Disclaimer: I own nothing at all. But I can still dream… sigh.

That Bastard Fox: The Advent of Naruto Uzumaki

Prologue: A Brief History of Mankind's Second Rise

The year is 715 S.E.T. and the world has descended into a dystopian state of warfare and ruin.

More than seven centuries have passed Since the End-Times, since the collapse of the so-called Modern Era, when the constructs of Mankind's imagination – and in many cases, arrogance – populated the planet, uniting the masses in a state of nihilistic apathy, all people completely uncaring of the damage they did to the world that brought them to dominance. Man was given control of the Earth for nigh eleven-thousand years and in that time, they utterly ruined it.

And in so doing, they brought about their destruction, ironically borne of the predominant religion of their own creation: Science.

The Dark God Anslasax was birthed from Man's pride and ego and in less than a week, seven-hundred-and-fifteen years ago, brought forth Armageddon to lay waste the planet. Billions died and the great advances of Man's ingenuity – crafts that could travel the land, the air, the seas, and beyond the star-lit sky to worlds beyond; astonishing intelligences that could decipher the mysteries of the universe; medicines that could cure the deadliest of diseases and prolong death for decades – were blasted into oblivion, never to be remembered, forgotten and crushed into the ash and rubble beneath Anslasax's mighty footsteps. The Age of Man ended in fire and death, and in the aftermath, a new Age came forth.

The Age of Magic had begun.

Mankind's remnants – barely numbering in the thousands – banded together for mutual survival in this post-apocalyptic world, huddling in huts and caves, hiding from the new, mystifying changes that swept over the land. Animals were born twisted and mutated from the radiation backwash left in the wake of the Dark God's swath of destruction – eldritch monsters appeared, seemingly born of Man's worst nightmares, and prowled the landscape, preying on both Man and each other with equal ferocity. Vicious strains of plant-life grew incredibly fast from the ruined earth, creating vast stretches of forests in record time; in a little less than a century, greenery and life repopulated the barren world once more. And from out of these forests, as if lying in a state of hibernation, legions of beings once thought to have been products of Mankind's mythos – some intelligent, some utterly barbarous – came alive to walk amongst men once more.

It seemed the planet itself was simply waiting for the chance to take control from its first failure, Man, and start over, only this time with severe limitations on the creatures that walked upon it.

Mankind, once possessing an incredible rate of procreation that, in part, helped to cement their dominance, was left largely infertile by the radiation that enveloped the planet. This radiation was thought by the survivors to be caused by great Anslasax, or due to the weapons of last-resort deployed against it to no avail by the humans in their heyday – both, while true in many respects, were utterly incorrect. This aura of power was always here, even when Mankind ruled… it was the glow of life, of Magic. And it wasn't until humans learn how to tap into it that their numbers grew once more.

So, the former rulers fought to stay alive, to learn the intricacies of Magic by proxy of a few, sympathetic representatives of one of the newfound races – the Elves. For Magic was the birthright of the Elves, not humankind. And for Man to be taught how to use the planet's very energy was a grave offence in their culture, so much so that when those few pitying Elves – known forever amongst humankind as the Fire-bringers – were caught, it sparked a civil war that lasted for two hundred years.

Elf fought against elf, dividing the powerful race into two factions that ultimately destroyed each other, whittling down their respective populations until they numbered in the hundreds, as broken as Man once was. And the gods they worshiped cursed them for this act of blasphemy, dooming one faction with near-sterility while the other was blighted with darker skin and their immortality, which was a trait shared by all Elfkind, was stripped from them.

Thus, the races of High Elves and Dark Elves were created, each hating the other with a passion matched only by their loathing of humanity, whom they blamed for their misfortune.

Yet throughout the conflict, Man was not idle. They watched and waited, relearning the arts of war and mastering Magic unleashed by the Elves with careful scrutiny. And when they felt it prudent to act, in the aftermath of the Elves civil war, Man struck its claim to dominance once more… and succeeded. The High Elves retreated into the hostile wilds, never to be as powerful as they once were. The Dark Elves took the low road, electing to rule the subterranean world rather than share the surface with the species they once aided.

Three hundred years since the collapse of Modern Civilization, Mankind ruled the planet once again, only this time, they wielded the powers of sorcery rather than science and industry to cement their dominance over the Earth.

Centuries passed and the race of Men grew powerful again, establishing many kingdoms across the world that soon united to create nations of wonder and phenomenal power. The lessons of their history – which were as varied as they were fragmented and incomplete – were applied to the large number of steadily growing cultures, lessons of craftsmanship and leadership, of beast mastery and agriculture. Of piety to the gods they once forsook in days long passed and of worship, lest the Dark God Anslasax, who lay slumbering beneath the earth, awaken to destroy them once again.

But while for many years, humanity was peaceful and coexistent with each other – and even among the other intelligent species on the planet – warfare was too deeply ingrained and the embers of conquest burned in the hearts of many a man.

Battle after battle divided Men once more and yet, when other species (including the once-powerful Elves) sought to usurp them, they banded together and annihilated the threat… before turning their blades and spells back on each other. Cultures clashed and nations rose and fell with equivalent speed. But after each major conflict, an armistice was declared between the fighting peoples and peace eventually was allowed to flourish.

For a time, at least.

It is the year 715 S.E.T., seven hundred years Since the End-Times. It is a dystopian world, a planet rife with chaos and Magic, of monsters and demons.

And it is here that we begin our story, a tale of a young boy who will one day grow to be the deciding factor for humanity's future, in either the light of salvation… or in the fires of damnation.

This is the story of the Uzumaki Naruto's advent to greatness, the life story of the first apprentice of the immortal Black Wizard known only as Dark Schneider.

Let the heavens tremble…