oh, but you didn't like that, not one bit. So I went to find her, track her, bind her. But poor little Youko Kyuubi,tricky tricky Millenium found her, oh did I find her."

Millenium twirled and flipped acrobatically through the air, tossing a small object down onto the ground, the object exploding into a strange white smoke, within which dance images to match Millenium's continuing narration. "

"Youko was all mad, yes she was, because you went and left us. She should have known, like I knew, that you would be back. Too much left to do, for you. But Youko, poor poor foxy, she went and lost herself within the veil, until she fell out somewhere neither here nor there. But I found her, tricky tricky me, I found her. She was all mad, all mad, like a rabid dog." Millenium giggled to herself.

"So I was going to put her down, but someone else trapped her, bound her, sealed her, in silence, darkness, nothingness. A mortal, who sacrificed himself to bind her, but I'm trickier than him, oh yes. I saw his little plots and secrets in his seal." The first being sighed and rubbed at its temples.

"Get to the point already. Is she still a viable member for the New Conclave or is she not?" Millenium blinked at the other being's harsh tone, before waving a hand and dissipating the cloud of smoke.

"Yep, yep! But tricky tricky Millenium has a plan, a special kind of plan. I know the secrets of seals, and I know the secrets of souls. What a surprise it will be. Millenium can't wait, but even though time can pass, it has lost its hold on us, so we can wait, yes we will. Right, oh little lost one?" Millenium gave the first being a knowing, and quite mad, smirk.

"I suppose we can afford to be patient in this matter, our other plans will still take time to reach fruition. And stop calling me that insufferable name." Millenium simply smiled and ducked under the first being's half-hearted swat of the hand.

"Muu, but Eljared is no fun to say. Besides, you are lost, so why deny the truth?" The first being, Eljared, didn't bother turning away from the spot she had been staring at, her face returning to its solemn and stoic expression. Millenium smirked wider as she gave Eljared a mocking bow, before performing a standing back-flip, and vanishing in midair.

Eljared continued to stare out into the emptiness for a while, before muttering to herself, too quietly for any ears to possibly hear save her own. " But aren't we all lost? And the truth, how can I accept it of myself when all else refuse to see it?" Turning her eyes towards the clock tower, and its chained face, Eljared's voice rose, her tone full of heat, yet without the fire of anger, because the fire will consume all it can as fuel.

"And I will make them see the truth, the truth of their existence, and of those who would chain them, forever keeping them from acheiving all that they could possible acheive. I will show them the truth of this world, and the heavens themselves will tremble. For my name is Elhazzared, the lost paradise, and I was born from the souls of a thousand gods and an untold number of their followers, to show the peoples of the world the truth."

And with that, she turned her eyes from the heavens and vanished herself, though with less flash than Millenium. For in an instant, she simply stood there, and then, she was gone, lost to the eyes of the world.

"Dammit, you little brat!" At the shout the little brat in question began running faster, dodging and maneuvering through the crowded streets with an unmatched agility, the angry shopkeeper being left behind almost as soon as the boy had gotten into the crowds. It wasn't that the boy disappeared into the mass of people, his bright orange jumpsuit made that nearly impossible in the daylight, but he was simply too fast to keep track of.

Ducking into a nearby alley the blonde haired boy, who was about eight or nine years of age, with his short stature it was hard to tell, slowed once he was sure that he escaped his pursuer. As he popped out of the alley and went back into the streets, at a more sedate pace, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. About a week ago, he had finally gotten to learn something actually useful at the Academy; the Henge jutsu. Best thing of all, not only had he been the first to master it, but he had already created his own totally awesome variation on it, which he had used to great extent on certain members of the public who did not approve of his presence, hence why he had been running.

Caught up in his thoughts and plans of payback using his new jutsu, Naruto wasn't paying as much attention to where he was walking as he should have been, though to be fair, most people gave him a wide berth as he went around town. So while it was a surprise, for both him and those around him, to suddenly walk into an obstacle that had appeared in his path, it wasn't too shocking. Naruto bounced off the obstacle and landed on his butt, the air rushing out of his lungs in a loud huff.

"Are you alright young one?" Naruto blinked and looked up into the concerned face of the young woman he had run into. He gave her an odd look, but mentally shrugged her kindness off as her not knowing who he was.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Naruto Uzumaki." He offered her his hand, which she took and used to help pull him to his feet. He looked down at the ground and noticed that several books, which the young woman obviously had been carrying before he had collided with her, had fallen onto the ground in a heap. "Sorry 'bout this."

For a moment Naruto thought that she was about to burst into an angry rant, like that old lady who lived along the way to the Academy did, based on the way the corners of her mouth were twitching. Noticing his attention, she quickly schooled her features back into a warm smile.

"I'm sorry about that, it was just that you reminded me of a friend's little project." She shook her head in mock sorrow. "Poor Toltiir, should have known better that to get involved with a guy like him." She blinked as she seemed to realize just where she was standing, giving Naruto an apologetic look. "Excuse me, for a moment there I was lost in my memories. My name is Miriel Gia, and it's a pleasure to meet you, young Naruto."

She cocked her head to the side as she studied him, Naruto having to fight the urge to fidget under her stern gaze. "Now the question is, what is young child like you doing out here on his own? Did you lose your parents somewhere?"

Naruto's brow furrowed in a strange mix of emotions. "Kinda, I'm an orphan so I guess I lost 'em before I had 'em." Looking for a change in subject he once again noticed the spilled tomes. Deciding that since she had been nice to him so far, it would only be fair to do her a favor, he bent over and started to pick up the books. "So what's with all these books anyways?"

Miriel took a couple of the books from Naruto's hands and neatly stacked them on the counter of a nearby empty stall. "I'm a scholar, of sorts. I specialize in ancient history as well as various other things. " She gave him a wry look as he handed her another book. "You know, you still haven't answered my question; what's a kid like you doing out here alone?"

Naruto gave her a look of indignity as he hopped to his feet, the last couple of books still in his hands. "Hey! I'm no kid, I'm training to be a totally kick-ass ninja, an then I'll be the Hokage too!" To his surprise, Miriel reacted in a way that was quite unusual for those he told his dream to. Unlike most of the people of the village, who'd simply scoff at his eager declaration, or the Hokage himself, who'd smile sadly and pat him on the back, she didn't react except for cocking her head to the side in curiosity.

"Hokage, hmm? Then you must know some impressive techniques if your going to be the Hokage." Naruto brightened up and rapidly nodded his head, before scanning the surprisingly empty streets. Shrugging off the strangeness of the fact that one of the busier side streets was empty at midday, he gently set down the books he had been holding before he put his hands into the hand-signs for his special technique.

"Here, this one I made myself, " He paused for a moment and gave her a strange look." You won't hurt me or nothin' for this, right? Cus last time I did it Sakura-chan got all mad at me for some reason."

Miriel raised an eyebrow and gave him a quiet chuckle. "No Naruto, I'm asking to see it, and I won't hurt you for doing what I told you to." Naruto gave her a wide smile and cheerful nod, before he focused on the shaping and channeling of his jutsu. He gave a wordless sound of exertion something he had found earlier was the fact that unless you needed your voice or breath for the jutsu, actually announcing your technique was both useless and dangerous.

There was a large pop and Naruto's form was obscured by a cloud of thick white smoke. When it cleared, Miriel was surprised to find a taller, obviously older, and undeniably female blonde in his place. Unlike his usual use of the jutsu, Naruto had decided to keep his jumpsuit on when he transformed, simply reshaping it to match his current form's more mature, stature.

Curious, Miriel reached out and grasped one of Naruto's jumpsuit covered breasts, both freezing in place when Naruto gasped at the contact. The pair looked from where Miriel's hand was clutching and into each other's eyes before moving back to Naruto's chest. Still curious, and feeling a little mischievous, Miriel gave Naruto's cloth covered breast another squeeze, not even blinking when Naruto let out another gasp as her face began to blush crimson.

Like lightning, Miriel snatched her hand back, Naruto taking the opportunity to quickly return back to his original form, though his face still held its bright red cheeks. Miriel laughed quietly at his embarrassed look before changing the subject to something hopefully less awkward. "That's one impressive technique of yours, a solid transformation at your age, that's practically unheard of. Anyway, with that technique, you must be the top student in your class right?" At her words Naruto face twisted in distaste and frustration. He gave her a bitter laugh.

"Nah, the 'great' Uchiha is the top, even though I can kick his butt in the spars and anything practical; but everyone simply treats him better because he's supposed to have that stupid bloodline of his." Naruto kicked at a pebble as he was reminded of why he had cut today's class early. Miriel put a finger to her lips in thought, before pulling a book out from the stack on the stall and quickly leafing through it. While she was doing that, Naruto remembered the books he had put down earlier to perform his technique, and he picked them up again, only to frown as he realized that they were written in a totally different language than what he was familiar with.

With a smile as she found what she was looking for, she tapped Naruto on the shoulder to regain his attention. As his eyes snapped back to her face, his own turning an embarrassed pink for someone having seen his little outburst. Wordlessly she held out her hand and it took Naruto a moment to realize that he still held some of her books in his hands. Blush deepening, he handed them over as he stared at his feet.

He gave a surprised start as he felt her take away the last book, only to put another in his hands. With wide eyes he brought the book in front of his face, before turning his stunned look to a smiling Miriel. She gave a little shrug and reached over to ruffle his hair. "Since you seem so dead-set on being Hokage, why don't you give that little book a quick read. In fact," she once again put a finger to her lips, "I do believe there's a section in there on bloodlines. Of course I'm sure the technique section will be useful; but who knows, maybe you have bloodline of your own, just waiting for the chance to be set free."

Naruto was so absorbed with his gift, so completely stunned that anyone other than the old man would treat him with kindness, that he failed to notice the way Miriel's warm smile twist itself into a cold smirk. When Naruto finally managed to pull himself away from the book, he found that he was completely alone in the streets, Miriel having vanished from his sight as he scanned the horizon for her. He frowned when she failed to materialize; then shrugged and decided to head home, to check out his new gift.

From the shadows of a nearby alley, the being known to some as Miriel Gia watched Naruto take off, her eyes twinkling in the darkness. With a flick of the wrist she shattered the enchantment she had lain of the street, an undetectable barrier that kept any intruders out and unaware of the fact. As she turned and disappeared into the darkness, she sang to herself softly.

"These souls three, I give thee. One for the fires, to forge the two who will be one. And from these two, a gift shall come for you." She paused a moment and looked up into the sky, a wide grin on her face. " Naruto, member of the Conclave. I like it, it sounds... tricky tricky." And the darkness reached up and consumed her form, leaving nothing save the fast fading echoes of her laughter.

The moment Naruto reached the hole in the wall he called home, he slammed his door shut and quickly locked it. He was trembling with excitement as he ran his fingers across the raised text on the cover, muttering the words of the title under his breath. "The Annals of Anima, a Guide to the Wonders of Gaia."

He cocked his head to the side in curiosity He had never heard of Gaia mentioned by either the Hokage or any of the instructors at the Academy, whenever he was actually there or awake, nor any mention of Anima. With a shrug, he made a note to ask the old man about them later, as he opened it up and paged forwards to the table of contents.

To his surprise, one of the larger sections was one devoted to magic, but after giving it a quick glance he realized that even if it wasn't magic, he couldn't make sense of the text in that section. Frowning, he continued leafing through the book, passing over the section on various arms and armours, as well as the section on geography.

The next section he came across, which he stopped and gave a slightly more thorough look-over, was the section on techniques. For a moment he was confused by all the references to 'ki' in the text, until he remembered Iruka telling the class that people used to call chakra ki. After he recalled that, he was nearly bursting with energy at the number of techniques that he held in his hands.

Before he could get too into the section though, he forced himself to stop and continue going through the book, only stopping once he reached the section on bloodlines, or as the book referred to them, the Legacies of Blood. His eyes widened as he read through them, once again muttering the words of the text aloud, though quietly.

"The most common legacy, if only from its number of variations grouped under the same general structure, is the Elemental Blood-link. Bearers of this legacy possess an increased aptitude towards a specific element or group of elements, depending on their ancestry. It is not unheard of for a two bearers of different elements of this legacy to have a child possessing aptitude towards both of its parents' links. This legacy will most usually show up very early in life, around age five and no later than age eight, though their have been rare cases in which the legacy has remained dormant until puberty, but this is ex-exceedingly rare." Naruto frowned in thought. For the first time in a long while, he was glad that he spent so much time in the depths of the Konoha Archives, one of the few places in the village that, while open to the public and free to access, was essentially deserted save the rare scholar or ninja.

He was frowning because if what the book said was accurate, then that ruled out any elemental bloodlines for him; unless it he was really lucky, which considering his life so far, he was pretty sure wasn't the case. The next bloodline was a disturbing one known as the 'Eyes of Death', which he only gave a passing glance before continuing, Naruto having no desire to learn any more about a bloodline that let it's bearer see the lines of fate running through everyone and everything.

He blinked as he read a bit about the one after the 'Eyes of Death', the so-called 'Eyes of the Soul', which sounded far too similar to how Iruka had described the Hyuuga bya-whatever. Naruto did have to admit, however grudgingly, that being able to see through things, as well as seeing the actual life-force of living beings would be pretty cool.

He couldn't help but smirk as he came to the next entry in line, the 'Eyes of Destiny'. Naruto began to rub his hands together gleefully as he realized that even if the Teme could activate his fancy eyes, he could still beat him because he knew how they worked. According to the book, the Eyes allowed the user to adapt to his opponent's movements, eventually reaching the point where the user could actually anticipate his opponents moves long before he consciously chose, based on patterns or something; Naruto wasn't quite clear on that aspect. But the book did mention that an enemy purposefully holding back could potentially catch the user off guard, because the user would eventually get to used to fight the held back opponent.

Naruto wasn't surprised to find that all the eye-based bloodlines were something you needed to be born with, after all, you either had the eyes or you didn't, so he didn't spend too much time on them. As he eagerly turned the next page, a small folded sheet of paper fell out from between the pages of the book. Giving it a curious look, he set the book down on the table before reaching down to pick up the paper.

Unfolding it carefully, he was surprised to find another small sheet fall out. He gave a quiet sigh as he picked the second paper up off the floor. As he looked it over, he was glad to find that it wasn't folded over, and upon turning it over, that someone had written something in a tight yet flowing script on the back.

Cocking his head to the side, he narrowed his eyes as he tried to make out the small writing. "Dear... blonde kid." Naruto grimaced in annoyance at being called a kid, but continued reading. "Congratulations! If you've gotten this far, then you probably know that your bloodline chances have dwindled. The folded sheet of paper that this not was included within contains a special seal designed to activate latent bloodlines. Simply lay it out on your chest and pump some chakra into it and your good to go. Signed, tricky little Miriel." Naruto gave a small chuckle at the little chibi-Miriel drawn next to the signature near the bottom, hands raised in a victory sign.

Smiling, he put down the note and unfolded the larger sheet of paper, trying in vain to make sense of the ridiculously complex sealing array. He'd come across seals before, from the basic storage seal the old man put in his wallet to the more advanced ones that protected some of the books in the archives, but this one was on a level far beyond any of those. The entire sheet, when fully unfolded, managed to just cover his torso, but the white paper was nearly black from the amount of ink on its surface.

Naruto grabbed the book with one hand, the other still holding the seal, and headed into his bedroom, closing the door behind him with his foot. He put the book on his bedside table before removing his jacket and lying down on his bed. He carefully placed the seal across his torso as it said in Mirel's note, and with crossed fingers, began to channel chakra into it.

For a moment nothing happened and Naruto was sure that he either screwed up applying the seal - which he doubted, considering that it was glowing from his chakra- or he had no bloodline to his name. He was just about to stop channeling his chakra when he felt the beginnings of a strange tingling sensation spread from where he had placed the seal. A moment later he started cursing every man, woman, child, and diety he knew of for ever listening to a stranger who seemed to nice for her own good, as every nerve in his body felt like they were on fire.

He couldn't even scream as his body locked up tight, his muscles frozen in place with the appearance of him straining against invisible bonds. All that came from his throat was a soft rasp as his breath hissed between his clenched teeth. He noticed his vision beginning to darken at the edges as he felt the burning feeling intensify. He had time for one last curse before the darkness claimed him entirely.

The greatest changes to be wrought from the seal were not to be ones easily noticeable, though certain physical traits would certainly be hard to fail to notice. No, the most important changes began to occur only after Naruto had fallen unconscious, the seal continuing to draw off his chakra to sustain itself during the process.

Within the hyper-dimensional pocket of sub-space that formed the realm within which the prison of the Kyuubi existed, the most startling transformation began. The once dark and damp cavern was cast into dancing by strange multi-coloured tnedrils of energy that appeared to have no point of origin. The tendrils seemed to almost trace the bars of the prison with tender affection, before several of them darted within, hastened by their purpose, the others remaining outside, to slowly alter the framework of the prison itself. As the tendrils reached the prisoner, the eyes of the being known to the Elemental Nations as the Kyuubi snapped open as it felt its body begin to twist and flow in unnatural directions, its sense of self wavering.

The Kyuubi was not the only being within the confines of the pocket of space. The fragment of a certain redheaded kunoichi's soul also began to warp under the seal's ministrations, while the soul of the prison was torn into pieces and used as a fuel for the transformations. Lacking a true awareness towards what was occurring, the soul shard was far easier to mold and shape to seal's specifications, while the Kyuubi resisted the alien attack against it's self, to at least a small extent. Unfortunately for the Kyuubi, the nature of the prison it currently called home greatly limited it's ability to defend itself, which meant it only took a short while longer for the seal to overwhelm the Kyuubi's will.

If the seal was sentient, which it wasn't, even though it possessed a most rudimentary intelligence as necessary to fulfill it's programming, then it would have been cackling aloud as it went about its work. The Kyuubi's soul began to fray at the edges as the seal tore it apart and ripped sections of its mind away, while carefully splicing in the soul of kunoichi.

By the time the seal had finished its work, the Kyuubi was unrecognizable as its former self, the prison holding it back shrinking to reflect its change of stature. As the seal withdrew its energies from the pocket dimension, it made a few last changes, little inserted memories for the new Kyuubi. Within the renewed darkness of the prison, all was quiet, save for the sound of quickened breathing by the dimension's sole occupant.

Within the all-encompassing darkness the sound of breath gradually slowed, as nature of the realm brought a supernatural calm to the prisoner. Amethyst eyes opened a beheld the darkness of the prison, only a few quiet and confused words slipping from dry lips into the suffocating silence. If the seal had heard them and possessed the knowledge and intelligence to make sense of them, it would have erupted in insane laughter.

"N-naruto? W-where are you, son?"

Why yes, I'm a jerk. Isn't it wonderful?

Hmm, so what do you think? Pretty cool huh? I've been wanting to do this ever since I picked up my copy of Gaia Volume 1: Beyond the Dreams, a sourcebook for the Anima : Beyond Fantasy roleplaying game. Near the back of the book is a section on the members of the New Conclave, a group of extraordinarily powerful individuals united for an obscure purpose by their leader, the woman known as Eljared. And low and behold, one of the more interesting members just so happened to be an incredibly powerful nine-tailed kitsune by the name Youko Kyubi (spelled as it was in the book).

So my thought was, why the hell not? It'd be interesting to see a Naruto with Anima powers, but I couldn't think of a convenient plot device to make that happen, and then I got the above-mentioned book and it all fell into place.

As for Millenium, there is little about how she interacts with other people when she is herself, but she also possesses an unknown number of false identities, so I assume that she at the very least is a good actor, and considering all the controversy over whether or not she is same Millenium as the member of the original Conclave or merely a copycat, I figured she has some quirks.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed. And no flames about starting another story. I write how I write, and I will finish most of the ones that I have published.

Not happy with that?

Deal with it.

Too much other things that I'm doing right now. May come back to it later.